Friday Night Drags Were Not a Drag
Photo credit: Steven Bunker and John Drummond
The Goodguys Northwest Nitro Shootout presented by Bucky’s Auto Service and CP-Carrillo — called in the biggest field of nitro-burning nostalgia funny cars to ever run together. On a warm summer evening at Pacific Raceways, fans from near and far filled the stands and race paddock to near capacity.
A total of eleven nitro burning funny cars, headlined by Tacoma’s Bucky Austin and his Bardahl-sponsored ’78 Pontiac Firebird, squared off in the lanes. Adding to the action were enough A-Fuel, Pro Mod, and bracket racers to make anyone with a nose for race fuel and an addiction to the pounding from a 3,500+ horsepower engine swoon deliriously in delight.
Everyone brought their A-game Friday night and competition was tough. The eight quickest cars ran 5.78 times or faster. Drew Austin — in his A-Fuel dragster — is still in the zone after last weekend’s win in the John Shoemaker Memorial Event at Sonoma Raceway. The third generation Austin racer consistently ran three low 6.20s — all within five hundredths of a second.
2016 Goodguys Northwest Nitro Shootout
But that’s only the start of a long night of challenges. Rich Guasco’s “Pure Hell” lined up against Bryan Hall’s “The Tramp” in a Fuel Altered match race. It wasn’t the best night for the Hall since “The Tramp” wasn’t in top form but the crowd loved him nonetheless. Brian Hope, driving Rich Guasco’s “Pure Hell”, was in tears after running his fastest second quickest time 6.08 sec at 224 mph. Guasco’s hope springs eternal and keeps coming out of retirement with the goal of breaking that into the five-second barrier. Once again, that magical mark escaped him last night because the blower belt came off 1,000 feet from the finish line and the car coasted past the time trap without power.
2016 Goodguys Northwest Nitro Shootout
Yvonne Lucas in her nitrous fueled Camaro
Filling up the lanes in the Pro Mod class were Yvonne Lucas, Garrett Richards, and Mike Weiss in a classic blown vs nitrous battle. Lucas, in her nitrous-fueled Camaro, raced Garrett twice against his supercharged Mustang and Weiss’ supercharged ’59 Corvette; Both Weiss and Garret never went head-to-head. When the smoke cleared after the all-star shootout, Garrett Richards set a track record with a 5.96-second run. It was the first five-second pass from a Pro Mod at Pacific Raceways.