50th Auto Club NHRA Finals
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Pomona, CaliforniaThursday, November 13, 2014
Nov 13-16, ‘14 Story by Richard Parks Photographs by Roger Rohrdanz
The NHRA Auto Club Finals were held on November 13 through the 16, 2014 at the Pomona drag strip, in Pomona, California and sponsored by the Auto Club of Southern California. The racing season began at this same track in February and after 24 races over a ten month time span the championship for the various classes came down to this last race in exciting fashion. It was more than a race; it was a chance to meet friends from all over the world who journeyed here to see great drag racing. This was also the 50th Anniversary of the Finals, first held in 1965 and legendary drag racers gathered to sign autographs and to talk to their fans. Coming from Florida was Jeff “Grumpy” Garvin, who was helping out with Steve Faria’s Top Fuel dragster. Don Redmon came down from Northern California to help out Michael Ray’s Harley/Davidson bike team. Ron Christensen led a contingent of USFRA land speed racers. Chic Cannon, an original member of the NHRA Drag (Safety) Safari and his son Steve, came from San Jose. Wayne and Ruth McMurtry were visiting from Raton, New Mexico.
I made a quick stop at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, to talk to Larry Fisher and Wayne Phillips and to see the new design of the museum. It is spectacular. The museum is a mid-sized building, but it is full of cars and bikes, with display cases featuring the history of motorsports from drag, oval track, sports car, land speed and other forms of motor racing. My next stop was the Pomona Fairplex tram ride to the race track. Sharon Womack was the tram driver and she gave us a trip around the Fairplex, including the Fine Arts building, the horse racing track, horse stables and the Robert E. Petersen AXC (Alex Xydias Center) Garage. Entering the gate I ran into Ora Mae Millar and her daughter Robin Millar, who had an exhibit honoring the late Pete Millar, who was famous for his CARtoons of drag racing’s Golden Age, the 1960’s. Robin, Pete’s daughter, and Ora Mae, his widow, are keeping his work in the public eye. Pete was one of the greatest cartoonist of his era and his comic books are still collected by his fans. He institutionalized Ed “the Camfather” Iskenderian and Wally “the Gawdfather” Parks among others. You were someone special if you were serialized in Millar’s cartoons. With the Millar’s were their longtime friends Kim Raulino and Robert Castaneda. Look for the Millar’s tent at all the local Southern California car shows.
The Historical and Nostalgia area was filled with cars and on Saturday all the great legends of drag racing got together to sign autographs and talk to their fans. Some of the racers included Tommy Ivo, Don Garlits, John Ewald, Shirley Muldowney, Linda Vaughn and many more well-remembered people from our past history. Brett Harrell was the DJ in the Nostalgia area and he played period music from the 1950’s and ‘60’s and kept up a lively banter that informed fans and spectators of who was around and where they could be found. Brett is a natural DJ and he started while in high school back in the late 1970’s. I talked to Dave and Twila Mandella who own the Shirley Muldowney dragster. Dave has an illustrious pedigree that includes boat and car racing and is related to the founder of the Mandella race boats, Al and Dennis Pollaccia and NDBA boat racer Bob Garner, among others. Dave took over the Boat Racers Reunion upon my retirement from the group and moved it to Marine Stadium in Long Beach where it attracted 500 attendees and spectators over the years.
From there I searched and found Jeff “Grumpy” Garvin from Florida, who was at the race helping Steve Faria and his Top Fuel dragster team. Jeff has been working on cars for a long time and gave us some startling news and some ideas on how to make top fuel safer in the future. I met Don Redmon at the Michael Ray trailer, where Ray was working on his bike with his team. Michael is from San Antonio, Texas. Redmon is a long-time bike guy and helps out the local land speed racers going to Bonneville. He introduced me to Karen Stouffer, who lost her pro-bike ride this year and is looking for a sponsor to get back into riding the big bikes in NHRA. Karen is very petite, as it seems all the motorcycle racers are, but she has a steady gaze and a strong will to ride and I hope she gets that sponsor.
I walked through the pit area and out to the staging lanes. Most drag fans hurry to the pits, see a few teams, take pictures, grab a bite from the food stands and then race back to their seats to see the pros run. They miss the intricate way in which a NHRA race is put on and there is so much more to see. Josh Keb and Vic Rencoret were patiently waiting in their ambulance. They are paramedics and their job is to transport sick or injured spectators or racers to the hospital if needed. There are 8 ambulances on site and staffed with 14 EMTs in case of emergency. There are carts that transport other paramedics around the premises looking for any problems. With 40,000 race fans there is always the possibility of health related problems. Josh and Vic showed me their well-equipped ambulance and how they respond to emergencies. Two more paramedics drove by in a cart and they introduced me to Brent Owens and Cody Cuback. These EMTs are ready for anything. They told me hot weather can increase accidents or health problems, but today the weather was wind-breaker cool and they didn’t expect to be needed very much.
Nearby was Randy Carver who was in charge of Gate 15, where sponsors, racers and even the general public enters and can get very busy and hectic. But his crew kept problems down to a minimum. Carver is a policeman and we talked for awhile about the important policemen of the past who helped to get their cities to okay drag strips, like Ezra Ehrhardt, Bud Coons and Gordon Browning. Next to the gate was the black VIP/Racer Customer Service trailer manned by NHRA workers like Jennifer Gregg. She handles the questions and other problems that drag racers and the public may have. I wandered down the staging lanes and met Paul Dickey and Ron Mortimer, whose job it is to keep the drag racers in the proper order so that when it is their time to race the race control people will be able to announce who is racing against whom. With them were John Theofelis and his son Ian. Walking past us were some lovely cheerleaders from a local high school with their counselor. One of the great things about drag racing is the NHRA youth services program which encourages young people to consider motorsports and automotive arts. I asked them if they were having a good time and they smiled and told us they were.
John Force drove by on his scooter and people followed him. He stopped and shook hands, signed autographs and patiently listened to people who idolized him. He looked exhausted and under a great deal of stress, but he spent time with everyone. He recognized me and stopped to say hello. John and my father were always close and I told him how much we admired his drive to be successful. Then he drove on, for there were a million things for him to do and he had to find some energy for the races ahead of him. The tow car for John’s Hot Rod contained his daughters and grandchildren and they were smiling. There wasn’t too much to do, but they were well-behaved and seemed to tolerate the noise of the race cars. John’s wife walked by and we exchanged greetings. She is a lovely lady and the Force’s are the nicest people. One thing to be careful of in the staging lanes is that the drivers, teams and families are all under a lot of stress and the staging lane is mostly a “hurry up and wait” time for them, increasing the pressure. Some teams will allow you to talk to the driver or other members, while other race teams want to just relax and concentrate on their trip to the line. You can talk to them, but if you sense they want some privacy, don’t bother them.
I left the staging lane and headed for the Command Center. This is a trailer in the back of the race track behind the suites and the starting line where a group of ladies tries to keep all the divisions coordinated. It is here that problems have to be solved or the right official called. Leila Fenberg is the boss. She took over from others, such as Eileen Daniels and Marilyn Lachman and it is a nerve wracking job at times, but Leila’s staff handles everything with poise and grace. With her were Jamie Stephens, Kristin Melendrez and Nancy Wheeler. While I was there they handled a very upset situation in a very calm manner. I am always impressed with their ability to handle urgent problems and lost children and sometimes lost husbands. I met Ken Clapp, who is an NHRA Board member and spoke to him briefly about the prospects for NHRA in the coming year.
Then it was off to visit with my family, son Scott, daughter-in-law Stacy (and grandson Brock), their friends the Reeves from Utah and their friend Dean Tomita from Huntington Beach. Wayne and Ruth McMurtry drove in from New Mexico. Wayne is a former operations manager under Steve Gibbs and a board member of the museum. I also met Bill Doner, Bob Mandic, Dicken Wear, Art and Shirley Goldstrum, Lynn and Bud Rasmus. Doner has a long history in drag racing and is trying to build a dragstrip in Lake Havasu City, Arizona called London Bridge Raceway Park. With all the drag racers that have moved to Arizona, there is a need for a drag strip. Wear’s family has been involved in sports car racing since 1948, and Kart racing. Bob Mandic is president of Mandic Motors, a storage and towing firm established in 1939 by his father. Chic Cannon, one of the original Drag (Safety) Safari pioneers came with his son, Steve Cannon. He told us about the early beginnings of the NHRA and is probably the senior member of drag racing at this point in time.
A thrilling set of races began to take shape to determine the meet’s winners in the pro ranks and except for Top Fuel, the other divisions. In Pro Stock Motorcycle Andrew Hines won the NHRA Mellow Yellow points championship earlier in the day. For the meet it was Hector Arana Jr turning a 6.832 elapsed time (ET) at 195.08 to beat Eddie Krawiec who trailed at 6.977 at 176.37. If the bike category was a bit anticlimactic, it was just the opposite in Pro Stock, where Erica Enders needed a final round victory to propel her to a meet win and the season points championship. The pressure was on her shoulders and she showed it in the round before when her reaction time was a .000. She was a thousandth of a second from red-lighting and ending her season that had so much promise. Enders desperately wanted to win and become the third woman professional to take home a number 1 ranking and the Mello Yellow championship. For years she struggled and learned her craft to become the best Pro Stock driver. It was no longer an achievement for her to simply be the best woman Pro Stock racer; she owed it to her team, her fans and to herself to prevail against time itself. Gender was no longer an issue. To make matters more stressing, she was up against Jason Line and he was no pushover. Would she handle the pressure and the expectations?
With the championship on the line and a Wally waiting at the end of the track, the lights flickered yellow, yellow, yellow and they were off before the green. A groan went up from the crowd who favored Erica, she had cut the lights in -.002, two thousandths of a second too soon and there was the red light she almost had the round before. For a moment the crowd grew silent and then a thunderous roar from 40,000 fans shook the ground as Jason Line had left -.011, an imperceptible amount of time earlier. He had red-lighted too and the rule states that the first infraction negates all other infractions. The race was over at the finish line before the two racers had even gone an inch. Enders nevertheless gave it all that she had at the other end of the lights going 6.480 ET at 213.43 mph to Line’s 6.504 ET at 212.16. At the podium this lightly built young lady struggled to hoist a huge trophy over her head, but with grit and every last ounce of strength she held the cup over her head and leaped about the stage in a joyous moment of victory.
For John Force it had been a season of great victories and devastating problems. The 65 year old Force had more than just the pressure of a driver on his shoulders. Earlier in the day I had seen just how exhausted and tired he was, but he kept on winning and he had a chance, a small chance, if only he could hold his car together for just a few more passes. Matt Hagan had kept the pressure on the whole season and the NHRA Auto Club Finals was no different. In the semi-finals Hagan had beaten Tommy Johnson Jr and held a slim lead of 22 points. The championship was his unless Force could do the impossible and beat Alexis DeJoria who had been nearly unbeatable and held the lane choice, which Force had always considered to be so crucial. In addition Force had to set a record of at least 4.004 ET. Could Force make his hot rod eke out that slim margin and give him a chance for his 17th championship? Alexis and John staged and the green light twinkled and Force pushed that old hot rod of his as fast as he could, beating DeJoria in a memorable race. Then a groan came from the crowd as the time showed a 4.044 ET, just .04 seconds too slow. Matt Hagan had won the Mello Yellow season points championship! But there was still that Wally for the final Funny car race of the year and bragging rights. Force and Hagan staged, the lights came on and Hagan powered down the strip in a winning time of 4.076 ET at 310.77 mph as Force’s hot rod went up in smoke and the old warrior shut off and ceded the victory to his young opponent. Unbowed, John Force told the crowd that Hagan won it fair and square, and though he lost sponsors and maybe crews, he would be back for another season of racing in 2015.
For the Top Fuel category it was already over since Las Vegas. Tony Schumacher and the US Army dragster had simply been too good and too powerful, but there was still a Wally to be won. Schumacher plowed through the early rounds and right up into the final race, where he would face Morgan Lucas in the Lucas Oil car. Schumacher and Lucas staged and in a powerful last race of the last meet of the season, the young Morgan powered his way to victory over Schumacher. Lucas had an ET of 3.704 at 325.14 mph for the 11th Wally of his career and the promise that he would be someone to watch in 2015. With the last race of the year and meet in the books the fans poured out of the stands to participate in a huge celebration and talk to their favorite drivers and team. The track was sticky, the crowds were happy, the music blared, camera lights flashed and a certain nostalgia and yearning for more racing was met by total exhaustion from all the race teams. They have a banquet to attend and awards to reap, and then it is a short vacation before the NHRA season starts all over again.
Gone Racin’ is at [email protected].
* Since the NHRA 2009 season, Top Fuel Dragsters & Top Fuel Funny Cars have run on a 1000 foot track, not a quarter mile track. Since then the winners and record holders in those classes are champions at the current 1000 foot distance. Quarter mile elapsed time and speed records can only be challenged on a quarter mile track.
Shawn Langdon, Brandon Bernstein, Cruz Pedregon, Antron Brown, Jack Beckman, Del Worsham, Matt Hagan, Larry Dixon, John Force, Robert Hight, Tony Schumacher, Morgan Lucas and are the only NHRA Drag Racing Series Champions at the 1000 foot distance.
The 2014 NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series Champions are,
6858, 7127, 7131 – Tony Schumacher earned his 8th Top Fuel season championship.
6940 – In Funny Car, Matt Hagan is the series champion.
6767 – Erica Enders-Stevens became the first women to win the NHRA Pro Stock Championship.
6448, 7506, 7517 – Andrew Hines won his fourth Pro Stock Motorcycle Series Championship.
50th Annual Auto Club NHRA Finals winners are,
8079 - *Top Fuel – Morgan Lucas, 3.704et & 325.14mph defeated Tony Schumacher’s 3.742et & 324.98mph.
6940, 7186, 8059 - *Funny Car – Matt Hagan, 4.076et & 310.77mph beat John Force’s 4.088et & 276.58mph.
8042 - Pro Stock – Erica Enders-Stevens, 6.480et & 213.43mph defeated Jason Line’s, fouled.
8028 - Pro Stock Motorcycle – Hector Arana Jr., (far lane) 6.823et & 195mph beat Eddie Krawiec’s (near lane) 6.977et & 176.37mph.
NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Finals winners are,
8021 - Top Alcohol Dragster – Duane Shields (near lane) 5.412et & 264.13mph beats, Cameron Ferre’s, 5.625et & 265.74mph.
8014 - Top Alcohol Funny Car – Steve Harker (far lane) 5.489et & 266.21mph defeated John Lombardo Jr. 5.519et & 263.36mph.
7984 - Comp Eliminator – Aaron Strong (far lane) 8.116et & 165.44mph beat Clint Neff 10.668et & 78.16mph.
7964 - Super Comp – Gabriel Torres (far lane dragster), 8.907et & 168.16mph defeated Alan Kenny’s dragster at 8.905et & 170.08mph.
7973 - Super Stock – Jeff Taylor (near lane), 9.634et defeated Marion Stephenson, fouled.
7979 - Super Gas – Trevor Larson (near lane), 9.917et defeated, Tommy Phillips’ 9.894et.
Stock Eliminator – Bobby DeArmond, 10.126et & 128.18mph, defeated Paula Cotton’s foul.
Summit Super Pro – Steve Sisko, 9.648et & 113.04 defeated Cliff Carr’s foul.
Summit Pro – Gerald Halle, 9.506et defeated Dustin Moore’s foul.
Summit Bike – Roy Hagadorn, 8.862et defeated Brenda Kay’s foul.
Summit Sportsman – Bill Crutcher, 12.490et defeated Scott Smith’s foul.