The long haul to the Bakersfield started before sunrise on Friday at the Champion Speed Shop world headquarters in South San Francisco. The Special and trailer were already under way. The Champion Speed Shop 1934 Ford pickup’s blown small block Chevrolet was idling ready. Crew members motored towards Famoso Raceway from all points on the California map. A little over a month after the return of the small block Chevy on nitromethane to the March Meet, the Destination was once again the same. Bakersfield, California. This time it was Dragfest.

Friday started out early and ended just as fast. Less than an hour after the car was out of the trailer and fired up to seat in the clutch discs, skies darkened and a wind pushed ahead of something that doesn’t happen all that often out at the Famoso. Rain. And lots of it. Buckets of rain stopped the race for the day. The car and all the equipment were pushed back into the trailer without even one run. This rain would pass, and Saturday brought a blue sky and nitromethane back out to the lanes.

Saturday Chicago Style

After nipping at the fives with 6.01-second 234 MPH first round qualifying blast, the Champion Speed Shop Special was back and ready for the late afternoon Chicago-style eliminations round at the Rod and Kulture Dragfest. The team was ready to rock when a jammed reverser felled Brad Thompson after both cars heated up the tires with a burnout. Adam Sorokin was able to back up and was in the beams when the order came to shut it down. With not enough fuel in the tank to complete another burnout and run, the team was sidelined until after fuel altereds and funny cars.

Just seconds later a medical emergency in the stands had the only ambulance leaving the grounds, and resulted in two blinking reds flashing on the tree. The entire show was postponed until another ambulance could make it back out to Famoso. Champion Speed Shop veteran Tom Homer joked that he could call the Auto Club to bring some nitro combusted during the burnout and backup. The 400 cubic inch small block huffs thirteen gallons of the good stuff on a stout pass, and can evaporate five gallons on the burnout alone.

The crew was dispatched to the pits to pick up a few gallons of the good stuff. With the tank topped off, engine cooled down, and any extra nitromethane backed out of the cylinders, the starter kicked over the small block Chevy to life. The Champion team worked with the clockwork precision required to get a 2500 horsepower race car consistently down the quarter mile. With the staging bulbs lit, driver Adam Sorokin took it and motored down the quarter mile to click off the quickest time and fastest run yet for the new setup. The clock lit up with a 5.96-second elapsed time and 235 MPH speed.

“It didn’t even throw up on me”, said Sorokin.

Despite the five-second time, the race was over for the Champion Speed Shop. The AA/Fuel top fuel dragster show at Dragfest was run Chicago Style. This means that every car makes one run. After the tire smoke clears, the two quickest and fastest cars come back to run for the win. In this particular Famoso-style Chicago sangwich, Rick Williamson bested Adam Sorokin’s 5.96 by a mere one hundredth of a second. While racing was a wrap for the Champion Speed Shop, the show was not finished.

Race and Run Again

The car was torn down and reassembled as night fell and the Dragfest transformed from race to entertainment mode. The crowd gathered underneath a drive-in movie sized screen running drag strip visuals to a period correct soundtrack by the Dynatones. Nitro action would continue come sun up, with exhibitions of nitro altereds, funny cars and kustom kontraptions running non-stop. The Sunday sessions netted two more runs for the Champion Speed Shop, with a 5.99 and a late afternoon 6.06 to wrap up the weekend for the South City crew.

Next stop – Bowling Green, Kentucky for the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. June 19th-21st 2009.