NHRA Summit Drag Racing Series -- Friday from Famoso Raceway

NHRA SUMMIT RACING SERIES - PACIFIC DIVISION FINALS

FAMOSO RACEWAY, BAKERSFIELD, CALIF.

FRIDAY, OCT. 8, 2004


 

SHEARER, SEIPEL, SHAVER WIN JACKPOT TITLES 

AT FAMOSO RACEWAY

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Bakersfield's Ray Shearer, the 2004 Famoso Raceway track champion, won the High Roller Jackpot prize Friday night at Famoso Dragway, a lucrative warm-up for this weekend's Summit Drag Racing Series Finals for the NHRA's Pacific Division.  Shearer waded through eight rounds of competition to best nearly more than 150 cars.

Meanwhile, Kyle Seipel, the multi-faceted drag racers from the Bay Area, won an even bigger cash prize by taking the Low Roller title.  The Low Roller event featured more than 200 cars and lasted nine rounds and since the prize is based on the number of entries, there was more in the pot for the Low Roller title.  Seipel has won 25 rounds of racing in two weeks, including two separate events at Low Angeles County Raceway last weekend.  To say he is hot going into the big weekend finals is an understatement indeed.

The motorcycle Jackpot final went to Leo Shaver from Las Vegas.  

Top drivers from 17 racetracks across the NHRA Pacific Division continued taking shots at the Famoso Raceway racing surface Friday preparing for the NHRA Summit Racing Series Finals.  Competition will continue Saturday and Sunday.  More than 700 drivers from four states and Mexico are scheduled to compete for team and individual honors, including the opportunity to advance to the NHRA Finals, held at Pomona, Calif., in November.

            Saturday afternoon will also bring the Race of Champions.  Champions from the home Famoso team now know who they will race.  In the Pro E.T. bracket, Famoso Champion Shearer, a 60-year-old Bakersfield firefighter, a seasoned veteran, will face off with John Phlegar, a Las Vegas contractor who runs for Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  In the first round of the Sportsman Race of Champions Visalia's Brad Thompson will represent Famoso against Byron Boyd of Cassel, Calif., who races for Redding Drag Strip.  Thompson made passes in a 250 mph nostalgia Top Fuel dragster last week at the 13th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion.  Also on the Famoso team is Rick McGee of Exeter, Calif., who won the Top Fuel title at the Hot Rod Reunion.  McGee will be in his Pro E.T. dragster this weekend.

            Famoso's Motorcycle Champion, Charles Rand, of Bakersfield, drew Las Vegas Champion Kahea Woods Jr. and the local High School Champion, Peter Chillbes III will face Southwestern Int'l Raceway's High School Champion, Mike Sweeney, of Green Valley, Ariz., near Tucson.

             On Saturday, gates open at 7 a.m., times trials will begin at 8 a.m., the Race of Champions kicks off at 1 p.m.  The first round of eliminations for the Summit Drag Racing Series itself will be at 2:30 p.m.

            On Sunday, Gates will open at 6:30 a.m. and eliminations will continue at 8 a.m.

            Racers are hoping to take home some of the $27,160 in posted awards and a chance to advance the national championships for the Summit Drag Racing Series at the Auto Club NHRA Finals next month in Pomona, Calif. There they will face the champions from the other six NHRA geographical divisions. Each winner at Famoso will receive $3,000 for making the finals and each of the national champions will earn another $5,000. High School Racers are running for trophies.

 

Pacific Division 2004 Summit E.T. Racing Series Participating Tracks

 

§         Baja Raceway; Mexicali, Baja California

§         Barona Drag Strip; El Cajon, California

§         California Dragway, Fontana, California 

§         Famoso Raceway; Bakersfield, California 

§         Firebird International Raceway; Phoenix 

§         Infineon Raceway; Sonoma, California 

§         Inyokern Dragstrip; Inyokern, California 

§         Irwindale Dragstrip; Irwindale, California 

§         Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Las Vegas 

§         Los Angeles County Raceway; Palmdale, California  

§         Redding Dragstrip; Redding, California 

§         Rocky Mountain Raceways; Salt Lake City 

§         Sacramento Raceway; Sacramento, California 

§         Samoa Dragstrip; Eureka, California 

§         Southwestern International Raceway; Tucson, Arizona 

§         Speed World Motorplex; Wittman, Arizona 

§         Top Gun Raceway; Fallon, Nevada