Cruz Pedregon, Bucky Austin Team To Run Vintage Funny Car
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: _www.CruzPedregonRacing.com_ (http://www.cruzpedregonracing.com/) Cruz Pedregon, Bucky Austin Team To Run Nostalgia Funny Car BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon and 10-time NHRA Division 6 champion Bucky Austin have teamed to campaign Pedregon's Pisano Nostalgia Funny Car during the 2010 Hot Rod Heritage Series season. Beginning with the 52nd Bakersfield March Meet at Auto Club Raceway Famoso, Pedregon will drive this replica of the Joe Pisano 1978 Plymouth Arrow Funny Car that debuted at here last October at the California Hot Rod Reunion. "Bucky's going to run it and tune it, and I'm going to drive it," Pedregon said, anticipating the March 5-7 kickoff of the Hot Rod Heritage Series season. "I built that car to race it," he said. "It would be a shame for it to sit and collect dust. I'm a big fan of vintage Funny Cars." Of the nostalgia tour's five races that feature the Funny Car class, the historic March Meet is the one that Pedregon said he's most eager to attend. The Funny Car lineup will have 32 cars, four times more than at last year's California Hot Rod Reunion, when Pedregon qualified seventh among 31 entries. Auto Club Famoso Raceway is where Pedregon earned his competition license and was a track where he recalls watching his father, "Flamin' Frank" Pedregon, compete in the 1960s. He said that in a return to the facility about six years ago he "saw a couple of Funny Cars run and [with] the sound and look . . . the hair on my arms was standing up -- and I had to build one." So he did in 2009, with the blessing of Joe Pisano's brother, Frank, and the expertise of builder and drag-racing veteran Donnie Couch. "We finished the car the night before [qualifying for the race]," he said with a laugh. "We'll come back in a more polished fashion." Austin contacted Pedregon during the winter and asked if he would like to run the vibrant, '70s-style Plymouth that Pedregon had designed as a salute to the late Pisano, who was one of his mentors. "I wanted to continue to race in a nostalgia class. It infatuated me, the nitro," Austin said. "Driving's not a big priority. I'm infatuated with making 'em run. I wanted to be with someone who has a good car and good parts. I knew Cruz had one, and I knew he is really, really busy with his pro stuff." Austin said he will slide behind the wheel on occasion. "If he can't make it, I'll drive it or I'll find someone good to drive," Austin said. Austin won the Hot Rod Heritage Series Nostalgia Funny Car championship in the series inaugural 2008 season, the same year Pedregon won the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car crown. The Fife, Wash., resident was runner-up last season, driving a Steve Plueger-owned car. In NHRA Full Throttle Series competition, he has won 23 national events. As the winningest driver in the Pacific Northwest and experience in nearly every class from Super Stock to Top Fuel, Austin is a member of three halls of fame (NHRA Division 6, Northwest Motor Sports, Tacoma Athletic Commission). Austin has dominated at the legendary Auto Club Famoso in the past two years, winning both March Meets and both California Hot Rod Reunions and setting records at each. He owns the lowest elapsed time in Nostalgia Funny history (5.72 seconds). Southern California native Pedregon races out of Brownsburg, Ind., where he and younger brother, Tony, also a two-time Funny Car champion, operate their shop. "Cruz has given me an opportunity, and I've given him an opportunity," Austin said. "He knows when the car comes to the racetrack it will be well-prepared." Couch built the Plymouth with a 426-cubic-inch, TFX-block engine with BAE cylinder heads and a PSI supercharger. It uses Venolia Pistons on BME Rods with a Winberg crankshaft, Mahle rings, Clevite bearings, Manton pushrods, and Lucas Oil. The vintage Steve Plueger chassis is supported by a Strange Engineering rear, Lenco Transmission, Good Vibrations Motorsports, Impact safety belts and DJ Safety blankets. ABOUT THE MARCH MEET: The Bakersfield March Meet is a three-day affordable speedfest that enthusiasts call "The Jewel of Nostalgia Racing.' It attracts drag racers and spectators from around the world and includes a hot rod car show, swap meet, and vendors midway. TICKETS: A Super 3-Day Pass for $75 is available online at _http://www.famosoraceway.com_ (http://www.famosoraceway.com/) and picked up at the track the week of the event. (No service fees are charged for tickets purchased online at _www.autoclubfamosoraceway.com_ (http://www.autoclubfamosoraceway.com/) .) Individual day tickets for the event will go on sale March 1 but will be available only at the track. Ticket prices are $25 Friday, March 5, $30 Saturday, March 6, and $30 for Sunday, March 7. Auto Club members receive a $2 discount off daily admission tickets by showing their cards when they purchasing tickets at the track. Daily tickets for children ages 7 to 12 are $10. Children ages 6 and under are free when accompanied by an adult with paid admission. - 30 -