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It took a while, aided by a desk clerk at our photographer's hotel that couldn't spell the wi-fi password correctly... but we've received our first batch of photos from the Good Vibrations March Meet. It's a selection taken during Thursday afternoon's Nitro Test session and it covers all three blown fuel categories in competition at Bakersfield. We've got some of the numbers recorded for Funny Car and Fuel Altered, but unfortunately, not Top Fuel.

Tomorrow, we'll have Friday's qualifying photos and hope to have the balance of thw weekend pics by Monday so that we can put together our full coverage of the meet. Stay tuned for updates as they happen.

(LEFT) Opening the session was the "Quarter Pounder" Camaro, driven by Geoff Monise (near lane) and he dropped a bomb on his competitors with an out-of-the- trailer 5.632 - 254.09 to set a very high bar for the class. In the far lane, and mostly obscured, was Don Nelson's "California Hustler", with transplanted Hawaiian, Kamaka Pocock at the wheel, who ran hard to the 900' mark before clicking it off to a 6.178 - 177.79 clocking.

(RIGHT) There was one big change made to Eddie Knox's "Problem Child" entry over the winter, with former world champion (Top Alcohol Funny Car) Shane Westerfield taking over the driving duties. He tested the waters with a half track pass of 6.766 - 118.00. In the far lane, and again, mostly obscured, was Rian Konno in the familiar "Lemon & Kajanzian" Mustang, but it didn't get very far before shutting off to a 31-second time.

(LEFT) Top Fuel time came up next, with the "Overtime Special", driven by Tyler Hester (near lane) running against Texan Michael Anderson in the far lane.

(RIGHT) Almost completely hidden in the far lane was the 2023 Heritage Series champion, Tyler Hilton in the "Great Expectations III", while in the near lane was long-time competitor Brendan Murry in the now Hemi-powered "Runnin' Wild" entry.

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TOP FUEL - Qualifying Session #1

After making one appearance in 2022, at the season closing California Hot Rod Reunion (where he runner-upped), Pete Kaiser was back in the saddle at the March Meet. On his first competition pass in nearly 18 months he merely ripped off low e.t. of the first session with a very good 5.735, coupled with a booming 255.82 speed. Definitely no rust on the driver, the car, or the team.

(LEFT) Wheeling the "Overtime Special" to an early shutoff 6.043 - 188.20 was Tyler Hester. A decent start, but the incremental numbers indicated there was some serious performance lurking in the Donovan engine.

(RIGHT) Making the long trek from Michigan was veteran racer and chassis builder Shawn Bowen, but he didn't get the result he was looking for with a very early shutoff 6.589 - 144.15 from his late model Brad Anderson motor. After failing to qualify at last year's March Meet, he was certainly hoping for much better results this year.

(LEFT) The Sullivan & Stewart entry, with Shayne Stewart driving, failed to get a timeslip when he "double-stepped" on the loud pedal, leaving the line before the tree activated and received a "LB3A" (left before three ambers), and consequently, "no time recorded". With threatening weather in the forecast for the entire event, that mistake might cost them a chance to qualify.

(RIGHT) Joining the "click it early" brigade was Dusty Green, who ran strong to half track before slowing to a 6.232 - 194.46. Despite the early shutoff, it was good enough for Green to grab a (very) tenuous hold on the #8 spot.

FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) Despite the preponderance of Camaros and Firebirds in the pits, Jeff Utterback brought out the "Advanced Surfaces" old school Vega to take a shot at qualifying. He launched well, with the front wheels off the concrete, but the good vibes didn't last long as he shut down to an 11-second clocking.

(RIGHT) At the other end of the performance spectrum, Kamaka Pocock pushed Don Nelson's "California Hustler" to the #5 spot on the ladder with a very strong 5.728 - 246.84 run. A great start to their season.

(LEFT) Following on the heels of a very strong 2023 season, Geoff Monise and the "Quarter Pounder" team picked up right where they left off, blasting into the 5.60's with a 5.672 - 255.39, good enough for the #2 spot at the end of the first qualifying session. They've really stepped up their performances over the past few seasons.

(RIGHT) The oldest Mustang-bodied car in the field came up next, with Rian Konno at the tiller in the "Kajanzian, Lemon & Konno" car. Their opening pass was aborted early, with a 9.307 at only 83.68 coming up on the scoreboards. Despite the slow e.t., it still gave a toehold in the 16-car field, albeit on the bump spot.

(LEFT) Jack-of-all-trades tuner, driver, crewman, Cory Lee showed up in Gary Turner's "Pedaller" Dodge Challenger, and made a strong pass into the middle of the field, landing in the #8 position with an excellent 5.803 - 253.75 pass. They started the week without a blower but a last minute aquisition had them motoring up the Grapevine on Thursday morning and into the show on Friday afternoon.

(RIGHT) The first of the Northwest contingent was next out of the lanes, with Washington state's Michael Peck Sr. in the Camaro-bodied "Instigator". Even with a "slow" 225.48 mph, the 5.778 e.t. moved them into the #7 rung on the ladder. One can only imagine what the result would have been with a full 1320 foot pass.

(LEFT) Coming back to the sport at the end of the 2023 season after a long absence, Stephen "Romo" Romanozzi launched hard with the front wheels dangling off the starting line, but with a DNQ recorded on the qualifying list, either oiled the track or crossed the centerline to negate his timeslip.

(RIGHT) After two years without a winlight, Jerry Espeseth was looking to make some noise with the ex-Jason Rupert "Atlas Labs" Camaro and he started on the right foot with a very good 5.740 - 255.24 to grab the provisional #6 position on the qualifying sheet.

(LEFT) The only Ford-powered Mustang in the field, third-generation racer Drew Austin ran strong for a few hundred feet before problems set in, forcing him to shut down to a 7.185 - 134.26. Despite the slow e.t. he still grabbed a spot near the bottom of the field in the #15 position.

(RIGHT) Closing out our first qualifying session photos was the "Northwest Hitter" of Bucky Austin, driven by six-time defending Funny Car champion in the Heritage Series, Bobby Cottrell. He picked up right where he left off at the end of the 2023 season, pounding out low e.t and top speed of the first session, with a brilliant 5.635 - 256.94 time. With 20 wins in the 29 Heritage races he's entered, it could well be more of the same for the Northwest team in 2024.

FUEL ALTERED - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) It looked very good for quite a whlle, but Johnny West ran into some serious directional instability as he approached the 1000' mark in his "Plan A" 23-T roadster. While the scoreboard lit up to the tune of 6.17 - 219.76, the times were DQ'd as he took out all the finish line timing blocks.

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(RIGHT) Taking his annual "busman's holiday" in the "Burkholder Bros." '37 Fiat, world champion Funny Car driver Ron Capps wrestled the very short wheelbase machine down the Famoso strip yet again. It ran well until just past half track before it started skating around and heading for the centerline - does that sound familiar for AA/FA? - forcing him to click it early and post a 6.658 - 205.32 to take the #4 spot on the ladder.

FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #2 (FINAL)

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TOP FUEL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #3 (FINAL)

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FUEL ALTERED - Qualifying Session #2 (FINAL)

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With a reprieve from the weather gods, eliminations were completed on time on a very busy Sunday. Due to the intermittent rain on Saturday, all four rounds of Funny Car eliminations, plus the three rounds for Top Fuel and Fuel Altered were completed under mainly sunny skies. We haven't got a lot of photos to show, but the quality certainly makes up for the quantity.

One of the most iconic "A" boards in drag racing, the Famoso Dragstrip sign shows the 66th annual Good Vibrations March Meet is running in/near Bakersfield, California. A hallowed patch of ex-WWII airfield asphalt that still resonates with the sounds and smell of nitro several times each year.

TOP FUEL DRAGSTER ELIMINATIONS

(LEFT) In the opening round of eliminations, defending series champion, Tyler Hilton in the "Great Expectations III" smoked the tires early and fell to Tyler Hester. Hilton's 9-second run was far behind Hester's early shut-off (800') winning pass of 5.908 at only 194.86 mph.

(RIGHT) Next up were the two most closely matched qualifers, the #4 and #5 cars. Holding lane choice by only a hundredth of a second, Pete Wittenberg took out the challenger from Texas, Michael Anderson, as the Texan slowed to a mid 6-second clocking, while Wittenberg kept the hammer down all the way with a winning 5.720 - 250.13 pass. The e.t. was nearly a full tenth of a second quicker than his #4 qualifying pass in the "Circuit Breaker".

Starting eliminations from the #3 rung on the ladder, the Adam Sorokin driven "Champion Speed Shop" entry looked good as he pulled into the staging beams, but it all came undone quickly as he smoked the tires after leaving first by a full tenth over Bret Williamson. While Sorokin coasted to the finish line with a 10-second pass, Williamson easily advanced to the semifinals with a 5.875 -249.53 timeslip.

Opening the semifinal round without lane choice, Tyler Hester in the "Overtime Special", took out Pete Wittenberg in the closest race of the event. Heser left first by .038 and ran three thousandths quicker to take a less than a car length victory. The verdict read: Hester 5.725 - 261.67 (top speed of the meet), versus Wittenberg's very good 5.728 - 250.78 losing effort.

(LEFT) In the other semifinal pairing, Bret Williamson in the "Forever Young" entry was ready to take on a very tough opponent who had travelled a long way to contend for a March Meet victory. It was a close race of the line and Williamson was right there until he had a quick pedal near the 1000' mark, and could only muster a 6.077 - 245.00 in what became a losing effort.

(RIGHT) As the two cars staged for the right to face Tyler Hester in the final round, Bowen (accidentally?) whacked the throttle, but held in the beams long enough to make a green light start and kept the pedal all the way down to the finish line with a solid 5.978 - 249.49 clocking that took the winlight by nearly two car lengths. Even though he won the round, Hester's much quicker pass held lane choice for the final.

It was another strange starting line show for Shawn Bowen (far lane), as he pulled into full stage, whacking the throttle and bringing the revs way up before the ambers flashed. He was able to leave first by a few hundredths, but just past half track started heading for the centerline, forcing him to lift and cruise to the finish line with a 7.649 - 122.88 time. In the near lane, Tyler Hester kept the candles lit all the way enroute to another great pass, a 5.775 - 258.57 that turned on the final winlight of the event.

FUNNY CAR ELIMINATIONS

Qualifying whittled down the 23 entries to the "Quick 16" for Sunday's eliminations. With the surprise low qualifier, Shane Westerfield, sitting at the top of the ladder with a tremendous 5.613 - 258.57 effort, and Cameron Ferre on the bubble with a very respectable 5.924 - 244.83, it was shaping up to be a very exciting day of racing. Even the list of non-qualifiers included some quality teams and the quickest two alternateds in the 5-second zone.

(LEFT) Eliminations opened with a huge upset, as #16 qualifier Cameron Ferre blew away Shane Westerfield (not shown), nearly matching low e.t. of the meet, with an excellent 5.618 - 244.87 winning pass. The only dark shadow on the win was a huge cloud of "death" smoke at the finish line, meaning some serious thrashing was going to be required to turn the car around for the next round.

(RIGHT) After a couple of 7-second passes, the "Pro-Max" team, with young Drew Austin driving, jumped into the #13 spot in the last qualifying session, with a solid 5.753 - 245.00 pass. He backed that up with a winning 5.745 - 232.91 over Derrick Moreira (not shown), to advance to the quarter-final round.

In the second round, Jon Capps kept the beat going with a win over Geoff Monise (not shown), as he covered the "Quarter Pounder"'s early shutoff 6-second pass, with a great 5.803 - 253.04 to advance to the semifinals for the first time.... ever?

(LEFT) Next up was Funny Car veteran Jeff Arend, driving the "Nitro Nick" '78 Firebird of Matt Bynum. He had a very tough ask in this round, facing five-time defending series champion Bobby Cottrell (not shown), but when Cottrell's 'chute came out on the launch, it was all over. Arend pounded out a great 5.713 - 246.30 to advance to the semi=finals.

(RIGHT) Joining him in the next round was Cory Lee, in Gary Turner's "Pedaler", as he dispatched another Northwest "hitter", Drew Austin (not shown), with a very quick 5.683 at a booming top speed of the meet 260.36 mph. That was more than enough to give him lane choice in the semi-finals.

The semis saw two runaway wins, with Jeff Arend (not shown), advancing with a 19-second pass over a broken (on the burnout), Jon Capps, while Cory Lee won over Cameron Ferre with another very quick and fast pass, a 5.714 - 259.01 over a slowing Cameron Ferre in the "Johnny On Thin Ice" '70 Trans-Am. Lee's run gave him lane choice in the final by a very wide margin.

The final round matched two very experienced "Big Show" fuel funny car drivers, with Cory Lee coming out on top with his quickest run of the event, a 5.658, with another big speed at 260.01 to show that they had the car absolutely dialed in. Even though Lee left second, by just a hundredth of a second, he finished several car lengths in front of his very worthy opponent, Jeff Arend, who trailed through the traps with a slowing 5.829 - 236.92 set of times.

FUEL ALTERED - Eliminations

After three rounds of qualifying, the ten entrants were whittled down to eight, but when the "Sheepherder, being driven by Cory Lee, reported in as broken, the first alternate, and very long-time fuel racing veteran, Rodney Flournoy, was inserted into the field. He didn't last long though, as in the opening pair of eliminations he was blown away by #1 qualifier, Matt Leonard, 6.018 - 233.80 to a losing 16.483 - 65.70.

The "Cone Hunter" of New Mexico's Lyle Greenberg (near lane) found a little luck when Johnny West (far lane), got out of shape at 900', and center-punched the 1000' timing block. The automatic win for Greenberg made his 6.446 - 157.93 the winning time, while West pushed the foam block across the finish line and stopped the clocks at a quicker 6.257 - 206.07 in a losing effort.

(LEFT) Launching hard and running strong all the way to the finish line, Mark Whynaught stopped the timers at 5.970 - 217.35, but it was a shade too quick against Ron Capps's (not shown) safe 6.402 - 221.45 pass.

(RIGHT) In the final pairing of the round, the ultra evil-looking "Witch Doctor" '39 Fiat Toplino of Keith Wilson powered to an easy win with a solid 6.163 - 179.83 (off the throttle VERY early) over the "Pure Hell" '32 Bantam in the far lane.

Driving that recreation of an early 60's Awful/Awful was Tennessee's Brian Hope. As you can see, he got well out of shape on the burnout, showing true fuel altered style, then launched with what appears to be at least one cylinder misfiring, before limping to a 7.240 - 139.78 time.

(LEFT) In the semifinal round, Lyle Greenberg picked up the pace a little with a 6.328 - 200.74 to easily defeat Ron Capps, (not shown), who could only muster an early shutoff 7.246 - 133.16 in the "Burkholder Bros." '37 Topolino.

(RIGHT) With the sun set, and the lights on, the final round featured Keith Wilson (not shown), against Lyle Greenberg. After flirting with the 6.00-index in the first two rounds, with 6.163 and 6.062 e.t.'s, Wilson let it all hang out in the final with an insanely quick 5.777, at "only" 225.15 mph, to break out by a BUNCH. The recipient of the gift win was Greenberg, who bogged off the line and coasted to a 14-second timeslip. The slow roll down the track gave him a great view of Wilson giving away a certain victory with a way-too-fast pass. As the cliche reads: sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Two views of the winner: the car sitting in the winner's circle, waiting for the crew to show up (left) and on the right, the entire crew, with Lyle Greenberg holding the big trophy and crew chief Jake Sanders to his left. A well deserved win for a hard working team.