Bakersfield, CA - 10/18/10: After three days of 90 degree sunshine the race had to be called due to inclement weather after the semi final rounds. Thus the 19th California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of Southern California finals in Nostalgia Top Fuel and Nostalgia Funny Car will be finished at the 46th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals held at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Nov. 10-13. Remaining classes (A/Fuel, Junior Fuel, A/Gas, AA/Gas, 7.0 Pro and Nostalgia Eliminator) divided the purse equally and the lowest elapsed time of each class in the previous round received the 19th California Hot Rod Reunion trophy.

Not making the trip to Pomona will be the WW2 Racing team. After qualifying #1 with a nice 5.80 at 230.35, Murphy easily handled his opponents in the first two rounds of racing. In the semi-finals Jim was facing Adam Sorokin and it should have been a great race. However, one small mistake by a new crew member took the green car out of the picture on the burnout.

Fuel cars use throttle stops on their burnouts as to not over rev the engine. In this case the stop was inadvertently left off and when Murphy rolled through the water box and hit the throttle it went all the open taking the engine up over 12,000 rpm which bent several exhaust valves and rendering the engine unfit for a race.

Murphy finished the procedure and limped to the starting line in hopes Sorokin would red light but that did not happen. He did leave the line but got out of the throttle before the 60' mark.

Sorokin came into the event trailing Murphy by just nine points in Nostalgia Top Fuel and with a 17-point lead over Brad Thompson, who was third. Sorokin qualified sixth in the 16-car field and matched up with Thompson in round two, taking the win and eliminating Thompson from the title chase. This made the race with Jim a true championship match-up. The loss left Murphy #2 in the points, the same as 2009.

Semi-Final round results:

Nostalgia Top Fuel – Adam Sorokin, Sterling Dragster, 252.03, 5.634 def. Jim Murphy, 09 Thornhill, 104.04, 8.606.

Nostalgia Top Fuel – Brett Harris, Neil & Parks Dragster, 250.20, 5.776 def. Rick McGee, 97 Tedford, 132.68, 6.886.

Photos and the whole story below.

 

After warming up the engine for the first qualifying session all that was left to do was wait to be called to the lanes.

3:15 p.m. After some timely delays because of some oil downs Top Fuel finally got out for its first session. The temperature was in the low 90s which made the track groove pretty narrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Nipping a couple of pistons in the process, Murphy carded a 5.80 at 230.35 while Sorokin shut off a tad early to a 6.02 at 212.86.

1:30 p.m. Unlike the March Meet which offers three shots to qualify, the CHRR offered only two which put the tuners and drivers to the test as they have less room for error. After the first season, in spite of an aborted run, Harris was sitting #10. The weather remained HOT.

 

 

Before the session the legendary Don Prudhomme stopped by to chat with Jim and Chops (Tim Beebe).

 

Murphy had another good launch and nearly repeated his session one numers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both cars stayed side by side to the stripe with Murphy stopping the clocks with a 5.88 at 237.78 which left his earlier 5.80 as still be best of the field. Thompson improved with a 5.85 at 204.59.

 

01: Jim Murphy - 5.80/230.35
02: Rick White - 5.81/254.16
03: Rick McGee - 5.82/224.88
04: Adam Sorokin - 5.83/239.61
05: Brad Thompson - 5.85/204.59
06: Denver Schutz - 5.92/226.01
07: Rick Williamson - 5.95/242.98
08: Bill Dunlap - 5.95/211.61
09: Troy Green - 5.99/202.15
10: Brendan Murry - 6.06/222.55
11: James Day - 6.06/244.03
12: Brett Harris - 6.14/180.07
13: Mike McClennan - 6.18/217.46
14: Keith Burgan - 6.31/214.84
15: Rick Rogers - 6.35/227.23
16: John Weaver - 6.83/186.95

 

Saturday - Round One of Eliminations

5:00 p.m. The other difference between the March Meet and CHRR is that the first round of eliminations is run Saturday prior to the Cacklefest program.

 

#1 Murphy was suppose to meet the #16 car driven by John Weaver but he couldn't make the call due to a crash on Friday. Murphy had a single.

 

It cost him a couple of more pistons but a solid 5.761 at 237.52 would give him lane choice in round two.