22nd California Hot Rod Reunion Concludes with Crowning of Champions

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The NHRA Motorsports Museum’s 22nd annual California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of Southern California came to a thrilling conclusion Sunday at the legendary Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

Racing icons like Grand Marshal Butch Leal, Honoree Larry Dixon Sr., Tom “Mongoose” McEwen, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, countless other racing stars and Reunion fans played in the nostalgia playground that has been going strong for 22 years at the famed Famoso Raceway.

Nostalgia Top Fuel driver Adam Sorokin, son of Mike Sorokin of the legendary Surfers Top Fuel drag racing team, celebrated his first-ever California Hot Rod Reunion event championship in the winner’s circle Sunday night.

In an intense final round, the California native powered his Champion Speed Shop dragster to a performance of 5.912 seconds at 216.76 mph to hold off Denver Schutz of Fresno at the storied McFarland/Bakersfield track. Sorokin outran Rick McGee, Rick White, and Jim Young to reach the final round.

“We wanted to win this race really bad for a long time now. We have never pulled a trigger here at the Reunion. This is really sweet,” said Sorokin, who is also the 2012 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series champion. “We were nervous running against Denver [Schutz] so we gave it all we got. I have a lot of great people behind us who gave me a great car.”

John Hale (Nostalgia Funny Car), Don Enriquez of Mission Viejo (Junior Fuel), Mike Smith of Oak Harbor, Wash. (7.0 Pro), Richard Phillips of Visalia, Calif. (7.0 Pro B), Mitchell Akers of San Diego (AFX), Tom Fowler of Paso Robles, Calif. (A/Gas), Bakersfield native Jason Barta (Nostalgia Eliminator), Ryan Davenport of Alberta, Canada (A/Fuel) and Dan Myers of Ramona, Calif. (Nostalgia Pro Mod) also were winners at the 22nd annual California Hot Rod Reunion.

Texas native Hale claimed his second California Hot Rod Reunion Funny Car championship title by defeating Californian Dan Horan in the final round. Hale powered his ’69 Camaro Super Sport to a performance of 5.685 seconds at 251.06 mph to hold off California native Horan. Hale outran John Powers, defending California Hot Rod Reunion champion Mike Lewis, and defending Heritage Series champion Jason Rupert to reach the final round.

“It was definitely an exciting race and having the championship resting on our shoulders for Jason [Rupert] really drove us to win,” Hale said. “We had a good time and it means a lot to win here at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway and at the tradition-rich California Hot Rod Reunion.”

In the exciting season-finale of the 2013 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series, points leader Jim Murphy clinched the Nostalgia Top Fuel world championship title and celebrated in the winner’s circle earlier that afternoon. While defending champ Rupert had to watch and wait until the finals to find out if he would be victorious. Rupert had been beaten in the semifinals by Hale and hung around to watch the nail-biting final round from the starting line. With Hale’s win, Rupert clinched his third consecutive 2013 Heritage Series championship in Nostalgia Funny Car.

“We’d like to thank our dedicated sponsors as well as those who joined us this year and made the event even bigger and better than last year,” Larry Fisher, executive director of the NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California said. “The success of the California Hot Rod Reunion makes it possible for the museum to collect, preserve and share stories of our sport’s pioneers and innovators.”

The 23rd annual California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of Southern California will be held Oct. 17-19, 2014 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

For more racing results, please visit www.competitionplus.com. Event coverage is also available on www.BangShift.com. For more information about the NHRA Motorsports Museum, visit www.nhramuseum.org.