DENSHAM, BARTONE LOCK UP CHAMPIONSHIPS; PARKS SWEEPS
GLENDORA, Calif. – Steven Densham and Tony Bartone locked up their championship seasons for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series while Scott Parks won both the Jr. Fuel Championship along with the event championship at the California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of Southern California.
Densham, who had the Nostalgia Funny Car points lead coming into the event lost in round one to Kris Krabill who was the only drivers that could catch him, needing to reach the final round to overtake the Oceanside, Calif., resident, Densham. Krabill, Tacoma, Wash., driving the Bucky Austin Racing ’78 Firebird defeated Marc White in round two then fell to former series champion Jason Rupert in the semifinals giving Densham the championship.
“It’s an amazing feeling and we have had a pretty good year all year long,” Densham said. “We ended winning the championship and I’m super excited it happened.”
Steven is the son of long time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car driver Gary Densham who is the team owner of the championship-winning car.
Krabill held on to finish second with a win earlier in the year at Firebird Raceway’s Nightfire Nationals in August.
Coming into the final event of the year, Bartone, Long Island City, N.Y., had already clinched his second straight NHRA Heritage Series Championship with three wins in four final rounds. Bartone was looking to end the season with a win as he took the number one qualifying spot and ran low elapsed time in rounds one and two before losing to event runner up Denver Schutz in his semifinal match up.
Schutz lost to Bill Dunlap in the final round with Dunlap holding on to second place in the points standings. Dunlap, Capitola, Calif., defeated Bartone in the final of the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance for this first win of the season back in June.
Parks, Burlingame, Kan., swept the weekend holding off both J.D. Zink and Wayne Ramay for the 2015 Jr. Fuel point’s championship and then knocking out Don Enriquez in the final to take home the Hot Rod Reunion trophy as well. The win was Parks’ third of the year having won the season opener Good Vibrations March Meet and the Rocky Mountain Raceway event in June.
Kin Bates, Anderson, Calif., scored his seventh Heritage Series A/Fuel Championship having dominated the field since the series started in 2008. Bates won in Sacramento and added a pair of final rounds at the March Meet and in Salt Lake City to set up the series clinching semifinal round this weekend. Bates lost to event winner Drew Austin who won the final two events of the year to jump into second.
Redmond, Wash., racer Michael Peck over took former Series Champion Bobby Cottrell to win the 7.0 Eliminator championship. Cottrell lost in round two which opened the door for Peck who advanced to the semifinals to seal the championship. Peck opened the season with a semifinal at the March Meet then added a runner up in Salt Lake before this weekend’s semifinal.
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