TOP FUEL ELIMINATOR
En route to his conquest — and with the help of ace-tuner Jimi Young — Wittenberg dispatched Brendan Murry and Dan Horan, Jr., after Horan eliminated Bret Williamson in the first round.
On the other side of the ladder, #3 Qualifier Bryan Hall posted a big-end charge of 263-mph in qualifying for Top Speed of the Meet, but succumbed to rookie driver Tyler Hester in the first round of eliminations. Also in the first round, #2 Qualifier Jim Murphy suffered a brutal defeat to Hilton, who first dropped a holeshot on Murphy and then pedaled around Murphy when Jim’s mount gave up the ghost at 700’. Hilton’s 6.08 upended Murphy’s superior 6.02. Hilton’s margin of victory was 1/100th of second.
Hilton had clocked a best-ever 5.78 ET at 236 MPH in the last session qualifying but took out the engine and the time was disqualified. The team dropped in the reserve Rodek on Saturday night and powered through Sunday eliminations, backed by three generations of family drag racing heritage. His historic runner-up finish marked his family’s return to the Bakersfield Meet since the original “Jim & Alison Lee Great Expectations” raced at this event in 1967.
Head over to the official AAFD website for a complete March Meet Top Fuel roundup with round-by-round rundowns, photos, results, videos, and more. The 62nd Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet was the opening salvo in the 2020 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing series. The next stop for the All American Fuel Dragsters is the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion June 18th-20th at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. |
