March Meet Hot Rod Class Drag Racing Video
“The first Volkswagen winner at a non-Volkswagen event in my 20 years in Bakersfield” -Famoso drag strip track announcer. Props to veteran VW drag racer Mike Lawless, who ran a bunch of rounds against the V-8 guys, on his way to winning the March Meet 2009 Hot Rod class. Mike was tight on his dial-in, and his VW Karmann Ghia engine held up well for the entire day, despite being hot-lapped hard near the end. He runs alcohol with mechanical injection, no fan shroud or air-cooling of any kind. Tow vehicle support was provided by Troy Palmer and his dad. The March Meet is a huge event, with over 500 race cars in 14 classes, so this is an historic victory for the VW drag racing world. This race is the first stop on the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. Former VW drag racers running at the March Meet included Bob Godfrey, who was driving a Top Fuel Nostalgia Funny Car. The Karmann Ghia that the announcer is referring to was driven by Roger Crawford of Heads-Up Performance, who was testing a nitrous combo the previous weekend. Here are the stats for some of Mike’s passes. You can see more drag racing statistics at the Famoso Raceway website.
HOT ROD:
Round 4:
Mike Lawless, Clovis CA, ’65 Karman Ghia, HRD, Right lane, (0.033) 11.93 11.996 0.066, def. Eric Christianson, Camarillo CA, ’65 Ranchero, HRD, (0.061) 11.00 10.979 -0.021
Round 5:
M Lawless, Right lane, (0.149) 12.00 12.013 0.013, def. C Howey, (0.099) 12.50 12.587 0.087
Round 6:
M Lawless, Right lane, (0.210) 12.05 11.835 -0.215, def. R Good, (-0.033 foul) 10.80 22.324 11.524
Round 7:
M Lawless, Left lane, (0.129) 12.05 12.204 0.154, def. S Staab, (0.165) 12.90 13.054 0.154
Results courtesy of DragRaceCentral.com