Drag Racing Blog

Gary Berg came out of retirement to make an appearance at the Sacramento Bugorama, in the famous Berg Super Street VW Beetle. He ran head on into the ascending star, Andy Costello, and a serious duel ensued. Both drivers pushed each other into new E.T. records, and a final confrontation. Other Sacramento Super Street action included Candy Larsen of JCL Race Cars, nearly beating the odds with a two-day-old engine in the right-hand drive Ghia, that Shin Watanabe used to race.

These days you can find Candy running in the Powder Puff series, where the competition can be plenty tough. If you ask her how difficult it was to learn how to shift a right-hand drive race car, against the likes of Rafael Vasquez, Andy Costello, Gary Berg, Chris Tool, etc., she’ll probably tell you that it was no big deal.

1995 marked the emergence of Shawn Geers as a serious player in the PRA Pro ranks, and it could have also been the first time that Super Street Dave Perkins ran the class.

Back in the ’90’s, Quick 8 was the quickest and fastest VW drag racing class on the planet. These flat fours were usually custom-built to top-notch specs, using mostly aftermarket parts.

PRA ’94 profiles the radical Nitro-Methane fueled, dual-supercharged rail of Bonbright & Haire. This digger has to be seen and heard to be believed! The story continues with a close look at the turbocharged rail of VW Paradise in San Marcos, California, as they enter into an epic five-round Sacramento elimination with long time Quick-8 champions Dave Folts and Tom Schuh. It was the first time in years that someone had seriously challenged Folts and Schuh, and it started a rivalry that lasted for quite awhile.

PRA Pro Turbo VW drag racing has been called “the class where anything can happen”, and you can see that in this video. Watch a group of hardcore VW drag racers push their force-fed flat fours to the limit, and beyond! Volkswagen drag racing legend Chris Bubetz was the man to beat in 1994, and the points title chase went down to the wire, with three race car drivers still in the hunt at the final race of the year.

Ron Townsend was the 1993 PRA Pro Turbo points champion, and in 1994 he debuted a Dave Kawell-built turbo engine that had record-setting potential in it. Manny Flores in Yellow Trouble worked his way up the ladder to lead the 1994 points chase. Steve Ortega brought out a sweet ride that also had the potential to shake up the class rankings. VW drag racing doesn’t get much better than this!