BATEMAN WINS FUNNY CAR - GAINS POINTS LEAD Pruitt RU - First 250 in NFC       June 26-27, 2009 - Sacramento, CA.: The 33rd Nitro Nite of Fire featured a new and exciting format promoted by Lee Paul and Lisa Jennings. It was also an official NHRA National Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series points event for the nitro funny cars. Also featured were Fuel Altereds, Pro Mods, 7.0 Pro, gas classes, jet cars a wheelstander and a select field of cacklecars featuring mostly NoCal entries. Had it not been for sweltering weather with temps hitting 108 degrees, this would have been an almost perfect event. If you are familiar with the racing surface at Sacramento it is usually less than ideal but for this show the Jennings had Paul Brander come in to prep the track and what a job they did. In spite of 140 degree track temps, there were some excellent times including the first Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car 250 mph run ever by Lisa Pruitt-Leduc in the Pruett & Jennings Mustang. After qualifying #1 with a 5.85 it was no surprise to see Garrett Bateman and the Plueger & Gyger car end up in the winners circle on Saturday night. In a great final, Bateman got the best of Pruett-Leduc 5.96 to 6.06 to take the lead in the Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series points race. Photos of this race and many more below. Photos by: Stephen Justice, Steven C. Wallace, Darrell Conrad, Pam Schavrien and Don Ewald     Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car Results Qualifying: 1. Garrett Bateman.....'71 Mustang - BAE.............5.855..240.69 2. Leah Pruett-Leduc...'69 Mach 1....................5.935..249.42 3. Bucky Austin........'79 Arrow - BAE 484...........6.030..236.23 4. Mark Sanders........'70 Nova - Hemi 470...........6.124..236.14 5. Mendy Fry...........'73 Duster - AJPE 483.........6.145..233.82 6. Dennis LaCharite....'69 GTO - BAE 426.............6.149..228.46 7. Josh Crawford.......'69 Mustang - AJPE 526........6.279..232.78 8. Chris Bennett.......'69 Camaro - Hemi.............6.436..224.49 Round 1 W: Garrett Bateman.......0.135....6.077..230.36...MOV: 0.368 L: Chris Bennett.........0.083....6.497..224.32 W: Mendy Fry.............0.115....6.249..234.05...MOV: 1.121 L: Mark Sanders..........0.130....7.355..214.46 W: Leah Pruett-Leduc.....0.044....6.073..250.37 L: Josh Crawford.........-.311....6.572..184.89-Foul W: Dennis LaCharite......0.107....6.273..233.27...MOV: 0.034 L: Bucky Austin..........0.152....6.262..233.11 Round 2 W: Bateman...............0.150....5.941..232.34...MOV: 0.219 L: Fry...................0.110....6.200..239.67 W: Pruett-Leduc..........0.113....6.136..243.77...MOV: 0.087 L: LaCharite.............0.102....6.234..232.60 Final W: Bateman...............0.161....5.963..237.97...MOV: 0.018 L: Pruett-Leduc..........0.079....6.063..246.62        Friday - Qualifying Session One     Chris Bennett was still working out the bugs in the new Pure Heaven IV Camaro.           Dennis LaCharite in his '69 GTO "Back In Black".     With their American Revolution flopper still being repaired from Jack Beckman's crash at Funny Car Fever, the Jennings put their engine in the Leah Pruett-Leduc driven "Heart Breaker".       Mendy Fry was in the '73 Duster "Bomb Squad".       Mark Sanders was on hand with his Mr. Explosive Nova.               Garrett Bateman lined up with his boss, Bucky Austin.               Josh Crawford capped off his license runs and qualified #8 in his very clean '69 Mustang. This car is so clean it will be a shame to even letter it.           Saturday         Mendy Fry was in the '73 Duster "Bomb Squad".                                     During the pre race ceremonies Lisa and Lee Paul Jennings recognized Steve Plueger at the event Grand Marshall.                 In round one Mendy Fry moved first and never looked back.       Mark Sanders was way too explosive blowing the tires off at the hit ending any chance he had of catching Fry.               In what would be the biggest upset of the race Dennis LaCharite left on Bucky Austin and held on for a holeshot win 6.273 to a better 6.262.                     Garrett Bateman and Chris Bennett left together but from that point on it was all Bateman.                   Josh Crawford left way early handing the win to Leah Pruett-Leduc who went on to run a 6.073 at 250.37 - the first 250 time in Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car history. Keeping in mind she ran 249 in qualifying and 248 in eliminations, this was hardly a fluke.             In the semi finals Bateman put away Fry with the first five second pass of eliminations (5.941).       Pruitt got the best of LaCharite by a tenth to meet Bateman in the final.       This was a very welcome site to fans and racers alike... even if it did only drop the temp by a few degrees.           Pruett-Leduc left first by a bunch (0.079 to 0.161) which made this a very close race at the stripe - 5.963 at 237.97 to a game 6.063 at 246.62 . MOV: 0.018.           The Pruett & Jennings team with runner-up honors.     NEW  DVD - Nitro Nostalgia Funny Cars     Here are some random shots of other cars that put on a great show.                                                                                   Dave Rosenberg qualified #1 in the 7.0 Pro - 7.00 Index class and marched all the way to the winners circle in Bruce Dyda's "Surfers Paradise".         To close this event out you had to know if there was a Top Fuel car there - we would be all over it. Out testing a new MSG mag was the new driver for the Botehlo Compston Patterson late model hemi fueler, Randy Eakins from East West Engineering.                     Eakins collected some timing blocks on his first attempt, but had no such problem in his next four passes. Bill Botehlo deemed the test runs a success but admits they have a way to go to be competitive with the 392 based Nostalgia Top Fuel cars.                                         2009 Nitro Nite of Fire Cackle Mania   Members Site Map || Visitors Site Map Site Copyright Ewald Enterprises, 1998-2009. All Rights Reserved. WDIFL.com is a Left Coast Graphics  Web Property. Return to Top