Bakersfield,
CA - March 05-08, 2010: Horrible economy and a mixed bag of adverse weather
conditions aside, the 2010 edition of the March Meet wrapped
up on Monday with a hugely popular win in Top Fuel and the first
woman to win Funny Car title in 52-year-old history of the March
Meet. For Adam Sorokin, winning the March Meet for the first
time (his first win ever in NTF) was an emotional roller coaster
ride. His dad Mike won this prestigious event in 1966 in the
Surfers AA/FD but tragically died racing in 1967. Adam was one
year old when his dad passed away.
The racing on
Monday the first in the races long history -- capped an
exciting and at times somewhat frustrating event at Famoso. We
had a few weather-related issues during the weekend, but what
a great ending, said Blake Bowser, vice president and general
manager of the Kern County Racing Association, operators of Auto
Club Famoso Raceway and producers of the March Meet. This
is one for the record books.
After defeating
Howard Haight for the win, Adam Sorokin could not hold back the
tears. My mom told me I was conceived at this race track,
and to come back after all these years and win it is to big a
dream to be true. We only had six laps on the brand new car and
for it to run a 5.70 is amazing. Sorokin ran a 5.764 at
241.61 to beat Haights 5.935 at 246.23.
As late as Thursday
heavy rain was predicted for Saturday into Sunday. On Friday
the track was so cold that there were 3 accidents and virtually
no teeth for the fuel cars. But the upside was the weather report
was getting better by the hour. On Saturday (some say miraculously)
the rain virtually "surrounded" the valley leaving
Famoso dry. However, no rain did not mean a good track. Saturday
yielded another tricky surface for the 2nd fuel qualifying sessions
leaving the TF bump spot at a dismal 10.23 (Murphy was #1 with
a 6.16).
Weather aside,
the only big question is should a meet the size of the March
Meet even try to run a 32 car fuel show? Most say no. In the
day, the 32 car shows were stand alone events where there no
concern about 450 other cars. By running Top Fuel qualifying
after funny car on both sessions the fuelers were denied any
chance of getting a shot at a decent track. In the name a fairness
the order should have been reversed on Saturday.
Nonetheless,
the sun finally put some heat in the track on Sunday and the
times reflected it. 5s were common place in both Top Fuel and
funny car with Rick White going low in the dragsters with a 5.705
at 255.24 and Ron Capps setting a new flopper mark of 5.703.
But with 5 rounds of funny car to get through they simply ran
out of time on Sunday forcing the conclusion into Monday.