Santa Paula drag racers do well in Bakersfield

Fifty years of drag racing was celebrated recently in a 3-day nostalgia drag racing event at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. There were over 500 cars entered in 10 fuel classes and over 35,000 spectators on hand for the March Meet. Santa Paula racers did well. All the Santa Paula participants qualified on Friday and Saturday for the main event.Mike Wortman was the big winner for Santa Paula after he went to the finals in C gas and pulled off a first place in his class. Charlie Whitaker made it to the first round and was knocked out of the running. Dean Lindsey went on to the semi-finals in the A gas class. Ray Padgett made it to the semis in the B gas class. Doug Araiza went three rounds in the C gas class after having taken a year off. He came back with a beautiful, fast car. Jim Stewart went four rounds in C gas.Besides celebrating 50 years of racing, the 2008 March Meet was the inaugural race of the Hot Rod Heritage Series, the NHRA’s new 7-race nostalgia racing series.