It's Happy Hour at the 2018 Funny Car Fever
The California Independent Funny Car Association just completed their season opener at Sacramento Raceway Park. Tony Trimp in the Rough-N-Ready team defeated James Maher in the final round of the 2018 Funny Car Fever by .003! Thanks to Wayne Lederer for the photos. Check out the full recap below.
The California Indepedent Funny Car Association, also known as CIFCA, kicked off their 34th Season at Sacramento Raceway Park's Funny Car Fever. Eight CIFCA funny cars showed up for the event. Due to some rain the race was delayed a little. Saturday was a test day only where a few teams descided to make a hit. Jim Currie, in his Dragnut Funny Car, was the most unfortunate. After freshing up the engine over the offseason and putting some brand new parts on the car, he hurt the engine pretty bad and was unable to make the call for Sunday Show.
Sunday Sunday Sunday! CIFCA was allowed 1 qualifying pass. Ken Breneisen took the System One #1 Qualifier award by posting a 7.55. James Maher, who came from Whittier, CA took home the Control Cables Longest Tow Award, seated 2nd with a 7.58. Johnny Kirscherman made his funny car debut and ran just a bit too quick with a 7.498 on the 7.50 index but good enough for the #3 spot. Pete Ortiz Jr laid down a killer half track burnout to win the Mikes Transmission Burnout Contest and then cut a .015 light to win the Enderle Quick Reaction time with an elapse time of 6.44 at 218mph! Final Qualifying Order:
1, Ken Breneisen 7.555 - 176.77mph 2. James Maher 7.588 - 174.53mph
3. Johnny K 7.498* - 181.18mph 4. Mike Troxel 7.849 - 155.19mph
5. Shaun Bryan 7.948 - 140.63mph
6. Tony Trimp - 7.304* - 182.38mph
7. Pete Ortiz - 6.449* - 218.44mph
*Breakout
The sportsman style ladder was set. Breneisen had the bye run in round number 1 and he took the green light and coasted down the track. Trimp, the 2017 CIFCA Champion, faced new comer Johnny Kirscherman in round 1. Trimp went .007 red which handed the win over to Kirscherman. The next pair was Pete Ortiz vs Mike Troxel, who qualified 4th. Ortiz was out of the gate first with a nice .052 reaction time and he ran it just passed half track before clicking it early. Troxel was running full force until just about half track before he lost high gear and was unable to catch ortiz. Ortiz coasted to the finish line clocking a 7.58 at only 116mph and getting the win! Shaun Bryan, who qualified 5th, was up against Maher. Maher was out of the gate first a never looked back turning on the win light and clocking a 7.561 over Bryan's 8.403.
Breneisen was unable to make the call for the semi-final and Tony Trimp came in as the fast loser. Trimp had a rematch against Kirscherman. This time around Trimp laid down a killer 7.501 to Kirscherman's quicker but losing 7.411. Trimp took home to the Good Vibrations Motorsports Best Package with that run. Maher cut a .053 to light to Ortiz respectable .063 but at half track Maher started to pull away as Ortiz had trouble shifting. Maher clocked a 7.564 and the win light over Ortiz's 8.805.
The final was rematch of CIFCA's last years final at Tucson Dragway between Trimp and Maher. Maher was out of the gate first with a .073 to Trimp's .097 but a the stripe it was Trimp with a 7.543 at 175mph to Maher's 7.570 at 178mph. Tony Trimp in the Happy Hour Corvette won the 2018 Funny Car Fever with a Margin of Victroy of .003! Thank you to Sacramento Raceway Park for hosting the California Indepdent Funny Car Association. Special thanks to Napa Auto Parts for sponsoring the event & Diego Zuniga for being the CIFCA Race Director. CIFCA's next race is Nite of Fire, June 9th at Sacramento Raceway Park. Follow the California Indepdent Funny Car Associaton on Facebook or visit www.cifca.com
