Drag Illustrated Issue 155, April 2020 | Page 36

Dirt Shaking Things Up at ‘The Patch’ Wittenberg, Bynum and Capps score March Meet victories By David Beitler T he 2020 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series season kicked off in style with the 62nd annual Good Vibrations Motor- sports March Meet at legendary Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield, Califor- nia. A picture-perfect sky, warm temperatures and a perfectly prepped track created the stage for the 500 racers and countless race fans on property from early Wednesday testing sessions through eliminations on late Sunday. Before the event, it was already a certain that due to the passing of team owner Tom Shelar, reigning Top Fuel champion Mendy Fry and the High Speed team would be sitting out the race, if not the whole season. This left the field in Top Fuel wide open. Defending event champion Adam Sorokin brought a new car with a stunning body design, but needs to sort some gremlins out. On the other hand, the Circuit Breaker team was nearly flawless. Sporting a fresh paint job, driver Pete Wittenberg qualified on the top of the ladder with a 5.607 at 254.81 mph. He didn’t stop there, dominating the field on Sunday during elimina- tions and going straight through the field to meet Tyler Hilton in the finals. Hilton qualified 7th and 36 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 155