Tehachapi's Mike Brock will compete at March Meet at Famoso Raceway
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October 2012 Dragfest Nostalgia Sling Shot III winner Mike Brock from Tehachapi in his '37 Fiat Topolino, which will run in the Nostaligic Eliminator III class at next week's March Meet at Famoso Raceway in McFarland. Photo courtesy of Draglist.com
Engines will roar as nitro burning funny cars and dragsters descend on the small north Kern County town of McFarland this week for the 2013 edition of the March Meet.
This year's event will mark 55 years of some of the greatest quarter-mile drag racing in the world that is held annually at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway, which also features a hot rod car show, swap meet and vendors' midway from March 7 through 10.
Over 500 race entries are expected for the four-day festival of speed, including Tehachapi resident Mike Brock.
Brock, who drives a '37 Fiat Topolino, will run in the Nostalgic Eliminator III class and will be looking for a win in his first time back since finishing second at the 2009 March Meet.
But it's not just the idea of winning that lures Brock back to the track.
"It's just a great time meeting people from all over the world," he said. "These are pioneers of the sport that have been doing this for more than 40 years. It's kind of like meeting your favorite celebrity or band backstage."
While Brock gets ready to buckle up, fellow nostalgia class racers --the father-and-son duo of Gil and James Valencia from Bear Valley -- will not be racing at this year's event.
"It's just gotten so expensive and we have other things going on financially this year," said the elder Valencia who hung up his helmet three seasons ago after running in the March Meet repeatedly since 1996.
James meanwhile, competed last season, running his '32 Bantam in the Nostalgia Eliminator I, a 7.60-second index with a wide variety of cars trying to run through a quarter-mile as close to 7.60 seconds as possible.
This year the pair will attend the event as spectators, rooting on Brock, but said they are planning to be back in the thick of the competition next season.
For tickets to this year's event visit the Auto Club Famoso Raceway website at www.famosoraceway.com.
