Fun Ford Weekend - West Coast

[57AGIN]

Well, the Fun Ford Weekend here in Southern California is over for another year.  The drag racing was opened this year to all makes and run in their normal format.  The car show was restricted to Ford Motor Company products only.  This year the track was opened on Friday for testing & tuning runs, Sat & Sun was to be for the racing and car show.  Unfortunately, our usually mild Southern California weather did not cooperate.  The California equivalent of the East Coast hurricanes came in on Saturday night and are still with us (lots of fires).  The winds picked up at about midnight and gusted between 50 - 80 mph, one gust was measured to be 108 mph.  Those of us who spent Saturday night at the race track woke up on Sunday morning to very limited visibility and strong winds, the Sunday race and car show were cancelled.  Bummer!!!

The Saturday car show was strongly dominated by Mustangs and there were about 50 Saleen Mustangs and they had a separate show judging.  As per the usual Fun Ford Weekend car show program, the Saturday show is judged by the participants who select the top twenty five (25) cars each of which are awarded a very nice Class Champion plaque.  The Sunday show is judged by Fun Ford Weekend staff and there are many additional awards, usually about 45 in total. 

This year every 57 Ford showing was judged by the Mustang dominated crowd to be a winner, there were 2 Custom 300's, 1 Ranchero, and 1 Ranch Wagon (he drove in from Arizona in his 460 powered Ranch Wagon).  Two additional 57's were there one arriving after judging was completed (shopratwoody's really fine Ranchero), and Chick's Fairlane 500 (he's the original owner) left before the judging took place.  So at least the rest of the Ford crowd recognize and respect our really classic Fords.

We still have a couple of more car shows this year, but no more racing opportunities.  You guys in the other parts of the country are really lucky, as you still have lots of drag strips operating.  In the 60's when I did my racing we had Lions, Irwindale, San Fernando, Pomona, Orange County International Raceway, Riverside Raceway, Poway, Carlsbad all of which were in about a 75 mile radius.  Now we have Irwindale (1/8th mile only) and the California Speedway (1/4 mile) to race at.  Pomona is only open to the Winternationals and World Finals.  The others are now shopping malls and housing developments.

Bob
57AGIN