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2009 California Hot Rod Reunion
Round by Round In the first round of racing, the Sierra
Pipe 38' Chevy was matched with the #1 qualifier Chuck Moore. If Chuck repeated his 6.52 from qualifying, we would go
home early. Unexpectedly they switched to the left lane, because of the major bald spots that developed in the right
lane. We lined up just to the outside of the bald spots and had no problem getting down the track. Chuck's .212 reaction
time took him out of the race early. We improved a tenth of a second from qualifying, running 6.76 at 205.62MPH.
The speed was down, because Howard shut off a little early, with no sign of Chuck in the other lane. In the semi-finals, we were matched with Sean Renteria. They also gave us the right lane, which
was the preferred lane in qualifying. Two major oil downs left us sitting in the staging lanes for nearly two hours......ugh.
The Renteria brothers had a crank trigger problem and the car would not fire, giving us a single to the finals. We slowed
to a 6.78 at 203.66MPH, as the headers were in the process of self-destructing. Going into the final, we had to find a solution for the crippled headers. We immediately removed
them and Howard set out to see if they could be repaired. In parallel, a number of competitors offered to let us use
their headers. With tape measure in hand, we confirmed that repair of our headers would be the only possible solution.
Bucky Austin methodically put the mangled header back together again and filled all of the gaps at the flange in the other
header. Our headers are made from stainless steel, which complicated things a bit. Without a reliable repair,
we would risk catching the car on fire in the final and we were not going to take that chance. In the end, Bucky performed
miracle surgery on the headers and we made it just in time. The track officials said we were nearly out of time. To
help support the officials and our competitor Rich Roberts, we strapped Howard into the car in the pits, set the tire pressure
and made sure the car was ready to start, before going to the staging lanes. As far as the race goes, it was dark and
track conditions were deteriorating rapidly. When Howard shifted 2nd, the car shot to the wall, he had to peddle it
and wait until it settled down. He got back in the throttle and it did it again when he shifted 3rd. Howard peddled
it again and drove hard to the finish line. Rich Roberts had problems of his own and gave up the ghost before half track.
The speed at the finish line tells the story. 101.82MPH for Roberts and 204.26MPH for Anderson. The rest is history.
More pictures and stuff from the Reunion to come, along with lots of stuff planned for the off-season.
With the help of a lot of friends
we made the final just in time after our headers self destructed in the semi-finals. We would like to thank Bucky Austin
for welding back together, what was thought to be a hopeless situation. As Howard was working to support the header
repair, we got lots of assistance from Mike, Shelly and the entire Molea team to help get the car ready for the final.
The White Family was also a huge help as they pulled their Willys out of the trailer to see if we could use the headers from
that car. Steve Mora from Gary Reinero's team was at our side to help install the repaired headers. As it turns out the final was a peddle fest with Howard taking the win at 7.17 seconds, but the speed
told the story. Howard would never give up and ran down Rich Roberts at the finish line, running 204.28 MPH in the dark.
Lots more race coverage to come later in the week. Hot Rod Reunion Final Qualifying Results Well it took a 6.86 to qualfy for the 2009 California Hot Rod Reunion and that was the time that the Sierra
Pipe Racing posted. The good news is we ran 208.33 in the process and we know the power exists to run a much better
ET. If the early numbers are competitive, anything can happen. Here are the final qualifying results: 1 7280 Chuck Moore, Castro Valley CA, '63 Corvette 6.529 214.08 214.08 Champion Raceway Wrap-up The race at Champion Raceway marked the conclusion of another successful AA/Supercharged season.
We have 3 different champions in 3 years and a strong field of cars at each and every event. On Sunday morning, Larry
McFarland gathered the 8 AA/Supercharged race teams and cars together for a group photo on the Champion Raceway starting line.
Look for a sample of these photos later. As for the race, the final round may have been decided by a dirty spark plug
boot. Following the final, Dave Thompson discovered the characteristic black stripe down the side of a spark plug.
This indicates the spark traveled down the outside of the spark plug, causing the car to run on seven cylinders. With
the tricky track conditions, we will never know if running on eight cylinders would result in an aborted run for the Gary
Reinero. As for the championship, the season title was not won on the starting line, but it could have been lost.
Following a .225 reaction time, Mike Molea was not ready when the chips were down. When the two championship contestants
faced off in the semi-finals, the reaction times were a .315 for Mike as compared to a great .018 for Gary. Mike normally
has excellent reaction times and this will be a great learning experience for the future. As we look forward to the
18th California Hot Rod Reunion, we have lots of news and information to come. Stay Tuned........ Champion Raceway Elimination
Results Race news and event summary coming next: Round 1: Gary Reinero defeated
Troy Owen .120 RT 6.864 200.65MPH to .131 RT 7.220 188.15MPH Mike
Molea defeated Joel Matton .225 RT 7.115 188.81MPH to .042 RT 7.371 184.83MPH Howard Anderson defeated Scott White .069 RT 6.906 201.19MPH to .084 RT 6.915 198.70MPH Mitch Chamberlin defeated Bill Fitting .119 RT 7.528 168.39MPH to -.048 RT 7.639 174.57MPH Semi-Final Round: Gary Reinero
defeated Mike Molea .018 RT 6.845 200.65MPH to .315 RT 7.286 168.39MPH Howard Anderson defeated Mitch Chamberlin .118 RT 9.808 90.33MPH to Broke Scott White raced Howard Anderson in place of Mitch .183 RT 6.952 198.64MPH Final Round: Howard Anderson
defeated Gary Reinero .104 RT 7.019 198.79MPH to .037 RT 7.261 187.42MPH Champion Raceway Quick Race Results
Champion Raceway Qualifying Results Yet another struggle for the Sierra Pipe team in Champion Raceway qualifying. On the first
pass we started with the same clutch combination that we used to set the track speed record last year. The result was
major slippage. The RPMs went directly to 8500 and remained the same, until the blower belt came off in high gear.
The result was a 7.40 at 154MPH. On the second pass we stacked weight on the clutch. The change provided great
results in low gear, but the wheelie bar change we made prior to this race, caused the car to move directly to the centerline
and the run was aborted. Based on the data from the second pass, we felt a simple wheelie bar change would result in
a killer pass on the third attempt. As we towed to the staging lanes, Howard noticed a strange noise. We returned
to the pits and discovered the rear end was damaged. We quickly changed it, but did not make it in time for the final
qualifying session. With support from Bill Fitting and the Champion Raceway crew, we were allowed to make a third run,
that would not count twards qualifying. Unfortunately we slipped the clutch just like to first pass. The
result was a 7.11 at 198.50MPH. This run did not count and we had to use our 7.40 to qualify us in the sixth position.
We are going to stack more clutch on for tomorrow and see what happens. With temperatures approaching 90 degrees
and corrected altitude above 4000 feet, the qualifying results are impressive. Race results to come on Monday morning. 1. Gary Reinero 6.830 202.00MPH 2. Scott White 6.865
200.29MPH 3. Mike Molea 7.016
193.10MPH 4. Mitch Chamberlin 7.307
187.29MPH 5. Troy Owen
7.339 186.56MPH 6. Howard Anderson
7.409 154.05MPH 7. Joel Matton 7.459
184.42MPH 8. Bill Fitting
7.495 178.85MPH Updated AA/Supercharged Points Here are the updated AA/Supercharged points. As we approach the final race at Medford, I will
provide the championship possibilities. 1.
Mike Molea 4050 2. Gary Reinero 3770 3. Scott White 3040 4. Howard Anderson 3040 5.
Mitch Chamberlin 2820 6. Troy Owen 2380 7. Bill Fitting
2310 8. Joel Matton
1800 9. Brent Harris 870 10. Monte Grubb 510 11. Scott Wyke 100 Woodburn #3 Final Race Results Round #1 Howard Anderson .022
RT 6.875 202.88 Defeated Mitch Chamberlin .035 RT 6.971 197.67 Mike Molea .095 RT 6.877 198.54 Defeated Gary Reinero .038 RT 7.234 197.45 Scott White .115 RT 7.400 195.48 Defeated Troy Owen .261 RT 7.347 185.29 Joel Matton .034 RT 7.297 187.30 Defeated Bill Fitting .035 RT 8.923 170.74 Semi Finals Mike Molea .036
RT 7.209 191.12 Defeated Howard Anderson .052 RT 9.545 99.52 Joel
Matton .055 RT 7.237 187.30 Defeated Scott White .059 RT 7.398 194.76 Final Mike Molea Defeated Joel Matton Joel
Broke Before Staging Woodburn #3 Quick Race Results Following the #1 qualifying position, confidence in the Sierra Pipe camp was running high.
The 6.83 from Saturday was extremely soft, with plenty of room for improvement. We made a single clutch change for the
first round on Sunday. The result was more aggressive than expected and the car shook at the top of low gear and into
second. It did recover to run a 6.87 at 202 MPH. In the second round we were matched with Mike Molea and once
again we experienced tire shake in low gear without a chance to recover. Mike went on to win the event and take the
AA/Supercharged points lead. Complete race coverage to come later in the week. Woodburn #3 Qualifying Results What a difference a week makes. The qualifying ladder looked dramatically different than it
did just one week ago. Following the first round of qualifying, Scott White was on top of the pack with a 7.04, with
the majority of the field having difficulty negotiating the Woodburn Dragstrip. Following the second round of qualifying,
the Sierra Pipe 38' Chevy was at the top of the qualifying ladder with a 6.83 at 202 MPH. Although Scott White was in
2nd with the 7.04, it did not tell the story of that pass. Scott was half a tenth ahead of our 6.83 at the 330' mark,
but the burst panel opened just before half track, costing the White family the pole position. Gary Reinero had problems
getting down the track and held down the #3 spot at 7.13, but set top speed of the meet at over 203 MPH. Following a
DNQ last week, Joel Matton was in the top half of the field with a great 7.25. Two interesting match-ups to watch first
round include a rematch between Mike Molea and Gary Reinero, with huge championship implications. With Mike Molea just
300 points behind Gary, he has the ability to take the points lead or end his championship run. The bottom line is,
anything can happen in this one. Another one to watch is Joel Matton vs Bill Fitting. Bill bumped Joel from the
Mission Raceway field by .005 seconds last week. This should be a great race when they meet tomorrow. Look for
race results on Monday. 1. Howard Anderson
6.832 202.20 MPH 2. Scott White
7.048 197.67 MPH 3. Gary Reinero 7.130
203.38 MPH 4. Joel Matton
7.257 187.57 MPH 5. Mitch Chamberlin
7.398 190.71 MPH 6. Troy Owen
7.441 188.36 MPH 7. Mike Molea
7.667 191.89 MPH 8. Bill Fitting 9.271
163.39 MPH It's a Wrap, Mike Molea Wins
Mission
Mission Qualifying Results Tomorrow should bring a great day of AA/Supercharged racing. The entire top half of the field
was in the 6.8 second zone, with Mike Molea leading the way in the bottom half. Career best numbers were posted by Gary
Reinero and Brent Harris, with the Sierra Pipe 38' Chevy landing in the #4 position. It appears that we are suffering
from an ignition problem, as the car would not respond to the changes. Tomorrow is race day and in the words of Tony
Bartone, race day is race day. This translates to, any thing can happen on Sunday. Qualifying results are below: 1. Gary Reinero 6.739
207.08 2. Brent Harris
6.817 206.04 3. Mitch Chamberlin
6.851 199.37 4. Howard Anderson
6.899 203.29 5. Mike Molea 6.951 196.24 6. Scott White 7.058
195.99 7. Troy Owen
7.191 191.77 8. Bill Fitting
7.340 184.61 9. Joel Matton
7.345 183.18
Scott White Takes the Spokane
AA/Supercharged Event It looks like the White Family
Racing 41' Willys sorted out the clutch issues that have been plaguing them recently. With only second hand information
to work with, I know they ran 6.86 in the final to defeat Gary Reinero. As I get more details from this event, I will
publish them later in the week. Congratulations to the White team!!!!!!!!!! Updated AA/Supercharged Points After checking the point standings posted on aasupercharged.com, I realized that I did not include the 100 point
event attended bonus on the posting following Woodburn #1. This has now been corrected. 1. Gary Reinero
1950 2. Howard Anderson 1710 3. Mike Molea
1330 4. Troy Owen
1090 5. Bill Fitting
1070 5. Mitch Chamberlin
1070 7. Scott White 870 8. Monte Grubb
510 9. Joel Matton 420 10. Scott Wyke
100 Woodburn #2 Final Results Round 1 Howard Anderson defeated
Troy Owen 6.884 200.71 to 7.712 182.40 Mike Molea
defeated Joel Matton 6.922 193.09 to 7.475 161.31 Gary
Reinero defeated Scott White 7.163 201.88 to 7.288 193.05 Bill
Fitting defeated Mitch Chamberlin 7.328 172.91 to 8.203 122.11 Semi
Finals Mike Molea defeated Howard Anderson 6.919 170.74
to 7.429 197.45 Gary Reinero defeated Bill Fitting 6.747
204.40 to 7.440 180.14 Finals Gary Reinero defeated Mike Molea 6.80 203 to Aborted Run Next up.........Updated AA/Supercharged Points and Spokane July 4th and 5th Event Preview. Woodburn #2 Quick Race Results Going into race day the Sierra Pipe team had a combination that would go down the track with ease.
We made minimal changes going into the first round match-up with Troy Owen. The result was a slower than expected 6.88
at 201MPH. We were matched with Mike Molea in the Semi-finals, with Mike running a great 6.92 in his first round victory.
Rather than making no changes, we wanted to step it up slightly for Mike. A small fuel system change resulted in a huge
gain in horsepower and we blew the tires off immediately. Mike lost a blower belt and slowed to 170MPH, but still ran
a 6.91. The final matched Mike with Gary Reinero, with Gary taking the victory at 6.80 seconds at 203MPH. Congratulations
to the Reinero team. Complete race results to come. Woodburn #2 Qualifying Results Good conditions were not a help today at Woodburn. All of the AA/Supercharged team entered
the day with optimism, but it ended with a variety of minor issues that did not produce the killer qualifying numbers.
When the dust settled, the Sierra Pipe 38' Chevy was on top. Huge clutch slippage on the first pass yielded a 6.96 at
202 MPH. For the second pass we made a major adjustment and dipped into the 6.7 second zone for low ET an top speed
of the event. Going into Sunday we still have major room for improvement, but we will just take it one round at a time,
to try and take home another Woodburn signiture trophy. Hopefully the rain will avoid Woodburn Dragstrip and we complete
the event. 1. Howard Anderson 6.799
204.08 2. Gary Reinero 6.877
200.22 3. Bill Fitting
7.284 185.64 4. Troy Owen
7.350 181.01 5. Scott White
7.390 166.82 6. Joel Matton 7.536
146.60 7. Mitch Chamberlin 8.502
159.80 8. Monte Grub
8.759 148.07 9. Mike Molea 11.598
77.08 AA/Supercharged Point Standings 1. Howard Anderson 930 2. Gary Reinero
780 3. Mitch Chamberlin
560 4. Troy Owen
550 5. Mike Molea
370 6. Scott White 340 7. Bill Fitting
320 8. Monte Grubb 310 9. Scott Wyke
100 Woodburn #1 Elimination Details Now that I have recovered from the overnight drive home from Woodburn and the 5:00 AM arrival, we
can post the details associated with Sunday eliminations. We went into eliminations focused on getting down the track
at any cost. All of the changes took place in the clutch department. A conscious effort was made to ensure the
car would not shake at the 1-2 gear change and we would have to sacrifice the 60' time to make this happen. It worked
in the 1st round as Howard slipped the clutch to a winning 6.934 seconds and temporally posted top speed of
the meet at 204.91 MPH. Mike Molea was ready with a great .032 reaction time in the other lane. In the semi-final
round, we were to be matched with Troy Owen, who was having a great weekend driving the Legends Willys formally run by Dana
Wilt. With Troy qualifying at 7.08 seconds, we had to be on our game to make the finals. Unfortunately Troy broke
in his first round victory. Mike Molea stood in for Troy in a race for the fans. Mike turned on the red light
and the Sierra Pipe 38' Chevy made the best pass of the weekend, overcoming hard tire shake in 2nd gear...............again.
6.85 seconds, with a new top speed of the event 205.33MPH. It was now time for the showdown with the #1 qualifier and
2008 series runner-up Gary Reinero. Once again, the match-up was not to be, as Gary experienced major engine damage
in the semi-finals. This time, Mitch Chamberlin was running in the other lane for the fans. This was one of the
stranger runs I have ever seen. It started with our fuel cap falling off on the burnout. The threads were damaged
and it was nearly impossible to install, but we finally got it on. In our haste to not hold up Mitch, I forgot to turn
on the computer and shift light. While this was going on, Mitch's crew member left his foot in the pre-stage beam.
With the stage light on, Howard quickly moved in and brought the RPM's to 5000, in preparation for the run. Then the
stage light went off in the other lane and Howard was completely focused on his side of the tree. As a result, the motor
was at 5000+ RPMs for 10-15 seconds. At the green, the car left well and proceeded to the rev limiter in low gear with
no shift light. As you can imagine, it went crazy again in 2nd gear. Mitch finished ahead of us at 7.21 seconds,
but the race win was decided when Gary broke. More to come in the aftermath of the opening round of the 2009 AA/Supercharged
season. Elimination results below: Round 1 Gary Reinero defeated Scott White - 6.819 203.11MPH to 11.935 76.38MPH Mitch Chamberlin defeated Bill Fitting - 7.126 194.09MPH to 7.327 175.60MPH Howard Anderson defeated Mike Molea - 6.934 204.91MPH to 7.385 186.41MPH Troy Owen defeated Monte Grubb - 7.953 125.82MPH to 9.146 136.88MPH Semi-Finals Gary Reinero defeated
Mitch Chamberlin - 7.922 144.74 to Foul (Red Light) Howard
Anderson defeated Troy Owen - 6.856 205.33 to Broke Finals Howard Anderson defeated Gary Reinero - 7.55 ???MPH to Broke
0 for 7 The consistency for 2009 continues. Out of 7 attempts, we have made it down the track 0 times.........ugh.................. We fixed the problem experienced at Bakerfield. At the first race, we could not get off of the starting line.
Today no problem. The new problem occurs in 2nd gear. On both passes, we shook hard at the gear change with aborted
results. Tomorrow is a new day and we will look to make major changes in search for the first full pass of the season.
Here are the qualifying results. 1. Gary Reinero
6.817 203.85 2. Mike Molea
6.973 194.17 3. Mitch Chamberlin 7.079
194.76 4. Troy Owen
7.086 192.80 5. Scott White
7.147 196.99 6. Howard Anderson 7.217 200.17 7. Bill Fitting 8.801
123.46 8. Monte Grubb
11.219 74.32 9. Scott Wyke
N/A Geared Up for Woodburn After waiting the entire day at Bakersfield, we finally made a pass at 7:30 PM. It was dark and the track was
cold. Similar conditions to Friday night. If we were able to make it down the track under these conditions, it
would be mission accomplished. We watched car after car have problems getting down the track. At the leave, the
38' Chevy rolled through low gear smooth as silk, with a respectable 1.09 60' time. Down track the car began
to get really loose and Howard feathered the throttle and finally gave up at 6.5 seconds. The key is that we contained
the beast in low gear and we are ready to move to the next event. I have lots of pictures and stuff to come from the
2009 March Meet. The eliminations summary is shown below. Big congratulations to Sean Renteria on a dominating
performance and to Gary Reinero on getting the yellow car running deep into the 6 second zone consistently. A huge thanks
go out to Blake Bowser and the Famoso Raceway crew for giving us an opportunity to run in a difficult situation, with the
race running three hours behind schedule. Round 1: Power to Spare Finally with good track conditions and no clutch on the car, we were finally ready to make a full
pass on our new combination. It was not to be, as we blew the tires off again in low gear. Howard tried to salvage
the run and proved that we have power to spare. On and off the throttle, we were running 141 miles per hour at half
track and he drove through the lights at 196 MPH. Wow. We were not able qualify, but we will make a huge gear
change and make a run Sunday to prove that we have power to spare. Check the final qualifying results. 1
7965 Sean Renteria, Hollister CA, '65 Valiant 6.626 211.86 211.86
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