

- #Drive a race car california drivers
- #Drive a race car california driver
- #Drive a race car california code
#Drive a race car california code
The so-called “Whole Brownsburg Thing” has changed the rather sleepy Indianapolis-area outpost into a hot new zip code in the past few years. “That's when the whole Brownsburg thing came in.” It just made sense to become more centrally located, where you could go back every week and re-load and re-stock and go to the next race,” he said. “Then, as NHRA progressed and there were more events, it became obvious that you couldn't do the smaller side events and exhibitions.

You didn't spend a whole lot of time at home. Besides national events, we ran a lot of exhibition races and match racing.

You all got in the rig and loaded up your tow vehicle and drove to the next race, where you worked on your car in the parking lot.
#Drive a race car california drivers
Back then, the way race teams worked was we traveled race to race, including the drivers and the crew chiefs. “Logistically, it just makes sense to be more centrally located. "Well, we don't race as much on the West Coast anymore,” Worsham said.
#Drive a race car california driver
But Worsham’s DC Motorsports Toyota Camry entry with driver Alexis DeJoria is the lone full-time race car to run out of Southern California. Part-time Funny Car owner-driver Jeff Diehl operates out of Northern California, and Alex Miladinovich, who also races sporadically, lives near Worsham at Orange and maintains his race car there. John Force still has a presence, but not his main race shop, in Southern California, at Yorba Linda. It just made sense to have your Funny Car there. Basically, anything you needed was in Southern California. “There were so many manufacturers there that if you were in the Orange County area, you could have a car built, your clutch built, an engine built. Walt Disney Television Photo Archives Getty Images “When I started driving, nearly every Funny Car driver was based out of California and more specifically Southern California,” he said. Some executives will remain in Southern California.īut decorated nitro driver and current Funny Car team owner-crew chief Del Worsham remembers the iconic heydays of the NHRA swirling around his home base of Orange, Calif.-long before the sport had corporate marketing partners and the fancy label of “the Camping World Drag Racing Series” – and he has seen the gradual migration.Īs the tour prepares for a belated stop this weekend at its fabled Pomona facility for the historic (but incongruously titled) Winternationals, Worsham shared some thoughts about the changing traditions. The NHRA office building at Glendora, Calif., valued at a cool $4.6 million plus, is for sale. But “the baby” has grown up, is 70 years old, in fact.Īs the National Hot Rod Association marks its 70th season this year, teams and even the sanctioning-body operations have shifted their focus to more centrally located Indianapolis. Still, Southern California always will be the cradle of drag racing. Now they’ve blown away-the whole swashbuckling vibe, the rebellious pulse, the venues themselves: most notably Lions Drag Strip and Orange County International Raceway. But they’ve lingered just long enough to leave an impression. They exploded in vivid color, a flash in our sensory-overload slice of history, and then they were gone. They’re like fireworks in the night sky, the outrageous shenanigans and wild side-by-side races from storied drag strips and the antics of madcap promoter Bill Doner.
