There wasn’t much time to catch your breath at Famoso Dragstrip. For four straight days, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Pacific Division turned the historic Bakersfield quarter-mile into a sportsman drag racing battleground, packing two complete Division 7 events into one long weekend of wheels-up launches, tire-smoking burnouts, starting-line battles and more than enough horsepower to keep the win lights busy.
Race 1 opened Thursday and wrapped up Friday. Then, instead of loading the trailers and heading home, racers reset, regrouped and went right back after it Saturday morning for Race 2, with another full slate of champions crowned Sunday afternoon.
Two races. Four days. Eighteen winners. And very little downtime.
Stock and Super Stock set the tone early in the weekend, repeatedly sending the front wheels skyward as drivers attacked the Famoso starting line. The Top Dragsters brought another level of violence to the show, boiling the rear tires through their burnouts before unleashing some of the quickest and fastest passes of the weekend.
Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street provided a different kind of fireworks. With races often decided by thousandths of a second, reaction times and finish-line strategy became every bit as important as horsepower.
Then there were the heavy hitters.
Top Sportsman brought big-inch, full-bodied machines charging through the quarter-mile at more than 200 mph, while Competition Eliminator continued to showcase one of sportsman drag racing’s most diverse collections of race cars and combinations. Sportsman Motorcycle racers added two-wheel intensity to an already loaded program.
By Friday evening, the first nine champions of the weekend had been decided.
Trey Vetter captured the opening Super Comp title, defeating Macie Gordon in the final with a .003 reaction time and an 8.900-second run at 175.78 mph.
Marko Perivolaris earned the Super Gas victory over Linzi Meserve, while Dominic Dexter took Super Street honors over Keith Manogue.
In Competition Eliminator, Steve Graham drove his 2015 Camaro to the Race 1 victory over Alan Freese. Jim Grossi claimed Super Stock in his 1969 Corvette, defeating Randy Loge, while Ryan Mangus came from the No. 33 qualifying position to capture Stock Eliminator over Michael Williams.
Top Sportsman belonged to Ed Olpin. Driving his 1968 Camaro, Olpin defeated Richard Okerman in the final with a 6.967-second pass at 197.80 mph.
Kacee Jo Bootsma Johnson took the Top Dragster win over Makenzie Theobald, while Jeremy Bates closed out the opening race with the Sportsman Motorcycle victory over Brian Rosenbaum.
And then everybody got to do it again.
Saturday essentially hit the reset button as qualifying and eliminations began for the second half of the doubleheader. By Sunday, the pressure was back on and another nine racers were headed for Famoso’s winner’s circle.
Ryan Priddy turned Race 2 into a statement in Competition Eliminator. After qualifying second, Priddy drove his 2020 Camaro to a 6.471-second, 213.42-mph run in the final to defeat Kayla Mozeris.
Super Stock produced a little weekend payback.
After finishing runner-up to Grossi in Race 1, Randy Loge came back Sunday and finished the job, putting his 1972 Dodge Demon in the winner’s circle with a final-round victory over Ryan McClanahan.
Parker Theobald emerged from the No. 20 qualifying position to win Stock Eliminator, defeating Sante Grossi in the final.
Top Sportsman delivered some of the weekend’s biggest numbers. No. 1 qualifier Donald Meziere drove his 2018 Corvette to the victory with a 6.509 at 207.37 mph over Mike Doushgounian, whose Camaro recorded a 224.83-mph charge in the final. Meziere had earlier established himself atop the qualifying sheet with a 6.359 at 214.74 mph.
The Top Dragster story may have been even wilder.
Ty Gaynor entered eliminations from the No. 32 qualifying position and survived the field all the way to the final round, where he defeated Chris Barton for the victory. The category showed its outright performance during qualifying when Steven Will ripped off a 6.109-second blast at 235.72 mph to claim the top spot.
Tanner Theobald took Sunday’s Super Comp title over Bill Webber, while Steve Williams defeated Tony Deluzio for the Super Gas victory.
Then the hometown got one.
Bakersfield racer James Brown captured Super Street, driving his 1990 Oldsmobile to a 10.911-second run at 147.15 mph to defeat PJ Giacalone and put a local name among the weekend’s Race 2 champions.
Chad Hofert completed the Sunday winner’s list by taking Sportsman Motorcycle over Larry Mota.
By the time the final win light came on Sunday, Famoso had crammed what normally feels like two separate race weekends into four relentless days.
There were Stockers hanging the front wheels, Top Dragsters hammering the quarter-mile at more than 235 mph, 200-mph doorslammers, motorcycles, index racers fighting over thousandths and racers getting a second chance less than 24 hours after the first race was finished.
Some racers left Bakersfield with one trophy.
Others left wondering where a few thousandths of a second disappeared.
And Randy Loge experienced both sides of it — runner-up Friday and champion Sunday.
That was the Lucas Oil Division 7 doubleheader at Famoso Dragstrip.
This story was originally published on September 28, 2026. 
