The West Coast Funny Car Factory's 'Nitro Kitty Charger'
Greetings everyone! Mendy Fry here. First off, a belated Happy New Year to everybody! As we make our way into the 2010 racing season, I want to share my official story for the year ahead:
Right after the 2009 California Hot Rod Reunion, the team owner of McCain’s Bomb Squad parked the race car, citing the uncertainty surrounding a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. Ironically, although the legal brouhaha still hasn’t been settled, they have already hired another driver. (Honestly… you do the math!) As part of that equation, factor in that I’m happy for that team’s new bomber pilot, 2008 AA/Fuel Dragster champ Troy Green, and hope he does well over there.
In November, my old team owner Gary Messenger let ace-tuner Donnie Couch put the Future Flash Funny Car back together so we could make exhibition passes at the NHRA World Finals in Pomona. In the pits there, Gary let tire-kickers know the car is for sale, but until money changes hands, Messenger said Donnie and I can run the car in 2010 out of Couch’s “West Coast Funny Car Factory,” as long as we are the ones paying for its day-to-day operation. So, we’re working on gathering sponsors. (And a motor!)
Even though it is not a done deal, right now there’s a great buzz around the concept of running the Future Flash with Donnie tuning. But you know how those deals go sometimes… If it doesn’t come together, I’d definitely consider driving for someone else, but I have to admit — I hope you all don’t take this the wrong way, because this is REALLY going to sound stuck up — I’m not going to drive an uncompetitive car, just to drive. I’d rather sit it out. Beyond that, I’m pretty sure I’m over racing in Nostalgia Top Fuel also. That class is just struggling to survive. Yeah, they’re a kick in the pants to drive, but I’d like to stick with (wo)man-handling Nitro Funny Cars in NHRA’s Heritage Series.
To that end, beyond the possibility of resurrecting the old Future Flash — which has been renamed the Nitro Kitty Charger — a couple of pretty cool and competitive teams have put out feelers about my driving for them this year, all of which makes the 2010 season seem pretty exciting.
What else? Jesse James’ GARAGE Magazine is doing a full-length feature on moi, entitled “Here’s Looking at You, Nitro Kitty: Mendy Fry is One Cool Cat.” Look for it next month! And this month I’m in National Dragster’sSuzy’s Scrapbook column….
So that’s it. That’s my story. Hopefully I’ll be running something other than my mouth at the March Meet…. -MF-
To watch the live podcast, point your browser to http://www.speedsceneracing.com at 6 pm PST. Moreover, call in 1-800-809-0802, get on the air and join in the bench racing! Among tonight’s topics up for discussion: Mendy’s 2009 season in review (including what it is like to race Nitro Funny Cars in the NHRA Heritage Series with luminaries like Roland Leong and Donnie Couch), as well as a glimpse into her racing plans for 2010, including discussions with NHRA and IHRA Top Fuel teams.
Above is footage of the first pass back with the old gang of Messenger and Couch: We clocked a 6.05@237 mph yesterday at Pomona. Unfortunately, upon gettng off the throttle, a connecting rod _disconnected_. So ends the weekend’s exhibition at the NHRA AutoClub Finals for the Nitro Kitty Charger.
Getting fitted for the Nitro Kitty Charger (nee Future Flash)
Pomona, CA, 11-11-2009 – This weekend at the Pomona Fairplex, the past, present and future (flash) will converge for Nitro Funny Car driver Mendy Fry. How so? On Saturday and Sunday at the National Hot Rod Association’s season-ending Auto Club Finals, Fry will once again shoe Gary Messenger’s resplendent-yet-potent, gorgeous black-and-gold 1973 Dodge AA/Funny Car, a machine rich in drag strip history, whose lineage is traced to renowned and notorious drag racers such as Gene Snow, Brent Fanning and Roland Leong. Ironically, the entry also has ties to Fry herself, as this is the same racer that she earned her Nitro Funny Car license in, and then campaigned with tuner Donnie Couch to a runner-up finish at the 2008 Las Vegas Speed Spectacular.
At that event the machine was known as the “Future Flash,” and was Fry and Couch’s swan song appearance with the car, but this weekend this same entry will be re-christened the “Nitro Kitty Charger,” in reference to both Fry’s return and her popular racing brand. In preparation for its imminent reappearance, the race car was recently updated and retrofitted for Fry at Donnie’s fabled West Coast Funny Car Factory, and will be tuned by Couch. Thus this weekend reunites Messenger, Couch and Fry, but because the team is still sorting out financing and partnerships for its participation in the 2010 NHRA Heritage Series, as of now the car is provisionally — and cheekily — titled the “Messenger, Fry, Couch & YourNameHere’s ‘Nitro Kitty Charger.’”
The unlettered Nitro Kitty Charger body
The “Nitro Kitty Charger’s” quarter-mile exhibitions at Pomona this weekend is part of an effort coordinated by NHRA Heritage Series majordomo Steve Gibbs, and is designed to draw attention to that program’s events, which include remarkably popular vintage-themed drag races from Bakersfield to Boise. To that end, among those joining Fry for this weekend’s fiery and ferocious festivities will be the AA/Funny Cars of Josh Crawford, the “Pisano & Matusbara” Nitro Vega and the “Lil’ Nate” Barracuda owned by Howard Bugg, as well as a pair of AA/Fuel dragsters.
Besides the yeoman work of Couch and his West Coast Funny Car Factory workers to put this effort together in time for its assault on Pomona, the “Nitro Kitty Charger” would not be making laps without the support of Fry’s associate sponsors, Justice Brothers, Lucas Oil, Hyevon Choppers, Jeg’s High Performance, Mickey Thompson Tires and SCE Gaskets. As an exclamation of her appreciation, as the final touches were applied to the Funny Car, Mendy exulted: “I’m so happy to be back in my pretty car.” -30-
West Coast Funny Car Factory maven Donnie Couch preps the Nitro Kitty Charger's mill.
18TH CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION, Bakersfield, CA, October 18th – With twenty-eight machines lighting it off and jostling for the eight-quickest positions during Saturday’s AA/Funny Car Eliminator qualifying round, one has to expect some broken hearts — and broken parts.
For “Nitro Kitty” Mendy Fry and her mount, McCain’s Bomb Squad, that meant a broken rear end — and one that was impractical to mend. At the shift-point during the first of what should have been two qualifying runs, a puff of smoke came out of the ‘73 Duster’s headers, a signal that the pinion gear lost more teeth than two cowboys in a bar fight, and the damage spread throughout the drivetrain, including destroying the axle and snapping a steel input shaft like a pretzel. With power to the slicks dis-engaged, Fry coasted to a quarter-mile elapsed time of 7.13 at 131 mph, netting a provisional 19th position, insufficient to qualify for Sunday’s race.
Which was academic, because after the damage was assessed, in hopes of making Sunday’s qualifying round, a frantic search for a replacement rear axle was met with sympathetic responses from members of the Nitro Funny Car community, most specifically by the teams of Claude LaVoie and Todd Lesenko, but to no avail. And after McCain’s Bomb Squad spent the night disassembling the drivetrain in hopes of putting it back together in time for more qualifying, the team’s season came to end for want of a spare axle. Which begs the question: How do you mend a broken heart? Or even a broken rear end? -30-
This weekend it’s a Fiberglass Forest at Famoso Raceway! A Plethora of Plastic Fantastics! A Carbon Fiber Cotillion! With thirty-two (32!) nitro-burning coupes entered in competition, never has the battle for Funny Car Eliminator at the California Hot Rod Reunion been so cut-throat: Indeed, on the eve of the event’s 18th running, all of these wicked machines will vie for a mere eight spots, with these quickest contestants participating in Sunday’s final showdown. To that end, “Nitro Kitty” Mendy Fry — shoeing McCain’s Bomb Squad ‘73 Duster — will have to claw and scratch her way through the field when time trials begin on Saturday at 4 pm.
Indeed, qualifying will be ruthless! Among the legion of fuel floppers duking it out with Fry in what is the last race this year in the NHRA Heritage Points Series: “Northwest Hitter” Bucky Austin, Kris Krabill in the Pedaler, and Mark Sanders’ Mr. Explosive Nova. In addition to those stalwarts, former NHRA Funny Car champ Cruz Pedregon has entered his just-finished Joe Pisano ‘77 Arrow tribute funny car. The last-minute details behind Pedregon’s late entry underscore the camaraderie amongst otherwise pitiless competitors…. Indeed, because of scheduling conflicts last weekend Pedregon was racing in Virginia and not able to leak-down and warm-up his brand spankin’ new machine, so in preparation for its debut at this weekend’s drag race, Joe Pisano crew chief Donnie Couch enjoined Fry to light off the untested Hemi-powered Nitro Coupe last Sunday. Upon ignition, everything appeared buttoned-up properly and no leaks were to be found, so Fry signed off on the systems-check and handed the steering yoke back to Couch to give to Pedregon, its righful owner — just in time to fight it out on the drag strip this weekend in Bakersfield. -30-
Sneak Preview! Click here for a sneak peak of the SCE Gaskets “Keeping It Sealed” commercial starring AA/Funny Car driver Mendy Fry. Officially, the spot will premiere this weekend on Fox Sports Net’s motorsports show, Inside Drag Racing.
Check it out! And remember; SCE Gaskets are keeping it sealed!
(The Nitro Kitty Crew would like to thank SCE Gaskets, the Jackson Bros. and Dan Lea for their help organizing and compiling the race footage.)
To help fight cancer, Mendy Fry boils the Lucas Oil Special's hides (photo by Darr Hawthorne)
To help support the Marian Cancer Center while benefiting the American Cancer Society, this weekend the Lucas Oil Special team towed its AA/Funny Car down the coast from Atascadero, California to downtown Santa Maria and entered the “Cruizin’ For Life” fund raiser, an annual charity event featuring a car show and burnout exhibition. Moreover, driver Mendy “Nitro Kitty” Fry was graced with the honor of serving as the event’s Grand Marshall.
The exhibition and car show generated a lot of local buzz and netted a respectable amount of cash for the cause. Fry’s curtain closing burnout brought down the house, however. Scenes from that spectacle were captured on video and posted online by an eager, nitro-addled drag race fan (see below). Suffice it to say, applying race car time-warming procedures to city streets is somewhat of a challenge and requires a little finesse. As the video shows, Mendy and the team put on a professional display and absolutely wowed ‘em with smoke, noise and nitro.
While serving as the event’s Grand Marshall, AA/Funny Car pilot Mendy “Nitro Kitty” Fry will unveil the Lucas Oil Special at this weekend’s “Cruzin for Life” a popular car show in Santa Maria that doubles as a cancer-care fundraiser. The ‘73 Plymouth Duster Nitro Funny Car will also participate in a burnout contest on Sunday.
As noted in The Lompoc Record, last year this same event “raised $105,000, with the Cancer Care Center receiving $70,000 and the other $35,000 going to the American Cancer Society.”
Here’s how it went: In the first session of qualifying on Friday night, the car was underpowered, and it got out of the groove; trying to salvage the run, I stayed on the throttle a little too long and gathered up the half-track timing cone, nullifying the qualifying attempt. Of nineteen entries trying to get into a 16-car eliminator, we were among the DNQs.
Saturday afternoon was a different story — and result: We ended #3 qualifier. I posted a 5.93, 236 mph. That performance put us up against #14 qualifier Nate Bugg when the first round of eliminations were to commence at 7 pm.
Or so it said on the schedule. After some serious oil-downs by the Top Fuelers, Nate and I didn’t pair up until 10:30 at night. The track had cooled and all the traction went away. We backed down from our aggressive tune-up in hopes of just making it to the finish line under power. Before we lit it off, I told Nate: “This is not going to be pretty!” And so it wasn’t: After sitting in the staging lanes for three and a half hours — enduring various clean ups — I got and earned this win, but it was UGLY. I pedaled it six times and put up a winning 6.89 to Nate Bugg’s 6.90-something — at this point ET and mph doesn’t matter, only who got the win-light. Which bring us to the quarterfinals on Sunday, and a heat against Paul Romine.
I swear, I thought I won. I gated Romine, .072 to .085, but he charged right around me, our soft 1.07 to his 1.02 60 ft. times. But then we made a march at half-track, and I thought I put a wheel on him and held it there. But it wasn’t true, his 6.09 bested our 6.12. He turned 232 mph and I went 234 mph. His total margin of victory: less than two-hundredths of a second. Ffs. — MF.
PS: With Boise in the books, that leaves one last race in the 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Points Series: The California Hot Rod Reunion in October at Bakersfield. .
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