If one is a Nitro Funny Car racer, this weekend’s March Meet is the tournament where one makes a statement — and a proclamation of legend.

Famoso Raceway’s 52nd March Meet has all the markings of being an epochal event, if not just historic. For the first time in drag racing since the AHRA/PRO National Challenge at Tulsa International Raceway in August, 1973, nearly two score of honest-to-goodness blown-on-nitro AA/Funny Cars will attempt to qualify for a spot in a 32-car eliminator.

For Funny Car driver “Nitro Kitty” Mendy Fry, however, merely filing an entry for the race was daunting enough. During her end-of-year racing hiatus, Frau Fry suddenly parted ways with her last team. Similarly, Donnie Couch, her on-again/off-again partner-in-grime (and West Coast Funny Car Factory founder) was himself between projects, kicking the proverbial can against the shop doors, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

None did. Until racecar owner Gary Messenger offered up his dormant (and for sale) Future Flash ’73 Charger, a machine that both Couch and Fry competed with in 2008. A deal was struck: Install a short block, acquire a bunch of odds’n’ends and nitro-strength hardware, buy a drum of fuel and cases of oil, borrow a trailer and get thee to Bakersfield.

Thus Donnie and Mendy got proactive over the winter, calling in a myriad of favors for donated expendables for their borrowed flopper, now rechristened the West Coast Funny Car Factory/Nitro Kitty Charger. Because of these efforts, this weekend Messenger’s machine will enter the copious cavalcade of fuel coupes jousting for entry in what has the potential to be the mother of all Funny Car races, with Couch turning the wrenches and Fry swapping pedals.

NITRO KITTY RACING MARCH MEET NOTES:

Among those ponying up parts, pieces and petroleum products for this bi-partisan, joint effort of Nitro Kitty Racing, Donnie Couch’s West Coast Funny Car Factory and Gary Messenger Ltd.: Hyevon Choppers, Lucas Oil, SCE Gaskets, Molinari, M/T Tires, Justice Bros., Burning Motorhome Promotions and MCC Construction.

Advisory March Meet Nitro Funny Car Schedule: 1^st round of Qualifying: Friday, March 5^th, 2 PM. 2^nd round of qualifying, Saturday, March 6^th, Noon. 1^st Round Eliminations: Saturday, 3 pm. Further eliminations, Sunday, March 7^th, 11 AM.

Follow the entire event via online streaming at bangshift.com . Track NKR’s efforts at facebook.com/nitrokitty .

Garage Magazine "Chicks Rule" Issue

Hot off the presses! The “Chicks Rule” issue of Garage Magazine (out now!) features an eight-page spread on Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car coquette “Nitro Kitty” Mendy Fry. The detailed article chronicles the arc of Fry’s career — the highlights, the explosions, the wild rides, the unexpected wins and some moments best forgotten — and gives a glimpse of things to come as Fry enters the 2010 NHRA Heritage Series Tournament at the helm of Gary Messenger and Donnie Couch’s West Coast Funny Car Factory Nitro Kitty Charger.

Nitro Kitty as photographed by Tim Sutton

Besides the story on Mendy (penned by John Burns, and illustrated by Tim Sutton’s stellar photography), the new Garage is rife with estrogen-addled bios on burlesque queens, vampish tattoo artists and a woman wing-walker!

extract of Garage Magazine Mendy Fry feature

Bring your copy to the March Meet at Famoso Raceway next month and get it personalized. -30-

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’s Suzy’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-

Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly

Who says print is dead? Maybe magazines are snapping shut quicker and more often than mouse traps, but on the heels of Mendy Fry posting her first 5-second elapsed times in a Nitro Funny Car, we  wonder is there a better time to announce the premier issue of Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly?

This 12-page publication serves as a reading-room ready document, and is purpose-built for the most die-hard of “Nitro Kitty” minions. Read Mendy’s moist and meaty race diary, and follow the minutiae of her exploits with tuner Roland Leong and McCain’s Bomb Squad Nitro Funny Car, as together they sojourn to and from a series of America’s most famous drag strips: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Pomona Fairplex, and Famoso Raceway.

Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly debut edition not only includes detailed descriptions of campaigning a Nitro Funny Car at the Vegas Strip, the NHRA Winternationals and the Bakersfield March Meet, it is also loaded with some nifty photos — and it’s collectible too, natch.

Put down the catnip, get out your credit card and order your copy here:

Nitro Kitty Beat Quarterly, Spring 2009

More of “Sharky’s” March Meet observations here: AA/Funny Car News

Mendy Fry photo by Roger Richards

More here: http://www.nostalgiafunnycarnews.com/

Also noteworthy about this photo gallery: It is hosted by Mark “Sharky” King’s AA/Funny Car News, which went on hiatus for a while… According to his flopper-centric website, it is now “Back With A Vengeance!”

photo by Mike Bumbeck

Okay, so we totally plagiarized that headline from a blog posted today at ChampionSpeedShop.com.  The reason? Today at the 51st March Meet in Bakersfield, the Champion Speed Shop streamliner (in Top Fuel) and McCain’s Bomb Squad Nitro Funny Car both posted 240 mph speeds in losing efforts in the first round of eliminations. In our case, this was coupled with a quarter-mile elapsed time of 6.03 seconds – our quickest and fastest pass of the event.

So: it was sort of a Pyrrhic victory: McCain’s Bomb Squad has gone quicker and faster on every lap this weekend. But still, we lost in the first round. Our opponent, Dennis La Charite, clocked a 5-second ET to take the win. And so it goes, his 5.96 to our 6.03  — that’s drag racing.

Next up: a match against the “Future Flash” during the “Mopars at the Strip” drag race in Las Vegas, on March 21st. Ciao from Famoso.

A fervent "Fry" fan (photo by Cole Coonce)

Traditionally, tire shake is a function of the car being under-powered for track conditions. Nowadays, drag racers have come to find out that too much power can also cause the car to shake. Too much or too little? That is what we have been trying to figure out since last weekend’s test here at Famoso Raceway. We think we know… and with that knowledge, I was instructed by Roland Leong to pedal or short-shift if the car began to shake, which it did. So I did.

Still: We were able to record a 6.28, about four second quicker than yesterday’s useless run. We need to run a 6.0 this afternoon to be in the show tomorrow. Soften it up? Or lid, can and label? Stay tuned.

6.28, with one shot left

McCain’s Bomb Squad is no exception. The car shook hard. I pedaled it — as per Roland Leong’s instruction — but the car shook harder when I got back on the throttle.

Elapsed time: 10.06, which puts up 21st and not qualified yet. Not good, but….

Only ten Funny Cars were able to turn an elapsed time in the six-second range; with quickest eight positions racing on Sunday, it appears the remaining qualifying sessions will be a real donnybrook of drag racing action…

Better times tomorrow…. Nitro qualifying for the 51st March Meet resumes at 12:30 in the afternoon. — MF

Smokin' the skins!

Squadsters Smokey Alleman, Mike Porter and Paolo Galli

Roland Leong and Paolo Galli guide Mendy Fry into the beams

McCain's Bomb Squad on the Big End

All the tests are done. Next stop: The March Meet in Bakersfield. (Weren’t we just there?)

If you are coming, her’s a schedule from the NHRA Heritage Series p.r. dept.:

SCHEDULE (subject to change)

FRI., MAR. 6 – Gates open at 7 a.m. Qualifying and time trials: 8 a.m. Nitro qualifying: 2 p.m.

SAT., MAR. 7 - Gates open at 7 a.m. Qualifying, time trials and exhibition runs begin at 8 a.m. Nitro qualifying at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

SUN., MAR. 8 - Gates open at 7 a.m. (Note: Daylight savings time in effect). Exhibition runs occur throughout the day beginning at 8 a.m. Eliminations begin at 9 a.m. Opening Ceremonies begin at 10:45 a.m. Final Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. Winner’s Circle Awards at 5 p.m.

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Nitro Kitty says, “Be there or be in Buttonwillow.”

(photos by Cole Coonce)