When the AA/FA’s line up in the staging lanes, you never know what’s going to transpire as these short wheel based flame spitting cars seem to have a mind of their own, and do whatever feels right at the time…resulting in one of the fan favorites!
With monikers such as ‘Rat Trap’, ‘Pure Hell’, ‘Winged Express’, ‘Godzilla’, ‘Pure Heaven’,’ Nanook’, ‘High Heaven’, ‘The Patriot’ and ‘The Tramp’, handled by seasoned drivers Brian Hope, Ron Hope, Randy Bradford, Chris Bennett, Kyle Hough, Shawn Callen ,Rodney Flournoy, Mike Boyd, Jason Richey and David Giles the stand fill up, the anticipation off the charts…smoky ½ track burnouts, giant wheelstands, flames and lane switching to come!
With elimination rounds seeing Kyle Hough in Nanook posting a 5.97/243 on the 6.0 index, Ron Hope man handling Rat Trap with a 7.89/139 and Joe Morrison laying down a 7.304/193.90 in Ted Brine’s ’34 Coupe, the show progressed to the final round, pitting Brian Hope, in Pure Hell against Rodney Flournoy in Godzilla.
Brian, who pulled double duty throughout the event as crew chief on his father Ron’s car Rat Trap, could not praise Rich Guasco and the Pure Hell team enough, as they finished the event beating Rodney with a quick 6.456 at 203.55 mph, and securing the AA/Fuel Altered Championship at the 2018 27th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion.
