Bakersfield, Calif. – Diverse nitro-pilot James Day is very grateful to drive any race car.
For the Mission Viejo, Calif. based driver the good will of a few good friends will permit Day to compete in the Jensen, Civelli and Rogers “Foothill Flyer” Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster this weekend at the 52nd running of the March Meet contested at Auto Club Fomoso Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif.
The opportunity to drive the Foothill Flyer at this year’s annual NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series late-winter pilgrimage to ‘The Patch’ came about very quickly. As many things in today’s economy there was one obstacle; money. “Pete Jensen and Mike Civelli had planned to co-tune the “Nitro Diction” Top Fuel Car and had the “Flyer” (image below) race-ready,” noted Day. “We just needed to come up with some money to fund the car. Since the money tree in my back yard is not blooming this year we were counting on some type of miracle to occur.”
The money to operate the Chris Nance tuned Foothill Flyer was raised by several good friends of Day who wanted to ensure his professional racing goal continued.
“I posted a comment on my Facebook page stating I was looking for sponsors to drive the Foothill Flyer at the March Meet and low-and-behold people started sending checks,” said Day. “I was shocked at first when Lee and Mert Littlefield of Littlefield Superchargers offered some assistance, but then Rex Rexroat, Derek Flynn of Gold Coast RV’s, Tim Sieger at Ultimate Design, John Halsted of Western Hoist, John Lombardo Jr at Jackson Auto Supply, Jim Maher at Good Vibrations, Dave and Linda Smith of DLS Motorsports, Larry and Roy Miersch, John Keigley, and Dale Pulde followed their lead. With the support of companies like DJ Safety, Black Fly’s Sunglasses and Backward Circle Bikes, we’ll be ready to whoop up on all those guys this weekend.”
Day has been busy so far this racing season. Beginning at the season opening NHRA Winternationals he drove Steve Plueger’s “LA HOOKER” Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car. He was scheduled to drive the same car at the NHRA Arizona Nationals; however weather and track preparation delays bumped the flopper from running. “I can’t thank Steve Plueger enough for giving me the nitro fix I needed to begin the season,” Day concluded. “It was an honor to drive that car, but this weekend some guy named Ron Capps is driving the car. I wish him the best of luck because that is one bad flopper. I’m sure he can handle it,” Day said with a smile.
To learn more about James Day and his NHRA professional drag racing goals, please visit his CRX Team Page.
