NJBA - Bakersfield,Ca. Lake Ming

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NJBA - Bakersfield,Ca. Lake Ming

Hello Everyone!

The races this weekend in Bakersfield, Ca. went very smoothly.

Almost 70 boats made it out for this event including several TAH’s, Pro-Mods, &…1-TAF.

The weather was great all weekend which made it for great side-by-side racing.

What is great about this event is that many of the racers of the past often attend this event to hang out and catch up with what has been taking place in the sport of drag-boat racing over the years.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet a gentleman by the name of Mr. Bob Bruhn.

Mr. Bruhn raced in Bakersfield on Lake Ming in the 50’s & 60’s…

Many of you may not be aware that the very first drag-boat race was held in Hart Park in 1948 in Bakersfield, Ca.

Hart Park is located near Lake Ming.

In the early 50’s the races had to be relocated to Lake Ming since the boats where approaching the 90-mph mark and there was not enough shut down for the boats to stop!

I spent some time with Mr. Bruhn listening to his stories that he had to share, and again this is just a small part of what makes this sport and the people in it so amazing!!

Bench racing at it best~~~

I will be contacting Mr. Bruhn in the near future to put an article together based on his time in the sport.

There is also another gentleman that I hope to see in Bakersfield again in 3-weeks which he was at the very first race in 1948 at Hart Park & has been a member of NJBA on & off till this day.

Even though NJBA is a club it is very rich in history and the foundation/roots of our sport of Drag-Boat Racing.

This course has had a great many events over the years, many of our sport greatest racers have raced at this venue and created history and awesome memories for so many that were blessed to witness these events over the years.

I hope that one day this location will have a placard placed which will say…The Birth Place of Drag-Boat Racing!

Now that would be very Cool ;-)

This course deserves to be preserved since it is…History!!

On Sat. after the races was done for the day...I spent time with Jeff Martin-Cole Thurston & Shane Westerfield, While the four of us had a couple cold one's we chatted for some time about drag-boat racing past & present, and since these 3-have been raised in the sport we all had much to talk about. Jeff is like a Webster Dictionary of dragboat racing, and...Jeff is also living the dream of as of the best drivers in PGF ;-)

I encourage you, especially the spectators to take the time after the races are done for the day to go in the pits and visit the racers and experience the excitement of what makes this sport so amazing!!! ;-)

Enjoy the photographs!

If you wish to purchase any photographs please contact me at…speedfreak439@yahoo.com

Till The Next One ;-)

Joe “Speedfreak” Dutra

Date(s): Oct. 17-18-2009. Album by Joe "Speedfreak" Dutra. Photos by Speedfreak Racing & Photography. 1 - 212 of 212 Total. 799 Visits.

Sign the Guestbook. Displaying 2 of 2 entries.

nice pics. makes me think of all kinds of reasons to cry.

waaahhh
- Cryin' in the 951, Wed, 21 Oct 2009 8:48AM

Joe, great pictures and dialogue, thanks for sharing this album.
- Joe Don Lewis, Wed, 21 Oct 2009 6:46AM

1 Near Lane... Jeff was red hot all weekend in his PGF-Ugly Customer "thats my boy in the outsid..." "but did you give him a scr..." View Comments...	2 Sat. Action~~~	3	4 Chump Change came out to continue dial in the new boat!
5	6	7	8
9	10 As always the jets were putting on a great show & great side-bye-side racing! ;-)	11 "BRO!!!" View Comments...	12 New-PM
13 Red Pearl looking good as always! The New T-Shirts are...Fantastic!!!	14	15 TAH-Means Streak Mike Fry's hotrod is ready to rock in Phx. ;-)	16 TAH-The Jackel Darrin Christle Driving I would like to see this boat out more often! This team has what it takes to be one of the heavy hitters ;-)
17	18	19	20
21 Rex driving the Exotic Motorsports TAF	22	23 Geff Gregory's Exoctic Motorsports Jeff's TAH will be ready 2010 with new colors! and...maybe multiple hydros ;-) If things goes as planned maybe twin props~?	24 Rex was starting off with half track passes~
25 Mike Jewel was on fire as well ;-)	26	27	28
29 Nice to see Rolf Sammons back in the drivers seat of his beautiful License 2 Thrill machine.	30 Brian Dunn came out in his PM	31	32
33 Sat Sunset...Beautiful	34	35 Sunday Action...	36
37 "10 second boat is out fron..." "Yep, and the 418 redlit to..." View Comments...	38	39	40
41	42	43	44
45	46	47	48
49	50	51	52
53	54	55	56
57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64
65	66	67	68
69	70	71	72
73	74	75	76
77	78	79	80 Love this shot... Two white awesome lookin Canyon flats with a little reflection's ;-)
81 Rex had this baby running down the track by the end of the weekend. She is ready to lean her out a bit more at the next race! ;-)	82 Rumor has it that Rex will be driving for a new TFH team in 2010 ;-) "I hope they know how lucky..." View Comments...	83	84 Very cool shot! Two blown orange boats... Flat & Hydro ;-)
85	86	87	88 Finals & Test Passes...
89	90	91	92
93	94 TAH-Mean Streak Taking the Win!	95	96 Mark doing double duty as a photographer & Rescue!
97	98	99	100
101	102	103 TAH-Your Nest Troy had a tough weekend with the tune up all weekend!	104
105	106 "Why did Bandy only run 8.1..." View Comments...	107	108
109	110	111	112 Broken Parts! This motor lasted 30 years! Use to be the Gambler jet-boat motor for many years!!
113 Safety Passes...	114	115	116
117 8-second class final winner in the near lane over Jeff Martin in the far lane in Ugly Customer. "Closest race I've had in a..." View Comments...	118 The Pits & Misc. ;-)	119	120
121 A father & son enjoying a memorable weekend at the boat races.	122 Nice Swing~ Look real close you can see the ball 3-ft. in front of the driver!	123	124
125	126 Mom & Daughter tapping hands ;-)	127 It is always great to see the medical staff relaxing all weekend just enjoying the races!	128
129 Making Nose Bubbles :-)))	130 Some of the racers dogs having some cool fun!	131	132
133 Rex back in the drivers seat!	134	135	136
137 Long time member cruising the pits!	138	139	140
141	142	143	144
145	146 Mini Me...Jeff ;-)	147 Jeff trying out the feel of the TAF	148
149 Nice Jet for sale!	150	151	152
153	154	155	156 Close friends having a good time! "That looks like my boy Col..." View Comments...
157 Jeff, Going to a back up Cold One ;-)	158 BBQ is always a good thing~	159	160
161 Cole & Jeff "Hi Cole, Hi Jeff, MOM" View Comments...	162	163	164
165	166	167	168
169	170	171	172
173 Wrong boat Cole :-) "Good pic of Cole, I see To..." View Comments...	174	175	176 Mark in the basket!
177	178	179 An artist drawing rescue	180 Kids having fun at the track play ground.
181	182	183	184
185 The voices of NJBA...	186	187	188 Rolf & family
189 Henry & friend doing some bench racing~	190 Rex's Nitro burger stand was a hit as always! I had my share ;-)	191	192 Mike & sister Laurie giving a hand
193 Joe & friend	194 Friends catching up! Mr. Greg Shoemaker made it out to the races!	195	196 R & R ;-)
197 Dragboat Review! Stay up to date on all the latest action!	198	199 NJBA 2009 President	200
201	202	203	204 A father having fun with his son! The son was not tossed in the water this time ;-)
205	206 Time to rap it up till the next race in 3-weeks again in Bakersfields Lake Ming ;-)	207	208
209	210	211 New out ramp~	212 Happy & Safe Halloween to Everyone! Till The Next One~~~ S/F ;-)

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