March Meet

The March Meet is an independent drag race held at Famoso Raceway, a dragstrip located approximately ten miles north of Bakersfield, California. It began in 1959 under the sanction of the "Smokers Car Club" and was initially known as the "US Fuel & Gas Championships." The event became officially known by its nickname, the "March Meet," when the Smokers sold the rights to the name "US Fuel & Gas Championships."

In 1959 the first Smokers' March Meet was advertised as an "East-versus-West" showdown, with California drag racers taking on infamous Floridian Don Garlits, who had been credited with record speeds that the California crowd found dubious. That year, Garlits lost early. Art Chrisman triumphed and took Top Eliminator laurels.

From that first race forward, the roots of the event's continued success can be traced back its practice of permitting competition between nitromethane-burning dragsters when the fuel was banned by the National Hot Rod Association, who reluctantly relented its "Fuel Ban" in 1964.

Because of the Fuel & Gas Championships reputation as the most fiercely contest "outlaw" drag race, winning the event gave a drag racer immediate caché. In 1962 Don Prudhomme gained national notoriety and became a touring professional after he defeated the Gotelli Speed Shop for Top Eliminator. In 1965, Garlits won Top Fuel that year, and has more than avenged his initial embarrassment, ultimately winning the March Meet an unprecedented five times. In 1966, "The Surfers" conquered Top Fuel by withstanding over 100 Top Fuel competitors. Winning driver Mike Sorokin had a son, Adam, who followed in his father's footsteps and won Top Fuel in 2010.

The race had been primarily a showcase for Top Fuel (née "Top Eliminator"), but in 1969, due to its rapidly rising popularity as a drag-racing class, Funny Car Eliminator was added to the March Meet's competition menu. Danny Ongais won the first Funny Car Eliminator at Famoso. In the 1980s, then-rising star John Force won Funny Car at the March Meet three times, in 1984, 1986 and 1987.

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