Bakersfield, CA - October 12-14, 2007: The 16th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion lived up to its star billing in spades. From the opening of the gates on Friday, record crowds filled Famoso Raceway and considering this is one of the two premier nostalgia drag racing events in the country, the teams came here loaded for bear with one thought in mind - winning.

The 35,000+ fans that packed the facility over the three-day event were treated to over 400 race cars including 21 of the countries best Top Fuel dragsters including Troy Green and the Highspeed Motorsports - SilverThin Bearings team. Coming into the race Green was sitting less than 2 rounds out of the lead of the AAFD Points Series Championship standings behind Brad Thompson and Adam Sorokin. But after qualifying #4 with a nice 5.830 at 251.04 they suffered an upset loss in round one thus bringing the 2007 season to a close and having to wait until next year for a shot at the championship.

Friday's rain out lingered until early Saturday so the 10:00AM schedule was moved to noon.

 

Under cloudy skies Green heated the tires for his first shot at a Bakersfield track with "teeth" (excellent racing surface). In the other lane was Mendy Fry in a new late modle hemi car.

Walt Stevens doing what he does best backing Troy up from the burnout.

The car left fairly good and the early numbers indicated the car was on a high 5.90 run.

Green encountered some problems at the 900' mark and shut off to a 6.904 at 141.77. This would give them a baseline but would not be good enough to get into the show.

The first pair for session two fired at 5:09 p.m. Weather conditions: relative humidity 64 percent, barometer 29.87 inches, track temperature 78 degrees.

 

Following Johansen's directions, Stevens guides Green back in his tracks. Brett Harris backs up in the right lane.

Both cars left hard and the only question was will the white car go 1320 feet under power.

There was a short fuse in the High Speed car but Green slots in behind Brad Thompson with the second quick ET and second fastest MPH to this point. There was a lot of smoke from the engine at the stripe, but that seems par for the course on a good run these days.

11:05 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 59 percent, barometer 29.95 inches.

At 11:00AM it was time for business. Green was paired with the # 13 qualifier, Shannon Stewart.

While eating the engine up, Stewart caught Green at the 1100' mark and won the race by 14 feet. His 5.894 at 228.89 to a good but losing 5.957 at 246.30. This was simply a case of under estimating the competition.

A dejected Troy Green comes to a stop knowing his championship points hopes and in fact, the 2007 season are over.

On that note its time to look forward to the 2008 season when the High Speed Motorsports - SilverThin Bearings car will be back with a vengeance. After a successful 2007 campaign, the team is really looking forward to the 50th March Meet. The entire HSMS team would like to thank their fans and sponsors and they are looking forward to making you all proud in the future.