Rough n Ready Racing got their California Independent Funny Car Association title defence off to a flying start competing on their home track at Sacramento Raceway Park at the weekend.

The amateur drag racing syndicate, owned by Bermudian Harvey Williams Jr, won the season opening NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Funny Car Fever for the six straight year with driver Tony Trimp at the wheel of their 1965 Mustang GT funny car.

“Words can’t describe how it feels to win this event six times in a row,” Jacqueline Williams, team spokeswoman, told The Royal Gazette. “Most definitely an overwhelming emotional feeling for sure.”

Williams’s team was the top qualifier going into the final where they faced off against James Maher, the CIFCA president, of Junior Vibes Team.

With their title and impressive win streak on the line, the defending champions were equal to the task as Trimp took the win with a superior reaction time of 5.92 at 166.19 miles per hour.

Williams’s team competed in honour of his late father, Harvey Williams Sr, who recently passed away.

“Throughout all these years that we have raced this event this one felt so much more different,” team spokeswoman Williams added. “Despite the late Harvey Williams Sr not being there, the Williams family had to push those emotions aside and attempt to win this race in his honour.

“There was so much that contributed to us winning this event. So much hardship and long hard hours was put into us getting the car ready for this weekend.”

Williams added: “The team truthfully didn’t feel pressure until first round and the semi-finals. The true feeling of pressure did not come on until we had faced Darrin Hamby, who we met in the semi-finals. Hamby would run a 5.92 to our 5.91.

“We would have to face James Maher again in the finals for the win. As Harvey Jr said: ‘chase is a race’, and that’s exactly what happened. Tony Trimp drove her like he stole her with a win of a 5.92 to Maher’s 7.60.”

Rough n Ready Racing won every event held last season, which was reduced to three because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, they were denied an official defence of their 2019 title, having fallen short of the regulatory five races required to declare a champion.

Having gotten the fledgeling season off on the front foot, Williams’s team will be keen to build on their momentum in their next outing at the May Meet at Auto Club Famoso in Bakersfield, California from May 27 to 30.

“We are looking forward to running May Meet in the upcoming weeks,” Williams said.

“We will be running two categories for the first time ever, 7.0 pro and CIFCA. We are super stoked for this event.”