Bermudian-owned top fuel drag racing syndicate Rough-N-Ready Racing made a promising start in their season opener at the Good Vibrations March Meet held at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, this month.

The team reached the quarter finals in the 7.0 Pro class with driver Tony Trimp behind the wheel of their custom wooden-altered body car.

“Our season opener was the best we had in a long time considering the weather,” said Jacqueline Williams, the sister of team owner Harvey Williams Jr.

“We ended up qualifying fourth out of 21 cars.

“We ended up losing in the third round of elimination. The car ran consistently, but it seems that the air quality changed that last minute, which led to us running a 7.14 at 186mph.

“Our driver, Tony Trimp, was proud of our accomplishments and hopes our next 7.0 event in October at the California Hot Rod Reunion will be as good.”

The annual event kicks off the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series season and attracts the best nitro racers from the United States and Canada.

Williams’s team is based in Sacramento and has won nine titles in the past three years, including the California Independent Funny Car Association championship twice.

The team enjoyed more success last season in which they won the Funny Car Fever event for the fourth consecutive year and fell just shy of a third CIFCA championship after losing in the final against Jr Vibes at the Governor’s Cup held at Sacramento Raceway.

The team’s funny car, which races under the name “Happy Hour”, is powered by a 598 Big Block Chevy with powerglide transmission. The team has a best elapsed time of 6.97 and fastest time of 196mph.

Williams, a great-niece of road running legend Stanley Burgess, is looking forward to competing during the upcoming CIFCA championship sporting a new-look funny car.

“We are building our new funny car body that we will debut at our first CIFCA race happening April 6 to 7,” she said.

“We’re all excited about starting our new season with CIFCA and debuting our 1965 Mustang GT funny car body.”