Rough-N-Ready Racing have plenty cause for optimism after making a promising start to the California Independent Funny Car Association at Redding Motorsports Park.

The Bermudian owned drag racing team impressed on the way to reaching the semi-finals in the season-opening Kool April Nites Drags with American driver and track owner Tony Trimp behind the wheel of their 1965 Mustang GT.

“We definitely put our hearts and efforts out on the line for our season opener at Redding Motorsport Park,” team spokesperson Jacqueline Williams told The Royal Gazette.

“We give a huge thanks to our driver and owner of Redding Motorsport Park, Tony Trimp, for putting on an outstanding Kool April Nites event as well piloting our car. It is no easy task running this event while competing in a class that is very competitive.

“We also would like to thank all of our sponsors for supporting us this season. As we go forward with the season ahead of us, we are looking forward to laying down some hard core numbers and having fun as always.”

Harvey Williams’s team held their own competing among the eleven-strong field before being eliminated by reigning CIFCA champion James Maher in a closely fought semi-final by the thinnest of margins.

“This race was truly a representation of what our father [Harvey Williams Sr] would say to me and Harvey all the time; speed without judgment is no speed at all,” team spokesperson Jacqueline Williams added.

“We gave our best judgement of what the car would run, but it wasn’t enough to get us to the finals.

“It is often said that slow and steady wins the race but that wasn’t the case until it came to the semi-finals and we went a little too fast. We normally would have a mechanical issue but it seemed like our issue this time around was time itself.

“We qualified third out of the eleven-car field and advanced to the semi- finals, where we took on Jim Maher, who actually ran a similar time in the qualifiers earlier.

“Jim Maher ran a 5.941 index just as we ran but the only difference was the mph which was so close. Imagine running the same time but having slightly different mph, Maher’s 152.80 to our 152.33.

“Sadly that is where the journey ended. Maher ran a 5.97 to our 5.87, which would knock us out of the race.”

Rough-N-Ready Racing have won four CIFCA titles in the past eight years, including back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020, all with Trimp behind the wheel.