DRAG RACING ACTION WITH COURTESY BAKERSFIELD.COM

IMAGES PHIL HUTCHISON AND BAKERSFIELD.COM

Eily Stafford from Aliso Viejo California quailed the California Hustler Nostalgia Funny Car at the California Hot Rod Reunion in the #8 spot with a 5.656 @ 261.02 in an abbreviated Friday session. The rain from Thursday, which was expected to move on, lingered in the north Bakersfield CA. are and a late afternoon showed ended qualifying for the day.

Eight months ago, Eily Stafford strapped into the cockpit of the Hustler Nostalgia Funny Car and prepared to make her first-ever run in a Funny Car at Famoso Dragstrip.

Nerves?

Quite the opposite.

“The first time the engine started and they lowered the body I felt like I was where I was supposed to be,” Stafford said. “It was such a comforting feeling.”

Fast-forward to now and the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, which starts a three-day run today at Famoso, and Stafford has proved that car owner Don Nelson made the right choice to give her an opportunity in the premier Hot Rod Heritage Series class.

She qualified for all the Hot Rod Heritage Series races, was runner-up at Spokane in June, knocking off heavy hitters Nathan Sitko and Shane Westerfield to get there, then broke through for her first win a month later in the Legacy Series in an NHRA national event in Norwalk, Ohio. Last month she set the mile per hour track record at Redding — 264.58 mph.

But none of that would have been possible had she not made a phone call in early December to Nelson, who was looking for a new driver this season.

“I called and asked what they were looking for in a driver, they said they had some other drivers on the list before me but would let me know the next day,” she said. “I got the call and they picked me.”

Unlike many of those involved in drag racing, Stafford knew nothing about the sport 25 years ago.

“I went to my first drag race in 2001 (Winternationals in Pomona), my dad took me,” she said, “My family didn’t have any ties to drag racing. He just decided to go with some friends and asked me if I’d like to go and I fell in love with the sound, the speed and the smell and decided to pursue it.

“I waited until I was 16 to get my first drag racing license — a little altered in Nostalgia Elimination II (8.60-second index).”

Stafford has raced a variety of cars since then — some dragsters and altereds in NEI (7.60 index), 7.0 cars and she won the March Meet in a rear-engined Nitro Pro Comp car in 2023. She even tested an A/Fuel car for Jasmine Salinas and lately she’s dabbled in AA/Fuel Altereds.

But now it’s all Funny Cars.

“Because of all my experience in short wheelbase cars I think it really prepared me to drive the Nostalgia Funny Car,” she said.

Her husband of eight years James Day, an accomplished Nostalgia Funny Car driver (he won the 2014 March Meet) and is now wheeling the Burkholder Bros. AA/ Fuel Altered owned by Bill Windham, also has been an asset.

“He’s been a huge help,” Stafford said. “He taught me how to drive when I was about to make the step into the nitro Pro Comp class. He sat me down, wrote down all of the steps and I’ve practiced that almost every day since then.

“It’s nice to be able to talk to someone about the run afterward. I’m still getting used to (the Funny Car) — what I’m feeling, how the run felt. He’s been a huge help.”

As for expectations in her rookie season, “My goal was to go to races, put down solid runs and just get qualified and after that I told myself it’s one lap at a time” she said.

“I didn’t put any extra pressure on myself. Everyone’s been doing so well, just working together. It feels like we’ve been a team for years. It’s great.”

Stafford plans on having a good time as her season winds down.

“I really love the California Hot Rod Reunion,” she said. “It’s so much fun. If people are coming from out of town I tell them the March Meet is a blast but the California Hot Rod Reunion you know you’re going to get good weather, and they have the cackle fest with Nitro Revival. It’s a great time with a lot of great racing. All the classes will be there. Champions are going to be crowned. It’s going to be a great time.”