After three days of chamber of commerce weather and huge crowds, the 13th annual California Hot Rod Reunion came to an exciting conclusion on Sunday afternoon when two of the most popular teams in the sport met in the final round of Top Fuel. After wading through a 16 car field consisting of the best cars in the country, Sean Bellemeur and Rick McGee squared off at the most prestigious event of the season.

The only bad thing about any race someone has to lose. In spite of their superhuman efforts, the Plaza Hotel - MasterCam crew barely missed their fourth win of the year when McGee got the the finish line first. In spite of the runner-up finish, the whole team put on a great show and did their sponsors proud. Complete story below.

Bellemeur's weekend got off to an ominous start on Friday when, during the first qualifying session, the car suffered internal engine damage on the burnout forcing a shut off. With only two qualifying sessions this put the Plaza Hotel crew under the gun to get the car fixed and in the show on Saturday afternoon.

The Barrick Gaming pits were constantly buzzing with the crews working on the cars and an endless stream of fans.

Here the crew get the car repaired and ready for their one and only qualifying attempt on Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the second qualifying session the Barrick Gaming principles gathered on the starting line for a photo op. From L to R: Michael Bata, Dave Barrick, John Gourley and Dale Singh. By all accounts the folks from Barrick had a great time at the CHRR and were more than pleased with the showing.

Bellemeur heats up the tires for his second and last qualifying attempt

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Going into this session the team had two objectives: one, to get from point A to point B and two, try and get into the top half of the field. Here Sean carefully moves into the staging beams.

The car left good and cruised on down the track to a safe 6.109 at 231.60. This got them in the show but did not nab a top eight spot - it would put them # 13 and pair them with # 4 qualifier, Denver Schutz in round one of elimination that night.

10-03-04 - BAKERSFIELD, CA - Final order of qualifying in Nostalgia Top Fuel at the 2004 California Hot Rod Reunion.

First round of the 16 car Top Fuel show was under the lights on Saturday night. The SRO crowd were glued to their seats as Sean Bellemeur and Denver Schutz backed up from their burnouts. Schutz had run 5.866 @ 240.19 and 5.906 @ 247.38 in qualifying so he was the odds on favorite to win. BUT, drag races are not run on paper.

Knowing he needed all the edge he could get, Bellemeur did his job in spades cutting a psychic light (.001) leaving Schutz the task of chasing him all the way down.

Denver closed at every marker but Bellemeur got there first with a margin of victory of 0.0090 seconds (approximately 3 feet). The times: 5.999 241.15 to 5.944 238.34. This is what is known in drag racing as a classic hold shot win. To add icing on the cake, this was the first five second pass for Bellemeur and the Plaza Hotel team. What a drag race!

Tom Shelar and Frank Hedge have been keeping a bottle of very fine tequila in the trailer for over two years waiting to crack it after their first five second run. This day they got to not only crack it but enjoy two toasts - the first for Mendy's 5.87 and again for Sean's 5.99. It's been a long road but these guys are now on the porch with the big dogs.

Sunday morning began the final three round of eliminations. But first and foremost we honor our flag. In spite of some voice loss, Ruthi Hedge sang the National Anthem. As always, she was superb.

After his dramatic win the previous night, Bellemeur heat the tires before meeting Rick Rogers.

This may have been the "weirdest" race of the weekend as the times didn't reflect the actual times. Although Rogers got a slight holeshot (0.037 to 0.063) the clocks said that Bellemeur's (tire hazing -below) 6.299 @ 246.10 was literally a dead heat with Roger's much slower 6.405 @ 199.37. "MOV: 0.0000 seconds (approximately 0 inches). The track system can detect a winner and it was Bellemeur." Nobody understood this but the bottom line was that the Plaza car was going to round three.

The win was a costly one as the engine went over 10,550 rpm and had an intake valve (or valves) break, killing the heads and blowing the blower off in the lights.

The damage was so sever that the heads and blower off the MasterCam car had to be transferred to the white car. It was a major thrash to make the call for the semi finals.

As they should, the Barrick gang relax as the guys work on the car. That's why they are called sponsors - not crew members.

Sean does his burnout prior to his semi final race with the 5.8 car of Bill Dunlap.

When they say a picture is worth a thousand words - in this case they mean it (look at the crew in the background). With a seriously wounded engine (running on seven cylinders) the game plan for Bellemeur was to do a short burnout, stage and pray Dunlap made a mistake. And make a mistake he did. Bellemeur seemingly snookered the # 1 qualifier and won without moving. Dunlap reacted to Bellemeur whacking the throttle and left early - red light - done. Bellemeur idled on down and had a date to meet Rick McGee in the final.

Dunlap's crew reacts in kind.

After the win (in fact, after every run) the crew tossed Plaza Hotel Racing t-shirt to the fans. Needless to say, they were a huge hit.

The Top Fuel final was another great race. However, this got a little exciting before the race as Bellemeur and his car were nowhere to be found. At the last second the car was towed through the lanes and both drivers suited up in the starting area behind the water box. Both cars fired on time and Bellemeur's ride looked and sounded much better this time.

The cars back up from their respective burnouts.

Bellemeur's 0.063 holeshot gave him a 0.040 advantage off the line but his slowing 6.279 at just 207.27 was not enough to hold off McGee's 6.134 @ 227.15.

Being the true sportsman he is, Sean was out of the car and over to congratulate Rick before they could get their helmets off. To say this was a popular win for McGee would be an understatement - its his first in 13 years! To have his good friend in the other lane was icing on the cake.

Sean Bellemeur - Rick McGee - two winners.