FALLBROOK, Calif. -- Funny Car Fever returning champion Roger Garten and his ‘War Horse’ nostalgia Ford Mustang nitro funny car will be racing at this weekend’s Funny Car Fever event at Sacramento Raceway. Garten won this event in 2010 in only his third event since returning to funny car racing. Garten is the original driver of the “War Horse” mustang, which was campaigned in the early 70’s. Garten retired after winning the Funny Car Division 7 championship only to return to racing after retiring from his day job.

Racing was never far from his heart or mind. The ‘War Horse’ was built to look exactly like the original car, incorporating all the latest safety and mechanical updates for today’s race cars. Garten’s ‘War Horse’ came out of the gate strong in 2010, taking out Leah Pruett-LeDuc (who would go on to be the season champion) on his way to Funny Car Fever victory. “Sacramento has always been a good track to me, I won here back in the 70’s also,” Garten stated.

The team has had an uphill climb the last few months after suffering a catastrophic explosion at the season opening March Meet in Bakersfield. They had to rebuild or repair almost every component on the car, including a new body. The current issue of HOT ROD magazine has the pictures on page 12. War Horse was back on the track on Memorial Day in Las Vegas with an unpainted body – which the crew dubbed the ‘horse with no name.’ Funny Car Fever will mark her full return to glory with a freshly painted body. “We will still have some graphics to finish applying since we just got this body from the painter on Tuesday, and we will take care of that on Friday at the track,” reports crew chief, Justin Taylor.

The crew is ready for this full return to competition and will have lots in store in the pits for this weekend’s fans. In addition to T-shirts, the crew will have hero cards, trading cards, stickers and temporary tattoos and are looking forward to seeing their Sacramento fans again. Stop by and check out the new paint and welcome Roger back to competition. Fans can follow the ‘War Horse’ Nitro Funny car on Facebook and also via the official web site at www.warhorse792.com.