Rain Is Kind of a Drag, Halts Winternationals : Auto racing: Weather interrupts first round of finals, which are postponed until Saturday.

Rain halted the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals drag races almost before they started Sunday, forcing a postponement of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s season-opening meet until Saturday at the Pomona Fairplex.

Only six of eight first-round top-fuel eliminations were held before first a drizzle and then a steady downpour sent an estimated 35,000 spectators scurrying for cover.

Top qualifier Cory McClenathan, who ran a national record time of 4.784 seconds earlier in the week, was fastest of the six winners as he sidelined Shelly Anderson with a 4.828-second run. Anderson, the only female driver in the field, actually lost before she started by leaving the starting line too soon.

“I hate the thought of having to wait another week,” McClenathan said. “Even though we won our first-round match, it’ll be like starting in the first round again on Saturday.”

McClenathan will meet Tommy Johnson Jr., who needed only a 5.07-second run to defeat Rance McDaniel, whose tires smoked off the starting line.

Five-time Winston champion Joe Amato advanced to a second-round match with Ed (Ace) McCulloch after both won close races. Amato edged Jimmy Nix, 4.98 to 4.99, and McCulloch eliminated Scott Kalitta, 4.87 to 4.91.

With the weather cool and ideal before the rain, McCulloch approached the magic 300-m.p.h. mark with the day’s fastest speed of 298.50 m.p.h. It was also the top speed of the meet. Others who advanced were Tony Pedregon, brother of funny car champion Cruz Pedregon, and Jim Head, who coasted through the lights at 162.57 m.p.h. in 5.82 seconds after heavily favored Eddie Hill saw his engine go up in smoke.

Drivers in all classes will hold a test-and-tune session Friday at 1 p.m., with the public admitted free of charge. Final eliminations will start at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The first matchup Saturday will pit two drag racing veterans, defending Winternationals champion Kenny Bernstein against Don (Snake) Prudhomme. It will be the 35th time the two have met in NHRA side-by-side competition since 1980, when Prudhomme won a first round funny car match in the Summernationals at Englishtown, N.J.

Bernstein has a 25-9 edge in their personal dual, which includes funny cars and top-fuel dragsters.