The driver of a top fuel car is a lot like the quarterback on a football team, that is, he usually gets most of the credit for his team’s success but he is the first one to admit that he couldn’t do it alone. Such was the case with James Warren, the driver for one of the most famous teams in all of drag racing, the Warren, Coburn and Miller Top Fuel team, a team that was also known as the “Ridge Route Terrors.” That name referred to the road that ran over the mountains between the San Joaquin valley and the Los Angeles basin and it was reported that when the team was seen towing down to race at the southern California tracks it struck terror in the hearts of all the other dragster teams. James Warren began driving in the late 1950’s but it wasn’t on a drag strip, it was on the local dirt tracks around his California home, but it wouldn’t be long before he was hitting the drag strips of California and visiting the winner’s circle at those tracks on a regular basis. With his partner, Roger Coburn, James drove a series of cars that ranged from a twin-engine car with one Chrysler and one Chevrolet engine, to a lightweight blown dragster that ran with the best of the California breed. When businessman Marvin Miller joined the duo he brought his company’s sponsorship with him, and since Marvin ran a company that provided irrigation systems for the farmers in the Bakersfield area, the trio became know as the “Rain For Rent” team. Whatever you called them, the team of James Warren, Roger Coburn and Marvin Miller were winners wherever they raced. Growing up near the famous Famoso track in Bakersfield, James Warren always wanted to race and win the annual Fuel and Gas Championships, the most prestigious Top Fuel race in the country at the time. He would achieve that goal in 1975 when he qualified number one, ran six consecutive five-second runs and beat Jeb Allen in the final round. One year later he would return as the defending champion, qualify number six, beat Don Garlits in the semi-finals and then stop Tony Nancy to win the race and become the first driver ever to put consecutive wins on the board at Bakersfield. And if that weren’t enough, in 1977 he put together another amazing streak of seven five-second runs, moved into the finals against “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, ran 5.83 and won the race for the third consecutive year. A Gatornationals’ win in ’76, a Winternationals’ title in 1968, a classic final round against Don Garlits at Indy in 1967, a couple of national records and membership in the “Cragar 5-Second Club” all added to the legacy of this great team. – Bob Frey