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THE GREATPRO STOCK DEBATE

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COVER IMAGE

Chris Tait slows down in the

Wil lowbank Raceway braking

area. Image by Dave Reid.

CONTENTS4 - Editorial

6 - Shutter Speed

10 - The great Pro Stock debateTwo round championships and a big bad Mopar. Pro Stock is a classdivided - we investigate.

18 - Turning pointANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley gives his take on where the sport ofdrag racing is at.

24 - Good timesChris Tait and the road to a world record.

30 - Sea changeRick Chilton and why Pro Stock was the place to be.

38 - Get down with the sicknessiRob Taylor might make his business around curing health problems,but drag racing is another sickness altogether.

42 - Adelaide thunderThe Aeroflow Nitro Funny Car show rolls into Adelaide.

46 - Sportsman stunnerWillowbank Raceway plays host to round four fo the Summit RacingEquipment Sportsman Series.

50 - Hanley hot in Mildura Supercharged Shootout

52 - Sydney Dragway track championship goes two up

54 - Quarter Reporter

62 - Mr Yes and Mr NoDo we need a shorter season?

63 - Business Directory

One of drag racing's biggest challenges to drawing spectatorsover recent years has been increased competition from allkinds of entertainment options.The truth of the matter is that people have far more variety inthe things they choose to do now and that drag racing figuresless and less in those plans.The sport has straddled an odd place between hobby andprofession. It's a kind of fence sitting we have never reallybeen able to get away from and both sides have their pros andcons.As a hobby, drag racing is a lot of fun, but people have torealise that you can't expect to be paid for your hobby.As a profession, drag racing can be a way to make a living, butpeople have to realise you need to first invest in that business.Simply buying the vehicle and then putting your hand out isnot enough.But back to the discussion about the options at hand to amotorsport consuming public. We have traditionallyconsidered V8 Supercars to be the main competitor of dragracing, but I believe we are in a very different segment to thatseries. The V8 Supercars have a white collar aspect to them,while drag racing remains very much blue collar in the peopleit attracts, with exceptions of course.I think our biggest competitor now is the pro burnout scene.Stick with me here!I recently attended the Good Friday burnouts at PerthMotorplex and the crowd was massive. Easily bigger than justabout any drag racing crowd this season at the venue, perhapswith the exception of Top Fuel. Even then it would be close.

Burnouts as a sport have taken one of the most entertainingaspects of drag racing, packaged it and deliver it up as a solidshow over a few hours. The action is non stop, as soon as onecar is off the pad the next one begins. Any oildowns arecleaned up quickly as there is no need to fix traction. Thecrowd cheers loudly for their favourites. And there aremoments of fire and brimstone aplenty as engines blow, tyresturn into flames and the occasional car even hits the wall.Don't be left in any doubt, drag racing and burnoutcompetitions are vying for the same group of potentialspectators and potential spectators. I'm sure there are peoplewho have tossed up between drag racing or building a burnoutcar and chosen the latter. They are obviously seeing anattraction there.It is something of a golden age of burnouts at the moment.Drivers and spectators are passionate on social media aboutthe skids in a way that drag racing is really missing out on.There's a genuine excitement around the scene. People willturn up to events just to see certain cars, the same way peopleused to flock to regional tracks when Victor Bray would race.It's big league stuff and it won't be long before automotivesponsors throw their money where the people are.For drag racing, I guess I can summarise what our lessonsshould be in brief. Let's be entertaining and let's self promote.Let's give people the show they want.Who would you save and who would you scrap?

Luke NieuwhofEditor

EDITORIAL

SHUTTER

SPEED6

Adelaide's east-west direction means the setting sun makes for some gorgeous photos.And it doesn't hurt to have a beautiful Monaro like Johnny Ienco's wheelstanding either.

ISO 125, 1/500sec, F7.1, Nikon D750 at 200mm.Image: Bob Taylor

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SHUTTER

SPEED8

Sam Kiprios' Toyota Starlet frequently plays the role of David against some Goliaths,especially when it comes to racing in Super Comp. Here he faces Mark Davison's BB/Altered.

ISO 800, 1/1250sec, F8.0, Canon EOS 1DX at 39mm. Image: Dave Reid

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Following last month's aborted opening round of theAustralian Pro Stock Championship, ANDRA issued astatement saying that the championship would continueas planned despite effectively being reduced to tworounds.

There were murmurs that because the Adelaide round did notattract the necessary four minimum entrants to run an officialchampionship round that the entire series would be scrappedfor the season.However the ANDRA board deemed that the show would goon, citing page 64 of the ANDRA rulebook, which states:where at least three rounds are posted, ANDRA NationalChampionship series are staged each season for Group Onecategories. All are included in the Australian Nationals,Winternationals and Nitro Champs events, with other roundsbeing scheduled independently.Lee Bektash and Emilio Spinozzi, the remaining two eligibleentrants from the VPW Pro Series 1000 event at Adelaide

International Raceway, were given 20 points as non-qualifiersas per page 67 of the rulebook.While that worked out okay for Bektash and Spinozzi, otherteams are not all smiles. In fact, the category seems divideddown the middle on whether or not the championshipremains legitimate.And that is not the only disagreement in Australian Pro Stock.There's a big bad Mopar with a lot of huff and puff runningnow and some racers are saying 'not by the hair of theirchinny, chin chin' will they be able to match it with theperformance advantage resulting from the Mopar's borespacing and valve size. But one thing at a time, let's begin withthe recently confirmed two round season.

Three's a crowd?

At the posted opening round of the Pro Stock championshipjust three racers were on the property: Mopar-backed LeeBektash, Emilio Spinozzi and a returning Gerry Parente whostill had to complete licensing in his new Camaro.

THE GREAT PROSTOCK DEBATE

ANDRA championship rounds are required to have aminimum of four teams competing in order for race points tobe granted. Those aforementioned racers were given non-qualifying points and a nod from the ANDRA Board that theseries would go ahead.Team owner Kerry Tremayne spoke out publicly against thechange, calling the two round a championship 'a joke' in thecomments section of dragnews.com.au.Tremayne said that the racers he has spoken to are not fans.“I think most people agree that two rounds for achampionship is a joke,” he said. “In the ANDRA rulebook,depending on how you read it, it says three rounds have to beposted. The three rounds posted include the Winternationals,Nitro Champs and the Australian Nationals. Other rounds areadded on to those three rounds. In other words ANDRA havemade a mistake because they are having a championshipwithout the Nationals. There shouldn't be a championship forany other class either.”Tremayne, whose sons Aaron and Tyronne compete in ProStock, said that a two round championship is not enough for

teams to compete for a title trophy.“We have always had a six round series, most of the time itends up as five rounds because you get stuffed up with rain orwhatever,” he said. “Nearly every racer you talk to agrees withit. If you stuff up one round (with a two round championship)you are out. At least with five rounds you can still have achance of winning if you basically stay competitive at theother four and get up into the semis. When you have tworounds if you go out first round, well that is it.”ANDRA is often put into the position of making unpopulardecisions. A more dramatic one should have been madebefore the off season according to Tremayne.“I would have said the (short) season would have nochampionship this year and start the championship at thenew season (later in the year). Definitely racers would stillturn up. It is hurting the events by having a championship.”The Tremayne family were not planning on running at theNitro Champs but Kerry says his boys want some drivingpractice to keep them fresh.The amount Pro Stock racers are willing to travel was drawn

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into question by the poor attendance. Tremayne suggested anelement of tit for tat.“I don't think Pro Stock will be taken seriously unless all theracers try and at least attend most of the rounds. You can'thave 20 cars at one meet and then the next meeting not evenhave five. ANDRA look at that in a pretty dim light. (Adelaide)is the first race we have missed since we started with ProStock. This is our eighth year.“Lee Bektash actually said at the Nationals last year hethought it was a joke having a title last year because he didn'twant to go to Benaraby. Nobody down south supportedBenaraby so that's why nobody from Queensland went toAdelaide.“He (Lee) basically said having a championship that year wasa joke, now he is all for having two rounds.”

Series support

Lee Bektash has a lot on the line when it comes to there beinga Pro Stock championship. He has invested a large amount of

time and money into developing a winning combination andhas a sponsor expecting him to deliver trophies to their door.He says he is all for there being a championship in the shortseason.“I believe it is the right decision. A championship is achampionship if it's two rounds or ten rounds; when it is putup you still need to give it 100% to be able to win.“I'm glad it went ahead, I wasn't going to go for a pro am. Notjust for the sake of running the car. Because at the end of theday, what does it mean if you are racing for nothing? The wayI look at it is its harder to win a championship over tworounds than five. Over two rounds you can't make a mistake.Unfortunately with Calder not going ahead it spoiled thebracket for Adelaide.”Bektash explained that last year he asked ANDRA to considerextending the season through to the Winternationals this yearafter the abandonment of an event at Calder due to coldweather affecting track conditions and the fuel scandal inSydney which saw tainted race fuel affect a bunch of teams.“The Winternationals (last year) and the Nationals were the

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only real races, to me last year was a two roundchampionship, whats the difference?” he said.“These guys (other Pro Stock teams) are very calculating, theywill try and stop rounds and entry numbers so the seasondoesn't go ahead and they can spend their money on R&D.That's fair enough and I respect that but they are missing thepoint.”Bektash said fans can still expect great racing and a deservingwinner – and he wants his rivals there.“It is still a shootout and it is going to be exciting. Everyoneknows how competitive me and the Tremaynes are againsteach other. Don't worry about how fast I am. Aaron has thepaperwork to prove he is the best Pro Stock driver ever inAustralia. He has nothing to worry about. I'd be disappointedIf I did well in the those races and they weren't there tocontest.”

Unfair advantage

The other major issue that has reached boiling point in

Australian Pro Stock has been the claim that the Moparpackage has an inherent advantage under current rules versusChev and Ford combinations. Certainly Bektash's 6.8 secondand 200mph achievements, years before anyone thought itwould be possible, have given some credence to thosethoughts.Tremayne said the right thing to do would be to add weight tothe Mopars, but he can not see it happening.“With the difference in bore spacing you can get a bigger boreand a larger inlet and exhaust valve so basically you can builda better engine,” he said. “It's a big reason why nobody wentto Adelaide. I don't know how the Nitro Champs is going tofare.”Tremayne said it used to be an even playing field untilBektash brought in his latest motor package.“Everybody stepped up and we were all equal. We thought youbeauty. Then at the Nationals that was all blown apart,” hesaid. “Everybody found 30 horsepower last year and thenbasically you've got a car which produces 1220 horsepowerwhen most of us run 1150 horsepower. We believe we need

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another 30 or 40 on what we've got to be where Lee is. Wewill eventually find it, doing our own engines makes it hard.The financial burden is pretty big.”If he knew what he knows now, Tremayne said they wouldhave started with a Mopar, but they are now too far down theChev road.“In the last nine years what we have learned and especiallyAaron is unbelievable,” he said.“You get guys over here who run a shoe string budget andthere is guys with a bigger budget getting American crewchiefs in, who have a wealth of knowledge as far as tracks andcar setup. We can't expect the Aussie guys to be up with thatso we are always going to struggle.“The more money you've got the better you can be at it Isuppose. Over the last three championships Aaron has wonit's because he is a really good driver.“For the first season we probably had the most power when hefirst won. It was a lot of car set up then too. I remember whenTyronne went 7.07 and the rest of the field were in the low7.1s. They were running 191, Tyronne went 192. There wasn'ta big speed difference, we were lucky we found something inthe cars and made them fast.“We are happy where we are going, we are always up for thechallenge. Hopefully the new engine development will put usback where we are.”Tremayne thinks that Bektash's engine builder Bob Bookcould have the capacity to make the Chevs as powerful as theMopar.“Hats off to Bob Book, he has found something nobody haselse has found,” he said. “He reckons he can make the Chevquick. He has talked to Aaron about doing something withhim, but Aaron is not interested because we have our ownengine build.”

Best of enemies

Lee Bektash has never been backwards in coming forwards.He says he has the best car in the country and he has workedhard to make it happen, choosing to spend his money where itproduces performance – not on flashiness.“I believe my R&D program is probably 12 months ahead ofthe opposition, they need to be looking to spend money onR&D rather than racing,” he said. “Like I have told these guysthat run two car teams - maybe they need to concentrate on

running one car.“They've got the big trucks. I've got a little trailer and a vanand I invest the money in a crew chief instead.”Horsepower is not the only part of the equation that isproducing Bektash's spectacular performances according tothe exciteable Victorian.“The bore spacing in the Mopar is a little bigger,” he said. “Myvalves and Rick Chilton's are the same. I had 1110 horsepowerand I went 6.99. I have an extra 100 now. They are getting lostin the power and forgetting how good the car is.“I can give that motor to anybody else and I guarantee youthey won't run an 80. Everything I have in that car is whatpeople should be getting. I would be surprised if that car isnot a consistent 6.80 car.“We were the ones challenging the Tremaynes. For five yearswe chased them, but we learned from what they were doingand asked how could we make it better. That's what I did, Iasked what can I do to beat Aaron Tremayne. I needed to findsomeone to tune better than him and get a car better than his- I know I can match him in driving.“He's the Apollo Creed that has won the championship butI'm the Rocky Balboa because I've got the supporters. Theyhave spent a lot of money on development and it is probablyheartbreaking for them to see what I did, but they need to digdeep and not give up.”No doubt the Mopar package will be difficult to beat, butBektash claims it is far from impossible.“We could red light, turn the tyres, cross the centre line, Icould cut a bad light, blow a motor up. John Zappia doesn'twin every race. Yeah he is good but he doesn't win every race.I don't believe I can go out there and win every race because Iknow they are going to catch me.“But they are spending too much time on how they can stopme from running fast rather than concentrating on their ownstuff.“Car set up I believe is more important than the horsepower.My engine and Nino Cavallo's engine are identical. I went6.92/200, he went 6.98/196, so there is 4mph in the car. Ifthey all do what we did they are going to get there. If theythink it is power that is a problem. It is the whole package andI hope I can capitalise and dominate for the next 12 months. Idon't want to do well just at two meetings, I want to do wellwhen ever I go out there. If that means less competitors so beit. I've done a job too good.”

Right: Lee Bektash sayshorsepower is only part of theanswer on going quick and thatgetting a good crew chief hasbeen vital to his operation. MickMarriott (left) and Tomi Laine(right) are two of the best in thebusiness.

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There has been an active rumour mill in Pro Stock as to who issending engines overseas and who isn't. Bektash said with theexception of Emilio Spinozzi everyone in the top ten issending motors overseas, but he believes staying secret aboutit means they will not get the best results.“Why would an engine builder give you the full deal if youdon't support them. It is like getting advice over the phoneand not paying the guy. How are you going to get the 100%advice unless you are actually investing in your enginebuilder. It costs the Americans money to learn what theyknow. You can benefit what they know and it is cheaper. Thenyou can concentrate on your business Monday to Friday thatmakes you money.”Bektash is quite happy to real off the list of people andcompanies involved in his race car and said anyone else isquite capable of going out and getting the same package.“We are heavily involved with Penske (shocks), Rick JonesRace Cars, Bob Book (engine builder), Tomi Laine (crew chief)- they are the leaders,” he said. “Erica Enders-Stevens has aRick Jones Race Car, she's got the Penske shocks, soeverything I've got and she's got is what people need.“They're not going to catch me unless they go down that road,it's simple.”Bektash denies he is responsible for a drop in racer numbers.“How can I be penalised for competitors not showing up? Thenumbers in the last two years have been down with guys wehaven't replaced. Both Tuckers are out, Peter Ridgeway,Michael Ali, and so many others. A lot of things affect it: thedollar, business. We have been running fast for a long time, itwasn't just what we did in November.”

A public problem

When we asked ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley about thefailure of the opening round of the Australian Pro Stock

Championship and the parity situation, he was disappointedthe debate had become so public and resulted in cars notattending events.“These guys put a massive commitment in,” he said. “This ProStock equipment is leading edge stuff. With Lee Bektash thatis not overnight, he has put his heart and soul into it. And it isnot cheap.“We have spoken to the guys in the USA to make sure thatthere is a level of parity there, which we believe there is. It'sdisappointing firstly that the entries were down, butunderstandable, but secondly that the criticism was quitepublic.“Some of the finger pointing at the Pro Stock racers that didnot enter was unnecessary. We need to say okay there wasonly three entered, there is a problem, what is the problem,talk about it, and fix it. Calling them out and pointing fingersdoesn't help anybody.”Certainly Bektash is not done wearing out the record booksjust yet.“Everything in my team is no less than A-grade. We aregetting rewarded with the success on the scoreboard. Thechallenge for me is to run faster, not worry so much aboutwinning. My aim going to Sydney is to reset the record again.You can't reset the record if it is not a championship round.”And as for his relationship with the Tremaynes – Bektash saidit is only stoking his fire.“My competitors don't need to be my friends,” he said. “I'drather have them as rivals. That way they get the best out ofme. When I'm finished racing we will all have a coffee or abeverage and talk about what we went through in the last tenyears. You've got to have that rivalry, it's what makes the classexciting.“Aaron is the rival for me. I don't really care about who I beatas long as I beat him and I am sure he is the same as me. Ifthey don't come and race they won't have that opportunity.”

Right: Lee Bektash sayshorsepower is only part of theanswer on going quick and thatgetting a good crew chief hasbeen vital to his operation. MickMarriott (left) and Tomi Laine(right) are two of the best in thebusiness.

TURNINGPOINT

There's a feeling that the administration of dragracing is reaching a crucial fork in the road - which

path will the sport and its constituents choose?

Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos bycacklingpipes.com.

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There has been successes enjoyed, particularly in the strengthof the sportsman program, but during the same period therestill seems to be ongoing turmoil and debate around a range ofissues.That murky infighting has congealed into rumours of theInternational Hot Rod Association sanctioning across severaltracks and though nothing official has yet been declared by anyvenue and details are scarce, they have confirmed that theyhave communicated with the United States-based sanctioningbody.A split in sanctioning bodies by venues, should it happen,would arguably represent the largest upheaval ever for thesport of drag racing in Australia.When asked on why tracks are even considering the option,Bulley said he believes they are looking to retain a level ofindependence.“For some reason they (the tracks) believe that ANDRA isinstructing them on what to do,” he said. “At the end of the dayif I was in their position I would look around at the same level.But when you look at the size of the Australian market, anymove to segment that market would be catastrophic for thesport.“I can only look at the New Zealand model, it stemmed growthin NZ for many years. But the NZDRA are coming back onboard fairly strongly.”

Other than knowledge that talks have been held,no one is yet sure on what model is beingconsidered for sanctioning, who would managerules or commercial aspects of the sport or atwhat level IHRA would administer drag racing inAustralia beyond an insurance level.“Bringing a couple of sanctioning bodies into amarket this size is like the Pepsi Wars over a fewthousand sales, it just doesn't make sense,”Bulley said. “The level of duplication as far asrules, infrastructure and those kind of things.“Whoever is setting the rules for any sport needsto be independent. You are not going to makedecisions that please everyone all the time, butwithout that governance and compliance you end

up in a situation where all you have is anarchy and that is whenwe get into a dangerous situation.”Bulley said the changing nature of ANDRA, including its shiftfrom an administration focus to a service provider, could haveruffled some feathers – but he maintains ANDRA is looking tobe a supporter for tracks, not a replacement.“There is a view by a couple of the major tracks that we shouldbe doing things cheaper,” he said. “There is always thatargument. ANDRA is a not for profit, when we first started thischange cycle about two year ago it was about moving from apurely admin function to a support function.“When we first started having meetings with member tracks itwas important to us that those member tracks articulated whatdirection they had so we could get a national focus. The localseries, track championships and all the rest of it, that is thetracks' business. We will support that from an admin,sanctioning, racer perspective, but when it comes down toclashes, it is really defending that independence from theirpoint of view.”ANDRA's support of some events in Adelaide and Calder,including from a financial standpoint, generated concernamong other tracks that the playing field was not being kepteven and that ANDRA was becoming a competitor. Bulleydenied that was the case.

ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley has beenheading Australia's drag racing sanctioningbody at a time many would agree has beenone of peaks and troughs.

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“They see us as a potential promoter, which we are notinterested in, we are not interested in promoting any event,”he said. “We helped Peter (Pisalidis) out at Calder a fair bit.Rodney Jane in regards to both Calder and Adelaide hadsome issues and wanted us to step in in regard to controllingthe two facilities from a compliance point of view. We don'thave a frontline position (in promotion).“We support venues promoting the national championshipevents and thats where our activation trailer goes around andwhere sponsorship comes into the sport. All those dollars gostraight back to the racers. It is quite a transparent model wehave got.”In last month's Drag News Magazine, Willowbank Raceway'sTony Manson said the venue had tabled their thoughtsdirectly with the ANDRA Board and CEO and also said therewere a number of things they were not happy with in thecurrent sanctioning organisation, being ANDRA.Bulley said that there has not been communication on whatWillowbank is unsatisfied with.”“In regards to Willowbank and Tony's (concerns), it isdisplaying reaction times on screens (readout boards),”Bulley said. “And to tell you the truth we really haven't heardanything more from them, so your guess is as good as mine.”Members of ANDRA and racers at venues should expect thatthe two communicate on a meaningful level to achievepositive results for the sport. Currently the relationshipbetween tracks and ANDRA takes on an often adversarialapproach. Neither should be mind readers andcommunication should be open.But does ANDRA know what the tracks want? Bulley saidANDRA, the chairman in particular do ask the venues thatquestion.“There is over 30 tracks in this country, the three majors(Sydney, Willowbank and Perth) see themselves assomething a little bit different - and they are,” he said. “Whatthey want is hard to fathom sometimes because it gets mixedup in dialogue. They wants costs to be lower, they wantpricing to be higher as far as the premium goes.“The venues, ANDRA and the racers are one, everyone isstruggling, it's an expensive sport. Everybody has their owngoal. At the highest level all those goals are similar. What weneed to look at is growth, at the end of the day that is what itis all going to come down to.“ANDRA is the only one in a position to support the nationalpicture. We are a support mechanism.”Bulley believes spectator growth needs to be of the highestpriority in order to bring returns for everybody involved.“Spectators bring sponsors, they bring revenue for venus,which gets turned into prizemoney for racers,” he said. “Totake drag racing to a broader audience, that audience needsto be significantly more than what it is at the moment. Weneed to cooperate at a public level. We have been airing ourdirty laundry in public which does nobody any good. Thereare too many cooks and nobody is serving the customer outthe front.“If we took 50% of the energy we are expelling now oninternal bickering the sport would be significantly better off.A huge amount of energy is being wasted to get that edge orleverage point to achieve an ant hill when realistically we arechasing a mountain.”ANDRA's reputation has suffered through some of it itsdecision making, but Bulley maintains that the rightdecisions aren't always going to be popular ones.“We have a situation where if something goes wrong it isANDRA's fault. Sometimes it is true,” he said. “The truestrength in that is reversing it if it is a bad call. The calendarseason was a classic example, where there wasn't a lot ofsupport for making the change in the first place. There waseven less support for changing it back but change it back wedid because that was what the tracks wanted to do.“Two changes in such short proximity of each other wasdetrimental to a lot of people. A lack of communicationcaused that and allowed it to happen in the first place.“We are interested in making sure the cooperative approachwins out. At the moment there seems to be a lot of

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unproductive niggling."There seems to be a level of fear of success. It has been herefor at least 30 years. 'If it gets too big I may lose control or Imay lose input' - and that is not productive to the future of thesport. The sport needs to grow.”Poor communication is a regular criticism of ANDRA. Bulleyagreed there was room for improvement but said it wasimportant to recognise the improvements that had been made.“(Communication) covers so much and is so important.Communication always is number one, but it is more targetedcommunication we need to improve on now,” he said. “Wehave increased that by three or four times but that is no laurelto rest on.“You will always have 5% or 10% of any membership base thatis going to be disenfranchised, it is no different to any sportingenterprise. You are trying to turn a hobby into a professionalbusiness but we are still a hobby at the end of the day. But atthe pointy end we have an incredible show and that showneeds to be agreed on and promoted.“Nothing we are seeing now is new. We are seeing resistance tochange, we are seeing individual opinion stated as fact, whererealistically it is a discussion point.”Bulley said there was resistance by some people to going backto ideas that had been tried before, unsuccessfully.“With change, innovation and technology, some of those ideasof 10 years ago may work in a different environment,” he said.“Every new innovation piece or invention has been tried a fewtimes before they hit paydirt. Our challenge is out there in themarket, not internally. ANDRA makes decisions all the timeand we need to work on a broad scale of cooperation to getcosts down for venues and members and maximise the impactof what we should be doing.”ANDRA's role in acting as an intermediary between racers andvenues often puts it in the firing line. Bulley said that racerassociations (such as ones set up for Top Fuel and Pro Stock

Motorcycle) have made that task smoother.“We'd like to be involved with and support different racerassociations,” he said. “Dealing with everybody is a tough dealbecause not everybody agrees. A lot of the associations putmore time and effort into their category than anyone else andthey want to succeed. It requires a level of common focus tomake sure that category succeeds.“When it comes to rule submissions the majority should comefrom those associations themselves. The real meaty ones comefrom the people competing in the category as far as what theycan do to make that category more promotable and havetighter racing.”In future years, Bulley said the sport has to make itself moreconsistent.“We have a championship of different rounds made up aroundthe country. We don't have a consistent championship which iswhat we need to have,” he said. “There is a lot of peoeple whotravel interstate to watch these things these days, probablymore than people realise, and they are our true hard core fan.“When the circus does come into town they want us to make abig hoo-ha about it. One venue may have one or two majorevents a year, where as we have fourteen. We are spread prettythin but we are still a support mechanism; we want to giveeach venue the support it deserves.”ANDRA went through a lot of change around 2010/11,becoming a company and seeing the departure of long timeCEO Tony Thornton. He was replaced by Greg Humphreys,who left after only about a year of service. ANDRA employeeRob Sharp served as an interim CEO for a brief time beforehanding over the reins to Bulley.Bulley said those five years had seen a very different ANDRAresult and some of those changes should be noted.“If you look at what we are doing now, even compared to fiveyears ago, we are a totally different organisation. We are verymember focused - but tracks are members as well.

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“When I started two and a half years ago we had zero sponsors.Drag Limited had just broken down, we had just gone througha CEO in quick succession, there was a level of turmoil and Idon't know if we have recovered from that.“ANDRA has changed the entire structure of the business. Wehave the exact same number of full time equivalents we havealways had, but we've got a vastly more capable technical area,a more capable business development and media area, andthat is only through restructure and bringing on differentresources and working out how to become more efficient at thefunctions that we do have.“Innovation has been all the way through from organisationalstructure to financial structure. Two and a half years ago wefaced having a half million dollar loss, now that was a prettyscary thing to deal with, because you don't just make that upthe next year. Last year we got it to a profitable level and thisyear we will have a reasonable surplus that needs to go backinto the sport.“People are doing this (drag racing) because it is their passionand the whole model needs to work together to be sustainable.If we get any more splintering then it is our own fault; with alittle bit of courage if you do the right thing by the sport as awhole then everyone reaps the rewards. We can't keep cuttingup the pie because it will become unsustainable. You areduplicating infrastructure, you're duplicating tasks there is nobenefit to anyone.”Bulley defended what has been perceived as a slow movingorganisation.“Where we are now is transitioning slower than people wouldlike. But the only way we can get back on our feet is growth. Alot of people talk about 'when we were big'. But that was 25years ago. A lot of other motorsports have grown and wehaven't done that. “We know that statistically when you have avenue you get growth around that venue. There has beensuppression point in regards to drag racing for a lot of years.

We haven't had significant racing in Melbourne, though clubrun facilities like Portland have held it together for a long timeand should be congratulated. To get a drag strip in every majorcapital city is an important part. It's not something you(ANDRA) make money out of but it needs to happen.”If there is one thing that everyone can manage to agree on – itis an agreement that disagreement is not going to move thesport forward.Racers deserve a management at both sanctioning body andtrack level that can work together in a meaningful andrespectful way.“As a governing body we all want the same thing. If you standback, everyone in the sport wants growth, prosperity and thosekinds of things. It is very important for ANDRA tocomplement that, we are like a support body for that king ofambition.“ANDRA tries to support the front line, that is made up ofracers and venues. We have been accused of becoming toomember centric and that is fine. If we get all the benefits thatevery stakeholder wants the sport will be more prosperous.”

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GOODTIMES

Australia has an awesome assortment of Sport Compactmachinery making its presence felt on the world stage –and now there is a new name making a mark.

Chris Tait and the Good Times Racing team have proved hardwork and dedication to a cause will pay off in the end. Theteam have spent years developing a unique enginecombination in Australian drag racing circles, a 3RZ fourcylinder more commonly found in Toyota Hiluxes. After muchperseverance they are now not only cultivating world recordtimes, but race wins.Racing has been in Tait's blood since the age of 11 when he useto rip up BMX tracks until he was old enough to acquire a carlicense and hit Willowbank street meets - where his passion forimports was already evident and a desire to get serious aboutdrag racing took over quickly.“It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night with the mates,”

said Tait of his origins. “Most of us were into front wheel driveimports and it was great to upset some of the diehard V8 guys.But replacing the gearbox each week was fun for a month, soafter seeing what Chris Rado was doing in the US we decidingit was time to build a FWD drag car with a Toyota 3RZ engine.“A short time after starting the FWD project the 200SX cameup for sale in 2009 as an unfinished project, and the FWD ideawas pushed aside, but it is not forgotten.”Embarking on the development of not only the 3RZ but also afull blown race car has been a long and arduous process andnot without its hairy moments.“In the last four years I’ve had my fair share of close calls,sliding all over the track and somehow not hitting walls orother competitors,” said Tait.“With no experience in any other race car before this one ittook three weeks to pass my ANDRA licence. I don’t call myselfa driver, maybe that’s what has saved me a few times. All I cansay though is pull the chute before trying to steer.

STORY BY GRANT STEPHENS. PHOTOS BY CACKLINGPIPES.COM.

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“Ben Bray helped with the changes to the chassis and clutchset up - it has taken the excitement out of the launch when youdon’t have to guess which direction it is going to head in.”With the car setup and driving coming around the Good Timesteam were starting to tick achievement boxes with the 3RZengine as that development continued.“We were testing and breaking parts on an engine no one elsewas running here in Australia - overseas the 2RZ and 3RZ hasbeen used for over eight years with some guys willing to shareinfo,” said Tait.“The goal when we started the car was reliable eight secondtimes, andafter the carran a seven soeasy we werebitten by thedrag racingbug.Discoveringthe weak partsandengineeringnew ones, wenow had aconsistent lowseven secondcar.”With theexpert help ofSport Compacttunerextraordinaire Phil Laird programming the ECU, the team saton a personal best of a 7.22 at 182mph and the decision wasmade to push for a six - this was 2011 and little did they knowthe torment those couple of tenths would inflict.“With the new goal of a 6.99, most of the parts had to bechanged or upgraded, Phil had warned us it wasn’t going to beeasy, and it’s going to drain the bank account,” said Tait. “Thenext two years were tough on all the crew, putting so manyhours into preparation and testing with only a few smallimprovements to the ET. In November 2013 I’d decided tostop testing the car until it was 100%.

“This was the most changes we’d done since it was built,including our own custom turbo exhausting housing, newexhaust manifold, new aero front clip, larger intercooler, largerturbo, custom 9.5 diff centre, changes to the cylinder head,camshafts, block, crank and one of the largest gains was thanksto Arias Pistons.”Finally Tait and company were able to return to the strip forthe Brisbane Jamboree in September 2014.“We knew it was going to be a tough weekend - breaking bothcams on the second pass was just the start of the work for theday, that engine was swapped back to an old set up only to

have troublewith thethrottlepositioningsensor,” hesaid.“After monthsof checkingwe found thecause of thefailure - I'vegot noproblemtelling youthe cause butit’ll cost youabout $5000- we wentback to ourold head and

cam set up for 2015, which has proven to work well.”And work well it did, finally the years of hard work fell intoplace and the long strived six second goal was achieved at aWillowbank Raceway test and tune - 6.89 at 205mph, thequickest and fastest 3RZ pass in the world. Oddly enough Taitwas not overly impressed after the fact, knowing the potentialwas always there.“It was more of a relieved feeling that we hadn't just wastedtwo years of work. Maybe that was because I see the data andthe problems that go wrong each week, and know when it'ssorted it can run these numbers,” he said.

"With the new goal of a 6.99,most of the parts had to be

changed or upgraded...it wasn'tgoing to be easy."

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Over the course of the development there has been a splatteringof success, with a few top qualifying results and some Jamboreefinal round appearances, even holding the mantle of Australia'squickest four cylinder at one point - and Tait is an advocate ofthe Super Compact ANDRA championship bracket in theSummit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series.“Racing in Super Compact we’re all mates off the track helpingeach other where we can. It’s not unusual to be flippingpancakes and talking BS at 3am in the morning while rebuildingan engine at the track,” he said.With the car now performing the way it was always envisaged,the team focused on racing at the recent Summit round atWillowbank in the amalgamated Super Comp bracket, not onlydelivering an event win but more world record performances.“Starting Friday (before the event) after talking with Phil Laird,a few things needed to be changed before racing Saturdaymorning. So I decided sleep on Friday night wasn’t going tomake the car run fast, getting to the track where you can fire itup until midnight would,” said Tait.There were a few gremlins in qualifying and a problem with theline lock produced a soft launch in the first session, not tomention the tune up was too rich.“With the line lock fixed the car launched with a lot of tyreshake, using the whole lane until it was getting way out ofshape. Inches off the centre timing cones before looking at theright wall, the chutes were my only option - then I had a badfront end shake in the braking area, which is not a good feelingeven at this slow speed.”A loose steering arm was the cause of the vibration and nodoubt the wandering run – but a 1.08 sixty in the final qualifierand a pedalling 6.97 at 205mph had the team primed foreliminations.“I had a round one solo and I only had to break the beams, butdeciding to test my reaction, clutch and tune I staged as if it wasa race,” said Tait. “With a .2 red light, a tyre shaking 1.1 in thesixty, it came on strong to the eighth at 163mph - my race facewas on an no care was taken for the 7.35 index - 6.92 at 207mphwas the result.“The crew was over the moon with a PB in the MPH, putting on44mph in the back half. After we finished the high fives, thethought went to what we had to do in round two because ourindex was now 7.13.”Getting strapped in to the car for round two Tait said to his crewthat the only way he was going to win the round was to cut alight and run a 6.7.With a reaction of .027, the 200SX went 1.08 to the sixty andgot to half track in 4.3 seconds at 166mph, by the stripe Taitstopped the clocks with a 6.74 at 206.95.“My win margin was .059, and to say the crew was over themoon again is an understatement, another PB and we becamethe world's quickest and fastest Toyota four cylinder.“We were not expecting to go that far in eliminations; the crewwas buzzing after so many years of disappointments and such aclose win on the last round. Matt from PITS tickled the tune upa little. We had one small problem, the rear had tyre had a slowleak – but with two air tanks in the tow car we had enough toget to the start line.“Smashing our index in round two had to be done to win andthe new index was now 7.04. I’m not sure if it was because wedidn’t expect to get this far, but I didn’t feel any pressure, I justneeded to thrash it down the track again. Before the 330 it gotloose and headed towards the left wall and I had to pedal it.Fighting the urge to just rip the steering wheel right and it wasway out of the groove, I had thoughts of getting off it. In thatsplit second, that felt like ten minutes, I could see I was catchingthe dragster in the other lane and the racer side of my brainkicked in - 6.898 at 205mph, win margin of .206 and we wereheading to the final.”Tait's final round opponent would have been Rob Nunn's SuperStock Cobalt, but unfortunately Nunn hit the wall in his semifinal solo pass and was substantially damaged.“We were pumping up the rear right tyre for the tow back and Isaw the car from the other semi final roll pass smashed up,”said Tait.“I know some guys would be happy to take a win like that, but I

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would’ve rather raced an opponent and lost than been handedthe trophy just for turning up. So chatting with the crew we alldecided I would launch it hard and if its feeling good burn it outthe back door.”A win is a win, and even though it was not how Tait would haveliked to achieved it, this was still the first ever success for GoodTimes Racing."In the final we pumped the rear tyre up in the staging lanes,skidded it up as normal and backed it up, but the tyre had losthalf of its air,” said Tait. “You have no idea how hard it was forme to just break the beams and not boost it. I know the crowdwould’ve been disappointed - not half as much as I was.“We just had to think there was a good chance of crashing withthe tyre so low and be thankful of our achievements for the day.The crew did awesome, nothing was a stress or a problem, wecame away with three records and our first Christmas tree.”Looking to the future the team have new engine components inthe works and quicker goals to achieve.“Our large head and cam set up will be engine dyno testedbefore they’re bolted on to race, V&M Cylinder Heads in the USare also working on a cylinder head of their own design, whichwe will back to back test against our head on the dyno. We arelucky enough to have Phil Laird checking the data, and tuning it

to make around 1500 horsepower. Without Phil’s help we’d stillbe running high sevens.“As you can see we also have the support this year too - SONICis the performance department of MTQ who can supply all yourturbo needs. This year the goal is to run consistent 6.8 times,with no more testing on race day, and a long term aim is to run6.5 - 6.6 with this engine and chassis before upgrading to abetter chassis and a change of engine.”The Good Times Racing team could not have achieved theirgoals and results without the help of many and asked torecognise Ben Bray and Gonzo for their time and sharing ofknowledge.And running the car as the level they have would not bepossible with the help from, ARIAS Pistons, Aussie Diffs, BoltPro, BLISS Custom machining, Debeer, F.I.C.S (Fuel InjectionComponent Supplies), Go Pipes (Turbo Manifolds), Gold CoastEngine Builders, Illusion Vinyl & Graphics, MTQ, PLM (PhilLaird Motorsport), P.I.T.S. (Performance Injection TuningService), Plazmama, Quickbitz, Rolin Automotive Imports,Seveer Industries, Traders Engineering, Tyre Plus Burleigh,Twin Towns Panel Repairs, Web Cam and the crew - Jo, Mick,Jay, Nick, Matt, Keelan, Ross, Craig, Darrin, Rod and Colin.

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SEA CHANGE

SEA CHANGEThere's no point dreaming about your drag racing

future. Sometimes you just need to make it happen.

Written by Grant Stephens. Photos bycacklingpipes.com.

Australian Pro Stock is made up of a wide range ofpersonalities, all with their own motivations to race inone of the most competitive Group One classes in thecountry.

One of the class' quiet achievers is Rick Chilton, a late bloomerto the factory hot rod landscape when he opted for a Pro Stocksea change to make a return back to racing.“I was heading towards 50 in 2005 and I had been thinkingabout getting back into racing Super Stock now that the kidswere getting older,” said Chilton. “So I mentioned this to BobDixon (one of Chilton's partners in crime at SpecialtyFasteners) and he said - well if you are going to do this youmay as well race Pro Stock. Bob at the time was crew chief forBruce Leake. So a plan was hatched and I brought a Grand Amfrom Mike Edwards, and as with a lot of things, not everythinggoes to plan and it was early 2008 before the car hit the track.”The path to Pro Stock was a winding one. Chilton grew uparound Canberra and was a friend from childhood with DougStewart.“I grew up with him and we were mates from about seven yearsold until his passing in 2007. Doug always came along andgave me a push when needed, he also did a lot of work on myrace cars - we played hard and worked hard.“My first opportunity to race anything came at Doug Stewart’smisfortune when he was grounded for making mischief on theAdaminaby to Cooma school bus, so I took his go kart to raceat Mt Ginn, an old short circuit track in Canberra. I took outsecond place and got my first racing sash - it was the latesixties.”Chilton's motors grew larger as he did, eventually purchasing a307ci Holden Brougham.“A few years later I heard that there was a drag strip opening inCanberra, so I went out and had a go - needless to say, I caughtthe drag racing fever,” he said.“The old Canberra track was pretty average compared totoday’s standard, just a disused road with patches of asphalt onthe sides to make it wider. Don’t get me wrong, the club wasgreat and run by excellent dedicated people who did the bestthat they could with what they had.“Some highlights of those times were watching the BandagBullet, Ken Warby’s jet truck, jet funny cars, jet dragsters and

my favourite was the Lidtke and Lidtke Nitro Funny Car drivenby Rocky Epperly going down that track. Pretty sure that it wasa low seven second pass, that was something to see. That trackhad a crown like any normal road and I don’t think that anycurrent racer would do what he did. Some not so greathighlights were the accident between Mick Kent and LepRobinson and the not so envious task of emptying the nightcans a week after the meeting.”Chilton now was starting to become more serious with hisracing endeavours constructing his first race car – a MazdaRX3 - and forming the famous, or should that be infamous,TSSC.“After a few years Doug Stewart, Mick Sutton and I built thefirst version of the RX3 with a 327ci Chev, and got down intothe eleven second range - I had a few wins along the way andhad a lot of fun,” he said. “We also started the TSSC(Tuggeranong Stick Shifters Club) for cars with a manual trans.Most of the members got smart and changed to autos to winsome races, but Mick Sutton and myself stayed true to thename - with a lot of carnage along the way.”In 1987 Chilton started Specialty Fasteners with Bob Dixonand Bill Sivertsen, and is still there today. Around that time aguy named Al Daley came to Canberra from the States. He metup with Stewart, who was a chassis builder and fabricator withOZtin Fabrications - and after a few conversations Chiltondecided to let Daley build him the chassis for his nextgeneration RX3 that is still around today.“In my stubbornness I left it right hand drive and got it goingfor the new Canberra track, one of the widest and smoothesteighth mile tracks in its day,” said Chilton.“After a while we made it left hand drive and imported anengine from the states and ran a best of 5.59 over the eighthwith a 342ci Chev - which is in Daniel Moore's Modifieddragster today - and a G-Force five speed. I won a few racesand track championships in Super Comp.”Canberra closed in the late nineties and as has been the casefor many racers when their local track shut up shop, Chiltonreassessed his priorities, sold up everything and concentratedon his business.Fortunately for the sport that drag racing flame inside was notcompletely extinguished, but rather fanned by Father Time.Fast forward to 2008, where we left Chilton earlier with his ex-Mike Edwards roller in hand. While waiting for the rest of the

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new Pro Stock operation to come together, Chilton had a DAFCF430 transporter built with plenty or power and comfortbefore debuting the car at a private track hire. Stepping up tothe big league with little knowledge or experience would meana steep learning curve for the team.“The first test session didn’t go to plan, on the first pass we ranout of fuel just as I had staged, second pass had a flat battery inthe staging lanes, the third pass got to about 300 foot and shutoff“The crew were on L-plates so we headed home and returned acouple of weeks later and got down the track with a 7.53 at180mph on our first full pass.”Chilton successfully licensed and headed to Willowbank for hisfirst competitive showing, and it became very apparent despitetheir inexperience they were missing one main factor -horsepower.

“I think that we went to Queensland about half a dozen timesand didn’t qualify, there was only an eight car field in thosedays,” said Chilton. “At this time I was only doing the driving,none of the tune up calls, and was driving pretty well, but thecar was down on power. Then came the sixteen car fields, andwe qualified always in the bottom half of the field, basicallycannon fodder for the quicker guys.“We were very inconsistent early on because we tried to figureout the clutch that we were using, it was a new style that noone else was running. If it was not shaking the tyres violentlythen it would burn itself up, we just couldn’t find any sort ofsweet spot. I know now that we persevered with that for toolong, so after a while we went to an East West clutch which wasmore forgiving.”Next was addressing the horsepower situation and the resultturned everyone's head - Chilton became a Pro Stock force.

Clockwise from right: The Tuggeranong Stick ShiftersClub logo is still proudly carried on Chilton's PontiacGrand Am. The team had a lot to learn about Pro Stock inits first outings and confesses there is still much more tofind out about. First trips to Willowbank saw the team ascannon fodder, but still having fun. Bob Book powerwould later make Chilton a serious player capable ofround wins.

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“About three years ago I had a moment in Sydney when thingsweren’t going well, and after a conversation with Con Sideris,he suggested that I send the motor to Bob Book from BookRacing Engines. This was the beginning of a resurgence for mycareer, we went from not qualifying or being in the bottom halfof the field, to being in the top half, perhaps people werestarting to take notice of how we were going.“After dealing with a lot of Americans over the years, Bob waseasy to deal with and I can’t thank Bob, Suzanne, Bob Jr andall the crew at BRE enough for the help that they gave and isstill giving me.”Having the horsepower is one part of the equation, but beingable to harness that was the problem to solve now.“The quandary was that we had a small crew change and I wasbeing more involved in the tune up calls, sharing a huge

learning curve with Dean and Kane. I just didn’t know how biga curve it would be - and still is,” said Chilton.“The amount of variables that can influence a pass isstaggering - everything from weather, track conditions, shocksettings, four link adjustments, clutch settings, and probablyone of the most important is shifting gears on time. Every runor meeting there is a new curve ball to figure out.”Despite going from the outhouse to the penthouse inqualifying, Chilton is yet to be satisfied with his achievements.“We went from running 7.15 with the old motor to 7.001 at195.80mph with the Book motor, a big leap in performance,but I still believe that we have under achieved,” he said.“A lot of people have asked about a six second pass, we havebeen close and have had incrementals that showed that someshut off passes in testing would have been a 6.99 on a full pass.

"The amount of variables that can influence a pass isstaggering - everything from weather, track conditions, shocksettings, four link adjustments, clutch settings, and probablyone of the most important is shifting gears on time. Every run

or meeting there is a new curve ball to figure out."

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Whether that happens at the Nitro Champs, who knows, butthere is no point dwelling on what could have been.”As they say there is a woman behind every man's success, thisis certainly true for Chilton with Donna Maclean a drivingforce in the team. Her passion for drag racing comes from herdesire to support Rick in whatever way possible to achieve hisgoals in the sport.“What has made Pro Stock racing easier has been my wifeDonna’s eagerness to be involved,” boasts Chilton. “She doesthe valve train maintenance between rounds, back up girl,drives the truck, chief cook, bottle washer and packs amotorbike in the truck so that she can unload the bike andenjoy a ride when I drive for the long silent hauls home whenthings haven’t gone as planned.“As with all this comes a price, I said foolishly that I would buy

Donna new bike if I ran a 7.15 ET, well at one Sydney meetingthat happened and the very next day Donna was off shoppingand ended up getting a new Ducati Street Fighter, which hasnow done over 70,000km.”A family that races together, stays together – or so the storygoes.“Donna is from a speedway background and was one of thosecrazy photographers who spent their time on the infielddodging sprintcars and sedans,” said Chilton. “She loves thatdrag racing is so family orientated and our extended family cansupport our drag racing venture. Daughters Kristin and Amyarrive laden with enough yummy food to feed the pits whileson in laws Aaron and Thomas - son of Bruce Leake - are bothhandy and willing to help when needed. And son Ross is anintegral part of the crew and our four grandchildren love

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donning their crew shirts and watching Papa race.“We really enjoy racing Pro Stock and have made lastingfriendships with many of our fellow competitors, and have hada lot of help from them as well.”The fans have also taken Chilton aback, one in particular.“One amazing thing that happened was my first race meetingat Willowbank, a spectator took some photos on the Friday andbrought a poster sized photo montage out on the Saturday andhanded it to me, it hangs proudly at home and just goes toshow what great fans we have.”The current Pro Stock atmosphere is currently a little volatile(see elsewhere in this magazine) with the class leaping forwardin performance. Chilton shared his thoughts on the currentcrop of drivers and what excites him within his chosen classand its future.“Consistently the best driver is Aaron Tremayne,” said Chilton.“I was disappointed when Dave Newcombe quit, I thought thathe could have been a national champion and I hope thatWayne Daley and Denis Whiting keep on racing.“Lee Bektash needs a bigger helmet! That run of his at theNationals was phenomenal. I lent Lee some U-bolts for thedriveshaft at the Winters and he used them for the 200mphpass in Sydney. I got them back so having them will be theclosest that I will get to that feat.”Pro Stock went through a strong growth period and is arguablynow in a correction phase.“I hope that we don’t go down the same path as in the US withdeclining fields, but I guess that it is a cyclic thing and it will beokay,” Chilton said.“Pro stock may have to reinvent itself to cater for the new typeof crowd that we have today. The fan today wants instantresults, so we need to speed up the show to get new fansinterested. Not saying that this is right but what may have tohappen - maybe we need some more showmanship and rivalryto get the fans excited.”Chilton is not looking too far down the road with his own ProStock operation, taking things as they come.“Our future plans are to race at the Nitro Champs, thenreassess after that, long term racing in Pro Stock probably isnot an option at this stage,” he confessed.“We have talked about rebuilding our old motor to giveThomas and Ross a chance to have some fun in Super Sedan.“I would like to thank our crew and helpers from over theyears, Kane Sheldon, Shauna Morgan, Dean Davidson, CherylBoyce, Ross Chilton, Bob Dixon, Dave Welfare, Mick Sutton,Doug Stewart, Phil Gardner and to all our fellow racers andcrew chiefs that have helped us or lent us equipment, your helphas been tremendously appreciated.”

Below: Chilton's wife DonnaMaclean has been an ally by hisside in his Pro Stock adventures- though her bets on his best ETshave paid off considerably in theform of a new Ducati motorcycle!

GET DOWN WITHTHE SICKNESSDrag racing's own medicine man can't find a cure for this.Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

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Rob Taylor is not about catching a disease – in fact hislife's work has been to prevent it. But when it comes todrag racing he came down with a serious case ofquarter mile fever.

The Melbourne-based biochemist recently stepped into thedeep end of the sport with a new Top Doorslammer, theculmination of a love of fast cars.“As a kid I grew up in the northern suburbs (of Melbourne) soI was always into cars,” he said. “We used to race illegally onthe streets, but that was very short lived because we used to

continuously get arrested and have cars impounded and thatsort of stuff in the late 80s and early 90s. They were harderthen they are now on the racing.“But there was an initiative by Calder Park back then whereyou could come and race your street car and race the cops.”Taylor shifted into legal drag racing and quickly found himselfdeveloping a severe sickness for the sport. His streetableHolden HX ute was a nine second runner, with a 509ci strokerand Hilborn injection. Back then, that was a properly faststreet car – indeed it still is.Real life then stepped in and brought a temporary stop toTaylor's racing plans.

"It was like all the best passes youhave ever put together, in one go."

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“After a few years of racing I got sick, I had a brain tumour andI had to stop racing for ten years,” he said. “It was because ofthe fact that I had taken that much time off work and uni whenI was sick that I had to catch up after.”Taylor's return to the sport was in a purple Holden Torana hebought from Queensland in 2011 and it has been a successfuland fun race car for the team. But if there is one thing to besaid for Taylor's Version 2.0 career in the sport it is that heknows what he likes and doesn't hesitate to get it.When the Torana was getting a rebuild he was looking for amotor and stumbled on a Super Sedan Gemini.“When I saw it under cover I thought it was an LX Torana for aminute, then I saw it was a Gemini, I thought, 'who races aGemini?' But I fell in love with it because it was a really nicecar.”The Gemini had 500 cubic inches up front but the restlessTaylor wanted something even bigger so went for a 622ciReher Morrison.“The car went 7.6/180mph off it at 1000 feet but it ended intears after ten runs. To his credit the engine builder has donethe right thing and we have just ordered a 762ci ReherMorrison. The car will be front halved at Bob Maslen Race Carsto make it fit.”Taylor confessed he always has a project going on somewhere.There's also an LJ Torana and a 1968 Camaro lurking about,the former with 502ci up front and driven on the street, thelatter about to get a turbo set up.But the biggest splash Taylor has made lately is with the debutof the 'Mad Professor' Camaro Top Doorslammer. He will enterhis first Top Doorslammer event at the Nitro Champs atSydney Dragway on May 2-3.When we asked Taylor what his first drive in a 2500horsepower supercharged sedan was like, he said he had togive the G-rated version.“It was like all the best passes you have ever put together, inone go,” he said. “I look back it it now and everything went soflawlessly because I had the right people around me.“It's exciting, it's high anxiety, it's fun, its so exhilerating andsuch a rush. And then you have people around you who arethere for you, that support you and help you and because ofthat you share the experience.“Sharing going fast with your team is unbelievable. They giveup time every weekend to come to our factory and basically

give up their weekends and work on cars and get shit preparedand it is a labour of love.”There is a very obvious physical sensation that comes withbeing accelerated to obscene speeds in just a few seconds, butTaylor explained that the competition is what drives him.“I like all the brackets. I love to race Super Sedan. Everyonesays how can you run Super Sedan after running six seconds?But it is not about that, it is about the competition.”There are no illusions within the team that the comingchallenge is going to be their greatest yet.“In Top Doorslammer I will be out of my depth, so I have toadapt and learn quickly,” Taylor said.“We are not going to TD to run at the back of the field though.We want to run as fast as possible. We know these guys (theother TD racers), they are professionals we know it will taketime to get up and run with them.“I'm not going to run there on the bump spot. We are goingthere to run as fast as we possibly can. We will be respectful,but you don't go not to win.”The car is currently getting a new PSI-superchargedcombination put into the chassis rails, along with a switch to aclutch transmission versus the auto it had in previously. It'spretty much the Top Doorslammer spec formula, though theswitch was hastened after the team torched a head in Adelaide.The team also has a new transporter they are building whichwill soon be out.Finally, you may wonder what the 'Mad Professor' livery is allabout. Taylor, who runs the Melbourne Sports Medicine andAnti Aging Clinic, said his profession as a biochemist has led toa nickname among friends.“My mates all call me the mad professor because I am alwaysdoing something exotic. We do anti-aging and hormonereplacement therapy. Because of that I am always in the lab,that's how the name came about.”It's unlikely he'll be brewing up a cure for the drag racingsickness any time soon.Taylor wanted to pass on his thanks to his wife Georgie Taylor,his crew including Rob Carella, Nick Dyer, Mick Carella, JoeyColaci, Andrew Sutton, Con Maretis, Anthony Rodrigues, hisstaff at Melbourne Sports Medicine and Anti-Aging, DragoHikodijevic for his advice and friendship and Bob Maslen RaceCars.

Left: Rob Taylor's Gemini is far from average, havingbeen home to a variety of large powerplants.

Bottom left: Taylor credits his crew as the reason why hehas quickly developed his Camaro Top Doorslammer.

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ADELAIDETHUNDER

Graeme Cowin's flying nitro circus lands inSouth Australia for an entertaining show.

Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by BobTaylor and Dennis Allen.

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Ten Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro FunnyCars turned out to AdelaideInternational Raceway in the firsttime the full show has been broughtto South Australia.

Held on Easter Saturday, a strong crowdturned up to witness the spectacle of notonly the nitro cars contesting over 1000feet, but also a pair of jet funny carscourtesy of Darren Difillipo and a pair ofwheelstanders.The first round saw Peter Leahy's newCuda-bodied 'Skrimper' on track for thefirst time, a tribute to his father RolyLeahy. You could have been forgiven forthinking you were back in the early daysof AIR but if there was one majordifference it was in the performance.Leahy clocked a 5.182/211.39mph winover Glenn Moore's slowing 6.190.Moore was driving 'Fast Company' afterhurting the motor in 'Bad to the Bone' inthe lead up to the Adelaide event.Adding insult to injury for Moore afterthe first round loss, the team found thetyre shake on the pass rattled the MSDcoil loose and broke a wire, with the carrefusing to fire for the warm up beforeround two, which the team had to miss.Anthony Begley in 'Stormtrooper'

registered a strong 5.121/215.86 winover Daniel Schultz in the new lookGeneral Lee-themed car, only managinga 7.785/154.85. Rick Gauci guided 'NitroExpress' to a 5.019/194.46 win, claiminglow ET of the round even though he shutoff a fraction before the finish line. Hedefeated Top Fuel driver turned FunnyCar pilot Darren Morgan's fast closing5.257/215.48. Greg Leahy droveHarbour City Hustler to a 5.062/202.88win over Justin Walshe's 5.161/221.71 in'Let's Boogie', while Shane Olive in 'LAHooker' closed out the round with a5.169/202.88 defeat of Paul Messineo's5.319/211.79 in 'Dark Horse'.Moore and Greg Leahy missed roundtwo, reducing the field to eight cars.Begley snapped up his second win of thenight in a wild match up againstMessineo. Both cars got on the tyresbefore half track and while Begley wasable to gather it up and run a6.024/164.39, Messineo got into thewall and gave 'Dark Horse' a decentscrape, leaving him unable to return forthe final round. Peter Leahy played theconsistency game well with a5.332/208.94 win against Walshe's7.598, while Gauci needed to give thethrottle some love on a pedalling6.619/197.42 victory against Schultz's

8.000. Morgan closed out the roundwith a win in the tightest race of thenight, his 5.118/221.34 only justovercoming a 5.193/215.68 from Olive,who had a three hundredths advantageon the tree.Three racers had two wins going into thefinal round. Peter Leahy was guaranteedto get his third win light as he had a solopass, while Gauci and Begley wouldbattle it out for the other possible hattrick. The round opened with Moorereturning for a 6.508, before Greg Leahyset the scoreboards alight with low ET ofthe night, a 4.963/227.77 used indefeating Walshe's 5.862/154.26. PeterLeahy laid down a 5.176/212.59 to atleast be guaranteed of a runner up,though he would need to wait and seewhat came of the Gauci/Begley race toknow if he would win. Olive smashedout some revenge on Morgan with astrong 5.024/228.04, the fastest run ofthe evening, to Morgan's slowing 6.378.The crowd were then treated to theGauci and Begley race as the dramaticconclusion to the night. Gauci left onBegley .159 to .190 and from there onlyextended his lead with a 5.046/225.11taking the race and event win over avaliant 5.209/213.16.

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Clockwise from left: DanielSchultz's General Lee themewas a popular addition to theshow. Darren Morgan steeredThe Bandit to some goodpasses. Anthony Begley wentclose to taking out his first event.Glen Moore got a drive in FastCompact with his own Bad tothe Bone out of action. RickGauci and Nitro Express againproved a tough combination tobeat.

SPORTSMANSTUNNER

Willowbank Raceway finally sees the sun atthe fourth round of the Summit Racing

Equipment Sportsman Series.

Written by Grant Stephens. Photos byblacktrack.com.au and dragphotos.com.au.

With the Santo's Super 3 Extremeevent cancelled due to inclementweather a week earlier, it was nice tosee Mother Nature give Willowbanka break for once at round four of theSummit Racing EquipmentSportsman Series.

Super Comp

Competition, Super Stock and SuperCompact were amalgamated into thesingle Super Comp eliminatorboasting thirteen Group Two racersall up. It was the Super Stock guyswho headed qualifying. TomDimitropoulos from South Australiawent under the A/MS NationalRecord to top qualify in his Camarowith a 0.55 under 9.02. Rob Nunnwas next in the ex-Pro Stock B/APCobalt sitting on a 0.46 under 7.24and rounding out the top three on a0.40 under 7.12 was the A/APAMonte Carlo of Wade Moran.Dimitropoulos' event ended in roundtwo when the Camaro broke on thelaunch against Tony Bellert's A/DAdragster. Chris Tait smashed his own3RZ-powered world record mark

with a 6.74 on a 7.13 CC/SC index -coupled with a .027 reaction timefrom the 200SX it did not giveopponent Moran a look in, eventhough he too was under the nationalrecord with a 7.000. The impressivenumbers continued with Darren Frywho hammered out a 5.54 from theTop Alcohol Funny car – all but ablur as he blasted past Sam Kiprios'Starlet on the top end.Fry could not make the call for thesemi final leaving Nunn to solo andthat's when things turned ugly withNunn losing control of the Cobalt onthe top end and glancing the wall.Tait laid down another six secondpass to drive around Bellert in theother semi final.The Cobalt sustained enough damageto rule Nunn out of the final againstTait - the 200SX had its own dramaswith a deflating rear slick leavingTait no option but just accept thegreen to win his first ever event title.Tait also left the event with theCC/SC MPH record at 207.91mphand just missed backing up the ETmark - also in the record books wasthe Skyline of Jason Payne, just

pipping the DD/APIA speedminimum at 180.98mph.

Competition Bike

After the Competition Bike field fellover at the last round in Adelaidedue to a lack of entries, it surgedback to life at Willowbank with amassive 18 riders. Heading the packafter qualifying was Blair Penningtonaboard his C/AB Suzuki with a sub-record 0.66 under 8.15.Pennington sawed through the fieldto reach the final against virtual teammate Daryn Schuster - the D/ABrider nailed his crew chiefPennington to the tree and was neverheaded, carding a 8.26 on a 8.66index.

Supercharged Outlaws

The Supercharged Outlaws field wasa little wounded, a couple of carssuffered damage in the lead up to theevent and could not show andqualifying saw more breakages.Nathan Pullen in his dragster wasnearest to the class cut off with a

6.53 to grab the number one qualifier's medallion.Pullen ended up on the trailer after round one at the wheelof Matty Watt's altered, but Watts joined him after roundtwo courtesy of a Matt McKnight holeshot in theStudebaker. A 6.78 on a 6.75 was enough to see RodneyHansen's altered stave off Jake Donnelly's '57 flopper andjoin McKnight in the tussle for the silver Christmas tree.A .061 reaction let down Hansen's 6.767 on a 6.76 in thefinal with McKnight's killer .019 reaction getting the jobdone with a 6.734 on a 6.72 – that's some tight blownbracket racing!

Top Sportsman

The fledgling Top Sportsman bracket was dominated bycubic inch monsters, with one surprise entrant - the AaronTremayne Pro Stock GXP. The Top End's Dieter Herrmannleft everyone in his dust with a 6.362 at 220 - the quickestand fastest pass ever by any aspirated car in Australia - tooeasily qualify quickest.Herrmann went quicker and faster again in round oneclocking a 6.314 at 222mph - the Pontiac GTO has 828 ofSonny's finest cubic inches under the hood scoop.Tremayne also picked up a round one win with a 6.99 passover Stew Walsh's twin turbo Camaro who was having anevent to forget with transmission problems.Tremayne was using the event as a test bed and did notreturn for round two, gifting Neil Maxwell into the semifinals where he would be joined by Steve Fowler, who alsohad a solo, and Paul Russo after he defeated Herrmann inthe only paired match up of the round.Maxwell would benefit from another bye run into the finaland would be joined by perennial finalist Fowler whenRusso squeezed the trigger five thousandths too early - theSouth Aussie '57 Chev racer would go home though withthe Best Presented Team award.Maybe the red light in the final at the last round of theSummit Series was playing on Fowler's mind when the GXPdriver pulled a .207 in this final, it was inconsequentialanyway with the GXP striking traction problems, allowing asimple 7.374 on a 7.32 win to Maxwell.

Modified

In Modifed Dallas Everett punched out a 7.29 from hismountain motor-sporting altered to lead a very quick field.Racing was ferocious as always with reaction timesdeciding many racing outcomes. An early round highlightwas the clash of local lasses Chelsea Leahy and Kelly Bettes,with Bettes hitting her dial in only to be done by a holeshot.Leahy, in one of her first events with the FED, wouldcontinue to the semi finals where she broke out against thedragster of Mark Allan.Allan would be in a no-holds barred final, facing his bestfriend and engine builder Kevin Morton who had beendrilling his dial in all the way through eliminations. A slight.02 advantage to Allan at the green would prove thedifference in the final with both competitors running .13over at the strip. It was a gutsy win for Allan who haddislocated his knee during the day and was loaded into awaiting ambulance immediately after presentations.

Super Sedan

Norm Barry was closest to the now 8.50 lower cut off inSuper Sedan with a 8.59 out of his Chevy S10 ute, and thenfell victim to national champion John Kapiris in round one.Kapiris became a spectator at the quarter final stage,breaking out against an almost perfect .017-reacted 10.018on a 10.01 run from Max Carpenter's Falcon. Carpenterthen had a solo into the final. Paul Doeblien ended DavidForeman's run in the other semi with an equally tight 9.128on a 9.12 run to set up an all Falcon finale. Carpenterpicked off a -.006 cherry and the final was over at the treewith Doeblien cruising to victory.

Modified Bike

Like its Group 2 counterpart Modified Bike had amammoth field of over thirty contenders, quickest of all ofthem in qualifying was Craig Edwards' Hayabusa with a7.97. Craig's son Ace Edwards, also on a Hayabusa, upsetnational champion David Carroll in round one and was stillin competition by the semi finals where he sent anotherVictorian, Edgell Mallis home. The other semi final sawChris Collin and Jason Hammelswang run well off theirnominated times - Collin by the least to set up the final.The final was went from bad to worse for Edwards, firstlosing the race to Collin, breaking out by one thousandth ofsecond and then dropping the bike in the braking area.Edwards was able to walk away from the tumble unaidedand went to hospital for precautionary scans, sufferingfrom some gravel rash.

Super Street

Super Street was also bolstered by over 30 entries in a fieldfeaturing three South Aussies and lone New SouthWelshman John Kerr. As fate would have it, two of theSouth Australians in Anthony Raschella and reigningNational Champion Joe Jurkovic would face each other inround one - the Mopar of Jurkovic went red by .008,advancing Raschella.Ben Henry ended Raschella's event in round three andwould move on to also defeat a red lighting RobertWinterburn in the semi final. Likewise the other semi wasalso decided at the tree with Andrew Stathis leaving tooearly, gifting Ben Dreyer a final round showing.The trend continued in the final, Dreyer punching theCamaro out of the hole .041 of a second too early andhanding Bell the silver Christmas tree.

Super Gas

Super Gas had only a small seven car field with VictorianGraeme Spencer on point after qualifying with a 9.913.With a bye in round one Spencer was stopped by a 9.905from Dale O'Dwyer in the semi and Kerry Boyde stayed onthe power too long with a 9.874 going down to DavidGauldie in the other semi.Both drivers had itchy right feet with a double red light inthe final, O'Dwyer's -.004 was by the smallest amount andawarded the win.

Junior Dragster

In Junior Dragster the defending national champ TobyAustin has been having another dynamite year, winning thelast round of the championship. Austin top qualified andmowed his way past Maella Ward, Teanah Littlewood andCaleb Oberg en-route to the final - trying to put a stop toAustin in the final was the Mopar-emblazoned dragster oflast year's Australian Nationals winner Eden Ward.The final ended up an anti-climax with Austin stomping thego pedal four thousandths too early, presenting Ward withanother Christmas tree for the trophy case. Austin showedhis commitment to the sport, returning to Sydney overnightto compete at Sydney Dragway's track championship eventthe very next day!

HANLEY HOT IN MILDURASUPERCHARGED SHOOTOUT

STORY BY MARK HUMPHREY. PHOTOS BY DAVID FRY.

The Mildura Gateway TavernSupercharged Easter Shootoutrocked the Sunraysia Drag RacingAssociation’s foundations with anew track record among thehighlights.

Supercharged Funny Car racer CraigRusso was on a mission, dedicating thenew 4.03 second track record to thememory of former crew member TracyBrown. Brown who was the partner ofanother Team Russo crew member inMark Prout, and passed away just fivedays out from the event.Russo was hoping to be the first to crackthe three second barrier for the class.“I figure it’s the least we can do tohonour Tracy and I’m dedicating thisweekend to the memory of Tracy,” hesaid. “Tracy along with her partner Markhas been invaluable to the team over thepast five years and she will be sadlymissed.“To be the first in history to dip into thatterritory would be something special.”

Supercharged Outlaws

An unbelievable supercharged contestwas on hand with 18 of the toughestblown cars lining up to duke it out forthe $5k first prize. Benny Gattunfortunately didn’t make it down thehighway due to mechanical issues and

Bruno Matijasevic hurt his car duringwarm-up. Australian number one DoinaDay complemented what was a toughfield.Three qualifying runs had Russo as thetop qualifier from Talbot. A ChicagoShootout format was introduced in placeof eliminations which proved a hit withthe huge gathering of spectators on thehill. In the end the two teams with themost points would race off for the $5kpurse with a run off for third and fourth.One by one the cars faced off with somefinding the going tough. Brody Sontag,driving a very tough one tonner, hadtrouble getting the car to hook up andfinished the day knowing that he had amuch better pass left in the car. Thesame could be said for Mike Evans. Hiscar also has lots of potential and only afew weeks back in Adelaide was incontention for an event win.Murray Edgar had ventured out in aneat looking Funny Car in the pursuit ofsome licence runs and by the end of thenight had been successful in gaining hisOutlaw licence. Lots of consistentrunners throughout the day includingLeo Parisotto who just kept getting theruns on the board. Like Parisotto,Hanley in a Commodore Ute was goingabout his business and although notsecuring the #1 qualifying mark hewould turn out to be the man to beat.Earlier in the year Hanley contestedround 1 of the Summit Sportsman Series

at the Fuchs Southcoast Raceway andlooked unbeatable until a cherried startfinished his day. Indeed the competitionin a Summit Sportsman Series round isquite tough with plenty of heavy hittersgoing for the win so to finish near thetop of the tree in this class is some sortof achievement. Doina Day like Hanleyhad runs on the board with a jointvictory last time out in Adelaide inround 3 of the Summit Series and wasone expected to figure deep as the nightrolled on. Unfortunately for Day she wasoff just a touch during the shootout anddidn’t figure in the finals.With all the huffin and puffin done itcome down to Leo Parisotto and CraigHanley to duke it out for the cash and ofcourse the Gateway TavernSupercharged Shootout crown. Hanleygot away strong and held off Parisottoand although he hurt the engine duringthe run he had enough up his sleeve totake the win. Parisotto was veryemotional during his runner upacceptance speech, indicating just howimportant the occasion was to him.

Modified

Modified Eliminator had an 11 car fieldwhich included two cars from theNorthern Territory. Both HeatherParkinson and Andrew Armistead hadmade the trip down to compete in thebracket with Armistead going deep in

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eliminations.In the end it was a duel between theFuchs car of Kenny Stewart and numberone qualifier Cory Dyson. Dyson hasbeen running hard of late and showingplenty of consistency and needed both toget past evergreen racer Kenny Stewart.A good light by Dyson was enough togive him the edge over Stewart, takingout the bracket.

Super Sedan

Super Sedan had 15 runners and like allSuper Sedan brackets, had plenty oftough cars putting on a show for thelocals.Teams had travelled from all parts of thestate with Geelong rotary runner ChrisDalton posting the top qualifying time inhis Mazda rotary with a 5.06.Ballarat based Stuart McBain qualifiedin number two with a 5.11. One by one

McBain took care of his opponents whileDale Tucker was doing the same in hishalf of the draw. Pedalling an awesomesounding HQ, Tucker made it all the wayto the final where he was matched upagainst McBain. McBain got the jobdone in the final much to the delight ofhis crew and added yet another trophyto the shelf.

Modified Bike

Top qualifier in Modified Bike TonyFrost cherried his semi-final run leavingAdam Ahearn and Derryn McGregor tobattle it out in the final. Ahearn took thefinal in his first ever race meeting on thebike.

Super Street

Super Street was a tight affair with just0.3 of a second separating the top 11 in

qualifying. Twenty cars had lined up forthe event with the #13 qualifier VinceShephard getting the nod over the #11qualifier in Mark Jachmann in the final.

Junior Dragster

Junior Dragster had some familiarnames going around with Tedesco, theBakers, Carranza and Kane lining up inthe 11 car field. Brooke Farrelly hadtravelled up from Tasmania to competeon the weekend.Top qualifier Connor Oehms was upagainst last month's Drag NewsMagazine feature Daniel Carranza, withCarranza running a perfect race to takeout the event.

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SYDNEY TRACK CHAMPSGOES TWO UPThe second round of the AturaBlacktown Track Championship atSydney Dragway saw severalcategories struggling for numberswhile others were at strength.

The much vaunted 10.5 headliner classattracted only three entries. Sam Fenechwas quickest on the day with a 6.211,though Paul Mouhayet was not farbehind with a 6.267. Michelle Davieswas also on the improve with a stout6.60. Mouhayet took the overal win.Fred Solieman took out a small SuperComp field.Top Sportsman saw Neil Constantinoucome back from his first round defeat inthe opening event to take the trophy. His.085 and 7.845 on a 7.75 accounted forScott Cousins' .211-reacted 7.812 on a7.70.Modified was under threat from a new

assailant in Matthew Forbes, driving theex-Charlotte Lucas Super Compdragster. That was until a flat battery gothim in the semi finals, which left AlanWhite and Leigh Hartill-Law to contestthe final. White got a big holeshot .013to .124 and a tight 8.659 on an 8.64pushed Hartill-Law to an 8.119 on an8.12 break out.Super Sedan was an anti climax withNathan Watt going -.025, allowingJames Danaskos to take a slowing 14second pass for the victory. Although ithas to be said, for Watt's first event itwas an amazing performance.Mark Walmsley put a holeshot on WallyHosta in the Modified Bike final butHosta raced by to take the stripe...a littletoo much stripe as it turned out with abig 9.23 breakout on his 9.28 dial in.Walmsley's safe 10.289 on a 10.10 dial inwas all it took.Luke Griffiths put seven hundredths on

Belinda Welch at the tree for the SuperStreet final, enough to take an 11.04 winon his 11.01 dial in.Jake Culmone and Colin Griffin leftfairly evenly in Super Gas, thoughCulmone's 9.947 was the deciding factoragainst a 10.01.Bradley Bishop went .067 on the green,giving him a good head start on KaylaPanetta. Combined with an 8.227 on an8.16 dial in the win was his.Street Fighter didn't feature stunningreaction times on either side of the tree,but Holly Odgers' 17.062 on a 16.95 gotthe job done against a break out 16.135on a 16.15 from Danielle MacCaskell.Stephen Danglmaier won the HAMBsterfinal when Stephen Peruch did notreturn from the semi finals.Ron Welch put well over a tenth onDarren Curnow at the start line andcarried through for a 13.656 win on a13.58 dial in in Street Bike.

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QUARTERREPORTERRAPISARDAS PLAN FOUR CAR ASSAULT

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Rapisarda Autosport International will make Top Fuelhistory at the Sydney Dragway Nitro Champs on May 2-3when they become the first Australian team to ever fieldfour cars in the elite category.

The Sydney-based team holds the current record of three carsset at the Australian Nationals in November 2014 when theyran Damien Harris, Allan Dobson and rookie Wayne Newby.The decision by RAI has swelled Top Fuel to bursting point forthe Nitro Champs with 11 cars rumoured to be attending.The current points leader Damien Harris and his junior teammate Wayne Newby are likely be joined by American DomLagana who has been impressive with strong performances atthe Indy Nationals and the season closing round at Pomona in2014.At the Summit Racing Nationals in Las Vegas in April hequalified eighth, defeated one-time Pro Stock champ DaveConnolly, then smoked the tyres against NHRA star DougKalitta.The decision to run four cars has created a great deal ofinterest within the NHRA ranks with several well credentialed

NHRA drivers likely to be in touch with the Sydney-basedteam owner Santo Rapisarda to chase the ride. Also in the mixis long time Aussie driver Allan Dobson.“The logistics of running four cars will be a challenge,” theteam said. “The team has gained a wealth of experience racingin America, is well organised and have the cars and spare partsinventory to handle the situation. Santo wouldn’t have given ita thought unless he believed it was possible. Lagana is a realasset - he’s smart with good driving instincts and will be amajor hit with the fans in Australia.”Lagana isn’t a stranger to the southern hemisphere but thiswill be his first time to Australia.“The closest I’ve been to Australia is when we raced in NewZealand earlier this year,” said the 29-year-old. “I follow thedrag racing scene in Australia and it’s always cool to see howpeople go about racing in different countries and I love racingfor Santo and the boys here in America.“Santo has been so good for the sport in Australia and I’mproud and honoured to be given the opportunity to be racingfor the Rapisarda family. It won’t be a holiday. I’m coming towin.”

Left: Rapisarda AutosportInternational has a four careffort planned for the NitroChamps at Sydney Dragway.

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Above: Richie Crampton wasall smiles after claiming histhird NHRA win.

CRAMPTON TAKES LAS VEGAS WINRichie Crampton capped a strong start to his second seasonwith a stirring victory at the SummitRacing.com NHRANationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He secured his first victory of the season after winning at least oneround in the previous four races as well as qualifying in the top half ineach race to start the year for Morgan Lucas Racing.“It's huge,” Crampton said. “Obviously, we want to win right out of thegate, but that hasn't always been the case for MLR. To win in the fifthevent and to go to the final at the Four-Wide Nationals, we'regathering some good momentum.”Crampton reached the final round in Charlotte two weeks ago, butNHRA doesn't count that as an official final-round appearance. Thatmeans Crampton is a perfect three for three in finals, includingvictories in Englishtown, N.J., and Indianapolis in his rookie season.On Sunday, Crampton beat Troy Buff, Steve Torrence, J.R. Todd, andLarry Dixon to secure the win.“It's a huge boost for the entire team,” Crampton said. “We've got agreat hot-track race car, and we all know how well (crew chief) Aaron(Brooks) can run when the weather is cool. He's just phenomenalright now and one of the best around. I'm extremely lucky to get todrive such great equipment.”That's a sentiment Crampton has repeated numerous times in hisyoung career. A native of Australia, Crampton moved to the UnitedStates to try to work in NHRA, and he landed a job on the MLR teamwith driver Morgan Lucas. When Lucas stepped aside from full-timeracing last year, Crampton was tabbed to fill the seat.“I'm from the other side of the world, so this is like a 6,000-mile holein one for me,” Crampton said. “I'm extremely lucky, and it speaksvolumes for Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, Morgan and Katie Lucas,and the Lucas Oil family. The entire team stood behind Morgan'sdecision to give me a crack at it. I'm very fortunate, and I've got somebig shoes to fill.”Lucas had been at each of Crampton's first two wins, but he wasn'tracing in Las Vegas this weekend.“I did not text Morgan all day long, which is very rare,” Cramptonsaid. “I usually send him a picture of the ET slip after qualifying runsand every round of eliminations, but I changed it up a little today.“I know he's over the moon and extremely proud of Aaron and theentire team. I'm sure he was following along on Twitter and all thesocial media outlets. I'm sure he knew exactly what was going on, andI'm sure he was pacing around his living room back in Indianapoliswaiting to hear the result of the final.”Crampton started the day with a 3.821-second pass at 322.27mph torun past Buff, the No. 12 qualifier, who made a run of 5.346 secondsat 128.58mph. No. 4 qualifier Steve Torrence was next, butCrampton's 3.838 at 315.78mph was able to get around Torrence's3.899 at 301.81mph.No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd loomed in the semifinals, and Crampton wona thrilling race to advance to the final round. Crampton left first witha .075-second light and then made a run of 3.828 seconds at318.32mph to beat Todd's 3.837 at 321.73mph.Crampton got the jump on past Top Fuel champion Dixon in the finalwith a .070 light, and as Dixon spun the tires in a 4.446-second run at201.73mph, Crampton sped to the win light with a 3.906 at 301.33mph.Crampton was joined in the winner's circle by Funny Car winner JohnForce, another Lucas Oil-backed driver.“It was a great day, and I'm lucky to share it with Force, a Lucas Oilteammate,” Crampton said. “That's pretty good company to be in.”

QUARTERREPORTER

RAIN WRAPS WA SEASON EARLYThe Western Australian drag racing season finished inanti-climactic fashion with a rain out endingproceedings early and leaving most championshipsdecided based on where they were left.

Intermittent showers throughout the day allowed onlyqualifying for most categories, with the first round ofeliminations run only for Super Sedan and Junior Dragster.Top Comp honours went to Daniel Gregorini, clinching thetitle by just 22.5 points over Wayne Keys and Russell Ladbrookwho tied for the minor podium positions.In Super Comp, Errol Quartermaine took his firstchampionship ever at the Motorplex, able to hold out a fastclosing Jamie Chaisty just long enough.Ross Smith was simply dominant in Competition Bike. Even ifthe Grand Final event had been run, all Smith had to do wasturn up for the first round to claim the title over DanielNatalotto. It was Smith's third track championship.Greg James won the Supercharged Outlaws championship,earning the series victory with a countback after tying forpoints with Ian Foster Wayne Batson. James' two event winsworked in his favour in earning his first championship.Interestingly it was the second championship for the car, with

Greg's brother David winning the first Supercharged Outlawschampionship at the Motorplex in 2005.Alesha Adamos won her first Modified championship in one ofthe chases most people were very much looking forward to atthe final event. Adamos just held out Michelle Osborn and lastseason's champion Sam Treasure. Five out of the top sixdrivers in Modified were women in what is arguably one of thetoughest categories to win in drag racing.Martin Mirco had one hand on the Super Sedan championshiptrophy going into the Grand Final, with the poor weathersealing the deal as closest opponent Matthew Gullotto was leftunable to even attempt a last minute assault on the title.Brett Allen finished on top of Modified Bike, one of the closestcategories points wise, with just 20 separating him fromsecond placed Justin Townson and a further 10 points toDarrin McDonald.Ashleigh Wroe became the first ever female winner of a SuperStreet championship at the Motorplex, finishing in the leadover Paul Garbellini and her brother Nicholas Wroe.Bailey McClure sealed the Junior Dragster title in a nail biter.Katrina Bowman could have stolen the lead in one of the onlyrace rounds run on Saturday, but her first round loss meantMcClure earned his first ever championship.

Above: Frequent rain showers eventuallybrought an end to the WA Grand Final early.

Left: Alesha Adamos won the Modifiedchampionship for the first time.

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STRONG SHOWING FOR NOSTALGIASA fine autumn day greeted the running of the Nostalgiasat Perth Motorplex.

A strong number of entries were received and took part invarious activities during the day including the Cranksters swapmeet, dirt track demos and of course drag racing. Here aresome images wrapping up the day.

QUARTERREPORTER

ANOTHER TOP ALCOHOL FED ON THE WAYThere may be another front engine digger fronting TopAlcohol soon with Sydney's Geoff Blake declaring anintention to run the class after a overhaul of hisgorgeous dragster.

Originally based in the United States, Adam Sorokin drove theBrian Van Dyke owned dragster - then on nitro - winning the2010 Heritage Series in the US before being purchased byBlake in 2012.On Australian soil the car was completely rebuilt from theground up, changing the engine plates to suit the blown Chevyand was raced to a best of 6.43 at 219mph. After parking thecar for a while to work on the team's other injected FEDs - alsodriven by Blake and his brother Graham - a chance arose tostep up the car to far quicker performances.“An opportunity came up where we could secure a billet BAEblock and short motor,” said Blake. “I was then able toorganise some Noonan X1 heads along with a Noonan billetmanifold, and let me say that this gear is absolutely amazing.“Next step was thinking about what blower to use and whilst Iknow a PSI screw blower would have made the most power, I

wanted to keep the same kind of a look. This may baffle somepeople, but we're reasonably confident the high-helix, highlymodified 16-71 will produce more than enough power for thelittle 12" wide rear wheels.”Blake then set his sights on loftier performance goals.“Originally we were going to test the car and run inSupercharged Outlaws but after thinking about the enginecombination and what the possibilities were, we areconsidering running Top Alcohol,” said Blake “We're not surewhat the car will run until we get testing underway but we'rehoping to get from A to B consistently each time. “Having another front engine car in the bracket will hopefullybe an addition to the entertainment along with the rear enginedragster and funny cars.” Meanwhile, for the team’s otherFEDs a 632ci injected BBC engine will go into Graham's carwhich they hope to continue to test soon. Life has turned fullcircle for Geoff's original FED and will see duties with theoriginal 540ci injected BBC it started out with.

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Funny Car Complete

Complete ready to go - put fuel in and go racingPlueger Chassis1 2” diffMotec data logger with laptop with al l prior dataFuel systemDriver’s air systemDave Leahy shut off systems - ElectrimotionG-meterRob Moore reverser with neutralAFT cannonPlus spare new body3 x Bonifante nine stand clutches1 x AFT nine stand clutch1 x new Bonifante hatSpare fingers, stal l springs, you name it!3 x fly wheelsSpare fuel tankRear carbon brakesSpare windscreen and side windowsSpare fire bottlesParachutesTool boxes for car serviceJack standsClutch plates (approx 1 30) about 40 newFloaters (approx 80)Clutch grinderToo much to itemise here AND spares forvirtual ly everything that you wil l require.

Funny Car Roller

Complete rol ler minus engineCamaro 2001 bodyPlueger ChassisDriver’s air systemDry sump tank2 x nitro fuel tanksBellhousingWeld wheels1 0 1 /2“ Chrisman diffCarbon rear brakes with spare rotorsAll cables, oi l l ines, fire system (withbottles), bi l let steering box etc.

Top Fuel Dragster Roller

Complete rol lerWiring harness to suit MotecClutch systemDave Leahy electronic fuel control system(new)Bell housingReverserCannonWheelsIgnition systemParachutes.

Plus parts arsenal:

Two complete fuel engines – eight and 1 0runs each from new. Includes everything torun and service both. Inventory includes:

2 x TFX blocks, H11 stud kids, 1 0 newsleeves, new spares, 3 sets AJ five cylinderheads, includes all nozzles, valves, springs,retainers, locks, head lines, jump lines, toonumerous to detai l .Bryant cranks –1 x new including al l bearings etc.1 x 1 run crank, 2 x 1 0 thou mains1 x 7 runs – damaged mains – repairable nocracks1 x 1 0 runs – no cracks.These last two ran about 300’ only ninetimes – bummer!2 x 44 amp mag sets – Dunn drive, PSIdrive, 1 set 1 0 runs. RCD gear drives, cranksupports, fuel pump extensions, drives,crank triggers, wiring etc. Also includes coilsand points boxes, retarders, electronic MSDignition.Spare caps, leads, rotors, wiring harnesses.Crane cams R296-300-500 camlift, one withonly one run on Crane lifters.Five sets BME piston rod pins. Sets includefive piston rod rack holders, spare bearings,rings, buttons, 24 spare pistons used andnew .1 40” and .1 25” out. 3 sets Brooks rods5 runs each. Pistons, pins, rings and spares.

2 x P&P dry sump pumps, al l l ines, oi l fi l teradaptors, stainless pipes plus spare l ines.2 x dry sumps, 2 wet sumps F/C. One new2 x Taylor nappies.One set rocker gear, De Celis stands. Stagefive inlets, Cluff exhaust rockers with 11spares. One set rocker gear, red stands, newshafts, Stage 5 inlet rockers and 7 spares,stage 5 ex rockers, new. Manton pushrodsand spares.

2 x set back manifolds:1 new including l inesMetering blocks1 0 new burst platesTaylor Blower Restraint and bag – goodcondition.2 x PSI 1 471 blowers – 1 with PSI set backsnout, titanium drive shaft, etc, incl starterbracket, snout support – 1 new RCD snout,starter bracket and PSI front cover – alsonew.1 x Carbon By Design carbon fibre hatPete Jackson barrel valve and all l ines,includes inlet flow meter and return flowmeterAll fuel l ines and spare l ines of al l sizes.Rage1 x Fuel Pump 78 gal. Ran 5.11 @ 302mph1 x new rebuilt by Rage – not run 90 galpump.Both have shutoffs.RCD starter motor, cables etc. x 2RCD blower pulleys x 9. 30-44% O/D1 7 x 11 mm Blower belts – most 1 run only.Tools including3 Snap On tension wrenches.All bottom end tools.Head tools.Valve seat tool kit.Spark plug thread repair kitCylinder head standsSpring remover.RCD Blower Drive sets, idler pul leys andbrackets.

Plus an arsenal of other engine related bitsand pieces - $1 00k

All you need is the Funny Car or the TopFueller with their Motec computer, G Meter,Dave Leahy fuel system, Stewart 1 2 Jetreturn system, Electrimotion timers, powerpacks, pressure sensors.

Alcohol Heads

Brad Anderson Stage V alcohol heads - exHarker. Perfect condition $4,500ono

Interested?

Call Allan Greene on

(08) 9361 7737 or email

greenemachine@

bigpond.com

RETROSPECTIVE:2005 WINTERNATIONALS

2005 was a time when the sport of drag racing inAustralia was starting to climb its way out of thestrangled period that was the early 2000s, whenjust Willowbank Raceway and Perth Motorplexkept the national championship series alive.

In fact for many categories, their 'national' series wasentirely based at Willowbank and made up of just tworounds – the Nationals and the Winternationals.But in 2004 Sydney Dragway opened and the boostwas felt across the country.The 2005 Winternationals was a strong event – withbig crowds and great weather. There were 560 entriesin total competing over an action packed three days.

Clockwise from left: Peter Kapiris in hisclassic Studebaker, that at one time wasthe quickest methanol sedan in the world.New Zealand's Jon Bates came over theTasman to compete. Peter Cochrane'sflahsy Pro Stock Motorcycle. ScottKarandrews used turbochargedhorsepower in what was the ex-AndrewStavroulakis Pro Stocker. Joe Schembrihad a bad crash in his short wheelbaseHolden FC. A young Laurence Adamoswas racing in Junior Dragster - he nowdrives a Super Sedan. Brett 'The Boss'Stevens on his iconic nitro Harley. GrantO'Rourke reverses up from the burnout infront of the massive crowd. Steve Readlights up the night with nitro headerflames, driving for Santo Rapisarda.

Background image: The late MikeTinney's Pro Stocker launches from thestart line.

It might be surprising considering how much itdominates the Australian sporting scene, but theAFL only has a six month season. It fires up in Apriland wraps up in September, leaving the summer forcricket.Despite this short season it has no issues attractingsponsorship or TV deals. It certainly makes youwonder what drag racing is doing by having a seasonthat runs anywhere up to nine months or longer.ANDRA copped plenty of criticism for the shortseason, but given that they had to change thecalendar system back to what it was they were reallyin a no win position.The time period of the season isn't really the stickingpoint, it's the lack of championship rounds for somecategories.But if we had a six month season where eachcategory got six rounds? That might be something towork with. It allows people the time to have a trueoff season and I think that given our sport is farmore hobby than profession, that is a reasonableidea. Six rounds is a more achievable figure for mostteams when it comes to chasing a championship.There are plenty of fans of running ever category atevery championship event but that isn't the answer,not unless we drop some categories. Even the NHRAonly runs four pro categories at most and threesometimes – we can't have our cake and eat it too inthis regard.By compressing the racing into a shorter time periodteams can 'go hard' and really concentrate onchasing a title and then get a chance to properly planout their next season. As it stands at the moment,they are just in one constantly long phase of racingthat never really has a proper moment to rest.

We have to question what is best for racers in thisscenario. I believe that a short season would simplybe a real grind on teams without providing theappropriate breaks between events.A longer season allows these events to properlyspread out and give these teams time to turnaround. Our scene isn't on the professional level ofthe United States where teams can turn thingsaround in a week.It would certainly make negotiations with the tracksharder having a short season as they would competemore and more for the same weekends, with lesschance of us settling into a consistent, repeatablecalendar.I would like to emphasise that point a little more. Ithink be it a short or a long season there is a need forsome consistency to appear in the calendar so thatteams can bank on where they are going to appeareach season.Certainly awareness around drag racing is higherwhen there is actually a championship going on, soto stay at the forefront of people's minds it isimportant to have regular events.Also, before any change, it is really time that someextensive consultation and research was done withracers to find out what they really want. If themajority want a long season, there's no point movingto a short one. But with information at hand on howteams operate and what kind of preferences thatwould have with their calendar, a much betterdecision can be made.

MRYES

MRNO

Welcome to Mr Yes and Mr No. Thismonth our anonymous contributors

debate: should we make the short sixmonth season permanent?

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