Drag News Magazine Issue Six

RACE WRAPS: ADELAIDE, WILLOWBANK, MILDURA, SYDNEY

I S S U E S I X M AY 2 0 1 5 $ 9 . 9 5

THE GREAT PRO STOCK DEBATE

ANDRA CEO SPEAKS OUT

PLUS: CHRIS TAIT - WORLD RECORD HOLDER RICK CHILTON'S PRO STOCK SEA CHANGE ROB TAYLOR'S DOORSLAMMER DREAM NEW SECTION: RETROSPECTIVE

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CONTENTS

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE STAFF Editor: Luke Nieuwhof (luke@dragnews.com.au) Content: Luke Nieuwhof, Grant Stephens, Rob Sparkes Photography: cacklingpipes.com (grant@cacklingpipes.com), Luke Nieuwhof Design: Luke Nieuwhof Accounts: Rob Sparkes

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS Joe Maday 0468 41 3 1 24 maday@mail2joseph.com Dave Reid 041 2 686 478 sales@dragphotos.com.au Lee Davis 0425 886 072 photorequest@ westernautopics.com.au David Fry david.fry@dfpad.com.au

WANT TO SEND US CONTENT? press@dragnews.com.au

ADVERTISING advertising@dragnews.com.au Or call Rob Sparkes on +61 41 841 1 684

WANT THE LATEST? www.dragnews.com.au is Australia's most popular drag racing website and carriers all the up to date news you need on Australian drag racing.

LEGAL All content is copyright to Drag News Australia Pty Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.

4 - Editorial 6 - Shutter Speed 10 - The great Pro Stock debate

Two round championships and a big bad Mopar. Pro Stock is a class divided - we investigate.

18 - Turning point

ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley gives his take on where the sport of drag racing is at.

24 - Good times

Chris Tait and the road to a world record.

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

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

42 - Adelaide thunder The Aeroflow Nitro Funny Car show rolls into Adelaide.

46 - Sportsman stunner Willowbank Raceway plays host to round four fo the Summit Racing Equipment 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 No

Do we need a shorter season?

63 - Business Directory

COVER IMAGE Chris Tait slows down in the Willowbank Raceway braking area. Image by Dave Reid.

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EDITORIAL

One of drag racing's biggest challenges to drawing spectators over recent years has been increased competition from all kinds of entertainment options.

The truth of the matter is that people have far more variety in the things they choose to do now and that drag racing figures less and less in those plans.

The sport has straddled an odd place between hobby and profession. It's a kind of fence sitting we have never really been able to get away from and both sides have their pros and cons.

As a hobby, drag racing is a lot of fun, but people have to realise that you can't expect to be paid for your hobby.

As a profession, drag racing can be a way to make a living, but people have to realise you need to first invest in that business.

Simply buying the vehicle and then putting your hand out is not enough.

But back to the discussion about the options at hand to a motorsport consuming public. We have traditionally considered V8 Supercars to be the main competitor of drag racing, but I believe we are in a very different segment to that series. The V8 Supercars have a white collar aspect to them, while drag racing remains very much blue collar in the people it 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 Perth Motorplex and the crowd was massive. Easily bigger than just about any drag racing crowd this season at the venue, perhaps with the exception of Top Fuel. Even then it would be close.

Burnouts as a sport have taken one of the most entertaining aspects of drag racing, packaged it and deliver it up as a solid show over a few hours. The action is non stop, as soon as one car is off the pad the next one begins. Any oildowns are cleaned up quickly as there is no need to fix traction. The crowd cheers loudly for their favourites. And there are moments of fire and brimstone aplenty as engines blow, tyres turn into flames and the occasional car even hits the wall.

Don't be left in any doubt, drag racing and burnout competitions are vying for the same group of potential spectators and potential spectators. I'm sure there are people who have tossed up between drag racing or building a burnout car and chosen the latter. They are obviously seeing an attraction there.

It is something of a golden age of burnouts at the moment.

Drivers and spectators are passionate on social media about the skids in a way that drag racing is really missing out on.

There's a genuine excitement around the scene. People will turn up to events just to see certain cars, the same way people used to flock to regional tracks when Victor Bray would race.

It's big league stuff and it won't be long before automotive sponsors throw their money where the people are.

For drag racing, I guess I can summarise what our lessons should 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 Nieuwhof Editor

SHUTTER

SPEED 6

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

SPEED 8

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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THE GREAT PRO STOCK DEBATE Following last month's aborted opening round of the Australian Pro Stock Championship, ANDRA issued a statement saying that the championship would continue as planned despite effectively being reduced to two rounds.

There were murmurs that because the Adelaide round did not attract the necessary four minimum entrants to run an official championship round that the entire series would be scrapped for the season.

However the ANDRA board deemed that the show would go on, citing page 64 of the ANDRA rulebook, which states: where at least three rounds are posted, ANDRA National Championship series are staged each season for Group One categories. All are included in the Australian Nationals, Winternationals and Nitro Champs events, with other rounds being scheduled independently.

Lee Bektash and Emilio Spinozzi, the remaining two eligible entrants from the VPW Pro Series 1000 event at Adelaide

International Raceway, were given 20 points as non-qualifiers as per page 67 of the rulebook.

While that worked out okay for Bektash and Spinozzi, other teams are not all smiles. In fact, the category seems divided down the middle on whether or not the championship remains 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 running now and some racers are saying 'not by the hair of their chinny, chin chin' will they be able to match it with the performance advantage resulting from the Mopar's bore spacing and valve size. But one thing at a time, let's begin with the recently confirmed two round season.

Three's a crowd?

At the posted opening round of the Pro Stock championship just three racers were on the property: Mopar-backed Lee Bektash, Emilio Spinozzi and a returning Gerry Parente who still had to complete licensing in his new Camaro.

ANDRA championship rounds are required to have a minimum of four teams competing in order for race points to be granted. Those aforementioned racers were given nonqualifying points and a nod from the ANDRA Board that the series would go ahead.

Team owner Kerry Tremayne spoke out publicly against the change, calling the two round a championship 'a joke' in the comments 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 a championship is a joke,” he said. “In the ANDRA rulebook, depending on how you read it, it says three rounds have to be posted. The three rounds posted include the Winternationals, Nitro Champs and the Australian Nationals. Other rounds are added on to those three rounds. In other words ANDRA have made a mistake because they are having a championship without the Nationals. There shouldn't be a championship for any other class either.”

Tremayne, whose sons Aaron and Tyronne compete in Pro Stock, 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 it ends up as five rounds because you get stuffed up with rain or whatever,” he said. “Nearly every racer you talk to agrees with it. If you stuff up one round (with a two round championship) you are out. At least with five rounds you can still have a chance of winning if you basically stay competitive at the other four and get up into the semis. When you have two rounds if you go out first round, well that is it.”

ANDRA is often put into the position of making unpopular decisions. A more dramatic one should have been made before the off season according to Tremayne.

“I would have said the (short) season would have no championship this year and start the championship at the new season (later in the year). Definitely racers would still turn up. It is hurting the events by having a championship.”

The Tremayne family were not planning on running at the Nitro Champs but Kerry says his boys want some driving practice 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 an element of tit for tat.

“I don't think Pro Stock will be taken seriously unless all the racers try and at least attend most of the rounds. You can't have 20 cars at one meet and then the next meeting not even have five. ANDRA look at that in a pretty dim light. (Adelaide) is the first race we have missed since we started with Pro Stock. This is our eighth year.

“Lee Bektash actually said at the Nationals last year he thought it was a joke having a title last year because he didn't want to go to Benaraby. Nobody down south supported Benaraby so that's why nobody from Queensland went to Adelaide.

“He (Lee) basically said having a championship that year was a joke, now he is all for having two rounds.”

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

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time and money into developing a winning combination and has a sponsor expecting him to deliver trophies to their door.

He says he is all for there being a championship in the short season.

“I believe it is the right decision. A championship is a championship if it's two rounds or ten rounds; when it is put up 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. Not just for the sake of running the car. Because at the end of the day, what does it mean if you are racing for nothing? The way I look at it is its harder to win a championship over two rounds than five. Over two rounds you can't make a mistake.

Unfortunately with Calder not going ahead it spoiled the bracket for Adelaide.”

Bektash explained that last year he asked ANDRA to consider extending the season through to the Winternationals this year after the abandonment of an event at Calder due to cold weather affecting track conditions and the fuel scandal in Sydney which saw tainted race fuel affect a bunch of teams.

“The Winternationals (last year) and the Nationals were the

only real races, to me last year was a two round championship, whats the difference?” he said.

“These guys (other Pro Stock teams) are very calculating, they will try and stop rounds and entry numbers so the season doesn't go ahead and they can spend their money on R&D. That's fair enough and I respect that but they are missing the point.”

Bektash said fans can still expect great racing and a deserving winner – and he wants his rivals there.

“It is still a shootout and it is going to be exciting. Everyone knows how competitive me and the Tremaynes are against each other. Don't worry about how fast I am. Aaron has the paperwork to prove he is the best Pro Stock driver ever in Australia. He has nothing to worry about. I'd be disappointed If I did well in the those races and they weren't there to contest.”

Unfair advantage The other major issue that has reached boiling point in

Australian Pro Stock has been the claim that the Mopar package has an inherent advantage under current rules versus Chev and Ford combinations. Certainly Bektash's 6.8 second and 200mph achievements, years before anyone thought it would be possible, have given some credence to those thoughts.

Tremayne said the right thing to do would be to add weight to the Mopars, but he can not see it happening.

“With the difference in bore spacing you can get a bigger bore and a larger inlet and exhaust valve so basically you can build a better engine,” he said. “It's a big reason why nobody went to Adelaide. I don't know how the Nitro Champs is going to fare.”

Tremayne said it used to be an even playing field until Bektash brought in his latest motor package.

“Everybody stepped up and we were all equal. We thought you beauty. Then at the Nationals that was all blown apart,” he said. “Everybody found 30 horsepower last year and then basically you've got a car which produces 1220 horsepower when 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. We will 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 would have started with a Mopar, but they are now too far down the Chev road.

“In the last nine years what we have learned and especially Aaron is unbelievable,” he said.

“You get guys over here who run a shoe string budget and there is guys with a bigger budget getting American crew chiefs in, who have a wealth of knowledge as far as tracks and car setup. We can't expect the Aussie guys to be up with that so we are always going to struggle.

“The more money you've got the better you can be at it I suppose. Over the last three championships Aaron has won it's because he is a really good driver.

“For the first season we probably had the most power when he first won. It was a lot of car set up then too. I remember when Tyronne went 7.07 and the rest of the field were in the low 7.1s. They were running 191, Tyronne went 192. There wasn't a big speed difference, we were lucky we found something in the cars and made them fast.

“We are happy where we are going, we are always up for the challenge. Hopefully the new engine development will put us back where we are.”

Tremayne thinks that Bektash's engine builder Bob Book could have the capacity to make the Chevs as powerful as the Mopar.

“Hats off to Bob Book, he has found something nobody has else has found,” he said. “He reckons he can make the Chev quick. He has talked to Aaron about doing something with him, but Aaron is not interested because we have our own engine 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 worked hard to make it happen, choosing to spend his money where it produces performance – not on flashiness.

“I believe my R&D program is probably 12 months ahead of the opposition, they need to be looking to spend money on R&D rather than racing,” he said. “Like I have told these guys that run two car teams - maybe they need to concentrate on

Right: Lee Bektash says horsepower is only part of the answer on going quick and that getting a good crew chief has been vital to his operation. Mick Marriott (left) and Tomi Laine (right) are two of the best in the business.

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running one car.

“They've got the big trucks. I've got a little trailer and a van and I invest the money in a crew chief instead.”

Horsepower is not the only part of the equation that is producing Bektash's spectacular performances according to the exciteable Victorian.

“The bore spacing in the Mopar is a little bigger,” he said. “My valves and Rick Chilton's are the same. I had 1110 horsepower and I went 6.99. I have an extra 100 now. They are getting lost in the power and forgetting how good the car is.

“I can give that motor to anybody else and I guarantee you they won't run an 80. Everything I have in that car is what people should be getting. I would be surprised if that car is not a consistent 6.80 car.

“We were the ones challenging the Tremaynes. For five years we chased them, but we learned from what they were doing and asked how could we make it better. That's what I did, I asked what can I do to beat Aaron Tremayne. I needed to find someone 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 but I'm the Rocky Balboa because I've got the supporters. They have spent a lot of money on development and it is probably heartbreaking for them to see what I did, but they need to dig deep and not give up.”

No doubt the Mopar package will be difficult to beat, but Bektash claims it is far from impossible.

“We could red light, turn the tyres, cross the centre line, I could cut a bad light, blow a motor up. John Zappia doesn't win 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 I know they are going to catch me.

“But they are spending too much time on how they can stop me from running fast rather than concentrating on their own stuff.

“Car set up I believe is more important than the horsepower.

My engine and Nino Cavallo's engine are identical. I went 6.92/200, he went 6.98/196, so there is 4mph in the car. If they all do what we did they are going to get there. If they think it is power that is a problem. It is the whole package and I hope I can capitalise and dominate for the next 12 months. I don't want to do well just at two meetings, I want to do well when ever I go out there. If that means less competitors so be it. I've done a job too good.”

There has been an active rumour mill in Pro Stock as to who is sending engines overseas and who isn't. Bektash said with the exception of Emilio Spinozzi everyone in the top ten is sending motors overseas, but he believes staying secret about it means they will not get the best results.

“Why would an engine builder give you the full deal if you don't support them. It is like getting advice over the phone and not paying the guy. How are you going to get the 100% advice unless you are actually investing in your engine builder. It costs the Americans money to learn what they know. You can benefit what they know and it is cheaper. Then you can concentrate on your business Monday to Friday that makes you money.”

Bektash is quite happy to real off the list of people and companies involved in his race car and said anyone else is quite capable of going out and getting the same package.

“We are heavily involved with Penske (shocks), Rick Jones Race Cars, Bob Book (engine builder), Tomi Laine (crew chief) - they are the leaders,” he said. “Erica Enders-Stevens has a Rick Jones Race Car, she's got the Penske shocks, so everything 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? The numbers in the last two years have been down with guys we haven't replaced. Both Tuckers are out, Peter Ridgeway, Michael Ali, and so many others. A lot of things affect it: the dollar, business. We have been running fast for a long time, it wasn't just what we did in November.”

A public problem When we asked ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley about the failure of the opening round of the Australian Pro Stock

Championship and the parity situation, he was disappointed the debate had become so public and resulted in cars not attending events.

“These guys put a massive commitment in,” he said. “This Pro Stock equipment is leading edge stuff. With Lee Bektash that is not overnight, he has put his heart and soul into it. And it is not cheap.

“We have spoken to the guys in the USA to make sure that there is a level of parity there, which we believe there is. It's disappointing firstly that the entries were down, but understandable, but secondly that the criticism was quite public.

“Some of the finger pointing at the Pro Stock racers that did not enter was unnecessary. We need to say okay there was only three entered, there is a problem, what is the problem, talk about it, and fix it. Calling them out and pointing fingers doesn't help anybody.”

Certainly Bektash is not done wearing out the record books just yet.

“Everything in my team is no less than A-grade. We are getting rewarded with the success on the scoreboard. The challenge for me is to run faster, not worry so much about winning. 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 said it is only stoking his fire.

“My competitors don't need to be my friends,” he said. “I'd rather have them as rivals. That way they get the best out of me. When I'm finished racing we will all have a coffee or a beverage and talk about what we went through in the last ten years. You've got to have that rivalry, it's what makes the class exciting.

“Aaron is the rival for me. I don't really care about who I beat as long as I beat him and I am sure he is the same as me. If they don't come and race they won't have that opportunity.”

TURNING

POINT There's a feeling that the administration of drag racing is reaching a crucial fork in the road - which path will the sport and its constituents choose?

Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

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ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley has been heading Australia's drag racing sanctioning body at a time many would agree has been one of peaks and troughs.

There has been successes enjoyed, particularly in the strength of the sportsman program, but during the same period there still seems to be ongoing turmoil and debate around a range of issues.

That murky infighting has congealed into rumours of the International Hot Rod Association sanctioning across several tracks and though nothing official has yet been declared by any venue and details are scarce, they have confirmed that they have communicated with the United States-based sanctioning body.

A split in sanctioning bodies by venues, should it happen, would arguably represent the largest upheaval ever for the sport 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 of independence.

“For some reason they (the tracks) believe that ANDRA is instructing them on what to do,” he said. “At the end of the day if I was in their position I would look around at the same level.

But when you look at the size of the Australian market, any move to segment that market would be catastrophic for the sport.

“I can only look at the New Zealand model, it stemmed growth in NZ for many years. But the NZDRA are coming back on board fairly strongly.”

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Other than knowledge that talks have been held, no one is yet sure on what model is being considered for sanctioning, who would manage rules or commercial aspects of the sport or at what level IHRA would administer drag racing in Australia beyond an insurance level.

“Bringing a couple of sanctioning bodies into a market this size is like the Pepsi Wars over a few thousand sales, it just doesn't make sense,” Bulley said. “The level of duplication as far as rules, infrastructure and those kind of things.

“Whoever is setting the rules for any sport needs to be independent. You are not going to make decisions that please everyone all the time, but without that governance and compliance you end up in a situation where all you have is anarchy and that is when we get into a dangerous situation.”

Bulley said the changing nature of ANDRA, including its shift from an administration focus to a service provider, could have ruffled some feathers – but he maintains ANDRA is looking to be a supporter for tracks, not a replacement.

“There is a view by a couple of the major tracks that we should be doing things cheaper,” he said. “There is always that argument. ANDRA is a not for profit, when we first started this change cycle about two year ago it was about moving from a purely admin function to a support function.

“When we first started having meetings with member tracks it was important to us that those member tracks articulated what direction they had so we could get a national focus. The local series, track championships and all the rest of it, that is the tracks' business. We will support that from an admin, sanctioning, racer perspective, but when it comes down to clashes, it is really defending that independence from their point of view.”

ANDRA's support of some events in Adelaide and Calder, including from a financial standpoint, generated concern among other tracks that the playing field was not being kept even and that ANDRA was becoming a competitor. Bulley denied that was the case.

“They see us as a potential promoter, which we are not interested 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 had some issues and wanted us to step in in regard to controlling the two facilities from a compliance point of view. We don't have a frontline position (in promotion).

“We support venues promoting the national championship events and thats where our activation trailer goes around and where sponsorship comes into the sport. All those dollars go straight back to the racers. It is quite a transparent model we have got.”

In last month's Drag News Magazine, Willowbank Raceway's Tony Manson said the venue had tabled their thoughts directly with the ANDRA Board and CEO and also said there were a number of things they were not happy with in the current sanctioning organisation, being ANDRA. Bulley said that there has not been communication on what Willowbank is unsatisfied with.”

“In regards to Willowbank and Tony's (concerns), it is displaying reaction times on screens (readout boards),” Bulley said. “And to tell you the truth we really haven't heard anything more from them, so your guess is as good as mine.”

Members of ANDRA and racers at venues should expect that the two communicate on a meaningful level to achieve positive results for the sport. Currently the relationship between tracks and ANDRA takes on an often adversarial approach. Neither should be mind readers and communication should be open.

But does ANDRA know what the tracks want? Bulley said ANDRA, the chairman in particular do ask the venues that question.

“There is over 30 tracks in this country, the three majors (Sydney, Willowbank and Perth) see themselves as something a little bit different - and they are,” he said. “What they want is hard to fathom sometimes because it gets mixed up in dialogue. They wants costs to be lower, they want pricing to be higher as far as the premium goes.

“The venues, ANDRA and the racers are one, everyone is struggling, it's an expensive sport. Everybody has their own goal. At the highest level all those goals are similar. What we need to look at is growth, at the end of the day that is what it is all going to come down to.

“ANDRA is the only one in a position to support the national picture. We are a support mechanism.”

Bulley believes spectator growth needs to be of the highest priority 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. “To take drag racing to a broader audience, that audience needs to be significantly more than what it is at the moment. We need to cooperate at a public level. We have been airing our dirty laundry in public which does nobody any good. There are too many cooks and nobody is serving the customer out the front.

“If we took 50% of the energy we are expelling now on internal bickering the sport would be significantly better off.

A huge amount of energy is being wasted to get that edge or leverage point to achieve an ant hill when realistically we are chasing a mountain.”

ANDRA's reputation has suffered through some of it its decision making, but Bulley maintains that the right decisions aren't always going to be popular ones.

“We have a situation where if something goes wrong it is ANDRA's fault. Sometimes it is true,” he said. “The true strength in that is reversing it if it is a bad call. The calendar season was a classic example, where there wasn't a lot of support for making the change in the first place. There was even less support for changing it back but change it back we did because that was what the tracks wanted to do.

“Two changes in such short proximity of each other was detrimental to a lot of people. A lack of communication caused that and allowed it to happen in the first place.

“We are interested in making sure the cooperative approach wins 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 here for at least 30 years. 'If it gets too big I may lose control or I may lose input' - and that is not productive to the future of the sport. The sport needs to grow.”

Poor communication is a regular criticism of ANDRA. Bulley agreed there was room for improvement but said it was important 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 targeted communication we need to improve on now,” he said. “We have increased that by three or four times but that is no laurel to rest on.

“You will always have 5% or 10% of any membership base that is going to be disenfranchised, it is no different to any sporting enterprise. You are trying to turn a hobby into a professional business but we are still a hobby at the end of the day. But at the pointy end we have an incredible show and that show needs to be agreed on and promoted.

“Nothing we are seeing now is new. We are seeing resistance to change, we are seeing individual opinion stated as fact, where realistically it is a discussion point.”

Bulley said there was resistance by some people to going back to ideas that had been tried before, unsuccessfully.

“With change, innovation and technology, some of those ideas of 10 years ago may work in a different environment,” he said.

“Every new innovation piece or invention has been tried a few times before they hit paydirt. Our challenge is out there in the market, not internally. ANDRA makes decisions all the time and we need to work on a broad scale of cooperation to get costs down for venues and members and maximise the impact of what we should be doing.”

ANDRA's role in acting as an intermediary between racers and venues often puts it in the firing line. Bulley said that racer associations (such as ones set up for Top Fuel and Pro Stock

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Motorcycle) have made that task smoother.

“We'd like to be involved with and support different racer associations,” he said. “Dealing with everybody is a tough deal because not everybody agrees. A lot of the associations put more time and effort into their category than anyone else and they want to succeed. It requires a level of common focus to make sure that category succeeds.

“When it comes to rule submissions the majority should come from those associations themselves. The real meaty ones come from the people competing in the category as far as what they can do to make that category more promotable and have tighter racing.”

In future years, Bulley said the sport has to make itself more consistent.

“We have a championship of different rounds made up around the country. We don't have a consistent championship which is what we need to have,” he said. “There is a lot of peoeple who travel interstate to watch these things these days, probably more than people realise, and they are our true hard core fan.

“When the circus does come into town they want us to make a big hoo-ha about it. One venue may have one or two major events a year, where as we have fourteen. We are spread pretty thin but we are still a support mechanism; we want to give each venue the support it deserves.”

ANDRA went through a lot of change around 2010/11, becoming a company and seeing the departure of long time CEO Tony Thornton. He was replaced by Greg Humphreys, who left after only about a year of service. ANDRA employee Rob Sharp served as an interim CEO for a brief time before handing over the reins to Bulley.

Bulley said those five years had seen a very different ANDRA result and some of those changes should be noted.

“If you look at what we are doing now, even compared to five years ago, we are a totally different organisation. We are very member focused - but tracks are members as well.

“When I started two and a half years ago we had zero sponsors.

Drag Limited had just broken down, we had just gone through a CEO in quick succession, there was a level of turmoil and I don't know if we have recovered from that.

“ANDRA has changed the entire structure of the business. We have the exact same number of full time equivalents we have always had, but we've got a vastly more capable technical area, a more capable business development and media area, and that is only through restructure and bringing on different resources and working out how to become more efficient at the functions that we do have.

“Innovation has been all the way through from organisational structure to financial structure. Two and a half years ago we faced having a half million dollar loss, now that was a pretty scary thing to deal with, because you don't just make that up the next year. Last year we got it to a profitable level and this year we will have a reasonable surplus that needs to go back into the sport.

“People are doing this (drag racing) because it is their passion and the whole model needs to work together to be sustainable.

If we get any more splintering then it is our own fault; with a little bit of courage if you do the right thing by the sport as a whole then everyone reaps the rewards. We can't keep cutting up the pie because it will become unsustainable. You are duplicating infrastructure, you're duplicating tasks there is no benefit to anyone.”

Bulley defended what has been perceived as a slow moving organisation.

“Where we are now is transitioning slower than people would like. But the only way we can get back on our feet is growth. A lot of people talk about 'when we were big'. But that was 25 years ago. A lot of other motorsports have grown and we haven't done that. “We know that statistically when you have a venue you get growth around that venue. There has been suppression point in regards to drag racing for a lot of years.

We haven't had significant racing in Melbourne, though club run facilities like Portland have held it together for a long time and should be congratulated. To get a drag strip in every major capital 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 – it is an agreement that disagreement is not going to move the sport forward.

Racers deserve a management at both sanctioning body and track level that can work together in a meaningful and respectful way.

“As a governing body we all want the same thing. If you stand back, everyone in the sport wants growth, prosperity and those kinds of things. It is very important for ANDRA to complement that, we are like a support body for that king of ambition.

“ANDRA tries to support the front line, that is made up of racers and venues. We have been accused of becoming too member centric and that is fine. If we get all the benefits that every stakeholder wants the sport will be more prosperous.”

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GOOD

TIMES

STORY BY GRANT STEPHENS. PHOTOS BY CACKLINGPIPES.COM.

Australia has an awesome assortment of Sport Compact machinery 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 hard work and dedication to a cause will pay off in the end. The team have spent years developing a unique engine combination in Australian drag racing circles, a 3RZ four cylinder more commonly found in Toyota Hiluxes. After much perseverance they are now not only cultivating world record times, but race wins.

Racing has been in Tait's blood since the age of 11 when he use to rip up BMX tracks until he was old enough to acquire a car license and hit Willowbank street meets - where his passion for imports was already evident and a desire to get serious about drag 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 drive imports and it was great to upset some of the diehard V8 guys.

But replacing the gearbox each week was fun for a month, so after seeing what Chris Rado was doing in the US we deciding it was time to build a FWD drag car with a Toyota 3RZ engine.

“A short time after starting the FWD project the 200SX came up for sale in 2009 as an unfinished project, and the FWD idea was pushed aside, but it is not forgotten.”

Embarking on the development of not only the 3RZ but also a full blown race car has been a long and arduous process and not 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 or other competitors,” said Tait.

“With no experience in any other race car before this one it took three weeks to pass my ANDRA licence. I don’t call myself a driver, maybe that’s what has saved me a few times. All I can say though is pull the chute before trying to steer.

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“Ben Bray helped with the changes to the chassis and clutch set up - it has taken the excitement out of the launch when you don’t have to guess which direction it is going to head in.”

With the car setup and driving coming around the Good Times team were starting to tick achievement boxes with the 3RZ engine as that development continued.

“We were testing and breaking parts on an engine no one else was running here in Australia - overseas the 2RZ and 3RZ has been used for over eight years with some guys willing to share info,” said Tait.

“The goal when we started the car was reliable eight second times, and after the car ran a seven so easy we were bitten by the drag racing bug.

Discovering the weak parts and engineering new ones, we now had a consistent low seven second car.”

With the expert help of Sport Compact tuner extraordinaire Phil Laird programming the ECU, the team sat on a personal best of a 7.22 at 182mph and the decision was made to push for a six - this was 2011 and little did they know the torment those couple of tenths would inflict.

“With the new goal of a 6.99, most of the parts had to be changed or upgraded, Phil had warned us it wasn’t going to be easy, and it’s going to drain the bank account,” said Tait. “The next two years were tough on all the crew, putting so many hours into preparation and testing with only a few small improvements to the ET. In November 2013 I’d decided to stop 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, new exhaust manifold, new aero front clip, larger intercooler, larger turbo, custom 9.5 diff centre, changes to the cylinder head, camshafts, block, crank and one of the largest gains was thanks to Arias Pistons.”

Finally Tait and company were able to return to the strip for the Brisbane Jamboree in September 2014.

“We knew it was going to be a tough weekend - breaking both cams on the second pass was just the start of the work for the day, that engine was swapped back to an old set up only to have trouble with the throttle positioning sensor,” he said.

“After months of checking we found the cause of the failure - I've got no problem telling you the cause but it’ll cost you about $5000 - we went back to our old 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 into place and the long strived six second goal was achieved at a Willowbank Raceway test and tune - 6.89 at 205mph, the quickest and fastest 3RZ pass in the world. Oddly enough Tait was not overly impressed after the fact, knowing the potential was always there.

“It was more of a relieved feeling that we hadn't just wasted two years of work. Maybe that was because I see the data and the problems that go wrong each week, and know when it's sorted 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't going to be easy."

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Over the course of the development there has been a splattering of success, with a few top qualifying results and some Jamboree final round appearances, even holding the mantle of Australia's quickest four cylinder at one point - and Tait is an advocate of the Super Compact ANDRA championship bracket in the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series.

“Racing in Super Compact we’re all mates off the track helping each other where we can. It’s not unusual to be flipping pancakes and talking BS at 3am in the morning while rebuilding an 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 at Willowbank in the amalgamated Super Comp bracket, not only delivering 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 Saturday morning. So I decided sleep on Friday night wasn’t going to make the car run fast, getting to the track where you can fire it up until midnight would,” said Tait.

There were a few gremlins in qualifying and a problem with the line lock produced a soft launch in the first session, not to mention the tune up was too rich.

“With the line lock fixed the car launched with a lot of tyre shake, using the whole lane until it was getting way out of shape. Inches off the centre timing cones before looking at the right wall, the chutes were my only option - then I had a bad front end shake in the braking area, which is not a good feeling even at this slow speed.”

A loose steering arm was the cause of the vibration and no doubt the wandering run – but a 1.08 sixty in the final qualifier and a pedalling 6.97 at 205mph had the team primed for eliminations.

“I had a round one solo and I only had to break the beams, but deciding to test my reaction, clutch and tune I staged as if it was a race,” said Tait. “With a .2 red light, a tyre shaking 1.1 in the sixty, it came on strong to the eighth at 163mph - my race face was on an no care was taken for the 7.35 index - 6.92 at 207mph was the result.

“The crew was over the moon with a PB in the MPH, putting on 44mph in the back half. After we finished the high fives, the thought went to what we had to do in round two because our index was now 7.13.”

Getting strapped in to the car for round two Tait said to his crew that the only way he was going to win the round was to cut a light and run a 6.7.

With a reaction of .027, the 200SX went 1.08 to the sixty and got to half track in 4.3 seconds at 166mph, by the stripe Tait stopped the clocks with a 6.74 at 206.95.

“My win margin was .059, and to say the crew was over the moon again is an understatement, another PB and we became the world's quickest and fastest Toyota four cylinder.

“We were not expecting to go that far in eliminations; the crew was buzzing after so many years of disappointments and such a close win on the last round. Matt from PITS tickled the tune up a little. We had one small problem, the rear had tyre had a slow leak – but with two air tanks in the tow car we had enough to get to the start line.

“Smashing our index in round two had to be done to win and the new index was now 7.04. I’m not sure if it was because we didn’t expect to get this far, but I didn’t feel any pressure, I just needed to thrash it down the track again. Before the 330 it got loose and headed towards the left wall and I had to pedal it.

Fighting the urge to just rip the steering wheel right and it was way out of the groove, I had thoughts of getting off it. In that split second, that felt like ten minutes, I could see I was catching the dragster in the other lane and the racer side of my brain kicked in - 6.898 at 205mph, win margin of .206 and we were heading to the final.”

Tait's final round opponent would have been Rob Nunn's Super Stock Cobalt, but unfortunately Nunn hit the wall in his semi final solo pass and was substantially damaged.

“We were pumping up the rear right tyre for the tow back and I saw 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 handed the trophy just for turning up. So chatting with the crew we all decided I would launch it hard and if its feeling good burn it out the back door.”

A win is a win, and even though it was not how Tait would have liked to achieved it, this was still the first ever success for Good Times 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 lost half of its air,” said Tait. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to just break the beams and not boost it. I know the crowd would’ve been disappointed - not half as much as I was.

“We just had to think there was a good chance of crashing with the tyre so low and be thankful of our achievements for the day.

The crew did awesome, nothing was a stress or a problem, we came away with three records and our first Christmas tree.”

Looking to the future the team have new engine components in the works and quicker goals to achieve.

“Our large head and cam set up will be engine dyno tested before they’re bolted on to race, V&M Cylinder Heads in the US are also working on a cylinder head of their own design, which we will back to back test against our head on the dyno. We are lucky enough to have Phil Laird checking the data, and tuning it

to make around 1500 horsepower. Without Phil’s help we’d still be running high sevens.

“As you can see we also have the support this year too - SONIC is the performance department of MTQ who can supply all your turbo 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 run 6.5 - 6.6 with this engine and chassis before upgrading to a better chassis and a change of engine.”

The Good Times Racing team could not have achieved their goals and results without the help of many and asked to recognise Ben Bray and Gonzo for their time and sharing of knowledge.

And running the car as the level they have would not be possible with the help from, ARIAS Pistons, Aussie Diffs, Bolt Pro, BLISS Custom machining, Debeer, F.I.C.S (Fuel Injection Component Supplies), Go Pipes (Turbo Manifolds), Gold Coast Engine Builders, Illusion Vinyl & Graphics, MTQ, PLM (Phil Laird Motorsport), P.I.T.S. (Performance Injection Tuning Service), 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

There's no point dreaming about your drag racing future. Sometimes you just need to make it happen.

Written by Grant Stephens. Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

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

One of the class' quiet achievers is Rick Chilton, a late bloomer to the factory hot rod landscape when he opted for a Pro Stock sea change to make a return back to racing.

“I was heading towards 50 in 2005 and I had been thinking about getting back into racing Super Stock now that the kids were getting older,” said Chilton. “So I mentioned this to Bob Dixon (one of Chilton's partners in crime at Specialty Fasteners) and he said - well if you are going to do this you may as well race Pro Stock. Bob at the time was crew chief for Bruce Leake. So a plan was hatched and I brought a Grand Am from Mike Edwards, and as with a lot of things, not everything goes to plan and it was early 2008 before the car hit the track.”

The path to Pro Stock was a winding one. Chilton grew up around Canberra and was a friend from childhood with Doug Stewart.

“I grew up with him and we were mates from about seven years old until his passing in 2007. Doug always came along and gave me a push when needed, he also did a lot of work on my race cars - we played hard and worked hard.

“My first opportunity to race anything came at Doug Stewart’s misfortune when he was grounded for making mischief on the Adaminaby to Cooma school bus, so I took his go kart to race at Mt Ginn, an old short circuit track in Canberra. I took out second place and got my first racing sash - it was the late sixties.”

Chilton's motors grew larger as he did, eventually purchasing a 307ci Holden Brougham.

“A few years later I heard that there was a drag strip opening in Canberra, so I went out and had a go - needless to say, I caught the drag racing fever,” he said.

“The old Canberra track was pretty average compared to today’s standard, just a disused road with patches of asphalt on the sides to make it wider. Don’t get me wrong, the club was great and run by excellent dedicated people who did the best that they could with what they had.

“Some highlights of those times were watching the Bandag Bullet, Ken Warby’s jet truck, jet funny cars, jet dragsters and

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my favourite was the Lidtke and Lidtke Nitro Funny Car driven

by Rocky Epperly going down that track. Pretty sure that it was a low seven second pass, that was something to see. That track had a crown like any normal road and I don’t think that any current racer would do what he did. Some not so great highlights were the accident between Mick Kent and Lep Robinson and the not so envious task of emptying the night cans a week after the meeting.”

Chilton now was starting to become more serious with his racing endeavours constructing his first race car – a Mazda RX3 - and forming the famous, or should that be infamous, TSSC. “After a few years Doug Stewart, Mick Sutton and I built the first version of the RX3 with a 327ci Chev, and got down into the eleven second range - I had a few wins along the way and had 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 win some races, but Mick Sutton and myself stayed true to the name - with a lot of carnage along the way.”

In 1987 Chilton started Specialty Fasteners with Bob Dixon and Bill Sivertsen, and is still there today. Around that time a guy named Al Daley came to Canberra from the States. He met up with Stewart, who was a chassis builder and fabricator with OZtin Fabrications - and after a few conversations Chilton decided to let Daley build him the chassis for his next generation RX3 that is still around today.

“In my stubbornness I left it right hand drive and got it going for the new Canberra track, one of the widest and smoothest eighth mile tracks in its day,” said Chilton.

“After a while we made it left hand drive and imported an engine from the states and ran a best of 5.59 over the eighth with a 342ci Chev - which is in Daniel Moore's Modified dragster today - and a G-Force five speed. I won a few races and track championships in Super Comp.”

Canberra closed in the late nineties and as has been the case for many racers when their local track shut up shop, Chilton reassessed his priorities, sold up everything and concentrated on his business.

Fortunately for the sport that drag racing flame inside was not completely extinguished, but rather fanned by Father Time.

Fast forward to 2008, where we left Chilton earlier with his exMike Edwards roller in hand. While waiting for the rest of the

Clockwise from right: The Tuggeranong Stick Shifters Club logo is still proudly carried on Chilton's Pontiac Grand Am. The team had a lot to learn about Pro Stock in its first outings and confesses there is still much more to find out about. First trips to Willowbank saw the team as cannon fodder, but still having fun. Bob Book power would later make Chilton a serious player capable of round wins.

new Pro Stock operation to come together, Chilton had a DAF CF430 transporter built with plenty or power and comfort before debuting the car at a private track hire. Stepping up to the big league with little knowledge or experience would mean a steep learning curve for the team.

“The first test session didn’t go to plan, on the first pass we ran out of fuel just as I had staged, second pass had a flat battery in the staging lanes, the third pass got to about 300 foot and shut off “The crew were on L-plates so we headed home and returned a couple of weeks later and got down the track with a 7.53 at 180mph on our first full pass.”

Chilton successfully licensed and headed to Willowbank for his first competitive showing, and it became very apparent despite their inexperience they were missing one main factor horsepower.

“I think that we went to Queensland about half a dozen times and didn’t qualify, there was only an eight car field in those days,” said Chilton. “At this time I was only doing the driving, none of the tune up calls, and was driving pretty well, but the car was down on power. Then came the sixteen car fields, and we qualified always in the bottom half of the field, basically cannon fodder for the quicker guys.

“We were very inconsistent early on because we tried to figure out the clutch that we were using, it was a new style that no one else was running. If it was not shaking the tyres violently then it would burn itself up, we just couldn’t find any sort of sweet spot. I know now that we persevered with that for too long, so after a while we went to an East West clutch which was more forgiving.”

Next was addressing the horsepower situation and the result turned everyone's head - Chilton became a Pro Stock force.

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"The amount of variables that can influence a pass is staggering - everything from weather, track conditions, shock settings, four link adjustments, clutch settings, and probably one of the most important is shifting gears on time. Every run or meeting there is a new curve ball to figure out."

“About three years ago I had a moment in Sydney when things weren’t going well, and after a conversation with Con Sideris, he suggested that I send the motor to Bob Book from Book Racing Engines. This was the beginning of a resurgence for my career, we went from not qualifying or being in the bottom half of the field, to being in the top half, perhaps people were starting to take notice of how we were going.

“After dealing with a lot of Americans over the years, Bob was easy to deal with and I can’t thank Bob, Suzanne, Bob Jr and all the crew at BRE enough for the help that they gave and is still giving me.”

Having the horsepower is one part of the equation, but being able to harness that was the problem to solve now.

“The quandary was that we had a small crew change and I was being more involved in the tune up calls, sharing a huge

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learning curve with Dean and Kane. I just didn’t know how big a curve it would be - and still is,” said Chilton.

“The amount of variables that can influence a pass is staggering - everything from weather, track conditions, shock settings, four link adjustments, clutch settings, and probably one of the most important is shifting gears on time. Every run or meeting there is a new curve ball to figure out.”

Despite going from the outhouse to the penthouse in qualifying, Chilton is yet to be satisfied with his achievements.

“We went from running 7.15 with the old motor to 7.001 at 195.80mph 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 have been close and have had incrementals that showed that some shut off passes in testing would have been a 6.99 on a full pass.

Whether that happens at the Nitro Champs, who knows, but there is no point dwelling on what could have been.”

As they say there is a woman behind every man's success, this is certainly true for Chilton with Donna Maclean a driving force in the team. Her passion for drag racing comes from her desire to support Rick in whatever way possible to achieve his goals in the sport.

“What has made Pro Stock racing easier has been my wife Donna’s eagerness to be involved,” boasts Chilton. “She does the valve train maintenance between rounds, back up girl, drives the truck, chief cook, bottle washer and packs a motorbike in the truck so that she can unload the bike and enjoy a ride when I drive for the long silent hauls home when things 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 meeting that happened and the very next day Donna was off shopping and ended up getting a new Ducati Street Fighter, which has now done over 70,000km.”

A family that races together, stays together – or so the story goes.

“Donna is from a speedway background and was one of those crazy photographers who spent their time on the infield dodging sprintcars and sedans,” said Chilton. “She loves that drag racing is so family orientated and our extended family can support our drag racing venture. Daughters Kristin and Amy arrive laden with enough yummy food to feed the pits while son in laws Aaron and Thomas - son of Bruce Leake - are both handy and willing to help when needed. And son Ross is an integral 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 lasting friendships with many of our fellow competitors, and have had a 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 meeting at Willowbank, a spectator took some photos on the Friday and brought a poster sized photo montage out on the Saturday and handed it to me, it hangs proudly at home and just goes to show what great fans we have.”

The current Pro Stock atmosphere is currently a little volatile (see elsewhere in this magazine) with the class leaping forward in performance. Chilton shared his thoughts on the current crop of drivers and what excites him within his chosen class and its future.

“Consistently the best driver is Aaron Tremayne,” said Chilton.

“I was disappointed when Dave Newcombe quit, I thought that he could have been a national champion and I hope that Wayne Daley and Denis Whiting keep on racing.

“Lee Bektash needs a bigger helmet! That run of his at the Nationals was phenomenal. I lent Lee some U-bolts for the driveshaft at the Winters and he used them for the 200mph pass in Sydney. I got them back so having them will be the closest that I will get to that feat.”

Pro Stock went through a strong growth period and is arguably now in a correction phase.

“I hope that we don’t go down the same path as in the US with declining fields, but I guess that it is a cyclic thing and it will be okay,” Chilton said.

“Pro stock may have to reinvent itself to cater for the new type of crowd that we have today. The fan today wants instant results, so we need to speed up the show to get new fans interested. Not saying that this is right but what may have to happen - maybe we need some more showmanship and rivalry to get the fans excited.”

Chilton is not looking too far down the road with his own Pro Stock operation, taking things as they come.

“Our future plans are to race at the Nitro Champs, then reassess after that, long term racing in Pro Stock probably is not an option at this stage,” he confessed.

“We have talked about rebuilding our old motor to give Thomas and Ross a chance to have some fun in Super Sedan.

“I would like to thank our crew and helpers from over the years, Kane Sheldon, Shauna Morgan, Dean Davidson, Cheryl Boyce, Ross Chilton, Bob Dixon, Dave Welfare, Mick Sutton, Doug Stewart, Phil Gardner and to all our fellow racers and crew chiefs that have helped us or lent us equipment, your help has been tremendously appreciated.”

Below: Chilton's wife Donna Maclean has been an ally by his side in his Pro Stock adventures - though her bets on his best ETs have paid off considerably in the form of a new Ducati motorcycle!

GET DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS Drag 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 his life's work has been to prevent it. But when it comes to drag racing he came down with a serious case of quarter mile fever.

The Melbourne-based biochemist recently stepped into the deep end of the sport with a new Top Doorslammer, the culmination of a love of fast cars.

“As a kid I grew up in the northern suburbs (of Melbourne) so I was always into cars,” he said. “We used to race illegally on the streets, but that was very short lived because we used to

continuously get arrested and have cars impounded and that sort of stuff in the late 80s and early 90s. They were harder then they are now on the racing.

“But there was an initiative by Calder Park back then where you could come and race your street car and race the cops.”

Taylor shifted into legal drag racing and quickly found himself developing a severe sickness for the sport. His streetable Holden HX ute was a nine second runner, with a 509ci stroker and Hilborn injection. Back then, that was a properly fast street car – indeed it still is.

Real life then stepped in and brought a temporary stop to Taylor's racing plans.

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

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“After a few years of racing I got sick, I had a brain tumour and I had to stop racing for ten years,” he said. “It was because of the fact that I had taken that much time off work and uni when I was sick that I had to catch up after.”

Taylor's return to the sport was in a purple Holden Torana he bought from Queensland in 2011 and it has been a successful and fun race car for the team. But if there is one thing to be said for Taylor's Version 2.0 career in the sport it is that he knows what he likes and doesn't hesitate to get it.

When the Torana was getting a rebuild he was looking for a motor and stumbled on a Super Sedan Gemini.

“When I saw it under cover I thought it was an LX Torana for a minute, then I saw it was a Gemini, I thought, 'who races a Gemini?' But I fell in love with it because it was a really nice car.”

The Gemini had 500 cubic inches up front but the restless Taylor wanted something even bigger so went for a 622ci Reher Morrison.

“The car went 7.6/180mph off it at 1000 feet but it ended in tears after ten runs. To his credit the engine builder has done the right thing and we have just ordered a 762ci Reher Morrison. The car will be front halved at Bob Maslen Race Cars to 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, the latter about to get a turbo set up.

But the biggest splash Taylor has made lately is with the debut of the 'Mad Professor' Camaro Top Doorslammer. He will enter his first Top Doorslammer event at the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway on May 2-3.

When we asked Taylor what his first drive in a 2500 horsepower supercharged sedan was like, he said he had to give the G-rated version.

“It was like all the best passes you have ever put together, in one go,” he said. “I look back it it now and everything went so flawlessly because I had the right people around me.

“It's exciting, it's high anxiety, it's fun, its so exhilerating and such a rush. And then you have people around you who are there for you, that support you and help you and because of that you share the experience.

“Sharing going fast with your team is unbelievable. They give up time every weekend to come to our factory and basically

give up their weekends and work on cars and get shit prepared and it is a labour of love.”

There is a very obvious physical sensation that comes with being accelerated to obscene speeds in just a few seconds, but Taylor explained that the competition is what drives him.

“I like all the brackets. I love to race Super Sedan. Everyone says 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 coming challenge is going to be their greatest yet.

“In Top Doorslammer I will be out of my depth, so I have to adapt 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 (the other TD racers), they are professionals we know it will take time to get up and run with them.

“I'm not going to run there on the bump spot. We are going there 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-supercharged combination put into the chassis rails, along with a switch to a clutch transmission versus the auto it had in previously. It's pretty much the Top Doorslammer spec formula, though the switch was hastened after the team torched a head in Adelaide.

The team also has a new transporter they are building which will soon be out.

Finally, you may wonder what the 'Mad Professor' livery is all about. Taylor, who runs the Melbourne Sports Medicine and Anti Aging Clinic, said his profession as a biochemist has led to a nickname among friends.

“My mates all call me the mad professor because I am always doing something exotic. We do anti-aging and hormone replacement 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 racing sickness any time soon.

Taylor wanted to pass on his thanks to his wife Georgie Taylor, his crew including Rob Carella, Nick Dyer, Mick Carella, Joey Colaci, Andrew Sutton, Con Maretis, Anthony Rodrigues, his staff at Melbourne Sports Medicine and Anti-Aging, Drago Hikodijevic for his advice and friendship and Bob Maslen Race Cars.

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

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

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ADELAIDE THUNDER Graeme Cowin's flying nitro circus lands in South Australia for an entertaining show.

Written by Luke Nieuwhof. Photos by Bob Taylor and Dennis Allen.

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Ten Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars turned out to Adelaide International Raceway in the first time the full show has been brought to South Australia.

Held on Easter Saturday, a strong crowd turned up to witness the spectacle of not only the nitro cars contesting over 1000 feet, but also a pair of jet funny cars courtesy of Darren Difillipo and a pair of wheelstanders.

The first round saw Peter Leahy's new Cuda-bodied 'Skrimper' on track for the first time, a tribute to his father Roly Leahy. You could have been forgiven for thinking you were back in the early days of AIR but if there was one major difference it was in the performance.

Leahy clocked a 5.182/211.39mph win over Glenn Moore's slowing 6.190.

Moore was driving 'Fast Company' after hurting the motor in 'Bad to the Bone' in the lead up to the Adelaide event.

Adding insult to injury for Moore after the first round loss, the team found the tyre shake on the pass rattled the MSD coil loose and broke a wire, with the car refusing to fire for the warm up before round two, which the team had to miss.

Anthony Begley in 'Stormtrooper'

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registered a strong 5.121/215.86 win over Daniel Schultz in the new look General Lee-themed car, only managing a 7.785/154.85. Rick Gauci guided 'Nitro Express' to a 5.019/194.46 win, claiming low ET of the round even though he shut off a fraction before the finish line. He defeated Top Fuel driver turned Funny Car pilot Darren Morgan's fast closing 5.257/215.48.

Greg Leahy drove Harbour City Hustler to a 5.062/202.88 win over Justin Walshe's 5.161/221.71 in 'Let's Boogie', while Shane Olive in 'LA Hooker' closed out the round with a 5.169/202.88 defeat of Paul Messineo's 5.319/211.79 in 'Dark Horse'.

Moore and Greg Leahy missed round two, reducing the field to eight cars.

Begley snapped up his second win of the night in a wild match up against Messineo. Both cars got on the tyres before half track and while Begley was able to gather it up and run a 6.024/164.39, Messineo got into the wall and gave 'Dark Horse' a decent scrape, leaving him unable to return for the final round. Peter Leahy played the consistency game well with a 5.332/208.94 win against Walshe's 7.598, while Gauci needed to give the throttle some love on a pedalling 6.619/197.42 victory against Schultz's

8.000. Morgan closed out the round with a win in the tightest race of the night, his 5.118/221.34 only just overcoming a 5.193/215.68 from Olive, who had a three hundredths advantage on the tree.

Three racers had two wins going into the final round. Peter Leahy was guaranteed to get his third win light as he had a solo pass, while Gauci and Begley would battle it out for the other possible hat trick. The round opened with Moore returning for a 6.508, before Greg Leahy set the scoreboards alight with low ET of the night, a 4.963/227.77 used in defeating Walshe's 5.862/154.26. Peter Leahy laid down a 5.176/212.59 to at least be guaranteed of a runner up, though he would need to wait and see what came of the Gauci/Begley race to know if he would win. Olive smashed out some revenge on Morgan with a strong 5.024/228.04, the fastest run of the evening, to Morgan's slowing 6.378.

The crowd were then treated to the Gauci and Begley race as the dramatic conclusion to the night. Gauci left on Begley .159 to .190 and from there only extended his lead with a 5.046/225.11 taking the race and event win over a valiant 5.209/213.16.

Clockwise from left: Daniel Schultz's General Lee theme was a popular addition to the show. Darren Morgan steered The Bandit to some good passes. Anthony Begley went close to taking out his first event.

Glen Moore got a drive in Fast Compact with his own Bad to the Bone out of action. Rick Gauci and Nitro Express again proved a tough combination to beat.

SPORTSMAN STUNNER Willowbank Raceway finally sees the sun at the fourth round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series.

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

With the Santo's Super 3 Extreme event cancelled due to inclement weather a week earlier, it was nice to see Mother Nature give Willowbank a break for once at round four of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series.

Super Comp Competition, Super Stock and Super Compact were amalgamated into the single Super Comp eliminator boasting thirteen Group Two racers all up. It was the Super Stock guys who headed qualifying.

Tom Dimitropoulos from South Australia went under the A/MS National Record to top qualify in his Camaro with a 0.55 under 9.02. Rob Nunn was next in the ex-Pro Stock B/AP Cobalt sitting on a 0.46 under 7.24 and rounding out the top three on a 0.40 under 7.12 was the A/APA Monte Carlo of Wade Moran.

Dimitropoulos' event ended in round two when the Camaro broke on the launch against Tony Bellert's A/DA dragster. Chris Tait smashed his own 3RZ-powered world record mark

with a 6.74 on a 7.13 CC/SC index coupled with a .027 reaction time from the 200SX it did not give opponent Moran a look in, even though he too was under the national record with a 7.000. The impressive numbers continued with Darren Fry who hammered out a 5.54 from the Top Alcohol Funny car – all but a blur as he blasted past Sam Kiprios' Starlet on the top end.

Fry could not make the call for the semi final leaving Nunn to solo and that's when things turned ugly with Nunn losing control of the Cobalt on the top end and glancing the wall.

Tait laid down another six second pass to drive around Bellert in the other semi final.

The Cobalt sustained enough damage to rule Nunn out of the final against Tait - the 200SX had its own dramas with a deflating rear slick leaving Tait no option but just accept the green to win his first ever event title.

Tait also left the event with the CC/SC MPH record at 207.91mph and just missed backing up the ET mark - also in the record books was the Skyline of Jason Payne, just

pipping the DD/APIA minimum at 180.98mph.

speed

Competition Bike After the Competition Bike field fell over at the last round in Adelaide due to a lack of entries, it surged back to life at Willowbank with a massive 18 riders. Heading the pack after qualifying was Blair Pennington aboard his C/AB Suzuki with a subrecord 0.66 under 8.15.

Pennington sawed through the field to reach the final against virtual team mate Daryn Schuster - the D/AB rider nailed his crew chief Pennington to the tree and was never headed, carding a 8.26 on a 8.66 index.

Supercharged Outlaws The Supercharged Outlaws field was a little wounded, a couple of cars suffered damage in the lead up to the event and could not show and qualifying saw more breakages.

Nathan Pullen in his dragster was nearest 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 wheel of Matty Watt's altered, but Watts joined him after round two courtesy of a Matt McKnight holeshot in the Studebaker. A 6.78 on a 6.75 was enough to see Rodney Hansen's altered stave off Jake Donnelly's '57 flopper and join McKnight in the tussle for the silver Christmas tree.

A .061 reaction let down Hansen's 6.767 on a 6.76 in the final with McKnight's killer .019 reaction getting the job done with a 6.734 on a 6.72 – that's some tight blown bracket racing!

Top Sportsman The fledgling Top Sportsman bracket was dominated by cubic inch monsters, with one surprise entrant - the Aaron Tremayne Pro Stock GXP. The Top End's Dieter Herrmann left everyone in his dust with a 6.362 at 220 - the quickest and fastest pass ever by any aspirated car in Australia - too easily qualify quickest.

Herrmann went quicker and faster again in round one clocking a 6.314 at 222mph - the Pontiac GTO has 828 of Sonny's finest cubic inches under the hood scoop.

Tremayne also picked up a round one win with a 6.99 pass over Stew Walsh's twin turbo Camaro who was having an event to forget with transmission problems.

Tremayne was using the event as a test bed and did not return for round two, gifting Neil Maxwell into the semi finals where he would be joined by Steve Fowler, who also had a solo, and Paul Russo after he defeated Herrmann in the only paired match up of the round.

Maxwell would benefit from another bye run into the final and would be joined by perennial finalist Fowler when Russo squeezed the trigger five thousandths too early - the South Aussie '57 Chev racer would go home though with the Best Presented Team award.

Maybe the red light in the final at the last round of the Summit Series was playing on Fowler's mind when the GXP driver pulled a .207 in this final, it was inconsequential anyway with the GXP striking traction problems, allowing a simple 7.374 on a 7.32 win to Maxwell.

Modified In Modifed Dallas Everett punched out a 7.29 from his mountain motor-sporting altered to lead a very quick field.

Racing was ferocious as always with reaction times deciding many racing outcomes. An early round highlight was 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, would continue to the semi finals where she broke out against the dragster of Mark Allan.

Allan would be in a no-holds barred final, facing his best friend and engine builder Kevin Morton who had been drilling his dial in all the way through eliminations. A slight .02 advantage to Allan at the green would prove the difference in the final with both competitors running .13 over at the strip. It was a gutsy win for Allan who had dislocated his knee during the day and was loaded into a waiting ambulance immediately after presentations.

Super Sedan Norm Barry was closest to the now 8.50 lower cut off in Super Sedan with a 8.59 out of his Chevy S10 ute, and then fell 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 10.018 on a 10.01 run from Max Carpenter's Falcon. Carpenter then had a solo into the final. Paul Doeblien ended David Foreman's run in the other semi with an equally tight 9.128 on a 9.12 run to set up an all Falcon finale. Carpenter picked off a -.006 cherry and the final was over at the tree with Doeblien cruising to victory.

Modified Bike Like its Group 2 counterpart Modified Bike had a mammoth field of over thirty contenders, quickest of all of them in qualifying was Craig Edwards' Hayabusa with a 7.97. Craig's son Ace Edwards, also on a Hayabusa, upset national champion David Carroll in round one and was still in competition by the semi finals where he sent another Victorian, Edgell Mallis home. The other semi final saw Chris Collin and Jason Hammelswang run well off their nominated times - Collin by the least to set up the final The final was went from bad to worse for Edwards, first losing the race to Collin, breaking out by one thousandth of second and then dropping the bike in the braking area.

Edwards was able to walk away from the tumble unaided and went to hospital for precautionary scans, suffering from some gravel rash.

.

Super Street Super Street was also bolstered by over 30 entries in a field featuring three South Aussies and lone New South Welshman John Kerr. As fate would have it, two of the South Australians in Anthony Raschella and reigning National Champion Joe Jurkovic would face each other in round one - the Mopar of Jurkovic went red by .008, advancing Raschella.

Ben Henry ended Raschella's event in round three and would move on to also defeat a red lighting Robert Winterburn in the semi final. Likewise the other semi was also decided at the tree with Andrew Stathis leaving too early, gifting Ben Dreyer a final round showing.

The trend continued in the final, Dreyer punching the Camaro out of the hole .041 of a second too early and handing Bell the silver Christmas tree.

Super Gas Super Gas had only a small seven car field with Victorian Graeme Spencer on point after qualifying with a 9.913.

With a bye in round one Spencer was stopped by a 9.905 from Dale O'Dwyer in the semi and Kerry Boyde stayed on the power too long with a 9.874 going down to David Gauldie in the other semi.

Both drivers had itchy right feet with a double red light in the final, O'Dwyer's -.004 was by the smallest amount and awarded the win.

Junior Dragster In Junior Dragster the defending national champ Toby Austin has been having another dynamite year, winning the last round of the championship. Austin top qualified and mowed his way past Maella Ward, Teanah Littlewood and Caleb Oberg en-route to the final - trying to put a stop to Austin in the final was the Mopar-emblazoned dragster of last year's Australian Nationals winner Eden Ward.

The final ended up an anti-climax with Austin stomping the go pedal four thousandths too early, presenting Ward with another Christmas tree for the trophy case. Austin showed his commitment to the sport, returning to Sydney overnight to compete at Sydney Dragway's track championship event the very next day!

STORY BY MARK HUMPHREY. PHOTOS BY DAVID FRY.

HANLEY HOT IN MILDURA SUPERCHARGED SHOOTOUT The Mildura Gateway Tavern Supercharged Easter Shootout rocked the Sunraysia Drag Racing Association’s foundations with a new track record among the highlights.

Supercharged Funny Car racer Craig Russo was on a mission, dedicating the new 4.03 second track record to the memory of former crew member Tracy Brown. Brown who was the partner of another Team Russo crew member in Mark Prout, and passed away just five days out from the event.

Russo was hoping to be the first to crack the three second barrier for the class.

“I figure it’s the least we can do to honour Tracy and I’m dedicating this weekend to the memory of Tracy,” he said. “Tracy along with her partner Mark has been invaluable to the team over the past five years and she will be sadly missed.

“To be the first in history to dip into that territory would be something special.”

Supercharged Outlaws An unbelievable supercharged contest was on hand with 18 of the toughest blown cars lining up to duke it out for the $5k first prize. Benny Gatt unfortunately didn’t make it down the highway due to mechanical issues and

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Bruno Matijasevic hurt his car during warm-up. Australian number one Doina Day complemented what was a tough field.

Three qualifying runs had Russo as the top qualifier from Talbot. A Chicago Shootout format was introduced in place of eliminations which proved a hit with the huge gathering of spectators on the hill. In the end the two teams with the most points would race off for the $5k purse with a run off for third and fourth.

One by one the cars faced off with some finding the going tough. Brody Sontag, driving a very tough one tonner, had trouble getting the car to hook up and finished the day knowing that he had a much better pass left in the car. The same could be said for Mike Evans. His car also has lots of potential and only a few weeks back in Adelaide was in contention for an event win.

Murray Edgar had ventured out in a neat looking Funny Car in the pursuit of some licence runs and by the end of the night had been successful in gaining his Outlaw licence. Lots of consistent runners throughout the day including Leo Parisotto who just kept getting the runs on the board. Like Parisotto, Hanley in a Commodore Ute was going about his business and although not securing the #1 qualifying mark he would turn out to be the man to beat.

Earlier in the year Hanley contested round 1 of the Summit Sportsman Series

at the Fuchs Southcoast Raceway and looked unbeatable until a cherried start finished his day. Indeed the competition in a Summit Sportsman Series round is quite tough with plenty of heavy hitters going for the win so to finish near the top of the tree in this class is some sort of achievement. Doina Day like Hanley had runs on the board with a joint victory last time out in Adelaide in round 3 of the Summit Series and was one expected to figure deep as the night rolled on. Unfortunately for Day she was off just a touch during the shootout and didn’t figure in the finals.

With all the huffin and puffin done it come down to Leo Parisotto and Craig Hanley to duke it out for the cash and of course the Gateway Tavern Supercharged Shootout crown. Hanley got away strong and held off Parisotto and although he hurt the engine during the run he had enough up his sleeve to take the win. Parisotto was very emotional during his runner up acceptance speech, indicating just how important the occasion was to him.

Modified Modified Eliminator had an 11 car field which included two cars from the Northern Territory. Both Heather Parkinson and Andrew Armistead had made the trip down to compete in the bracket with Armistead going deep in

eliminations.

In the end it was a duel between the Fuchs car of Kenny Stewart and number one qualifier Cory Dyson. Dyson has been running hard of late and showing plenty of consistency and needed both to get past evergreen racer Kenny Stewart.

A good light by Dyson was enough to give him the edge over Stewart, taking out the bracket.

Super Sedan Super Sedan had 15 runners and like all Super Sedan brackets, had plenty of tough cars putting on a show for the locals.

Teams had travelled from all parts of the state with Geelong rotary runner Chris Dalton posting the top qualifying time in his Mazda rotary with a 5.06.

Ballarat based Stuart McBain qualified in number two with a 5.11. One by one

McBain took care of his opponents while Dale Tucker was doing the same in his half of the draw. Pedalling an awesome sounding HQ, Tucker made it all the way to the final where he was matched up against McBain. McBain got the job done in the final much to the delight of his crew and added yet another trophy to the shelf.

Modified Bike Top qualifier in Modified Bike Tony Frost cherried his semi-final run leaving Adam Ahearn and Derryn McGregor to battle it out in the final. Ahearn took the final in his first ever race meeting on the bike.

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

Junior Dragster Junior Dragster had some familiar names going around with Tedesco, the Bakers, Carranza and Kane lining up in the 11 car field. Brooke Farrelly had travelled up from Tasmania to compete on the weekend.

Top qualifier Connor Oehms was up against last month's Drag News Magazine feature Daniel Carranza, with Carranza running a perfect race to take out the event.

Super Street Super Street was a tight affair with just 0.3 of a second separating the top 11 in

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SYDNEY TRACK CHAMPS GOES TWO UP The second round of the Atura Blacktown Track Championship at Sydney Dragway saw several categories struggling for numbers while others were at strength.

The much vaunted 10.5 headliner class attracted only three entries. Sam Fenech was quickest on the day with a 6.211, though Paul Mouhayet was not far behind with a 6.267. Michelle Davies was also on the improve with a stout 6.60. Mouhayet took the overal win.

Fred Solieman took out a small Super Comp field.

Top Sportsman saw Neil Constantinou come back from his first round defeat in the opening event to take the trophy. His .085 and 7.845 on a 7.75 accounted for Scott Cousins' .211-reacted 7.812 on a 7.70.

Modified was under threat from a new

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assailant in Matthew Forbes, driving the ex-Charlotte Lucas Super Comp dragster. That was until a flat battery got him in the semi finals, which left Alan White and Leigh Hartill-Law to contest the final. White got a big holeshot .013 to .124 and a tight 8.659 on an 8.64 pushed Hartill-Law to an 8.119 on an 8.12 break out.

Super Sedan was an anti climax with Nathan Watt going -.025, allowing James Danaskos to take a slowing 14 second pass for the victory. Although it has to be said, for Watt's first event it was an amazing performance.

Mark Walmsley put a holeshot on Wally Hosta in the Modified Bike final but Hosta raced by to take the stripe...a little too much stripe as it turned out with a big 9.23 breakout on his 9.28 dial in.

Walmsley's safe 10.289 on a 10.10 dial in was all it took.

Luke Griffiths put seven hundredths on

Belinda Welch at the tree for the Super Street final, enough to take an 11.04 win on his 11.01 dial in.

Jake Culmone and Colin Griffin left fairly evenly in Super Gas, though Culmone's 9.947 was the deciding factor against a 10.01.

Bradley Bishop went .067 on the green, giving him a good head start on Kayla Panetta. Combined with an 8.227 on an 8.16 dial in the win was his.

Street Fighter didn't feature stunning reaction times on either side of the tree, but Holly Odgers' 17.062 on a 16.95 got the job done against a break out 16.135 on a 16.15 from Danielle MacCaskell.

Stephen Danglmaier won the HAMBster final when Stephen Peruch did not return from the semi finals.

Ron Welch put well over a tenth on Darren Curnow at the start line and carried through for a 13.656 win on a 13.58 dial in in Street Bike.

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QUARTER REPORTER

RAPISARDAS PLAN FOUR CAR ASSAULT Rapisarda Autosport International will make Top Fuel history at the Sydney Dragway Nitro Champs on May 2-3 when they become the first Australian team to ever field four cars in the elite category.

The Sydney-based team holds the current record of three cars set at the Australian Nationals in November 2014 when they ran Damien Harris, Allan Dobson and rookie Wayne Newby.

The decision by RAI has swelled Top Fuel to bursting point for the Nitro Champs with 11 cars rumoured to be attending.

The current points leader Damien Harris and his junior team mate Wayne Newby are likely be joined by American Dom Lagana who has been impressive with strong performances at the Indy Nationals and the season closing round at Pomona in 2014.

At the Summit Racing Nationals in Las Vegas in April he qualified eighth, defeated one-time Pro Stock champ Dave Connolly, then smoked the tyres against NHRA star Doug Kalitta.

The decision to run four cars has created a great deal of interest within the NHRA ranks with several well credentialed

NHRA drivers likely to be in touch with the Sydney-based team owner Santo Rapisarda to chase the ride. Also in the mix is long time Aussie driver Allan Dobson.

“The logistics of running four cars will be a challenge,” the team said. “The team has gained a wealth of experience racing in America, is well organised and have the cars and spare parts inventory to handle the situation. Santo wouldn’t have given it a thought unless he believed it was possible. Lagana is a real asset - he’s smart with good driving instincts and will be a major hit with the fans in Australia.”

Lagana isn’t a stranger to the southern hemisphere but this will be his first time to Australia.

“The closest I’ve been to Australia is when we raced in New Zealand earlier this year,” said the 29-year-old. “I follow the drag racing scene in Australia and it’s always cool to see how people go about racing in different countries and I love racing for Santo and the boys here in America.

“Santo has been so good for the sport in Australia and I’m proud and honoured to be given the opportunity to be racing for the Rapisarda family. It won’t be a holiday. I’m coming to win.”

Left: Rapisarda Autosport International has a four car effort planned for the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway.

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CRAMPTON TAKES LAS VEGAS WIN Richie Crampton capped a strong start to his second season with a stirring victory at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Above: Richie Crampton was all smiles after claiming his third NHRA win.

He secured his first victory of the season after winning at least one round in the previous four races as well as qualifying in the top half in each race to start the year for Morgan Lucas Racing.

“It's huge,” Crampton said. “Obviously, we want to win right out of the gate, but that hasn't always been the case for MLR. To win in the fifth event and to go to the final at the Four-Wide Nationals, we're gathering some good momentum.”

Crampton reached the final round in Charlotte two weeks ago, but NHRA doesn't count that as an official final-round appearance. That means Crampton is a perfect three for three in finals, including victories in Englishtown, N.J., and Indianapolis in his rookie season.

On Sunday, Crampton beat Troy Buff, Steve Torrence, J.R. Todd, and Larry Dixon to secure the win.

“It's a huge boost for the entire team,” Crampton said. “We've got a great hot-track race car, and we all know how well (crew chief) Aaron (Brooks) can run when the weather is cool. He's just phenomenal right now and one of the best around. I'm extremely lucky to get to drive such great equipment.”

That's a sentiment Crampton has repeated numerous times in his young career. A native of Australia, Crampton moved to the United States to try to work in NHRA, and he landed a job on the MLR team with driver Morgan Lucas. When Lucas stepped aside from full-time racing 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 hole in one for me,” Crampton said. “I'm extremely lucky, and it speaks volumes for Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, Morgan and Katie Lucas, and the Lucas Oil family. The entire team stood behind Morgan's decision to give me a crack at it. I'm very fortunate, and I've got some big shoes to fill.”

Lucas had been at each of Crampton's first two wins, but he wasn't racing in Las Vegas this weekend.

“I did not text Morgan all day long, which is very rare,” Crampton said. “I usually send him a picture of the ET slip after qualifying runs and 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 the entire team. I'm sure he was following along on Twitter and all the social media outlets. I'm sure he knew exactly what was going on, and I'm sure he was pacing around his living room back in Indianapolis waiting to hear the result of the final.”

Crampton started the day with a 3.821-second pass at 322.27mph to run past Buff, the No. 12 qualifier, who made a run of 5.346 seconds at 128.58mph. No. 4 qualifier Steve Torrence was next, but Crampton's 3.838 at 315.78mph was able to get around Torrence's 3.899 at 301.81mph.

No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd loomed in the semifinals, and Crampton won a thrilling race to advance to the final round. Crampton left first with a .075-second light and then made a run of 3.828 seconds at 318.32mph to beat Todd's 3.837 at 321.73mph.

Crampton got the jump on past Top Fuel champion Dixon in the final with a .070 light, and as Dixon spun the tires in a 4.446-second run at 201.73mph, Crampton sped to the win light with a 3.906 at 301.33 mph.

Crampton was joined in the winner's circle by Funny Car winner John Force, another Lucas Oil-backed driver.

“It was a great day, and I'm lucky to share it with Force, a Lucas Oil teammate,” Crampton said. “That's pretty good company to be in.”

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QUARTER

REPORTER

RAIN WRAPS WA SEASON EARLY The Western Australian drag racing season finished in anti-climactic fashion with a rain out ending proceedings early and leaving most championships decided based on where they were left.

Intermittent showers throughout the day allowed only qualifying for most categories, with the first round of eliminations run only for Super Sedan and Junior Dragster.

Top Comp honours went to Daniel Gregorini, clinching the title by just 22.5 points over Wayne Keys and Russell Ladbrook who tied for the minor podium positions.

In Super Comp, Errol Quartermaine took his first championship ever at the Motorplex, able to hold out a fast closing Jamie Chaisty just long enough.

Ross Smith was simply dominant in Competition Bike. Even if the Grand Final event had been run, all Smith had to do was turn up for the first round to claim the title over Daniel Natalotto. It was Smith's third track championship.

Greg James won the Supercharged Outlaws championship, earning the series victory with a countback after tying for points with Ian Foster Wayne Batson. James' two event wins worked 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 Outlaws championship at the Motorplex in 2005.

Alesha Adamos won her first Modified championship in one of the chases most people were very much looking forward to at the final event. Adamos just held out Michelle Osborn and last season's champion Sam Treasure. Five out of the top six drivers in Modified were women in what is arguably one of the toughest categories to win in drag racing.

Martin Mirco had one hand on the Super Sedan championship trophy going into the Grand Final, with the poor weather sealing the deal as closest opponent Matthew Gullotto was left unable to even attempt a last minute assault on the title.

Brett Allen finished on top of Modified Bike, one of the closest categories points wise, with just 20 separating him from second placed Justin Townson and a further 10 points to Darrin McDonald.

Ashleigh Wroe became the first ever female winner of a Super Street championship at the Motorplex, finishing in the lead over 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 only race rounds run on Saturday, but her first round loss meant McClure earned his first ever championship.

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

Left: Alesha Adamos won the Modified championship for the first time.

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STRONG SHOWING FOR NOSTALGIAS A fine autumn day greeted the running of the Nostalgias at Perth Motorplex.

A strong number of entries were received and took part in various activities during the day including the Cranksters swap meet, dirt track demos and of course drag racing. Here are some images wrapping up the day.

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QUARTER

REPORTER

ANOTHER TOP ALCOHOL FED ON THE WAY There may be another front engine digger fronting Top Alcohol soon with Sydney's Geoff Blake declaring an intention to run the class after a overhaul of his gorgeous dragster.

Originally based in the United States, Adam Sorokin drove the Brian Van Dyke owned dragster - then on nitro - winning the 2010 Heritage Series in the US before being purchased by Blake in 2012.

On Australian soil the car was completely rebuilt from the ground up, changing the engine plates to suit the blown Chevy and was raced to a best of 6.43 at 219mph. After parking the car for a while to work on the team's other injected FEDs - also driven by Blake and his brother Graham - a chance arose to step up the car to far quicker performances.

“An opportunity came up where we could secure a billet BAE block and short motor,” said Blake. “I was then able to organise some Noonan X1 heads along with a Noonan billet manifold, and let me say that this gear is absolutely amazing.

“Next step was thinking about what blower to use and whilst I know a PSI screw blower would have made the most power, I

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wanted to keep the same kind of a look. This may baffle some people, but we're reasonably confident the high-helix, highly modified 16-71 will produce more than enough power for the little 12" wide rear wheels.”

Blake then set his sights on loftier performance goals.

“Originally we were going to test the car and run in Supercharged Outlaws but after thinking about the engine combination and what the possibilities were, we are considering running Top Alcohol,” said Blake “We're not sure what the car will run until we get testing underway but we're hoping to get from A to B consistently each time.

“Having another front engine car in the bracket will hopefully be an addition to the entertainment along with the rear engine dragster and funny cars.” Meanwhile, for the team’s other FEDs a 632ci injected BBC engine will go into Graham's car which they hope to continue to test soon. Life has turned full circle for Geoff's original FED and will see duties with the original 540ci injected BBC it started out with.

Funny Car Complete

Funny Car Roller

Top Fuel Dragster Roller

Complete ready to go - put fuel in and go racing Plueger Chassis 1 2” diff Motec data logger with laptop with all prior data Fuel system Driver’s air system Dave Leahy shut off systems - Electrimotion G-meter Rob Moore reverser with neutral AFT cannon Plus spare new body 3 x Bonifante nine stand clutches 1 x AFT nine stand clutch 1 x new Bonifante hat Spare fingers, stall springs, you name it!

3 x fly wheels Spare fuel tank Rear carbon brakes Spare windscreen and side windows Spare fire bottles Parachutes Tool boxes for car service Jack stands Clutch plates (approx 1 30) about 40 new Floaters (approx 80) Clutch grinder Too much to itemise here AND spares for virtually everything that you will require.

Complete roller minus engine Camaro 2001 body Plueger Chassis Driver’s air system Dry sump tank 2 x nitro fuel tanks Bellhousing Weld wheels 1 0 1 /2“ Chrisman diff Carbon rear brakes with spare rotors All cables, oil lines, fire system (with bottles), billet steering box etc.

Complete roller Wiring harness to suit Motec Clutch system Dave Leahy electronic fuel control system (new) Bell housing Reverser Cannon Wheels Ignition system Parachutes.

Plus parts arsenal:

2 x set back manifolds: 1 new including lines Metering blocks 1 0 new burst plates Taylor Blower Restraint and bag – good condition.

2 x PSI 1 471 blowers – 1 with PSI set back snout, titanium drive shaft, etc, incl starter bracket, snout support – 1 new RCD snout, starter bracket and PSI front cover – also new.

1 x Carbon By Design carbon fibre hat Pete Jackson barrel valve and all lines, includes inlet flow meter and return flow meter All fuel lines and spare lines of all sizes.

Rage 1 x Fuel Pump 78 gal. Ran 5.11 @ 302mph 1 x new rebuilt by Rage – not run 90 gal pump.

Both have shutoffs.

RCD starter motor, cables etc. x 2 RCD blower pulleys x 9. 30-44% O/D 1 7 x 11 mm Blower belts – most 1 run only.

Tools including 3 Snap On tension wrenches.

All bottom end tools.

Head tools.

Valve seat tool kit.

Spark plug thread repair kit Cylinder head stands Spring remover.

RCD Blower Drive sets, idler pulleys and brackets.

Alcohol Heads Brad Anderson Stage V alcohol heads - ex Harker. Perfect condition $4,500 ono

Interested?

Call Allan Greene on (08) 9361 7737 or email greenemachine@ bigpond.com

Two complete fuel engines – eight and 1 0 runs each from new. Includes everything to run and service both. Inventory includes: 2 x TFX blocks, H11 stud kids, 1 0 new sleeves, new spares, 3 sets AJ five cylinder heads, includes all nozzles, valves, springs, retainers, locks, head lines, jump lines, too numerous to detail.

Bryant cranks – 1 x new including all bearings etc.

1 x 1 run crank, 2 x 1 0 thou mains 1 x 7 runs – damaged mains – repairable no cracks 1 x 1 0 runs – no cracks.

These last two ran about 300’ only nine times – bummer!

2 x 44 amp mag sets – Dunn drive, PSI drive, 1 set 1 0 runs. RCD gear drives, crank supports, fuel pump extensions, drives, crank triggers, wiring etc. Also includes coils and points boxes, retarders, electronic MSD ignition.

Spare caps, leads, rotors, wiring harnesses.

Crane cams R296-300-500 camlift, one with only one run on Crane lifters.

Five sets BME piston rod pins. Sets include five piston rod rack holders, spare bearings, rings, buttons, 24 spare pistons used and new .1 40” and .1 25” out. 3 sets Brooks rods 5 runs each. Pistons, pins, rings and spares.

2 x P&P dry sump pumps, all lines, oil filter adaptors, stainless pipes plus spare lines.

2 x dry sumps, 2 wet sumps F/C. One new 2 x Taylor nappies.

One set rocker gear, De Celis stands. Stage five inlets, Cluff exhaust rockers with 11 spares. One set rocker gear, red stands, new shafts, Stage 5 inlet rockers and 7 spares, stage 5 ex rockers, new. Manton pushrods and spares.

Plus an arsenal of other engine related bits and pieces - $1 00k All you need is the Funny Car or the Top Fueller with their Motec computer, G Meter, Dave Leahy fuel system, Stewart 1 2 Jet return system, Electrimotion timers, power packs, pressure sensors.

RETROSPECTIVE:

2005 WINTERNATIONALS 2005 was a time when the sport of drag racing in Australia was starting to climb its way out of the strangled period that was the early 2000s, when just Willowbank Raceway and Perth Motorplex kept the national championship series alive.

In fact for many categories, their 'national' series was entirely based at Willowbank and made up of just two rounds – the Nationals and the Winternationals.

But in 2004 Sydney Dragway opened and the boost was felt across the country.

The 2005 Winternationals was a strong event – with big crowds and great weather. There were 560 entries in total competing over an action packed three days.

Clockwise from left: Peter Kapiris in his classic Studebaker, that at one time was the quickest methanol sedan in the world.

New Zealand's Jon Bates came over the Tasman to compete. Peter Cochrane's flahsy Pro Stock Motorcycle. Scott Karandrews used turbocharged horsepower in what was the ex-Andrew Stavroulakis Pro Stocker. Joe Schembri had a bad crash in his short wheelbase Holden FC. A young Laurence Adamos was racing in Junior Dragster - he now drives a Super Sedan. Brett 'The Boss' Stevens on his iconic nitro Harley. Grant O'Rourke reverses up from the burnout in front of the massive crowd. Steve Read lights up the night with nitro header flames, driving for Santo Rapisarda.

Background image: The late Mike Tinney's Pro Stocker launches from the start line.

MR YES

Welcome to Mr Yes and Mr No. This month our anonymous contributors debate: should we make the short six month season permanent?

It might be surprising considering how much it dominates the Australian sporting scene, but the AFL only has a six month season. It fires up in April and wraps up in September, leaving the summer for cricket.

Despite this short season it has no issues attracting sponsorship or TV deals. It certainly makes you wonder what drag racing is doing by having a season that runs anywhere up to nine months or longer.

ANDRA copped plenty of criticism for the short season, but given that they had to change the calendar system back to what it was they were really in a no win position.

The time period of the season isn't really the sticking point, it's the lack of championship rounds for some categories.

But if we had a six month season where each category got six rounds? That might be something to work with. It allows people the time to have a true off season and I think that given our sport is far more hobby than profession, that is a reasonable idea. Six rounds is a more achievable figure for most teams when it comes to chasing a championship.

There are plenty of fans of running ever category at every championship event but that isn't the answer, not unless we drop some categories. Even the NHRA only runs four pro categories at most and three sometimes – we can't have our cake and eat it too in this regard.

By compressing the racing into a shorter time period teams can 'go hard' and really concentrate on chasing a title and then get a chance to properly plan out their next season. As it stands at the moment, they are just in one constantly long phase of racing that never really has a proper moment to rest.

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MR NO

We have to question what is best for racers in this scenario. I believe that a short season would simply be a real grind on teams without providing the appropriate breaks between events.

A longer season allows these events to properly spread out and give these teams time to turn around. Our scene isn't on the professional level of the United States where teams can turn things around in a week.

It would certainly make negotiations with the tracks harder having a short season as they would compete more and more for the same weekends, with less chance of us settling into a consistent, repeatable calendar.

I would like to emphasise that point a little more. I think be it a short or a long season there is a need for some consistency to appear in the calendar so that teams can bank on where they are going to appear each season.

Certainly awareness around drag racing is higher when there is actually a championship going on, so to stay at the forefront of people's minds it is important to have regular events.

Also, before any change, it is really time that some extensive consultation and research was done with racers to find out what they really want. If the majority want a long season, there's no point moving to a short one. But with information at hand on how teams operate and what kind of preferences that would have with their calendar, a much better decision can be made.

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