Drag News Magazine Issue 46

// ISSUE 46

W O H S E THE JO n o p a e W l ia d a R t Australian-Buil

x’s Next Level Co rl Ca // t ui rs Pu ip mer Championsh dial ‘56 Chev Ra g in ck Ro i’s sk Steven Ham’s Pro Slam ko su Ba ave Return // Daniel Br er H d an ne ha cS M ammer Nationals sl or Do ld Bernadette or W // r le on Strang dial Series Sydney Ra ag Dr The Return of the Bost 0 66 a nd Ke // Z // Westernationals N in rs Ca y nn Fu w flo Aero

// CONTENTS

Drag News Magazine Issue 46 Print Date: March 18, 2020 Editor: Luke Nieuwhof (luke@dragnews.com.au) Advertising: Rob Sparkes (advertising@dragnews.com.au) Subscriptions: Grant Stephens (grant@dragnews.com.au)

COMPETITIVE EDGE: Steve Ham is closing in on a Pro Slammer championship for the first time.

10

MAGIC MUSTANG: Joe Gauci and his son have put together a stunning radial race car in the search for threes on the eighth and fives on the quarter.

18 28 32

DIFFERENT BEAT: Carl Cox’s progression through the drag racing ranks shows no signs of slowing.

FIGHTBACK: Bernadette McShane wasn’t going to let a few broken bones stop her from winning.

38

FIRST LOVE: Daniel Basukoski wouldn’t give up his ‘56 Chev for anything - this is a shoebox dream.

PLUS: Boston’s Back (48), New Zealand Nitro (50), Top Fuel Turn On - Westernationals (52), Slammer Land - World Doorslammer Nationals (56), Kenda 660 Drag Radial Series Powershots (60).

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS: Joe Maday (NSW) - maday@mail2joseph.com Dave Reid (Qld) - sales@dragphotos.com.au Hayley Turns (Vic) - haylzjeep@gmail.com John Bosher (NSW) - johnbosher@hotmail.com Phil Luyer (WA) - fil@highoctanephotos.com Craig Radcliffe (NT) - crazyhouse0830@bigpond.com

WANT TO SEND US CONTENT? Send an email to press@dragnews.com.au.

LEGAL: All content is copyright to Drag News Australia Pty Ltd and may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission. Views expressed in this magazine by interviewees do not represent those of Drag News Australia Pty Ltd.

// EDITORIAL Just when I thought I had seen it all for Australian drag racing, along comes a world event that is changing our lives as we know them.

The news of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, changes every day as the effects of the virus make themselves known.

Worrying about drag racing right now may seem petty, but hobbies are important. They give life brightness and remove us from reality. We can go from ordinary work-a-day lives to becoming heroes on the track, and that means something. For some people drag racing is what gives their lives meaning, it’s their one true passion.

Drag racing also supports a huge industry of people, from the guys and girls selling hamburgers in the food outlets to this very magazine. As tough as things seem right now, drag racing will still be there afterwards and it is vital that we support each other through these strange times.

Get behind the industry in the meantime. If you’ve been planning upgrades to your vehicle, do them now. Take it into the local chassis shop for that new four link you wanted, or put in that new ECU or order those new parachutes. For many of us a lot of the fun of drag racing is to be found in the shed anyway, so what better place to ‘socially distance’ yourself?

These are definitely stressful times, I know I have felt much anxiety in the past few weeks watching the plummeting stock market and wondering what comes next. But I believe that if we all take this thing seriously we can beat it, and move on as human beings.

Anyway, back to the subject I had intended for this month’s editorial – Supercharged Outlaws. What was once the darling class of Australian bracket racing has lost some of its lustre. The

4 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

recent Westernationals at Perth Motorplex couldn’t draw enough cars to run a championship field, while Sydney Dragway’s local championship has also been struggling. Only six NSW cars competed at the 400 Thunder round in November.

Willowbank Raceway, the birthplace of Supercharged Outlaws, moved to expand the bracket in 2014 by allowing in all kinds of boost, be it turbocharging, centrifugal superchargers, nitrous or even injected nitro. While most of the cars running are actually still mechanically supercharged, the rule change has helped the class hum along by keeping the levels of competition high.

Nobody wants to race in a class of two or three people, drag racing is a more-the-merrier sport.

It is time for ANDRA and the IHRA to expand the Supercharged Outlaws brackets into all kinds of boost, or just drop the class and absorb the cars into Modified. The idea of a separate class altogether for fast bracket cars that aren’t mechanically supercharged is a ridiculous notion – Australian drag racing needs to stop creating classes that end up with just a handful of racers, very few of whom travel nationally to pursue a championship.

I would even go one step further than Willowbank’s ruleset and allow engine configurations other than V8s in as well, be they rotaries, six cylinders, four cylinders, whatever the case may be. If it is fast and boosted, let it run.

While there was some spectator appeal in a class full of budget blown race cars a couple of decades ago, the world has moved on.

Just being noisy doesn’t do it for people anymore, they want to see innovation and performance of all kinds.

- Luke Nieuwhof

STAND WITH THE DRAG RACING INDUSTRY Drag News Magazine is rebooting its business listings. Rather than one page with all the listings, we will be running small ads throughout the magazine, sized like this one.

These ads are supremely affordable at just $300 for the year (eight issues), including a print subscription valued at $90. Or for $600 we will include your business logo in our email blasts, reaching over 4100 people.

Email advertising@dragnews.com.au to take up the offer and support your industry’s magazine.

6 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

// SHUTTER SPEED GESUNDHEIT: Robert Godfrey has a nitrous sneeze on the start line during the Kenda 660 Drag Radial Series event at Sydney Dragway. It was a spectacular weekend for Godfrey, who would return the next day and stand the Torana on its rear bumper.

Canon EOS 5D Mk III at 190mm, 1/250sec, F5.6, ISO 3200 Photo by cacklingpipes.com.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 7

// SHUTTER SPEED Jim Whiteley awaits a qualifying pass at the World Doorslammer Nationals in Orlando, Florida.

Sony A7III at 35mm, 1/320sec, F1.6, ISO 100 Photo by Luke Nieuwhof.

8 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 9

COMPETITIVE

NATURE

Steve Ham doesn’t like doing things the easy way - he goes where the competition is.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by cacklingpipes.com and Joe Maday.

10 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 11

For some drag racers, all that matters is They’ll do anything it takes, even to the extent of reducing their competition. Steve Ham is not that kind of guy, he is only interested in going racing if the competition is there, and capable. There’s an honour in that, a true pride that can be taken in the achievements.

Hollow victories are not fulfilling.

Like many drag racers, Ham first discovered speed on the streets of Queensland before finding that the race track was a safer and more fun prospect – and the competition was an added element.

“I used to have a street car that got me in a fair bit of strife,” he said. “I started racing in Super Street but then I bought an altered and went into Modified, where I raced with my brother.”

Ham took the traditional steps up, moving into a C/Altered combination before purchasing another altered from alcohol racer Gary Phillips, with quicker times in mind.

“We put a supercharged Alan Johnson motor in it and raced around the country. I raced that car for a few seasons and we won the Winternationals with it, before I bought an alcohol funny car from America and started racing that around 2008 or 2009.”

The Queensland diesel mechanic was a force to be reckoned with on the national tour, and he eventually claimed his first national Top Alcohol championship in 2014. Seeking greater challenges, Ham then went to the USA to play in 2015, before returning to Australian fields in 2016.

At the time, Top Doorslammer/Pro Slammer was seeing a surge in extremely tough teams.

“I bought the Doorslammer because I felt that was where all the competition was; there were a lot of quality cars and tuners. I want to earn my wins and I want to race the best, that is why I go racing.”

Ham bought a G-Force built Camaro for the switch. They are one of the more boutique Pro Mod builders, but have a reputation for putting together quality, lasting race cars. He was very used to driving funny cars and altereds, which require big steering inputs despite their twitchy on track behaviour. The doorslammer was a different beast, riding on suspension and requiring a more finessed approach at the wheel.

“The solid-chassis car you could manhandle a lot, but with the doorslammer you can’t be brutal on the steering wheel. You need to drive it gingerly compared to a funny car else a doorslammer will go on its roof real fast.”

There have been a few occasions where Ham has come close to losing control, especially as he was learning what the doorslammer liked – and what it didn’t.

“There are photos of it up on one wheel, where I learnt my place real fast. That one slowed me up, I learned once the convertor is locked up you can’t mess with the throttle. If you have a second go and the suspension unloads and you are back on the wood again it gets dangerous. They are moving quick, they are big heavy things, and we are trying to go faster and faster.”

The increasing speeds have had Ham’s attention from a safety perspective, especially when veteran John Zappia recently lost his chutes at almost 260mph – it showed it could happen to anyone. He has made many positive moves already with his own car to improve its stopping ability.

“When I built our car I had it made to NHRA spec so it already had the parachute tethers.

They are mandatory in the USA but not here. The tethers run off the four link plates so you would have to tear the car apart to get the chutes off.”

12 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

the trophy.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 13

14 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

ABOVE: The G-Force built Camaro has proved a solid foundation for Steve Ham to chase a Pro Slammer championship with.

LEFT: Ham’s long time crew chief Stu Rowland inspects the track prior to another session.

As well as the ‘aerodynamic decelerators’, Ham has also paid attention to the brake package of the Camaro.

“When I put my car in the sand I only had one chute come out and the brake packages just wasn’t up to it. I spoke to Strange, and they have done something since with a four piston front. I changed over to a two piston deal not long ago and I think Zap is on to it to.

“The cars are heavy. They were all built for 2700 pound rules but they need to be more like 2550 pounds; what can you do? Guys have built cars for the rule book so you can’t just say, ‘Okay, we will change it.’ Weight is not the fix, we need to upgrade the stuff we have to make it safe. We are going as fast as alcohol funny cars but we are 500 pounds heavier.”

Though doorslammers were not Ham’s first love, they seem to be have captivated him since the move. That’s not to rule out any future fun in Pro Alcohol, it’s just that the competition that drives Ham is all in the sedans right now. He revealed he may even change up the tyres.

“I would like to go back to Pro Alcohol one day, I just recently sold our last Funny Car; it was just gathering dust.

“I want to go radial racing at some point. I have an old Stuart Bishop car I would like to set up for that. It ain’t happening tomorrow but at some point I will get it going. What you see the radial guys doing over there in the USA is really impressive. I think we could hypothetically change this thing around to make it work for both classes but I don’t want to mess with our main car, so I will leave it alone and do it to something else.”

Pro Slammer has become more and more of a tuner’s scene in recent years, with teams spending mega-dollars to bring in talented crew chiefs from around the world. Western Australia’s Rowland family has been there alongside Ham, tuning his cars for much of his supercharged drag racing career. Ham met his current crew chief Stuart Rowland when he travelled to Perth for the Westernationals, where Rowland was also running in the AA/A class. There with his dad was James Rowland, who aspired to tune supercharged, methanolfuelled engines as well.

“I had always watched what Stu was up to and James was always hanging out since he was 14. We’ve worked together a lot since then. James came over for an event in about 2009 I think and we took him under our wing. When we came back from America James was helping some other guys so Stu came across and we ran the funny car together for a bit.

“Stu is very serious, so I think we have knocked some of that out of him. We try to take a slightly light hearted approach whereas he is anal with data gathering and understanding. He always runs on the side of caution and we try to make clean runs all the time, that is to his credit.”

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 15

It’s going to take a few more of those clean runs for Ham to chase down his first Pro Slammer championship. As we go to press he is the points leader and trying to keep second-placed John Zappia, well, second-placed.

“We changed the cylinder heads at the last round in Sydney which we believe was a good thing but the air conditions weren’t that great. John went 69 in that air, and we could have kept pegged with him but we needed more runs to get where he was, we were one or two runs behind him.

“Santo’s Super Thunder at Willowbank is all-run format. You have to play it smart and not try and rotate the earth, just be fast and consistent. I’m old school so I like the eliminator format, but I suppose it is one for the crowd, they get to keep seeing the cars come back around.”

There is more to come performance-wise yet from the RDW Camaro, so long as the team can get into the right weather conditions. Ham suspects several teams are knocking on the door of 5.5 second runs in official championship competition.

“When we ran in the first 400 Thunder round in November it went 5.66 in bad air. The car is good for high 50s with the current engine combo. I think you will see that in May or June; the 50s are coming.”

While Ham has no qualms about taking on tough competition, there was one aspect of racing that almost forced him to quit. As six speed auto transmissions became a must-have for many teams, there was enormous pressure being put on diffs, with the top runners having to replace the rear end on every pass. It wasn’t a feasible way of racing as far as Ham was concerned.

“We were going to park the car because of how much we were spending on rear ends,” he said. “Moits Racing had the same problem, but they were able to keep throwing diffs at it because they were after the championship. I could not see the future in replacing a diff centre run after run.”

Rather than persist with the ridiculous situation, Ham looked into building a better mousetrap.

“We basically grabbed an existing idea and made it fit a suspended car with four link brackets and track locaters; there was a fair bit of work in it to get it right. We put one in my car and started running and that same rear end is still in my car now, it has done run after run. We put one in Paul Mouhayet’s car, one in Sam Fenech’s car and I have now exported a fair few. We bought all the machining and assembly here to Brisbane and everything is now made here.

We’ve got stock built up and we have Jon Salemi and Jerry Bickel moving them in the USA. “It has all taken a fair bit of my time recently. We went to PRI to debut, and through the connection with Jerry Bickel he will have a one off program with his ideas and our ideas combined.

We originally used the Chrisman gears so there weren’t a bunch of ratios available, but now I have got a local guy manufacturing diff gears here. We are doing all different ratios now to cater for eighth mile, big tyre screw blown deals, radial cars, turbos, anything. The diff package was there but the ratio package wasn’t so we have filled the void and we are picking up the market.”

That seems like a pretty decent effort for a diesel mechanic by trade, but Ham’s earthmoving parts supply business has always offered fabrication solutions and custom one-offs. The demands of 3000 horsepower Pro Slammers are just as rigorous.

“It is built by racers for racers,” he said.

And in the end, racing is what Ham is here for. He’d love for the competition to become truly national again, and go back to being just about the racing.

“We are not towing all over the countryside for the money, it is more about racing and winning and getting to do that nationally. I have my own ideas on how we open that up. It is an east and west thing right now and we need to get all the parties back at the table and go racing.

“I think we should get rid of the TV. We need to get back to basics and build it from the ground up and make it so we are worth something first.” DNM

LEFT: Ham needed to find a better solution for the rear ends of Pro Slammers and Pro Mods, which were getting punished by automatic transmissions. He developed a billet diff which is now being sold around the world, including through Jerry Bickel Race Cars and G-Force.

16 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

PPRF_Signage_1000x1400_FA.pdf

1

1/04/14

2:52 PM

MAGIC

MUSTANG 18 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

As radial tyre drag racing comes of age in Australia, Joe Gauci aims to stay at the front of the pack.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by Joe Maday and cacklingpipes.com.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 19

20 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

I

could never do what race car builders do. They are talented people who create a crossover between engineering and fine art. They’re all carbon fibre meets Da Vinci – I’d be more like duct tape meets Dali.

As the proprietor of Profab Motorsport Fabrications in Wollongong, New South Wales, Gauci has a reputation for delivering stunning vehicles that can produce the goods on the track. He formerly raced a very quick Ford TD Cortina (which we featured way back in issue 18 of Drag News Magazine), also driving on radial tyres. It was a cool car, but Gauci said the old girl was reaching the limits of what he wanted to do, like a painter reaching the edge of his canvas.

“It got to the stage where I needed to step up as the car needed a revamp, and I didn’t think the Cortina was going to do what I wanted it to do,” he said. “I made the decision to sell the car and a buyer came through.”

That gave Gauci the green light for his next project. He wanted to keep some factory roots in his next car, but also to give it all the help it needed to be a three-second eighth-mile contender.

His son Jonathan found a 2016 Ford Mustang that was a statutory write-off, a brilliant option to turn into a drag car.

“We purchased the write-off and it was actually a running car,” Gauci laughed. “We stripped it all out, got rid of all the bits we didn’t need and then Jonathan and I built it from scratch.”

Radial racing in Australia is still in its infancy, however there are several different formulas available. The Kenda Series offers different levels of rules including a full outlaw class, while the 400 Thunder Pro Radial class requires front chassis rails and standard suspension points. Gauci wanted his new car to be legal for both series so he kept the chassis rails and suspension points in tact, making the Mustang a 108 inch wheelbase, three-quarter chassis car.

“It was built to suit the 400 Thunder rules,” he said. “We used a Pro Mod platform because our goal is to run fives on the quarter mile and threes on the eighth. We had a lot of help from the guys at Pro Line and their tuners in the build.”

Gauci used a Pro Line Racing small block in his Cortina but has shifted gears to a Pro Line 540ci 481X motor for the Mustang. The engine was actually a used purchase from the USA, which Australia’s Frank Marchese (of Dandy Engines) then checked out before handing over to Gauci.

Twin 98mm Precision turbochargers are responsible for flowing the 85 pounds of boost necessary to get the Mustang moving and the whole shebang is controlled by a FuelTech ECU. Marchese, Jamie Miller and Steve Petty have all had input on the tune, so there is little doubt this thing will be quick.

From there it’s a shopping list of bits you need to go fast in radial tyre racing.

There’s a Mark Micke torque convertor attached to the Powerglide transmission, a carbon fibre tailshaft, Mark Menscer shocks all around, an adjustable four link set up, a full floater diff and carbon fibre brakes.

When Gauci made his first laps in the car down Sydney Dragway, he instantly felt the difference; all the power was now under control.

“This car feels a lot more stable than the Cortina and I adapted pretty quickly,” he said. “Everything just felt right straight off the bat. I think on our first outing we went 4.08 on the eighth.”

Since then the team has been trying to sort out the suspension and get the balance right, though their development copped a setback at the recent Kenda Series event in Sydney when the motor dropped a valve.

“It was a mechanical failure basically, you can never predict these kind of things,” Gauci said. “You do all the preventative maintenance you can but it can still happen. Jonathan, Enzo and I spend two to three nights a week maintaining and servicing the car between events.”

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 21

The Mustang is a stunning race car, and one for both Joe and Jonathan to be proud of. Jonathan works at Profab with his father, and the pair put in many nights and weekends to complete the car, which naturally had to take second place to the paying work.

“Jonathan and I built this car after hours and he took a lot of time out in helping me build this over a year and a half. He has a lot of involvement in all the builds we do, and at his age I could not do what he does. He is lucky he has a lot of great people around him to learn from and he gets to work on a lot of other cars.

“Working with any family member always has its challenges but the great thing is we both have input. He is still young, so he is always learning – not that you ever stop learning in drag racing.

“We debuted it last year at Motorex, where it won Best Competition Vehicle, then we raced three events and made the final three times, winning two.”

Gauci has some performance targets in mind, but he is quick to remember that the competition doesn’t stop moving.

“A 5.80 on the quarter should be possible and 3.7s on the eighth, but the goalposts are always being shifted. I have a number in my head that could be tomorrow, but next week that all changes because it is constant development work on the car. You don’t just build it and race it, you are always looking for improvements, sometimes thousandths here or one mile per hour there. With the Cortina there was a goal at each stage, but then you reach that goal and there was another one – you don’t ever finish unless you retire.”

The key for any radial car to move fast is power management; if you can apply all the power from the hit you aren’t making enough. Gauci has the added challenge of the track surface variation in Australian drag racing, where radial-prepped tracks are rare.

“We are always racing against the track conditions,” he said. “A 400 Thunder race track versus a Kenda radial prep track is completely different, so you care changing suspension settings, changing the power management, moving the weight balance, changing the ride height, you are always moving.

“Ideally what you are trying to do is get the rear end to drive over the front end, but you need enough separation to transfer the weight to the rear.”

“You don’t just build it and race it, you are always looking for improvements.”

22 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

ABOVE: Joe Gauci (left) and son Jonathan (right) combined to build their beautiful Ford Mustang in the Profab shop after hours.

RIGHT: On a good run the Mustang will be perfectly balanced, keeping the front wheels on the deck or ever so slightly in the air.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 23

24 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: A peak under the skirt of the Mustang reveals some of the secrets to making a radial car quick, including the Menscer Motorsports rear shocks and weight bars that help maintain a perfect balance. The Mickey Thompson ET Street 315/60R15 is nicknamed the ‘magic tyre’ for good reason, providing incredible grip despite its hard sidewall. The Pro Line Racing engine package is a step up from the Cortina Gauci formerly raced, with 540 cubic inches of twin turbocharged power - note the standard front suspension points still in place. This started as a street car, but inside it is pretty far from factory spec - no power windows or air conditioning here. A close up on those amazing Menscer shocks, which are a ‘must-have’ in radial tyre drag racing right now.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 25

Gauci’s Mustang carries the team colours of DJ Carl Cox and the Ultra Music Festival, reflecting a long term friendship between the pair. Profab built Cox’s Ford Capri back in 2015 when he was making the transition into fast race cars for the first time, and Gauci has since been a part of Carl’s crew.

“We spend a lot of time with Carl and his crew working on his cars and helping him achieve his goals,” he said.

“Carl has been doing a fantastic job behind the wheel. He takes things very conservatively because he is not trying to prove anything to anyone, he takes steps to where he feels comfortable.”

The Mustang also carries support from Dandy Engines, Regional Auto Electrics and Tony’s Prestige Smash. They’re getting plenty of exposure right now in the burgeoning radial tyre scene, which is being driven by racer-supported events.

“Justin Simpson and Scott Harker are doing an awesome job at promoting and pushing the Kenda Series. There are a lot of cars in the build, and I think Outlaw Radial had 15 or 16 entries in Sydney which is one of the biggest fields we have had to date.

“The prizemoney is good for Australia which helps, as these cars are not cheap to run – especially when you drop a valve!” DNM

TOP: Gauci’s Mustang and Carl Cox’s Capri make for a pretty pair.

RIGHT: There’s something about the lines of this Mustang, effortlessly combining stock with race.

26 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

28 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DIFFERENT

BEAT

Carl Cox steps up just in time for the IHRA Pro Mod party with his sweet new GT500 Mustang.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 29

Carl Cox is not afraid to perform at his own tempo.

The international DJ, whose radial Ford Capri we featured back in Drag News Magazine #24, has taken the next step by importing an ex-Jose Gonzalez Pro Mod Ford Mustang.

Cox was born in Britain but now lives in Australia, where he has been able to fully indulge in his passion for fast cars and bikes. This latest sleek coupe will be racing in the IHRA Pro Mod class, and has already impressed him in its first few outings.

The Mustang runs a Pro Line Racing Hemi with twin 94mm Precision turbochargers and FuelTech engine management.

“When you get in a car like this, you cannot comprehend the anticipation of what it is going to be like,” he said. “It felt like I was getting shot out of a cannon the first time – pow! This Pro Mod has big rear slicks and when it launches it feels like it would take off if it had wings.”

The Mustang is Cox’s first true, purpose-built drag car. Unlike his Capri, it does not have a street car base.

Instead it uses a full tube chassis, wrapped in a carbon fibre replica body. That means he has had to adapt to a new driving style, which he feels he is coming to grips with.

“My last car had radial tyres, so once it was moving it was very easy to drive, as long as the car stayed in the groove you could go for gold. This car needs more wheel speed, which means the wheels slip through the track and unless you are very attentive to the steering the car wanders. I have been squeezing a bit more throttle each time and so far we have run as quick as 6.1 seconds at 376kmh.

“I first wanting to get used to the hit, and then take it a bit further each time so I could piece the actual feeling of the car together. It’s not safe to jump in and try to go A to B straight away. We’d launch, then when I was comfortable go to 330, then to 660 and the rest of it. Once the car is at half track it should be in a good place.

“The car comes from a good stable, El General, and Jose Gonzalez, the last driver, put the car in the winner’s circle twice in the Pro Mod class in the USA. It is very drivable and I know the car will be competitive.”

Cox is well prepared to take things slowly, but he is looking forward to bringing home some trophies now and then.

“The Capri was built to run in APSA rounds but when I had to compete with all the other Pro Extreme cars, my car was on the back foot. It was a short wheelbase with 2000 plus horsepower and a single turbo!

The only way that car could win was if everyone else blew the tyres off or broke down, while I would be flat out on a 6.9.

“The Capri was good for seat time and learning, but the only way to have more success was to build a Pro Mod car or buy one. I wanted to come back and race with the Pro Extreme guys and girls, and now there is IHRA Pro Mod and my car is right in the middle of all of that.”

We spoke to Cox shortly before the COVID-19 drama took hold, when he was balancing tours around the globe with racing in Australia. He said it was a difficult balance to strike.

“I love playing my music and being in an arena of thousands, but I also love racing,” he said. “I am interested in all motorsport – F1, Supercars, MotoGP, classics, hill climbs – but what I really love is drag racing. I have always been into it, and to be able to come into Pro Mod is another level.

“I am working on getting more seat time with me and the crew, and I have to work out the elements of DJing around the world and yet coming back and racing a series.” DNM

LEFT: Carl Cox has enjoyed following his passion for drag racing at higher and higher levels.

RIGHT: The Pro Line Racing Hemi is capable of pushing the GT500 Mustang well into the five second zone.

FIGHT 32 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

BACK DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 33

For Bernadette McShane to

she first

34 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

conquer the track,

had to conquer the road.

It was January 2019, and there was a sudden moment when McShane realised she could not stop in time; an awareness that impact was approaching and she was unable to prevent it. A drunk driver had rolled straight through a stop sign, leaving McShane with nowhere to go as her braking distance ran out.

“I couldn’t stop in time and went into the side of him,” she said.

But in that beautiful balance that the world finds, McShane had an equal moment on the other side of circumstance, where she realised that she could start again.

This time it was the Sydney Dragway Christmas tree approaching, where she could face her fears. By commanding this moment, as the light turned green, she could take control once again.

McShane has been fan of two-wheeled endeavours since she was a kid riding dirt bikes, but it took a friend to introduce her to drag racing, allowing her to discover the acceleration thrills that lied within.

“All I remember was that I was really scared to begin with,” she said. “I jumped on my friend’s 600 and I think I did a time of 15 or 16 seconds or something ridiculous. But afterwards I realised it was not that scary at all.”

She next took her own Kawasaki ZX636 to the drag strip to ride, learning more and more about the sport.

“I’ve tried to get more familiar with my bike and racing itself, how I can improve, how I can make my times better. They do the Street Bike championship every month at Sydney Dragway and that was perfect for me to get on the track more.”

McShane began competing in the 2017 championship, where she finished sixth overall, and continued on in 2018, where she won her first event and finished sixth once again. She’s simply learned as she goes, with the racing offering plenty of friendly rivalry.

“A couple of friends and I have a competition between ourselves where we compete to win track doughnuts,” she said. “Every single time we race the loser has to buy the winner doughnuts, it just became a thing!”

The plan was to return for another shot at the trophies, and the doughnuts, in 2019, until the accident threatened it all.

“I broke my wrist and collar bone and was off work for four months,” McShane explained. “I haven’t ridden on the street since; I’m even terrified in a car.”

Forced to miss the opening round of the 2019 season, McShane wasn’t sure if she would ever ride again. She wasn’t too restricted physically, but her mind struggled to adapt.

“Most of it was on the mental side,” she said. “Being on the track and road are entirely different things. The track is controlled and you know nothing too unpredictable is going to happen, and if it does the safety teams are right there in seconds.

“For me it came down to leaning on people that I trust a lot. I have a few friends who talked me back into it. My friend Amanda had just had a child and was getting back into racing, while another friend Terry had also come back for an accident and understood what I was going through.”

There were still injuries from the accident being felt as McShane returned to the track, sometimes affecting her consistency.

“I’ve been working around my wrist, it has been an issue because I lost feeling in my pinky finger and ring finger and so sometimes clutch control is a little bit difficult, sometimes I am on the ball and sometimes I am releasing super slow,

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 35

“It came down to learning on people that I trust a lot.”

so it really affects my racing. I’ve just had some surgery that will hopefully help that.”

From there McShane hit her stride, racking up three final rounds from four events through the middlestretch of the season.

While rain resulted in the cancellation of the final round of the season, McShane already had the title wrapped up by that stage, an amazing fightback from her serious road accident.

“It was really exciting to win. It was the third year I have been racing and it was good to know that everything I have been doing has paid off. It makes me more comfortable to move up.

“I haven’t exactly decided on my plan yet. I thought I might move into Mod Bike at some events. There was an idea of maybe getting a different bike but I haven’t looked much further into that idea, I have also had an offer to ride a friend’s bike.

“I would like to take the sport as far as I can, I would love to

36 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

just keep moving up, the faster the better, and do whatever it allows me to do. I think all of the bikes are great, but I love the Extreme Bikes, I just think it would be quite exhilarating to get on one.”

McShane’s own ride is virtually stock, with the exception of being slightly lowered and using an extended swing arm. It has produced a best time of 10.8 seconds over the quarter mile “There are no upgrades planned to my bike at this stage. I would like to get it dynoed and see what else it is capable of doing, but other than that I will leave it as is.”

There’s no pressure now to succeed, just the reward that comes through improvement. McShane has beaten much to be back racing and she’s going to enjoy every one of those ten seconds on track. And if she needs any added incentive, there is always the doughnuts. DNM

Bernadette McShane came back from a road accident that left her with a broken collar bone and wrist to win the 2019 Sydney Dragway Street Bike track championship.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 37

FIRST

LOVE

Daniel Basukoski has merged Wild Bunch, Pro Street and radial tyres into a shoebox dream.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by Hayley Turns and cacklingpipes.com.

38 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 39

Daniel Basukoski’s 1956 Chev has been a rare sight in recent years but a massive rebuild has now been completed and he is ready to go radial tyre drag racing in a (literally) big way.

Basukoski has only raced a handful of cars down the quarter mile and this Chev is the only one he calls serious.

“I had an LJ Torana street car with a nitrous 308 that I raced at street meets, running low 11s, but the ‘56 is my first proper race car,” he said.

“I used to go to the Eastern Creek drags all the time as a young bloke. I watched the Wild Bunch cars and I knew some blokes who were into ‘57 Chevs at the time. I used to watch Victor Bray’s ‘57, Les Winter’s ‘55, my mate Peter Lovering who had a blue and white ‘55 street car at the time, Chris Simpson’s ‘56 street car. All of those were an inspiration.”

It was Simpson who gave Basukoski the heads up on the ‘56 you see in these pages, when it was still a street car with a mild big block running mid 12s. He was just 20 years old when he bought the big slice of American muscle in 1998. It was however a factory right hand drive car which made it pretty cool. Basukoski was doing an apprenticeship at the time and simply modified the car when and if he could afford it.

One of the first major changes was performing a Holden HQWB front graft, where the Chev’s chassis was chopped in front of the firewall and replaced with the Australian metal. The surgery is commonly performed by modifiers for power steering, disc brakes and more room for exhausts, particularly when installing a big block.

As Basukoski got more serious about going drag racing he had a four link put in to the rear end of the Chev in the late 2000s to provide for better launches, but the look of the car didn’t sit well with him.

TOP: Daniel Basukoski with his pride and joy.

RIGHT: A 572ci BBC with twin 94mm turbos supplies the power.

40 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

“We had to lift the back of the car up to go racing and it used to shit me to tears,” he said. “I couldn’t walk into the garage without getting annoyed by it.

“I called Darren Mood at Mood Motorsports one day and said I have to fix this ASAP. He had a laugh and told me to bring the car over and we would make it happen.”

That was about five years ago and the build to turn the 56 Chev into what you now see began.

“We chopped everything out from behind the driver’s seat back; we scrapped the old four link and started from scratch.”

Underneath, most of the original chassis and the graft remains. The roll cage all ties into those points along with the new four link which features Jerry Bickel brackets and heavy duty sway bar, and all the ‘Pro Mod’ stuff.

“It has got the Strange full floater, hubs and everything, it’s the best shit we could buy at the time,” Basukoski said.

The Chev is no longer streetable per se, but it is very much in a Pro Street vein.

One of the things to love about this car is the cues it takes from different areas of drag racing, from the Wild Bunch drivers that originally inspired Basukoski’s love of the sport to the modern day radial tyre scene it is built to compete in.

“It is still a proper car, it has glass windows and doors, I didn’t want to chop it up too much,” he said. “Bar the bonnet and the rear boot lid it is all steel and glass and it has the original steering column and wheel. I wanted as much original 56 Chevy in it as I could, with working headlights, winding windows and all the rest. I know it’s not the best for a drag car but it is what it is.”

Basukoski was planning on tubbing the car and putting in big 32 inch slicks when the rebuild started, until the performances of radial-tyre machines captured his attention.

“Darren had a radial Mustang and the radial stuff was really taking off,” he said.

“This was before they had all the Pro Mod radial cars and the street cars were doing like 1.1s on the sixty. I thought if they can do it on a radial why can’t we?”

The decision was made to push the direction of the build into a dedicated radial car, which meant they couldn’t fit a bigger tyre even if they wanted to, according to Basukoski.

“We built the rear end to suit radials, we put more pinion angle into the diff and we fitted Menscer Motorsports shocks.”

Next Basukoski had to develop a motor package capable of pushing 3800 pounds of car and driver to the big speeds he wanted to see. In went a 572ci big block Chev running a Dart Big M block and Brodix heads. A list that includes a Crower billet crank, BME rods, JE pistons and Comp cams helped fill out the internal components.

On to the outside went a Turbo 400 transmission and twin 94mm Precision turbos. The whole box and dice was originally controlled by a Big Stuff ECU, but the Federal Government’s leaded fuel ban threw a spanner in the works.

“The car was built for Roo16 originally. I got finished building the car and I raced it once for a shakedown before the ban came into play. I had to redo all the EFI in it to switch to methanol and the Big Stuff only ran eight injectors on the petrol. If I sent my Big Stuff back to get it reflashed it was going to cost like five grand.

“I spoke to a few of the guys and they said Big Stuff was like the first iPhone, upgrading it would make it an iPhone 4, but meanwhile everyone else is on the iPhone 11. I decided to change to the FuelTech.

“I then had to buy eight more injectors, a bigger fuel pump, modified the manifold, redo the fuel tank, wire the FuelTech in and so on. By the time I was finished converting from petrol to alcohol it had probably cost me over $20,000.”

Basukoski simply wanted to push the loud pedal on the car he had put so many hours into, and nothing was going to stop him.

“The car was finished and I wanted to race it, so I had to bite the bullet. It was something I didn’t expect, like I had a water-to-air intercooler which I wouldn’t have built if I was running alcohol. A lot of blokes in the same boat as they have the unleaded alternative but you can’t make the power on it, they are all having to pull timing and boost. Alcohol was the only alternative.”

Getting the big Chev on to the track in its new configuration was an eye-opening experience for Basukoski. The biggest problem so far has been keeping the front wheels on the ground.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 43

44 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 45

“The early numbers are already promising for a car that is heavy.”

“I haven’t driven another car like this, so I don’t know what I am meant to expect and we haven’t done a whole lot of racing yet.

Every time we tried to make a pass at the Kenda Series it kept wanting to lift the front end up.”

Basukoski believed the problem was related to a lot of modifications that removed weight from the engine bay adding up.

“We last scaled the car up six months ago and we had 53% on the front which is where you want to be for a radial car. The night after we scaled it we lost oil pressure and so we chopped the cross member out of the car at three in the morning to get the sump out and when we fixed it we plated the cross member and put a moly bar there, which probably took 10 to 15kg out of the front.

“When we switched to methanol, the radiator came out along with the water pump, and all of the water weight itself. We were going to make a weight package for the front as it was in the back of our minds but it was just one of those things we missed.”

The wheelstands had the photographers’ cameras running hot but also Basukoski’s wallet.

“I tried to catch it but when it came down it bent the lower control arms and broke the front shocks, so they’re back at Menscer getting repaired and once all that comes back we will fix it all up and we can get it out there again.”

Despite the spectacular nature of his launches, Basukoski was sixty footing in the mid 1.2s and he expects the car to manage high 1.1s once it is sorted out.

“The early numbers are already promising for a car that heavy. We think it has around 2500-3000 horsepower, though we don’t know because the big corners make it hard to get on to a hub dyno.”

The Chev competed in Outlaw Radial at the Kenda Series and is also suitable for the Pro Radial 400 Thunder class rules. Basukoski realises that the three second passes we are currently seeing at the top are beyond his range, but it doesn’t matter so long as he is having a blast.

“To be honest it is probably the heaviest and most underpowered car out there,” he laughed. “It will never be competitive, but we take it seriously. If I wanted to be ‘serious serious’ I wouldn’t have used an old 56 Chev; that car is a part of me.

“We hope it will run in the 6.9/6.8 range over the quarter, at around 200mph. It is one thing getting the car down the quarter but you need to pull it up at the other end too, and I don’t know if I want to go much faster in an old car, it depends how it feels at the other end. We will try to go as fast as is safe, but on paper it should run high sixes all day.”

When Basukoski talks about his beloved Chev, it is clear there is a lot of sentimental value. When he looks at the car in his garage now he sees all the hours of effort behind it, and all the mates who have helped.

“I love this car and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I think I have the best car at the track! It’s now at the point where I can look at it in the garage and say, ‘Yeah, that’s sick.’ I love seeing it sitting there.

“It’s not the prettiest thing close up, with scratches and dings, I haven’t touched the paint since I bought it. But there is nothing rough about the quality of the build, it has everything it needs safety wise, it just looks a little average on the outside because that is how we like it.” DNM

The wheelstands have been spectacular to watch but have taken their toll on the Chev mechanically, with Basukoski having to replace the lower control arms and send the front shocks back to Menscer.

46 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

BOSTON’S BACK

Everything old is new again in the Brown family.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Drag racing fans could be forgiven for thinking they’ve gone back in time with Ian Brown set to return to racing in the same brightly coloured Funny Car he first drove in the early nineties.

The ‘Boston Strangler’ Funny Car arrived on Australian soil from Massachusetts almost three decades ago, with Brown steering the car to some of the quickest methanol-fuelled quarter mile runs seen in WA. Brown has been involved with drag racing since 1978, where he first crewed on a Top Fuel dragster. He then went racing in his own dragster in 1982 and was a top performer, earning Rookie of the Year honours and a Competitionclass championship in his first season. A Funny Car followed in 1988 and though it was not as successful as the dragster, Brown said the ‘Funny Car bug’ had bitten.

Brown was employed at Applied Automotive, a workshop that looked after much of the machining work for the Western Australian drag racing scene, and his bosses Robert and Peter Lush wanted to go Funny Car racing themselves, with Brown as the driver.

“After searching through the USA they were able to purchase a Top Alcohol Funny Car called the ‘Boston Strangler’ and on its arrival to Australia we went racing at Ravenswood International Raceway,” Brown explained. “We left it in Top Alcohol Trim to begin with for a best time of 6.05 and then switched it to AA/Funny Car to race in the Competition class.”

The team campaigned the car until 1998, and it was later sold to an east coast racer. Brown didn’t do much racing after that, but continued to

48 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

follow the sport as it moved to Perth Motorplex and he raised a family.

Fast forward several years and Ian’s daughter Madison wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, leading to the family going Junior Dragster racing.

“In 2017 I was thinking about what Madison’s next race car should be when she finished racing Juniors,” Ian said. “She had expressed interest in driving a Funny Car like me.

“We were in the USA on holidays when it was brought to our attention that the Boston Strangler was for sale and it was back in Western Australia. After going to view the car our decision was made to purchase it.”

Brown and his family have spent the last two years restoring and updating the car to meet current specifications ahead of its return.

“Our plans are for me to licence and race the car for the first year, with Madison also licensing during the course of the season,” he said. “The goal is for her to take over all the driving duties.

“After 22 years out of the seat I am really looking forward to the time racing with my daughter, who wasn’t born when I last raced.

“This would never have been possible without the assistance of Bob and Peter Lush, Craig Glassby, WA Racecar Fibreglass, the McClure Family, Greg Ducker, Illusion Wraps, the Treasure Family, Rob Pilkington and of course my wife Justine for supporting myself and Madison in following our love of motorsport.”

Brown is planning to licence the car next season at Perth Motorplex. DNM

RIGHT: The photo on the left is the Boston Strangler as it left the USA (photo courtesy Applied Automotive). The one on the right is the car as it exists now, wrapped to closely resemble the gorgeous paint scheme it originally had.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 49

NEW ZEALAND

NITRO

Finally, mercifully, the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars get to run in front of a packed out long-white-cloud-crowd.

Photos by Ryan Corfield.

It has taken three rain outs over two years to get the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars event to happen at Meremere Dragway, but the massive crowd who turned up on Sunday, February 23 were rewarded with a top class nitro show.

Originally scheduled for a wet Saturday, the event team decided to postpone until Sunday to give fans a chance at some sunshine. The crowd responded with a huge turnout coming through the gates to witness the nine Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and the Nitro Sheriff wheelstander finally do their thing on New Zealand soil.

The event kicked off with the Aeroflow Pit Party which was a huge hit with the crowd. The on track action started with the perfect race as side-by-side 5.72s between the LA Hooker and The Bandit set the scene for a fantastic event. The Nitro Express came out and laid down a 5.68 at over 400km/h to set low ET of the round, while Nitro Flashback and One Bad Kiwi also took wins as King Kong ran the bye on a pedalling pass.

Round two action started with a wild pedal fest between Nitro Express and King Kong.

While not fast, the side-by-side pedalling eight second race had the crowd on their feet, with the experience of Nitro Express driver Rick Gauci taking the win. Dark Horse ended the Bandit’s chance at the final with another great side-by-side five second race decided by less than five hundredths of a second. Morice Mcmillin in One Bad Kiwi now had a chance to secure his spot in the final round and that he did, setting low ET of the meeting with a 5.61 and beating fellow Kiwi Karl Boniface in Nitro Flashback. To finish off the round it was the father/daughter match up of Anthony and Emma Begley, seeing Emma use a start line advantage to put a 5.84 across the line first.

With the points totaled up, the final round would be One Bad Kiwi versus Nitro Express - the perfect New Zealand vs Australia race. Round three kicked off with Anthony Begley in the LA Hooker showing he had one of the best race cars on the day with another 5.7 to beat local Car Nitro Flashback, who was just happy to be part of the day’s action. Leahy in The Bandit dropped a 5.64 to beat Gosbell in King Kong. In the first of the trophy match ups, side by side 5.79s again had the crowd on their feet with Messineo in Dark Horse marginally denying Emma Begley her first podium.

It was then time for the big one, as Mcmillin sought his first series win on home soil. A 5.66 at a whopping 419km/h for One Bad Kiwi was more than enough for a tyre-smoking Nitro Express, delivering a popular result in the land of the long white cloud.

The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars were next planning to head to Masterton Motorplex on March 21 to complete the NZ tour, but unfortunately the event will not go ahead due to New Zealand’s latest travel restrictions related to the coronavirus. DNM

50 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

Morice Mcmillin scored one for the home crowd as he took One Bad Kiwi to the winner’s circle at Meremere Dragway.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 51

TOP FUEL

TURN ON

The Westernationals presented a little bit of everything to nitro-starved race fans at Perth Motorplex.

Photos by High Octane Photos.

The 49th annual Westernationals survived a late scare from weather to put on a classic event.

In the week leading up to February 29 and March 1, a severe lightning storm hit the Motorplex at a couple of locations, cooking many of the electrics required to run the timing system. Fortunately the system was restored, albeit without readout boards, and the event was able to run.

The Westernationals has typically been just that, a ‘national’ level event. While the continued split in the sport meant that it was only the sportsman categories

52 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

running for national championship points, the combination of Top Fuel match racing with the strong local series for Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycles turned on a great show for fans.

The return of Top Fuel dragsters to Perth Motorplex after several years did not disappoint with Victorian Phil Lamattina and New South Wales’ Peter Xiberras delivering a feast of nitro action.

Across six match races, the pair finished three and three apiece, with Xiberras setting a new Top Fuel track record of 3.854 seconds for the 1000 feet racing

distance, while Lamattina earned the track record and ANDRA national record speed mark at 505.23kmh.

“It was great for ourselves and Pete to put on a really great show for the crowd and all in all it was a good weekend, it was a great weekend actually and we had a lot of fun,” Lamattina said.

“I have always wanted to come back to Perth, I love this place, we have been very successful here and it is a great place with great people, great spectators – everything is great, great, great! We will be back for sure.

“And anytime you get an achievement like the record is pretty handy, we don’t come here to do that sort of stuff but if it happens while you are focusing on putting on a show, then we will take it.”

Xiberras said he was happy to tick racing at the Motorplex off his bucket list.

“I was certainly not disappointed,” he said.

“We received such a warm welcome from the track and its team as well as all of the spectators, of which there were many! The facility is fantastic and the racing was also really great – I couldn’t be happier with how things went.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Nigel Johnson clocked a very quick 5.39 in his US-spec Top Alcohol Dragster. Phil Lamattina reset the ANDRA 1000 feet speed record in Top Fuel.

Peter Xiberras enjoyed a solid first outing at Perth Motorplex. Tommy Turic won in Junior Dragster.

Rhys Naylor added to the Naylor dynasty’s collection of Westernationals wins.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 53

“I want to thank everyone behind the event for welcoming us and for putting on a fantastic event even with some major challenges after the track was struck by lightening just 36 hours before the event started. I also want to especially thank Phil Lamattina who started the negotiations with the track for us to come over.

“The car might be new but it is running so consistently, it is like a bracket car. Over the six passes we ran 3.889, 3.889, 3.874, 3.869 and 3.854 before our last run shook the tyres. We are very excited to see what we can do next.”

Top Doorslammer proved full of surprises across the weekend. Kelvin Lyle claimed top qualifying honours with a 5.746 second run but was a shock first round loser against number eight qualifier Marty Dack, who was trying to find a baseline for a new ignition system. The upsets continued as 11 times national champion John Zappia lost to Mark Chapman, also in the first round, while favourite Daniel Gregorini was bundled out in the semi finals, also by Chapman.

Chapman’s good fortune came to a disappointing end when engine damage kept him out of the final, leaving Dack to make a solo run for the win.

“With changing to the MSD Pro 600 CDI we have been assessing our changes with a fine tooth comb and we believe that we have established the differences that this set up requires versus the conventional magneto-style ignition,” he said.

“Sunday came together on a different scale.

There was a lot of luck involved, but the lows of Saturday made Sunday so much greater. It was truly a memorable day, from only getting the car running 20 minutes prior to round one, to then taking out the number one qualifier and fellow Noonan-

powered opponent Kelvin Lyle, that is an achievement by itself.”

Wayne McGuinness found some consistency on his way to a win in Top Fuel Motorcycle, top qualifying with a 6.68 before a 6.81 in the first round to defeat Ricky Wood and a 6.78 in the final to take victory from South Australia’s Danny Rickard.

“We are still learning this bike and she was a handful but this has been an unbelievable event and I can’t express enough our gratitude, this is the best complex in the world,” McGuinness said.

“I have to say a big thanks to my crew. We had a lot of tuning issues this week but we struggled through, found the problems and got it down the track.”

There were many records across the event, but one of the most impressive passes was made by Nigel Johnson, who clocked one of Australia’s quickest methanol-fuelled dragster times with a 5.39 run in US trim during exhibition racing.

“We had a few issues with getting it all sorted out but it was coming together in the end for us,” he said.

Trent Morrison earned back-to-back Westernationals wins with victory in the Competition bracket over Wayne Keys.

The battles for the bracket got off to an unfortunate start on Sunday, with top qualifier Sam Gullotto getting transmission fluid under his tyres and rolling his Pontiac GTO onto its roof while racing Morrison in the first round, though he was thankfully unhurt.

In Super Stock, Jake Chaisty took the victory over Errol Quartermaine in the family’s Commodore.

The three-round Competition Bike format is continuing to prove popular with racers and saw Wayne Patterson and Ross

Smith face off in the final, with Patterson ultimately taking out the victory.

In Top Sportsman, Alby Bakranich took back-to-back Westernationals victories with a win over top qualifier and current championship leader, Vlado Turic.

Modified saw Rhys Naylor break through for his first ANDRA Gold Christmas Tree to continue a Naylor family tradition – he is now the fifth member of his family to have laid claim to a Gold Tree, defeating Adam Mundy.

Super Sedan was an all-South Australian final with Chris Lioulios defeating George Tipoukidis.

In Modified Bike, Noel Watson took the win over Brian Hotker in a Suzuki v Ducati battle.

Joel Trotman was left regretting a red light in the final against Richard Stevens in Super Street.

Tommy Turic and Aiden Abel put on a great show in the Summit Racing Equipment Junior Dragster ranks, with Turic ultimately taking out the victory.

Abel hurt his engine in the first round but thanks to the support of Zara Board and her family, was able to continue with a borrowed engine to make it all the way to the final.

Supercharged Outlaws was unfortunately low on entries and with just four teams entering WA’s biggest drag racing event the racing was only at a local championship level. Jodie Mellitt picked up the win from Norbert Claite.

Finally in the non-ANDRA championship Outlaw Radial class, Kevin Boulton continued his dominating performance this season with a 7.62 win against Tim Roads. DNM

LEFT: Trent Morrison reset the CC/AA record to 6.721 and won in Comp.

OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Marty Dack overcame some gremlins to win in Top Doorslammer. Chris Lioulios proved too good in Super Sedan. Noel Watson scored his first Modified Bike win.

Richard Stevens took advantage of a red light from Joel Trotman in the Super Street final. Sam Gullotto top qualified in Top Comp and then ran a PB 6.49 in the turbo LS Pontiac before a braking area crash. Aaron Deery went from dragsters to nitro v-twins, getting on Benny Stevens’ old bike.

54 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 55

SL AMMER

A short drive from the wonders of Disney World and Universal Studios, a new destination for drag racing delights of the doorslammer kind took place.

Photos by Luke Nieuwhof.

56 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

L AND

Drag Illustrated magazine owner turned event promoter Wes Buck has made it his mission to breathe new life into doorslammer racing in the USA over the last few years, and the World Doorslammer Nationals presented by CTech Manufacturing on March 6-8 looked to have hit a winning formula.

Buck launched an event called the World Series of Pro Mod in 2018, running in August at Denver’s Mile High facility in Colorado. The aim was to create an event where the varying engine combinations of Pro Mod would be on even footing, using the high altitude as an equaliser. After a successful first edition, the 2019 running proved a struggle as the event had trouble drawing enough racers to justify its $100,000 winner’s cheque.

The recipe was changed for 2020, as the event was moved

to Orlando and the date shifted to the weekend before the Gatornationals, allowing the NHRA Pro Mods to use the event as a test session before their first championship round. There was also expansion into Pro Stock, who traditionally have had no opportunities to race outside the NHRA. While they would be two rounds into their season already, they would also be keen to do testing in race conditions on a track renowned for great traction.

Looking back now, it all seems to have gelled together very well.

The racers got behind the event, as did industry sponsors, and while the spectator turn out was not mind-bending, it was enough to give the event some atmosphere, especially as the records were cranked out.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 57

Justin Bond turned heads in Pro Mod qualifying when he set the new quarter-mile ET record for centrifugal superchargers with a 5.623/253.14mph pass. It was also the quickest NHRA-legal Pro Mod run in history, two hundredths quicker than Stevie ‘Fast’ Jackson’s 5.643 recorded 51 weeks earlier at Gainesville Raceway, Florida. The NHRA rule makers were no doubt in some consternation, as the centrifugal superchargers have only just been allowed in competition.

“I think the performance of the car has been very good,” Bond said. “I think the time slips speak for that (Bond having also recorded a 5.626 earlier in the day). The car responds to all the changes, and we just have a really awesome crew and a really awesome tuner (Brad Personnett).

“We were expecting to go significantly slower. I’d never actually driven the car to the finish line (before the 5.626), so we didn’t know what it would do. The air really affects this combination a lot. We just don’t know what to expect and we’re just finding our way.”

The 16-car field bump spot was a very tough 5.739, held by Steve Matusek.

Record runs continued in Pro Stock where Matt Hartford took the Elite Motorsports-powered Total Seal Camaro to a stunning 6.460 at 211.89mph, giving him the top qualifying position and making him the quickest driver in the EFI era of Pro Stock. It was the third-quickest run ever in Pro Stock, behind only Jason Line’s 6.455 and Greg Anderson’s 6.457 with carburettors in 2015.

“That means a lot to us,” Hartford said. “Sitting in the lanes, I could feel the temperature drop. I came back and grabbed the laptop, and made some changes before the run just feeling how quick it was turning.”

Australian Shane Tucker was a surprise addition to the event, after he was asked to drive another car for Elite Motorsports’ Richard Freeman. He hit a new personal best of 6.502 to qualify 12th.

Race day saw warmer conditions that meant the records were likely to stay safe, but the racing was no less exciting as the Pro Mod teams battled for $50,000 while a huge $75,000 was on the table in Pro Stock.

It was the prolific Alex Laughlin who added another milestone moment to his doorslammer drag racing career when he turned on the final-round win light for Pro Mod. Laughlin defeated Todd “King Tut” Tutterow with a 5.671-second pass at 251.53mph to Tutterow’s tyre shaking 6.362.

Laughlin hadn’t even sat in the seat of Marc Caruso’s Caruso Family Racing ’69 Camaro before the World Doorslammer Nationals, but after a series of test runs, four rounds of qualifying and four passes in eliminations, Laughlin was cutting consistent reaction times and wheeling the rootsblown ATI Performance entry like a veteran.

“It sounds pretty crazy – let’s be real, it is real crazy,” Laughlin said. “We started off on the wrong foot. We struggled through every test run. Once we started qualifying, things started going our way. Once we started racing, things really started going our way.

“Man, Lee White is definitely an underestimated crew chief. The dude knows what he’s doing. He deserves all the credit for this. The Carusos have some of the nicest equipment money can buy in the class. Props to them, props to Lee. We just won the first-ever World Doorslammer Nationals and it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

There might have even been some Australian influence helping Laughlin out, with Sydney Pro Slammer owner Maurice Fabietti joining the Carusos for the weekend.

As the upstart Laughlin made his mark, it was veteran Jeg Couglin Jr. proving too good in Pro Stock. An epic final saw Coughlin’s run of 6.484/212.36mph in his JEGS Camaro edge out Greg Anderson’s 6.485/213.81mph.

“I’ve been fortunate to run a bunch of big-money bracket races in my career and I’ve seen the organised havoc like this, and it’s just badass,” Coughlin said. “There’s no more prideful feeling than pulling around for a final of a big-money race, and this one is right there at the top with them now. To see all the fans and all the teams crowded around to take in the moment, it’s pretty cool. You want to make it happen and fortunately we did that today.”

With the victory, Coughlin, who announced his retirement from full-time Pro Stock racing at the end of the 2020 season, continues to build on a spectacular run that includes two NHRA wins in the past three races dating back to last year.

“We’re on top of the world,” crew chief Rickie Jones said. “To win this race is just huge. It was the throwdown of throwdowns right there, and nobody was holding anything back. It was neck and neck, and we were fortunate to come up on the right side of it. It was just an unbelievable job by the whole team. It was really special. We’re on a great roll now, so hopefully we can keep it going.

This is definitely some great bragging rights and we’re going to take some time to enjoy this.”

Anderson was disappointed, but said it had been a great weekend for Pro Stock “It was really cool and, honestly, the first two (NHRA) races this year I didn’t even make it down the track in either one (in eliminations),” he said. “This was a heck of an improvement and it’s been a great week of racing. I’m happy. We had major, major improvements and we made major gains. We’re going to still have to do work, and we just have to keep working.” DNM

58 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

CLOCKWISE FROM TO: Jeg Couglin Jr. earned a US$75,000 pay day by winning the World Doorslammer Nationals in Pro Stock. Greg Anderson packs up after a qualifying session.

Shane Tucker drove an Elite Motorsports Camaro to a PB. Alex Laughlin drove the Caruso Family’s Pro Mod to an epic win.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 59

KENDA 660 RADIAL SERIES SYDNEY

POWERSHOTS

New South Wales got a proper introduction to radial tyre drag racing as the Kenda 660 Drag Radial Series headed south of the Queensland border for the first time on February 28 and 29.

Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

us candles for most of the Simon Kryger had some pretty grumpy nitro onal best 4.28. pers a ran weekend in the INOCNT Torana, but

60 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

Craig Burns defeated Craig Hew itt in the Friday shootout, with a string of three second runs getting him the $5,000 winner’s cheque.

Saturday saw him only stopped by a John Ricca holeshot.

med ‘The Grinch’, 57 Chev, now nickna k loo w ne ff’s sta ag e quickest ever radial Wade W event but still ran th e th g rin du s ue iss e had som way, a 3.84. pass at Sydney Drag

Perry Bullivant came back from a crash in testing in the weeks before the event to run PBs and win.

5-classed in his Outlaw 23 tary t ou nd ke ee w yed a great e the factory ro Ash Mason enjo turbo LS replac a en se s ha ch hi ay honours.

Mazda RX7, w iday and Saturd Fr th bo ed m ai cl engine. Mason

Steve Bezzina dom inated Outlaw 275 in his fan-favourite taking the Pro Line Falcon, Racing-powered fo ur door to wins in Friday shootout an bo th the d Saturday’s main event.

n wagon. rous kit on his classic Holde Matthew Loy purges the nit

Peter Sauer’s Mercury Comet joins in the wheelstand party, and he was also part of the nitrous burp club on a later run.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 61

ph, but a failing nal best speed of 166m rso pe w ne a n ra ith air it for eliminations Steven Sm e team thrashed to rep Th g. plu a ed elt m e days be like that! injector the first round. Som in x bo ar ge a e ok br but then

John Ricca was one of the major contenders for the win and made the final against Perry Bullivant, but a loose fuel cap result ed in a brief fire as he approached the finish line.

rana wheel arches y inch of those SLR To er ev s ed ne s on m Andrew Sim r end. to handle the wide rea

62 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

Ben Vlekken’s Commod ore wagon is a regular sight at Street Machine’s Drag Challen ge events, and it loves to plant the rear bumper on to the rubber!

Michael Vlasakakis’ freshly landed Pontiac Firebird packs a twin turbo LS and was built by Michigan’s Tony Kempf.

Mitchell Ford, ironically in a Holden Torana, lifted one of the best wheelstands of the event.

Dale Hartill-Law threw some radial tyres on the back of the Mustang for the first time and was rewarded with a Radial Renegade win.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE | 63