Drag News Magazine Issue Three

T H E W E L C H FA M I LY - R H I A N N O N A L L I S O N - C O U RT N E Y F O R C E

I S S U E T H R E E J A N U A RY 2 0 1 5

BRUCE READ

WHAT DRAG RACING NEEDS

GAS GIRL

THE BASICS OF CLUTCH SET UP

NAOMI LIGHTOWLER

JOHN ZAPPIA'S 5.68 SLAM

EDITORIAL It's a Monday night and I am writing this editorial rather late.

I pondered what might be a good topic to cover. Maybe I'll hark back a bit to why I like writing and photographing the sport of drag racing.

I think at its base level I want to make people as excited about the sport as I get. I want to be able to show a complete newcomer to the sport a photo or an article about a racer and have them feel the same passion I do.

When I was younger and going to races with my parents, they would sometimes let me bring a friend from school and I was also excited to show them 'my' sport and hoped they would enjoy it as much as I did. I would consistently invite a friend who liked air planes and one day hoped to join the Air Force (he eventually did by the way) to the jet dragsters, thrilled with the idea that our interests would somewhat match up.

That gradually brings me around to my point on why 'the show' element of drag racing is so important. It's because it gets people hooked on the entertainment that drag racing can provide. Once they have taken that bait, we can start to reel them in until they eventually get off on the fact that Racer X just ran 0.026 underneath their national record and all the other little bits and pieces that hardcore fans enjoy.

Graeme Cowin's Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car series has a big emphasis on the show and that is working to bring in new fans. There are definitely lessons that all drag racing series can learn from this, and even that show still has more potential to be exploited.

The ANDRA championship doesn't enjoy the same consistency in its show aspect, because promotion of events is a track responsibility rather than ANDRA's. Basically it depends on how enthusiastic the track gets as to what show elements are introduced.

There are are some simple items that should be mandated and

either administrated by ANDRA or added to event agreements with the tracks. Some of these are already being done but if some consistency can be applied it would greatly help with the series overall.

Have a compulsory drivers parade or introductions. Add a bit of ceremony before the event and give people a chance to see their heroes outside the race car. Racers need to make this a priority.

Autograph sessions with drivers as part of a pre-race 'pit party'. Get racers meeting their fans, engaging with spectators and generally showing they are good people to hang with.

Each event should have one out of the ordinary 'zoo act' as a bonus for the night. Wheelstanders, jet cars, burnout cars, celebrity match race – anything that is a little different from the norm and can help the event stand out in people's memories.

Always allow people on to the track afterwards so they can stand where their heroes have just race. Bring the cars back up the track so people can get an up close look and again mingle with the legends of the sport.

Perhaps most controversially, come up with a format that allows as many vehicles as possible to make runs during the night. I love the tradition of tournament format events, but I am a hardcore follower of the sport. To get newcomers excited we need to show them the vehicles they came to see. The format used for the AONFC shows is good and there should be no shame in using or modifying that format to suit championship racing.

So there are some ideas, not particularly creative, but it is late and we need to start somewhere. What do you think we should do to add to our championship show?

Luke Nieuwhof

Your younger editor (left) at the jet cars at Ravenswood. I always wanted friends at the track to share the same enjoyment I got from the sport.

DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE STAFF

CONTENTS 4 - Shutter Speed

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

8 - Grand Slam: Nitro Slam coverage from Perth Motorplex

FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS

42 - Family affair Sydney's Welch family reflect on their history in the sport.

Joe Maday 0468 413 124 maday@mail2joseph.com Dave Reid 0412 686 478 sales@dragphotos.com.au Lee Davis 0425 886 072 photorequest@ westernautopics.com.au

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

28 - From the top down

Bruce Read speaks his mind.

38 - Gas girl

Naomi Lightowler's progression from tears to cheers.

48 - Fire starter Rhiannon Allison is the west's new jet driving sensation. We speak to the latest 'queen of the kids'.

56 - Clutch 101 An in depth technical feature with Spinozzi Racing Pro Stock crew chief Mick Marriott, explaining the basics of clutch set up.

62 - The smiling assassin Courtney Force is the fan and media darling of the NHRA circuit, but behind the smile lurks fierce determination.

68 - Records then rain in Portland

advertising@dragnews.com.au Or call Rob Sparkes on +61418411684

The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car Series opens its 201 5 account.

WANT THE LATEST?

70 - Quarter Reporter

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.

News from the opening round of the Summit Sportsman Series, a new track potentially on the build in Adelaide and a brief history of the Warnambool Drag Club.

76 - Product Spotlight

The latest from our friends at Aeroflow.

74 - Mr Yes and Mr No

Does Group Two have a place in championship drag racing?

75 - Business Directory

3

SHUTTER

SPEED 4

Jeff Wilson is still having a hard time in his Top Doorslammer. At a recent Full Throttle Friday at Sydney Dragway things got way too angular.

ISO 4000, 1/250sec, F4.0, Canon EOS-1DX at 75mm.

Image: cacklingpipes.com

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SHUTTER

SPEED 6

Chuck Haynes and Pieter De Wit perform their pre-race fire show as part of Jet Car Max at Perth Motorplex, which had to be run over two days following a power outage to the venue.

ISO 1600, 1/125sec, F4.5, Canon 7D at 22mm. Image: Luke Nieuwhof

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GRAND SLAM STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUKE NIEUWHOF.

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The ANDRA season for 2015 is off and running with Top Doorslammer and Top Fuel Motorcycle getting their start at the Home Group WA Nitro Slam at Perth Motorplex.

The season opener took place in ideal weather and with the Motorplex throwing in a couple of Nitro Funny Cars as a sideshow to the ANDRA competition a big crowd was drawn in to watch proceedings.

After the events of Perth Motorplex's last national open, Jet Car Max, where a power failure split the event into two, there were no doubt some nervous heads in management when the power system again experienced troubles during the course of the Nitro Slam. Power had to be restricted to the pits leaving some racers

conducting turn arounds in the dark.

But racers fought through and most were able to get by, so lets get into the racing!

Top Doorslammer Three sessions of qualifying took place on the Friday night of the event and John Zappia was the one making headlines in every respect. His second session 5.683 dropped jaws everywhere around the venue and around the country. It was the first 5.6 second pass by a Doorslammer in Australia and the quickest class legal Doorslammer run in the world. Zappia's night took a twist in the final session however when the Fuchs Holden Monaro took a turn into the right hand wall. It

wasn't as big a hit as at the Australian Nationals in November, but it was enough to cause some cosmetic damage to the car and ensure the team had some work to keep them busy overnight. Surprisingly the team said they were not trying to better the run but instead just trying to calm the car down and try and get some consistent 5.7s, but tyre shake reared its ugly head and carried the Monaro outside the groove and with one tyre gripping and the other slipping you had the recipe for a close encounter of the concrete kind.

Some other honourable mentions in the list of Zappia's achievements included .960 and .961 60 foot times and a big 253mph speed. This was the team's first event in official championship competition

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using the shortened rear wing.

Maurice Fabietti in the new model Holden Trade Club Monaro was satisfied with the tune up package he had on board, carding a nice 5.818 with a 248mph top end charge.

Fabietti was tuning and driving this time around to keep himself busy.

If there was a pass of the event outside of Zappia's 5.68, it would have to be Wayne Keys' 5.837 in the final session of qualifying. The low budget, privateer team threw everything they had at the race track and it stuck, with a mind blowing .957 short time making up for the relatively low 241mph speed.

Unfortunate Keys put the car into the

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sand after the pass, providing them with some minor fixing for the night.

Marty Dack had consistency on his side, going 5.94, 5.91 and 5.92 in the three qualifying sessions, showing they had managed to cure the Valvoline falcon of its backfiring habit from the Australian Nationals.

Daniel Gregorini matched Dack to the thousandth on his best run of 5.913, but would miss out on the vital lane choice.

Grant O'Rourke was a little nervous heading into the final session with only a 6.06, but a 5.947 would do the job nicely to get the O'Rourke Motorsport Pontiac Firebird into the show.

Murray O'Connor also had final round jitters until a last ditch 5.970 from the old school Falcon, as Pino Priolo rounded out the field with a personal best 5.979, also his first five second run. The field was the second quickest in history.

Missing out by one thousandth of a second was Gary Phillips on a 5.980, while Stuart Bishop could also consider himself unlucky as tyre shake afflicted his night and he could produce only a 6.050 best.

Mark Chapman's Plymouth Fury was ill handling and all kinds of crossed up, especially in the first session, until a straighter 6.303 in the final session which would unfortunately still leave

him outside the show Pat Carbone, Shane Catalano, Steve Aldridge, Peter Kapiris and Ryan Moresby were also left on the outside looking in, with the only consolation being some test passes on the Saturday.

Racing opened with Dack eliminating Gregorini with a pedalling 6.290, Gregorini up in smoke at the Christmas tree. The pedal fest continued into the second pairing with O'Rourke's wild 6.271 just edging a 6.382 from Keys. A red light from O'Connor threw away a potentially race winning 6.212 as Fabietti turned the noise off early when a fuel line came loose. The first round finished

without a full pass as Priolo also went red, Zappia pedalling to a 6.128 win.

The semi finals saw a cooler track and one the teams could come to grips with a little more. O'Rourke was left frustrated after rolling the staging beams, though Fabietti's .070-reacted 5.870 in the opposite lane would have been a tough pass to beat. Zappia launched strongly with a .959 short time against Dack on the other side of the ladder and ran through for a 5.817 victory as Dack shook and shut down.

Thus we were left with number one and number two qualifiers to duke it out for the final. There was a little bit of drama as Zappia came into stage with some confusion among the crew

as to whether he needed his mirror for seeing the Christmas tree adjusted. It turns out he didn't, but with Fabietti in full stage, Zappia had just a few moments to get the revs up and move in. He made it just in time, but Fabietti put five hundredths on him at the tree. A pedal from Zappia didn't help his situation and Fabietti had the finish line insight, until the engine began to burn a piston and put out a burst panel, allowing Zappia to sneak through for a 5.864 to 6.023 victory.

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MIRROR, MIRROR John Zappia's road to the winner's circle almost came to a strange end as he was coming into stage for the final round.

With both his and Fabietti's car in pre-stage, a miscommunication of hand signals between Zappia and his crew almost saw him timed out.

“The mirror was perfect, I signalled Gerry that the mirror was fine,” Zappia explained. “Coming in to stage Richard was holding me up and Fabietti had a light on, I was going 'get out the way, I'm going in' and he misinterpreted that as something being wrong with the mirror.

“Gerry came into the car and I said 'Gerry, get out of there!' Next minute I look up and Fabietti has two lights on, I'm in pre-stage and the seven seconds are started.

He got the door shut in time, but if he had have been touching the car with double lights on I would have been finished.”

Zappia said the team experimented with using a radio headset in Sydney to avoid such miscommunication, but he was worried about it affecting his senses inside the car which are finely tuned to know when to pedal and shift.

“We have got a headset, we started to use it, but when I crashed the car in Sydney I had the headset on and I didn't know if that was a factor that didn't allow me to drive or feel it rattle or get up on the tyres,” he said.

“Next meeting we will introduce the headset in qualifying and try and get comfortable with that.

“The ear plugs completely change the sound of the car. I can hear other noises I don't normally hear and it is quieter in some other areas.

“I need to use it (the headset) because miscommunication with hand signals that aren't right is hopeless. And it always seems to happen at a Doorslammer round, at Top Comp rounds we don't have issues. But when the pressure is on everyone is all trying to do the right thing.”

When the two cars launched, Fabietti put five hundredths on Zappia at the tree and when the Western Australian had to pedal, Fabietti pulled further ahead.

“I started to run him in slowly but I don't know if I would have had enough track if he didn't pop the burst panel,” Zappia said. “I'd say he probably would have had me. With all the staging rush deal I was off my game for cutting a reaction time, it was one of them weekends.”

Zappia and team are now in a search for consistency – obviously outright pace is not an issue.

“The car is taking off like a rocket. It leaves really hard but then we get the shake after 60 foot,” he said. “Some of the good runs it drives through, some of them I pedal, sometimes I can shift second but it continues to shake,

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sometimes it doesn't. You have a split second decision on what to do.

“Sometimes you just need to hope the car is still central and not going skewiff heading for the wall or the centre line.

“We tried backing it off a little bit more, the thing takes off with a 959 60 foot. It's trying to run a 5.66 or a 5.67.

It rattled and didn't make it through, the track was different on the Saturday, it wouldn't hold the power in that 100 foot area.

“We put a lazier gearbox in it and it shook worse; it wants to be on kill every time. The track seems to come to the car when it happens and we haven't got the answer. We haven't got the consistency we are looking for at that power level.”

The remark from Zappia was that things seemed to go wrong at the right times on the weekend. On the Thursday before the event he made the unusual decision to check the diff after 450 runs and six and a half years of driving.

“They are so strong, nobody has ever broken them. But I thought, maybe we should have a look and change the oil and we saw the gears were starting to crumble with the amount of shake we have been having,” he said.

“Things went wrong at the right times and didn't cost us, it was amazing. And every mistake you make, you never do it again. When it counts we are doing what needs to happen.”

The major drama for Zappia was his tangle with the wall in the final qualifying session, but even that was just cosmetic and being in the last session meant the team had enough time to fix the damage overnight.

“It started to rattle the tyres so I pedalled it and punched second gear like I normally do and I went way right,” he said. “I thought to myself 'that was too close', then it was going straight and the next minute it hooked. It must have had the left tyre in traction and the right tyre in no traction.

“It chipped the front end and squashed the headers and broke the door, we just needed to knock that into shape, it was pretty well cosmetic. It's the most minor damage we've done on the body. We had a spare door and we had a spare front and fixed the headers. We did what we had to do.”

With the early advantage for the short 2015 season, it is now a case of keeping a hold on the points lead for Zappia.

“We want to start strong and be in front so if anything goes wrong we are in front to start with, but hey. everyone would like to do that,” he said. “We have got enough on the field at the moment, we just need a consistent race car. We are trying to work out how to do that and find the sweet spot where we can drive smooth and repeat. We are close.”

"It wants to be on kill every time."

- John Zappia Clockwise from opposite page: John Zappia's team celebrates after his epic 5.68 qualifying pass. Grant O'Rourke and Wayne Keys ran out a pedal fest in round one, with O'Rourke the victor. Daniel Gregorini tied Marty Dack in qualifying and the two paired off in the first round, but Gregorini was in the unfavoured left lane and overpowered the track. Stuart Bishop was a surprise non qualifier in his Camaro, rebuilt from its tangle with the wall(s) at Sydney Dragway. Pino Priolo carded his first five second pass and qualified for the second quickest Top Doorslammer field in history.

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FABIETTI BACKS HIS FORM

Maurice Fabietti thinks he's got a package that can take it to seven times national Top Doorslammer champion John Zappia – especially if Zappia's consistency woes continue.

Fabietti made it to the final and had the edge on Zappia before his Holden Trade Club Monaro put the burst panel out shortly after 1000 feet.

“About two seconds into the run it killed a spark plug, so from two seconds on it was on seven cylinders, then at five seconds the number eight cylinder has burnt a piston which caused it to burst the burst panels,” Fabietti said.

“I think I was well ahead. If that didn't happen, we would have been holding the trophy, but it's all shoulda-coulda-woulda. We will go on to the next meeting and try again.

“You don't have to be the fastest. John is a great racer but he is pretty slack on the start line so if I can do my job on the start line hopefully we can get

Clockwise from opposite page top left: Shane Catalano struggled to calm his Studebaker down off the start line. Wayne Keys laid down a PB 5.83 in qualifying.

Marty Dack awaits a pass in the cockpit of his Valvoline Ford Falcon. Gary Phillips missed race day by one lousy thousandth of a second. Maurice Fabietti thinks he has 5.7 package in the making.

around him.”

Fabietti has had a few different tuners provide assistance over the years but is now back to doing it himself, using the experience they have provided.

“It's got a good reliable set up in it, we've just had some silly little things going wrong recently, but it is all starting to gel,” he said.

“Stuart (Rowland) helped us set the car up initially and we have taken it a step further now, we've changed the tune up to suit myself and between the two we have got a great combination and we proved you don't need to be the fastest.”

Fabietti said being the tuner and the driver again does increase the pressure.

“It certainly helps having someone else worrying about the tuning side of things, I can worry about fans and sponsors, but

that didn't work out, so we are back to the old days,” he said.

Fabietti thinks seventies, and consistent ones are that, should be possible from his car and that will keep Zappia honest.

“We ran a 5.81 on our second qualifier and it's not like we had been there three weekends in a row on the same race track (like John),” he said. “We should get into the 70s, it won't be low 70s, but we will get into the 70s.”

When asked what the rest of the field needs to do to catch up to Zappia's pace, Fabietti said it was a case of absolute dedication.

“John lives for drag racing, he devotes his whole life to it and he's not a silly person,” he said. “He lives and breathes it and that's what he concentrates on, making that car go fast and doing a lot of laps.”

Top Fuel Motorcycle A return to strength for the two wheeled nitro brigade was a positive sign for the start of the 2015 season.

Thirteen bikes in all made passes during qualifying, battling for the eight car field.

Mark Drew was quite happy to state pre-event that he wanted some seriously quick passes out of his Perth Harley Davidson Nitro Harley, but had to settle for a best of 6.586/206 where he missed the clutch set up. He tried to improve in the final session but with some handling woes was only able to go 6.63.

Chris Matheson had his Jackhammer Nitro Harley back again after an inauspicious debut at the Australian Nationals. An improved 6.925 placed him second on the ladder with the motorcycle he plans to run for the rest of the shortened series.

Chris Porter's spectacular, but costly, explosions seemed to be behind him at first with a 6.991 but the gremlin returned for the final session about 150 feet from the start line, leaving the team shaking their heads and unlikely to make race day.

Greg Durack was the final bike in the sixes with the turbocharged Bravo

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Resources Kawasaki clocking a 6.994 and would also remain the only nonHarley in the field.

Mark Ashelford put down a 7.022 in the opening session which was somewhat off the pace expected of the Attitude Racing bike, while Ben Stevens was on the opposite end of expectation as he put down a 7.434 in what are still his early passes on the bike.

The field was rounded out by the two 'little' Harleys. Coming from the NB/T class of Competition Bike, Wayne McGuinness and Les Holden decided to go pro and ran 7.548 and 7.873 second passes respectively.

Tony Wood was on the outside looking in after a 7.92, but some damage to the multi cylinder would probably have seen them not in race day regardless.

Peter Vanderaa's 8.089, Ian Ashelford's 8.394 and Danny Makin's 8.874 would also miss out. For Terry Burnett, missing the field was the least of his worries after the team lifted a cylinder head in the pits, causing burns to son Daniel. We wish Daniel all the best in his recovery.

First round time and Ashelford found some more pace, belting out a 6.783 with an early shut off to defeat

Durack's 7.537. Stevens took a solo 8.447 with Porter unable to repair the damage, while Matheson took a close one against McGuinness 7.523 to 7.618. Also going closer than he would have liked to the jaws of defeat was Drew, when his 8.017 barely scraped by an 8.103 from Holden. There was conjecture as to whether or not Drew had crossed the centre line, with the video footage borderline, but Holden assured officials that Drew had not come into his lane and so the Australian champion was into the semi finals.

It was there that Drew found his groove, with a 6.393/220 demolition of Mark Ashelford was out of the throttle early. Stevens' dream run came to an end against Matheson, with a 7.359 from the Queenslander defeating Stevens' 8.720.

Drew versus Matheson is a match up that might be common this season.

Both riders were wired on the start line with Drew's .083 reaction time getting out slightly on Matheson's .089. From there Drew was starting to run away with it until the bike started heading left and he took out the finish line timing boxes, giving away what would have been a certain victory.

Top: Chris Matheson enjoyed a change of pace on Jackhammer and came away with the win.

Centre: Mark Drew had the outright pace advantage but also headed for the centre line on several occasions, eventually costing him the victory.

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HAMMER TIME Chris Matheson's switch to his Jackhammer Nitro Harley began inauspiciously at Sydney Dragway but did a complete 180 degree turn at Perth Motorplex as he took the win for the opening round of the ANDRA Top Fuel Motorcycle season.

For Matheson he found it unusually refreshing with a bike that didn't demand quite the maintenance of his Nitro Voodoo four cylinder.

“It's a fun deal, the maintenance on them isn't anything like the multi cylinder,” he said. “It is more enjoyable. This is a little bit easier, you're not doing engine swaps and chasing gremlins.

“That said, we've put all new ignitions on and new injectors and changed a few things - the cardinal sin of changing things at a race meeting.

“We didn't do a tyre, we didn't do a chain. We put some plugs in it, dropped the oil out of it, it's good. It's refreshing not throwing a whole heap of stuff at it, but no doubt we will have our problems along the way.”

Matheson was pleased with the result, saying there was some

new blood in the team.

“We were lucky Mark crossed the (centre) line, but you've got to be there to be lucky,” he said.

“We left it soft early because we didn't want to do an engine swap or do heads or anything, we were picking our way as we went, in the last one we turned it up a little bit where it should be and it took off. I got a bit out of shape at the other end but we got through.”

Matheson said Nitro Voodoo will be back, but the Jackhammer is going to be the focus for the 2015 season.

“We're waiting for cranks for the multi cylinder, so we will run this until the Winters, do this short season on the twin and try and keep all these other blokes honest if we can,” he said.

Matheson found his energy buoyed by the strong field of bikes and also new riders coming into the category.

“Perth has been welcoming to us, it was great to see a big field and in particular young blokes that are coming out and having a go on these big bikes,” he said. “It gives me a bit of ticker for the future of the sport because all us blokes are getting old. We need these young blokes to come in and stick it into us; there's a future for the bracket.”

DREW DOWN ON TOP Mark Drew might have been top qualifier in Top Fuel Motorcycle for the Home Group WA Nitro Slam but he was left sounding down despite that.

“I'm never f*cking happy,” he said. “On the first run I didn't arm the bike so it didn't change gears. On the second run the clutch cannon didn't release anywhere near early enough.

Third time I went out there I buggerised around and messed

around with the cannon issue so I got that sorted out but the bike just got a bit out of control, the handlebars were pretty well scraping on the ground, then it took off again, it was just a messy run.”

Unfortunately for Drew the handling woes continued to afflict him throughout the event with a close encounter with the centre line in the first round and taking out the finish line timing boxes in the final round.

BEN 10/10 Ben Stevens made a dream debut with a semi final appearance.

The nephew of former rider Kim Stevens has a unique back story, having overcome cancer when he was younger and then a leg amputation from the knee down when a stunt on a quad bike went wrong.

Stevens (pictured, centre) said a fuel bike has filled the need for an adrenaline rush.

“I think it's safe to say I won't be able to hang off the back of my bike anymore after my accident and the next craziest thing that had come to mind was nitro bikes,” he said. “I have always wanted to hop on one and see what it's like, stemming from back in 2003 watching Brett Stevens on his bike at the time.

“Uncle Kim went well on this bike and I certainly have big shoes to fill riding the machine in anyway like he did.”

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NITRO FUNNY CARS Fans were treated to two big show Nitro Funny Cars as well as two Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars (coming under a Retro Funny Car designation from the Motorplex).

Mark Sheehan and Anthony Begley were the big show element and provided some pretty spectacular contests. In their first pairing Begley's motor went lean and popped the burst panel out about 300 feet from the start line, while Sheehan went 5.32 but took the finish line timing boxes with him.

Each night had two rounds of 'nitro slams'. With body damage, Sheehan

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swapped to his blue body and improved to a 5.02 for the second Friday night pass but with no chutes went deep into the sand trap. Begley was shut down on the start line.

Begley's fortunes turned around in the first Saturday night pass with a 5.17 from Chemical Warfare, while Sheehan kicked a rod out and was left unable to return for the final pairing.

It was something of an anti climax for the last Funny Car pass of the night as Begley smoked the tyres at the tree and after giving it one quick pedal decided discretion was the better part of valour.

The two Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars

were made up of Rory Taylor's Nitro Thunder Pontiac, driven by Mat Abel, and Andrew Minogue's Ford Mustang driven by Frank Taylor. Both teams made a lot of progress in their licensing across the event and will be looking for some full passes soon.

There were a few hiccups, with a tyre smoking launch for Nitro Thunder seeing it go sky high in the revs, while Frank Taylor almost backed into the bridge after being given a shut down signal. But both cars looked amazing and will be a great addition to the Nostalgia/Outlaw/Retro Funny Car ranks.

Clockwise from top: Mark Sheehan laid down two tough passes, with one ending up deep in the sand trap. Anthony Begley and Chemical Warfare were back on song with a 5.17 best. Frank Taylor drove Andrew Minogue's Ford Mustang Funny Car in its licensing stages. Mat Abel steered Rory Taylor's Nitro Thunder.

Top Alcohol An exhibition of Top Alcohol cars provided fans with a taste of what is to come at their opening round of the ANDRA championship at the Westernationals.

We'll skip through quickly to one of the best pairings of the event as both Craig Glassby and Shane Weston went into PB territory. Glassby's 5.469/256 raised eyebrows nationally, while Weston's 5.541/252 showed his combination of quick reaction times, consistency and now low fifty pace would be dangerous.

Check out our sidebar for the inside story on Glassby's amazing pass.

Super Comp Perth Motorplex's Super Comp bracket is currently running a unique handicapping system where the index is based off the national record and there are no recalculations for each round.

Four cars were sub record in qualifying.

Errol Quartermaine belted out a PB 7.676 from his turbocharged Ford Falcon to be .274 under in DD/GA, while Kyle Putland finally overcame his tyre shake woes for a A/A 6.652 (-.118).

Jamie Chaisty's combination of record pace and the consistency of a nine second car is proving difficult to beat at the moment and his H/MSA 9.287 was .033 under, while David Dequen's 7.416 in E/AA was .024 under.

In the second round, Chaisty advanced on a 9.320 with Rob Gaikhorst not making the start line, Kyle Putland took it easy with a 7.089 against Kirsty Cunningham, who was a surprise winner against Dequen in round one.

Quartermaine had a solo and only stage.

Putland had that option in the semi finals and took it, leaving Chaisty and Quartermaine to duke it out for the other place in the final round. A -.008 red light from Quartermaine put an end to the race early.

The final took a strange turn with Putland losing power in the burnout and rolling into full stage. With his hands in the air he left the car there, giving Chaisty the opportunity to take his time on the green and take a 9.319 win.

It was Chaisty's third win of the season, but missing the opening round of the series while attending the Australian Nationals has given him a big game of catch up to play.

Competition Bike Ross Smith is now the boss of Competition Bike in WA and he edged every closer to what we are pretty sure would be Australia's first naturally aspirated, no wheelie bar seven second pass with a top qualifying 8.075, .625 under the B/AB index.

He cruised through round one thanks to a red light from Todd Johnson. Ross Green went 8.673 on his C/CB 8.75 index to defeat Michael Holister, as

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Natalotto soloed with Phil Patton absent. Brett Ghedina completed the round with an 8.192 on his CC/CBI 7.94 index to get past Ross Townson, whose BB/CBI has been getting a little crazy on the start line recently.

Green pulled off the upset of the day with an 8.54 (8.71) defeating Smith's 8.603 (8.70), as Smith's Hayabusa launched in second gear. Natalotto went 9.34 (9.52 B/SB) to knock his index around a little in his defeat of Ghedina.

With Smith out of the way, Natalotto had the light at the end of the tunnel shining brightly. That light was virtually blinding once Green stumbled off the start line and came to a stop in just a few feet, allowing Natalotto's BMW to score a 9.20 victory.

Smith's 160 point lead in the state championship is looking unassailable.

Supercharged Outlaws Supercharged Outlaws was something of a survival of the fittest contest, with plenty of withdrawals after qualifying.

Ben Hoar was fortunately not amongst them and his 6.765 stood up for the number one spot.

Following a solo filled elimination round, the B Final was made up of Ian Foster and Norbert Claite. A red light from Claite got things off to a bad start and then some engine damage a little later made things worse. Foster's 6.974 on a 6.95 dial in was a pretty convincing package however.

Fans were treated to a closer racer in the A Final. Though both Gregory James and Ben Hoar were virtually comatose on the start line with reaction times over three tenths of a second, it made for tight race as Hoar's 6.674 on a 6.67 dial in pushed James to a 7.160 on a 7.17 break out.

Wayne Batson and Ian Foster sit atop the WA track point score, with Jon Ferguson staying in touch in third despite missing the event.

Modified Simon Lekias put a new engine package into his A/MD and was promptly rewarded with a personal best 7.235 in qualifying to lead the way and claim the track record.

By the quarter finals Lekias remained in contention but had points leader Sam Treasure now standing in his way.

Lekias was lazy on the tree with a .168 to Treasure's .017 and it cost him as Treasure took a 7.73 victory on his 7.69 dial in. Two ladies matched up next in Jodie Mellitt and Robyn Butler. Butler's .083 and 7.885 on a 7.82 easily accounted for the supercharged dragster's .196 reacted 7.684 on a 7.62.

Cousins Michelle Katavatis and Alesha Adamos got to race for bragging rights but despite a .006 to .028 holeshot for Katavatis, Adamos clinched the win light with Katavatis going 7.966 on the 7.97 dial in. Brad Baker wrapped things up

with an 8.110.

Treasure and Butler staged up for the first of the semi finals. Treasure's .018 and 7.73 on a 7.70 dial in was way too good for the .167 and 7.832 on a 7.84 break out in the lane opposite. Adamos and Baker left identically on .014s, but a break out 8.070 on an 8.09 dial in from Baker gave Adamos' 7.791 on a 7.74 the win.

The top two in the points now had their chance to take the gloves off for the final round. Adamos nipped Treasure on the line with a .020 to .026 advantage and her 7.797 on a 7.79 saw Treasure take a little too much stripe with a break out 7.678 on a 7.69 dial in.

Super Sedan The turbocharged Holden VK Commodore of Ben Peters is a regular top qualifier at Perth Motorplex and the Home Group WA Nitro Slam was no different with a 7.965 pass doing the job.

Unfortunately Peters was out early but eight other very competitive Super Sedan drivers were still going for the quarter finals. Martin Mirco marched through with Clinton Carameli not making the line, while a tight .012 RT and 10.088 on a 10.08 dial in allowed Phil Restifo to knock out David Powell's rather good .040 and 8.945 on an 8.93.

Matthew Gullotto gave the stripe to Craig Thorstensen and it paid off with a break out giving Gullotto's 9.504 on a 9.47 the win, as Leigh Fallon's wheelstanding 9.114 on a 9.11 dial in provided him a popular victory up against Rob Hickey.

Gullotto was really on his game for the semi finals, with the James Bond .007 light and a 9.479 on a 9.46 sending Mirco to a 9.190 break out on his 9.20 dial in. Restifo's .103 light wasn't going to cut it for this round, with Fallon going .034 on the tree and 9.127 on a 9.09 dial in at the finish line.

A note on Leigh Fallon's Ford ute – this thing leaves like a Super Sedan should.

It carries the front wheels ridiculously far and ridiculously high and is still deadly consistent.

Gullotto's Commodore is no slouch in the wheel lifting game either and so the final was set to be spectacular. Gullotto repeated with a .007 light but Fallon picked a cherry on a -.010 and Gullotto was left a happy racer.

Modified Bike Graeme Goldsworthy held court at the top of Modified Bike qualifying with an 8.361 effort from the turbocharged Suzuki.

The 17 bike field meant plenty of solos on offer and Brett Allen took advantage of that with an 8.791 in the quarter finals after a clutch rebuild for the no bar Suzuki Katana. Darrin McDonald was due to face Goldsworthy but he top qualifier did not front, McDonald taking a 9.690 by himself on the Kawasaki. In

the round's only pairing Justin Townson's Honda ousted Geoff Smith in a great race, Townson's .038 and 8.811 on an 8.79 defeating a .021 and 10.31 on a 10.28.

McDonald headed off by himself again in the semi finals, this time his allocated bye run. He simply staged and back out.

Townson went .112 on the tree to Allen's slow .325 and with an easy 8.90 on an 8.79 dial in took the win.

For the final round McDonald finally had someone in the opposite lane but he wasn't rusty, going .015 on the tree to really put Townson's .148 on the back foot. There was a glimmer of hope for Townson but with an 8.818 on an 8.85 that was put out and McDonald's 9.792 on a 9.65 took the win.

Allen and Townson remain as the top two in the WA points respectively.

Super Street Jayme Smith took charge of Super Street in qualifying with her 11.015 in the Holden Commodore the best of the 22 car field against the 11.00 minimum.

Smith was still racing come quarter finals and with a tidy 11.043 on an 11.04 dial in put out Georgia McSweeney in the Holden HK ute, who ran a personal

best, but breaking out, 10.93.

McSweeney's day was very up and down, earlier having to find replacement fuel after the avgas she was using tested out of spec (as did your humble editor's in Modified Bike!). Nicholas Wroe was strong against Craig Caton with an 11.071 on an 11.03 combined with a .021 RT sending Caton into breakout territory. Ian Taylor took three hundredths on the start line from Lee Watson and didn't give them back, going 11.052 on an 11.01 for his win.

Taylor was rewarded with a bye run for the semi final, leaving Wroe and Smith to argue for the other position. A .051 to .143 holeshot from Wroe's VP Commodore set him up well for an 11.144 victory on his 11.03 dial in to Smith's 11.061 on an 11.02.

Wroe was runner up at the last national open at Perth Motorplex and so searching for a win. Alas he was left to continue to search as a -.019 red light ended his chances and gave Taylor's big Valiant coupe the win.

Junior Dragster Taylah Batson qualified top in Junior Dragster with an 8.004, narrowly ahead of an 8.008 from Connor McClure.

Points leader Katrina Bowman went big on her break out in the quarter finals with a 7.832 way under her 7.91 dial in, giving Brodie Zappia's double breakout 12.014 on a 12.08 the win. The break out blues affected Kyle Higgins too with a 7.956 on his 8.01 seeing Bailey McClure take advantage with an 8.037 on his 8.03 dial in. Another pairing, another break out next with Brendan Kanters going 8.755 on an 8.77 dial in to give Connor McClure the win while Alanah Cope made it a perfect round of break out deciders with her 8.669 on an 8.70 dial in sending Tyler Gavin into the semis.

Gavin went -.006 red to hand away the race to Bailey McClure, who was also in the negatives with a -.023, but fortunately a tenth of a second after Gavin. Brother Connor McClure was not so lucky with a -.031 taking him out of contention against Zappia.

Zappia and McClure might be names more suited to a Top Comp final but here they were in Junior Dragster.

Unfortunately young Brodie, the nephew of John Zappia, went red by -.029 and Bailey McClure took home the winner's trophy, along with starting to reel in the points lead of Bowman.

Clockwise from right: Frank Taylor picked up a win for the big Valiant in Super Street. Darrin McDonald used a big holeshot in the final round of Modified Bike to his advantage. Matthew Gullotto won a wheelstanding final of Super Sedan.

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GLASSBY GOES 5.46 Craig Glassby knew he was on a mission when his Top Alcohol Funny Car took off on a very special pass at Perth Motorplex.

The 5.469 made him the owner of the third quickest Top Alcohol Funny Car in the country and was rewarded for a switch over to a new, high overdrive combination that is now yielding dividends.

“To keep up we decided to join the likes of Gary Phillips and Steven Ham and upped the overdrive,” Glassby said.

“That has changed our whole set up, so we had to get a handle on where we were with it again. At the last event of last season we went 5.54 and then we changed the combo after that.”

Glassby said, as is often the case with altering an engine's horsepower, the next step was to match up their clutch settings again.

“It was a matter of redoing our clutch program. We had a successful clutch program with our old combo, so we had to figure that out,” he said.

“We've always been very successful at getting on to our clutch program fast and it took a couple of meetings to work out what the car wanted. We had three meetings in three weeks which was kind of good, so we made a pretty radical change that got the car down the track in a low 70 with a huge pedal, so then we just needed an idea around timing curves.

“The 5.46 was with a lift, I got to 1100 feet and one of the fuel lines came loose and it started spraying fuel on the windscreen. I didn't want to torch a piston, so that's why it only went 255mph. “So progressively from blowing the tyres off it was a matter of getting runs on the board and then look at all the data and work from there.”

Glassby tried to improve for his final run of the night, but an oil fitting came loose about 900 feet into the run, giving him a skatey end to proceedings.

But fortunately there was no damage, as many punters expected when seeing the car sliding about in its own oil, and the team were left thrilled with the way the car came back.

“It would have been nice to run 40s back to back, but it ran good up until (the oil leak) so we were pretty happy with the progress,” Glassby said. “The engine came apart like brand new and we know we have a fair bit left in the car.”

Sometimes racers will say that quick runs feel slow. This was not the case for Glassby.

“I knew it was fast, really fast. It went .930 to the 60 foot and normally we have not been big on 60 foot times, so I knew it was on a mission,” he said. “I punched top gear and it was like I had dropped the clutch again.

“It was flying, it was one of those runs that at the time you know it is fast and you don't have time to panic about it, it wasn't until I stopped when I got on the radio and I was thinking 'what the hell just happened'.

“One of the firies came over and told me I ran a 5.46, I jumped out of the hatch feeling like a school kid - it was an amazing feeling.

“Going from a 50 to a 46 doesn't sound much but it was definitely a quick run, it pushed me back in the seat for the whole track.”

Glassby was quick to credit the role of Gower and his Alky Pro program which assists in their tuning.

“Greg was pretty stoked to come back after a couple of meetings in the wilderness and to pull it apart and find it was all beautiful and clean and it didn't hurt nothing,” Glassby said.

“The Alky Pro program has tidied things up. We find it very accurate and we can control the fuel system much better through the range. It has helped our improvements because of confidence in where we are heading.

“It wasn't until we had some hard core racers congratulating us that we realised it was something special. Not many people can say they have run 40s in an alcohol car. We did it at home, that was the biggest thing, in 2200ft of air on a track that nobody else ran real fast on that night.”

While Glassby made it clear that the team was about long term fulfilment of goals, they will go into the opening round of the ANDRA Top Alcohol season with a level of excitement.

“I'd be lying if I didn't have that little bit in the back of my mind about having a quick car for the Top Alcohol round,” he said. “I've runner upped at both rounds we have run previously so I am definitely excited that I potentially have a car that could be in the top two or three.

“We're not getting cocky. Things can change dramatically, we are about taking it easy.

This was a long term thing for us and I had no expectations for the Westernationals.

“It's not for championships, its not for gold Christmas trees, it's about having the best possible car we could and setting benchmarks for ourselves. We are gentleman racers doing it for our own satisfaction. Phillips and Ham are the best and I want to be there with them - I want to be at the front of pack.”.

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NITRO SLAM PHOTO BONUS 26

Clockwise from top: Justin Townson stayed sun safe during the warm weather. Peter Bell smokes it up in Super Street qualifying. Brett Ghedina's turbocharged Honda runs a near stock motor - just with plenty of go fast bits attached to the outside. Madison Brown's skyline themed Junior Dragster is a stunner. Shane Joyce stages under a setting sun. Sam Treasure in stage for the Modified quarter finals.

TOP DOWN

FROM THE Bruce Read has never been afraid to speak his mind on the state of drag racing.

His father Jim Read is one of Australia's most famous drag racers, famed for his exploits driving Top Fuel dragsters and then for campaigning to have Sydney Dragway built.

The drama that followed could have filled a book – indeed, it did, when Jim released his infamous The Jim Read Story – The Good, Bad & Ugly.

Bruce is the more moderate, calculated version of his father.

While the team races more sporadically than they used to, Bruce still plays an active role in racer body Top Fuel Australia, which unites teams and provides them a common voice, something that has proved useful in dealing with ANDRA and tracks.

Read makes no bones about declaring that Top Fuel needs to lead the way for the sport at a national championship level. That means both investment into the category and commitment from the teams.

“The governing body needs to invest in the premier product,” Read said. “Imagine if Coca Cola took all their marketing money and put it into Sprite - they would go broke. As unpalatable as it is the sport needs to look at that.

“The super stadiums of drag racing were built so the spectators would come to watch the kings of the sport, which is Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer, Top Alcohol and the rest of Group One.” Read acknowledges that Top Fuel sometimes misses the mark, but it is still the 'bait on the hook' that brings people to the track.

When Top Fuel is having an off day, that is when the other categories step up and make everyone look good.

“Some of the classes need to work a lot closer together for the good of the sport,” he said. “We in Top Fuel have always maintained we know we bring the people but we also know that not all the time are we the show.

“Some of our other Group One classes don't share the same sentiment. The people are already there because of Top Fuel.

“People come to see the fuel cars, but are entertained by the Doorslammers. The racers don't want to acknowledge that is the case.

“On the flipside, Top Fuel is a hit and miss thing. Sometimes it is a barn burner but sometimes when we misfire, Doorslammer picks up the slack. We are mindful that they are right there beside us to pick us up. There needs to be cohesion and cooperation.”

Read commended ANDRA for bringing Summit to the sport in Australia, saying it lent much credibility and they would find a lot of value in sportsman racers, but more sponsors were needed to invest at the higher levels.

“I don't know how to fix it but the focus needs to be on the main game and if the people aren't coming to see it and not putting the

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STORY BY LUKE NIEUWHOF. PHOTOS BY CACKLINGPIPES.COM.

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money in the turnstile then the sponsor won't see any people at the track or on TV,” he said.

“We try and do our own thing promotionally (with Top Fuel Australia). We employed a guy full time, but our sport is on the nose with corporate Australia. I don't know why.”

Read suspects the competition is intense and when drag racing is dealing with only thousands of spectators instead of millions, it leaves little but the sponsorship scraps.

“You have the AFL and 16 teams taking bites at the sponsorship pool, the NRL and 16 teams, Football Federation Australia, the Big Bash League, Cricket Australia with the national team and state league and one dayers, V8 Supercars of course - all of those sports and entities have their nose in the trough,” he said.

“Throw in a minnow like Australian drag racing and there is not a lot left. We get the scraps, or companies that want to be involved at a hundreds of thousands of dollars level and not millions.

“I think the sport is in fear of itself for becoming popular. We know how good it can be and we loved it to death, but everyone was sitting back and letting everyone else do the work.

“You can't have the ice cream if you don't pay for it.”

Read acknowledged that times are probably pretty good for sportsman racers, with lots of events on that can subsidise themselves through entry fees alone. But he believes for true growth there needs to be a charge led from the top categories of the sport.

“If you want a simple drag strip that (sportsman events) is great and the sportsman racers will subsidise that kind of culture,” he said. “If they want the bigger crowds they need the bigger cars. It's not like the AFL pours all its investment into Auskick.”

Criticism without answers is empty. And Read said that if racers want to be the ones to criticise then they also need to be the ones to step up with the answers – and the dollars.

“The first thing I would do (if given charge for a day) would be to get a forum of the Group One races only, two members from each team, with an absolutely brutal MC and there would be no sacred grounds, no prisoners, no secrets,” he said. “If we told someone to shut up, they shut up, then open the floor.

“We would ask their ideas and how we go about it. Tell them not to expect miracles, sensible and practical ideas.

“We would create a Group One commission with one representative from each class on the commission,” he said. “Talk about what they expect, what their members want, come with a clear and concise direction from your category.”

Once the idea were on the table, Read said action should come, but it would not happen for free in his hypothetical scenario.

“I know people bleed about $1500 licences, but if you want to do something it is going to cost,” he said. “Do you want to be on Channel Nine?

Well it comes at a cost. It can't be the guys with

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Junior Dragsters, Super Sedans and Modifieds paying for G1 excesses. But on the flipside they need to sacrifice as well - they should not be paid for their hobby.”

Read said he would have the sport paying for coverage on a major TV station and maximum two day events or even sharp one day shows where the show was held at night, while racers get adjusted to the track during the day.

“The paying public is into more bang for your buck,” he said. “Let the race teams dial into the track earlier in the day before the spectators arrive, then open the gates at 5 and then at 6 all the finely tuned cars are all ready to go.”

Top Fuel, in contrast to its racing nature as explosive and quick, tends to be more of a slow burn when it comes to team numbers. The infrastructure takes years to build up and teams generally commit to racing for a long time.

Read said there aren't any new teams on the horizon that he is aware of, but what is being seen is growth within the new teams such as those of Peter Xiberras, Mark Sheehan and Anthony Begley. Not to mention the commitment of Lamattina Top Fuel Racing and Rapisarda Autosport International to field at least two cars each for every round of the series.

“Premiair (Peter Xiberras) will emerge as a major force, I think they have already shown that,” Read said.

“Anthony Begley will make appearances at the Motorplex and Willowbank, they will be around to keep everybody honest. Terry Sainty has a new car coming.

“Wayne Newby will be racing for Santo, he will be a revelation in the class. John Lamattina is a natural. Rob Cavagnino will be back with Martin Stamatis.

“As for us we are looking for funding, Darren (Morgan) and Ben (Patterson) are the same.”

Last season Top Fuel Australia had an incentive scheme which gave financial backing to teams to make it to rounds of the series.

That scheme will not be in place this season.

Read said that the short 2015 season running form January to June could be a model with which to move forward on, as teams would not mind having a more condensed season.

“There is a very big push on to shorten the season right now,” he said. “A lot of the purists won't like that. But the general consensus is we should race once at each track and have good quality car counts at one off events.

“With the demise of the Calder meeting, which we always knew was going to happen, the season is down to four meetings through to the Winternationals which should be doable and I am hopeful most meetings will see eight cars.

Perth will have a minimum of six but hopefully eight (for the opening round). The rest of the meetings on the east coast are normally oversubscribed.”

Read believes that Top Fuel Australia was a driving force behind the change in calendars.

The original change to a calendar year format was made following an ANDRA summit in 2011

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but has since received mixed reviews.

“I have to give ANDRA and the tracks credit where credit is due, we requested a swap around of the season and they listened,” he said. “I would proudly boast that was a TFA initiative to change it back. A lot of the companies being approached for sponsorship couldn't relate because of the big gap between June and September.

“The summer season has been handed to speedway on a platter. Drag racing was built on Saturday nights in the summer up and down the east coast. We don't do that anymore. We haven't kept with the times.”

Bruce's brother and three times Australian Top Fuel champion Phil Read still wants to drive, but Bruce said the events around Sydney Dragway and their father's excommunication from the venue left Phil jaded.

Without getting into details or sides of the debate, Phil has distanced himself somewhat from the sport. That distance can be seen in what he now chooses to do on weekends.

“Phil bought his son a championship winning Junior Dragster and never let him race it,” Bruce explained. “He saw what it did to his own father and his working relationship with his sponsors. He thought he doesn't need to be part of it.

“He had the Junior Dragster sitting in his garage for four years before he sold it. Every Saturday they now go go-karting.”

Top Fuel is expensive, carries the expectations of an event and is often filled with politics. One might wonder why someone is

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drawn to it – so we asked.

“I love working on the cars, the least enjoyable day to me is race day,” Read said. “I enjoy the camaraderie of my crew guys, my brother, my dad; we've been travelling the countryside since the 80s.

“It's the nights in the hotel or at a pub having a counter meal or fixing the truck with a flat tyre, digging racers out of ditches.

“Then running the car and analysing the data and wondering and calculating what I am going to do next, the analytical side is what I love most.”

Top Fuel is a team sport and Read said is where reward for effort can also be found.

“One of my most memorable runs would have been second round at an Australian Nationals when we raced Aaron Lynch first round, we got past him but blew up,” Read said. “Connie Kalitta once said if you run your car and it runs 4.6s all day and out of the blue it blows up, don't go looking for the problem. It's just one of those things. Go back and do what you always have done.

“Dad asked why we were going back out doing the same thing.

Then it went 4.58 and the looks on my guys' faces after replacing a motor and clutch and replumbing it, that's like winning lotto.”

“When they all turn around and look at you and you look at them, that's when you feel like the king of the world.”

GAS GIRL Tears and fears transform to cheers.

How Naomi Lightowler went from a junior scared witless to a Super Gas natural.

Story by Grant Stephens. Photos by cacklingpipes.com.

Since its introduction in the 90s the Junior Dragster program has been a phenomenal success in providing the younger generation an introduction and stepping stone into drag racing.

Naomi Lightowler is one of that generation and now taking on the challenge of Super Gas. The bright lights of Sydney Dragway held an attraction for Lightowler from an early age.

“I remember being at the opening of Sydney Dragway, the massive crowd and from that day onwards I went to pretty much all of the events that were held at Sydney Dragway,”

she said.

Going drag racing can be daunting prospect at any age and it took some time for Lightowler to put a toe into the drag racing pond.

“I remember being in my lounge room one night watching the movie about Erica Enders in Junior Dragsters on Disney Channel, my parents then came in and asked me if I wanted to race a junior dragster,” she said. “Without even thinking I said no, I was eight so I was the age that I could start racing but I just didn't want to, I was way too scared I would stuff it up and people would laugh.

“We kept going to races and I loved it so much but I was still hesitant, I knew racing was an expensive sport and could never ask my parents for that much money and

commitment so I just left it.”

Lightowler's parents definitely detected a love for the sport in her and persisted with their offer. Eventually Lightowler took that step, enlisting the help of a junior drag racing original.

“Two years later at the age of ten they asked me again, this time I gave it more thought and soon enough my answer was a definite yes,” she said. “By this time we had made friends with a fair few people in the sport and one of the major friendships we formed still to this day was with Ricky Dudek and the whole Dudek family.

“Ricky helped my parents find a junior dragster and spent so many days and nights at our house getting his old slow motor prepared to put in it, the junior came with a faster

motor but because of my age I had no choice but to run the slow one.

“We took the junior to an area that we could test and drive it around a bit and see how it went. We had one mishap that day and had to pack it up and go home, I wasn't told what happened that day until a while later (more on that later.”

The younger Lightowler was a far cry from her now confident self. The culmination of all the years envisioning the moment created a wave of uncontrollable emotion.

Racing in front of thousands of people for the first time can create self doubt and nerves in anyone - let alone a 10 year old.

“I went off to the back paddock to do some practice

Naomi Lightowler's first trips in her Junior Dragster were far from confident, but her growth in drag racing has seen her now able to drive a hard charging Super Gasser without fear.

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launches and drive around some cones and answer a few questions before going to face the huge crowd and to do three runs and be signed off,” she said. “Once I was told this I just burst into tears, anyone who was there that day will remember the waterworks I put on to get out of doing it. I remember crying at mum and Shane (her stepfather) telling them to sell the car - I wasn't cut out to do it.”

Positive support from her parents and friends would help Lightowler push through her fears.

“February the next year we went to a test and tune to try again and see if I could move past it,” she said. “I think we went to the staging lanes three times, each time I would put my helmet on and cry, or get to the next step of strapping in and start crying again and have to tow back.

“The next time, Shane's father told me just to do it because he knew once I did that first past I would love it and never stop. I don't know why but I had pretty strong faith in him and gave it a go. The car ran a 10.40 which for my age was way too quick back then. At the next meeting we went fast again, and the meeting after and the one after that. I couldn't understand why - a slow motor was meant to be slow!”

The team then revealed their secret from that first day test driving the car.

“On the way to the track for another meet I asked Mum and Shane why it wouldn't slow down and why we kept going quick,” Lightowler said. “They then decided to tell me that the day we tested the slow motor before we raced it, I had actually blown it up and they had no choice but to put the big motor that came with the car back in it and didn't want to tell me in case I would panic. I was stoked!”

So begun Lightowler's Junior Dragster career, conquering a fear of failure and converting that into major successes, but drag racing still was not finished testing young Lightowler yet.

“I didn't have long until I could go fast which was 8.50, one of my first meetings as a fast Junior I made a final, I loved that feeling, the feeling of being recognised, of being one of the best on the day, you just can't put a price on it. I never looked back from that point, we had our game faces on,” she said.

“My time in Junior Dragster was eventful to say the least, as a family and team we had so many highs and so many lows.

“I had been in a few finals since starting, but then out of nowhere I just went downhill. For about a year or two I lost first round every meeting, we used to go to the Winternationals every year but in this massive low my parents decided not to go for those years.

“That hit home hard, I got motivated, pulled my head in and decided I needed to win, not just for me but for everyone who had put in time and effort in my racing.

“Then, we hit the highs, I was getting to more and more finals at track and national levels, and soon enough I became the NSW Divisional Champion, Sydney Dragway Track Champion runner up, and equal third in the Australian points series.”

Lightowler was moving into the twilight of her Junior Dragster driving when Joe Princi, a godfather of junior drag racing in Sydney, had one last challenge for her.

“At the end of that season Joe Princi, who we had become quite good friends with, offered me to drive one of his best juniors, without even thinking I accepted and we put the old junior up for sale,“ she said.

“Somehow the first meeting I competed in the new junior I got to a final, but then the effects of driving a new car began. I struggled to find my point of reacting on the tree and where to stage because the new junior reacted a lot quicker, but within a couple of months I adjusted and we were back.

“Those last few months before the season ended and I turned 17, we didn't lose first round, I made it to a few finals and then it came to the last ever meeting I would compete in as a junior drag racer.

“Emotions were high but I just went into it thinking I've achieved what I wanted from juniors, and this definitely won't be the end of my racing career, so I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be. We ended up winning the event and I honestly couldn't have been happier and I can't thank Joe and Connie Princi enough for what they did for me in that last season.”

All the time spent crewing on Super Gassers in her teens had

rubbed off and Lightowler would quickly find herself raring to go in a piece of Australian drag racing history.

“Shane had just finished building his 1970 XW Falcon wagon so our plans were for me to go to a few streets meets, get use to it and then compete in Street Fighter until we got ourselves sorted with a race car,“ she said.

“During Christmas in the year I finished in juniors, John Somoracz (JB) told us about this race car that was advertised online. He knew Shane and I were constantly fighting over what race car we wanted and we just couldn't find something that we both really loved. So we looked at this car and straight away and I fell in love just from the photos, I showed Shane and he liked it too, so that was it - we had to have it.

“Still today people are telling me about the great man who raced our car previously - Wayne Missingham. The car is most famously known for the paint job he had on it with the Australian flag. We bought the 1986 Pontiac Firebird pretty much as a roller, then bought an engine, diff centre, converter and had a transmission that had to be fixed up, and Shane, JB and Terry Koukides spent endless hours getting the car ready.

“Next we had to think of what bracket I would race in, Super Sedan or Super Gas. After nearly eight years in Junior Dragster with dial ins, my whole family were over it. I liked the idea of a pro tree and everyone running to the same index and let's face it I'm a Super Gas girl through and through. I liked that I already knew the majority of the racers in Super Gas and that they are some of the nicest people I know in this sport and I wasn't thrilled about the idea of massive field sizes and dial ins in Super Sedan so Super Gas it was!”

Soon enough Lightowler would be now racing against those she crewed with and looked up too, but not before a thrash to ready the car and license before her planned debut.

“The deal was that I had to race the wagon for two street meets and then I could jump straight into the Pontiac so we had decided that no matter what we were going to the Winternationals, we entered the car and hoped for the best,” she said.

“We decided the APSA event in May would be the best time to get my license, then race at the next track meeting and go straight to the Winternationals two weeks after that. I've never seen men work so hard, they put every hour and every inch of effort into having the car ready for May. “To be on the safe side we asked JB to drive it first before I hopped in, so before the APSA event there was a three day private hire and we had aimed to race those three days with me licensing on the Friday and racing the Saturday. We pushed and pushed, but we couldn't get the car out there until the Friday. By that Thursday night we had fired it up and had it ready with only a few small things left to do and decided that we would just do it at the track.

“We spent all of the Friday morning getting the car 100% race ready and it was such a rush that I didn't even think about being nervous. But when JB was in the car at 3pm that day in the start up box that changed and I thought I was going to collapse.”

Lightowler could see her drag racing future ready to go down the quarter for the first time.

“I was so excited to finally get it going because that's what we had spent all this time and money on, there was no one I trust more than JB to drive a race car,” she said. “Despite my trust in him I didn't know how the car was going to go, all I could think was I bet something major will break and it'll be just my luck, and I won't get to even go to the Winters!

“Standing on that starting line watching him do a burnout in my beloved race car, then staging it, I was shaking. With a new race car you never ever expect everything to work harmoniously and go down the track without a flinch, but this did. This crazy freak of nature car never missed a beat and JB's first run was a 9.94. That was the moment I knew I was destined for Super Gas - it was real.”

With the car sorted it was Lightowler's turn to prepare herself and license. Though the nerves still existed, her experience in the junior ranks has prepared her to control them for this moment – with no repeat of her junior licensing episodes.

“We left the car at the track and came back the next morning

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Left: Trophies eventually came to Naomi Lightowler in her Junior Dragster days, despite a lull where the team felt like they could not escape the first round.

Below: Family has been a critically important factor in Lightowler's drag racing. Without their support, she doubts she would have found the confdence to keep going.

Opposite page: Penrite have come aboard to support Lightowler's racing in Super Gas. The car is the ex-Wayne Missingham Pro Stocker, famed for its Australian flag paintwork back in the 90s.

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and nervous was an understatement, I tried so hard to keep cool around everyone but inside I thought I was going to be sick,” she said.

“I took the car for a drive around the pits to warm it up and at the same time I got in they called us to the staging lanes so immediately everyone stressed but I just got in, suited up, belted up and drove it around. I think I went around the block twice, brought it back and said let's go.

“I was in the staging lanes when it hit me. Not only is the car a billion times more powerful than a Junior Dragster, but I'm now driving on the left hand side. I'm also not the smallest person so in a Junior Dragster I was pretty crammed in, but now in the Pontiac with a funny car roll cage and all this room around me it felt so strange, but as always I had to adjust and adjust quickly.”

The quarter mile now stretched out in front of Lightowler for the first time in a full size race car and she had to recall all the processes that have been hammered into her in preparation for her first skid.

“My first burnout I will never forget. Terry Koukides had told me the process over and over so I just did what he said and went to stage, launched off the foot brake and went to half track,” she said.

“When mum and Shane came to pick me up all they said was, 'that burnout was so good, we never expected you to do it so well' then they showed me the video footage and I had a grin from ear to ear.

“I just kept telling everyone that I did what I was told, as soon as the car started the nerves and all the fear disappeared, so I was able to do what the boys were telling me and execute that, apparently quite well.

“Next was the full track pass which I just did the same but went all the way to the finish line, most of the nerves had settled by now so I was okay that run.

“After that was another full track but with chutes and they scared me. Over my time in drag racing I've heard so many theories about chutes, when to pull and when not to pull them, stay on the accelerator, get off it, so all the nerves and fears came running back. The message from JB was get off it and pull the chutes, done, I could do that. Everyone agreed that was the way to go so that run I did it and it was all fine.

“Next race was the first round of eliminations. I checked with ANDRA about my license and was told I had been completely signed off, so straight into eliminations I went.

“By this stage I had had enough, enough of the nerves, enough of the fear and everyone's fuss and I just wanted to go home.

So I thought great, I'm new and I'll probably race someone with experience, they'll put me on the trailer and we can go,

great, but oh no. This racer had other plans, he decided to red light and down the bottom end he wasn't happy because he went red and I wasn't happy because I had to race this daunting car again.

“So we came out for second round and as much as I wanted to leave, I still did what I was told and tried my best. We lost which I didn't mind, but I was signed off on my license and that's all I cared about.”

Now that the nerves and fears were fading with licensing and racing, it was time to concentrate turning the Pontiac into a competitive Super Gas machine and honing Lightowler's skills for a pro tree start.

“Despite having decided to race in Super Gas, we were missing one major component, a throttle stop, and they don't come cheap,” Lightowler said. “So it was agreed we would just run without one, because I refused to go into Super Sedan and race then come back to Gas and try and race on pro tree. I wouldn't have it.

“So we raced the following track meeting, the Winternationals and a few more meetings after the Winters without one, we weren't very successful but I still wasn't using transbrake and still had trepidations to get over before we could think about being competitive. I finally got the courage to use the transbrake and started cutting a lot better lights and not long after that we bought a throttle stop from another racer and had Terry Koukides, who I now call my magic man, come and set it up.”

The partnership with Koukides knowledge and Lightowler's driving has been perfection with the car on the numbers immediately.

“Since having the throttle stop and Terry I've achieved some major goals in Super Gas, we run a 9.9 almost every run,” she said. “Terry waves his wand and the car performs to exactly what he wants. It goes without saying that I would be well and truly lost without him and his wealth of knowledge. Anyone who knows Terry knows he can be very determined. Well he had one goal in mind and he wasn't stopping until it was achieved.

“Our second qualifier at the 2014 Australian Nationals we ran our first ever perfect 9.900, he had done it, all the data, the effort, the number work, the weather stations everything, it had all worked thanks to my magic man.

“We were on such a high that weekend, I felt like a real contender, like I was capable, that I was a threat, and that feeling gives me so much courage and confidence that I didn't have before. First round came along and out of nowhere I cut a .000 reaction time, the perfect 9.900 was the kick in the butt that I needed to do my job. Terry could make the car run 9.90

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all day but if didn't react we still wouldn't win, so I got it together but never expected that.

“I also made it to the semi finals that weekend which is so far the biggest highlight of racing Super Gas. The Super Gas drivers are strong drivers, a lot of them have been racing for 10 to 20 years or more, so to make it that far in such a tough field was definitely a massive accomplishment for me.”

In only a couple short months since debuting Lightowler had the confidence brewing in the ultra competitive and technical Super Gas to be a contender at any event.

Luck plays it part in all sport and quick achievements can be easily dismissed as luck by some, but often with hard work luck will follow.

“Some may say that with the Pontiac I've been lucky that it has run as well as it has, lucky it hasn't broke, lucky that I had no problems driving it,” she said. “It's often said 'it's better to be lucky than good' but I believe that if your luck runs out or you're not lucky that day, you still have to be

good as a backup.

“It may seem like I have effortlessly taken to the new car, but I have had my struggles, I was so afraid of the car that I had to force myself mentally and physically to drive it. I've had the knob on the shifter come off so it didn't automatically shift in eliminations, I've had my foot slip off the throttle and had to do a tricky manoeuvre to get the other foot on to not lose too much time, but still was a waste of a run. They are not major struggles but they are things we have all learnt from.”

The ultra competitive Super Gas community have been very accommodating to their new combatant.

“Everyone in Super Gas has been so friendly, welcoming and accepting of me in the bracket. The boys in Sydney have made my Super Gas experience so enjoyable and full of happiness, every single one of them feels like family and I am so grateful for their kindness,” Lightowler said.

“Super Gas is so daunting coming from juniors, I'm playing with the big boys now, but the way they have accepted me

into the class has made me feel like I've been with them all my life, they've just made racing so enjoyable, so thank you.

“The one thing I love about drag racing is the people, the people make the sport what it is, my family and I have made lifelong friends and extended family in this sport.

And if it wasn't for the people I may not have been able to achieve what I've achieved.

“The one person I look up to is JB, that man can be abrupt and tell you how it is even when you don't want to hear it, but he always means well and I wouldn't have him any other way. He is my idol, my hero, my extended uncle and my best friend, he is the racer I aspire to be like and his attitude to racing amazes me every race meeting. He is the person that taught me to have a tough skin and to smile when you lose and to take a loss as good as I can take a win.

He may not know it but he has made me the racer and the person I am today and for that I will be forever grateful.

“And there are so many people and businesses that I need to thank for making my dreams come true. Penrite have

been the most amazing sponsor, I can't thank the Penrite Oils team enough for their contribution to my racing and their promotion of me as a brand ambassador along with Carbon Mechanical, Somoracz Race Cars, Craig's Automatics and Westend Performance.

“Shane and mum, you guys make everything possible, without you guys putting up with me, funding my racing and letting me live my dreams I wouldn't be where I am today. Terry, Nicola and Erin Koukides, you guys are my second family and without your help, support and Terry's endless help with the car I would be so lost. JB, you are amazing, you help me with everything no matter how big or small, you always give me encouragement, confidence and bring me back to reality when I get carried away, I really can't thank you enough. And to everyone else who I am close to and those who I may not know so well but have given me words of encouragement, praise or support.”

The Welch family have gone through the highs and the lows, vehicles of all kinds and generation after generation. And it is all still about the drag racing.

Story by Grant Stephens. Photos by cacklingpipes.com and Welch family.

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FAMILY AFFAIR

The Welch Family from Sydney are a true generational drag racing family spanning the last 45 years on the blacktop.

New Welches seem to hit the track with high frequency and the origins lie in one of the famous American tours from the early days of Australian drag racing history.

Brothers Richard and Bill began their love affair with drag racing in the mid sixties when father Tom took the boys to Sydney's Castlereagh drag strip, where Bill recalled seeing the American dragster Yellow Fang race.

“I had read about this car from car magazines that dad used to get, I wasn’t all that interested in who drove the car, only the car itself, I was fascinated by the way the cars looked and sounded,” said Bill.

“To this day I think there is nothing more beautiful than a front engine dragster and at 13 years of age I decided that when I was old enough I would go drag racing.”

From then on Bill and Richard set about learning up on the craft and planning their first drag car, it was all they wanted to do.

“I read everything I could get my hands on about drag racing, so around the age of 16 I started looking for a car, I decided on a FJ Holden as there was a lot of them around and I was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic,” said Bill.

The brothers were offered an FX ute from a friend's brother and though they expected a wreck, they were pleasantly surprised to see a car that looked the part – and was given to them for nothing.

“I owe a lot to those two brothers,” Bill reflected.

Bill was the primary builder of the ute and so had the driving duties, with Richard cracking his neck to get behind the wheel, and they all joined the Panthers Drag Racing Club.

“We would hold club meetings at the race track on the proviso we would do work around the track to keep and maintain the venue,” Richard said. “Well I think we spent more time drinking the kegs of beer we took with us and racing than working, but bloody great times.”

Bill continued to race the ute until he destroyed the red motor inside and with a girlfriend on the scene Bill decided to give the ute to Richard.

Richard went on to buy the Red Eye T-Bucket altered which was aptly renamed Grog On. The boys used to frequent the Plumpton Inn and Richard managed to squeeze some dollars out of them for sponsorship. Being located next to a pig farm, the pub was dubbed The Pig Shit Inn and so the sign writing on the side of the altered read 'We GROG ON at the Plumpton (Pig Shit) Inn'.

The brothers ran their way through a variety of combinations until the closure of Castlereagh. There were no event wins but the brothers weren't in it for that.

“We just enjoyed everyone's company and had fun, we made a lot friends and some we still see today. I had wished we had have kept all our race cars but could not afford to do so,” lamented Bill.

Richard amusingly recalled putting one of those lifelong drag racing friendships at risk early on.

“During the late 70s I was working at Sydney County Council where I met Bill Crealy (the current starter at Sydney Dragway) and he started coming to the track with us,” he said. “I remember Bill was pretty handy with a movie camera in those days of Super 8 film, so we went about mounting his camera on the roll cage and the like. Then at one of our club days I said to Bill how about you stand in the braking area and film me coming at you, just don't move, I will go around you when I get close.

Imagine doing that these days!”

The closure of Castlereagh put a hole in many NSW drag racers career and for the Welches it was no different. Bill moved to Queensland and would not race again until 2000. Richard sold his dragster and went about raising his two young sons Ron and Matt, while biding his time until drag racing returned to the state when an opportunity arose to make the switch to drag racing a bike.

“We never strayed too far from drag racing, taking the boys out to Oran Park and trips to Heathcote and Willowbank to watch,” Richard said. “Then in about 1990 I was approached by my

Clockwise from opposite page: The 'Grog On' altered was one of the family's first explorations into serious race vehicles. It was sponsored by the 'Pig Shit Inn'.

Racing at Castlereagh ensured a life long passion for the sport would ensue. A dragster even made an appearance, one of the team's favourite vehicles.

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The pro-style bike ridden by Matthew Welch was arguably one of the family's most successful vehicles, earning an Australian Nationals title.

cousin David Flood to go into partnership with him with a drag bike.

“It didn't take me long to say yes, with kids being older and life settled I was back in the sport I loved. David rode the bike for a little bit when Eastern Creek Raceway was opened, then he went off to start a family so I bought him out of his share of the bike.

“Then in 1995 with my eldest son Ron being old enough to race it was decided that he would start sharing the riding duties with me.”

Richard's sons Ron and Matt did most of their growing up in New South Wales' 1980s drag racing drought, so the pair cut their teeth in motocross before the drag racing bug came calling.

“My earliest memory is of watching dad race in the early 80s and thinking I just want to be like Dad,” Ron said. “Back in them days with no such thing as Junior Dragster so I had to wait until I was 17 but in the meantime I was running around the pits with all the other racers' kids watching and growing up around the greatest sport in the world while racing motocross with my younger brother.

“In 1995 I was finally old enough to get my ANDRA drag racing licence and in doing so I became the first ever third generation drag racer in Australia.

“I was able to race Dad's drag bike but it was decided by Dad due to being so young that I would only race at Canberra so I wasn't distracted by having all my friends out the track.

“It was the best thing I've ever done, that first burnout, that first pass. I was drag racer, a lifelong dream had come true and it's a feeling, a rush that I still get today from racing. I can't describe but it's the best thing in the world.”

NSW racers were struck down again by Eastern Creek's closure and then Canberra's, so with no place to race, Richard offered the bike seat to Bill who was still residing in Queensland.

“Richard asked me if I wanted to race his drag bike I thought about it for about ten seconds and said yes, much to my wife’s disgust,” said Bill.

“So in 2000 I started racing again and have been racing ever since, my eldest son bought a HT Monaro in 2001 so I gave that a couple of runs at Willowbank too and it ran 12.60 off the street. I moved back to Sydney in 2004 to look after Mum and Dad, I did say my wife was not impressed with me racing again so she soon got the flick too.

“I bought a Suzuki GSX 1100 off Mick Withers and built that up to run in Modified Bike and have some fun again. I ran a nine something at 140mph and I thought that was pretty cool for a 50 year old.”

During that time Sydney Dragway was coming to fruition and the other half of the Welch family were planning their return to the strip. Ron and Matt had bought a bike identical to their Dad's which was sent to Bill for a makeover in the team livery

and the bike was raced at Willowbank and Sydney by Ron before moving on to his next project bike.

“I bought Matt out so he could go off and buy a house and the like, then in about late 2003 I met my great mate Paul Sobolewski and he joined the team as a crew member and soon it was decided I would sell my bike to him and build a new project,” Ron said.

“So now Paul joined the team as rider and with the the amazing help of both Wayne Quinnell and Bill I converted my street bike Yamaha R6 into a drag bike.

“After I had a run and I found due to my height that I wasn't comfortable on the bike, Matt was handed the riding duties.”

Matt was a late bloomer to the racing side of things. Like Ron he grew up with dirt bikes and it wasn't until 2005 that Matt actually decided to throw the leg over a drag bike.

“I guess it wasn't really until Sydney got built and there was a bit of order that I really understood what was involved in drag racing,” Matt said. “I then appreciated what was involved in the whole aspect racing and the time, effort and money that goes into it “I never showed much interest in racing until 2005, I was just happy to help out. But Dad finally put his foot down and said you're getting a licence and I'll even pay for it, so then that was it.

“I remember being so nervous for the whole week leading up to racing Dad's bike for the first time. I was more nervous about doing a burnout. A lot of people probably don't realise I've never ridden a bike on the road and by now I was in my 20s and had not ridden a dirt bike for a long time.

“Once I got that first pass out of the way I soon realised that I had wasted so many years of standing back and not racing. I loved it.”

The Welch family were back in full force on the track and the four family members continued to race bikes together until 2007 when Bill crashed off the start line.

Deciding that his body no longer bounced off the concrete like it used to, he stepped aside, repaired the bike and passed it on to Matt, but would ultimately come back in Super Street with the HT Monaro he had since bought off his son.

In the same year that Bill crashed and retired from riding, Richard won his first ever event after 35 years of trying.

“It was on was September 29, 2007 that I broke my duck and won my first ever race meeting,” Richard said. “It only took some 35 years. Then going on to get runner up in track championship the following season ranked up there as well.

“I continued to race until two years ago when I had to retire from racing due to health reasons, bloody doctors! When I had to stop racing I handed the riding duties over to great friend and long time crew member Wayne Quinnell who has been riding the bike for me since and I get just as much a thrill watching Wayne ride my bike as I did riding it.

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For Ron, he had found his calling in a fledgling bike class.

“A new bike class was started for Harley Davidson's called Screamin' Eagles so I decided this looks cool and owning a Harley Sportster that was the class for me, so you beauty I'm back doing what I love,” he beamed.

“I raced the Sportster for around six seasons and achieved many event wins and runner ups, the highlights were winning the USA vs AUS Scott Kalitta Memorial meeting against my team mate Wayne Quinnell and becoming Track Champion in 2006/07.”

But reflecting the important of family, his proudest moment in racing was not one of Ron's own highlights.

“My proudest moment in racing was watching my brother win the Australian Nationals and Dad, my racing hero win his first ever meeting,” he said. “The emotion and feeling was something I've never felt before, to see them achieve that is something that will last a life time.”

After Bill's crash and in his quest to go quicker, Matt took the reins of the repaired bike, but not for long.

“I jumped on Bill's Suzuki which was a wild old bike and ran a 9.5 the first time I rode it, after that I couldn't get much else out of it because it was just too wild off the start line,” he said.

“It used to scare the life out of Belinda, who I had just met at the Summer Nationals in 2008, she hated me riding that bike.

“I saw a newer Suzuki for sale which I'm sure was an old Pro/Comp Bike from the 90s. We grabbed it and put Bill's motor in it and that bike was good, it went straight, but it took us a while to get on top of setting it up.

Clockwise from left: Ron Welch found his calling with the Screamin' Eagles class at Sydney Dragway. All manner of two wheeled machines have passed through the possession of the Welch family. Belinda Welch is the latest driver to join the clan. Her Street Fighter Ford Falcon has been very successful, winning two championships. With a big team comes a big pit operation.

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“We finally got it running in the eights, the best it did was an 8.79 at 147mph and in the time we raced the bike we had a lot of fun and success. We won the first Darren Shepherd Memorial Trophy which was a great deal to us and a very proud moment and winning a Gold Christmas Tree at the 2011 Nationals was by far the best thing I had ever done in drag racing.”

A crash saw that bike retired and an ex-Pro Stock Motorcycle purchased, a Col Linney-built 1500cc motor was fitted for a shot at Comp Bike but bad luck unfortunately prevented the bike's potential from being reached.

“Unfortunately I came off it at Sydney Dragway past the finish line and that put a end to the bike,” Matt said. “My father-inlaw Brian Vernon has it now and is slowly rebuilding it.

“Then Bill brought Locky Ireland's old Pro Bike and but unfortunately we hurt two motors in that and Bill couldn't justify spending any more money on it.

“We were so close to running a seven second pass on it when we hurt the motor the second time at the X Champs. But I guess it was never to be and the bike has been sold.

“After that I spoke with Belinda and decided to take a break from racing as I really wanted to get her set up racing. I had seen since she started racing that she is a damn good racer. So after watching her win back to back championships in Street Fighter it's now time for her to step up into Super Street in the VT Commodore and prove to everyone that she really is a good racer.

“Whatever she does she will always make me proud, so for now

I'll just continue working at the track which is something I really love doing and helping Belinda realise her dreams in drag racing.”

So let's speak about Belinda for the first time!

Belinda got hooked on the sport through her father Brian Vernon, who had begun racing Modified Bike at Sydney Dragway. Soon Belinda wanted to race after meeting Matt and the logical conclusion was that it would be on a bike, but that idea was soon changed.

“I had never met any of the Welchs but I had heard from my Dad that they were lovely people,” she said. “I had seen Matt around the track a few times and really wanted to meet him and I finally worked up the courage to talk to him at the Summernationals 2008. We have been together ever since,” Belinda said.

“I started to pester Dad and Matt about racing in 2009, and Richard (Welch) offered to let me ride his bike, but my Dad would not have a bar of it. I can ride a motorbike and have done since I was seven but racing one would be a bit too dangerous for his liking. Dad decided that he would build me a car to race but after two very long years it was nowhere near finished so he decided to buy me the XR8 in January 2012.

“Once I was in the driver's seat and made my first pass I was even more hooked than ever before and I just wanted to go faster. My wonderful husband stepped aside from racing so that I could concentrate on my racing and I hope I have done him proud, though I always give the boys a bit of stick and remind them that I am the only member of the Welch family

that races and hasn't crashed.”

It was not long before Belinda began racking up wins in Street Fighter with the XR8 and then Track Championships and now she has made the progression to Super Street with the purchase of a dedicated race car in the form of a VT Commodore and hopes to continue to prove her worth in racing.

“Since I started racing I have been lucky enough to win back to back NSW Championships in Street Fighter as well as being awarded the Coral Dyer Memorial Trophy for the Highest Point Scoring Female for the NSW Championship in 2014 and I feel incredibly honoured to receive such a prestigious award,” she said.

“The 2015 season will see me step up a class and compete in Super Street, competition is going to be tough but I'll be giving it everything I've got. I would love to go faster in the future, my dream is to race a Doorslammer or Top Alcohol Dragster.”

And as the old the family adage says, those that race together stay together.

“Racing is a very important part of our family life, with my parents living two and a half hours away we don't get much time with them except at race meetings. It's an awesome feeling being in the pits and knowing that your whole family is there supporting you, I couldn't do it without them. Hopefully one day my dream will become a reality because as I always say 'follow your dreams and never say never'.”

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FIRE STARTER The young jet dragster driving sensation creating a legion of new fans in the west.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUKE NIEUWHOF.

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Craig Allison rolls daughter Rhiannon out to the start line of Perth Motorplex for her first competition pass in a jet dragster.

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Rhiannon Allison is the newest 'queen of the kids' in Western Australia as the pilot of the Felicity Dragwell jet dragster.

She made her debut at the Jet Car Max event on December 28 (which extended out to January 2) and impressed with her five second passes and candour with the fans.

Allison was the Rookie of the Year last season for Perth Motorplex's track championship and that opened up some doors to drive one of these thrust-powered beasts.

“I never thought I would be offered a drive in a jet car, but winning the Rookie of the Year and driving the (Supercharged Outlaws) dragster last season kickstarted my career pretty well,” she said.

“Gary (Miocevich, owner of the cars) came to me. I always stayed in touch with Chuck (Haynes, jet car driver) and he basically spoke to Gary and said I was suited for the drive and should consider it.

“Gary and I and the family had a meeting and he wanted me to drive and I was really keen.”

Despite some incidents involving the jets in recent events at Perth Motorplex such as Pieter De Wit's death defying braking area crash, Allison said she was impressed with the level of safety now put into the cars including timer activated shut offs and chute releases.

“I'd put the crashes and stuff behind, the safety was phenomenal,” she said. “There was no way I would knock it back.

“I was going to the jet workshop almost every night to get the four cars ready. I never thought I would be in a jet car to be honest. Going fast is my dream, so I get to live my dream in a jet car. I loved watching them and now I am lucky enough to drive.”

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The process of learning to drive a jet dragster was very involved. Given the unusual techniques required to drive a thrust-powered vehicle, even experienced drag racers are required to start from the bottom up.

“They're not just like a normal race car,” Allison explained.

“Coming from the dragster it was left foot brake, right foot go.

“We basically started talking about what our licensing was going to be. Most of the time we worked on the cars it was me getting to know the race craft itself, getting to know the team and how they run because I wasn't familiar with that and neither was dad. We became very comfortable with them and I felt a lot more comfortable to drive the car.

“I knew my Supercharged Outlaws dragster so once I got to know the jet car I felt heaps better.”

One unusual part of her training was learning how to do the jet dragster fire shows that impress the crowd before a five second pass as well as the tricky staging routine.

“Before we went down the track we did two weekends of start line, basically the fire shows and bringing the cars into stage,” she said. “As you bring the RPM up the car starts to drive into stage. You stage with your front brakes, that was my biggest

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thing, When you are out there it is completely different. I was getting the hang of staging so then we started licensing proper, it was a really good process.”

From there is was time to start learning the rest of the track.

“Chuck flew in (from the USA) and basically my first stage was to do no burner passes, then do a half track burner, three quarter track burner and a full track burner,” Allison said.

“With the burner on it is 40% of your power, but going down the track with no burner it was still really quick.

“The process was very long but very beneficial. Now I am licensed and safe. Chuck has been a great mentor, he definitely knows his stuff, he has been around jets for a long time which helps a lot.”

We asked Allison what she found most difficult about the process.

“Basically the hardest part was to learn the whole different race craft. I don't have any accelerators at my feet,” she said.

“I had to learn how to use the burner and the hot streak. The burner fuels the jet and the hot streak is on my steering wheel - that is like a transbrake, putting fuel in it and then the hot streak makes it go. Without the hot streak, you are just putting

Learning to perform the pre-race fire show was a critical, and difficult, part of learning the jet dragster for Allison. She said it was like learning how to do a burnout all over again.

fuel in it and it only becomes raw fuel.

“How to do the fire shows was a big thing, getting to know how to use the burner with different RPM. It's like learning how to do a burnout all over again. It was a good learning curve for me and for mum and dad.”

Despite being just 19 years old, Allison has made plenty of runs in the family's Supercharged Outlaws dragster. She would have had plenty of reasons to be a bundle of nerves, but she battled through.

“The first feeling was trust yourself, because I am in control of the car,” she said. “I know what to do out there - no brakes, no brakes, no brakes.

“Going out there I needed to have confidence because without that I was going to do no good. I had a lot of nerves once the engine started winding over but I had dad there and the whole family and I knew I could do it. I had that belief in me and once you hit the burner and you do your fire shows the nerves just go and you feel like you are a natural. I thought I can do this. I put the car into stage, I was settled and calm and off I went.

“Mum couldn't watch the first run because she was so nervous.

I guess I understand, I'm driving a powerful beast and it was the first time I went down the strip. I'm wary of what the car can do, like any other race car, but I am definitely well aware of what I am doing and also through licensing I just had to listen to Chuck and what he was telling me, anything wrong he was pointing out.”

Licensing complete, Allison was able to move on to the fun stuff – proper racing with a car alongside and spectators on the hill.

“While I was testing it was the team and no audience, I knew I was going to be nervous on race day because I wanted to perform the best I could for the show,” she said. “Before our first run of the first Jet Car Max event I was just staying focused. We towed around and Corey Marriott interviewed me before I jumped in the car and it calmed my nerves down massively and I just relaxed. Having dad there beside me always helps to. The monkey was off my back and it was game on.”

As it turned out, Allison got one pass in at version one of Jet Car Max, before a power outage brought an early end to the event. She returned for the continuation of the event and was

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able to run a personal best of 5.83 at 260mph.

“I achieved my goal by far at the Jet Car Max event. I've wanted to crack 400kph for a while now and I finally hit it at 418kph,” she said. “I thought my seven second dragster was quick.”

The other bonus was getting to interact with fans after each pass.

“Being 19 I guess and racing since a young age, a lot of younger girls come up to me at the drags and ask if I race and they think its awesome,” Allison said.

“For me to know I'm a role model to them is great, doing what I am doing and having fans like that it is good for them to see girls can do it as well, because it is a male dominated sport.

“I've always looked up to Courtney Force and when I was younger Ashley Force was there. Courtney Force is my idol and she has been in the back of my mind, so I might be in the back of another young girl's mind. There are plenty of ladies out there who think it is male dominated but I'm a young girl and I can do it.

“I couldn't believe after my first pass how many young kids

and adults came to ask me to sign posters, shirts, phones, hats and the event magazines. It was such a great feeling to chat to so many young kids who were so interested in what I do. Kids were so excited to meet me after hearing the radio adverts thanks to my sponsor 92.9. My first meeting will be one of my favourite memories in my racing career. I felt proud and special that night.”

Allison would like to one day get on to the east coast to do some jet shows, or even overseas.

“I definitely think we will look into doing the east coast, it depends on what Gary and the team want to do but I am sure there are plenty of opportunities there for us to go over,” she said. “I would love to travel to America and to see Chuck and see their jet cars and how they play jets. Just to experience another drag strip and a bit of the world. Seeing that might open up so many more things. I definitely want to travel and race it just depends how it works out.

“I would just like to thank the entire team involved at the track and off but most of all Gary Miocevich for making this happen.”

Allison said that just having her family present during licensing helped ease the nerves. Father Craig and mother Mel have been as much a part of the learning curve as Rhiannon.

CLUTCH

101 One of the most crucial parts of getting a high horsepower car or bike down a drag strip is clutch set up, so Drag News went to Michael Marriott, crew chief for the Spinozzi Racing Pro Stock team, to find the friction point.

THE BASICS Marriott explained that first we must understand there are a rough three components to set up – 1. Engine (power), 2.

Clutch and 3. Traction.

“Any time you change one or three, it will show you in the middle,” he said. “If you put more power in there and there is still enough traction you will see more clutch slippage. Or if you have the same amount of power and you increase the amount of traction the clutch will also slip more. The clutch will be an indication of how the track is.”

An adjustable clutch tends to be a rarity in Group Three, but will be found more commonly in Group Two and almost predominantly in Group One. “The clutch in a nine second Super Sedan most likely won't have any adjustment, it will have its total clutch load built into the clutch,” Marriott said. “There are a lot of different types of clutches, but generally speaking it would be non-adjustable in the Super Sedan.”

That makes the initial clutch choice extremely important. The first priority of the clutch is that it must be able to generate enough force to give the car 1:1 drive at a given RPM in each gear.

“One of the things is that the smaller the clutch, the smaller the window the clutch operates in,” Marriott said. “It makes the clutch less forgiving. It comes down a lot to the clutch surface area, a bigger clutch or more clutch plates and floaters will end up with more surface area and is able to dissipate heat quicker.”

Moving up the clutch hierarchy, fine adjustability is critical. It begins with the amount of base pressure in the clutch, which is controlled by an allen key which adjusts the install height of the spring and is measured in turns of base pressure wound in.

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUKE NIEUWHOF.

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“Generally speaking there will be six small springs and depending on the style of engine that base pressure will vary from 150 pounds to 1000 pounds,” Marriott said.

The next part of the clutch that is adjustable is the centrifugal force which is controlled by the levers that throw out as the RPM increases. Adding and decreasing weight changes the rate of application at which the clutch comes in. Each clutch lever has a set force unique to each design and the weight is then increased by adding and removing a small nut, washer and bolt combination. The lever has a hole to place the adjustable weight. Pro Stock adjustments can be so fine that lighter nylon nuts and bolts are sometimes used.

Though not an adjustable variable, clutch size is dependant on the horsepower of the engine being used.

“A Pro Stock car has a much smaller clutch between six and seven inches, versus a Top Doorslammer which is 10.5 or 11 inches,” Marriott said. “That clutch will have much more surface area and can withstand more heat.

“You can go one step further in something like the Doorslammers where they run a lock up clutch so in first gear they might use their four primary levers and two levers as their secondary lock up levers (activated by the driver, RPM, time or shift), depending on how many levers that clutch set up has in it.

“A Pro Stock car reaches a 1:1 point on average around 8500 rpm where it locks up.”

APPLYING A SET UP Going back to Michael's earlier point, the basics of a set up are in the amount of power you have available and the amount of

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traction you have available. It's a very simplified version, but those two factors are essentially what determine how you need to get the power to the ground.

On a better start line surface you can apply more clutch base pressure.

“That is what happens when you first release the clutch, the first hard bang that the tyre sees,” Marriott said. “The better the surface the more base pressure you can run. If the surface or the start line isn't as good you have to reduce the base pressure you run. You also reduce the application rate the clutch comes in at.”

Getting more in depth and the more things start to whiz straight over our heads. We'll let Michael explain.

“The clutch is a very mathematical thing,” he said. “All the clutches I work with I must have the maths for them, that gives me a load rate versus RPM. “Every time you shift gears with a Pro Stock car it determines where the clutch RPM drops to on the shift. If the driver is more than 200-300rpm out on the shift it has a very big effect on the clutch.

“If the driver shifts too early you won't have the centrifugal force at the bottom of the next gear and so the clutch may then slip too much. If the driver shifts too late you have too much force and it may make it too aggressive on the change and the car will shake. It can also unsettle a car further down track (risking breaking traction and an accident).”

If there is one thing going in Pro Stock's favour when it comes to clutch set up, it is that engine power stays relatively constant. Marriott said that with turbocharged applications, the temptation to increase horsepower can be very high, but that will unsettle hard work you have done in setting up the

Sam Gullotto attends to the clutch between rounds in his 500 cubic inch DS Racing Pontiac GTO.

clutch.

“Where it is difficult in the turbo cars or the blown cars is that boost can be adjusted so easily and that makes tuning of the clutch very difficult,” he said. “On the turbo cars you need to increase the power gradually and bring the clutch program with it otherwise it makes it difficult to know how much clutch you have in.

“The tuners have that adjustability at their fingertips so they tend to make bigger changes quickly. I do suspension on turbo cars and Top Doorslammers but you definitely see it a lot in the turbo stuff where the engine tuner suddenly increases the power considerably and it makes it difficult because you then need to change all your settings from clutch to shock absorbers.

“The Pro Stock approach is more methodical. Pro Stock is about repeatability and the clutch is a very repeatable part.”

BETWEEN ROUNDS Each crew will always have an allocated clutch person that specially looks after the clutch.

“They are specifically there to build consistency in the clutch and set it correctly each time,” Marriott said. “As a crew chief you are always working with your clutch feedback. He looks at the clutch after each pass to determine what has happened.”

As soon as the Spinozzi Racing Chev Camaro gets back from a pass it gets put on to stands. The driveshaft gets taken out, the gearbox comes out, the bellhousing is taken off and then the clutch is removed and inspected. It is determined how much heat has been in the clutch by what the plates and floaters look like.

All the clutch discs are reground ready to go back in and depending on the track conditions and how the team believes they are going to change, the clutch load is adjusted by changing the base pressure and centrifugal weight, with the clutch set up to a known stand height so that everything else goes back in exactly as it was.

“We are also monitoring the weather because that is having an effect on how much power we are making,” Marriot said.

Remember that if your power changes, so must your clutch.

IMPACTS ON SET UP Heat can be a real killer when it comes to clutches and your chances of a win.

Too much heat will warp the clutch and reduces its surface area, making your settings inconsistent.

“The trick with a Pro Stock clutch is to make the car consistent,” Marriott said. “The burnout builds in X amount of heat and seats the clutch in.

“Every time you come back from a pass in a Pro Stock car the clutch plates are refaced and that keeps the surface of the clutch consistent from run to run. We try to be as consistent as we can in the burnout so wear and heat is consistent.”

Marriott said by the nature of racing where a car might be shut off after a burnout for any number of reasons, it will have an impact on the run to follow.

“It happened to us on a couple of occasions,” he said. “At Willowbank during the sunbreak they allowed the car to do the burnout and then they stopped the cars and made us go and redo the burnout. The clutch ends up with more heat in it and, the clutch settings often change and you don't have enough

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load. So the clutch then slips too much, which exaggerates the problem by creating more heat. Pro Stock is the most sensitive there.”

While the burnout might be considered mere ceremony in some categories, for a Pro Stock car it can make or break a run.

“The art of it is to try and stay fussy and not damage the clutch,” Marriott said. “That makes it difficult to drive through the burnout. You have to be extremely cautious to get the burnout right so you don't overheat the clutch and lose the consistency.

“The burnout sets the clutch, it sets the tyre temperature, it controls the engine temperature, so it is a massive part of the run.

“You wouldn't be as successful without a burnout because you couldn't get enough heat in the tyres, but you can reduce the size of the burnout on a hot track.

“A Pro Stock requires a lot of water in the burnout box because you can't drag the clutch down whereas a Top Doorslammer will do more of a rolling burnout, the way that the clutch works they have don't have troubles. The Pro Stock car is the hardest car to drive full stop.”

Pro Stock teams often choose to use a 'coated' clutch floater disc. Floater discs separate clutch discs from the rest of the driveline. A three disc clutch will have the flywheel, a clutch disc, a floater disc, second clutch disc, a second floater disc, third clutch disk and then the hat.

Floating discs are typically made of steel and can be treated with a titanium coating.

“It makes the floater more resistant to heat but it also has a life span,” Marriott said. “After X amount of passes you have to turn around and go and get those floaters re-coated.

“You don't grind it as much as a non-coated floater else you remove the coating.”

Marriott explained that for a high heat application, such as when he works on turbocharged cars, they are better off running non-coated floaters and grinding the plates after each pass to produce a consistent surface.

THE TECHNOLOGY CHOICE With Mr Marriott's vast knowledge at hand, we decided to ask him a few silly questions. But hey, if we were wondering, there's a good chance someone else might be too.

Given the growth of automatics as a choice in Top Doorslammer, we wanted to know if this was a possibility for Pro Stock too.

“At this stage the manual would be the better mousetrap,”

Top: Mick Marriott analyses a run and notes down what may need changing between rounds.

Bottom: The new Leanders clutch (11 inch version shown) is attracting much attention.

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"You have to be extremely cautious to get the burnout right so you don't overheat the clutch and lose the consistency."

Michael said. “I know somebody has tried to run a convertor situation, but it's not as competitive. At this stage I still see that the clutch, with the amount of variables we have in gear ratios, ends up being a better package.”

Marriott said there is some variance in what clutch people use in Pro Stock.

The choice is mainly between a six inch triple disc clutch or a twin disc seven inch clutch.

“The triple disc clutch is a smaller clutch and so it has less centrifugal mass so technically it can be easier to drive and make RPM,” he said. “The bigger clutch tends to be more forgiving and so has its advantages too.”

This year Spinozzi Racing worked with Ulf and Jorgen Leanders to help develop the Leaders clutch for the Australian Pro Stock application.

“That clutch is very unique and the first one in the country, we have been extremely happy with it but it has been quite a development process,” Marriott said. “I think that the Leanders clutch is a high quality piece and being at a development stage it took a little bit to get the tuning window to where we needed it to be, but now we are there. The car is the fastest 60 footing Australian Pro Stock car in the history of the sport.

“We choose that clutch because of the quality of the build and the fineness of the adjustment and it is also the smallest diameter clutch in Pro Stock racing.”

Marriott said with the performance of Australian Pro Stock cars moving into the 6.8s and over 200mph, they are looking more at what the NHRA teams are doing than ever before.

“The engine power is creeping ever so slowly closer to what the NHRA is doing,” he said. “What we look at now is much closer to what NHRA Pro Stock was using a few years ago, or what they run at Mile High (Bandimere, a high altitude track in Denver). The NHRA Pro Stock cars at Mile High and our cars run very similarly. Those teams run completely different clutches for that one event.”

LOOKING AT THE OVERALL While the power, clutch, traction arrangement simplifies how set up works, there are many more elements that can be introduced.

One is gear ratios.

“Clutch and gear ratios go hand in hand, both are very determined by the track surface,” Marriott said. “The better or tighter the surface, the more aggressive we can be with ratios and also with clutch.

“Revving the car harder through the top end has a lot to do with atmospheric conditions and that affects the choice of gear ratio.

“In a Top Doorslammer or Top Alcohol car the track conditions are the primary situation and quite often as the track gets better they need to become more aggressive with a shorter gear ratio so that they don't underpower the track. Ultimately torque drives the car, it's the amount of torque you can apply through the rear wheels to the track.”

Tyres might seem like a constant at first but in fact they change with every pass.

“We measure the tyres every run and the tyre has a direct effect because it is the last part of the ratio,” Marriot said. “You have your gearbox ratios, then the diff ratio and the tyre is the final in the drive ratio. We do measure the tyre and monitor the size.

“When the tyre is brand new you need to be less aggressive.

Depending on what type of car, we will use a figure of five runs on most cars, the tyre then starts to come in.

“Each tyre then has a certain amount of life and what you find is that you measure a tyre brand new, but by the time it has done 200mph the tyre will then grow. You don't really know what your final tyre height will be until you run the car.”

Thanks to Michael Marriott for his time explaining drag racing clutches to us.

What technical topics would you like us to cover in future issues of Drag News Magazine? Send an email to press@dragnews.com.au and let us know.

Top: Mick Marriott applies some changes to Sam Gullotto's Pontiac GTO in the pit area.

Bottom: Many teams have an allocated clutch person in their pit crew to ensure consistency and repeatability in clutch set up.

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THE SMILING ASSASSIN

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LUKE NIEUWHOF.

Courtney Force is all smiles with her fans, with her sponsors and with the media. But underneath her helmet with the body closed and the nitro flowing, she is as determined as they come.

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Force has quickly become one of the most popular drivers on the NHRA tour.

Whenever she leaves the sanctuary of the pit area, she is quickly pursued by autograph hunters and her many young fans, keen to spend a moment with the seven times NHRA Funny Car event winner and daughter of 16 times national champion John Force.

But the ease with the fans and the word perfect sponsor recitals shouldn't be confused with a lack of hardcore drive.

Courtney gave up some of her off season time to answer a few questions for Drag News Magazine.

Drag News Magazine: What was the biggest highlight for you last season?

Courtney Force: The biggest highlight for me was becoming the winningest female in Funny Car history, after our Traxxas team picked up our fifth win of my career, in Sonoma, California. Going into the Countdown and getting back-to-back wins totalling seven of my career, made this a highlight in itself.

DNM: Can you talk about your growth as a driver in your third season?

CF: It’s unbelievable to think I have just completed my third season in Funny Car. As a driver I think I’ve pushed myself harder than ever before and am learning with every pass, at every track on the circuit. I think we have reached a point where we are strong as a team and I’ve been working hard to make less mistakes and try to improve my lights. Plus we made our best finish yet, concluding the 2014 season where we finished fourth.

DNM: You reached some personal goals in 2014 but what are you looking forward to in 2015?

CF: I’m looking forward to hopefully more wins and records to be broken. Obviously my personal goal is to become more consistent as a driver but as a team to go after that championship in the 2015 season.

DNM: 2014 was a year where women did very well in NHRA competition, what do you think about that?

CF: I think it’s amazing and I’m honored to be a part of such a monumental year for women. It’s exciting to be a part of history and to watch so many great female drivers breaking records week after week. This really goes to show how far our sport has come and it makes me excited for what is in the future.

DNM: What do you think will motivate you the most heading into 2015?

CF: The fact that we have a great team and car and had such an impressive season last year gives me the motivation to have more consistency in the Countdown next year. My main motivation is to get the win for my team and my sponsors, and for the new ones coming on board. I want these sponsors to be excited and proud that they have come on board with our teams at John Force Racing.

DNM: What excites you the most about being a Funny Car driver?

CF: The most exciting thing about being a Funny Car driver is the sheer competitiveness between drivers on the race track. There are so many impressive cars competing week after week, and you have to fight to the end, because there is only one winner. The adrenaline, the competition, the unexpected, the team work, the speed and the smell of the nitro excites me most about being a Funny Car driver.

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DNM: Where do you think you improved the most this past season?

CF: I think I’ve improved the most with knowing the lanes at each race track. Some tracks are entirely different than others, although we are only going one direction, but from a driver’s stand point, the feeling of each unique track, the car, and the lane is something I’ve continued to understand and memorise throughout the season.

DNM: Congratulations on your recent engagement. How did Graham (Rahal) pop the question?

CF: On a trip to Venice, Italy on a gondola ride up and down the canals. He popped the question while going down the Grand Canal with St Maria Basilica in the background. And yes, he got down on one knee, in the boat.

DNM: You're in the off season now, what does an off season consist of for yourself and the Force family? Is it a chance to get away or is there a lot of work going on behind the scenes?

CF: There's always still a lot of work going on behind the scenes, both at our JFR HQ in Indy and our shop out in CA. We are prepping the teams and the cars for the new season while also trying to work new sponsor deals, go to driver appearances, etc.

However, we do always force my dad (no pun intended) to take a vacation over Christmas and our family will all head up to Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

DNM: During the season itself, what do you do to try and relax between events?

CF: Between events when I don't have an appearance or am not catching up on other work, I'll be with my family, especially my niece and nephews, and go see friends that I don't get to see a lot. I love being home in between events to have friends over to barbeque!

DNM: At events themselves you are one of the most sought­out drivers by fans. Can it be tough to balance the demands of fans with the need to stay focused?

CF: I know at every event my focus needs to be with my car and team but in between track signings and appearances, I always make time to go out and see the fans that came a long way to see us Sometimes it's hard to juggle it all but it makes it more exciting when you jump back in the car and get to do your best to give the fans a good show.

DNM: Do you get recognised much away from the track, around your home town and that kind of thing?

CF: Every once in a while in a random place I'll get recognised but not very often.

Definitely not like my dad!

DNM: You've got a pretty unique job really, are there ever any strange moments having to explain just exactly what it is you do?

CF: It's always very awkward when somebody asks what I do because I know every time they will respond with a surprised look on their face. One time someone actually got irritated and just thought I didn't want to tell them what I did for a living!

DNM: What's the strangest reaction you've ever had when telling someone you drive Funny Cars, if you can think of an example?

CF: Probably this one time when someone asked me and I told them I drove Funny Cars, and they asked if it was only girls that I compete against. I said no and they were pretty shocked when they realised I compete in the same "league" as the men.

Another time someone asked if they could ride along and I told them it's not really a possibility with these cars, when it's a one seater and the fact that they go over 300mph!

DNM: Thanks for your time!

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RECORDS THEN RAIN IN PORTLAND STORY BY LUKE NIEUWHOF. PHOTOS BY DRAGPIX.NET.AU.

The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars headed to Victoria and Fuchs South Coast Raceway for their first round of 2015 on January 3.

Rain after the second round of racing brought an early end to the show, which was already taking place in warm weather. Bushfire risks limited the fire show at times but fans were still given a great entertainment package.

In round one, Anthony Begley in 'Stormtrooper' got by Paul Messineo in 'Dark Horse' with a holeshot 4.47 to Messineo's 4.24. Justin Walshe in 'Let's Boogie' used a 4.20 to defeat Aaron Russell, who was getting a drive in 'Back to the Future' as his own car is still under repair. Rick Gauci made history by becoming the first driver into the threes at Portland with a 3.90 charge, as Daniel Schultz found form again following a lacklustre performance at the Sydney Night of Fire, carding a 4.01 to get by Greg Leahy's 4.12. The record

books were in for another beating in the final pairing of the round as three times Australian Top Fuel champion Darren Morgan, in his first drive for Graeme Cowin's series, took 'The Bandit' to a 3.89 win against Shane Olive's 3.93 in 'Fast Company', marking the first side by side three second pairing at the venue.

Anthony Begley scored his second win in round two with a 4.12 but would have some damage to repair after getting into the braking area wall. Daniel Schultz was unable to fire for the pairing initially so while Begley got the points, Schultz was able to make a run afterwards and clocked a 4.27. Morgan couldn't improve on his earlier stunner but still took another win for his tally with a 4.22. Leahy then unleashed a stunning 3.86 against a 4.14 from Walshe in another change to the record books. While Leahy's team celebrated on the start line, Walshe was going through

Clockwise from top right: Anthony Begley scored two wins in the Stormtrooper but rain closed in and stopped him from attempting to win his first AONFC event. The wheelstanders had to run without their fire show due to fire bans in the area. Justin Walshe went deep into the sand trap and catch net at the end of the tricky Portland braking area. Daniel Schultz had a car that was performing again after a tough Sydney round. Greg Leahy reset the track record with a blistering 3.86 second pass.

some dramas in the braking area, going into the sand trap and net at a fair rate of knots.

It was then that the rain began to fall and things were brought to an early end.

Gauci, who set a new track speed record of 197.16mph, was extremely happy with the new racing surface at the Victorian facility.

“We all went pretty quick and I am sure we would have gone both quicker and faster if weather hadn’t brought an early end to the action,” he said.

“We were all running in the 190-mph range and I am sure we could have eclipsed that magic 200mph (321.8kph) barrier if we had a bit more time.”

Walshe mean time could only reflect on his unfortunate end to racing.

“It’s a disappointing way to end the night,” he said. “But we are safe and we’ll be back for the next event.”

QUARTER REPORTER

SUMMIT SPORTSMAN SERIES OPENS UP

A cold and wet morning greeted Fuchs South Coast Raceway for race day at the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series opener but that didn't stop the team of volunteers from having the track race ready with plenty of action.

Similar air and track temperatures from the previous day had presented the field with great track conditions.

After getting to grips with the vehicle setups the Super Comp class was making headway to great results after qualifying.

Round one winners were Dom Rigoli over Sam Preece, Louis Svingoes on a bye run, Daniel Camilleri over Peter Deguara who red lit by just -0.007 and Peter Pisalidis over Ambesi.

Pisalidis had broke the wheelie bar yesterday but was saved by Andrew Sanders who donated his time to repair the damage over night.

Round two saw Dom Rigoli with his Mitsubishi Eclipse put down the fastest pass of the weekend with a 4.494 at 152.92 mph also taking the win against Louis Svingoes. Peter Pisalidis scored some luck when paired with Daniel Camilleri who experienced problems paving the way to the final.

With only a small field it was only a short two rounds before

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the final pairing of Pisalidis and Rigoli who was handed the win at the start line after Pisalidis red lit by -0.062. Rigoli was again setting records for his class; scoring ET and mph.

The new Top Sportsman class was a big hit and with the average dial in during eliminations of just 5.1 seconds across the field it ensured tight racing. Local chassis builder Brett Henley was paired with drag racing veteran Stuart McBain in their beautiful presented race cars where McBain dialed in with a 5.23 and ran a 5.257 at 131.53 mph after Henley red lit at the start line handing the win and the first ever Top Sportsman ANDRA Christmas tree to McBain.

Supercharged Outlaws champ Doina Day got her title defence off to a perfect start pairing up in the final with Ryan Van Dyk. Once again reaction times decided the outcome with Doina reacting quickest for the win.

Day was joined in the winners circle by daughter Jasmine Ryan in Modified when the 1/8 mile expert met Chris Farrell in the final. Ryan had the better reaction of 0.024 from Farrell's 0.161 handing her the win.

Local Warrnambool racer Stephen Griffin in his Holden 355ci LJ Torana took home the tree for Super Sedan against Jason Arbery in the final. Griffin set a dial in of 6.16 and ran an almost perfect 6.162 ET at 111.37 mph while unluckily Arbery

snagged a red light by just -0.011.

Malcom Luff is no stranger to Fuchs South Coast Raceway however with strong Modified Bike entries it brought several national champions who are regular winners across the country carrying vast amounts of experience in tricky conditions. But that didn't stop Luff from making it into the finals with seasonal rider Nathan Stone. With a dial in of 7.30 Luff broke out by -0.008 however it didn't matter as the race had already been handed to Luff when Stone red lit by -0.032.

The trip over the border from South Australia paid off for Harry Harris in his Holden Commodore pairing up with fellow South Aussie Enzo Clemente in the Super Street final. Harris managed to win on a tight race when Clemente ran a 7.376 on a 7.33 dial in while Harris recorded a time of 7.314 on a 7.31 dial in. The 0.092 reaction time was the winning ticket for

Harris taking the win with a 0.057 margin of victory.

Red lights littered the Junior Dragster ranks as tomorrow’s next stars pushed their dragsters to the limit in every round.

Josh Baker reached the final only to turn on the red himself giving the win to Jordan Spencer at the start line by -0.082.

Two-time Super Gas champ Matt Forbes was at it again in Portland giving his opponents a case of the runner ups.

Forbes' Ford Roadster was on song again taking him through the field to the final pairing with Graeme Spencer. While both were off the 6.30 index it became a pedal fest to the finish line where Forbes came through with the goods in his quest for a Super Gas three-peat in 2015.

The Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series will now head west for the 44th Westernationals at Perth Motorplex on January 30-31.

Clockwise from opposite page: Winners from the first round of the newly branded Summit Sportsman Series proudly hold their silver Christmas trees.

Dom Rigoli impressed with track record runs and a win in Super Comp. Top Sportsman's first showing saw Stuart McBain emerge victorious.

Photos by dragpix.net.au.

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QUARTER

REPORTER

MARSH RUNS FIRST NZ FOUR SECOND PASS New Zealand has seen its first four second pass with Anthony Marsh clocking an historic 4.985 at the Rock FM Nitro Shootout.

In the third round of the best-of-three match race against Reece Fish in his Fish Family Racing Top Fueler, Marsh took his nitromethane-burning machine to the 4.985 elapsed time at 288.27 mph, making him the first Kiwi to run the distance in NZ in under five seconds.

Interestingly, Fish actually won the match race, in spite of his car’s engine blowing up just before the finish line, yet still ran 5.044 seconds at a much slower 243.68 mph.

Two years ago, Reece Fish and Fish Family Racing ventured into the field of Top Fuel Dragster racing. Fish, who still holds New Zealand’s fastest street legal record, purchased the Bob

TAILEM BEND DRAG STRIP PLANS BEFORE COUNCIL The Development Application for SA Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend which features a international standard drag strip is before council with full plans available for viewing online.

The venue will house a full quarter mile drag strip equal or better than any currently in Australia, with a design that looks like it is based on the Sydney and Perth facilities complete with burnout pad.

The facility will also provide world class circuit track along with tracks for drifting, rally, rally cross, go-karts and even a aircraft run-way, plus plans for a hotel and many other recreational activities.

You can view the full planning statement here: http://www.dac.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/15 4722/Materials_Part3.pdf The location 90km from Adelaide or about a hour drive has drawn some criticism, but the potential of this facility certainly outweighs the negatives.

High resolution plan can be viewed here: http://www.dac.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/15 4721/Materials_Part2.pdf SA Motorsports Park is a privately owned by the Peregrine Corporation who are best known for owning a number of chain stores including the On The Run service stations and convenience stores. Peregrine is now co-owned by the three Shahin brothers with Sam the one in charge of the motorsport development.

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Shepherd rail out of Australia and woke the sleeping drag racing fans from days of yonder. Suddenly, New Zealand drag racing fans had something new to get excited about.

A year later, Tony Marsh and the team at Marsh Motorsport joined the fray. Already campaigning a Tom Conway-built AFueler, Marsh Motorsport decided to make things interesting and purchased the Jim Read Top Fuel Dragster; again from Australia.

New Zealand has long had an affiliation with nitro albeit in very small numbers; a torch that Willy White in his Nitro Funny Car had carried solo until Fish Family Racing and The Mount Shop Marsh Motorsport teams decided to make a push for the big speeds and low ETs. Marsh's pass was amazingly only on seven cylinders and the team are low aiming for a four second run with a 300mph speed at the NZ Nationals.

QUARTER

REPORTER

WARNAMBOOL CELEBRATE THEIR 21ST Grass roots racing is where all drag racers start off, whether it's on a temporary facility on the local airstrip or a million dollar motorsports complex in the city.

The Warrnambool and District Drag Racing Association Inc has been holding grass roots events at the Warrnambool Aerodrome since 1994. The club was established in 1993 by a number of motorsport enthusiasts who had previously been apart of the one mile and quarter mile sprints in the area, since the early 1970s under Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).

The club's president Wes White and fellow committee members brought drag racing to the district by providing drag racing enthusiasts the ability to race in a safe environment.

Casterton Street drags had a few months earlier sparked large amount of interest in the region.

At the time it was very rare to see a nitro burning dragster outside any major track such as Calder Park or Willowbank and never in a place like Warrnambool. The average person had never seen anything more than a souped-up street car.

The opening WADDRA meeting on 20 March 1994 saw Peter and Helen Russo to bring their Nitro Funny Car to town, it was shown on displays and fire ups all across the district including demo runs at the airport.

Other highlights that have been down the runway include the Top Fuel racer Robin Kirby, who still holds the track record of 4.5 sec over the 1/8th mile.

The club had gained support each year as the events were run annually until 1999, but due to changes at the aerodrome it was impossible for WADDRA to continue running events on the south east end of the runway due to fears of damage to the tarmac. The club was stuck without a place to race, despite having all the facilities to hold a drag racing event.

Glenn Wooster, who was president at the time recalled that the enthusiasm was low and this was another step backwards in the bid to secure a drag strip.

But not giving up, the club organised an event with the Portland Drag Club in March 1999 which was held at the Portland Airport.

Despite the club not having a home they continued working

with the Warrnambool City Council and other parties to resolve the problem.

Throughout the previous years the goal of the association was to build a dedicated drag racing facility, as the current facility was temporary with only the ability to run one or two events per year.

The local councils decided in 2003 to meet WADDRA halfway on the new facility by allowing the construction of a dedicated concrete launch pad at the north west end of the aerodrome's runway, with the agreement of having three meetings per season. The purpose built launch pad provided much better traction thus allowing more powerful vehicles to compete. This also kept the racing away from interfering with the day to day running of the airport services.

While it was not a dedicated race track it was the home again for the club until the present day.

Current club president Tony Frost has wasted no time getting down to business, working countless hours behind the scenes with the committee and local council offices.

The main focus for the association in the past few years is the new drag racing facility which will allow up to four times the amount of events per season and the ability have a national level motorsport facility in the city's backyard.

In the meantime WADDRA has been gaining major portable assets ready for the time when the new home is finalised, such as a canteen, timing tower, restrooms, power generators and and other infrastructure. Just as important as the assets are the studies which have been completed to ensure the construction of a high standard facility.

Warrnambool already has an extensive motorsport following in the community, whether it's the sprint car series at Premier Speedway, the dirt bikes at Lake Gillear or the diverse range of motoring clubs.

WADDRA held a birthday event in September 2014 to celebrate 21 years of the club with over 120 people attending, with special guest speaker ANDRA board member Phil Parker showing his support for the club.

Two more events remain for the WADDRA season on the 25th of January and 15th of March.

- Jesse Kelly

Right: Warnambool club president Tony Frost has been pushing forward as they arm themselves with important race infrastructure.

Photo by dragpix.net.au.

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MR YES

Welcome to Mr Yes and Mr No. This month our anonymous contributors debate: should Group Two be deleted from the ANDRA championship?

A controversial question this month that will be for sure! In my opinion Group Two has had its time.

What was once a good stepping stone has now turned into a form of racing that is almost as expensive as Group One. Instead, we should put our energies into developing Group Three to a higher level and making the top end of that somewhat closer to Group One. If you could develop an alcohol dragster or doorslammer to be running low sixes and have a place in dial your own, the step is not that far to a pro class.

The days of racers progressing step by step are now over. It is just as easy if you want to run a Top Doorslammer to simply run one from the beginning and learn as it would be to go for a Supercharged Outlaws sedan, then a /AP car and then the Doorslammer.

Eliminating Group Two would immediately make running a sportsman series round a more attractive proposition for venues. Currently the prizemoney demanded by Group Two acts as a barrier to more national rounds being held.

Reducing the number of handicapping systems will also make things easier to understand for spectators.

Currently Group Two is all but indecipherable for all but hardcore drag racing fans – let alone racers, many of whom still don't understand the finer points of how the system works.

At some stage the sport has to ensure it cuts away some of the dead branches in order to allow the tree as a whole to grow.

If Group Two had strongly supported fields I would be more inclined to suggest keeping it, but as it stands the fields have been small. .

MR NO

First getting rid of your entry level class (Super Street) and then you want to talk about Group Two? How many racers do we want to remove from the sport exactly?

Group Two is an important part of the progression through the ranks of the sport. It is the first time racers get to experience something resembling the pro levels of drag racing, where finding horsepower in the workshop becomes just as important as the driving on the track. And yes, they get to experience that being successful in the upper reaches of drag racing will require a budget along with some serious smarts.

Sure it is complicated, but that is because you need a fair way to handicap a myriad of different combinations. This is a racer’s category through and through, we shouldn't be changing it to suit the tastes of spectators. It should however have strong field sizes and that is where we need to do some work to find a solution.

Many of our great racers have worked their way up through Group Two and it has provided them with the grounding to be successful in their drag racing careers. Without this apprenticeship of sorts, the leap to Group One from Group Three may be too much too soon and we may in fact find racers can not deal with that level of pressure.

If there is one thing Group Two needs it is evolution.

We should not be scared of having too many new classes, or classes that allow for new technology.

Group Two should be a leader in the drag racing world, embracing new combinations that racers want to use. By doing this it will broaden the appeal of its racing and ensure its continued success.

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