Drag News Magazine Issue 44

// ISSUE 44

Terry Sainty’s Top Fuel Journey // Jess Turner’s Racing Reunions Jeremy Boskovich’s Wild Bunch XY // Mike Watkins At Altered Deep End Jason Hedges’ Unleaded Fuel Coup // Larry McBride’s World Record

CONTENTS

Drag News Magazine Issue 44 Print Date: November 27, 2019 Eager Editor: Luke Nieuwhof (luke@dragnews.com.au) Advertising Specialist: Rob Sparkes (advertising@dragnews.com.au) Photography Pro: Grant Stephens (grant@dragnews.com.au)

MIRACLE AT 1000 FEET: How the Aussie battlers of nitro drag racing stunned them all.

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FAST FAMILY: Jess Turner is surrounded on all sides by drag racing, and now every event at the track is like a family reunion.

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BROTHERS’ BEAST: Mike and Steve Watkins are supercharged siblings knocking out sixes!

SLAMMED AND SUPERCHARGED: Jeremy Boskovich is living out his own Shoebox Dreams!

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FUEL TO THE FIRE: Jason Hedges managed to get ahead of the game in Pro Stock.

PLUS: Larry McBride’s World Record (48), Larry Larson’s Stunning Cadillac (52), Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and QDRC Final at Willowbank (56), East Coast Thunder Snapshots (60).

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

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

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

EDITORIAL Has there ever been an incident in drag racing that stirred quite as much comment as Steve Torrence’s ‘face shove’ of Cameron Ferre at the NHRA World Finals? Certainly not in the social media age!

2018 was a career season for Torrence with an amazing sweep of the countdown – six race victories straight. The performance earned him much respect and gave the NHRA its first ‘independent’ Top Fuel champion since Eddie Hill in 1993. In 2019 Torrence was not as blessed during the countdown and was in a real scrap come Pomona, as Doug Kalitta and Force nipped at his heels. Every round was important.

Enter Cameron Ferre, the privateer who goes racing on a fraction of the budget of Torrence. He has chased all year for an elusive round win and had one last opportunity at the World Finals.

He can’t outrun Torrence but a good holeshot and a bit of luck could see him in a contest for the stripe. When Ferre and Torrence pre-staged, neither driver was in a hurry to go into full stage. Torrence wanted to stage second and so did Ferre, and both drivers are entitled to that, so long as they accept that wanting to stage second at all costs can mean a staging duel, which is what ensued. Torrence relented and staged, following two seconds later by Ferre, who then went into deep stage. This greatly upset Torrence and as I’m sure you have seen in the many replays by now, Torrence remonstrated physically at the top end.

There has been some suggestion of an etiquette among teams that those not in the championship race shouldn’t be messing around with those who are, the equivalent of lapped traffic on a circuit.

I don’t believe this analogy holds up. A round win for Cameron Ferre was every bit as important to him as a championship was for Torrence. Drag racing is a sport where a driver must win each round consecutively in order to progress; there are no ‘gimmes’ in this game.

Ferre used a valid tactic to get an advantage on the start line, indeed John Force regularly deep stages to try and put opponents off. Torrence’s problem with Ferre was that the deep stage was unpredictable, and clearly upset his startline routine given his poor reaction time. A champion driver should be able to deal with someone deep staging. Problematic for Torrence in his ongoing racing is that he has exposed a weakness on the lights. He was trying to stage second against Ferre and other drivers will have taken note.

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In recent years, Torrence has struggled for fan appeal. His comments following a championship runner-up to Brittany Force in 2017 came across as petulant, but in reality it was misplaced passion. Losses sting, and to come so close to a championship victory as an independent against the super teams must have been extraordinarily painful for ‘dem Capco boys.’ This time, Torrence was met with boos from an unforgiving Pomona crowd, as Ferre received cheers. Lack of resonance with the fans isn’t a huge issue for Torrence in terms of the race team’s operation, which is covered by the family business, but I can’t imagine it’s a nice feeling all the same.

The incident has put the NHRA is in a tough place. Sportsman racers have been sanctioned for much less, and their eyes were well and truly on the organisation’s response to Torrence v Ferre.

But Torrence is now the reigning champion, and sure to be in the spotlight next year. The $25,000 monetary fine levied by NHRA would matter little to Torrence Racing, and most observers believe a suspension or points penalty was needed. For what it’s worth, I believe a points penalty for next year’s NHRA Mello Yello Series would have been the way to go. Suspending Torrence from events denies the fans a top-level race car, when Top Fuel is already struggling for numbers. And though I think the boos and jeers will continue for Torrence next year, perhaps that is a good thing for the sport – fans like to have meaning and emotion. Drag racing could learn from the storylines of professional wrestling, where a good ‘heel’ is part of the show. The heel exists to make the crowd angry and menace their favourites. I’m not sure if Torrence would choose to be the heel, but it’s going to take a lot of work on his image to win the fans back.

For a truly wild solution, perhaps Torrence needs to get back to the drag racing roots. Imagine if he called up Ferre and offered to fund a match race series around regional tracks during the NHRA off season, where the two could capitalise on the drama and restore good will among fans, perhaps even raise some money for charity. It would make Torrence real and accessible again and do a lot to clean up his reputation with fans. Whether that matters to him or not is the question, and that’s something only he could answer.

- Luke Nieuwhof

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

These ads are supremely affordable at just $300 for the year (eight issues), including a print subscription valued at $90. Or for $600 we will include your business’ logo in our email blasts, reaching over 4000 people.

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

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// SHUTTER SPEED UP IN SMOKE: Bushfires along the east coast of Australia resulted in a hazy day at Willowbank Raceway. While the air quality was worse than China, it did make for some neat photos in the yellow glare.

Photo by dragphotos.com.au.

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// SHUTTER SPEED PEACE OUT: Greg Leahy is all-chill in the cockpit of a fire-breathing Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car ahead of round one of their big Willowbank show.

Photo by dragphotos.com.au.

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The greatest runs aren’t always the record setters.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by John Bosher, Joe Maday and cacklingpipes.com.

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AUSTRALIA LOVES A BATTLER. Innovation driven through need has been the defining trait of the Sainty family, a team that now has near enough to three decades of Top Fuel experience. They wanted to be out there, badly, and with imagination and engineering brilliance they have found ways to be on the track that no other active Top Fuel team in the world is capable of, or willing to do.

Sydney’s horsepower community knew of Stan Sainty a long time before he had his own dragster. He applied his talents to blown alcohol boat racing where, among many other achievements, he towed a water skier to a world record of 230.26kmh. During the eighties, Sainty decided to build his own engine, believing the aluminium Chevs were not strong enough. Equipped with unusual dual overhead cam, four valves per cylinder and eight-bolt mains, there was no shortage of power on tap for those brave enough to put it on water. The first Sainty motors were genuinely handcrafted, without the modern CNC machines that now fill the workshops of billet manufacturers worldwide.

Stan’s son Terry had taken up hard-top drag racing in the meantime, and with the dangers of boat racing on Stan’s mind, the pair formulated plans to build a dragster. Eastern Creek Raceway opening in 1991, providing the perfect timing for the new endeavour.

The team used a plastic model of a dragster to construct a chassis and eagerly joined the ranks of Top Fuel, where they tried to learn how to make a motor happy on nitro. The early designs struggled on the vicious yellow fuel, and the motor later evolved to a three valve design to solve an ongoing problem with burnt valve seats.

Around the same time, Stan’s brother Norm suggested a switch to billet aluminium. The new motor, along with a new chassis, debuted in 1995 and proved a more consistent performer, getting the team into the low fives. It was a turning point for the Sainty family, and though they have faced their challenges since, their resolve has been unflappable.

Engineering tests are one thing, emotional tests another. There was no harder hit than when Stan passed away in 2017 from pancreatic cancer.

Since the loss of Stan, there has been a different atmosphere in the pits. Terry said some days are harder than others, but he is helped by the reminders of his Dad’s presence at the track.

“It is definitely not the same without him there,” he said. “In a way it still feels like he is hovering in the pits when we are racing the car, sometimes you think he might be just around the corner or visiting someone in in the pits.”

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LEFT: A fresh-faced Terry Sainty looks ready to tackle a wild nitro burning dragster - note the Australian logo worn proudly.

RIGHT: The unique engineering of the Sainty family’s four valve, overhead cam nitro burner attracted much attention. That’s a young Wayne Newby on the far left.

BELOW LEFT: The first version of the Sainty dragster stable was based on a plastic model; the family built it in-house.

BELOW RIGHT: A few years of experience saw the team unleash a new dragster in 1995, which saw them dip into the low fives.

It was only in 2017 that the team changed to an American-built chassis.

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Shortly before Stan’s passing the team received an updated chassis from Rapisarda Autosport International. The change in rail seems to have come with a new philosophy for their racing, as the team aims to perfect what they have.

It was at the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals earlier this year that the first three second run from Sainty seemed like a real possibility. A personal best 4.020 at 288mph with a spectacular wheelstand signalled the performance that had been uncovered. Truth be told the power was always there, but Sainty and team have had to refine their overall package to turn themselves into contenders.

“That was a wild ride, I knew the front end was up and I couldn’t see Ashley (Sanford),” Sainty said.

“All I remember thinking was ‘don’t lift, but if it gets any higher I’d better.’ I was just lucky that it sat the front end down nice and we got it there. I was a little bit worried after that run that it didn’t worry me, if that makes sense, almost like complacency. I thought to myself after that I would be more cautious.

“It’s an exciting thing when you beat a car first round, especially one as good as Santo’s cars. I was punching the air and so excited. After so many bad runs you forget that a good run happen.”

Sainty’s unique motor has come to a plateau of sorts; a better description would be a landing on a set of stairs. Right now it is in a good place and the focus has been firmly on refining the package as a whole.

“We are pretty happy with the engine; there might be a little bit in compression, more or less,” Sainty said. “Because our engine is overhead cam we don’t change the head gasket thickness in a hurry like the Hemi. If we change the head gasket that changes the camshaft timing, on a Hemi they just change the tappet clearance which they can set quick. We have to change nitro percentage on race day for the same effect, or pre-race day we can change the conrods or pistons.

“In some ways we run the car a little bit like they used to in the early to mid nineties, before the 90% rule, when they didn’t change the head gaskets a lot and focused on nitro percentage.”

It was in qualifying for East Coast Thunder at Sydney Dragway where everything came together for the Saintys and Terry roared down track for a 3.991 at 297.61mph. Meticulous preparation combined with the years of experience merged in perfect harmony for the glorious pass, which was met with a rousing response from a small but passionate Friday night crowd.

“The basic answer (on why we ran a three) is we fine tuned the clutch system and got fussy with the superchargers,” Sainty said. “We were knocking on the door at the Winternationals and it was a matter of keeping all the cylinders lit and making it all the way down.”

Sainty got some help from US supercharger wizard Darren Mayer with new cases, focused on improving the tolerances inside. The team has stepped up their service schedule with more regular stripping of the rotors to replace the teflon and nylatron strips, providing more consistent boost.

The clutch program also received attention, with Sainty biting the bullet and investing in sets of new clutch plates.

“Back in the day with the clutches, Santo would give us plates and they were black and round and that was good enough for us,” he said. “Now we buy them new and we know the hardness and the aggression rate, and that gives us consistency where before we didn’t know what was going in.

“We’ve put some new clutch fingers in and made the clutch hat a bit nicer and the guys on my team are getting really careful with how they grind the clutch now, making sure they get it right. If you don’t know what (plates) you have in the clutch that changes everything with how the fingers move back and how the clutch applies.”

LEFT: Terry Sainty looks as much relieved as elated following his first three second run in the family’s billet three valve-powered dragster.

RIGHT: More attention to supercharger maintenance has been among the details the Sainty team have focused on to produce a more consistent race car. Here brother-in-law Phil Read provides some assistance.

Sainty believed there was more to come from the engineering marvel that is the Sainty Billet Three Valve motor. The engine is finishing most runs in a happy way thanks to the new consistency of the tune up, and as far as Sainty is concerned that means the team are not yet pushing the limits.

“We ran the quickest we ever ran and then it was a bonus that all the spark plugs and pistons looked good, with no piston scuffing.

We did break a cylinder liner that was floating up and down with the piston and it might have been hitting the counterweight on the crankshaft, but other than that it was perfect. That is telling us, in those conditions, we could have leaned on it some more, more timing or something.”

After the 3.99, a spectator arrived at the Sainty pit area to congratulate the team, and followed up by asking how much power the engine was now making.

“The most we have ever made,” Sainty replied. “I was really pleased, all the guy and girls did a great job, and our crew chief Mark Shepherd did a fantastic job of tuning the car for the conditions.”

With three seconds now ticked off, 300mph awaits. The benchmark is one the team has not yet crossed, including on the quarter mile.

Even a stint driving a Rapisarda Autosport International dragster in the USA didn’t give Sainty the much-desired time card.

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“You’d have to think that is the next target,” he said. “Years ago we ran 298mph on the quarter mile and when I drove for Santo I think I ran 297 or something. It would be nice to tick that box.”

The commitment of the Sainty family to the three valve concept is admirable, but Terry admitted there had been times when it seemed too hard.

“Sometimes we’d be driving back from Willowbank with everything blown up, it’s a downer,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it (going to a Hemi Top Fuel motor). I guess it is a Sainty perseverance thing with my Dad and Uncle Norm; they never gave up. It is probably driven from their boat racing days when they couldn’t afford to buy what everyone else was running so they started tinkering. The machinery at the workshop was used for hobby things, then it became useful for job things, and it has evolved like that.”

There was one period where the team was so concerned about the motor that side mirrors were installed on the dragster so Terry could see what was happening behind him and get out of the throttle if he saw too much carnage! Fortunately those days seem to be largely behind the team.

With the performances seen recently, perhaps these will be the golden years of the Sainty drag racing dynasty. There’s a lot of

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: There were plenty of tough times along the way, and Terry says sometimes it all seemed too hard - but perseverance paid off. Having the crowd up close to the car in the pits has always been an important part of racing for the Sainty family; they don’t rope off the pits at all. Stan Sainty may have passed away, but he left a massive legacy in Top Fuel drag racing.

Australian drag racing fans hoping so.

“We only have a set amount of parts and we are faced with decisions.

Do you slide down or lean on it? We are leaning on it. When we did the personal best we had a lot of positive feedback from people and I think we have got a fanbase who don’t mind the underdog thing. A lot of people thought it was fantastic.

“We still put kids in the car, we want to get young people involved. For us the big thing is when you are in the pits, people can come in and touch the cylinder head – there are no secrets. Our pit is very open and people love that, because you can watch racing on the internet but you can’t beat walking right up to the car and seeing and feeling it. People are really interested, they will look to see how good the oil is when it comes out, examine the pistons, they can see exactly how we performed mechanically.

“We are doing the best we can with what we got. Gulf Western Oil, Eagle Leads and Speedflow help us greatly and where we can, we use as many Australian parts as possible which is pretty cool.

“For us it is all about family, it is all my kids have ever known. From the time they were babies they were taken to the race track. My mum Marg, my wife Belinda, my daughter Madeline and my son Morgan are all heavily involved and I couldn’t do it without them. A lot of the crew have been involved for 30 years or more so they are like family too.”

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FAST

FAMILY Surrounded on all sides by drag racing diehards, it was inevitable this Modified competitor would be as keen as them all.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by John Bosher.

For Jess Turner, drag racing has always been about family, and now every race is like a reunion.

Her father Paul Turner has a long history in the sport in Modified and Competition, and her mother Rachael Clancy made an impact of her own in Modified, including winning the 2000 Spring Nationals at Adelaide International Raceway. A very young Jess saw the success and grew up with horsepower and speed in her blood, keen to make an impact of her own in the straight line sport.

When Rachael passed away in a non-racing accident in 2009 the family was rocked, but Jess stuck to her plan of going Junior Dragster racing so that she could get into a full-sized dragster as soon as she turned 17. The Turners realised that dream in 2012 and haven’t looked back since.

A lot has changed since then. Jess met her partner Santino Rapisarda (crew chief on Wayne Newby’s

400 Thunder championship-winning Top Fuel dragster) several years ago and moved to Sydney from Melbourne, separating her from the dragster but in some ways making racing more important than ever before.

“Now that I’m based in Sydney and the car is in Melbourne with Dad, we appreciate racing as a family a lot more than we used to,” Jess said.

“We aren’t just focused on winning, it’s a familyorientated thing with my Dad and my brother Jamie when he can get out of work. Going racing is when we spend the most time together.”

Paul builds the motors and maintains everything involved with a six second dragster, then tows it periodically to Sydney to reunite with Jess and hit the track for a far more exciting family catch up than most.

“I am very fortunate he enjoys it as much as I do,” Jess said.

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ABOVE: Father and daughter consult on the data between rounds of racing.

RIGHT: The nitrous-assisted dragster has little problem hiking the front end.

“Drag racing is pretty much all we do.”

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“One of our biggest sponsors is Kavanagh Auto Parts where my Dad works. They support him with all the time off he takes, and we are very lucky to have them on board for Dad to drive up the highway 20 times a year.”

With a father mad-keen on drag racing, a partner who thinks constantly of the sport, and her own passion, Jess says little else gets discussed in the family.

“Drag racing is pretty much all we do,” she laughed. “Monday and Wednesday is crew nights with the Top Fuel workshop, some Saturdays we will spend there, and then the events. Generally it is all we do in our spare time, but it is a great experience. We work to race.”

The Turner family still loves competing in Modified – one of Australia’s most popular sportsman classes – but the urge to go quicker has taken hold. The 420ci small block Chev was transformed, with Paul reducing the compression and the cubic inches to 407ci, then spraying a 250 horsepower shot of nitrous into the system.

The combination has turned Jess’ rail into a very quick dial-your-own machine, akin to the Top Dragsters seen in the USA. “We thought we would liven it up a bit and keep it interesting; it can get a little bit same-same after a while,” Jess said.

“We wanted to run a six without nitrous first but we couldn’t quite get there so we thought we would move on.

“It took us some time to get used to the nitrous. Dad has never used nitrous before so he had to do a lot of Googling and ask questions. We thought when we first used the nitrous it would run quicker, but we were struggling to begin with. It was fiddly learning how much nitrous it wants at the hit and how slow or fast it progresses.”

The team has now settled on a tune where the nitrous ramps up over the first second of the run, getting the car off the line consistently before applying the power down track. This is bracket racing after all, and it’s no good for Jess to be chasing down her opponent with spinning rear tyres.

“At one point we were running 0.98 in the

60 foot and running high 6.9s. We slowed it down to 1.01, 1.02 to the 60 and now we are running 6.7s. We don’t need it all on the hit and 60 foot isn’t everything, it gets out of there and goes after that. It surprises us every time we go out.”

Jess and Paul have also had to adapt to the Federal Government-mandated fuel changes which saw leaded fuels for motorsport use banned from July 1.

Thankfully their fuel sponsor ETS was up to the task in ensuring the team would not miss a beat in the transition.

“Unleaded fuel is not new to ETS because they are big in Europe, and they have run those fuels for a long time,” Jess said. “We have had really good success – we ran a

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personal best on the unleaded – and we haven’t changed much of anything on the car. That was another learning curve to make sure the motor was happy with the fuel. We are getting to a point where it is running consistently and we are happy with everything.”

So far Jess has run as quick as 6.78 and as fast as 197mph, giving her some big time closing speed on opponents. That’s an advantage in bracket racing, where Jess’ rivals may be leaving the start line over two seconds before her and giving up 50mph at the stripe.

“Normally I have a bit of a wait on the start line and we are chasing them down quick, it has been something else to get used to. Our old motor was running comfortable 7.1s, but now we are coming up on them a lot faster.”

As Jess said, the experimentation has kept things interesting for the team, but playing mad scientist too much can result in more

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trailer packing than trophy arranging.

“I think we chop and change between wanting wins and experimenting.

Sometimes when we are going for wins it feels like we have the least amount of success and we aren’t enjoying ourselves.

“Our success comes when we have a good time. One of our biggest wins was at Calder at the Nationals with my whole family and a lot of friends there. I think it takes a lot of the pressure off when everyone is not so focused.

“Dad is very competitive; he might be there for the wins. But if I go to the track in that mindset I will be disappointed.”

It seems the happy medium has been found right now, where Paul can enjoy some tinkering while still giving Jess a competitive package that will very easily go rounds.

“We will keep working on this program and the car, I can’t see us stepping up into Comp or anything. Dad wants to put

more nitrous in to see how fast we can go, but in the meantime we are having fun doing what we are doing.”

With her partner’s role in Rapisarda Autosport International, fans may wonder if Jess has any future in Top Fuel, but she said that is unlikely in the family-driven team. RAI compete in memory of Louie Rapisarda, team owner Santo Rapisarda’s son, who passed away following a tragic accident while driving a Top Fuel dragster in 1990. Santo has been happy to watch his sons Santino and Santo Jnr become talented tuners, but does not want them driving.

“I joke with Santino all the time (about driving), he says I will get a turn after him!” Jess laughed. “His Dad cares about all of us a lot and that is not something he wants to see and I can respect that, so I don’t think I will be jumping in to those cars.” DNM

LEFT: High sixes are produced from this 407 cubic inch Chev thanks to the addition of the nitrous spray.

BELOW: Jess’ partner Santino Rapisarda helps with the HANS device in the staging lanes.

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BROTHERS’

BEAST

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Mike and Steve Watkins took some time to decide where they would end up in drag racing, but where they have ended up takes very little (elapsed) time indeed.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by John Bosher and Joe Maday.

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Australian drag racing’s early history received a massive shot in the arm thanks to the Dragfest tours of the sixties. The heroes of American quarter mile combat travelled around the globe to compete in Australia and they inspired a generation of fans, many of whom would become racers themselves.

One of those watching was Mike Watkins, a Sydney drag racer who now owns a Supercharged Outlaws altered with his brother Steve. It might have taken him a few decades, but he eventually built a race car equal in performance to these heroes.

“I went to Dragfest at Castlereagh in 1966,” Watkins explained. “We saw the Americans and I was hooked. After that I went to the drags all time and got involved with different teams from all classes.

My neighbour Rick had a Fiat altered with Holden power that lived across the road from me, and I crewed with him for quite a while. I got involved with Fred Perotto and his rear engine Chev Top Fuel car and it led on from there. I crewed for Jim and Steve Reed in Queensland with the Nulon Funny Car, and I was friends with Bobby Dunn and quite a few others at the track.”

By tasting all kinds of classes, Watkins was able to get a sense of what he liked best. He loved the altereds, and the feeling proved contagious.

“I travelled to the United States with my brother Steve in 2003 and we went to a Fuel Altered meeting at the Las Vegas Drag Strip. He said, why don’t we get one of those? Nitro would be the ultimate goal but Supercharged Outlaws was the class we chose. We came back and put together the car we have now.”

Watkins sourced a chassis with something of a colourful history. Originally built by Victory Race Cars in California, the car was brought into the country by Comp racer Charles Van Ysseldyk and driven by Peter Byrne. The car was stolen and broken up at one point, and then sat around in various garages for a while. Once it reached legal hands once again, Watkins was notified of the car

by NSW drag racing veteran Mark Shepherd.

“We were going to put a car together but then Mark told me about this one, and you coudn’t have built a car for the guy wanted for it, so I grabbed it,” Watkins said.

The car is owned in partnership with his brother Steve and it took the pair a couple of years to put together all the bits and pieces to go racing. A small block Chev built by the late Roland Jahn served as the initial heart, offering plenty of horsepower for the racing rookies. While Watkins had done a little bit of ‘mucking around’ at some street meets, he’d never driven anything truly fast – this supercharged missile would change that.

TOP: Steve Watkins (left) and Mike joined forces to hit the drag strip.

RIGHT: A chassis bargain helped launch the Watkins brothers to their Supercharged Outlaws dreams - the original small block has since been replaced by the Hemi you see.

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“Being a typical altered, on the first hit it turned left and I was looking at the fence.”

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Data and steering are served minimally inside the cockput. Keeping an eye on those shifts and the all important oil pressure. Slowing down after another pass at Sydney Dragway - Mike should be hitting 200mph before long. Mike (left) with wife Coralie and engine builder Dave Erikson. The rear of the car carries some important names.

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“We started out in the 8.0s and eventually got it down to a 6.91/191mph,” Watkins said. “I have vivid memories of driving for the first time. Being a typical altered, on the first hit it turned left and I was looking at the fence – that got my attention real quick.

We got some advice from Geoff Crisp which helped us out as far as crew and driver, he explained how to stage the car and where to stage in the lane; the crew brought me in a bit crooked. I think everybody was a little scared of the car to start with including me.

It was a lot different standing on the outside to being inside.”

Unfortunately the motor was destroyed a couple of years ago and with Roland having passed away, Watkins looked for something big and simple to replace the Chev, directing his attention to a 511ci TFX Hemi block.

“Dave Erikson is now helping me put the motor together and he crews with us,” he said. “We have gone 6.9s with the 511 too so far. We had a minor glitch in the magneto which I think we have now found. It is a whole new combination and our first time out with clutches so it has been a learning process, and we would be happy with 6.7s.”

Watkins described the motor as essentially a fuel motor running on alcohol. There’s Brad Anderson Stage Five cylinder heads, a Mooneyham 14-71 supercharger and an Alan Johnson setback manifold on board. It’s put through a three speed Lenco with AFT clutch and a Sainty crankshaft built by the legendary Stan Sainty.

“Most of the parts in the motor were bought from Top Fuel teams,” Watkins said. “I have a lot of parts from the Shepherds for example, they really helped out.”

The methanol-fuelled motor runs 11.25:1 compression, higher than it would with nitro, with A/Fuel style pistons in place. A 20 amp magneto was in place but Watkins recently upgraded to a 44 amp to solve some of the team’s ignition problems.

“The car just wouldn’t burn the fuel, it didn’t matter how much fuel we took out,” he said.

Watkins has no plans to move beyond Supercharged Outlaws, as much as going nitro has called him.

“We will just keep trying to develop the ET and MPH in Supercharged Outlaws,” he said. “I’d love to go nitro, don’t get me wrong, and I’ve been offered good deals by people, but the time factor with crew and everything is prohibitive. I think the hardest thing in drag racing in Australia is trying to keep the crew interested; we have gone from three or four big meetings a year in Sydney to two and they are so far apart it is not funny.

“The parts on the car have come from varied people, Santo Rapisarda has helped out with bits and pieces at the right price, Tim McCarthy has helped out, Dave Erikson has done a lot of work for me including fuel tanks and oil tanks, repairing the sump and all that kind of thing.

“Thanks to everybody in the past who has helped. We had a fair bit of help from Fabre in the early days and the guys at Rocket are always there for our problems, they have tried to help out wherever they can – especially with the magnetos. Joe Schembri helped out with the Enderle fuel injection modifications.”

Racing remains very family-orientated for the Watkins clan, with Steve flying down from Cairns to join the team, Mike’s wife Coralie handling the fuel program and weather system, and Steve’s son Paul getting into the mix as well. They’ve enjoyed plenty of good times over the years including a win at the 2012 Nationals at Sydney Dragway, which Mike described as their greatest achievement.

“The back of the rollcage has a piece of bodywork that says ‘crewed by family and friends’ and that is quite true,” he said. “Without them I would struggle to get the car on the track.”

SLAMMED AND SUPERCHARGED 32 | DRAG NEWS MAGAZINE

Jeremy Boskovich follows in his father’s footsteps with a stunning Ford XY Wild Buncher.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by Hayley Turns and cacklingpipes.com

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A raw enthusiasm for drag racing flows through Jeremy Boskovich’s being, infused from a youth spent trackside idolising quarter mile heroes – including his father. Whether he knows it or not, he is on his way to creating the next generation of people just like him.

I hadn’t ever spoken to Boskovich before this interview, but in his voice I can hear his dedication to the sport. He speaks quickly, facts about all kinds of vehicles and racers coming forth; unbridled passion barely contained for the subject. It’s as if he can’t get all the information out quickly enough.

Boskovich can be forgiven because there’s a lot to get through. His father John started racing in the seventies with a Ford XA Falcon street car, running “pretty quick for the day” in the 12 second zone according to Jeremy.

From there he moved through several more fast street cars and race cars, but it was a trip to the USA in 1983 that most influenced John. There he met Mike Thermos from Nitrous Oxide Systems, who was outfitting a bunch of very quick doorslammers with a mysterious horsepower-producing gas.

“Dad came back with a bunch of nitrous gear,” Jeremy recalled.

The closing of New South Wales’ Castlereagh strip threw a small spanner in the works, but John was dedicated to going fast and continued to compete at Oran Park with a 1956 Chev street car in the Wild Bunch class. He then bought a 1957 Chev race car from Jon Simic, which is where most people’s memories of the Boskovich family really begin. The car was blown to start with and then John got the chance to put some of that nitrous gear in and represent what was essentially one of Australia’s very early Top Doorslammers.

When racing opened up at Eastern Creek, Boskovich was there to take advantage. They ran as quick as 8.80 on nitrous before some time was taken to give the car an overhaul, taking out a whole bunch of weight and going back to a blown combo. The team was rewarded with a Best Appearing Car and Crew Award the first time the car appeared.

In 1995, the Boskovich family’s world changed. John was racing at Calder Park and crashed heavily in his 57 Chev, leaving him severely injured. After the accident, he required full time care from Jeremy’s mother Sharon. Jeremy was 15 at the time, the oldest of the four children in the family that also included brothers Joshua and Jarred and sister Jasmin.

“Mum is a hero for what she has done for all of us,” he said. “We all grew very close in that time and there was a break in racing as we got jobs and I did my apprenticeship.”

RIGHT: John Boskovich’s 57 Chev features on the front cover of Dragster Australia Magazine in 1995.

“Big cubes, low revs, low boost something that will make the call every time.”

Despite drag racing’s impact on the family, Jeremy was determined to race himself and shortly after getting his P-plates he began to play with a Ford Cortina at Eastern Creek Raceway street meets in 1997, somewhat content in the 13 second zone.

Since then, Boskovich has enjoyed a variety of ways to get his fix. He has spent much time crewing for family friend Benny Gatt, who has been an invaluable source of information and inspiration in the sport. He bought an altered and ran some of his first genuinely quick passes, besting with an 8.70/155mph.

He had some big plans for the engine, set to be built by Aaron Hambridge’s APM, but was devastated when a break-in at the workshop saw Boskovich’s motor stolen.

“That was a big turn of events,” he said. “I was starting the business and I came to the decision that I would sell the car as a roller and put the money into the business. I got that up and going and it wasn’t until a couple of years later that I talked with Joe Rodriguez about HAMBsters.”

HAMBsters are budget friendly drag racing roadster, derived from a ruleset developed on the Hokey Ass Message Board on JalopyJournal.com.

“We had enough stuff laying around in the shed, and I think I built the car for $3500 finished,” Boskovich said. “My brother did all the bodywork and we got a lot of good feedback for it. I won five meetings in the thing, including the Nostalgia Nationals in Queensland. The whole family has driven it, everyone who helps out gets a go and while it isn’t fast it is fun.”

Of course fast can also be a lot of fun, and that brings us to the most recent stage of Boskovich’s high speed endeavours.

The slamming Ford XY Falcon you can see in these pages seemed

to come to Jeremy by fate. It was originally built for another owner

by Alan Odgers and Benny Gatt.

“I think it did a total of four runs, it had a Fontana in it at the time and ran 7.50 pretty easy, but the car got sold,” Boskovich said. “A guy in Perth bought it and took it to a couple of shows, but it never ended up hitting the track. After a few years the car was back up for sale again and my mate Michael bought it.”

The car ended up sitting in Boskovich’s shed as it awaited some plans for a new engine. In the meantime Michael’s plans changed and he wanted to sell the car.

“It was already here and I’d changed some things on the car already, so I thought I would get it from him. I grew up watching Shoebox Dreams (a VHS tape released in the eighties dedicated to early doorslammers rocking nitrous big blocks and superchargers) and I love the idea of clutch pedals, Lenco levers, and big engines.

I was going to go for a big block with a shot of gas.

“Three months before the Aeroflow World Fuel Altered Challenge, Benny was telling me about a Wild Bunch class that would be there. I said to him at the time, ‘Do you think if I went blown we could get it done quick enough?’ He told me I’d have to start right away.”

A deadline set, Boskovich began on his new direction for the engine.

“I pulled the running gear out and all I was left with was a block. I started calling everyone I knew and I bought a new crank, pistons, rods, camshaft, heads, manifold, blower – everything. We spent three months flat stick to bring it out at the Fuel Altered meeting.”

Boskovich met his goal of having the car running in time, but the reality was there were quite a few bugs to sort out.

“I was happy just to be there, but we had teething problems like any new car.”

Undeterred, Boskovich set his eyes on East Coast Thunder, where he would try to qualify for Supercharger Outlaws.

“We had some issues with the Lenco but finally went A to B with a really lazy 8.20/166mph. We didn’t qualify, but it has the potential there. It’s a really lazy 588 cubic inch engine, a big bracket motor.

Big cubes, low revs, low boost – something that will make the call every time.”

Sitting under the front clip now is a tall deck, grout-filled Bowtie block running 9:1 compression. A Howards crankshaft, MGP con rods and Racetech pistons fill the gaps inside.

The heads are a rather unique item, produced by Perth engineering outfit Veem. Greg Gower, the crew chief for the the first five second alcohol run in Australia, made the heads years ago to run on Gary Miocevich’s Comp Funny Car. A 14-71 supercharger is doing the blowing, topped with what Boskovich called a sentimental piece of carbon fibre.

“The hat was on Benny’s car when it ran its first six, and also on the late Steve Greentree’s wagon when he ran his first six. I had to have it for the sentimental value!”

Also coming with a story was the four-speed Lenco transmission.

“I bought it from John Babington, and it was actually a spare fourspeed we once had for Dad’s car. We put all brand-new internals through it from Wayne Topp.”

A ten inch Crower triple plate clutch is attached to the Lenco, sourced from Sam Fenech’s Bingo Outlaw 10.5 car. It all links up with a full sheet metal rear end with a Mark Williams centre, gears and axles.

Jeremy Boskovich grew up watching the ‘shoeboxes’ of early Pro Mod, where the drivers banged gears in big sedans with high horsepower mills. Some 30 years on, he has one of his own, a dream realised.

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Boskovich gave credit to Aaron Betts for much of the fabrication, including the zoomie exhaust and the modified Funny Car cage that gives Boskovich better room for his arm to shift the Lenco levers. He also produced the rear wing.

“I wanted a late model, Pro Mod-style wing so I mucked around with some cardboard, which I gave to Aaron and he made it.”

Jeremy was also keen to thank his wife Melissa and kids Charlie and Archie for putting up with how much time he spends working cars, brother Jarred from Mad Metal Werks for the work on the door trims, Sam Fenech from Westend Performance for all the machining and help with setting up the pedal clutch, Mark Sant from Ontrack Auto Electrical for wiring the car, Gareth Davies and Danny from Sprayfever for the paint work, Doug Bonwick, Josh Boskovich, Cheyne Bernoth, Michael Zocolli, Lloyd Bonwick, Fred Burns, Sharon Boskovich, Vaughan Greentree, Jeremy Wynne, Ryan Pettiford, and anyone else he might have missed.

Boskovich is no stranger to blown cars, even driving them, thanks to Benny Gatt giving him a go in his legendary XA. But there was something different when it was something he had built himself, for himself.

“It was very daunting. To bring a blown alcohol engine up on revs, like I watched my Dad doing, and letting the clutch go is something amazing in itself. It is everything you dream of.

“The car will end up in the high sixes. My Dad ran 7.23/198mph so I have to beat that!

To run a six at 200 is the dream, that is what the nineties Pro Mods I grew up watching ran.”

Alongside his own dream machine, the family aspect of Boskovich’s racing has grown with the addition of Junior Dragsters to the team.

Each addition to the stable of race cars has been a lot of fun for Jeremy. He remembered giving son Charlie his first properly quick

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B/JD race motor after he gained experience in C/JD. “We were at a Full Throttle Friday and Charlie was old enough for B/JD, so we took the throttle stop off the C/JD motor. Gareth Davies says to me after Charlie’s run, ‘I have an engine, we can have him running eights.’

I laughed and then next run he keeps looking at me and says, ‘I’m in your head now, right?’

Long story short I bought his engine and we put it in the car. Charlie’s best run had been an 11.8, so when he first nailed the throttle for a dry hop the look on his face was priceless. On his first run he went 8.7 straight off the trailer but it sounded like he pedalled it. We asked him why after the run and he said, ‘It pulled my helmet up and I couldn’t see!’”

Following Charlie into the Junior Dragsters is brother Archie. When they discussed what Archie’s car should look like, the youngest driver in the team wanted a tribute to ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits’ legendary Swamp Rat XXX. The family got in touch with Garlits and he responded with a letter that Jeremy said brought him to tears.

“It’s like getting a letter from God,” he said.

While John Boskovich may no longer be here in body, his spirit lives on through his family.

All through his journey, Jeremy Boskovich has been blessed by that same enthusiasm for drag racing – and reminders that somehow, somewhere, his Dad is watching.

“I got to the bottom end after my first run in the XY, and my wife told me that when I rolled out for the burnout my Dad’s funeral song came on to the radio in the tow car.

When she told me that I was a mess; I wished Dad was there to see it.

“I have so much fun drag racing with my kids, that is something I didn’t get to do with my Dad. It’s the best thing ever, if I saw one of my kids in each lane, ready to race, I could finish a happy man.”

RIGHT: The Boskovich family and Benny Gatt, who might as well be considered family - with their latest pride and joy.

BELOW: The XY would have fit right in with the Australian Wild Bunch’s early days.

BELOW LEFT: Jeremy and his mentor Benny Gatt - who has been there for the family since John Boskovich’s accident.

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FUEL TO THE FIRE

Making an early shift to unleaded has paid early dividends for Jason Hedges as Pro Stock adapts to a new era.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by cacklingpipes.com and Joe Maday.

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Australian Pro Stock has transitioned to a new era, with unleaded fuels mandated by the Federal Government forcing the teams into completely new tune ups for the sweetly-singing small blocks.

Ahead of the curve was New South Wales racer Jason Hedges; he made the first full passes using unleaded fuel in Australian Pro Stock in June at Sydney Dragway. Hedges had intended to be out even earlier at the Winternationals, but rain limited the event to one qualifying session and when he missed the field, his weekend was over.

Fast forward to East Coast Thunder where Hedges qualified fourth and then danced his way through eliminations, defeating Nino Cavallo, Wayne Daley and ultimately Aaron Tremayne in the finals.

It has been a strong turnaround for Hedges, who has been one of the mainstays of the class for over a decade. A test session earlier in the year resulted in significant engine damage but with help from Danny Selva at SRP he was able to get back on the track.

“Danny was delivered a crate of blown up motor parts and he

worked around the clock, machining, ordering parts and then assembling the JHR Pro Stock motor in Victoria,” Hedges said.

“I cannot say how grateful I am to Danny – who saw the bad deal JHR ended up with – and he stepped in and offered his help to get us on the track racing.”

Given the team had to regroup regardless, Hedges made an early play for the unleaded fuel in the hopes of finding an advantage in one of drag racing’s closest classes, choosing VP’s QM25+ blend.

“Our team has been track testing whenever possible. We did not dyno test at all; the black dyno doesn’t lie. Paul and John Agazzi at VP Racing Fuels have supported our testing program and we have simply taken the approach one step at a time. We are still rich on our tune up right now, but we will not compromise hurting our engine by being too aggressive with jetting or engine timing.

Regardless of it now being unleaded, the same applies to any fuel tune.”

We tried to pry some secrets from Hedges on what has got the team’s engine humming, but he was tight lipped.

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BELOW: Jason Hedges gave up almost six hundredths on the line in the East Coast Thunder final, normally a death sentence against Aaron Tremayne, but he fought back with a 7.01 for the win - his quickest time of the event.

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“We carried out our research last season into what is required internally to assist the unleaded fuel usage with these high RPM small blocks.

Danny had many parts of our combination looked at, then sent to the relevant specialists in each field with unleaded fuel experience. I’m glad to say our engine is now in a happy place.

“We are focused on get the car tuned correctly, as these beasts have so many adjustments it ain’t funny. Once we are happy with the car’s performance Danny will then look at the engine tune more in depth.”

Hedges said East Coast Thunder needed his driving skills on point, as each pairing presented a challenge.

“We did not get to the final without a fight.

Every pass was a huge driving challenge and it was the hardest car I’ve driven since entering this class. I know racers are never happy with each run, but if I had an on-board camera in each qualifying and eliminations pass you would understand what I’m saying. It was a bucking bronco to handle.

“We simply could not get the car out of tyre shake. No matter what I took away from the clutch or car to tame it down, it continued to want to bite me. We made our best run in the final, luckily enough, to take the win. The Racepak graph of the final run was ugly, but the best ugly run for the weekend.”

Following his opening round success, Hedges nominated consistency as key if he wanted to add more trophies to his mantelpiece. He also acknowledged that his reaction times needed to be tightened up as he went too close to finishing runner up at East Coast Thunder.

“We simply want to make a full pass each and every time we pull into the water box,” he said. “My goal now is to improve my reaction times. I’m usually good for .040 lights but the

.074 in the final was nearly another bridesmaid finish for myself. I best get up on the wheel and get more orange juice and chocolate into my body each pass. Pro Stock can be won or lost on reaction times and (when lost) it hurts, I’m telling you.”

Pro Stock has battled a few seasons of small fields after the boom times of the early 2010s.

The performance arms race that saw elapsed times drop into the 6.8s and the first 200mph pass left some teams throwing their hands in the air and declaring it all too hard, while others went away to regroup with different engine programs.

While the shift to unleaded fuel might have been seen as another hurdle to teams returning, the opposite seems to have happened. The playing field has been levelled a touch and Hedges thinks that it is only the economy which is preventing more teams being on the track.

“We have at least 25 Pro Stock cars that I believe are competitive right now. However the economic conditions and cost to run these hot rods are keeping certain cars asleep in sheds. If we get back to the days of 20 cars entering we could see the 16 car fields again. This would be fantastic for the racers and race fans.”

Hedges plans on making a complete assault on the season. While there are only four rounds of the 400 Thunder championship he views them as competitively as any other series. The only thing he’d like to add is a major sponsor on the side.

“We are looking for sponsors as the all-black billboard Pontiac GXP needs some pop about it on track. While J &D Custom Cabinetry and SRP support JHR, and I sincerely thank Jason Debono and Danny Selva for their involvement, a major sponsorship opportunity is available.”

TWILIGHT

ZONE

Larry McBride is taking Top Fuel Motorcycle to unthought of possibilities.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Larry McBride made arguably the greatest drag racing run of the year, anywhere in the world, during testing for the Man Cup World Finals at South Georgia Motorsport Park in the USA. At 7.15pm on November 21, 2019, Alabama-based McBride recorded an astonishing 5.507 at 264.96mph, the quickest pass by a wheel driven motorcycle in history. The run improved on McBride’s previous best of 5.602, clocked the month previous, by almost a full tenth of a second – lightyears in drag racing terms. Whenever the competition seems to be closing in, such as when Greece’s Filippos Papafilippou went 5.662 aboard Ian King’s bike, McBride has a way of jumping ahead again.

McBride has been at the forefront of motorcycle drag racing performance for decades, in what has been an ongoing tribute to his good friend Elmer Trett, who passed away in 1996 in an accident at Indianapolis Raceway Park. When Trett lost his life, McBride felt a sense of obligation to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible on two wheels.

“I don’t know what kind of voodoo Elmer put on us, but he gave us the same enthusiasm that he had,” McBride said. “Jackie (Trett, Elmer’s wife) said, ‘It is up to you to take this on now.’”

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While improvement was expected at the World Finals, the 5.507 was not. The astounding run saw McBride go 1.014 to the 60 foot beams (remembering motorcycles do not have the advantage of a front overhang, so this is equivalent to something in the 0.9s for a car), 2.528 to 330 feet and 3.676 at 215.31mph to the eighth mile.

“We (were) focused on trying to win the championship. We were not out there to try and run a 5.50. We set the bike up, we did a few things we thought needed to be done to the bike.”

Amazingly the run could have been even quicker, with McBride confessing that he got a little ‘weak wristed’ on the throttle towards the end of the pass, which caused some damage to the motor as it leaned out. Whether it would have been a 5.4 or not is up to conjecture, but he thought 267 or 268mph may have been possible. The team had to replace the wounded bullet after the run, but with the transporter bringing eight motors to every event, that was not a major issue.

Much of the team’s recent research and development has focused on the chassis. McBride and team extended the chassis by six inches, looked to reduce flex in the wheelie bars and brought the centre of gravity down, mainly thanks to a 40 pounds weight loss regime for McBride himself.

“Everybody thought that wheelie bars want flex, but we are finding that is not true. We don’t want to carry the front wheel, when you are carrying the wheel you are going up not forward. When it gets too high you are taking load off the rear wheel. We want a lower centre of gravity, and that is why I am 40 pounds lighter than a year ago.

“The chassis is a big part, like a Top Fuel car or a Funny Car. It’s one thing I believe in the motorcycle drag racing industry we have always left out, the chassis.”

McBride put an exclamation point on the year by also wrapping up his 20th Top Fuel Motorcycle championship alongside the event win at the Man Cup World Finals, defeating Ian King in the final round.

- Interview quotes courtesy cycledrag.com and facebook.com/nikizakracing.

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TOP: Larry McBride’s lanky appearance has been exaggerated after a 40 pounds weight loss, which has helped to lower the bike’s centre of gravity significantly, improving handling and keeping the front wheel on the deck.

BELOW: The heart of the beast. The Puma comes in a touch over 1500cc, with most commentators declaring around 1500 horsepower. When you put the figures of the bike into a horsepower calculator however, the results are closer to 1800 horsepower!

WWW.CICLEANING.COM.AU

STOCK SHOCK When you’re outlawed from the Outlaws, you’ve just got to come up with a better beast.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

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American Larry Larson’s Cadillac CTS-V presents a different vision of what modern doorslammer drag racing could be like.

The former Australian visitor crafted the Caddy to replace his S-10 truck, which was deemed too modified in the body for racing in the Street Outlaws No Prep Kings series. Larson wasn’t happy, but he pursued the new build regardless.

Drag News Magazine had a chance to see the Cadillac up close at Palm Beach International Raceway, near Miami. The most impressive thing about the Larson Race Cars-built machine is just how stock appearing it is. There are no window screws or dzus fasteners to mess up the lines, and the body is all steel, with the exception of the plastic bumpers and carbon fibre hood (which is still a factory item). Amazingly, the car weighs in at a relatively light 2750 pounds. Even the factory door seals are still in place.

“It has always been my M-O to do something different,” Larson said. “I’d only ever seen one of these cars in person once.

“It’s all factory body panels, every piece on it. They outlawed the truck last year, they wanted something more stock appearing, so here it is. I get a lot of self-satisfaction out of the fact we build the things, I tune it and I drive it. There are very few people out there who do that any more.

“We take a lot of pride in the shop at building a car that is easy to work on, that we can maintain and is aesthetically correct. We turn out some nice cars.

“This car is a little shorter than a Pro Mod car, the engine location is similar, but for what we are doing in the no prep world I think it is going to work really well.”

No prep drag racing has developed a cult following in the USA, with tracks forgoing traction preparation and simply ensuring a clean surface free of oil – simulating street racing. This means that most cars are overpowered for the conditions and there is an emphasis on controlling the application of power all the way down the eighth mile.

No times are displayed for the Street Outlaws No Prep Kings series, but it is likely these cars are still cutting low fours.

Larson has a Proline 481X up front, which is a common powerplant to find in the No Prep Kings series, but it’s boosted by a not-so-popular 140mm Hart’s Diesel and Machine turbocharger. The massive unit gets the lion’s share of attention anytime somebody takes a close look.

“Everybody only thought they made up to 118mm; I’ve got a company near me that does some really big stuff for truck and tractor pull operations so that’s where this thing came from.”

While Larson’s first six months with the car have seen him struggle a little, he appeared to be on the edge of a breakthrough at Palm Beach International Raceway. 2019 will go down as a shakedown year, but the 2020s may just see the Missouri-based Larson strike back.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: The secrets of the rear end! A huge 140mm turbocharger is the star of the show up front - Larson believes the weight limits better suit a single turbo combination. While the outside is stock-appearing, the interior is anything but thanks to a jungle-gym of rollcage bars. Proline Racing supplied the 481X and Larry has taken over from there. A Rossler three speed transmission gets Larson through the eighth mile.

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PRIVATEER

POWER

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Dan Donnelly beats up on Graeme Cowin’s stable in a performancepacked round of the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars at Willowbank.

By Luke Nieuwhof.

Photos by dragphotos.com.au.

Under smoke-filled skies, the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars returned to Willowbank Raceway alongside the Queensland Drag Racing Championship on November 9.

The ten ‘house’ cars of the Aeroflow stable were boosted by the addition of Dan Donnelly’s Avenger and Nathan Peirano’s Time Traveller to deliver one of the best shows the series has seen in terms of raw performance numbers. Rick Gauci opened the floodgates early with a stunning 5.408 at 264mph from Nitro Express, defeating a 5.56 from Greg Leahy in Stormtrooper. Also on the performance bandwagon were Josh Leahy with a 5.53 out of The Bandit and Dan Donnelly, also with a 5.53. With all but two cars well into the fives it was a stunning first round of racing.

Round two saw the pace ease off as a few more cars overpowered the track. Donnelly had no such concerns, blasting to a 5.44/263mph for his second win light of the night. Also sitting on two wins were Paul Messineo and Greg Leahy. The news wasn’t so good for Peirano, with a broken oil pump drive resulted in a sump and diaper full of aluminium.

Gauci dropped another superb run in round three with a

5.408/265mph, setting himself up well for the podium. Emma Begley racked up her first victory of the night over Jake Donnelly, with Justin Walshe and Morice McMillin also turning on the win lights. The final pairing was between Daniel Donnelly and Messineo, with the gold Rocket trophy on the line for the winner.

Messineo left first but Donnelly had the Avenger set to kill and a 5.497/261mph to a 5.64/254mph gave the DBS Motorsport a giant-killing win against Graeme Cowin’s nitro fleet.

Donnelly said there were no wholesale changes to the car, just work on refining the existing tune.

“There was no real change from the set up that was in the car at the last meet and the set up that was in Bumblebee (the car formerly campaigned by brother Jake), just continual refinement of the tune from data and learning,” he said. “The car’s last six passes have been in the 5.50s or 5.40s at both Sydney and Willowbank. The car is still safe; it used the same pistons all night.

“It was great to get a win, I could not do it with out Mum and Dad and our dedicated crew, it felt great for myself and our crew to finally get the win over the Aeroflow-owned cars.”

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The final round of the Queensland Drag Racing Championship saw championships decided and plenty of tough racing from the Willowbank faithful, with a remarkable number of winners doubling up with championships.

David Wilson defeated Arthur Telford in the final of QDRC Outlaws, while the championship went to Bill Fletcher.

Ken Collin’s domination of Comp Bike shows little sign of slowing, as he did the double with an attacking 7.96 win against Reegan Ward’s 8.06 in a heads up final round, and secured the overall points win, adding to his 400 Thunder national title.

Top Sportsman’s Paul Doeblien was another racer to take home two trophies with an 8.62 on an 8.59 dial in combined with a .034 light taking down points rival Denis Ryan in the final.

Modified saw Andrew Pinkstone use a .009 reaction time and a 7.72 on a 7.68 to knock out former national Modified champion (and sometimes Top Fuel driver) Kelly Bettes. The championship went to Mark Allen by just one point over Tony Littlewood, who had a costly red light in the semi finals.

Stop us if the double up sounds familiar by now, but Super Sedan’s Patrick Barron was another driver with multiple successes, winning the event against Noel Green and getting the championship.

Gonna sounds like a broken record here, but Super Street was another bracket with the event winner earning the title. Mitchell Bauer defeated Neil Tschutura in the final following a crucial semi final win against Ian Neilsen in the semi finals which decided the championship result.

Johnny Lewis red lit with a painful -.001 red light in the final of Modified Bike against Alan Annis, who dominated the class all season and took home the championship with the event.

Finally in Junior Dragster, Jake Porter’s exacting 7.993 on a 7.99 defeated Jaidyn Seng in the final, though Seng was able to be content as the winner of the QDRC series overall.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: We always love high horsepower with a short wheelbase - Shane Atkinson’s QDRC Outlaws Torana delivers.

Cheyne Phillips is learning the ropes of driving after many years in a crew role with father Gary. Ken Collin has proved almost impossible to beat in Competition Bike. Nathan Peirano lit up the night before mechanical carnage halted his progress. Grabbing the next generation!

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EAST COAST THUNDER

SNAPSHOTS

The 400 Thunder season opens with small fields, but plenty of bump and grind action at Sydney Dragway.

Photos by cacklingpipes.com, John Bosher and Joe Maday.

Victorian carrot farmer Phil Lamattina made a welcome return to the Top Fuel ranks, contesting his first even t as a driver since 2015 also his first in the 1000 feet era.

ts sponsor for the first time in John Zappia was without a naming righ a good start, as a fuel system many years. His season did not get off to issue caused a blower backfire.

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Phil Read broke a crank in spectacular fashion during qualifying for Top Fuel.

ott in Pro Bike. takes on Daniel Rabn e) lan r ea (n r ste oo Glenn W e Force Wear Group six second run on th st fir s hi d de or rec r Wooste n. secured the event wi Suzuki, a 6.99, and

Peter Xiberras had a new chassis and declared his cham intentions with a pionship powerful event vict ory, as the PremiA seemed to have 3.8 ir Hire team second runs on ta p.

Chris Matheson flirts with the braking area walls. Unfortunately Top Bike did not have enough entries for a field, a shame for one of Australian drag racing’s most exciting brackets.

Tyronne Tremay ne debuted a sle ek new Chev Cam Stock, as he seek aro in Pro s to find an edge over brother Aar Australia’s most on and the rest of talented naturally aspirated teams.

Veteran driver Bruc e Leake gets some air in the braking area as throws out the laund he ry in his Pro Stock Po ntiac GXP.

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d in off when he launche steering wheel come e th d ha rt y. ke alt su De ca rt Robe s the only tely a timing box wa Pro Stock, but fortuna

Ashley Sanford pours on the speed, distorting the rear tyres at over 300mph. While her first event victory again proved elusiv e, we expect her to be in the winner’s circle at some stage this season .

an amazing Rod Harvey dropped y, his 2JZ Toyota Camr 5.690/259.11mph in t ac mp Co t or ickest Sp easily Australia’s qu ake it the fourth m to gh ou run and en e world. quickest import in th

Monte Carlo body w, much lighter Chev ne a d ile ve un si uo beaten up shell he Rob Ambr r, replacing the very Ca y nn Fu l ho co Al for his Pro used last season.

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Mark Hinchelwood had Maurice Fabietti’s new Holde n Monaro Pro Slammer out on track for the first time in the champions hip.

Katie Cunningham throws out the twin parachutes on her nitrous assisted Modified dragster.

Tony Frost made the ste p up into Pro Bike com petition for the first time. After many years in Modified Bike and Co mpetition Bike, Frost enjoyed his first time ou t on a heads up tree.

Clint George had a chute failure in Pro Stock, seeing him slide sideways into the gravel trap - and lucky to avoid a roll over. in his nitrous Pro s best diesel impression hi es do ll rro Ca O’ Simon Radial Torana.

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