will be held the same weekend as the last round
of the Supercars season in late November.
It got me thinking: why not a similar virtual
series for drag racing, streamed online? You
could race in Top Fuel, Pro Slammer, Funny Car,
Pro Stock or any one of a dozen or so Sportsman
categories against competitors locally or from
around the world. There could be events like the
NHRA Gatornationals, US Nationals and the
Western Swing, either individually or as part of
a series. The possibilities are endless. Virtual
sport is an area with massive potential and drag
racing is well placed to become a significant
player. A World Series of Drag Racing would
be amazing. What it needs is someone with
vision, passion and a bucket-load of money.
The risks are there, but the financial rewards
and the boost for drag racing would be out of
this world.
It’s been some time since I wrote about what
cars we have in the shed at home. There are
four cars that I have always wanted to own:
a 1957 Chev, 1957 Buick Caballero wagon,
1959 Cadillac de Ville coupe and a 1950 Buick
Roadmaster 76R. The ’57 Chev has always
been my favourite car, and I was lucky enough
to get my hands on the Caddy and Buick
wagon before prices went through the roof. But
I have been looking for years for a Roadmaster.
I reckon over a period of 20 years I saw only
about three of them that were in my price range.
When the Roadmaster first appeared it
was state-of-the-art, with power windows
and power seats as standard equipment.
The interior trim was pure luxury and would
put 90 per cent of today’s cars to shame.
The car I wanted was the two-door coupe
version. Eventually, I gave up the search and
settled for a four-door Roadmaster. Then what
happened? A couple of months later, I came
across a two-door that I could afford. I snapped
it up, and today I’m a proud owner of a 1950
two-door Buick Roadmaster 76R! The straight
eight-cylinder engine has been replaced with
a 578ci V8 Cadillac motor, and a four-speed
auto gearbox has been fitted. The car drives
like a dream, has a lovely patina and is a real
crowd-stopper.
Even though the opening round of the 2019-
2020 Pro Slammer season is three months
away, we’ve already been out testing. The level
of competition is so high these days that you
don’t park the car at the end of a season, then
a couple of weeks before Round One give the
car a dust-off, change the oil and go racing.
When we went testing, the
focus was on what it
takes to make half-track
at around 3.70sec and
330 km/h. That’s about
where you need to be
if you are going to be aserious contender. We were happy with the
results and plan to go back in the next couple
of weeks for some more laps.
The third generation of Team Bray have
licensed in Junior Dragster. Ben’s son Zac
breezed through the process, but his sister
Dakota went too fast, so under the JD rules
her day was over and she needs to go back
again to finish her licence.
We’ve also begun the search to find a new
naming rights sponsor for next season to
work alongside our many associate sponsors,
including Century Batteries, Speedflow,
Gates and NGK. This year I’m coming up to
62 years old. There have been a few battles
over the past couple of years, but I still love
racing. The way I see it, as long as I can strap
in and push the throttle, I want to keep driving- hopefully for the next few years at least. So,
if Ben and I can land a two- or three-year deal
with a company, that would just about see me
out – unless I take a leaf out of US Top Fuel
racer Chris Karamesines’ book, who is still
racing at 87! Who knows? s