1
used a pro tree and three-round Chicago Shootout heads-up
format, while Street Outlaw and Small-Tyre Fighter racers used
a Sportsman tree and three-round DYO bracket format.
While the weather was perfect and the track prepped to near-
perfection, the big blown cars in Pro Mod struggled through
the three rounds of racing. By the time the sun was going down
and the Pro Mod final rolled around it was Steve Ham’s Camaro
Pro Slammer up against Greg ‘Mauler’ Tsakiridis in the ex-Moits
twin-turbo Mustang.
Mauler had been running huge numbers all day, and while
both cars were absolute rockets in the final race, the Mustang’s
5.63@271mph chopped the Slammer’s 5.69@253mph to
take the win.
“We worked hard for it, but we got there in the end,” Greg
sighed. “It was a lot of work, but we achieved what we wanted
to achieve. Everything pretty much went to plan, although we
had a couple of little hiccups here and there.
“The staff did a killer job with the track, and because it
changes through the day and into the night, we worked with
the data we had. We were pulling good numbers, and we ran
a 5.62 and a 272mph to break the record we broke a couple
of months back.”
The final of Pro Street came down to a classic turbo versus
blower dogfight as Jeremy Callaghan’s Pro Line-powered ’69
Camaro duked it out with Craig Hewitt’s blown Hemi-powered
CV8 Monaro in the final round. Both cars had been running jet-
fast all day, and while Hewitt got the jump on the Camaro off the
line, the turbo car’s top end reeled the supercharged Monaro in
by the finish line to take home the $50,000 prize money, with
a 4.11@186mph playing a 4.23@173mph.
“We got to the semis last year but got knocked out, so we
knew we could get close,” said Callaghan. “I didn’t think we
could do this! We were lucky today and had a few good breaks.
“This sport has been unforgiving at times, but it has been a
good sport. I have my whole family here, my workers, and it is
awesome to be able to share this win with them.”
While he puts on the best show I’ve ever been to at Sydney
Dragway, Po isn’t keen to rest on his laurels with Grudge Kings.
“I think we have a pretty good event model with Grudge Kings,
so the next thing I’d like to look at is a radial-tyre event,” he said.
“I’m also thinking of moving Grudge Kings to a warmer season
so we can get more track time, maybe even run ’til 10pm or
10:30pm. We could get a lot more into the event that way.”
We don’t know how you’d pack more into the one-day event,
but we’ll be there to check it out, Po! s