ADAM ROGASH
WE WERE all holding our breath as to whether Adam
Rogash would make it to this year’s Drag Challenge with his
ALLSHOW VK Commodore – one of the quickest cars in the
event, having previously run 7.75@180mph. His wife Kelly was
heavily pregnant with their third child and due smack-bang in
the middle of Drag Challenge. But Adam and Kelly agreed
that he could take on the event if he returned to Melbourne
at the first sign of the baby arriving, to be there for the birth.
Adam double-entered the car with John Pilla of Powerhouse
Engines, so that Johnny could take over driving duties if Adam
got the call.
On Day One at Adelaide International Raceway we saw
40-degree ambient temps and track temps above 60 degrees.
If that wasn’t bad enough, some failing Holley Dominator
fuel pumps made sure the boys had their work cut out. On
low boost and still battling wheelspin, Adam managed an
[email protected], before he hit the road to Mildura for Day Two.
By the time the boys arrived at Sunset Strip, the fuel
pumps were toast, and before Adam could make a pass
the team needed to find replacements. Fortunately retired
DC competitor Zoran Makarovski had a couple of spare
MagnaFuel ProTuner pumps that he was willing to palm off,
and they got the job done.
After a drama-free cruise over to Swan Hill, ALLSHOW
started to show its potential. After well over 10 attempts at
getting down the track, Adam managed an 8.18@164mph.
“We treated it as a week of testing,” he said. “If we thought we
could do something better we changed it and sent it again. The
car has only been finished a couple of months, so we’re still
working out our suspension set-up.”
Like most of the other competitors, Adam and his crew had a
shocking run through the wet weather between Swan Hill and
Portland. “We hit a big pothole and smashed a headlight bulb,
so we ended up driving with one headlight in the pissing rain
for around 90km,” he said.
Portland was where we waved goodbye to Adam, as he got
the call from his wife that their baby boy was on the way. The
crew drove him to the Mt Gambier airport in ALLSHOW and
Adam flew back to Melbourne to be with his family. John Pilla
took over driving duties and they cruised over to Adelaide for
the final day.
Because the car wasn’t behaving the way Adam would have
liked earlier in the week, Johnny never got a chance to have
a practice steer as planned. However, by Friday they felt that
the VK was working nicely and Johnny could bring her home
in third place overall. An 8.51 was all it took to cement their
position, with Johnny getting off it at 1000 feet. “I’d never raced
here before; I wasn’t sure where the track finished!” he said.
He wasn’t alone in that regard either.
Johnny did an incredible job considering he’d never raced
that car before. It was also his first time racing since he had his
old HQ Monaro, which ran 10s a number of years ago – these
days he tends to favour the burnout pad.
Kelly and Adam ended up having their baby boy, Jordan Adam
Rogash, early Sunday morning. Congratulations to them both
from the Street Machine team.WE WERE all holding our breath as to whether Adam
Rogash would make it to this year’s Drag Challenge with his
ALLSHOW VK Commodore – one of the quickest cars in the
event, having previously run 7.75@180mph. His wife Kelly was
heavily pregnant with their third child and due smack-bang in
the middle of Drag Challenge. But Adam and Kelly agreed
thathe couldtake on the event ifhe returnedto Melbourne
at the first sign of the baby arriving, to be there for the birth.
Adam double-entered the car with John Pilla of Powerhouse
Engines, so that Johnny could take over driving duties if Adam
got the call.
On Day One at Adelaide International Raceway we saw
40-degree ambient temps and track temps above 60 degrees.
If that wasn’t bad enough, some failing Holley Dominator
fuel pumps made sure the boys had their work cut out. On
low boost and still battling wheelspin, Adam managed an
[email protected], before he hit the road to Mildura for Day Tw o.
By the time the boys arrived at Sunset Strip, the fuel
pumps were toast, and before Adam could make a pass
the team needed to find replacements. Fortunately retired
DC competitor Zoran Makarovski had a couple of spare
MagnaFuel ProTuner pumps that he was willing to palm off,
and they got the job done.
After a drama-free cruise over to Swan Hill, ALLSHOW
started to show its potential. After well over 10 attempts at
getting down the track, Adam managed an 8.18@164mph.
“We treated it as a week of testing,” he said. “If we thought we
could do something better we changed it and sent it again. The
car has only been finished a couple of months, so we’re still
working out our suspension set-up.”
Like most of the other competitors, Adam and his crew had a
shocking run through the wet weather between Swan Hill and
Portland. “We hit a big pothole and smashed a headlight bulb,
so we ended up driving with one headlight in the pissing rain
for around 90km,” he said.
Portland was where we waved goodbye to Adam, as he got
the call from his wife that their baby boy was on the way. The
crew drove him to the Mt Gambier airport in ALLSHOW and
Adam flew back to Melbourne to be with his family. John Pilla
took over driving duties and they cruised over to Adelaide for
the final day.
Because the car wasn’t behaving the way Adam would have
liked earlier in the week, Johnny never got a chance to have
a practice steer as planned. However, by Friday they felt that
the VK was working nicely and Johnny could bring her home
in third place overall. An 8.51 was all it took to cement their
position, with Johnny getting off it at 1000 feet. “I’d never raced
here before; I wasn’t sure where the track finished!” he said.
He wasn’t alone in that regard either.
Johnny did an incredible job considering he’d never raced
that car before. It was also his first time racing since he had his
old HQ Monaro, which ran 10s a number of years ago – these
days he tends to favour the burnout pad.
Kelly and Adam ended up having their baby boy, Jordan Adam
Rogash, early Sunday morning. Congratulations to them both
from theStreet Machinee team.