STOP PRESS: As this mag went to print, the
Gulf Western Oil Nitro Thunder meeting
at Sydney Dragway had just wrapped up.
Victor (right) not only went all the way to
the final in Pro Slammer against event-
winner Gary Phillips, but also set a new
PB earlier in the meeting to the tune of
5.86@248mph. John Zappia (main) ran
the quickest Pro Slammer pass ever, with
a 5.68-second run in practice and ended
up facing Ben Bray (above) in the ‘B’ final,
where they ran the quickest side-by-side
pass in history. Ben holeshotted to victory
with a 5.700 against Zap’s 5.658Castellana uses Brad Anderson heads, not
the currently much-favoured Aussie Noonan
heads (you gotta love competition), and I think
they have a dilemma on their hands. Someone
said to me it was the greatest thing for the BAE
brand, but it was the worst thing that could
happen to the supercharged cars, because
now they will cop a penalty, or it could allow the
turbo or nitrous cars to run with less weight,
or be given some other type of allowance. And
that’s the problem with parity.
The bottom line is there is no such thing
as real ongoing parity in drag racing. It has
to be observed by extremely knowledgeable
stewards with their finger on the pulse of the
changes in technology between each group,
and even so it’s a real challenge to make
everyone happy.
There are guys in Australia who want to see
4.9 motors introduced and say: “We’ll look
after you with parity.” Well, even the NHRA
can’t organise parity between supercharged,
turbo and nitrous oxide, so how can we make
it happen in Australia? We can’t.
If they bring in the 4.9 they need to do it
gradually; they have got around 300-400hp
more than a normal motor, they can rev higher
and have a lot of good stuff going for them. I
agree they are a good motor, but the problem
is what will it do if they force their way into
the bracket?
Getting back to the Pro Mod scene in
America, I’ve just seen where Castellana
won the NHRA Four-Wide at Charlotte with
a 5.80@249 mph. I’m not sure about running
four-wide. Yes, as a spectacle it would be
insane, but I would hate to be one of the
participants. It’s not what I believe drag
racing is about. I also think it would be much
harder to win four-wide than the traditional
two-car format.
With the different formats around at the
moment, in Australia I think the best option is
qualifying on day one, then racing the next day
because it gives you more of an opportunity to
dial-in your performance and the best shot at
winning. The one-day format that 400 Thunder
runs is extremely attractive to the public, butI think for the racers you need a different
mindset. The first round denotes who races
who in the second round. But the second
round decides who you are going to race in
the final, so there is a lot of pressure on doing
well in the second round. However, if that’s
what it takes to get the public more interested
in the sport, then that’s the path we’ve got to
go down.
I think today’s generation, growing up with
the three-round ANDRA/IHRA format, will
over the next five or 10 years see the one-
day format as the norm and miss out on the
traditional elimination racing. Cricket, football
and tennis have all gone down this path with
success, so why not drag racing?
I think, however, the Winternationals and
other major events will continue to be run
over a multi-day elimination race format. At
those events you need to work towards the
win. There’s a lot more tactics and strategy
involved, not just on the track but also in
the pits. Mind games play a big part in
drag racing. sCASTELLANA, MANZO AND THOSE GUYS IN THE USA ARE
RUNNING CLUTCH CARS AND DOMINATING, EVEN THOUGH
THE SPORT HAS BECOME THE REALM OF CONVERTER CARS.
IT’S THE SAME HERE IN AUSTRALIA, WHERE ZAPPIA IS
DOMINATING WITH A CLUTCH