It looks as though Aussie Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker might just be causing an unexpected buzz in NHRA land at the moment. Drag News Australia’s media partner Drag Race Canada brings to our readers a northern hemisphere perspective of Tucker’s race campaign
“I’ve said it before many times and I will say it again,” says Drag Race Canada’s Bruce Biegler.
“For North America’s NHRA drag racing product to emerge from it’s rather stale state of affairs and truly grow and prosper it must focus on and become more of an international entity.”
During the recent 2014 season-opening NHRA Circle K Winternationals in California there may have been a serious glimmer of just that happening.
While the event’s entry list was of course, due to geographic reality, dominated by U.S. based racers and complemented by a decent component of invading Western Canadians, it was truly refreshing to see racer participation included from Brazil, Scandinavia, the Middle East and also Australia.
Shane Tucker, from Australia’s Gold Coast, was at the forefront of all that when he entered his first ever NHRA national event race in Pro Stock. Tucker, who has been a force to be reckoned with within ANDRA racing for a few seasons was behind the wheel of the ex Erica Enders-Stevens Chevy Cobalt at Pomona in conjunction with North Carolina’s Victor Cagnazzi.
Although Shane did not quite make it to victory lane at Pomona – the fact that he qualified during his first ever NHRA national event try was nothing short of impressive. That is something that is not supposed to happen for a first time Pro Stock racer within the NHRA.
“I had been waiting for this type of opportunity for a very long time,” Shane said. “Then to actually be out here doing it was a little bit surreal. Sometimes I thought it was just a dream and I was going to wake up!”
Tucker was pretty impressive in the cockpit of the race car. Despite only limited testing prior to the event he coaxed the car through to a 6.594 best to make the super competitive field which saw the first through 16th cars separated by only .084 of a second.
Shane revealed that while the 500 CID cars are similar to ANDRA’s 400 CID cars – he did have to make some adjustments as a driver.
“The basic principles of driving a Pro Stock car apply to both,” he said. “Both cars tend to move around a lot and there is not much downforce to work with. In NHRA you drive out a lot further in low gear and you need to get your head around that right away and trust the shift light. The 1-2 shift took a bit of getting used. Also putting it into fifth gear was a little further down track too. But all in all the two types of cars are pretty much comparable.”
Now that Shane has gotten his first taste of NHRA level drag racing it is very clear that he is priming himself for more.
“I had been over in North America in 2006-08,” he confirmed. “But due to the state of the economy at that time I wasn’t able to put a program together. So I went back to Australia and started my own company with the hopes that I could come back and try again. My company (Auzmet Architectural) has become successful – we have 25 employees now. I’m very thankful to all those people who are supporting me so I could come back.”
Shane’s plans for the rest of the 2014 NHRA racing season are interesting. He plans to compete at the next NHRA national event race near Phoenix, Arizona next weekend, once again driving the same Cagnazzi Cobalt. Then if all goes according to plan he will debut a new 2014 Jerry Bickel-built Chevy Camaro in time for the marquee NHRA Gatornationals in Florida in mid March.
“After Gainesville we will take a few races off but plan to return for four NHRA events — Bristol through Norwalk at mid season,” Shane added. “Then later we will come back again to race at Indy, Charlotte and Dallas.”
While Shane’s participation within NHRA Pro Stock racing may be somewhat cursory at this point it would be a mistake to underestimate things. Despite being considered a rookie within NHRA, during his eight seasons racing within ANDRA’s highly competitive Pro Stock class he has more then earned his stripes. Shane may very well be poised to become one of NHRA Mello Yello Series Drag Racing’s biggest surprises of the season.
Visit Shane’s company at: http://auzmet.com.au
Written by Bruce Biegler: www.DragRaceCanada.com
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