Only weeks remain until the biggest show in Australian drag racing and with the event held on their home turf and with the backing of their own naming rights partner, it is no surprise that the Gulf Western Oil-supported Team Bray Racing is pulling out all the stops in their preparation.
The Gulf Western Oil Winternationals will celebrate its 50th year in 2017 and is the largest championship drag racing event held outside of the United States. It will be held across June 8-11 at Willowbank Raceway.
While the Ipswich venue could be called a home away from home for racers Victor and Ben Bray and their crew, the team is far from complacent as they look to ensure they bring the best package possible to this prestigious event.
“We have testing booked for this week and also for next week also as we look to be as prepared as possible for the 50th running of the Winternationals,” TBR Team Principal and six-time champion Victor Bray said.
“There is never any time for complacency in our sport, let alone in the lead-up to the biggest event in the country which is also backed by our valued supporters Gulf Western Oil.”
Thanks to its size and status, the event regularly attracts racers and fans from not only across the country but also overseas.
One such traveler is CompetitonPlus.com editor Bobby Bennett, who will travel from the United States and be hosted by TBR across the event.
“As we have done for years, we are very proud to be hosting highly-respected drag racing journalist Bobby Bennett all the way from the US. Bobby is the editor of leading drag racing news website competitionplus.com and it is always an honour to have him with us at this marquee event,” Victor said.
Victor’s son and three-time champion Ben Bray explains that the Winternationals will host not only both TBR Doorslammers, but also hopefully his new Sport Compact Toyota which will compete in the Factory Xtreme category.
“We always pull out all the stops for the Winternationals and this year is no different – it is so great that with the support of Gulf Western Oil we will be there throwing everything we have at it in not only in our two ‘Slammers but also with my brand new Toyota Solara,” Ben explained.
“It is our hope to have the Solara ready for the official Winters test weekend – the Winter Warm-Ups – but before then we have plenty of testing to do ourselves to make sure we are in the best shape possible.
“We have plenty of development plans in the works thanks to data that we collected at the Nitro Champs, so we hope that this will allow us to have some extra oomph to throw into our package by the time we hit the track in anger across June 8-11.”
