Big dollar US style bracket meeting are widely popular across the Pond but have never found any real success in Australia with few venues now willing to take a punt on hosting one. That was until Victoria’s South Coast Raceway stepped up with the help of Shane Wynd to host the inaugural Door Car Wars on Jan 10-11.
While not able to offer the million dollar purses we see overseas, it is a start of the movement here of an event genre in which Wynd has been a long campaigner after competing in a number of these events in the U.S.
“I have been pitching this type of event for years after my own experiences racing in the USA,” said Wynd. “My first Spring Fling event in Bristol Tennessee introduced me to big dollar bracket racing in a big way. Peter Biondo and Kyle Siepel put together a race that for ever changed me.
“The world changed for me in racing circles. I was already hooked but now I was snagged for life. Since that race I have pushed and spoken to many people here in Australia to try and get this to happen. I sent off emails and talked to tracks, and yes still waiting for them to get back to me.
“Last Easter Tim Parker and I had a real good chat at the Easter display in Mildura and I put a proposal to him as President of South Coast Raceway.
Tim put it to the committee and members and Door Car Wars was born.
Southcoast Raceway is run by the members. It’s not a one owner deal. Many of the members were unsure of this type of racing but willing to give it a go – and Australian Drag Racing certainly needs some changes. Safe to say from the members I spoke to over the weekend they were happy.
The event kicked off with a 34 car shootout on the Friday that came down to the father and son duo of Ned and Nikolas Karanovic facing off for $3000 in the final, with the young gun taking the cash.
Saturday featured two eliminators with early round buy backs as is tradition splitting the competitors in to Box and No Box classes.
The No Box class came down to Brian Keane’s Falcon and the Holden Ute of local Andrew Smith, unfortunately for Smith a cherry on the tree ended the final for $4000 there and then.
The Box final shook out to current NDRC Super Sedan National Champion Sean Maher and Nikolas Karanovic trying to back up his win from the day before. Like the No Box, this final was also decided on the start line with Karanovic too quick on the tree by 4 thou handing the win to Maher in his HB Torana and making him $4000 richer.
The Box and No Box winners then faced off in an ultimate showdown for another $500 which was also won by Maher. It was a serendipitous moment for the Sydneysider who should not even have been at the event.
“I was going to Willowbank Raceway for the New Years round of National Drag Racing Championship this weekend, but it was cancelled Tuesday due to the forecast of bad weather,” said Maher.
“So a late night phone call to my mate Benny Phillips to see if I could late enter Door Car Wars. With a ‘yes mate’ we headed to Victoria instead of Queensland.
“Friday didn’t go so well with losing first round in the $3000 Gamblers race. I made some adjustments to the car to suit the regional track and Saturday was a different story. So I made 18 passes in two days. Met some great people, South Coast Raceway has a great welcoming vibe with the track being ran by passionate local racers. The Door Car Shootout needs to be supported by all racers as it is the only race that is put on by racers for racers, hopefully this event will be ongoing and grow in future years.”
More prize money was handed out for other awards including Ollie Weldon taking out $250 from POOH Racing for the quickest pass of the event in his LC Torana and Joe Carbone also nabbing $250 courtesy of Paul Rogers Performance Transmissions for Best Package.
Photos by Burnouts Unlimited and South Coast Raceway.
