In front of a fantastic crowd of over 23,000 people on hand for the 2025 Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway, Victoria’s Chris Hargrave and the Middy’s Electrical Pro Alcohol Funny Car team have again taken out the B-Final win.
In a sensational drag race with fellow Victorian Cameron Ambesi to conclude round three of the Pro Drag Racing Championship in the NDRC, Hargrave hit the finish line first by a mere 2.03ft or 63cm. The event was the team’s second trip north to Sydney Dragway this season, and second to have a final decided by centimetres after Hargrave was narrowly beaten in the A-Final by Russell Mills at round one of the PDRC series.
“I never saw him for the whole race! In fact, he pulled into the chute packing area ahead of me, so I figured he got me,” said Hargrave.
“It’s only when Dad and Mum told me when they got down there that I knew, and now that I’ve seen the timecard and the 7plus replay that I can see that Cam was in front of me at the 1000ft marker!’’
Team Principal Steve Hargrave later commented, “Isn’t Pro Alcohol racing just the best! High revving, clutches dropped, seriously quick times and really close races between a variety of car types.’’
It was a weekend of personal best times for the team too as new standards in performance were set for the Middy’s Electrical Pro Alcohol Funny Car. The team raced to their fastest terminal speed of 264.75mph/426.07kmh and lowered their elapsed time to 5.504secs over the quarter mile, further cementing Chris’ status as Australia’s fastest electrician.
The car behaved perfectly like it was on rails the whole weekend with a total of five passes ranging from the personal best of 5.504 to just a 5.570 in the B-Final. That ET made even more remarkable given it broke a rocker off the line and ran the whole pass on just seven cylinders. Chris takes it all in his stride though.
“We know we don’t quite have the combination to run with the legendary Reed and Philips families, but we know that if one of them slips up we’re going to be there ready to be the giant killer,” said Hargrave.
“I’m really grateful this weekend for all of the fan support in front of a huge crowd and we gave away plenty of posters to kids in the pits, seeing the look on their faces is something else, and what a great debut event for Bosch Professional Power Tools to join the team”
The B-Final moved Hargrave up to second in the championship on 220 points trailing the not-out-of-reach lead of Daniel Reed whom sits on 290 points with one round to go in the championship. The team will now prepare for the season-ending event for Pro Alcohol at Willowbank Raceway’s Winternationals on June 5-8.
