The 11th Street Machine Drag Challenge presented by VPW wrapped up at Victorian Motorsports Park in Heathcote, Victoria, with reigning champion Brandon Zito and AFL legend Barry Hall taking out the top awards.
For those who missed it, this five-day event is a state-to-state race where entrants take on five back-to-back days of drag racing across Victoria and South Australia without a trailer or major pit crew. While just over 50 per cent of the entrants hailing from Victoria, racers come from every state and territory to compete!
This year, Drag Challenge attracted 4,500 in-person spectators across the week, with many more following along online.
Of the 320 entrants, 291 drivers started out at Victorian Motorsports Park in Heathcote on Tuesday 27 October. Of those starters, only 234 racers managed to make it back to take the starter’s orders for the final day back at Victorian Motorsports Park on 31 October, with mechanical issues taking out 57 entries during a tough but rewarding week of racing on the tracks.
It is safe to say, that simply finishing the event is a major achievement for all competitors.
All eyes were on Brandon Zito and Barry Hall over the week as they underwent one of the most epic battles of determination and hard work yet seen at Drag Challenge.
After Day One at Victorian Motorsports Park in Heathcote, Victoria, Zito was in fourth place, with Hall topping the tables. But after a wet start to Day Two at South Coast Raceway in Portland, Zito emerged on top, with Hall relegated to 16th spot. Zito, driving a Holden Torana, kept his lead through to the final day back in Heathcote, while Hall improved his times on Days Three and Four, before pulling out all the stops with a 7.045-second pass at 200mph (320km/h) pass over the quarter mile on the final day. This was enough to put Hall into third place overall, as well as earning him trophies for winning the Outlaw Blown class, as well as Fastest Pass, Quickest Pass and Fastest Holden. He was also inducted into the Drag Challenge Seven Second Club and the Drag Challenge 200mph Club. These latter awards are given to entrants who achieve these marks during competition, while managing to complete all five days.
Zito, a 33-year old concreter from Melbourne, came into the five-day long event as the reigning champion. Despite this, he was by no means confident coming onto the track.
“I was so relieved to make it back to Victorian Motorsports Park on Saturday,” he said.
“Everyone was hugging each other after we drove through the gates. Not just my team, but everyone we spoke to. It is such an achievement simply to make it to the fifth day. It’s such an awesome feeling. Yes, we had a good lead, but the leaderboard can change in a heartbeat if something goes wrong, so I was super nervous.”
Those nerves, did in fact, come back to bite Zito: “When I came to do the burnout on my first pass, I had the traction control on! That meant I couldn’t get enough heat into the tyres to get the number I was after. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong in the heat of the moment.”
After three attempts at a decent burnout, Zito still managed to run a 7.682-second pass, which was enough to take the win.
“I did not expect to be the back-to-back Drag Challenge champion,” said Zito after the awards ceremony.
“After we knew we had secured the victory with our first pass, we changed to a spicier engine tune-up, to try and come out and run our first six-second pass. And it was pretty spicy! When I took off, it lifted the front wheels very high! I tried to feather the throttle to bring it down gently, but it was too late, so I backed off. We’ll try for a six another time, but we are so happy to go home as the champions again. I can’t believe it.”
For Brandon, his crew, made up of his dad and crewmates, was what drove him forward: “It is a hard week, but so much fun and I love doing it with them.”
Barry Hall was also stoked with his team’s successes in his 1981 Holden Commodore.
After a tough lead-up to Drag Challenge, Hall was relieved just to make it to the start line. Six cracked pistons had been discovered in the engine weeks before the event, and, even after a late rebuild, the car broke during a pre-event test at Victorian Motorsports Park.
“We really had to push to get the car ready for Drag Challenge to start with,” Hall said. “The engine was brand new, and then we did one run and it broke.”
The team worked through the night to get the Commodore ready, but the challenges kept coming. Damage on the road to Portland and multiple engine issues left Hall wondering whether they would make it through the week.
“We were half an hour out of The Bend and the car decided to do a lifter. This was at 1.30am! We’re on the side of the road in the dark. The car was just kicking us in the nuts.
“I caught it very early, which was good. So we took the pushrods out of the affected cylinder, disconnected the injectors and disconnected the coil. That meant we could run the car on seven cylinders rather than eight – with the trailer on the back all the way to Mildura.
“It was a slow old trip, but we got in at 4.30am. The next day we had to get up early to source parts. A mate in Melbourne flew up to Mildura on a Rex flight with what we needed. Incredible.”
By the final day, Hall was simply happy to have made it back to Victorian Motorsports Park. But the Commodore still had more to give, with Hall pulling out a 7.045-second pass at 200mph (320km/h) over the quarter mile.
The run secured third overall, the Outlaw Blown class win, and trophies for Fastest Pass, Quickest Pass and Fastest Holden. Hall also joined the Drag Challenge Seven Second Club and 200mph Club.
Through it all, Hall said his crew stayed positive and focused on getting the job done.
“I’ll give nothing but praise for my team. They had great spirits. They weren’t negative about it. They were like, ‘Let’s get it done. No point sitting here whinging about it. Let’s go.’”
For Hall, the result was a huge reward for a week that had tested the team at every turn.
“Top five was my goal, and we did that. To win my class and finish third overall, yeah, we’re pretty blessed.”
“It’s been a nice reaction from the public, and even people who aren’t into cars have all said their congratulations. I’ve been generally surprised at how much people have taken an interest in it.”
“Did we get lucky? Yes, but I heard something recently that rings true for me: you need to put yourself in a position to be lucky, which is about preparation and hard work. So yeah, I’m pretty thankful for my team.”
This year’s event had a record number of female drivers, with 12 women entered. Of these, Tara Johnson from Queensland won the 10.5 Radial class in her Toyota Supra, while 18-year-old Hayley Vella from Sydney won the elite Radial Aspirated class in her Ford Capri.
Many-time winner Alysha Teale-Pollock from Sydney, came third in the Dial-Your-Own class in her HQ Holden.
With Drag Challenge wrapped up, attention now turns to the next major event at Victorian Motorsports Park. After some epic weeks of drag racing, VMP is set for another big hit of horsepower, this time with the burnout cars taking centre stage.
The Invitational hits the fresh burnout pad on Saturday 21 November, bringing together 50 hand-picked Pro Burnout cars for a high-stakes showdown. With a $20,000 winner-takes-all prize, three Pro Burnout Series qualifying tickets and one wildcard up for grabs, drivers will have one last opportunity to secure their place in the Summernats 39 Grand Final in Canberra.
General Release spectator tickets are on sale now: bit.ly/RODSHOPTIX
Photos: Supplied
