Englishman, turned Aussie, turned American Bazz Young got more than he bargained for when he came out to drive an all new ‘Shack Attack’ at the weekend’s Aeroflow Night of Fire at Sydney Dragway.
All appeared to be well as the car motored towards the finish line until just before the stripe where the rods came out, backfiring the supercharger and resulting in more than a few flames visible through the cockpit viewing window to the motor (bottom right of screen).
“We needed to do something different to get over this tyre shaking problem, we decided some more nitro, some more blower and a short shift to high gear before 330 feet was the plan,” Young explained.
“It worked, I shifted very early (around 250 feet) and powered through to a 5.876/238.89 taking the win against the crowd favorite and last year’s champion Rick Gauci in the “Nitro Express” 57 Chevy.
“Unfortunately, a rod or two decided it was too hazardous to stay in the engine and they exited stage right a little after 1000 feet. This resulted in backfiring the blower, an oil fire and some toasty feet!
“The fire damage to the fuel lines, wiring etc. along with some damage to the body from the explosion concussion meant we couldn’t make the third round despite the fact we had a spare engine.
“(Car owner) Paul Shackleton was unconcerned about the damage and pleased that his car had run 5.87 on its first full pass, what a guy!”
Young was full of praise for the event as a whole.
“Graeme Cowin had planned an entertainment spectacular and that’s what the people got,” he said. “The evening started with 17 Funny Cars lined up on the track all running at the same time as a salute to the fans – now that’s a good noise I can tell you – those that were there to see it will never forget it! I got interviewed along with Tommy Johnson Jr – they certainly made me feel very special.”
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