Craig Burns may not have originally planned to take on FuelTech Pro Mod, but that hasn’t stopped him leading the way as the bracket heads into its penultimate round of the NDRC season at the upcoming Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs (May 3-5).
Burns and the rest of the FuelTech Pro Mod field will be joined on-track by both Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car – their first side by side appearance all season – as well as Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship.
The SCF Race Cars chassis guru currently leads the points over Joe Gauci, Rob Campisi and Zoran Gojic in his ‘The Villian’ Ford Mustang, thanks to his absolutely dominating first round at the Sydney Nationals last year, followed up by a runner-up appearance at the Australia Day Nationals to Gajic.
“At the Sydney Nationals, there wasn’t any Top Doorslammer racing, so I decided to run in Pro Mod, and that first meeting really set the precedent and saw it become the focus of our season,” he said.
“We are really happy with the season so far, the car has been running well, and the crew are doing an amazing job.
“I am lucky to have an absolutely killer car and crew – we try really hard to keep it simple and not beat ourselves by overthinking it. So far it is working for us!
“To win the NDRC Pro Mod title, well that would just be epic! Having said that, I would definitely say we are not confident of winning the title – you just can’t be. There are two more events to go, and plenty of opportunity still for guys like Joe Gauci, Rob Campisi, and the king of Pro Mod Zoran Gajic – last year’s champ and fresh off an event win – to finish strong,” he said.
“We will just be doing our best to try and stay out in front of those turbo cars – what I do know for sure is that it is going to be an awesome event.
“Of course, to win the Nitro Champs would be really awesome and help ease the pressure off heading into the finals at the Winternationals, that is for sure. We will be doing all we can!
“We haven’t changed a lot, although we have started to run the car without the lockup on as it was just hard on the diff gears, which has left some performance on the table – but hopefully with the weather and air getting better, it will help us over the next few events.”
The Gulf Western Oil Nitro Champs, featuring fire-breathing Top Fuel dragsters and Nitro Funny Cars alongside Top Doorslammer, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, Top Bike (exhibition) and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship, will be held at Sydney Dragway across May 3-5. Top Fuel and Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship will both be enjoying two rounds of championship racing across the weekend.
For event info and tickets, go to ndrc.tv
