Rob Campisi was an enthusiastic FuelTech Pro Mod runner-up at the Sydney Nationals and is now ready to lay it all on the line for the Top Fuel Christmas Showdown event on Saturday, December 2, at Sydney Dragway.
After FuelTech Pro Mod well and truly impressed at the season-opener event in October, eight leading racers in this popular category will be on-track for round two as part of a one-day drag racing spectacular alongside the headlining 11,000hp/500kmh Top Fuel Dragsters as well as NDRC Pro Alcohol and the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship.
“I looked around at home all happy with my runner-up trophy from the Sydney Nationals and realised between Jamboree and Grudge Kings and my other last few events I have run in, they have all been runner-ups, so I reckon we need to change that!” Campisi grinned.
“An event win would be really nice, a great feather in the cap!
“The championship is not something I have shot for before, but we are currently second in the points heading to this weekend’s event in Sydney, so if we do allright here I think we will chase it.
“To win this weekend would be so special, and to win a title, well that would be something I never had even thought about, so that would be something indeed.
“You never say you are confident when it comes to race cars, but I am quietly confident, put it that way. We are going to be much closer to the 5.85 this time around I think.
“I am pretty sure we are close to where we need to be now, so Craig had better watch out this time!” he laughed, before adding, “how’s that for some famous last words!”
“The whole field is very good – the competition is top notch, there are a lot of good cars and a lot of good racers, and there are no slouches anywhere to be found in this line-up. I think you can expect some very fierce competition at this event, and across the entire FuelTech Pro Mod championship.”
Following round one at the Sydney Nationals in October, Craig Burns leads the way in the championship points for FuelTech Pro Mod on 144 points, ahead of Campisi on 121, Joe Gauci on 94 and Frank Tarabay on 84. Geoff Gradden rounds out the top five on 67 points as the title chase gets ready for its second round of the new season.
Campisi headed to the season opener with a new set-up in his Pro Mod Mustang, but that didn’t stop him from putting on a range of impressive performances to go all the way to the A-Final, which delivered an epic door handle to door handle battle all the way down the quarter mile with neither Burns or Campisi letting up despite the fact that Campisi had red lit on the tree by -.043 seconds.
“At the Sydney Nationals we had done a transmission ratio change the week before, and we were all set to test on the Saturday the week before but that unfortunately got cancelled, so we arrived at the race meeting untested,” explained Campisi, who is supported on-track by Vinyl Wraps and Graphics.
“We thought, okay, we can still do this, and then Friday’s qualifiers got cancelled due to the rain, so we only got the one qualifier on the Saturday morning.
“We did have a few issues with the new ratios with the car’s performance in that qualifier, so we went into the first round sort of nowhere, racing Geoff Gradden. Thankfully we were able to beat him with a 6.20 and a pedal, so we were happy with that.
“For the second round we were working on the tune-up, and we got a bye run as Joseph Murina hurt his differential, so that was a win, and we ran a 5.92, so we were getting closer to where we needed to be.
“I didn’t think we had enough to beat Craig in the A-Final just yet, so I felt I had to try and get him on the tree and cut a really good light. Unfortunately, I red lit in trying to do so, but we went on to run a 5.90 in an awesome side by side race all the way down the track.
“I was happy with the ET, but I think if we had had those runs we missed out on, we would have been closer to what we needed to be.
“But even so, we were very happy with the result and had a great time. It was good especially to race Craig in the final as he is one of my best friends, and it was a lot of fun.
“Now, we hope to go even better in Sydney this weekend!” he smiled.
The Top Fuel Xmas Showdown will bring an action-packed day and night of racing to Sydney Dragway on Saturday December 2, featuring Top Fuel, Pro Alcohol and Pro Mod, alongside the Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship as well as plenty of on and off track entertainment. For event information and to purchase tickets, go to ndrc.tv
