In front of near-capacity crowds, Emilio Spinozzi has claimed the biggest victory of his Top Doorslammer career, taking out the 2026 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway with a stunning performance that rewrote the history books.
The Bondi beach living Sydney based racer powered the Terra Civil Chevelle to his second career event victory and first-ever NDRC Gold Christmas Tree, besting a stellar Top Doorslammer field that included defeating reigning Australian Champion Russell Taylor in a spectacular final that delivered the quickest race in Top Doorslammer history.
Spinozzi entered the weekend chasing personal bests and left with far more. After qualifying third with a personal best 5.64-second pass, he continued to lower that benchmark throughout eliminations while unleashing a remarkable 266.79mph blast in round decimating the previous long standing eight-year-old 260mph mark in the process.
Taylor had set the tone during qualifying, taking the Crow Cams Top Qualifier honours with a blistering 5.57-second run, lowering the NDRC elapsed time record and eclipsing Jeremy Callaghan’s original 5.602-second marker from Q1. Sadly for Callaghan that personal best first session ET was overshadowed by a dramatic crash when the parachutes detached from his Luci Civil Camaro sending him into the safety nets violently, all-but destroying in the car. Thankfully, the popular racer was as able to walk away from the wreck and was quick to thank everyone for their concern and their assistance both at the track and in the category.
Of the 13 cars attempting to qualify, eight advanced to race day, with Callaghan for obvious reasons withdrawing, Salim Matta having fuel pump issues hamper his qualifying, engine issues for Lisa Gregorini and Jack Danaher and Daniel Gregorini not able to get into the Sunday program.
- Russell Taylor – 5.57 PB
- Emilio Spinozzi – 5.62 PB
- Brodie Zappia – 5.66 PB
- John Zappia – 5.70
- Peter Lovering – 5.73 PB
- Ronnie Palumbo – 5.76
- Rob Harrington – 5.77 PB
- Brody Davies – 5.99
Among the other standout performances was Peter Lovering’s 5.73-second pass, which established a world record for a ’55 Chevrolet, a moment made further special the original owner of the Shoebox, Greg Thomsen proudly looking on. Unfortunately, his fairytale weekend ended in the opening round after a terrible reaction against John Zappia was compounded by an exploding driveshaft late in the run.
The first round also featured a crowd-pleasing showdown between Ronnie Palumbo and Brodie Zappia, with the pair delivering a massive dual burnout before Zappia cut a light in the car Palumbo once drove claiming victory with a 5.70 over Palumbo’s 5.78.
Spinozzi then dispatched defending Winternationals champion Rob Harrington with a personal-best 5.63-second run at 265mph after Harrington was forced to lift when his Bad Influence Monaro became wildly unsettled downtrack.
“It started to shake at the top of first gear,” Harrington admitted in the only clutch car in the field. “I couldn’t see Emilio so I stayed on it. It shook then it went hard left, I had a very good look at his side door and thought I better get out of it.”
Taylor used a snaking 5.58 to advance past rookie Brody Davies, despite a strong challenge from the debutant who was killer on the tree, and recorded a new personal best of 5.82 seconds in the sweet looking Hygrade Laser Profiling Pennywise 67′ Mustang.
The semi-finals saw Spinozzi edge out Perth young gun Brodie Zappia in one of the races of the weekend. Zappia held the advantage early strapping on .02 light to a .04, but Spinozzi charged past in the closing metres to secure his place in the final with another 5.63-second pass to the AC Delco Monaro’s 5.71.
Taylor advanced via a 5.58 solo run after engine troubles from round one sidelined John Zappia before the semi-final.
That set up a blockbuster championship clash between Taylor and Spinozzi in chilly conditions.
Taylor entered the final as the favourite, having won the Winternationals in 2024 and finished runner-up in 2025. But Spinozzi delivered when it mattered most, cutting a razor-sharp 0.02-second reaction time to Taylor’s 0.17.
The Sydney racer never relinquished the advantage charging to victory with another 5.63. Taylor had thrown it all down with an astonishing 5.551, the quickest ET in Top Doorslammer history once again, but it was still not enough to overcome Spinozzi’s reaction time advantage. It is was hard to image the year old record was 5.591 coming into the event.
“It’s been a crazy, crazy weekend,” Spinozzi said following the victory.
“I’m really, really happy for the team. The boys have been working really hard. Michael, Adamo, Brad and Gus never stop. They gave me a great race car and I did my best to do my job.”
The victory marks a career-defining moment for Spinozzi and cements the 2026 Winternationals as one of the fastest and most memorable Top Doorslammer events ever contested.
