The annual Day of the Drags event at Sydney Dragway is a cool and relaxed nostalgia skewed event, and great chance to see some classics on the black top.
A break in the East Coast monsoon of the past few months was a surprise with this event often hampered by weather in the past, so finally some good fortune, not just for the event but Sydney Dragway.
The Aeroflow Nitro Hot Rods – Agro and Psycho – were in the house for a few passes to get the nitro fumes in the air. Agro was driven by Brandon Gosbell for the first time while Morice McMillin was the steering wheel attendant on Psycho, and the pair had a cracker first pass.
Side by side fives the result with Gosbell taking the win light with a 5.91/200MPH to McMillin’s 5.95/244MPH in Psycho. The pair came back out for another run later in the day, but Agro backfired the blower in the burnout leaving Psycho to solo on a 6.1, McMillin lifting early on the top end as the wild altered started to wander.
Supercharged Outlaws competed over three rounds on a Chicago Shootout format. There was a little of bit mechanical attrition by round three, and Tim Gruber with his blown SBF Cortina and Bruno Matijasevic in his TFX powered HG finished the event on three wins each. Gruber was awarded the event win – we assume because he was closer to his dial in on his last round win.
The Top Eliminator final got a bit wild, Geoff Alston’s Camaro appeared to drop some liquid after the launch against Sam Sabato, the Camaro made a violent move towards the wall, with Alston managing to catch it just in time. By then the race was over though for Alston, Sabato crossed the stripe in Torana with a safe 8.40 on a 8.20 dial in for the win.
The big Middle Eliminator field came down to Sean Maher and Debbie Robb in the final. A tidy .037 reaction to Maher’s HB Torana sealed Robb’s fate after her .134 light, Maher has too much experience to let this win slip, hitting the line with a 9.243 (9.21DI) to the big Falcon’s 9.191 (9.17 DI).
David Matosevic nailed a .031 light off the foot brake in his Cortina to have the start line advantage in Top Gas final over Damien McGinn’s HG. However the Matosevic Cortina looked to spin the tyres and McGinn rounded him up quickly and just covered the Cortina to the stripe for the win.
Drag News Magazine gun photographer Joe Maday was defending his Day of the Drags Street Eliminator title in his late brother’s Fairlane 500. As fate would have it, he was facing the same finalist opponent as last year, Scott Davis with his ’31 Ford Tourer. Unfortunately Maday, saved his worst light of the day for the final (C’mon Joe! – Ed.) that left him little hope against Davis’ nice 13.956 (13.92 DI) who claimed some measure of revenge on last year’s result.
The final of the classic Vintage Gassers shook down to John Kerr’s Caliente and Simon Moir’s ’39 Willys. Kerr would add another DOTD win to an extensive nostalgia racing winner’s portfolio after Moir broke out chasing down a sizable holeshot disadvantage.
There were only three riders taking part in Classic Bike, with Peter Nevins aboard his Kawasaki Z900 taking down Mark Akers cool Kawasaki GP2 in the final.
Huge gallery from the day courtesy of Michael Wyllie (hired gun for Cackling Pipes), Joe Maday (between races) and John Bosher.
