Aaron Hambridge is a name that needs no introduction as one of the country’s best drag racing tuners of nitro-powered dragsters, but now Hambridge is taking his talent to funny cars.
The Australian championship winning Top Fuel tuner will be joining the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car series, serving as a crew-chief to some of the series’ best drivers, as well as providing assistance to series owner and Australian drag racing legend – Graeme Cowin.
Hambridge will have four cars to look after at the final event of the series for 2015 – the Aeroflow Triple Challenge held at Sydney Dragway on December 12.
The Sydney-sider will use his local racetrack knowledge to get the best out of the ‘LA Hooker’ driven by Anthony Begley, ‘One Bad Kiwi’ to be raced by Morice McMillin, ‘The Dark Horse’ piloted by Paul Messineo and ‘Fast Company’ with Willie White.
“It’s great to be back tuning cars on a regular basis. I’m extremely thankful for Graeme’s invitation to join the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car series,” said Hambridge.
“It started with GC (Graeme Cowin) calling me and asking if I wanted to come and work on Shane’s (Olive) car during a test session and the next thing GC tells me you have got free reign,” continued Hambridge.
“It’s more relaxed working with the AONFC series and that’s about the atmosphere, it’s more of a ‘show’ compared to working as a crew-chief at a national event. I love working with nitro and this is a great way to go racing and keep the crowds in the stands.”
Series owner Graeme Cowin was pleased that Hambridge would be joining the series for 2016.
“Aaron’s a valuable asset to the Aeroflow series. Not only does his presence give me someone to bounce tuning ideas off, it relives the pressure of me having to oversee so many cars on race day,” said Cowin.
“But even better than that, he also challenges me in being on my game. A prime example of this is when he tuned Shane to a career best 5.66 at the Willowbank round back in September – this is only going to enhance the quality of the show, which is the main aim of the series,” said Cowin.
At the series final event in 2014, Aaron drove ‘The Bandit’ and has also driven the Lamattina family owned ‘Fuchs Flyer’ during testing. Such driving experience makes Aaron’s job easier as a crew chief when it comes to liaising with a driver after a run with the way that a car reacts.
“Since the time that the Lamattinas advised me that they were going to take a break from the sport at the conclusion of the 2015 Winternationals, I’ve had numerous offers to drive and tune cars across a variety of categories,” added Hambridge.
“I could have driven here in the AONFC series, but I said to Graeme, I feel I’d be better off working as a crew-chief as I can relate to what the drivers feel during the run.”.
Event details
Aeroflow Triple Challenge
Sydney Dragway – Ferrers Road, Eastern Creek
December 12, 2015
{fcomment}
