Just days remain until more than 400 racers hit the track at Willowbank Raceway for the largest championship drag race held outside of the US – the FUCHS Winternationals (Thursday 5 June to Sunday 8 June).
Nineteen year old Terri-Ann Jones will be using the FUCHS Winternationals to make her competitive debut in the Modified bracket as one of more than 300 sportsman racers set to take to the track. Jones is a fourth generation racer following in the footsteps of her father Wayne Jones, her grandfather and her great grandfather.
“Growing up in a drag racing family has always been fun, we have travelled a lot and I have met so many different people over the years with most becoming good friends and family,” said the Coopers Plains resident, an apprentice fitter and turner supported by Weldwell Engineering and Bob Grant Automatics with special thanks to Steven Swinscoe (car owner) and John and Kirsten Cannuli.
“I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t want to be a drag racer, I first sat in a race car when I was just five years old and it all started from there – it was an easy decision to make and my family were all for it.
“My nerves are pretty fine leading up to the event, it is all so new so I guess they probably haven’t kicked in yet but more than anything I am just excited to get out there and have some fun.
“There is lots of room for improvement obviously being so new, but I am really excited to get into it and it is all preparation for me to step up to our 2000 horsepower dragster one day – as far as being a woman racer, why not – we can do it just as well as they can!”
Also burning up the track in the sportsman categories will be Ipswich’s own Blaze Hansen, who will debut in the Competition bracket after starting out in Junior Dragster in 2001 before racing in Super Sedan, Modified and Super Street.
“The FUCHS Winternationals will be the first time I have raced in the Competition Eliminator bracket – it has always been a favourite class of mine to watch as I love the thinking behind it and the quick judgement calls you need to win while not hurting your own potential advantages for future racing,” said the 22 year old chassis fabricator of Redbank Plains who was the 2009 Australian Junior Dragster Champion and the 2012 and 2013 Willowbank Raceway Track Champion (Modified and Super Street brackets respectively).
“It also brings a vast variety of vehicles together, from screaming small cube aspirated V8s through to Top Alcohol and Top Doorslammer-style vehicles running side by side, which is pretty cool!
“It is always fun to try something new and exciting while shooting for some slightly different goals to the usual and racing in a class I have always admired at no less than the FUCHS Winternationals – the pinnacle event for Australian drag racing.
“Normally for an event as prestigious as the Winternationals as racers we would set pretty high goals, but this year we will have a slightly different approach given the fact that I am a newbie in the class – between my dad, tuner Rob Novak and myself we have been racking our brains to think of every last trick to get the most out of the car.
“With really seasoned competitors in this class, we will be stoked to be in the field and shoot for our personal goals and maybe even go for a round or two!” said Hansen, who is supported by Wizard Fabrications and Race Products and Definiton Motorsport, and thanks his mum and dad, Rob Novak from Definition Motorsport, Kelly Bettes and the Harrington family for their assistance.
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