John Zappia wheeled his FUCHS Lubricants/Summit Racing Equipment backed Monaro to victory at the Adelaide Jamboree in Outlaw Pro Modified, defeating Johnny Ricca in the final round after Ricca red-lit by one-thousandth of a second.
The result marked the quickest side-by-side Doorslammer race in Australian drag racing history, with Zappia running 5.590 at 258.43 mph to Ricca’s quicker but losing 5.446 at 269.65 mph.
For Zappia, in the lane opposite sat a new rival—the new ultra-fast doorslammer in town, Johnny Ricca’s menacing Camaro. Different category. Different ballgame.
This weekend, Zappia was racing Outlaw Pro Mod instead of his usual Top Doorslammer home, and on paper, he was the underdog. Ricca had been unleashing 5.4-second bombs in outlaw trim since the car landed in Australia. Zappia’s FUCHS Lubricants/Summit Racing Monaro was closer to traditional Top Doorslammer trim, clicking off low 5.60s.
It was also Zappia’s first time competing at a Jamboree event.
But race fans all across Australia have been eagerly awaiting the prospect of Zappia and Ricca racing side by side, and this weekend delivered a preview of the 2026 Top Doorslammer wars—both cars entered in Outlaw Pro Modified trim at the Adelaide Jamboree.
“I thought, ‘I don’t mind losing to a 5.44 when I ran a 5.59,'” Zappia said with a laugh. “Then Johnny walks over and says, ‘Oh, I red lit.’ I went, ‘Really?’ That’s when it sunk in—we just won our first Jamboree!”
But this wasn’t a gift-wrapped victory. This was a technical siege fought across six brutal passes in one day at Dragway At The Bend, with Zappia and his team battling greasy track conditions, too much horsepower, and a ticking clock that demanded constant adjustments.
The drama started before the event even began.
Arriving in Adelaide Thursday at 4pm, the Zappia crew pulled an 11pm thrash to install a complete rear end assembly—four-link brackets and all—that had been shipped ahead. The next morning they yanked the engine, changed the Crow Cams camshaft to their freshest ground unit, and bolted on a fresh supercharger before rolling to the starting line.
Local race teams helped Zappia Racing crew rebuild the race car the day before the event.
The challenge was clear from the specs alone. Zappia’s Monaro sits at 2750 pounds with a D blower, and there’s no more weight to remove. Ricca’s combination weighs 2625 pounds with a C blower—125 pounds lighter and a larger blower package. The math doesn’t lie. Zappia knew exactly what he was up against, and he’d been there before.
Eight years ago, he set the supercharged Doorslammer record at Richmond, Virginia, running 5.42 at 265 mph with a C blower and a lightweight car with a Noonan 4.9 prototype combination out of their stable—a record that stood until recently.
“I decided not to bring that car back,” Zappia said. “It was too light and there was no class for that type of vehicle in Australia.”
This weekend, he estimated the Monaro was carrying 200 horsepower too much for the conditions on offer.
“We blew the tires off in the first qualifier,” Zappia admitted. “The tune-up that went 5.67 at the last meeting just wouldn’t work. The track wasn’t there, and we had way more power.”
The first qualifier produced an 0.022 reaction time—driver’s job done—but the car hazed the tires. “We took shitloads out,” Zappia said of the timing changes needed to tame the beast.
On the second qualifying pass, Zappia hit the tree with a near-perfect 0.001, but again hazed the tyres after getting five feet further than the first attempt.
After pulling massive timing out of the combination, Zappia came back for Round 1 and clawed his way down the track with a 5.68 at 254.9 mph on a lazy 0.991 sixty-foot time with an 0.028 light. “We walked her off the line,” he said. “But okay, we got power.”
With the track cooling as the day progressed, Zappia felt the grip coming around in the burnout. “I needed more throttle. It was making more smoke in the burnout. I went, ‘Okay, we got some traction.'” The car responded.
Round 2 delivered a winning 5.63 at 256 mph with a strong 0.960 sixty-foot.
As the track continued to improve, the Monaro sixty-footed harder. Round 3 clicked off a consistent 5.64 with a 0.959 short time—the tune-up was dialed, and Zappia knew it.
But the lights were telling a story too. That killer 0.022 in Q1 gave way to an 0.041, then the times crept up as fatigue set in across six passes. “I think I was just getting a bit tired by the end of the day,” Zappia said.
Still, he was finally getting comfortable with the automatic converter routine after years of clutch cars—a learning curve that was paying dividends.
Then came the semifinals. “We’re sitting there waiting to see if anyone could beat my 5.64 for a spot in the final,” Zappia said. Greg Tsakiridis launched like a rocket but dropped a valve and coasted to a 7.16. “From there, we knew we were through and ready to face Ricca!”
For the final, Zappia rolled to the line knowing the reality of the matchup.
“I knew I was bringing a pistol to a gunfight,” he said matter-of-factly. Still, he and crew chief—also Zappia—added power where they thought it was safe and prepared to put maximum pressure on Ricca.
The mental chess match was on.
“I didn’t think he would risk trying to cut the perfect light,” Zappia said. “He wanted to make sure I couldn’t holeshot him. Obviously in his head was, ‘I’m going to cut a light and leave nothing for him to get ahead of me.’ He was putting pressure on himself.”
That pressure would prove fatal—by exactly one-thousandth of a second.
The tree flashed. Both cars hammered the throttle. Ricca’s Camaro was gone—quicker, faster, and pulling away with that 5.446 at 269.65 mph. But the red light had already sealed his fate. Zappia’s 5.590 at 258.43 mph was his quickest pass of the weekend and a new personal best with his converter and Ty-Drive combination, within five-thousandths of his clutch-car PB from seven years ago. “Then Johnny told me he red-lit. The boys all pulled up with a smile at the top end of the track. It hadn’t really sunk in—we just won!”
The victory marks Zappia’s third win in four events since Summit Racing Equipment climbed aboard as co-title sponsor alongside Fuchs Lubricants.
“We got the monkey off our back,” Zappia said. “All those little mistakes, breakages, and failures we’ve eliminated are now showing in our consistency and reliability.”
The Adelaide Jamboree also delivered Zappia his first billet ‘J’ Jamboree trophy—a fitting cap to his 45th anniversary season that included a national record 5.59 in Sydney and more racing than he’s done in years.
“Big thanks to Fuchs Lubricants Australia and Summit Racing Equipment for their support, and to all the sponsors who’ve supported me past and present, all the crew and helpers, all the volunteers who’ve helped as friends and supporters to allow me to do what I do,” Zappia said.
“Special thanks to Dave and Lisa Foster for parking our race truck at their place—that made the whole logistics of this event possible. And thanks to the Jamboree team for putting on a fantastic event. My crew worked very hard and under immense pressure and time constraints. Despite this, they powered on and I knew they had it in them. They always deliver”.
After a season of incredible racing, Zappia can finally unload the car and breathe. The racing was killer. The car was fast. And the 45th anniversary season is officially in the books.
“Once you’re at the pointy end, there’s only thousandths—not tenths,” Zappia said. “Small steps from here. What a season it’s been! I would also like to thank JP Pallets and Tony’s Auto Wreckers for their support as Major Sponsors”.
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