Brandon Gosbell claimed his first ever Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car win at last Friday’s Nitro Up North at Hidden Valley Drag Strip.
Gosbell was at the wheel of the King Kong Trans Am, and conquered some tricky track conditions on his way to the winner’s circle.
The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars were part of a huge weekend of motorsport for Darwin, which included Supercars and Superbikes as part of the same event, and a live TV broadcast.
“The crowd was incredible, Hidden Valley was packed out for the event and to see so many people coming to experience nitro for the first time was awesome,” Gosbell said.
“The fact that the show was being broadcast on live TV meant that we had to approach the day differently. The team’s aim for Kong was to just string together three respectable passes and put on a decent display.”
In round one Gosbell got his night off to a perfect start with a 5.80 win against Greg Leahy, despite dropping a cylinder. The second round went better, with an improved 5.67/262mph taking down Justin Walshe. That set up a final against Josh Leahy, driving The Bandit.
“We have raced each other twice before and won one race each, so there was some serious bragging rights on the line,” Gosbell said. “Unfortunately for jJsh he had an issue on the startline causing him to idle down the track. That said, I had no idea that this was happening, so I was doing everything in my power to try and get to the finish line first resulting in a quick pedal after some tyre shake and some sideways action after half track.
“When I pulled the chutes and realised that Josh hadn’t flown past me I still didn’t want to believe what had happened. I couldn’t believe we had won the Rocket trophy and to do it for the first time on live TV was a dream come true.
“The track was hot and super tricky all day, and it was a real challenge for the drivers and tuners, so for everyone to make it down there and put on an awesome show for the fans was incredible.
“I have to thank my entire crew for working tirelessly to get this car turned around between rounds. The biggest thanks needs to go to Graeme and Wendy Cowin for giving me the opportunity to drive King Kong, it really is living a dream.”
