Easily the most inspiring news for drag racing in recent times is to see the Lamattina Top Fuel Racing team back on track for the first time after Phil Lamattina’s horrifying wreck just over a year ago.
LTFR blooded their new driver Aaron Hambridge – Phil’s crew chief at the time of the accident – on Saturday at Sydney Dragway.
Hambridge has plenty of experience in going quick with his own Top Alcohol dragster operation, and also has nitro experience in the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car scene. LTFR said today he took to driving their Top Fuel dragster like a natural.
In the bitter cold conditions Hambridge made two passes, the first, a half track shut off resulting in a 5.05. The second pass saw the carrot car blast a 4.829 at 283mph, with Hambridge clicking it off just before the stripe as the dragster began to wander about.
The team will now head to Hidden Valley Raceway for the Nitro Up North event which promises to rock the Top End like nothing ever has if last year’s event is anything to go by.
What the future holds for LTFR still remains to be answered, along with his business interests Phil is committed to some much needed family time, and therefore no plans have been made at this stage for what’s next after the Nitro Up North event for LTFR.
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