It has been 20 years since Terry Grieve raced his XAGT, and 16 years since he has competed in traditional competitive drag racing. Now he is on his way back, inspired by the new National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) which will bring its Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship to his home track of Benaraby Dragway on October 7.
The 56-year-old Trainer Assessor from the Gladstone area will be once again campaigning his Ford XAGT that he used to campaign all those years ago racing at Benaraby Dragway.
“I think it is absolutely awesome what the NDRC is doing. Having these kind of meetings around the country is great and to have a chance of winning a Christmas Tree trophy is unbelievable,” Grieve said.
“I think the number of events that are on as well with the Eastern and Western Conference arrangement and the way they have structured it all is great and a really good, positive change.
“It is because of the NDRC that I am coming back. If not for that and the fact my son Joel is now racing in Modified Bike, I probably would have just continued on my way watching events but not actually competing.
“I believe this will only be the second time we will have this kind of national-level meeting at Benaraby, with the last being the Sunstate Nationals back in the late 1980s, so this is really exciting.”
Grieve started racing in his late teens and is keen to get back into it after his extended time away.
“I started racing in the mid-80s and I certainly got the bug, I still have a trophy from 1986/1987, and I also won two CQDRA Track Championships along the way. Life and various things just get in the way, so I stepped away for a while,” he said.
“It has been about 20 years now since I raced at Benaraby in the XAGT and 15-16 years since I have competed in any kind of traditional drag racing events, aside from things like Rockynats and the odd All Ford Day or similar event, which I ran with a late model Ford Mustang.
“The XAGT has been in storage for the 20 years, and we are in the process of putting all the original bits back in to make it all original and very similar to where it was two decades ago.
“Hopefully it will run faster than it did before, and we can have no problems and be competitive.
“Getting back in the seat won’t be an issue, I remember at RockyNats last year I was a bit nervy, but after a couple of laps it was gold.”
Grieve says he has been pleased also to see how Benaraby Dragway has evolved over his time away.
“Benaraby is 20 minutes from my home, so it is my home track in every sense of the word,” he said.
“I hadn’t been there for a few years and neither had my son, and when we went there earlier in the year, we were pleased to see some massive improvements made over the years.
“The pits, the bitumen return roads, the facilities, the shade on the hill – all of these things were a distant dream a few years ago.
“It is a really tidy and welcoming place too, and they seem to run things quite well,” he concluded, while thanking his family and all that lend a hand for their support of his racing.
The October 7 Aeroflow National Sportsman Series event at Benaraby Dragway will mark the latest Eastern Conference event of the championship chase. For further information, visit www.nationaldragracing.com.au
To learn more about the NDRC, visit www.ndrc.tv
