The wet weather may have prematurely ended the opening event of the 2015 Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car tour at South Coast Raceway in Portland, but the nitro machines still rocked the venue with record setting performance in front of a big crowd.
With nine nitro snorting machines on the premises ready to attack the brand new racing surface and all determined to banish John Zappia’s 4.015 outright track record from the books, it would be game on.
After the driver parade introductions and an exhibition from the wheelstanders it would be Anthony Begley in The Stormtrooper and Paul Messineo in Dark Horse to open the nitro warfare proceedings. Begs would march on to round two with a winning 4.24 over Messineo’s 4.47.
Justin Walshe danced Let’s Boogie across the line first with a 4.20 against a 4.56 from Aaron Russell in Back To The Future, The Russler is still out of action following its blow up in Sydney.
The odd field size provided Gauci with a solo run, the Nitro Express Chevy tested strongly before Christmas and a solo run was the perfect chance to attack the track record. A 1.004 sixty was a touch on the soft side but a storming 197mph at the other end stopped the clocks with a 3.909, a new track record and forever in the South Coast Raceway’s history books with the first three second pass at the venue.
“We all went pretty quick and I am sure we would have gone both quicker and faster if weather hadn’t brought an early end to the action,” said Gauci.
“We were all running in the 190-mph range and I am sure we could have eclipsed that magic 200mph (321.8kph) barrier if we had a bit more time.”
Schultz narrowly missed joining his counterpart in the three second zone in the next pairing with a 4.012 out of Supa-Charger as he defeated the Harbour City Hustler’s 4.12 pedalled by Greg Leahy.
With the excitment from the great crowd still buzzing in the air, Darren Morgan in The Bandit and Shane Olive in Fast Company took it to a whole new level with side by three second passes. Morgan snatched the track record from Gauci with a 3.984, just edging out Olive’s 3.93 to close out a fantastic first round.
Intermittent rain showers foreshadowed what was to come for the event but round two pushed on with Begs again opening the round this time against Schultz, The Supa-Charger refused to fire and Begs was off it early for a 4.12 at 159mph as the car spun the tyres. The wind then caught the chute and punted the car into the wall in the braking area but damage was mainly cosmetic. The Supa-Charger team managed to bring the nitro engine to life and went on a 4.27 exhibition run.
Morgan earned the round solo pass and set the Trans Am on kill, a .968 sixty had the record in sight again but faded on the top end to a 4.22 at a slowing 145mph.
In what would ultimately be the final pairing of the event, it was arguably the best run of the day with Leahy bashing the record down to a 3.876, the speed of 196.84mph still left Gauci with that end of the record after his earlier 197.16. Meanwhile Walshe had Let’s Boogie all over the dance floor in the top end, after regaining control a chute failure saw the funny car body scuffed up as it careered into the sand trap and catch net despite Walshe’s best effort to woah up to the Mustang.
“It’s a disappointing way to end the night,” explained Walshe. “But we are safe and we’ll be back for the next event.”
With that the heavens opened up and the event organisers had no choice but to abandon racing.
“There is nothing you can do about the weather, we did what we could although we were a bit limited with options,” said Series Manager Steve Bettes.
“We could not use the jet dryer with the obvious fire dangers, so given the moisture on the track, we had to call it quits.”
The sportsman classes completed qualifying and most of thier first rounds before the event abandoment.
Craig Russo top qualified in Supercharged Outlaws with a 4.09 in his funny car.
Leanne Braggs was competing at her first event since a major accident at Mildura, now in a seat of a dragster, Braggs also top qualified in Modified with a 4.67.
The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car management group will announce a revamped calendar in the coming weeks.
Photos by Jesse Kelly/Dragpix.com.au
Be sure to check out more coverage of this event in the next issue of Drag News Magazine.
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