Santo Rapisarda Jr, crew chief for current ANDRA Top Fuel championship leader Damien Harris, says the team chemistry is strong this season as Rapisarda Autosport International chases their first title in 13 years.

The opening round of the Atura Blacktown Track Championship Series at Sydney Dragway featured 250 entries and free entry for spectators, however the weather machine dropped consistent drizzle all day long to dampen the mood and try everyone’s patience.

Peter Leahy will be racing a car in tribute to his father Roly Leahy as part of the Adelaide round of the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car series.

With a poor weather forecast for the coming weekend around Brisbane, the Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race has been cancelled.

“Cyclone Nationals Conquered” screamed one of the social media updates in the aftermath of the 2015 NZ Nationals held 14th and 15th March 2015 at Meremere Dragway.

John Cannuli will be returning to the United States later this year to have another crack at Top Alcohol Funny Car racing in the NHRA.

Wayne Newby, the newest recruit to Rapisarda Autosport International, says he is growing more and more accustomed to the cockpit of a Top Fuel dragster but even he was taken aback after covering the quarter mile in 4.58 seconds at Perth Motorplex last month.

The fifth issue of Drag News Magazine is now available! Issue five of Drag News Magazine is now out. In this edition, we talk to the IHRA about their plans for Australian drag racing, Willowbank CEO Tony Manson discusses all things do with drag racing at the Ipswich institution and we find out about young Daniel Carranza, a Junior Dragster driver who is learning about life through drag racing. Plus action packed reports from the Sydney Jamboree, VPW Pro Series 1000 at Adelaide and Washpod Nitro Max in Perth. You can view the magazine in the embed below or else click here. To view the full version of the e-magazine costs US$3.99 (about AUD$4.89 this morning) but we reckon the best option is a subscription at US$34.99 (about AUD $42.83 this morning). A subscription means you’ll get 12 issues of Drag News Magazine for less than the cost of nine! Sorry about the US dollar stuff. The magazine software will prompt for payment to view all the pages. This means signing up to an account on Joomag and entering credit card or PayPal details through their secure server. Once you have a log in, you can also download the Joomag app to view the magazine on your phone or tablet. When viewing on a desktop, we recommend clicking the full screen button to get the best experience. You can zoom in by double clicking anywhere on the page and zoom out by double clicking again. *Please note* we are aware of a technical issue where a user who has subscribed or purchased an issue already may be asked to pay again for their subscription or issue. The work around is to make sure you are logged in to joomag.com first and then either click on ‘My Library’ within Joomag or simply come back to the magazine embed on this page. If you do need technical assistance send an email to luke@dragnews.com.au. {fcomment}

The newest kid on the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car block is sure to become a crowd favourite on debut. The Dukes of Hazzard-inspired ‘The General’ is set to shake up the field as Australia’s favourite nitro show is joined by jet-cars and legendary Australia rock band, Rose Tattoo in an Easter spectacular in Adelaide Saturday, April 4.

The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car Show is heading back north, with confirmation the tour will be taking a massive 11 of the 4000 horsepower flame-throwing funny cars to Mackay’s Palmyra Dragway!

Queensland drag racing legend Ben Bray will make his comeback to the drag strip this Easter Saturday (April 4) as part of the Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event, presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes.

Getting off to the best start of his brief career in the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, Lucas Oil/GEICO Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton is ready for bigger things during his second trip ever to the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, which will take place this weekend in Concord, North Carolain.

When the flame-throwing Top Fuel dragsters thunder down Willowbank Raceway’s quarter-mile on Easter Saturday (4 April) as part of the Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes, it will be in pursuit of what has been called ‘Top Fuel’s highest honour’.

Scott White had that feeling of confidence prior to the first round of the 2015 ANDRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Championship at Adelaide International Raceway.

Warwick Dragway played host to the first round of the 2015 JP Racing Eighth Mile Drag Racing Series on March 14. The event was originally was scheduled for late February, but cyclone Marcia had something to say about that, so organiser John Winterburn made the proactive decision to move the event date.

Round two of the APSA Pro Street Shootout series at Willowbank Raceway was heating up to be another day of awesome wheels up action after some tease in testing leading up to the event. But all that brewed were the rain clouds restricting the event to just one qualifier and one round of racing as the heavens opening up numerous times and ultimately putting an end to the event.

As a little bit of a fun experiment today we will be tweeting news, photos and videos from three different tracks – Queensland’s APSA round, Sydney’s Atura Track Championship round and Perth’s Night of Fire. Enjoy!

Sydney Dragway is taking a big leap and making spectator entry to the opening round of the Atura Blacktown Championship Series free this Saturday.

The first round of the Atura Blacktown Championship Series on March 21 at Sydney Dragway will see three new names make their blown racing debut across the Wild Bunch and Supercharged Outlaws classes.

The Easter Saturday Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car event at Adelaide International Raceway will feature entertainment as good off track as on with legendary Aussie rock band Rose Tattoo to play after racing.

Chuck Haynes has been coming to Western Australia to put on jet dragster shows for over two decades, but it is with mixed emotions he will return for the Night of Fire on March 21.

  Super Stock, Competition Eliminator and Super Compact all faced off in the amalgamated Super Comp bracket for the VPW Racer Payouts Pro Series 1000 with Steve Norman coming out on top with the Silver Christmas tree trophy and a record for good measure. Norman set a new national record for C/APA surpassing the minimum 6.66 seconds to push the new marker to 6.563. Event runner up Jim Ioannidis reset the B/MSA national records for both elapsed time and speed with his 7.692 at 133.30 mph. The previous benchmark was set at a 7.72 second minimum and 132.10 mph reset earlier by Ioannidis himself. Craig Geddes set new elapsed time and speed national records for B/D with a scintillating 5.999 and 170.00 mph to best the minimum 6.10 ET and 166 mph. Veteran Wayne Cartledge claimed the B/DA mile per hour record reaching 172.96 mph to beat his previous record of 170.32 mph. John Skorpos picked up the C/G mph record with 151.57 mph, up from the minimum 151.00 mph and Tom Dimitropoulis set A/MS at 7.563 seconds with the minimum previously set at 7.58. {fcomment}

The 2015 drag racing season kicks off on a high next month at Hidden Valley Drag Strip with the announcement that rapidly growing equipment hire company Go Hire has taken up naming rights on Lane 1.

Toowoomba Pro Street racer Scott Cortina has a busy few weeks ahead, entered in both this weekend’s Pro Street Shootout (21 March) and Easter Saturday’s (4 April) Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race Event presented by Uplift Cranes and Titan Cranes – for which he is the reigning Pro Street class winner.

The Night of Fire might be named for its four flame throwing 450kmh jet dragsters, but it also forms the penultimate round of the WA drag racing championship.

Rhiannon Allison might still be the rookie for the Night of Fire at Perth Motorplex on March 21 but the young driver of the Felicity Dragwell jet dragster has been rapidly ticking off goals on her high speed list.

John Zappia has taken a commanding lead in the ANDRA Top Doorslammer championship with victory over Pino Priolo at the VPW Pro Series 1000 in Adelaide. The seven-time national champion wrapped up his third ANDRA Drag Racing Series win in a row beating Priolo to the 1000-foot stripe in 4.91 seconds at 229.20 mph from Priolo’s 5.247 at 216.06 mph. That win gives Zappia a stranglehold on championship number #8 in this shortened season with a commanding lead over his nearest rivals. “We needed to put (Maurice) Fabietti out to catapult us a bit further ahead,” said Zappia. “We’re looking at wrapping it up in Sydney although I don’t know what the possibilities are with what I’ve got to do or not do. I’m pretty confident we just need to do well (to win the championship). “We’ve dropped one point (all season), we’re one from a perfect score. But we were beatable at the first meeting (Nitro Slam) and other than the 60-foot time we struggled from there. The next meeting Fabietti and (Peter) Kapiris could have beaten us and nearly did. Mathematically they won’t leave the shed from the performance advantage we’ve got but you’ve got to maintain that and the closer we are to the edge, the harder it is to be consistent. “But the Fuchs/Striker Monaro ran pretty good all weekend.” Zappia eliminated Bill Goonan and Maurice Fabietti on his way to another ANDRA Silver Christmas tree Zappia while Priolo took out Pat Carbone and Grant O’Rourke. Gary Phillips claimed his second ANDRA Drag Racing Series win in a row by defeating fellow Queenslander John Cannuli in the final. Phillips ran a 4.776 at 228.69 mph leavingCannuli at the line on the hit of the throttle. It was an unfortunate situation for Cannuli who claimed the Adelaide International Raceway Top Alcohol track record for 1000 feet with successive 4.702 and 4.724 second passes but it was Phillips who was left smiling from ear to ear with a 17th Alcohol championship in his sights. “We just go try and do the best we can,” said Phillips. “You just take it as it comes. This (1000 feet) is a whole different ball game, you’ve got to dumb it down, that’s actually a Doorslammer motor in the car. “When we tested two weeks ago at Willowbank we serviced the motor in the Funny Car and went 5.46. So we took the motor out of the Doorslammer because it’s identical except for the overdrive and the heads. “Now we can go home and pull the motor apart and service it for Easter. We’ll put the other motor in because it’s only completed one run and with that three round format you’ve got to be ready to go.” Phillips eliminated Robert Ambruosi in round 1 before a stout bye run in the semi finals. Cannuli defeated Debbie O’Rourke in a contender for pass of the weekend then benefitted from a solo semi final of his own when Steven Reed shut down after the burnout. Maurice Allen opened his Pro Stock Motorcycle campaign in perfect fashion taking top qualifier and the event win over Ryan Learmonth appearing in his first Group One final. Learmonth got the holeshot advantage after a long staging duel but Allen caught the rookie at around half-track and powered away to a 7.288 at 181.67 mph from a 7.558 at 177.25 mph. “We found a bit of stuff in the offseason, came back and the bike was starting to show the capabilities of what the engine can do,” said Allen. “We know on other tracks we’ll be able to tap in and run quicker again. The conditions were tricky again, the facility is great, don’t get me wrong and it’s the same for everybody else but just reading it (is tough) when you’ve had such a long break. “I’d like to give special mention to Michael Marriot who helped us with a bit of interpretation with data this weekend. We’ve made some advances and we’re pretty confident there is another tenth, tenth and a half in the bike. Over the next two race meetings I’m sure we’re going to start to see the potential of what it’s really got. “Thanks to my crew, Dad (Peter Allen), Steve, we’ve done this together for a few years now, we’ve got a great synergy. “It was an awesome final, to have a burn down in Pro Stock Motorcycle, who would have thought? I take my hat off (to Ryan). I said to him at the bottom end I’ve had my arse kicked for 15 years all over the joint. Don’t take it personally but pay your dues to the old man! “Ryan is going to be a force to be reckoned with, his team is very professional. I congratulate him and Gordon Crawford for helping him (get the team to Adelaide).” The ANDRA Drag Racing Series next moves onto Willowbank Raceway on Easter Saturday for the annual Santo’s Super 3 Extreme Drag Race featuring Top Fuel and Top Alcohol. Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock Motorcycle will resume hostilities with the full complement of Top Fuel, Top Alcohol, Top Fuel Motorcycle and Pro Stock at the Nitro Champs in Sydney on May 2-3. {fcomment}