A special dispensation has been given to allocate Top Fuel teams a test session before the opening round of the ANDRA championship at Perth Motorplex next weekend.

Victoria’s Matt Czerny is eagerly awaiting his Modified dragster hitting the track next season.

Wayne Newby is in rookie territory. That might sound strange for someone who has been drag racing for over two decades, but when it comes to nitro there is always a steep learning curve.

We have not seen Gerry Parente’s name on a Pro Stock entry list since the turn of the century when the South Aussie was campaigning an Oldsmobile Cutlass in the class.

This weekend the first of two Nostalgia Drag Racing events for the year will descend on Willowbank Raceway, with a wide variety of cars, bikes and dragsters set to take to Queensland’s premier drag racing facility this Sunday the 22nd of February.

As the Sydney Dragway competition season edges ever closer the off season testing phase continues with another Full Throttle Friday and some closed session testing thrown in too.

The Willowbank drag racing season fired up with round one of the Queensland Drag Racing Championships on St Valentine’s Day, though a number of delays turned the event into somewhat of a marathon with winners crowned after the strike of midnight.

This Saturday (14 February), nineteen year old Chelsea Leahy will celebrate Valentine’s Day by making her competitive debut in the senior ranks of the Queensland Drag Racing Championship at Willowbank Raceway, as the championship kicks off with its first round of the year.

Porters Racing, along with JB Automotive North Queensland, are excited to announce a joint engine development program with Bob Book of Book Racing Enterprises (BRE), based out of the USA.

Queensland Raceway played host to the popular Powercruise event over the weekend and among the attractions was a big league Street Outlaws contest – where the Donnelly family didn’t bring a knife to a gun fight – but a nuclear weapon!

Sydney Dragway is making some innovative changes to the Atura NSW Track Championship in an effort to make the events even more popular with fans, as well as racers.

Just over a week ago Craig Glassby recorded the quickest ever Top Alcohol Funny Car pass in the world, beating US Top Alcohol legend Frank Manzo’s 5.411 by 1000th of a second in the semi finals of the 44th Westernationals at Perth Motorplex.

GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster driver Richie Crampton had quite the wild day at the Circle K NHRA Winternationals on Sunday in Pomona.

One of Australian drag racing’s most exciting events is back on the calendar with Sydney Dragway promising to make the 2015 Nitro Champs one of the best ever held at the Sydney venue.

GEICO/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster driver Richie Crampton continues to show speed in Pomona, qualifying number two for this weekend’s season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals.Crampton, the 2014 Road to the Future Award winner as NHRA’s top rookie, qualified No. 1 in Pomona last November, and Morgan Lucas Racing teammate Morgan Lucas won the race. Crampton’s pass of 3.730 seconds at 328.46 mph was tops of three terrific passes at this event; a fourth was washed out when rain forced NHRA to cancel the final qualifying session. “Perfect way to start the year: three solid runs,” Crampton said. “(Crew chief) Aaron (Brooks is) picking up right where we left off at the NHRA Finals; that car is running great. It’s very exciting to go into race day with that good of a car.” Brooks and Crampton were going to go for the national elapsed-time record in Q4, knowing they were solidly in the field. Alas, rain ended that chance. “We were solidly qualified at No. 2 with a 3.73, and we had nothing to lose but to try and run that first official 3.6-second pass in NHRA history,” Crampton said. “That’s what we were going for, and I’m extremely disappointed that the rain came, but that’s how it works. We’ll just focus on trying to win tomorrow.” Crampton begins his sophomore season against J.R. Todd, who qualified No. 15 with a pass of 3.914 seconds at 242.54 mph. With one full year of racing in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Crampton carries a lot of confidence into this season. “It’s a night and day difference,” Crampton said. “I come in here on the front foot instead of the back foot. I’m ready to go race and not be intimidated. It’s exciting to be this confident and driving such a fantastic race car. It should equal some round-wins and hopefully a trophy.” {fcomment}

The at times maligned finish line zone at Sydney Dragway is getting a touch up with a new surface going down currently. Here are some pics from Sydney Dragway.

It has be 50 years since the New South Wales Hot Rod Association ran their first drag race and milestone will be celebrated at “The Ultimate Bench Race” in March.

Sydney Dragway closed out January with a kind of sedate Test and Tune on a mildly hot day which fortunately saw no incidents and not too much foreign matter deposited on the racing surface.

In her first round of the 2015 Top Alcohol season, ex-pat West Australian turned Brisbane-resident Debbie O’Rourke punched out a personal best pass at the Perth Motorplex.

The drag racing world was saddened on Sunday to learn of the passing of Gary Miocevich.

Racing at the Westernationals for the first time since returning after a serious motorcycle road accident in 2011 kept the future of his motorcycling days on hold, Ian ‘Rev It’ Read achieved a breakthrough win.

The thriving NMCA racing circuit is a cool place to be for sure. While all events are presently exclusively held within the USA, Canadian participation does exist in the series with Ontario’s Mike Konigshofer being part of that.

The second round of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series saw Western Australia’s best drag racers taking on more than a few interstate rivals for ANDRA Gold Christmas trees and valuable national points, with the action coming thick and fast.

The 44th annual Westernationals produced some amazing times and spectacular racing. Relive the event with our image gallery!

John Zappia is two from two in the ANDRA Drag Racing Series Top Doorslammer Championship following victory in the 44th annual Westernationals at Perth Motorplex, while Gary Phillips returned to the winner’s circle of Top Alcohol but not without a serious challenge.