The Quarter Mile Smile is retired from racing but Bob Shepherd may have to change that moniker as Burnout Bob took to Sydney Dragway’s burnout pad last Wednesday night with doughnuts and heli’s in an attempt to fry and shred a set of steel belts.

In his first visit to Darwin in the Northern Territory in twenty one years, former Top Doorslammer Australian champ, Gary Phillips has claimed his first official Slamfest win last Saturday. With a last minute promoters decision to make the event a quarter mile contest as opposed to the traditional Slamfest eighth mile format, the hungry Darwin crowd were keen to see full track racing, and Phillips was quick to make his mark qualifying third.

Becoming a professional driver of Top Fuel cars in the USA is a dream nearly every drag racer would have. For one Australian that dream has been lived out over two decades.

The ANDRA Drag Racing Series will see a new team entering the fray in Top Fuel this season with Peter Xiberras’s Sydney-based PremiAir outfit to make its debut with Luke Shepherd doing the driving duties.

The WA Divisional Tech Inspection Day will be held on the 9th of September at Perth Motorplex. Bookings are essential, so to reserve your spot contact WA Division Director Terry Jongen either at westernaustralia@andra.com.au or SMS to 0424 198 400.

Courtney Force has called on Drag News Australia readers to support her campaign to secure the final spot in the $US100,000 TRAXXAS shoot out to be held at the MAC Tools U.S Nationals on September 2nd.

Perth Motorplex has announced the appointment of Dean Neal as the new Drag Racing Manager. Perth Motorplex General Manager, Kevin Prendergast said, “We have great pleasure in welcoming Dean Neal to our team. The Perth Motorplex Team has worked with Dean on various projects and we have no doubt that he will bring some new and diverse skills to the venue”.

The inaugural Hidden Valley round of the national Slamfest Drag Racing Series was run on the weekend with support from the Territory Government and 7mate and event organisers had their hands full with a myriad of crashes and near misses.

Sixty year old Ian Ham knows a thing or two about drag racing – the father of Top Alcohol competitor Steven Ham, he has been around drag racing for decades and finally stepped into the drivers’ seat himself 10 years ago when he bought himself a Sean Mullins built Modified dragster for his fiftieth birthday.

Drag News and Hidden Valley Drag Strip will bring you all the action from Slamfest via our CiL interactive module. Join us for all the action on Friday August 17th from 7pm central standard time.

Notice is hereby given to the voting members of the Australian National Drag Racing Association Ltd that the 2012 Annual General Meeting will be held at South Sports Club, Queensland on Sunday 28 October 2012, commencing at 11.00am (AEST).

The Perth Motorplex pit expansion should provide a bunch more room for racers in the west, who had been finding space getting more and more cramped as entries at the venue rose.

VP Fuels has announced it will not be homologating the Roo 25+ fuel for the coming season.

This season will see Queensland based Top Alcohol Funny Car pilot Debbie O’Rourke tackle two of the sport’s premier classes with an updated ride in Top Alcohol Funny Car and a return to the supercharged sedan ranks with a new Pontiac. She spoke with Drag News about the team’s big plans in drag racing.

Test for HV

As racers regroup during the off season in preparation for the marathon that will be the 2013 championship season, we take a peek at some off the off season movements in the ranks.

Drayton’s Nathan Jannusch is looking to achieve a trio of ‘three from three’ results when he heads to his home-track of Warwick Dragway next weekend for round three of the JP Racing Queensland Eighth Mile Drag Racing Series.

The inaugural Hidden Valley round of the national Slamfest Series has already broken records and it’s still over a week away.

Local pre event press had suggested that this would be the best ever event for the Benaraby Raceway and the 32 year old track lived up to expectations. With spectator cars lined up for almost half a kilometre to get into the venue, event organisers called for the Doorslammer to delay the start of qualifying.

A hotly contested Round 4 of the Track Championship Series was seen at Hidden Valley Drag Strip on Saturday night where for the first time this season Dieter Herrmann was knocked off the first place podium.

Opening on 7th September 1980, the Golding Quarter was a seven year project for the Port Curtis Drag Racing Club.  Golding Quarter was named after the Golding Earth Moving Company and its owner Don Golding, whose earthmoving equipment was used in the construction.

Recently the ANDRA Board reviewed some of the recommendations of the National Rules Committee (NRC). The items addressed changes to the current ANDRA rules as proposed through rule submissions, in addition to changes to policies, rulings and other matters raised through the NRC in the interests of improving current standards.

Drag Racing Manager Peter Pike has resigned from the Perth Motorplex team, to take up a position in the WA mining industry.

A near capacity crowd turned up for the 2012 Trevor Mobb’s  Memorial 8th mile Slamfest round. The event no doubt will go down in history as the best ever event held at the Townsville dragway.

Quickfire results from Slamfest in Townsville, one of the final events before the track closes next month.

The Top Doorslammer final at the 2012 Fuchs Winternationals has been declared a non-result following investigation by a Queensland appeals tribunal.

Australia’s professional and Rocket Allstars Racing Series competitions will both be getting a number of changes to their points structure for next season.

Spectators at this weekend’s Mopar Sunday will have an extra special treat on offer. Recently licensed Nitro Funny car driver Christine Steffens will pilot her croc car down the Willowbank quarter for some test laps.

Fresh from their on track entertainment duties at the recent Townsville Sucrogen 400 V8 Supercar round, Victor and Ben Bray will head back to Townsville this weekend for the 2012 Trevor Mobbs Memorial Slamfest round.

It’s going to be a hot couple of weeks in the lead up to Slamfest 2012 at Hidden Valley Drag Strip as teams use the next two weeks as a testing opportunity before the big event.