Porters Racing have a issued the following statement saying they will be withdrawing from drag racing in Australia. You can read the full statement below.
Statement begins.
It is with a heavy heart that today Porters Racing has decided to finish Pro Stock racing here in Australia. After 5 years racing in Super Sedan / Super Stock and 10 years in the Group One Pro Stock Professional category, the family feels after 15 years, it is time to look at new challenges.
Like many other racers, we have become disillusioned of late on where our sport is going and the uncertainty out there. Now with 3 bodies wanting to promote and control the Group One category, we feel now is a good time to exit following what we believe was a very successful 400 Thunder series.
First of all, I would like to thank my family for the support and sacrifices they made over the past 15 years to allow Scott and I to follow our dream.
To our family hardware company Porters, who have supported us from day one – I thank you.
I especially want to thank Scott Porter & Grace Porter for their excellent driving, dedication, passion and support to the team. I am proud of our achievements and the great times we’ve had together. I really appreciate everything you guys have done on this adventure. This has been such a big part of our lives and I will cherish these memories.
To the crew Ian Fadden, Jason Hethorn, Barry Hold and Axle, I cannot thank you enough for your huge efforts to get us fed, setting the car up, tuning the car and getting us to and on the track on time. The great teamwork and professionalism you guys showed was second to none and I am extremely proud of you and will never forget this.
To our good friend and engine builder John Barbagallo, we cannot thank you enough for your support, advice, friendship and supply of engines over the past 10 years – you always kept us in a competitive position. To the JB Racing team, we thank all you guys for the assistance at race meetings and the excellent social times we had together and the friendships made.
Thanks to all our Pro Stock competitors for some great close racing and we wish you well for the future.
Thanks to Ian Brown for his efforts in getting the Pro Stock Owners Association up and running a few years ago – shame a few caused its demise some time later!
Thanks to Tony Thornton for his support in our early days of racing and during my time as President of Palmyra Dragway some time back.
To the Willowbank Raceway | Drag Racing’s Finest gang (past & present) -Tony Wedlock, Steve Bettes, John Winterburn, Tony Manson, Sue Syrmis, Harry Rowsell, Craig Collis, Rob Hunter, volunteer staff & track crew for making us welcome and supplying a great track. Thanks to Ray Treasure when in Perth and Sydney for your huge dedication to the sport of drag racing.
Maurice Allen and Tony Wedlock of 400 Thunder – thanks for a great, innovative series and hope the series goes from strength to strength.
Jerry Haas Race Cars, Randy Douthitt, Dan Hellmer Racing Solutions – thanks for building us a great race car. There’s countless friends to mention – you know who you are. Thank you
for your support.
Where to from here? We will be calling for Expressions Of Interest on our racing transporter shortly. The rest of the operation ie pro car, pit cart and all spares will be shipped to the USA
and be based in South Carolina where we hope to have some fun, holidays and race the car in Comp or similar categories.
Thanks to all our supporters and we will keep you all up to date on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/portersdragracing/ as we progress our next move.
Statement ends.
