Sydney Dragway turned back the clock with Bangers & Mash, polishing up the nostalgia drag racing scene in style. The event paid tribute to the pioneers and eras that shaped the sport, with wheelstanding gassers, nitro-charged funny cars and altereds lighting up the track. Off-track, chrome bumper classics, flame-throwing cacklers and rock ’n’ roll vibes kept the old school spirit alive for one unforgettable day at the strip.
The sweet scent of nitro filled the air with a mix of funny cars and altereds thundering down the quarter the highlight of the event. The Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car team made a huge commitment bringing Nitro Express, King Kong and Terminator after a short turn-around from Nitro Up North just two weeks earlier, they were joined by Darren Carter debuting his Jungle Jim tribute Trans Am and local Chris Stipanovic in his recently converted – from new school to old school El Patrone Pontiac funny car.
Morice McMillin certainly had a day out as steering attendant for both Nitro Express 57 Chev funny car and the wicked Psycho II fuel altered. Nitro Express romped to a best of 5.35 and 284mph over the quarter while Psycho II punching nitro flames into the sky scorched the Earth with a 5.62 at 258mph.
Not that the rest of the team were far behind. The King Kong Trans Am funny car pedalled by Graeme Frawley was hot with a 5.37 best at 273mph and Justin Walsh in the Terminator Camaro shot out a 5.59 in a day of awesome header pipe to header pipe action. It was the competition debut of Darren Carter’s gorgeous Trans Am, honouring the great Jim Carter, the car is 100% NHRA Nostalgia spec and the team can be very happy with mid six-second passes, despite a few gremlins and it being the first time Darren has raced anyone since 1996!
In other fuel altered action, Stephen ‘Wombat’ Brown checked off a six-second pass from his bucket list, narrowly missing the double tonne – 6.83/196mph, and John ‘JB’ Somoracz continued to make gains on licensing his Topolino altered Canned Heat with nice half-track hits.
What Vintage Gas might lack in outright punch, they make up for in pure spectacle. It’s all about big burnouts and wild wheelstands, and an army of straight-axles with cool names assembled – including a few making the trip from across the ditch.
Such was the size of the field, the class was split up into two brackets based on ET, in Vintage Gas B, Dale Roughley’s injected 350ci small block Chev powered mix-and-match panelled XP Sweet Temptation took the win light over Matthew Moore’s Hood Rat ’55 Belair. Roughley thrashed to build his gasser in just 12 weeks to make the show.
The heavy-hitting Vintage Gas A saw a couple of Kiwi invaders with Eddie Trybula’s Running On Empty blown 540 big block ’57 turning it on with sky high launches and glamourous reverse gears, stormed into the eights. Likewise, compatriot Greg Bullot wasn’t shy with the airtime in the 350ci SBC Loony Tunes Anglia, both teams returned to New Zealand glowing from the experience.
Wrapping up the event, Damien Kemp charged to victory in his Bad Company Willys after Ash Hayley’s angry blown ’55 Belair Haywire left a cherry on the tree.
There was a bevy of other racing brackets to cater for every taste, with the blown action headlined by the Nostalgia Outlaws. A sentimental moment stole the spotlight when Greg Leahy, driving father Roly’s iconic FED, lined up against brother Peter in his Jim Walton Thunda Downunda tribute funny car. Greg went on to seal the deal for the night, taking the win with a solo after Bruno Matijasevic’s blown HG couldn’t make the call.
At the other end of the speed spectrum were the Veteran Speedsters, pre-dating drag racing these century-old machines were the spark that lit motorsport. With ETs in the 15-20 second range over the 1/8th not exactly neck-snapping, their importance in history cannot be forgotten. Steve Fleming added another page of history to his ‘23 T-Model out running Alan Miller in the final.
In other results, third generation racer Nicholas Polito snared Nostalgia Pro Stock with a razor-sharp .001 reaction against Josh Boskovich. Chris Denny tortured tyres in his blown FED and took home the winner’s trophy over CJ Davies. Fiona Crisp made a dream competition debut steering her altered to victory against the seasoned Alan White in the Altered final. Nostalgia Sportsman honours went to Jack Moreau’s Capri defeating Paul Sabato’s Monaro, while in Nostalgia Gas, the huge field shook down to two XY Falcon’s with Tony De Maria breaking out at the stripe handing the win to Richard Matosevic’s ute. In Nostalgia Street, Damien Flood’s HR proved too strong for Adam Maria’s EJ in Nostalgia Street and Peter Grant’s little HAMBster rumbled to victory over Bryce Stubing’s ’32 Ford Coupe in Hot Rod.
