Five years of international co-operation will culminate this weekend when American Brandon Huhtala takes to the wheel of Victorian racer James Xuereb’s Don Ness built Cutlass at the Nitro Champs in Sydney.
It was around that time when Xuereb was looking for various parts to put his race car together.
“I placed an advert on racingjunk.com when I was hunting down some headers to fit my Ness chassis,” Xuereb said.
“Next thing I know Brandon Huhtala responds and it turns out he was running the exact combination we were looking at putting together here.
“Brandon mentioned that he was putting together a spare motor for himself and asked if I was interested in it and we ended up striking up a deal.”
Brandon Huhtala had been racing in NHRA’s Competition Eliminator with his tough C/A Cutlass and has managed to reset the national record ten times since 2002.
Having put together Xuereb’s entire combination over the years, Huhtala was the ideal person to approach when it came time to put the vehicle down the quarter.
“What I really liked about Brandon is that he always wanted to help me, so when it came to race I had no hesitation in asking Brandon and his wife Khanh out here to drive and tune the car,” said Xuereb.
“When I do racing, it is a two person deal with my wife and me doing all the work with the occasional help of a friend,” said Huhtala.
“We kinda like it that way, being the underdog and pulling up on the start line against other cars with big teams. Arguably we now have one of the top cars in the country.”
Holding a national record on Australian soil is certainly not out of the question for Huhtala.
“If we get it down the track and steadily improve from there, I believe we have a good chance of resetting the B/Gas record this weekend and would really like to achieve that for James, but it is only one weekend and a lot can go wrong,” said Huhtala.
Drag News will cover all the live action from this Friday’s sportsman qualifying until the close of racing on Sunday with our live and interactive module here on www.dragnews.com.au.
Stop press: Our top secret spies found the Cutlass making his first runs at Sydney Dragway!
