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Friday, December 25, 2009

Boxing Day Nitro Funny Cars Are Coming!!

Well, we're about half way through the drag racing season here in Perth, which means only one thing. The Nitro Funny Cars are coming! At 6pm tomorrow, the four fuel floppers of Ricky Steffans, Fergie Donaldson, Damien Harris and Mark Sheehan will hit the track for the first of two meetings this season.



Mark Sheehan is a well known name to many WA race fans, holding both the ET and speed records in Top Alcohol Altered. This team is well and truly capable of running a 4 second pass if the conditions are right.



West Australian Damien Harris campaigned a Top Alcohol Funny Car before getting the call up to drive Paul Shackleton's Queensland based Nitro Funny Car. Harris is the only Australian Funny Car driver to dip into the 4 second zone so far, having run a 4.98 second pass at Willowbank in June, and the team will no doubt be looking to back that up with another 4 second pass on the other side of the country.



Allan and Cheryl Greene's (now red) Greene Machine was driven by famous WA driver Allan Dobson for many years before he decided to move across to a regular Top Fuel drive with Santo Rapisarda Racing. Dobson helped to train Fergie Donaldson to take over driving duties in the Greene Machine, and late last season Fergie was awarded his Nitro Funny Car drivers license. This is Fergies first race meeting, and this team is certainly one to watch.



Rod and Ash Bailey's Queensland operation is another team well known to West Australian race fans, as the loyal Nitro Funny Car racers were well known for keeping the sport alive (along with the Greene's) during it's darkest days, when there were only 3 cars regularly racing. The Greene Machine and Bailey's Chemical Warfare were regular competitors for many years, and the Baileys would usually bring another car as well, driven by Ricky Monserrat for many years, and lately by Ricky Steffans. Steffans stepped back from driving Funny Cars after the Boxing Day round in 2008, to concentrate on wife Christine's Supercharged Outlaw career, however business commitments for Ash Bailey mean that Ricky has been called back to active duty, stepping into Chemical Warfare for this meeting, as well as 2 meetings at Willowbank in the new year. (Ricky Steffan's Nitro Freak is pictured below)



Gates open at the Perth Motorplex at 11am tomorrow, and the first Nitro Funny Car pass is set for 6pm.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Top Fuel @ Perth Motorplex - Day 2

Congratulations to Martin Stamatis on winning the first of 2 rounds of ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Drag Racing at the Perth Motorplex this season. Stamatis dedicated his win to West Australian racer and engine builder Bob St Lawrence.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Top Fuel @ Perth Motorplex

Tonight was the opening night of the first of 2 ANDRA Pro Series rounds for Top Fuel at the Perth Motorplex this season. Phil Read grabbed the Top Qualifiers spot with a 4.69 followed by a 4.68.

Racing continues tomorrow, and more information can be found at the Perth Motorplex website

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Armadale Auto Parts Open Day


AAP Open Day, originally uploaded by High Octane Photos.
Armadale Auto Parts held their annual open day today, and one vehicle that certainly grabbed my attention (and that of many others) was this Excelsior motorcycle. I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about this bike, but I'm certainly very impressed with the restoration on this example.

The full selection of photographs will be on High Octane Photos shortly.

2009 Golden States at Perth Motorplex

The Golden States championships are a drag racing meeting at the Perth Motorplex featuring rounds of the ANDRA Pro Series Top Doorslammer and Top Bike championships. Over 2 days, around 250 drag racing teams hit the black stuff.



Jay Upton returned to form in Top Bike, running 3 passes below the national ET record over the course of the weekend and winning the final.



In Top Doorslammer, Maurice Fabietti debuted a new paint scheme promoting the new Holden Trade Club program and stunned the crowd by top qualifying with a 5.84 second pass. During elimnations, Ben Bray fronted up to the first pass against John Zappia and the pair ran one of the closest ever passes in the class with Zappia losing on the holeshot with a 5.83 second pass against Bray's 5.88 seconds. The final saw Robin Judd taking a 5.87 second win over Maurice Fabietti after Fabietti shut down on the start line.



You can check out all the
photos from Qualifying on Friday here, and all the photos from the Eliminations on Saturday here.

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