Drag Racing Fires Up At Calder Tonight

With an unusually mild end of autumn, conditions for tonight’s legal off-street drag racing should be ideal.

Following a successful Test N Tune last week, organisers are hopeful of a big turnout tonight at Calder Park Raceway.

There will be plenty of photographers on site to capture that perfect drag racing image as well as some on-line publications to cover off the night. Lots of exposure for the local drag racing fraternity.Expect to see some of Melbourne’s toughest street cars and bikes hit the strip from 6pm. Gates open at 4.30pm with racing from 6 - 10.30pm.

Check out some of the action from last week’s Test N Tune.

                        Where’s Our Drag Racing?

By Mark Humphrey

Comp runner Shane Baxter had nominated for the State Champs.

Melbourne, Vic/Aus (22nd May 2014) For weeks I’ve been looking forward to Rd2 of the State Drag Racing Championships at Calder Park only to learn in the past 24 hours that the meeting has been cancelled due to a lack of interest from drivers.

What the hell is going on in Victoria? For years we had no drag racing at all in Melbourne having to head north to get some group 1, 2 & 3 action. Then comes along Peter Pisalidis as not necessarily a white knight but a man who was prepared to put them on the line to get drag racing fired up again in Melbourne. Regardless of what our northern neighbours think of us Mexicans, it’s an undeniable fact, ANDRA drag racing and the industry in general needs the corporate money that a Victorian venue would provide. You only have to go back and look at some of the pics of the X-Champs 3 weeks ago to see how poor the crowd was. There was nobody there! The whole culture has to change and the lead needs to come from the governing body.

Obviously there is an issue or issues with drivers not wanting to run at Calder. We know it is definitely not the cost as the promoter discounted the entrance fee for the state champs so much so that you would be stretched to find a cheaper entry fee for that type of vehicle category anywhere in the country.

After the debacle of the ANDRA Southern Nationals meeting in April there are two things we can be sure of, the track is too rough in places and it doesn’t hold big horsepower units when the sun goes down. ANDRA’s CEO Malcolm Bulley in confirming the latter promised in a statement posted on the Calder Park Drag Racing facebook site that the partners were all united in their vision to make some upgrades on the track. Hopefully those upgrades are well on their way so as to eliminate any fears about driver safety or equipment damage.

So here we have a racer in Pisalidis that is prepared to have a go and promote drag racing at Calder only to find his own kind has failed to support him. There is no doubt that Pisalidis would have expected to turn a profit like any other promoter in the country and although he would have been prepared for some initial loses , I’m sure the lack of support from drivers is something he wouldn’t have banked on. So once again the Melbourne drag racing public have been shafted although at least this time their pockets haven’t been cleaned out. The decision by Pisalidis to cancel was a correct one as the long term damage to the sport would have been far more serious if spectators had of shelled out their hard earned to watch a handful of vehicles.

ANDRA has come in guns blazing pushing up the best cars in the country with virtually no response from the Victorian public which I guess is much the same around the nation with the exception of the marquee events. Surely this has to be a concern for the ANDRA management that drag racing has lost its popularity compared to just 10 or so years ago. If they aren’t already concerned about the faltering industry then they need to be and quickly. Maybe in Victoria it has been the saturation campaign by Ken Lay and his Victorian Police Force in reference to hoons and street racing that has got the public off-side with drag racing or maybe it’s issues that go deeper, but whatever the reasons ANDRA urgently needs to address them and start to once again build the popularity of the sport.

If you look at other forms of motor racing in the country, drag racing is by far the best value for the spectator. $30 will get you action from usually mid-morning till late in the evening. Compare this to other popular forms of motorsport in Australia. $30 will get you sprintcar action on a Saturday night for a bit over 4 hours at your local speedway, $70 will get you daylight hours action at a V8 Supercar Sunday and just on $100 will get the F1 race. So in terms of value, ANDRA drag racing easily out performs the other sports. In the Halcyon days of the sport Calder Raceway would pack in 50,000 fans on a Nationals finals day so what’s happened? Why have the Victorian racers failed to nominate for a Victorian State meeting? Surely it’s time for ANDRA to act on the Victorian situation. Find out why there’re not racing, find out why fans aren’t coming, find out what Victorians think about drag racing. Recently (1 month ago) a bunch of streeters organised a meet and greet at the Chadstone Shopping Centre (a Melbourne shopping complex) via facebook. Estimates of up to 3,000 cars and 10,000 people turned up just to park in the car park. If they show that much interest in their cars why is it that we can’t get them to Calder where the sickest looking street cars get down the track? Shouldn’t this be priority number one for ANDRA to find these guys and start asking questions?

Recently ANDRA sent out a media invitation to attend the X Games Test N Tune day to get photos and stories on the drivers on the proviso that you promoted the event. Now on most occasions I will go out of my way to promote the sport but to expect someone to travel from Melbourne to Sydney just to attend the TNT to get pics and the story line for ANDRA’s own promotion purposes and then turn around and go home is a bit rich. To me it just sounds like a boys club up north which I hope is not the case.

I’m guessing that Pisalidis would welcome any assistance from ANDRA to help get drag racing back in swing again and as for ANDRA, surely this has now become the #1 priority!!!

   ANDRA Pulls The Plug On Local Drag Racing.

By Mark Humphrey

Day 2 of the Southern Nationals presented by Essendon Chrysler in association with Fiat Professional come to an abrupt end last night when the superior brains trust at ANDRA decided the race track had become unsafe to race on. It was clearly evident with the evening session in full swing that the group 1 cars had over powered the track much in the same way as the previous night’s racing. In a somewhat baffling decision, it was decided by the all thinking Andra brains trust to shut down the entire race meeting robbing local race fans and drivers the opportunity of much needed competition drag racing in Victoria.The ground shaking Doorslammers proved too powerful for the Calder racing surface once the sun went down.

It is common knowledge that ANDRA had cracked heads with the original promoter of Calder Park in the past but one would have thought that was all behind us now. With an independent promoter doing his best to kick start the sport of drag racing in Victoria the last thing we need in Victoria is the Sport’s head representative body making knee jerk reactions to situations that could have been averted with some intelligent planning.

The decision not to let the other classes run was quite bizaar.

Ok, let’s look at the turn of events over the 2 day event. On Friday night the decision was made to cancel the rest of the nights racing due to weather conditions that had made the racing surface unsafe to race on for the group 1 cars. The issue was that the cold air had taken the grip out of the racing surface with the powerful group 1 cars over powering the track around the half way mark. It was suggested that some of the drivers had refused to race due to the nature of the track yet one of the Tremayne boys had pedalled his car safely down the track to post a strong qualifying time. John Zappia was able to put his HQ Monaro down the ¼ albeit somewhat out of shape but mostly under full throttle although I expect that if you dropped a bucket load of ice-blocks on the track Zappia would still be able to drive through them such is his driving skill. "If you dropped a bucket load of ice-blocks on the track Zappia would still be able to drive through them"

So in the end the correct decision was made Friday night as a band of rain descended on the Calder precinct immediately after ANDRA had decided to pull the plug.

Coming into Saturday ANDRA had correctly made the decision to start at 10.30 rather than the scheduled time of 12 noon. This seemed like a smart decision except for the fact that they had pencilled in the group 2, 3 & 4 categories to start off the morning session. The Doorslammers weren’t scheduled to run until 12.50 which seemed strange to say the least. Surely if there was an issue with the track when the heat went out of it, wouldn’t it have been smart to get through all the preliminaries in time to run finals before this situation re-appeared. Fans want to see the best cars on the day WIN FINALS!  Why not put the Supercharged Outlaws down the track first up as a pre-cursor to the Doorslammers. If track conditions are good then roll with the Doorslammers, if not then put another category down. Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me. By doing this they had the potential of running the Group 1 classes up to 2 hours earlier than their original scheduled time.  If the 12.50 Saturday start for Doorslammers was put in place purely for maximum exposure to fans then that decision clearly backfired as the fans that turned up expecting to see racing didn’t see a final run in any of the classes. Great brains trust ANDRA.

For Victorian drag racing fans and certainly for this writer it has been encouraging to have Peter Pisalidis throw his weight behind Victorian drag racing and promote a sport that you would expect all drivers and the governing body to back 100%. Like it or not, drag racing ruled supreme in Victoria not that many years ago and was seen as the backbone of ANDRA. Slowly but surely Calder through the efforts of Pisalidis and his dedicated staff have put drag racing back on the scene with regular street meetings coupled to some Test N Tune days. We have a competition series that encompassed the inaugural John Taverna Classic as well as State Championship rounds. Yesterday’s Southern Nationals presented by Essendon Chrysler in association with Fiat Professional should have been the jewel in the crown for Victorian drag racing but instead through no fault of the promoter has sent drag racing in Victoria back towards the dark ages.

How is it that on a clear mild Victorian night not one category final was run? Not even the hugely powerful Junior Dragsters boasting horsepower somewhere in the range of a dairy cow were able to run their finals. Fair dinkum, if ANDRA is serious about pushing the sport in Victoria they are going about it the wrong way. Easy for ANDRA to pack up their silk lined promo semi and head interstate but what about the scores of fans peed off with Calder drag racing?

If the fans (and they are so precious) made the effort to rock up to Calder surely we could have put the best show on for them! Ok ANDRA had made an error with the Saturday starting time of the group 1 category but what was wrong with running the semis and finals in the other categories. Melbourne has a good following of group 2 & 3 categories including a super strong class of Super Sedan runners.  You could just about guarantee that Shane Baxter would have put his altered down the strip at close to 200mph. Victorians have seen him do it before in conditions less favourable.

Hate to think what the total cost was to ANDRA for taking the promotional semi to sites around Melbourne over the past weeks. Whatever the combined cost was, they blew it all and some on one decision made last night.

For all the interstate racers who turned up, they definitely added to the spectacle of Victoria drag racing and it would great if some could make their way back for the State Title round in May.

                                                       What a treat to have interstate cars like these rock up to Calder.                                           

With no finals to speak of please enjoy images from the event.

   Super Saturday At Calder.

Fans travelling to Calder Raceway today for the Southern Nationals will get the added bonus of an extra round of qualifying for the Doorslammers, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Bike.

Due to conditions cooling off significantly last night authorities had no choice but to end the night early and resume today at the earlier time of 10.30am. Fans can now expect to see the re-scheduled qualifying round from last night packed into today’s schedule.

There were plenty of strong performances yesterday in all classes and with weather conditions idea today fans can expect ground shaking passes throughout the day.

Stuart Bishop driving the Wallace Bishop Jewellery sponsored Camaro Doorslammer was one who got a handle on the track early and looked impressive and no doubt one to watch today.John Zappier was wild in his pass.

There was no stand-out in the Pro Stock ranks with drivers finding it hard to get a handle on the track. With conditions idea today expect these racers to highlight the show.

Plenty of bike action in support of the Pro Stock bikes for fans of the two wheel variety.

Super Saturday promises so much today and with a full program the fans will be the winners.

Qualifying resumes at 10.30 am with racing going through to 10.00pm.

For more information go to www.calderparkdragracing.com

DOORSLAMMERS, PRO STOCK & PRO STOCK BIKE ACTION.

Plus Supercharged Outlaw, Super Sedan, Super Gas, Modified and more.

Awesome day of qualifying. Final qualifying, heats and finals Saturday.

Get a run down on the event by SportingScribe.com including all the pics this Tuesday or if you're in Melbourne head out to Calder Raceway.

Action starts 10.30

Super Street

Super Gas

Pro Stock Bike

Pro Stock

Doorslammer

Doorslammers, Not Just Racing.

By Mark Humphrey

Mention the word Doorslammer and instantly race fans think 2500hp monsters that pull mid 6 second passes at more than 230mph. Whilst to race fans that’s what it’s all about, for the teams themselves it’s a whole different story.Team Bray 

Yes these awesome machines put on a spectacle for the fans when they hit the strip but much more goes on behind the scenes to keep these teams viable. One crucial part of a Doorslammer team is the corporate backing of businesses that range from local outlets to national organisations. It’s the financial backing of these corporate partners that allow the teams to invest heavily in research and development in the bid to find that extra 50 horsepower or shave tenths off their elapsed times.

A quick walk around the pit area at any major meeting demonstrates the importance of backers to these teams with sponsor boards and signs flanking sign written race cars. For the big dollars categories like the Doorslammers, the teams go to extraordinary lengths to accommodate their corporate sponsors. Whilst mechanics go to work preparing and maintaining race cars during a race meeting, corporate sponsors are treated to complimentary beverages and meals in makeshift dining areas adjacent to the race cars. For the backers it’s an event that only the privileged get to taste and demonstrates the importance teams put on their financial partners.Team Bray expects to entertain up to 70 guests over the 2-day event.

I caught up with one of the icons of the sport Victor Bray from Team Bray and started by asking Victor about the team set-up, “Yeah today we have 20 or 30 guys helping out to prepare the two cars. On the national events we usually have around 50 crew members helping out” he said. 

Starting off his drag racing career in 1996 I sat with Victor reminiscing the good ol' days that consisted of ½ track burnouts and hero status performances. Returning to Calder Park I asked Victor about his time at Calder Park, “I have had some good results here and a lot of great memories from back in the day when 50,000 fans would rock up to a nationals. Back then we used to be called the wild bunch and we pretty much had a licence to do whatever we could to entertain the fans” he said. Bray was famous for sending his Castrol 57 Chevy down the strip laying a half track burnout much to the delight of the fans. Even his competitors would sit in the staging lanes waiting for Bray to start reversing back to the start before they did their burnout. This was a show these guys were putting on and there was no better showman than Victor Bray.

Now in a team with son Ben, I asked Victor how the sport had changed over the years, “well the equipment is much more sophisticated these days and you need to be right on top of your game. The mechanics of a race car are improving all the time with new technology being introduced into the sport on a regular basis’ he said.

Team Bray. Ben's Monaro (above) is being prepared while Victor's 57  waits for the final touch up.

And with new technology comes added expense to keep these machines on par with the pack. A crucial part of the team is corporate sponsorship. I asked Bray how important the corporate deal was to the team, "well it’s everything. Every team here is financed by corporate money with some teams lucky to have extensive backing. We are by no means the biggest backed team here today and no doubt we couldn’t put on a show without these supporters” he said. A quick glance into the service area and you can’t help but notice dining tables and chairs set out to treat the sponsors. I asked Victor what sort of involvement the team had with sponsors over the weekend, “we try to encompass them in the atmosphere of the team and racing as much as we can. Over the weekend we will most likely entertain around 70 people in the VIP area. These guys are so important to the team and we try to make them feel part of the team as much as possible” he said.

Who would have thought from the days of the ½ track burnouts with the Wild Bunch that Victor Bray would go on and be one of the first full professional drivers in Australian drag racing. The man has legend status written all over him and is just a small part of a sport that is Doorslammer Drag Racing. With the likes of Zappier, Kapiris and co, duking it out in Doorslammers is a tough but enjoyable business for Victor Bray.

Team Bray is at Calder Raceway this weekend to contest the Southern Nationals presented by Essendon Chrysler in conjunction with Fiat Professional. Racing starts today 1.00pm and Saturday from 12 noon. For more details go to http://www.calderparkdragracing.com.au/

 They're Coming April 4-5 

If your into motorsport then this event is one not to miss. Australia's top Group 1 Doorslammers are coming to Calder Park to punch out mind blowing passes. 240+mph in just 400 metres!!!!

Top Doorslammer: They're loud, out of shape monsters that just crush the bitumen. To stand near one of these beasts when they fire up is mind blowing. Really strong support categories including Pro Stock and Pro Bike to punch it out over 2 awesome days of racing.

If you've never been to drag racing then this is something you will never forget. Bring along your partner, bring your kids, there is something here for everyone.

The Southern Nationals Presented By Fiat Chrysler

             2 minutes of Test N Tune

                       2 Days of mind blowing action

Some raw unedited video from Calder's Test N Tune 22-3-2014. Features a pass from Shane Baxter and the wheel-standing TUFXYY. Warning. Poor quality

SEE THE REAL THING TOMORROW AT CALDER> DOORSLAMMERS< PRO STOCK< PRO STOCK BIKE< AND SUPER SEDAN. More categories as well. 

We'll be there getting all the low down with pics.

See you there!