Drag Racing To Fire Up At Calder Park.

Drag Racing To Fire Up At Calder Park.

By Mark Humphrey

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 13^th July 2015. Calder Park Drag Racing promoter Peter Pisalidis has confirmed the Calder Park Drag Racing upgrade will finally commence with initial works starting around the 24^th of July.

Originally scheduled for a November 2014 start, the upgrade works have been continually pushed back with many pundits suggesting the iconic landmark was doomed to oblivion. Whilst the track upgrade delay had many critics, Pisalidis went about his business chipping away at what was needed to get the show happening. “This was always going to happen. I never doubted that the works wouldn’t go ahead, it was just a matter of sitting tight and waiting for all the boxes to fall into place” he said. Pisalidis added “it’s not the complete package at this stage as there are still a few details to sort out, but when this project is finally completed Melbourne will have a venue equal to any in the country” he said.

Initial works will see the concrete extended to around the 330’ mark with all concrete including the existing surface re-ground to ensure a completely flat surface. The transition between the concrete and asphalt will be seamless and the bumps further down the track in both the left and right hand lanes will be removed. Pisalidis talking on the upgrades said “although it’s not the complete track replacement at this stage, the upgrades will allow us to go racing again which should please plenty of Victorians who are just itching to race again” he said. Pisalidis added “this is not the finish of it. The initial plans to completely re-furbish the track will still go ahead and are still being ratified as we speak”. This part of the venture was partly funded by Pisalidis indicating his commitment to get Melbourne drag racing fired up again.

Pisalidis met with contractors on site Saturday morning to discuss the proposed works schedule. Preliminary works will start immediately with concrete works expected to commence on the 24^th of July. Transition and asphalt replacement works will tie in with the grinding schedule and be completed around the middle of August. Some minor beautification works will take place such as line marking and the like with all works expected to be completed by the 3^rd week in August. Track prep works should have the drag strip ready to go by the end of August. Pisalidis can use dates previously booked with facility management to fire up drag racing again. “Yes I already have dates locked in with Sunday the 30^th of August looking like the preferred day to fire up Melbourne. If we get a few setbacks along the way then we will look to the 11^th of September as the next available day” he said. Pisalidis added “the re-opening day will be a test n tune day open to all racers”.

This is just the first stage of the proposed works at the drag racing facility which will get racing back on the Victorian calendar as early as late August. Negotiations are continuing with interested parties to not only have the remainder of the racing surface replaced but also a large part of the infrastructure. The venue as we know it may take on a completely different look if all the boxes fall into place.

With the additional concrete works and the bumps taken out of both lanes, there is no reason not to have ANDRA group 1 racing return to the iconic venue as early as next January. There are a number of local events that will be addressed in the re-scheduling of racing including the Street Outlaw series. “Yes we have a bit of unfinished business with the street outlaw series. That is one of the first things we need to check off. The Street Outlaws series is important to me and as promised we will complete the rounds and have the grand final event” he said. With regards to event scheduling Pisalidis did say that his original plans to run both the JT Classic and the Rowe Memorial annually were still in place along with the Street Outlaw series and a number of state events. “We have missed the mark with the JT Classic this year but the Rowe Memorial was designed to close off our year in late December and will definitely figure in the lead up to the new-year” he said.

Another event that Pisalidis is putting together will be Australia’s biggest ever Outlaw Radial event featuring APSA style street cars. The event will be open to all cars running radial tyres. Pisalidis was excited about the event saying “Yeah I plan to run it on the Melbourne Cup weekend with the theme centred around “horsepower” to signify what will be going on in Melbourne around that time” he said. Pisalidis added “they will run under APSA rules but the cars don’t have to be APSA competition cars. This will be the first event of its kind in Australia and are currently the biggest events run in the USA over the past few years “he said.

So finally we can look forward to drag racing firing up at Calder Park once more and maybe as soon as the end of August. ANDRA has Top Fuel along with the Summit Sportsman Series scheduled in for late January with quite possibly further group 1 race meetings in February or March.Summit Sportsman Series racing returns to Calder Park Drag Racing.

Peter Pisalidis will schedule a press release tomorrow outlining further information and proposed calendar dates for the remainder of the year. 

For the press release and updates go to http://www.calderparkdragracing.com.au/

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