You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and for multi-time Australian doorslammer champion John Zappia, he welcomed in a new major sponsor with a convincing win.

Zappia announced in the days leading into the Darwin 2018/19 400 Thunder season-opener Muscle Car Warehouse as a major sponsor. The Nitro Up North event at Darwin's Hidden Valley Drag Strip delivered an impressive first impression.

Zappia overcame mixed results in testing to find consistency for race day, where he defeated Paul Mouhayet in the final round with a 5.73 elapsed time.

“For the first couple of runs in testing the Fuchs/Dananni Hotshots Monaro blew the tires off,” Zappia said. “The first one I missed the burnout as there wasn't enough water down but we left the settings the same and the track came to us for a 5.71. It was all over the track still, and I was on the verge of backing off, but I stayed on it and drove out of the slide much to my and the crew’s relief.”

Zappia experienced quite the adventure in the final round. He performed the burnout and the smoke from the exhaust was very visible, creating haze on track.

“I was backing up and I could see there was a heap of smoke from the engine mixed in with the smoke from the burnout, but all the gauges looked good and my brother Richard told the officials there was nothing leaking, and it was just a dodgy piston ring and it’s going to be fine, just like the last run," Zappia explained.

“Maybe we looked like sitting ducks but as soon as we launched the smoke cleared up, it only seemed to smoke on vacuum. Through first gear I could see Paul outside but then in second gear I drove around him, I think he got really close to the centerline and got off it. My car moved around a little too, but we got to the finish line and got the job done with low ET of every round and the win.”

To come away with the win was a relief for Zappia, who has experienced both ends of the luck spectrum in Darwin over the years.

“It turned out to be an awesome event, with new sponsor Muscle Car Warehouse welcomed aboard it must have bought us luck. We also had the owners of Crow Cams up here watching in the corporate box, they enjoyed the meeting and had a wonderful time seeing the Fuchs/Dananni Hotshots Monaro back at the top.”

The next 400 Thunder Pro Slammer round takes place at Sydney Dragway on November 2-3.