Dom Lagana will be working this week in the pits of Scott Palmer and Steve Torrence during Nitro Spring Training at Chandler, Ariz.’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

But he’ll show up as the world’s most recent drag racing Top Fuel winner.
 
In only his fourth race in Australia for Rapisarda Autosport International, Lagana scored his first victory Sunday, defeating Darren Morgan in the final of the 51st ANDRA Nationals at Calder Park Raceway at Melbourne, Victoria.
 
“Lee and the crew did a great job,” Lagana said, crediting tuner Lee Beard, who completed a sweep, of sorts, with triumphs at eastern Australia’s major tracks (Willowbank, Darwin, Sydney, and Calder Park). Lagana became the 14th driver Beard has guided to national-event victories.

Lagana – who competed as a teammate to RAI regulars Wayne Newby and Damien Harris – said Calder Park “has a lot of history and has more of a match-race feel to it. They don’t race Top Fuel here very often, and for all three RAI cars and Darren to go down the track each round was a great performance. And the fans really enjoyed it.

“With three race meetings over four weekends in three different states at the height of summer in Australia the RAI crews, across all the three cars, stepped up to the mark, accepted the challenge, and performed superbly,” he said. “I want to give a big thanks to Santo Rapisarda and family for giving me the opportunity to race ‘down-under,’ and I can’t wait to come back again.”
 
Lagana was top qualifier Saturday in the first day of action with a 4.075-second, 277.20 mph performance.
 
“On Day One we ran a 4.07, and from then the momentum continued,” Lagana said.
 
He eliminated Newby in the first round, then claimed the Gold Christmas Tree trophy with his winning 4.07-second elapsed time on the 1,000-foot course against Morgan.
 
Lagana said race day “was a little warmer than expected, and we backed the car down a hair.”
 
Beard said, “The car ran great all the weekend. The main adjustment we really had to make was to make allowances for the racetrack. Calder is an older track and only has 300 feet of concrete. And from there the asphalt is pretty deteriorated. So we knew it was going to be tough to run much quicker than we did. We came out of the trailer with a good set-up and went 4.07, a 4.08, and another 4.07. I’m tickled to death to win at Calder. This is my first time here.”
 
It doesn’t figure to be his last in Australia, though. He’s due back for the April 14 Santos Super Thunder event at Willowbank Raceway, near Brisbane, Queensland. But it will be after a mad trans-global scramble. After last weekend’s victory, Beard returned to Sydney, flew home to Indianapolis to pack his fishing gear, then headed to Grand Cayman Island to go after some bonefish.
 
Newby and Harris battled for third and fourth places, and Newby won the side-by-side race by an estimated 30 centimeters, or a little less than a foot. Newby clocked a 4.22-second E.T. Harris, despite dropping a pair of cylinders, ran a 4.23.
 
Lagana will be back to work stateside Feb. 1-4 at Chandler, Ariz. The opening round of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season is Feb. 9-12 at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.

Meanwhile at Calder Park, John Zappia dominated the Top Doorslammer class as No. 1 qualifier all three sessions and the final-round victory against Paul Cannuli. Zappia and Cannuli ruined the Gulf Western Oil father-son team’s bid for a back-to-back all-Team Bray final. Victor and Ben Bray, famous for their half-track burnouts, finished in the first round and semifinal, respectively. The Brays will travel across Australia to the Perth Motorplex for the March 4-5 Westernationals.
 
Victor lost to Zappia in the opening round, and son Ben Bray advanced past Sam Fenech but fell to Paul Cannuli in the semifinal.
 
“In round one Sam had the holeshot on me, but I wasn’t giving up – I threw everything at it and managed to take the win with a 5.09-second pass at 221 miles per hour,” Ben Bray said.

“Unfortunately, Dad didn’t have things go his way in his own first round, with Zappia taking the win even though the big fella was able to claim the holeshot off the start line. For the semifinal, I faced off against Paul Cannuli, and again I managed to get the holeshot. But this time, just like it was for Dad with Zap, it just wasn’t enough.
“Of course we would have loved to get one or ideally both of the Gulf Western Oil supported Slammers into the final – back to back all-Bray finals would have been awesome, after all. But this weekend it just wasn’t to be. All the same, it was a fantastic weekend, and we can’t wait to throw it all at it again in a few weeks.”

Victor Bray said, “Calder Park was the fourth event in as many weeks for Team Bray, so it is time now for a lot of service work to be undertaken on both the Gulf Western Oil machines ready to head over to Perth in a few weeks’ time.

The next round of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series returns back to Calder Park March 12-13.