Generational drag racing appears to be alive and well in Australia.
This weekend, as the Australian tour rolls into legendary Willowbank Raceway outside Brisbane for the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals, a third generation of the Bray family returns to the sport’s biggest stage. Sixteen-year-old Dakoda Bray will race at the facility where her grandfather Victor Bray became an icon, where her father Ben Bray built his own championship résumé, and where she authored a moment neither man can claim.
Earlier this season, Dakoda cut a perfect .000 reaction time and paired it with a dead-on run in the final round of Queensland Drag Racing Championship competition.
For drag racers, that’s as close to perfection as the sport allows.
For a teenager carrying one of the most recognizable names in Australian drag racing, it was a moment all her own.
“Sometimes,” Dakoda said when asked about being the third generation of Australian drag racing royalty. “A lot of people mention it to me, but I guess that’s just kind of the life I’ve lived. So it is crazy, but it’s not that big of a shock to me.”
The Bray name follows her through every pit area she enters.
“Yeah, all the time,” Dakoda admitted when asked if she ever wants to simply be Dakoda Bray instead of Victor Bray’s granddaughter. “I get a lot of people that call me Ben’s daughter and I always tell them I wish they called me Dakoda instead.”
Long before Dakoda Bray climbed into a Junior Dragster, the Bray name was already woven into Australian drag racing history.
Her grandfather, Victor Bray, became one of the most influential figures in Top Doorslammer racing, winning six consecutive Australian championships and helping elevate the category into one of the country’s premier professional divisions. His son, Ben Bray, followed with championships in Top Doorslammer and Top Alcohol while becoming the first Australian doorslammer driver to exceed 200 mph.
Those accomplishments established the Bray family as one of Australian drag racing’s most recognizable dynasties.
For Dakoda, the challenge isn’t living up to the family name.
It’s building one of her own.
Dakoda started racing Junior Dragsters at nine years old.
Like her father before her, she grew up around race cars, crew members and long weekends at drag strips. The difference is she arrived carrying a family name that already meant something.
“It was definitely something I wanted to do my whole life,” Dakoda said. “I grew up at the track and I always loved being there and watching my dad and my grandfather race in it. I just always wanted to grow up and be like them and be successful like they were. So it’s definitely always been a dream of mine.”
When asked the biggest lesson she has learned from her father and grandfather, Dakoda didn’t need time to think about the answer.
“You’ll lose more than you’ll ever win.”
Victor Bray learned that lesson while building a championship career. Ben Bray learned it while climbing out of race cars after major crashes.
Dakoda is learning it one pass at a time.
She still spends race weekends running around the pits with friends. She admits her father handles much of the maintenance on her Junior Dragster, though she wants to learn more about the mechanical side of the sport.
For now, her attention remains focused on driving.
“I want to be a lot like my dad and my grandfather and make it to the doorslammer community and race doorslammers,” Dakoda said.
Ben Bray has already heard those plans.
“Yeah, yeah,” he laughed when asked if Dakoda might eventually push him out of the driver’s seat. “Well, I get it a lot. She’s warmed my doorslammer up once already for me so she reckons she’s getting a little bit closer and she tows it back for me every now and then just to get a feel for it.”
Ben understands the attraction. He also understands the consequences. Top Doorslammer racing has rewarded the Bray family with championships, records and recognition. It has also delivered hard lessons through crashes and injuries.
That’s one reason Dakoda’s perfect run at Willowbank continues to stand out. At first, she didn’t realize how uncommon it was.
“Probably the next day after I went on Facebook and everyone was telling me how rare it was and how there’s only a very limited amount of people that have done it and then it kind of hit me,” she said. “And when I got home and I spoke to my grandfather about it and he told me he’s never really seen that very often in his career.”
Victor Bray has spent a lifetime around race cars. If he says something is rare, racers tend to listen.As Willowbank Raceway prepares for another Winternationals, Victor Bray’s place in Australian drag racing history is secure. Ben Bray’s accomplishments remain part of the sport’s foundation. But neither man will be climbing into a Junior Dragster this weekend.
That assignment belongs to Dakoda Bray, a teenager chasing a future in Top Doorslammer while trying to make sure people remember more than the last name on the side of her race car.
“I get a lot of people that call me Ben’s daughter,” Dakoda said. “I always tell them I wish they called me Dakoda instead.”
