Past multiple Australian Top Fuel drag race champion, Steve Read, will have a rather unusual lead-up to the Enzed Top Fuel Championship at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, April 17-18.

Read, affectionately known as 'The Pom', will marry long-time partner Heather Bond at Willowbank on the Saturday morning (April 17), then after the wedding breakfast, take part in qualifying for the Australian Top Fuel championship series round five.    

The Brisbane-based English couple first met when Read was racing at Avon Park Raceway, Warwickshire, England in 1989, where Bond, who was educated in Australia in the early 1970s, was an official and later Avon Park Chief Executive Officer.

 
Past multiple Australian Top Fuel drag race champion, Steve Read, will have a rather unusual lead-up to the Enzed Top Fuel Championship at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, April 17-18.

Read, affectionately known as 'The Pom', will marry long-time partner Heather Bond at Willowbank on the Saturday morning (April 17), then after the wedding breakfast, take part in qualifying for the Australian Top Fuel championship series round five.    

The Brisbane-based English couple first met when Read was racing at Avon Park Raceway, Warwickshire, England in 1989, where Bond, who was educated in Australia in the early 1970s, was an official and later Avon Park Chief Executive Officer.

While Read migrated to Australia in 1993, Bond returned to Australia in mid-2005, catching up with Read at that year’s Winternationals event at Willowbank.

Read and Bond re-established Read Speed Racing (RSR) mid-2006 when they purchased a lightly raced Brad Hadman-built Top Fuel Dragster from US racer Gary Clapshaw.

Read and Bond debuted the car, still in its original Spirit of Las Vegas livery, which depicts artwork of a Las Vegas showgirl and the city at night, at the January 2007 Willowbank Top Fuel event.

However, the car was destroyed during the fourth and final qualifying session at the 2008 Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway after the fuel shut-off valve stuck open just before the finish line, causing the car to hurtle into the sand trap and safety net at the end of the braking area at over 300km/h.

Read walked away from the crash with just a broken finger when it was wrenched off the steering wheel.

After missing the remainder of the 2008-2009 season, RSR formed a partnership with Dwayne Riley, who owns an identical Hadman chassis to the crashed Dragster and offered the car to Read and Bond to race.

The new RSR/Riley partnership’s first event was the 2009 Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway, where 12 months after his disastrous crash, Read top qualified and won the event.  

Read and Bond adored the ‘Spirit of Las Vegas’ Dragster.

“It was not just bars, panels and an engine to us, the ‘Spirit’ car was a part of the family,” Bond said.

“That crash started a tough emotional run for us. We destroyed the car, Steve and I got engaged in the October, our Read Speed Transport business suffered during the global economic downturn and an overseas sponsorship prospect was derailed with the Global Financial Crisis.   

“2009 was also Steve’s 40th year in drag racing and my 20th year and we came back and won the Nationals after being out of the sport for a year,” Bond said.

While Read is a drag racing veteran, even he has been amazed at the events of the past 18 months.

“If I twittered all the dramas we have had since that September 2008 crash, no one would believe me,” Read said.

After getting engaged, Read and Bond had trouble finding a suitable wedding date, due to their busy business commitments.

“So we thought, why not get married at Willowbank on the morning of the Top Fuel event,” Read said. “Most of our closest friends will be there as well as our crew and family.

“The only thing is I will not be able to have a champagne toast that will have to wait until after we win on the Sunday.”

While Read is out of the 2009-2010 Australian Top Fuel championship series contention after missing the two Perth rounds, which carried 50 per cent bonus points and the February Summernationals at Sydney Dragway was rained-out – the Willowbank event is the fifth round of the series – he is aiming to be the first driver to win two events this season at Willowbank next weekend.       

Read also said while RSR receives good support from several minor sponsors, the team is on the lookout for a major sponsor.

“We are searching for sponsors. While we have been in this game (professional drag racing) for a long time and have a workshop and transporter, if you want to do it properly, you need at least one fulltime person and various infrastructures, which we don’t have at the moment,” Read said.