Australia’s most traveled drag racer John Zappia will make his 125th trip across the Nullarbor Plain from his hometown in Perth, Western Australia, to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory for round two of the 2022-23 Australian Doorslammer Championship at Alice Springs Inland Dragway, September 1-2.

Zap’s first interstate trip was to race at Willowbank Raceway, Queensland, as part of the Wild Bunch series in 1991.

Since then, he has racked up an estimated 603,000 miles traveling to east coast venues, including Calder Park Raceway, Sydney Dragway, and Willowbank Raceway, on his way to winning 11 Oz Doorslammer titles.

“Crossing the Nullarbor is one of the road trips on every Australian’s bucket list,” said Zappia. “A stretch on the road is dead straight for 96 miles. Not a curve in sight. You appreciate just how vast and uninhibited much of the country is. When you go from one side of Australia to race and have a win, the return trip home makes it all worthwhile. But the journey home takes forever if you don’t do well.”

Zaps’ last road trip was in June 2022 and began with a trip to Willowbank for the Winternationals, then onto Darwin in the Northern Territory for the opening round of the Doorslammer championship and returning home via Broome on the West Coast.

The circumnavigation of the continent covered 7250 miles - the equivalent to San Francisco-Florida-New York-San Francisco. “To go from Perth to race in Alice Springs next weekend is a relatively short trip,” according to the laconic Zappia.

“You cross the Nullarbor, then turn left at Port Augusta and head north for around 790 miles and land in the red center of Australia. I’m looking forward to racing at Alice Springs. The track has one of the best racing surfaces in the country. Flat smooth and with plenty of runoff.”

The venue has been a happy hunting ground for Zappia over the years. In 2017 he set a track record of 5.79 sec. and took the win when slammer last raced there in July 2021.

Doorslammer will run under the all-in format with two qualifying and three racing rounds.