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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -

ZAPPIA CLINCHES TD TITLE NO. 6 - John Zappia entered the ANDRA Australian Nationals in Sydney with an overwhelming challenge and a clear resolve to tie a class record.

In the end, Zappia not only won the national event in Top Doorslammer but also secured a sixth consecutive ANDRA series title to tie final-round opponent Victor Bray for most titles.

Zappia needed to beat Bray in the final to score a 19-point championship as leader Peter Kapiris fell in the first round to Bray.

“It’s a dream come true,” Zappia said. “I said to the guys, ‘I’ve always been good at math and do me numbers … we can do this’. Pete’s had so much luck during the year, and I haven’t been there to take advantage of it. Every time he was in trouble, everyone fell out and let him through. I said, ‘his luck is going to run out.”

“I said to the guys yesterday, ‘Don’t worry, his luck will run out.”

“I just had a feeling. And sure enough, he was so nervous … whatever happened, he couldn’t get past first round. Then everything went right. I knew then I needed to do me job and all would be right.”

Zappia overcame a season-opening DNQ from the 2013 season which began 18 months ago when ANDRA opted to go on the universal calendar season. He beat a resurgent Bray, who up until the penultimate event in Adelaide was mathematically alive in the points battle. Bray finished third in the championship points.

“I knew Victor can cut good lights,” said Zappia. “He’s had a pretty consistent race car. I told my guys that a 5.97 with a pedal can get blown away by a 6.0 with a good light. We’re not out of the woods yet. Victor was so determined to stop me from winning this sixth championship to equaling those he won many years ago.”

“Next year, I am not giving anyone a head start at the first race,” Zappia said.

And Zappia will look to put behind him a season where he drew sharp criticism for winning a protest against ANDRA. In a controversial race at the Nitro Champs in Sydney he was disqualified for what the race director described as leaving before the tree was activated during the semifinal round. Zappia protested, referring to vague language in the rulebook, and had the ruling overturned in a tribunal. The rulebook has since been rewritten to better clarify what starts and constitutes a race.

“We won an appeal for a wrong decision made,” said Zappia. “We should have gone through to the final round. [Lucky] Bieri was broken, staged it and shut off. We were denied the right to run that final. We would have won the championship by 39 points. Instead, we had to appeal it and a month later and were given runner-up. We were never given a chance to rerun that final.”

Zappia said he was vindicated by winning the protest.

“I proved I was right, the independent judge ruled I was unfairly dealt with – what happened at the track,” Zappia explained. “We did it by the book, never asked for any special treatment. And, we done it.”

Kapiris, on Friday at Sydney, said he held no anomocity towards Zappia, a racer who said he considers as a “good mate” and would give him a hand if he needed it. He considers the sanctioning body to be most at fault for the controversy.

“It was really disappointing,” Kapiris said. “He got the points on a technicality, good luck to him. He asked the question and ANDRA gave it to him. I don’t think that was a good deal. It’s just the way it goes down I suppose.”

“Anyone who knows me knows I wouldn’t have done it. I just don’t want to win like that. I waited for Lucky Belieri to the point where I lost two rounds because of it. My crew was absolutely hysterical. I told our guys to let them go first, and to let other classes go ahead. It’s just the way I race. At the end of the day, he asked the question and ANDRA awarded him the points. It’s ANDRA who probably should have stepped in and said that’s not right. It was a technicality and really a f***ing bulls*** technicality.”

Technicality or not, Zappia said he’s more than happy to take the championship for a title he said his team worked hard to earn. He dedicated the victory to his mom, who suffered an injury recently.

“This one’s for my Mom,” Zappia said holding his trophy in the air. “She had a fall and has not been well. This is for you Mom.”

TJ GETS HIS WIN TO FINISH UNFINISHED BUSINESS - Tommy Johnson Jr. came to Australia with a strong objective. The veteran driver wanted to clear up unfinished business.

Johnson, who has won in five different countries, was always plagued by misfortune when racing Down Under.

There was no denying Johnson Sunday afternoon at the ANDRA Australian Nationals in Sydney. Behind the wheel of the Rapisarda Autosport Top Fuel dragster, Johnson used a superb .03 reaction and a 4.807 to beat teammate Damien Harris in the final round.

“I had been here before and I had won in every country I had raced in before here,” said Johnson. “Coming here the first two times, we struggled and didn’t get it done. When I got here and got off of the plane, I did so with every intention of winning this race. Everything fell into place.”

This weekend was to be the final event not only in the grueling 18-month ANDRA schedule but also Johnson’s role as driver for the Rapisarda team. Johnson accepted a driving job last weekend as the successor to Johnny Gray and the Pitch Energy Funny Car.

“This is a perfect ending,” Johnson said. “I wanted to do this for the Rapisarda Family. They have been so good. When I landed, they were so bummed out that I had a full-time ride in Funny Car for DSR.”

Johnson said it was obvious the team was devastated by the news but understood his decision.

“I told them, ‘you don’t know that. No one knows if it will be, but we are going to make it a good one. We are going to go out in style,’” Johnson recalled. “And, we did it. We made it to where there were two cars together in the final. It couldn’t have been any sweeter.”

Johnson’s victory came opposite Harris, a teammate, to whom he wishes nothing but good luck to for the future.

“Damien Harris has been such a great teammate and I hope he gets a lot of great opportunities to come to America to race,” said Johnson. “It’s a fitting end to the season.”

The final round could have been a toss-up, if not for Johnson’s unrelenting determination.

“The final was interesting,” Johnson said. “I like Damien and all but I wanted that final round win awful bad. I pulled out all stops in the final round. I rolled her and I was going for the tree. I went back on a bit of my experience. We were smoking the tires all day today. There was so much wind and debris on the track then you would get out about 500 feet and start smoking the tires. As soon as it did [smoke], I grabbed the brake handle. It was dropping holes from spinning and then picking up holes again and taking off. As soon as I let off, it started dropping holes again. I grabbed the brake and away it went. Anything to get the win, it didn’t matter.”

In the end, Johnson reflected on yet another positive chapter in his driving career and a team, with whom he described as one who helped him keep his career moving forward. He was also able to fulfill a childhood dream.

“The Rapisarda team has been good to me,” Johnson said. “They gave me the opportunity and as a kid, I always wanted to come to Australia. Now I get to take a trophy home with me.”

GRIMA GETS HIS CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT A NATIONAL EVENT VICTORY - Jason Grima might have lost the battle, but the Australian Pro Stock racer made up for it by winning the war.

Grima, the 2013 ANDRA Pro Stock champion, joined an elite group of professionals, which includes American drivers Rob Bruins and Eddie Krawiec, as those who have won series championships before their first national event victories.

Grima lost a tough final round race to Chris Soldatos, just two rounds after beating Aaron Tremayne to win the crown.

“It feels great to finally clinch the title,” said Grima, who drives a 400-cubic-inch-powered Ford Mustang tuned by American Comp racer Brandon Huhtala. “I really owe a lot of thanks to my crew and Brandon, who is racing this weekend in Las Vegas.”

This season was a grueling one for Grima and the racers competing on the ANDRA series. In an effort to universalize their series with the rest of the world, the Australian sanctioning body elected at the end of the 2012 season to extend their series by 6 months to make a true calendar year. In 18 months, Grima came close to winning but never secured a national event victory.

“I guess as long as the win lights keep coming on, it doesn’t matter how you win the championship,” said Grima. “Going eighteen months to race for a title was excruciatingly tough. But, in more ways than one, we came out the winners.”

At the end of the day, Grima credits one trait his team possessed as the key to the title.

“We have been consistent,” Grima said.

Grima was the point leader headed into Sydney, with a slight advantage over four different drivers who had mathematical chances to win the title.

“We knew our chances were really good this weekend, and that’s when it all started to come together for us,” said Grima. “We did well in qualifying’ and from that point we knew we needed to stay only one round over everyone else.”

AUSSIE TOP BIKE WINNER CHRIS PORTER FINALLY SEALS THE DEAL - It’s never an easy road to championship glory
 
For the past three years it’s been difficult for anyone to knock three-time ANDRA Top Bike champ Chris Matheson off his perch.
 
But following Matheson’s high-speed crash back in May at Sydney Dragway’s Nitro Champs, the door was wide open for a fresh face to carry the highly prized No.1 plate in 2014.
 
Battling it out over the past five months have been Graeme Morell and Chris Porter. Morell was tagged the underdog with his old-school, small-cubed Harley while the Fraser Motorcycles-backed Hog of Porter had plenty of cubes and muscle to run well into the six-second zone at over 200 mph.
 
Coming into the Nationals just 78 points separated the two title contenders.
 
Pretty much when it had been expected that Porter would dominate the second half of the season, gremlins would interfere in the overall plan. Calder Park’s Fuch’s Nitro Thunder round was a perfect example.
 
“Mate, where do I start? Calder Park was a joke because we had so many things go wrong,” said Porter. “We melted a belt, broke an output shaft, and broke sprockets. So yeah, I’m working hard to win this championship.”
 
Then the week before the Nationals trouble struck again.
 
“We had a second-hand transmission from fellow nitro Harley racer Dennis Grant, but blew that up during testing before the Nationals. Blew the first gear sprag out of it, which was a weakness of that early style of box, “said Porter.
 
“The track was killer so we threw a heap of horsepower at it but struck trouble at the 330 mark. It’s not really meant to handle more than 500hp!
 
“So we got a new shaft for mine and repaired the one we broke last Saturday. Just about everything that could go out of its way, did, at the worst possible time,” said Porter with a laugh.
 
“On the first qualifying session the bike smoked the tyre pretty much at the hit (1.21 at the 60) and took out a cone. It was 120 degrees on the track and the result was a DNQ. The second one was ugly, too, when Matheson was in the left lane and he crossed into my lane but because I had no ET on the board I saw a window and nailed the throttle and rode around him.
 
“I was a naughty boy for not getting off it for safety reasons. I tried to explain to officials that you can’t stop these things on a dime, you know. I was doing 150 mph at the time. I didn’t really see Chris, but I saw the cone flying in the air. His bike was on an angle so I backed off the throttle because I thought he might come right over. But when he got it up I went for it again and crossed the finish line in 7.4 seconds.
 
“The third pass resulted in a 7.1 ET with a slipping clutch about two seconds into the run. I got off and on again, and at the time it was good for No.1.
 
“If I had the top qualifier points I would have won the championship then and there but when Gavin Spann and Matheson both improved with six second passes, it still left it open. Oh well, I had it won for about 20 seconds, “said Porter with a grin.
 
On race day Porter faced number six qualifier Gordon Crawford. The Frasers Harley smoked the tyre at 330 feet but still took the win with a 7.88/155 mph.
 
The semifinal was a match-up with Spann. On the green Porter drilled the tree with a .09 light and took the win with a 7.07 to a 7.45 pass. But it was not pretty in the deep end with smoke billowing from the engine.
 
“We punched a rod through the cylinder at a thousand feet but we weren’t giving up. Graeme had made it through so we patched up the engine with mismatched pistons and other bits we flogged from the bin.”
 
In the final, Porter was out on the green first and was never contested, taking the win with a 7.18 to a 7.93 from Morell. The win was his first for the season and his first double gold tree victory.
 
“Winning the championship is something we racers all want. It’s good for my sponsor Frasers Motorcycles and its good for my team. It will allow us to continue racing at this level next year because with Chris (Matheson) back, I’m sure he’s hungry.
 
“It’s about results round by round, and appearances on TV that Frasers are looking at. It all equals exposure and that’s what we work hard at.
 
“For me this is without a doubt the highlight of my career. I started racing in 1998 in Modified Bike so it’s been a long road to get this far and certainly the most satisfying,” said a happy Porter.
 
Once back in the pits the celebrations began and it wasn’t long before the No.1 appeared on the bike. Crewmember Dennis Grant went to the 182 race number on the wheelie bar and just peeled off the eight and two.
 
This was the easiest part of what was the longest championship season in Australian drag racing history.

DOWN UNDER, THE ‘SPANNERMAN’ CRACKS INTO THE SIXES - One of the more colorful motorcycle riders in Australian drag racing is Gavin Spann, commonly referred to as “Spannerman”
 
The Queenslander has a collection of nine gold Christmas Tree trophies, although he gave one away to a former crewmember for his 30thBirthday.
 
Since returning to the sport in 2010 Spann is living the dream of riding a Top Fuel motorcycle. It’s not his first Top Bike, as he finished riding a nitrous Suzuki back in 1999, however it’s certainly his quickest and fastest.
 
We don’t see Spann chasing championship points. For him it’s about personal satisfaction and goals. His plan is to retire when he turns 60, so that means the sport has him for the next four years.
 
The Noodle Box Top Bike is slowly stepping up with its performance and at the Nationals Spann recorded the first six-second pass of his career with a 6.975.
 
“The bike was running good to half-track but after that it would start dropping cylinders. I was trying, believe me, to keep it lit but we just ran out of nobs, and the ones that we had we couldn’t turn any further,” said Spann with a grin.
 
“It only ran 157 mph but I was trying to keep the bike going as far as I could. The weather this weekend was very challenging too. It just got worse and worse,” said Spann. At the Winternationals it would drop holes at half-track but here this weekend it was about 500 feet out.
 
“The session we clocked the six the conditions were great and the track was mint. The 157 was my fastest speed, and I know that when this can stay alive over the whole run, the numbers will come. But like any racer the first thing I said after the six was ‘wish I had kept it open for just that bit longer.’”
 
Spann’s previous best ET was a 7.03 at the Winternationals. His first seven-second pass was on his Pro Stock Suzuki back in 1994 and nineteen years later he cracks his first six.
 
Thanks to Facebook, Spann received congrats from English rider Ian King and speaking of Kings, Larry “Spiderman” McBride also posted a well done.
 
Spann and his crew are going to pull the engine apart in the off-season and plan on building a second engine. He expects it to take 12 months or longer but it’s all part of his plans and goals to go out with a bang or two before he stops riding.

AN OVERSEER JANIS – Mike Janis knows how to tune and drive a Pro Modified car to success. Recently, he’s learned a new way to be successful in fast doorslammer racing.

Janis can tune and prepare a car from a supervisory position. This weekend at the ANDRA Australian Nationals he’s learned how to sit back and watch the fruits of his labor at work.

“The last two times I was here I was just overseeing the tuning on Sean Mifsud’s car,” Janis explained. “It’s kind of relaxing when you don’t have the pressure of driving on your shoulders. I enjoy tuning and watching it all play out from behind the car.”

Mifsud drives a Plymouth Duster, the same one Janis drove as a Pro Extreme car in ADRL competition. Janis also tunes Paul Cannuli’s 1968 Camaro built by G-Force Race Cars.

While Janis might appear to be in an overseer-type role, he said it is only made possible because of the strong support system Mifsud has in place.

“Sean has a real good crew here,” said Janis. “We have eight to ten guys helping us here and I am not used to a team of that size helping out. We are pretty used to two or three man crews. It definitely makes for a lot easier weekend when you can concentrate on tuning without worrying what you’re going to have to do inside of the car.”

This weekend marked Janis’ fifth trip Down Under.

“You get more used to it as you travel down here,” Janis said. “It’s definitely a good time to be had.”

Janis has already mastered the toughest aspect of Aussie travel, adjusting his sleep routine to fit a 13-hour ahead time difference from Upstate New York.

“I really haven’t had a hard time adjusting my sleep schedule. I usually am adjusted by the time I get off of the plane. It never has bothered me.”

Janis came straight to Sydney after finishing the 10-race NHRA Pro Mod schedule in Las Vegas last week. He’s seen the best the United States has to offer and now the best of Australia. The racers Down Under, Janis believes, are just as dedicated to what they do as the ones he races against back home.

“Just a different set of rules, we have a few more restrictions in the United States,” said Janis. “There are ten really, really killer cars out here. For eight spots, it’s a really tough shootout. It’s very competitive here.”

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - A LONG DAY OF QUALIFYING DOWN UNDER; SOME CHAMPIONSHIPS CLINCHED

THE BROTHERS DOMINATE - Phil Lamattina used a final session 4.715 to narrowly oust brother John’s 4.719 near identical Fuchs dragster from the top qualifying position in Top Fuel following day two of the Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway..

“We qualify well all the time so what we need to do is translate that into round wins,” he said. “The championship might be out of our reach but a good consolation would be to win the Nationals with a gold Christmas tree.

“This car is able really to make speed in the top end, it makes a lot of power. It was good to get that number one qualifier and if I had to pip John at the post so be it.”

Phil Read was a surprise late entry, taking over the seat of Martin Stamatis’ Billview dragster with an ill Stamatis deciding to call it a day after one launch. Read will face Lamattina in round one on Sunday.

Meanwhile by making a qualifying pass, Darren Morgan wrapped up his fourth ANDRA Top Fuel championship following his win at Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams two weeks ago in Melbourne. 

ZAPPIA LEADS DOORSLAMMER - John Zappia fired the opening salvo in Top Doorslammer with a 5.831, ahead of his championship rival Peter Kapiris.

Zappia will race Sean Mifsud in round one, who has the assistance of US Pro Modified star Mike Janis at this event.*** “Sean is improving every run and (Mike) Janis will probably work out what to do with it overnight to make it go so I don’t think it’s an easy run. It’s a big unknown,” he said.

“I just need to worry about my own race and get my first event win for the season. Everyone says they are sick of me winning, but I haven’t won a race all year so I’m sick of not winning.”

PERSONAL BEST LEADS ALCHOL - In Top Alcohol a personal best pass of 5.563 from Queensland’s Steven Reed put him into the number one spot, though hot conditions ahead has him thinking conservative for race day.

“We had a totally different combination in the car for this event. I hopped it up for the run and hoped it worked and it did,” he said.

“We will probably have to be conservative tomorrow, but it should be similar to this afternoon so we will make the call a few minutes before we run. As long as we don’t discover any damage overnight we are pretty happy.”

IT'S A MOPAR WORLD IN PRO STOCK - Pro Stock again saw a battle royale in qualifying with Mopar driver Lee Bektash going 7.007 on his way to the top of the qualifying sheets.

Bektash said he was actually disappointed not to break into the sixes.

“We haven’t made perfect runs, we’re missing those runs by two or three hundredths. I was hoping we would get a 6.97 or a 6.98 on that last run,” he said.

Bektash is keen for forecasted hot conditions to come into play.

“We’ve done a lot of testing and we would rather the track hot,” he said.

“We believe this car is the best in the country at the moment. It really shined there through the day when no one thought we could run 7.00 in those conditions.”

AND THE BIKE LEADERS - Chris Matheson made his first competition runs since his massive fall at the Nitro Champs in May, taking top qualifying position in Top Bike with a relatively easy 6.962 pass.

But it was Chris Porter who by qualifying ahead of Graeme Morell ensured he took his first ANDRA Top Bike title.

Another rider to earn a title simply by qualifying was Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Luke Crowley, whose top qualifying pass of 7.228 put a stamp on what has been a very successful season for the first time championship winner.
NOT AN EASY DAY - Chris Matheson didn't have an easy day during Saturday qualifying as evidenced by these photos. However, he did clinch the series title in Top Bike despite his issues.

SPORTSMAN RACING UPDATE - Early Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship eliminations also took place on day two of the Australian Nationals with a number of series champions decided.

Darren Parker in Super Stock, Rod Harvey in Super Compact, Craig Baker in Modified, Gavin Dohnt in Modified Bike and Brayden Naylor in Junior Dragster were among those to seal titles.

Eliminations continue on the third and final day of the Australian Nationals at Sydney Dragway with racing commencing from 10.45am.

MORGAN CLINCHES – Darren Morgan clinched his fourth career Top Fuel championship by making a qualifying attempt. He has won three titles in a row.

Four out of six titles have already been clinched with Gary Phillips [Top Alcohol], Luke Crowley [Pro Stock Motorcycle] and Chris Porter [Top Bike].

Sunday will determined Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock champions. Peter Kapiris leads John Zappia by 42 points in Top Doorslammer. Pro Stock is more of a wide-open battle as five drivers [Jason Grimes, Wayne Daly, Aaron Tremayne, Lee Bektash and Shane Tucker] are all mathematically alive.

HAVE HELMET, WILL DRIVE – Phil Read has been in the United States for the past few weeks attending the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas. Earlier in the week, he received a call asking if he would be interested in driving the Billview Top Fuel dragster normally piloted by Martin Stamatis.

Stamatis has been fighting an undisclosed illness, and after making a run in Q1, relinquished the cockpit to Read.

“I didn’t expect to drive a Top Fuel car this weekend, but I had hoped to,” said Read.

Read returned from the United States Friday and had planned to assist the team as replacement for an injured crew member. He came to the event expecting to service the supercharger. Instead, he ended up driving.

“This used to be our car, so I know it inside and out,” Read said.

TJ: UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN AUSTRALIA - Tommy Johnson Jr. didn’t get the memo. Top Fuel drivers aren’t supposed to get their hands dirty.

“Maybe in the United States,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Most of the time there, you have enough people to do the job. It’s a bit different here. You jump in and get your hands dirty just like the old days.”

The last week has been a whirlwind of sorts for Johnson. On Sunday, he was introduced as the successor to Johnny Gray on the Pitch Energy Funny Car team. Johnson then tested Monday for Tony Schumacher behind the wheel of the U.S. Army dragster and hours later hopped a 14 hour flight to Sydney, Australia, for this weekend’s ANDRA Australian Nationals.

This weekend’s event will be the last time Johnson drives a Top Fuel dragster for the foreseeable future. He’s piloting the Rapisarda Autosports dragster for team owner Santo Rapisarda.

“I’m ready to go Funny Car,” admitted Johnson. “I’ve always said it doesn’t matter which one I drive, just as long as I drive one. If you gave me a choice of the two, I’d likely go with the Funny Car just because of the challenge of driving one. It’s a lot harder and the driver plays a lot into it. You have to keep it in the groove and Funny Cars just don’t want to stay there. Both are definitely great to drive.”

Johnson, once a dyed-in-the-wool Funny Car guy, said he went to dragsters for budgetary reasons back in the 1990s.

“Nothing really took me away, you just took what was available,” said Johnson. “The last few years, the opportunities have been in a dragster. I guess really as long as it has nitro in the tank I am fine, as long as it has four wheels.”

Johnson is saddened to leave the Australian tour.

“I told the team, this doesn’t have to be the last time and we could possibly end up doing this again,” said Johnson. “It will be the last time for a while. It’s been great.”

This weekend’s ANDRA Australian Nationals is his third time coming to Australia and second to Sydney.

“Making friends and getting to maintain those friendships is really the neat thing about racing down here,” said Johnson. “And I really feel I have unfinished business down here.”

Johnson smoked the tires in his first trip to Australia, losing early in his Aussie debut. At the second event he qualified No. 2 at Willowbank Raceway but the effort was for naught as the event was cancelled because of rain.

This weekend, Johnson heads into Sunday’s final eliminations as the No. 2 seed.

“I just really want to win this race before I have to call it quits down here,” Johnson said.

HOLDING STRONG - American star Tommy Johnson Jr. was the fourth quickest in qualifying with a 4.796 elapsed time at only 285.53 miles per hour. He races newly crwoned champion Darren Morgan in the first round.

A PREVIEW? - Victor Bray and Peter Kapiris square off in qualifying. The two friends will meet in Sunday's first round of eliminations.

AUSSIE TD RACER EXPERIENCES SCARY MOMENT - Second-generation Top Doorslammer racer Ben Bray had a scary moment during the second qualifying session at the Australian Nationals in Sydney.

Bray, at the 1,000-foot mark, exploded the transmission in his Dewalt-sponsored Monaro, sending oil spraying throughout the cockpit and a broken driveshaft spinning just inches from the driver.

“I put it in top gear and I’d say the gear box locked up, shearing off the front of the driveshaft,” Bray explained. “At 220 miles per hour, I was fighting the car with all the strength I had.”

The parts failure also cost Bray the brakes on his car.

“I was just trying to stop it as quickly as I could,” said Bray. “The driveshaft was just flapping around the cockpit with me.”

The explosion also blew away the gear box and reverse shifter on the transmission.

“I could have gotten hurt badly,” Bray said. “About three years ago my dad reminded me of the driveshaft loops I needed in my car. He reminded me about Dale Creasy breaking both of his legs with a similar incident. I was just lucky to have been in a sedan.”

The extreme carnage suffered in the mishap forced Bray to withdraw from qualifying, and since he was unqualified, ended his weekend prematurely.

“There are three key safety elements in the car broken,” said Bray. “You cannot run without it because if this happened again, I’d be in a lot of trouble.”

Bray was on a reasonably strong pass, having stopped the eight-mile timers at 3.94 seconds at 194 miles per hour.

AUSSIE PS STAR TUCKER FACES THE EMOTIONS OF LEAVING AUSTRALIA - As Shane Tucker prepared for the first session of qualifying for what could possibly be his last Aussie Pro Stock race, the reality of closing a chapter in his life hit him.

Tucker, the son of veteran Pro Stock racer Rob Tucker, announced in July he was leaving Australian motorsports to compete on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“I’m a pretty emotional guy and lots of times I drive on emotion,” Tucker explained. “I think it will play into my advantage a bit. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It’s my last race and I intend to throw everything at it.”

Tucker understands that when a driver has nothing to lose is when they are the most lethal to face in competition.

“I think every driver is dangerous when they have nothing to lose,” Tucker explained. “I have to think it’s like when a driver is down on power, they drive by the seat of their pants and get up on the wheel a little more. I think maybe we will be a bit dangerous for the competition.”

Sydney Dragway’s Australian Nationals is one of the races that neither Tucker nor his father has won.

“I have won the Winternationals and Springnationals and just about every big race,” Tucker said. “It’s eluded us and it has been a special race to us.”

Tucker would love nothing more than to take home the Greg Flaherty Memorial trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the Pro Stock division at this event. Flaherty was one of the early Australian Pro Stock hitters killed in a non-racing automobile accident.

“It would be good to win that [trophy] on my home turf at the last race and I don’t think I would get much sleep on Monday if we could pull it off,” Tucker said.

Tucker understands his great opportunity to race in the United States. He’s prepared to close one chapter of his career and begin another one next season.

“It’s hard to control the emotions, and all the while trying to keep my emotions in check,” Tucker said. “We still have two months to go before we can start. Racing in the United States has been a dream for a long time for us.”

Tucker was a developmental driver for Pro Stock team owner Victor Cagnazzi in 2008, but the program was eventually shelved when major sponsorship couldn’t be procured.

“It was just the economy didn’t help and nothing came to fruition,” Tucker said. “This time we are going back on our own terms. Our team is excited about this opportunity.”

Joining Tucker in his trip to the United States will be his Australian crew led by Rob, who will oversee the team’s new in-house engine program. He will take delivery of a 2014 Camaro from Jerry Bickel Race Cars next month.

“It’s going to be a huge mountain to climb,” Tucker said of the new endeavor. “I think the satisfaction at the end of it will be rewarding.”

Tucker will begin preseason testing January in Bradenton, Fla.

OMG … IT’S A TWO-SEAT TOP FUELER - What’s the next best feeling to driving a Top Fuel dragster? Riding in one could very well be a close second.

Aussie Top Fuel champion Darren Morgan has developed the first two-seater nitro-burning dragster and he’s only a sanctioning body approval away from giving some lucky race fan the ride of their life.

“This is the 2012 championship car,” Morgan said. “We took part of the top rail out and put the rollcage in, so it’s exactly the same. Same cage, same engine, same clutch, rear-end, same everything.”

Morgan needs the approval of the Australian National Drag Racing Association in order to take on a passenger.

“We have done burnouts, and it is pretty cool,” said Morgan.

Morgan says how fast the car will run will be dictated by ANDRA. Most likely a 300 mile per hour run is out of the question.

“I’m sure they won’t let us go to the finish line,” said Morgan. “We will have the car set up exactly the same as our fuel car.”

The car is owned by Michael Gilbert, who owns Powercruise Promotions, and has hinted the unique dragster could make its way to the United States in the near future.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -

RESTORING A LEGEND - Lex Swayne felt a project of this magnitude needed to be shared with the racing world.

Swayne, a noted historian of Australian drag racing and journalist, has successfully recreated the legendary Goodnight, Keith and Williamson AA/Gas Dragster.

The recreation was unveiled at the California Hot Rod Reunion, October 18-20, at Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield. Swayne’s project began in 2007 as a collaboration with original driver Bob Keith, of Coarsegold, California.

Goodnight, Keith and Williamson AA/Gas Dragster was the world’s first dragster equipped with a supercharged Big Block Chevy and it has been faithfully re-created to appear just as it did in 1966.

Originally, the plan was that the rebuilt front-engined dragster would simply be a museum piece, with the chassis and engine constructed in Australia, so Keith shipped the body to Australia in 2007 where it was put on display at Swayne’s home track Willowbank Raceway during the Winternationals. But in 2008 Keith contacted Kent Fuller, who constructed the original car in 1965 and Fuller offered to replicate the 1965 chassis. The opportunity to greatly enhance the car’s authenticity was too good to miss, and Fuller was commissioned to construct the car.