Words and photos by Jon Van Daal
5/15/06
he Nitro Champs has become an institution in Sydney, first being run at the old Castlereagh track and now at the state-of-the-art Western Sydney International Dragway. Last year the event had the full complement of six Pro categories on hand (Top Fuel, Top Alcohol, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike and Top Bike), but this year the Pros were cut back to Top Fuel, Top Alcohol (a combination of dragsters and funny cars), and Top (Fuel) Bike. Still, a solid crowd came out to watch.
The previous two years of the Snap-On Tools Nitro Championships were run over the normal three-day racing format which ANDRA and NHRA have stayed with virtually since the start of the sport; however, this year’s event was held over Friday afternoon and evening and all day Saturday. The reason for the reduction from three to two days was unrepresentative crowds in the past, with Friday and Sunday below par.
It seemed weird not to see Sunday afternoon eliminations at this time of the year, as with only three weeks to winter down here, all the Pro runs were run in the dark. The photographer in me loves seeing those billowing burnouts and wheels up launches from the fuelers, but after dark it reminded me of watching the races through a set of welder’s goggles.
Australians have traditionally watched their Speedway on a Saturday night and the trumps at WSID used this format with good success with Ladies Day on Friday drawing 8,000 payers and around 4,000 free females with a solid 15,000 on Saturday. The first round on Saturday was held in about 64-degree weather, while the following day the temperature dropped to about 54 degrees.
 Bob Shepherd ran a 5.00 in qualifying, but a 6.48 after Shepherd lost a blower belt after half track in his first-round race was no match for the 4.85 by eventual event winner Darren Morgan. |
In Top Fuel, entries have been falling, with seven cars last September, six at the Summernationals, and now five this year. Friday night qualifying saw not one car get down the track in the early session, but in the second frame Phil Read clocked his quickest time ever with a 4.650 at 320.74 to put him into the top spot. Bob Shepherd was the only other driver to post a near representative time with a 5.00 in the same session. Steve Read had a bit more luck on his last qualifier when he came up with a 6.37 after smoking the bags. This left Terry Sainty to muster an 8.16 and Darren Morgan had three dud runs with a best of 10.45 seconds.