Darren Morgan

It sure felt like the fastest pass I have done in this car and I was right a 4.782 at 289 mph (to Morgan’s 6.505). I was just so happy with that as there was a lot more in it. A first round win and the third fastest time of the session saw us in third place by a one thousandth of a second, we got the win and we got lane choice for the next round. The car came back pretty clean and the boys went about their normal between round thrash - we were ready with time to spare.

For the second round we were up against Wayne Newby and we chose the right lane as it had done us well for the first two laps that day. I was so confident in the tune up Mike had in the car that I was going to be on for the ride of my life and, tell you what, I sure was. I scored another great light and the car just pulled the whole way and went into super light speed when the clutch locked up. It was moving around a bit through the top end and the engine decided to stop just before the finish line.

Looking back on the race that would have been one awesome race to watch live as we were side by side the whole way with my wing in front the whole time. When my team got to the bottom end of the track to pick me up it felt like we had won the event already and my wife yells out 4.690 at 270 mph (to Newby’s oh-so-close 4.719). I was so happy -- another personal best for our team and a personal best for me as a driver over quarter mile and it was only 270 mph, I remember thinking ‘there’s still a lot more left in this girl, bring on the finals.’ That run turned out to be the fastest pass of the session and would stand to be the fastest pass of the event, I am so damn proud of that.

Unfortunately, it turned out not to be all roses as when we got back to the pits we found that we kicked a rod out the side of the block and torched a head gasket. Despite that, you know what is great? The team took it all in their stride and just got down to work and changed out the engine and got the car back together just in time. We did have to fire up for our warm up under the awning as time was tight. Pretty fitting though, all the boys definitely got their nitro fix before the finals that time.

Finals time, the air was starting to get very cold and a layer of dew was starting to settle on the cars by this time so I knew it was going to be damn hard to tune against those elements. We had lane choice so we stuck with our now favourite right lane. We were up against Peter Xibberas who definitely earnt his spot. We lined up to do battle for one last time.

Both cars left together and I could see Peter’s front wing start to point out front, my car went into tyre shake at about 330 feet, I caught it in time before it went into tyre smoke. A quick pedal saw the car hook back up again and I was now playing catch up. Before half track I saw Peter’s car slow and then disappear and it was now ‘eyes on the prize’. Just then the blower belt came off but I still had enough momentum to coast to a win. Peter was unable to gather his car back up and I got to the finish line first - it then flashed into my mind ‘I Just Won the Nitro Champs’ (for the record it was a 5.901 to a 6.619 – Ed.)

Even when the team got there it was hugs all round and I was thinking ‘far out, we won’. Well, it definitely started to sink in when we got to the podium and received the Gold Christmas Tree, a Medal for Low ET of the Event and my bottle of champagne. The bubbly ended up all over everyone and I did make sure to save some to pour over dad’s head while getting the photos done.

All in all we could not have asked for a better weekend as it played out like a story book. We have spent the last year and a half with the fuel dragster going above and beyond to raise awareness for “Make-A-Wish” - a charity that Grants Wishes to Terminally Ill Children. As it turned out this weekend saw my whole team have their wishes granted. I tell you what, they ALL deserved it.