Nitro Funny Cars at Australia’s Sydney Dragway

Nitro Nirvana

Words and photos by Jon Van Daal

“Let’s Boogie” (near lane) and “Bumblebee”.

While normal ANDRA and IHRA competition Down Under provides everything from Junior Dragsters to Top Fuel diggers, there is something about missing out on nitro funny cars. A few years ago Graeme Cowin stepped into the breach with his travelling acceleration circus more commonly known as the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars and his latest offering was at Sydney Dragway.

The biggest field of nitro funny cars ever assembled down under greeted the starter at the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars race in Sydney, Australia. This drew competitors from the farthest reaches of Australia including north Queensland and Western Australia. Competition consisted of three rounds of racing with the winner being crowned on the most number of wins and the lowest ET of the night. On the down side after the first round two cars wouldn’t return because of damage – Harold Campbell dropped a valve and Greg Leahy torched a piston, however in round three six cars couldn’t return but fans still saw a good show.

Certainly the winningest driver on the circuit since the series inception is Rick Gauci and this time around it was to be just the same. This saw him take a round one win over Daniel Schultz – 5.705 to a 5.849, then in round two he faced Schultz again in his “The General” Dodge Charger and made it two from two with a 5.865 to a 6.433 after the Mopar stumbled off the line. In the final he faced the “Bumblebee” car of Jake Donnelly with the later grabbing a couple of hundredths off the line, however at the other end Gauci’s ’57 Chev just steam rolled his opponent with a new personal best of 5.575/264.13 to a second best 5.703. “It was just the best night!” exclaimed Sydney’s Gauci. “With a 5.57-second PB in a ’57 Chev, it seems pretty fitting! But we don’t get caught up on the performances too much, we had a great night with great side-by-side racing and celebrating with the crew is probably the best part of the event!”.