Danny White Gets Married  I'm proud to announce that my good friend and our stalwart Research Editor Randy White got married on Friday, January 25. Danny wed the former Gena Renee Means. Both are avid drag racers so the only question is: who gets the keys to the race car? Congratulations, Danny and Gena. Best wishes for much health and happiness.

Story Update 

Drag Racing Story of The Day:

January 28
MIR Tower Demolition: The End of an Era
Saturday saw the demolition of the venerable Maryland International Raceway tower; my summer home for the last 14 years. Photo sequence by Stephen Jones.

January 27
Let Freedom Ring: The Freedom Machine Top Fuel Dragster
Top Fuel veteran Don Roberts provides a short history of one of his favorite rides.

January 26
Show Me The Money, Revisited: 2000 NHRA Earnings
After the response we received for his 2001 NHRA driver earnings report, Steve Klemetti went back and did the 2000 season as a comparison.

January 25
It's Time to Create Nostalgia Pro Stock
Danny White says it's time to bring back pre-tube frame, pre-Lenco Pro Stock cars. Here's an initial set of rules to get the discussion going.

January 24
Up To Our Butts in Gators and Heroes
Gary Peters has another great Hemi Hunter Top Fuel tale; this one of the team's trips to the 1972 Gatornationals.

January 23
Purp's Adventure: Mega Bucks Meets No Bucks
Laurie "Purple Girl" Watts went down to Phoenix to test with the big boys this weekend. Her little purple digger got plenty of stares from the pros and ran its career best.

January 22
The 2002 National Time Trials - NHRA Pros Test at Firebird
Flyin' Phil Elliott checks in with his first DRL story -- an analysis and review of the NHRA's first test session this weekend at Firebird Raceway.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day:

January 28
The Amazing 1/2 Scale, Hemi Powered, Nitro Burning 1937 Dodge Pro Mod Street Machine
Berserko Bob Doerrer spied this little jewel on his way back from a gig and had to stop to check it out.

January 27
Ben Beneke's Top Fuel Harley Motorcycle in 2000
Anni Valder caught up with the two stroke terror at Shakespeare County Raceway two seasons ago.

January 26
Nitro at Night: Dobbo Nails a Perfect Light
Cheryl Greene sent up this awesome Jon Gall shot of Alan Dobson leaving the line perfectly: green light's on, front wheels are up, and header flames are roof high.

January 25
Micke Kagered: 2001 Swedish Top Fuel Champ
Andy "Tog" Rogers offers up a great shot and some background on the alcohol funny car veteran's awesome rookie year in Top Fuel.

January 24
Smax Smith Gets All Four Wheels off the Ground
Aidan Smith sent in this Sharkman shot of dad Smax going for a little tumble in his Top Alky car a few years ago.

January 23
Robert Koper's Dutch Monte Carlo Pro Mod
Yvon Bakker sent this shot over from the Netherlands, proving that the drag racing bug is infesting the entire world.

January 22
Model Showcase: The Blair's Speed Shop Camaro
Wendell Sowers builds some of the nicest funny car models you'll ever see. Here's his rendition of the Blair's Speed Shop Car.

Drag Racing Movie of The Week:

January 28
Cannonball Final: Fuel Funny Car versus Alcohol Funny Car
Sharkman caught this battle between John Spuffard's nitro flopper and Lex Joon's upstart alky machine at the Cannonball race at Santa Pod.

January 21
Chuck Haynes Sets New Australian Jet Dragster Records
Luke Nieuwhof watched Chuck Haynes break the Australian jet records three times last weekend and he caught the event on video.

Bob, how much can you pick up PSI superchargers new or second hand for in the USA? Thanks a lot.

Bob, where is your web site update with info from the Aussie trip???

In a move to provide an 'official' testing event for the Top Alcohol classes, the Texas Motorplex announced today that it will host the Top Alcohol Warm Up presented by www.InsideTopAlcohol.com on February 8 - 10. The event is one of the first events of it's kind to give competitors in both Top Alcohol classes free testing before the season.

The Texas Motorplex's track manager, Jason Baffrey, is excited about hosting the event, and hopes to turn the Top Alcohol Warm Up into an annual event.

"We'll take a look and see what happens," said Baffrey. "It's a first time event for us, and we are tying it into some other things we were doing. We are very excited to have the Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars involved with an event. It kind of kicks off the season for those cars, whereas Houston hosts the Pro Stock Superbowl, and they have the Pro test sessions out in Phoenix and Tucson. This gives the alcohol racers from across the country an opportunity to come here and get their cars tuned up and ready for the season. We'll see what kind of participation takes place, and see if that is something we want to continue in the future. At this point, I can say that it probably will be."

The Warm Up will be held in conjunction with SpeedFest 2002 on Saturday (Feb. 9), an event that is being held in conjunction with the upcoming AutoRama Car Show that will be held in Dallas the following weekend. Part of the show will include the fastest street car shootout, and bracket racing as well. The Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars will put on a match race style show, and be the headlining event. On Sunday, the track will be opened up for a Divisional test session, letting cars in all of NHRA's Sportsman classes get an ooportunity to get their cars dialled in for the 2002 season as well.

"This event has really turned into a mixed bag," Baffrey stated. "It started out as just a test and tune day originally for whoever wanted to show up. We then tied it in with the SpeedFest 2002, which is an event put together by the AutoRama Car Show Series, and KLUV Oldies Radio here in Dallas. They put this program together to find the fastest street cars. The winner of the heads up street car race gets to display at the AutoRama the next weekend.

"We wanted to step the event up to the next level, and give the fans a true idea of the cars they can see at NHRA National Events. That is why we incorporated the Top Alcohol Warm Up in there, with those guys putting on a match race, the fans have a wide variety of cars to watch. It is almost like a preview of the Texas Motorplex season, because they are getting a little bit of everything that we do that weekend. They will be getting to see the best of the Top Alcohol racers, street car racing, bracket racing, and NHRA Sportsman competitors there that weekend as well. It's almost like a movie trailer, if you will, of what they will be able to see throughout the season at the Texas Motorplex."

Will Hanna, the owner/editor of InsideTopAlcohol.com (also known as InsideFMRacing.com), is excited about his company being a part of the event, as well as the fact of the Top Alcohol cars getting their own warm up event.

"This is a big step in the right direction for alcohol racers across the country," commented Hanna. "We at InsideTopAlcohol.com are tremendously excited to be a part of such an event. This gives the alcohol racer an opportunity to come out and get a run on the upcoming season, not to mention it is being held at arguably the fastest track in the world, the Texas Motorplex. Hopefully, we can turn this into a good thing for a long while to come."

Testing will start on Friday for the Top Alcohol cars, followed by a Chicago-style match race on Saturday for the SpeedFest 2002 event. Open testing will continue back on Sunday for the alcohol cars, in conjunction with the divisional warm up. All testing is free for the Top Alcohol cars. Stay tuned to InsideTopAlcohol.com for daily recaps of the action at the Motorplex.

Email Will Hanna at ProRacePR@aol.com for more information. InsideTopAlcohol.com is part of the RacerPage.com network.

Glad you made it home safe. I sent the battery charger off by air express today.

Hey Bob, glad you got home safe (at least I hope you did). Did you have a good flight? Was there any problem with customs? Is the Racepak okay? Is the cam still in one piece? Have you given the cam to Tom yet (I know it's only been a day or so)? Have you filled in any of the blank spaces in the plan yet?

Glad to hear from you and hope everything's going fine, and by the way, I don't think we need any changes in the fuel system... yet. Hear from you soon.

Hello Fellow Racers!

Just a reminder that the hottest chat session in drag racing will once again hit the net tonight with InsideFMRacing.com's Allstar Driver's Chat. Chat with some of top alcohol's top drivers, like: Mark Hentges, Shelly Howard, David Baca, Marc White, Randy Fleming, Dave Hirata, Bruce Meyer, Lee Callaway, Jason Rupert, Kevin Brown, Ed Vickroy and Michael Gunderson, with more likely to show up.

Don't miss out on the action. We'll see you at 8pm CST. Also, check out IFMR's newest column, The No Shake Zone with editor Will Hanna. It's alcohol racing without the tire shake! See you there!

Two hunters from Michigan (true story). This is from a radio program, a true report of an incident in Michigan.

A guy buys a brand new Lincoln Navigator for $42,500 and has $560 monthly payments. He and a friend go duck hunting in winter, and of course all the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the lake with their guns, a dog, and of course, the new vehicle. They drive out onto the lake ice and get ready. Now they want to make some kind of a natural landing area for the ducks, something for the decoys to float on. In order to make a hole large enough to look like something a wandering duck would fly down and land on, it is going to take a little more effort than an ice hole drill.

So, out of the back of the new Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a short, 40-second fuse. Now these two "Rocket Scientists" do take into consideration that they want to place the stick of dynamite on the ice at a location far from where they are standing (and the new Navigator), because they don't want to take the risk of slipping on the ice when they run from the burning fuse and possibly go up in smoke with the resulting blast.

They light the 40-second fuse and throw the dynamite. Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the vehicle, the guns and the dog? Let's talk about the dog: a highly trained Black Labrador used for RETRIEVING.... (hey everybody, can you see where this is leading?. Especially things thrown by the owner.

You guessed it; the dog takes off at a high rate of doggy speed on the ice and captures the stick of dynamite with the burning 40-second fuse about the time it hits the ice. The two men yell, scream, wave their arms and wonder what to do now. The dog, cheered on, keeps coming. One of the guys grabs the shotgun and shoots the dog. The shotgun is loaded with #8 buckshot, hardly big enough to stop a Black Lab.

The dog stops for a moment, slightly confused, but continues on. Another shot and this time the dog, still standing, becomes really confused and of course terrified, thinking these two geniuses have gone insane.

The dog takes off to find cover, under the brand new Navigator. The men continue to yell as they run. The exhaust pipe on the truck is still hot, so the dog yelps and drops the dynamite under the truck, and takes off after his master. Then --BOOM-- the truck is blown to bits and sinks to the bottom of the lake in a very large hole, leaving the two idiots standing there with this "I can't believe this happened" look on their faces.

The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use of explosives is not covered. He still had yet to make the first of those $560 a month payments! And you thought your day was not going well?

How was the trip home? I have a guy looking for a used Top Alcohol Funny Car. Can you find one there locally and collect some on the freight by putting it in the trailer when you ship it. Let me know.

While you are talking to racers I have customers who want 14-71 high helix blowers. Can you find any? Let me know if you find any.

Just a reminder to check on the pistons.

You left about 27 hours ago. Are you home safe yet?

Major Upgrades to Site Layout  We had a very busy weekend, making changes to nearly every major page at Draglist.com. We are especially happy with the way our new home page looks -- we hope you agree. There are too many changes to mention them all, but here are a few highlights: We have fixed the long-awaited racer entry form. We have added most of the photos to Ray Ray's Drag Photos instead of just links to the photos). We have updated the Drag Racing Calendar for the 2002 season. We have pages that describe how to contribute and how to contact us. We have selected a new Guestbook (drop us a line). We have added some new info to our Welcome page.

New columns and columnists  We also added a new section this weekend, the Racer's Scrapbook. Racing veteran Ron Pellegrini thought we should begin a section where racers could show off mementos from their racing careers. We will be showing time slips, patches, programs, records, etc. You know, stuff that goes in scrapbooks. Racers, start looking around for stuff to scan and send in.

We are also extremely pleased to report that veteran photojournalist Flyin' Phil Elliott will be joining the draglist.com staff beginning this week. Phil will be writing a regular column and also will make available many of his old columns from Super Stock Magazine and elsewhere. Phil's first contributions will be to cover the weekend's NHRA Pro test sessions. Welcome aboard, Flyin' Phil!

Drag Racing Story of The Day:

January 21
Global Info-Links Australian Nationals Amongst Best Ever
Rob Oberg provides a full report from Australia's first national event of the year.

January 20
Ben Bray Wins the Australian Nationals Top Doorslammer title at 17
Rob Oberg reports that disaster turned into surprising victory this weekend as a non-qualifying Victor Bray watched 17 year old Ben win the Australian Nationals via killer holeshots

January 19
Early 60's Fuel Racing and Heat Treating
Harold Bettes tell about his first nitro fuelled flathead dragster and his innovative way of heat treating parts.

January 18
Postcards from England: More Vacation Notes from the NHRA World Finals
John Huthcinson provides more impressions of his trip from Gateshead, England to Pomona, California for the 2001 NHRA World Finals.

January 17
NHRA 2Day to Debut on ESPN2 on Sunday Mornings
NHRA Communications reports that drag racing fans will get a weekly drag racing show in a consistent time slot.

January 16
Dunn Added to NHRA Broadcast Team for 2002
NHRA Communications reports that Top Fuel driver Mike Dunn has found a home in the ESPN broadcasting booth for 2002.

January 15
No Racing This Saturday: The Hemi Hunter Livens Up A Car Dealership Grand Opening
Gary Peters explains how the Hemi Hunter fueler livened up a VW dealership opening through header flames and whiskey sours.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day:

January 21
Berserko Bob: What A Guy Won't Do To Win $100
"Berserko Bob" Doerrer shows one reason he got his nickname with an outrageous display at a New Jersey mall. We had to retouch the photo, but the story was too good to pass up.

January 20
Laurie Cannister's "Girl Power" Camaro IHRA Funny Car
Vic Cooke got this shoot of Laurie launching on a stout 5.88 pass at Norwalk 2001.

January 19
Bracket Chevelle Chassis Twist to the Max
David Whitewolf sent in this shot of a Gene Fulton powered Chevelle trying to twist itself in two.

January 18
Cook Bros. & Jahns' Three-Wheeled Dragster at San Gabriel 1963
Troy Cagle sent along this shot of the totally exposed driver boiling the hides in his radical machine.

January 17
Ron Potter's Golden Nugget Mustang Fuel Funny Car
Vic Cooke caught the seldom seen Golden Nugget car in the staging lanes at the '72 Springnationals.

January 16
The Magic Muffler AA/Fuel Altered Gets Vertical
Tom West was in the right place as usual and caught the Magic Muffler AA/FA trying to cut loose its bonds with the planet.

January 15
John Zappia's Top Doorslammer Powerstand
Stu Bond sent in this Luke Nieuwhof shot of the West Australian Top Doorslammer veteran getting airborne with his boss Holden Monaro.

Drag Racing Movie of The Week:

January 21
Chuck Haynes Sets New Australian Jet Dragster Records
Luke Nieuwhof watched Chcuk Haynes break the Australian jet records three times last weekend and he caught the event on video.

January 14
Down Under Top Comp: Doorslammer vs. Funny Car
Luke Nieuwhof was on hand December 29 when Robin Judd's Studebaker Top Doorslammer faced John Napier's alcohol funny car.

Despite being granted the event on relatively short notice, Willowbank Raceway's running of the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Drag Racing Nationals has been hailed as one of the best in the event's 36 year history. Near perfect weather, record breaking performances and incident free racing provided an extremely smoothing running show for the huge crowd of 20,048 that flocked in to witness the event.

"It really was an exceptional event," said raceway spokesman Rob Oberg. "Every aspect just seemed to meld together to provide something out of the ordinary, particularly on the Saturday for all the final elimination racing. We had no accidents at all, no stoppages of any significance and our biggest problem was running ahead of schedule. We'd be happy to put up with that problem at every event.

"The racing put on by the competitors was also outstanding with numerous national and track records set along with a new world record for the quickest side by side sedan race in history. The entertainment program put in place to complement the on track action was very well received and we're confident the fans left the event more than happy with the show they saw."

This was the first time the Australian Nationals had been held at Willowbank since 1991 after being located in Melbourne for the last ten years. In October the Australian National Drag Racing Association accepted an offer by Willowbank to host the event after negotiations with the Victorian promoter ran into difficulties. Following the event the C.E.O. of ANDRA, Tony Thomton, was more than pleased with the move to Queentand.

He stated "Raceday at the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals was one of the best days of drag racing I've seen for some time. The eliminations went off like clockwork and I'm sure the large crowd, and the racers who traveled from all over the country to take part, were as impressed as I was.

The "event of the event" was certainly Ben Bray's performance in Top Doorslammer, winning the semi final and the final with better reaction times. The Willowbank team can be very pleased with the surface they delivered in the face of the warm weather conditions and more than a few oil spills.

Off the track, a wide range of entertainment between the racing sessions kept the crowd occupied for the whole event. Last year brought a few challenges to Australian drag racing, but the 2002 GIL Australian Nationals proved the sport and the industry surrounding it have plenty to be positive about."

Marketing assistance provided to Willowbank Raceway by the Queensland Events Corporation's new Regional Development Program was a significant factor in securing Australia's oldest championship drag racing event for the state.

Chairman Queensland Events Corporation, Mr. Des Power, said this brings a new era in events across Queensland. "Previously our concentration has been on major events predominantly concentrated in the south-east corner. We are now able to broaden our base and bring into play a slate of diverse and interesting events that will have significant impact on the State's tourism economy.

"Ironically, this is the second motor sport event that has been secured from Victoria - the first being the Sandown 500, now known as the VIP Petfoods Queensland 500, and one of the feature races on the Australian motor sport calendar," he said.

Ipswich Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Neil Harding backed that view, stating, "This event attracted over three hundred competing teams and thousands of spectators from all over Australia to Ipswich, generating a significant impact on the local economy. In the Ipswich area this time of year is traditionally a quiet period for retailers and the hospitality industry so the boost provided by drag racing is most welcome. A lot of the visitors also seem to be staying a day or two each side of the event which is even better. It's also great to see Ipswich businesses such as Global Info-Links, iTEL and Hog's Breath Cafe support the event through sponsorships. I'm sure they'll reap the benefits."

The next major event at Willowbank Raceway is the Australian Tin Top Titles on March 29th and 30th which is Good Friday, Easter Saturday. This event will feature rounds of the Australian Championship series for the extremely popular Hog's Breath Cafe Top Doorslammer and Travelaire Tours Pro Stock categories.

The largest drag racing event in Australia is the Konica Wintemationals held at Willowbank Raceway each Queen's Birthday weekend in June.

Quality Racing Highlights GIL Australian Nationals

Mild weather and record performances attracted more than 20,000 people to the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals at Willowbank Raceway from January 16 to 19. Highlights included a new world drag racing record for sedans, 15 national records, 22 track records and the stunning victory by Australian Top Doorslammer Champion Victor Bray's son Ben. The disappointment of Victor Bray's failure to qualify for the Top Doorslammer field turned to triumph when Ben took the family's second car to victory.

It was the first time Bray senior had failed to qualify for a field. The six-times Australian champion and 25-year veteran in the sport only last year claimed his first Nationals win trophy, yet Ben, 17, won the title at Willowbank Raceway on January 19 at his second event as a professional driver. With the exception of Junior Dragster eliminator, Ben Bray is the youngest racer to have won the Nationals since its inception in 1965.

After qualifying seventh with a time of 6.48 seconds in the Hog's Breath Cafe eliminator, the Brisbane-based teenager drove his Castrol '56 Customline to come-from-behind wins over the Lifestyle Corvette of Kym Petterwood, the Jack Daniel's Studebaker of Brett Stevens and the Lucas Oils car of Gary Phillips. Phillips made up for the defeat by claiming a win against the national record-setting 5.66 seconds dragster of Paul Shackleton in the Tasman Aviation Enterprises Top Alcohol final.

While Phillips struggled with the Whipple-equipped dragster, Mackay's Shackleton was the class act of the eliminator, running 5.68, 5.71 and 5.66 before red-lighting in the final. Top Fuel champion Steve Read claimed his second consecutive Nationals title in the Santo's Cranes Fueler. Running three consecutive four-second passes, Read top qualified at 4.98, improved to a 4.94 in the final qualifying session and ran 4.90 to defeat American Terry Haddock in the first round of Lifestyle Australia racing. A 5.01 just missed out on a fourth four-second clocking, but was enough to claim the win against the Gregory's Publications dragster of Jim Read which went into a huge power wheelstand in the final.

Top Doorslammer standout Peter Kapiris, of Melbourne, claimed a second world record during qualifying. Kapiris already holds the world record for a methanol-powered sedan at 6.07 seconds and he and Brisbane's Brett Stevens claimed a new standard for the quickest side-by-side quarter-mile pass for the category.

Kapiris's Studebaker clocked 6.16 seconds alongside the Studebaker of Stevens, which ran 6.25. Stevens also took his new Jack Daniel's Harley to a runner-up against Craig McPhee in Morgan and Wacker Top Bike. Kapiris's 6.161 led the sport's quickest Top Doorslammer field, which was bumped by Robin Judd's 6.496. Petterwood logged a 6.20 to jump to second qualifying position.

Travelaire Tours Pro Stock winner Peter Ridgeway, of Melbourne, defeated John Barbagallo, of Ayr in north Queensland, to claim his second consecutive Nationals title. Ridgeway's Oldsmobile also set a new Pro Stock national record of 7.51 seconds, the quickest time in the eliminator's history.

During qualifying, Barbagallo recorded the bracket's fastest speed of 183.15 mph. Ridgeway's 7.519 led a tough field which saw Barbagallo and Dennis Whiting join him in the 7.5 second zone. Whiting (7.534) and Ridgeway (7.568) logged the quickest Pro Stock side-by-side pass in the semis, then Ridgeway (7.526) and Barbagallo (7.567) broke the mark again in the final.

Despite a power wheelstand which lasted until halftrack, Jay Upton managed to wind the throttle on his Puma Triumph Top Bike enough times to hurtle through the finish line beams at 6.83 - 199. Upton was unable to repeat his six-second performance during eliminations. Sam Scerri took Trevor Birrell's Suzuki to the head of the sport's quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle field with a 7.645. Maurice Allen (8.054) anchored the Dragster Australia field. Jason Lee defeated Scerri in the final.

Other eliminator results were:

Lion Roars in Holden Drag Race Challenge

At last weekend's Global Info Links Australian Drag Racing Nationals, AFL footballer, Clark Keating, added the Holden Drag Race Challenge to his trophy collection which includes the Brisbane Lions 2001 premiership medal. Keating came out on top of a classy field of sports media, political and corporate personalities to claim the winners trophy over iTEL / Global Info-Links Chairman Brian Ramsey. Driving V8 Holden SS Utilities Keating used better start line reactions to defeat Ramsey in the final 14.942 at 150.97 kph to 14.938 seconds at 151.43 kph.

Keating had earlier defeated Lions team mate and Brownlow Medalist Jason Ackermanis and Ipswich Olympian Heath Ramsey to earn his place in the final. Prior to facing Keating in the final, Ramsey scored wins ahead of Queensland Minister for State Development Tom Barton and Ipswich City Councilor Denise Hanley.

Other personalities to take part in the Holden Drag Race Challenge were Triple M breakfast show host Greg "Fat Cat" Ritchie and Wade Llewellyn of Ross Llewellyn Motors who have provided the Holden utes for the series. Jason Ackermanis recorded the quickest elapsed time of the series at 14.44 seconds whilst Councilor Denise Hanley was the Queen of Speed, going the fastest at 154.28 kph.

Please note new URL for www.luskvilledragway.com. Thanks; great sitel have link on mine.

In an extraordinary performance at the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals held at Willowbank Raceway last night, the highly competitive Top Doorslammer category fell not to six times Australian Champion, Victor Bray, but to his seventeen year old son, Ben. Victor had in fact failed to qualify for a Top Doorslammer event for the first time in his career after problems getting a new combination in his own Castrol Chevy sorted out in time trials. Watching his son claim the Australian Nationals at his first attempt certainly went a long way to soothing the disappointment of missing the field himself.

After qualifying the Castrol '56 Customline in seventh postion with a career personal best time of 6.481 seconds at a speed of 218.98 mph, Ben drove the races of his young life to defeat second qualifier Kym Petterwood in the first round, number three qualifier Brett Stevens in the semifinal and number four qualifier Gary Phillips in the final to win the prestigious title at only his second Top Doorslammer event.

The win proved extremely popular with the huge crowd on hand at Willowbank Raceway, who roared their approval when the win light came on in Ben's lane to signal his victory by the barest of margins over the multi national champion in the final.

Ben Bray's victory establishes him as the youngest winner of an Australian National Drag Racing Association Group One (Professional category) event in the history of the sport. Overseas records are being checked to see if he is now in fact the youngest professional category drag racing winner in the world.

Bray won each of his races over faster cars through lightning fast reactions on the starting line, forcing each of the more fancied drivers to unsuccessfully play catchup all the way down the quarter mile drag strip.

"How good was that?" a proud father Victor Bray asked after the final. "Ben kept his cool and did absolutely everything asked of him in the car. His reaction times put so much pressure on the other guys they couldn't catch him. What was looking like the worst weekend ever for us just got a whole lot better."

Accepting the coveted trophy Ben said "I can't believe I've won the Nationals. I've got to thank Mum and Dad for giving me the drive and all my crew guys. They've all worked their butts off this weekend and things just went our way. Thanks to Castrol and all our sponsors we were able to be here and make this happen."

The Bray's Castrol Team now heads for New Zealand where Victor will be contesting a series of four match races against Brett Stevens. The next championship event for the team will be at Perth's Quit Motorplex on March 2nd and 3rd.

Howdy mate: Well, let me start by saying your name has come up at work quite a bit as nobody knew where you were. Work one day... gone the next. Personally, I love it. Everyone is still sticking knives in each other's backs, so nothing has changed. You are a wise man, my friend. I'm not far behind you as far as a departure date goes.

It looks like the only bright one of the bunch is the one enjoying life in Australia. Pedal to the metal and we'll see you when you get back. All the best Bob.

Maximum respect from the UK! I like the site. Visit us some time. See all at www.eurodragster.com

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I have been without web access for two weeks. Maybe you're starting to rub off on me. So by now you are probably off galivanting around Australia, but I hope this message finds you well.

I am in the midst of raising some capital to build another motor. I figured the blower really doesn't like the whole 10:1 deal on gasoline. If you know anyone lookin for some small Chevy parts and/or 1 '64 Chevelle rolling chassis, send them my way.

Hi, Bob. I went to your site and I think that it is great. I am a 12 year old boy amateur racing driver and I do not have a team or sponsors. I read your guide to getting sponsors but I did not quite get it. Could you tell me more? Thanks.

Dear Bob Wilson:

Many thanks for your e-mail reply. I am a christian happily married with a wife and two kids. I did not wake up and this business on my hand coupled with my accurate performances. I have worked in this ministry for twenty years and which is my utmost hope of making this transaction a reality once started. This contract was awarded to a foreign firm to supply electoral equipment for 1999 presidential election, but the actual contract sum has been paid to the original contractor, the fund we want to transfer into your account now is the over-invoiced contract amount which is now floating in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), all we need is to present you as a subsidiary company to the original contractor, change all documents in favour of your company.

And also this deal is between I, and one other colleagues of mine, who are aware of it. We have mapped out the sharing ratio to 60% to us, 30% to you while 10% will go for contigences. Upon full compliance to the terms of this business. It will take us only seven working days to realise this deal to it successful conclusion. You are therefore required to send your bank account details, address, name of the accounts and other banking information necessary.

There is no risk involved on either side. Should we receive your positive confirmation, we will start putting up claims for approval from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF) for their approvals. As soon as the approvals is made, you will be contacted by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), The Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

As soon as the fund gets into your account, I and my colleagues will fly down to your country to take our share of the deal. But all you need to do is to maintain absolute secrecy in this transaction is not something you discuss with every individual, it is something you have to keep to yourself until we receive this fund, you know we are civil servants and we do not want any thing that will bring our name to book.

Please also note that your private telphone and fax line is urgently needed for the confidentiality of this transaction. We look forward to receiving from you, your banking account particulars as to enable us to put claims to the money. Regards.

I have included your website at www.northernthunder.com into our popular 5 Star Shine Auto Link Directory at 5 Star Shine. We are now getting over 1.5 million hits a month in this directory. Your link is now displayed on this page: Drag Racing. Nice site! - Would love to get on your links page.

I'd LOVE to trade links with you so we can BOTH get additional traffic in the future. It's a WIN-WIN for both of us. You'll get much more traffic from my site because your site will be at the very top of your category. Please read the letter I got from Smartyparts.com at the end of this email and you'll see how our directory will get you more traffic for 2002.

Just place a link to 5 Star Shine on your site and I'll move your LINK to the top of the Drag Racing category AND list it again in the general listings. You'll get great placement plus TWO LINKS instead of just one.

Here's all you need to do:
(#1)  Grab one of our banners at http://www.5starshine.com/banners.html, place it on one of your pages, and make sure you link it to our website at http://www.5starshine.com or create a text link if you prefer.

That's it. Once I hear back from you, I'll upgrade your link to "Premium" status and it will be at the very top of your category for maximum traffic. Wishing you great success with your web site during the next year.

PS:  Here's a copy of a letter I just got from a happy link partner

My name is Chris Scott and I own a company called Smarty Parts. I wanted to take a second to thank you for linking to us on your site. I had no idea that we were even linked with you until I got our web report for December. Your site referred 41 visitors to our web page. Our research has shown that between 1 - 5 percent of our site visitors became customers, which means that we may have gotten two sales due to a link we didn't even know we had. I've added a link to your site on our "links" page to reciprocate. Let me know if there is anything that we can do for you.

Have you seen the news here about Prince Harry getting banned from a country pub near Eton College for drinking at 16 and smoking pot on the grounds of Highgrove, where Prince Charles lives!

Sports Stars Take To Strip

Star of the Brisbane Lions premiership season and Brownlow Medalist, Jason Ackermanis will face a new challenge next Saturday night at Willowbank Raceway. Ackermanis and Lions teammate Clark Keating, will slide behind the wheel of a brand new 225 kw SS Holden Utility racing against a number of other sporting personalities in the "Holden Drag Race Challenge" at the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals.

"I love the drags," said Ackermanis. "I watch them on Foxsports all the time. I can't wait to have a go myself." Another eager participant is former test cricket star and now radio Triple M morning show personality, Greg "Fat Cat" Ritchie. Like Ackermanis, Ritchie is also a long time fan of the quarter mile sport and jumped at the opportunity to get into the driver's seat.

"This is going to be great. I've been out to Willowbank a lot. The Top Fuelers are just awesome. I can't wait to see them again. Racing at the same event they're at is fantastic. We had Victor Bray in the studio at Triple M the other day. I guess I should have got some tips from him."

Also racing at the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals will be Ipswich Olympian, Heath Ramsey, who represented Australia in the Butterfly at the Sydney Olympics and is squeezing in a break in training to go racing.

Holden and Ipswich dealer Ross Llewellyn Motors have combined to provide Willowbank Raceway with the specially prepared utes for the Holden Drag Challenge. A test session at the raceway has already shown the 225 kw V8 Chev powered utes are capable of reaching almost 160 kilometers an hour on the standing quarter mile (400 metres) drag strip.

It's the first sime 1991 the Australian Nationals drag racing titles have been held at the Queensland track and the addition of the celebrity race is just one of a number of new features such as a big video screen being incorporated into the event for the fans.

The sports stars will be taking to the track on the Saturday night of the event. On Friday night it's the turn of a number of Willowbank's main supporters. Leading the pack will be Minister for State Development, Tom Barton, who has been a longstanding advocate of the tourism benefits of the raceway for Queensland. The Ipswich City Council will be represented by Denise Hanely, who is Chairperson of the Sports Committee. Event sponsor, Global Info-Links, will see the company name upheld by Chairman of the Board, Brian Ramsey, while Ross Llewellyn Motors fortunes in the series will rest with Wade Llewellyn.

The 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals gets underway this coming Thursday, January 17th and continue through to Saturday. There's racing every day with the main evening program starting from 4:30pm each afternoon.

I'm sending you our track's web address, and asking if we could be included on the Canadian race track links page. Thanks.
www.thundermountainraceway.com

Attention in the pits:
We are having another Allstar driver chat next Tuesday night, at 8 p.m. CST, at InsideFMRacing.com. The last time we had an Allstar chat, there was over 35 people at one time, and it was a blast! Racers like Shelly Howard, Lee Callaway, Marc White, Mark Hentges, David Wells, David Hirata and many more were in attendance. Most of the people there were racers. Well, it's time to have it again. Bench race with the racers you haven't seen since last year!

Please reply if you can make it. See you there!

Hello, Bob. The cam is a Crower (A-2053) with advertised duration of 316/316. At .050" lift it's 282/282. Lift is .670"/.670" with the intake opening at 37 ABDC, closing at 65 ATDC and the exhaust opening at 73 BTDC and closing at 29 ABDC. The lobe sepration is 108 degrees.

The intake valves are 2.20" and exhaust are 1.94". I believe the heads are stock Donovan (not ported). The displacement is 484 cid (4.25 bore and 4.28 stroke).

The compression ratio with our current piston/rod assembly is quite low at 11.0-1. I don't know what kind of horsepower to expect, but let's say 650 - 700. Could that be reasonable?

Buster Couch passes  We are sad to report that legendary NHRA starter Buster Couch has passed away. Our deepest sympathies to all who knew him. Here is more information from Steve Gibbs:

This may not be news to some of you, but I'm sorry to say that we lost Buster Couch this weekend. He died at home, in his easy chair, some time Friday night or Saturday morning. His health had not been good in recent times, but it still comes as a shock.

Buster was one of the most unforgettable characters that ever walked this earth, and while I am saddened his by passing, I can't help but smile at the many good memories of the times we spent together, both on and off the job. He was definitely an American original.

Buster's son Mike would like everyone to be aware of the funeral arrangements:
Services: Wednesday, January 16, at 2:00 pm
Horis - Ward Funeral Home - Rockdale Chapel
1999 Highway 138, Conyers, Georgia

If you would like to send a card:
Mike Couch
671 Providence Club Drive
Monroe, GA 30656

Drag Racing Story of The Day:

January 14
Taking a Walk on the Wild Side: New British Top Fuel Effort for 2002
Jeremy Cookson reports that ace fuel tuner and former "Fire Up" magazine publisher John Wright and Top Methanol rookie Darryl Bradford are going nitro racing this year.

January 13
Berserko Bob - Jet Car Flag Starter
We take great pride in welcoming the inimitable "Berserko Bob" Doerrer to the family of draglist.com contributors. For funny car racers and fans of the 1970s, the name Berserko Bob was synonymous with drag racing FUN on the east coast. Here's a story and Norman Blake photo of Bob flag starting two jet dragsters.

January 12
Will Angelle Race for the Championship in 2002?
Jerry Battle reports the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champ still does not have the funding for the 2002 season, possibly preventing a title defense.

January 11
Pat Foster: What the CHRR Means to Me
The NHRA has just announced that the 11th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion will take place at Bakersfield Raceway on October 4, 5, and 6, 2002. We went back into our files and pulled out this Pat Foster piece written just before the 2001 race in which the veteran driver - builder - tuner describes his feelings about the event.

January 10
Southern Fuel Coupes Looking for New Members
Bob Gettys reports that the unique funny car, pro mod, and altered circuit is looking to increase their ranks and are offering free membership to do it.

January 9
Top Fuel Oil Burners
Gary Peters explains what happens when some Top Fuel racers need a blower unit for a heated garage and there's a used supercharger hanging around...

January 8
1st Annual HangoverFest a Chilling Success
OK, we've seen New Years Day drag races before, but at Cordova? Yep, Tazz reports on drag racing at 15 degrees fahrenheit.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day:

January 14
Frank Jonkman's Nitromare '72 Mustang Fuel Funny Car
Joe Barrett caught Frank's awesome retro fuel flopper on a wild ride.

January 13
Buster Couch in the Winner's Circle
Pete Keller sent in this photo of Buster sharing in the celebration after the Van Iderstine, Young, and Marshall team won Top Fuel at Sanair 1972.

January 12
Original Plans: The Mickey Thompson Revelleader Grand Am
Possibly the rarest thing we've ever shown, Ron Pellegrini honors us with his original drawing for Mickey Thompson's revolutionary funny car. In this version, Ron has submitted the drawing to M/T, who has returned it with comments. For this special drawing, we have posted it both in our standard 468 pixel format and FULL SIZE.

January 11
Bob Gibson's Tom 'n' Jerry Nostalgia Funny Car
Aussie photographer Steve Bibby was on hand at the 2000 NHRA World Finals when Bob Gibson's awesome retro flopper caught his attention.

January 10
Patrick Wikstrom's Blown Pro Mod Camaro at Night
Sharkman caught Patrick's awesome Euro Pro Mod during a burnout at dusk.

January 9
Tribute To The Kings: The Sox & Martin Duster
Ron Dilley shot the restored S&M Pro Stock Duster back in 1995. It shows just how good Pro Stock cars once looked.

January 8
Kathy Floyd's Flathead Powered Nostalgia Dragster
Robert Briggs provides a shot of Kathy's Nostalgia Eliminator III digger at the Goodguys 2001 Nitro Nationals

Drag Racing Movie of The Week:

January 14
Down Under Top Comp: Doorslammer vs. Funny Car
Luke Nieuwhof was on hand December 29 when Robin Judd's Studebaker Top Doorslammer faced John Napier's alcohol funny car.

January 7
The Prospector '57 Chevy Funny Car on the Loose
Cheryl Ognoski grabbed this footage of Jay Mageau getting out of shape in Canada's wildest '57 Chevy, starting in one lane and ending in another.

Updated Drag Racing Lists  We have updated all the drag racing lists. This wraps up all the racers for 2001. Racers, if your best times are not on the lists, please let us know ASAP so we can get you updated for 2001. The next lists we publish will have the first of the 2002 racers on them. Check out the DRL Lists page for all the new stats and rankings.

Updated Match Race Madness Game  When the DRL Lists get updated, the MRM game is not far behind. We did it all on the same day, so retro-gamers, go get it. And remember, we have fixed the bug that plagued us throughout 2001. Once again you can race your "fantasy" car against all the stars. You can download the ORIGINAL two out of three match race computer game HERE.

You write, you shoot, we print: We are always searching for new stories of the day AND movies of the week. If you have a drag racing memory you want to share with your fellow racers or drag fans OR if you have taken a good video clip, send it to bilden@draglist.com. Don't worry too much about spelling, grammar, and that stuff. All stories and photos will be credited to you and we can add a link to your site or email address. Let's make the Drag Racing List YOUR site -- send us a story.

DRL Links Fully Migrated to LinksManager  Farewell to our old friend LinkBank, who served us loyally for many years and allowed us to become the internet's biggest drag racing links site at over 10,000 entries. Unfortunately, LinkBank's parent company is ceasing operations this month. I reviewed several replacement options and decided on the LinksManager service. Under the leadership of LinksManager president Joel Lesser, the LinksManager team worked all weekend writing custom scripts to import my 10,000 links and 50 categories into their system.

The rush was on because I did not know when the LinkBank servers would be turned off. Thanks to Joel and his dedicated team, the DRL Links now are fully integrated into the LinksManager system with no loss of functionality. In fact, LinksManager offers a better search capability and many other neat features. I'll be talking about these more in the near future. For now, check out the NEW DRL Links at DRL Links.

For the past two winters the weather has been weird all around. I was looking at the national weather forecast and we are in some kind of arctic blast that has hit the central states and believe it or not: last week the farther south you went, the colder it was!

My brother lives about 135 miles south of us and he got snow and was about 15 (F) degrees colder than us. Yesterday it warmed up to 62 (F) and the day before that it made it up to only 38. This morning it was 28 on the front porch. So much for that old saying that you go south for the winter! I think next year I will go as far up in Northern Canada as I can get.

Please add our link to your website. It's Aero Drag Racing. Thanks.

Bob: the next time you post temperatures like that I'll fly down and get you and bring you back to Arkansas so that you can see what these 8 (F) mornings and 34 (F) afternoons feel like! Also, we have had no lower than 50% humidity to go with it. I feel so sorry for you having to put up with those temps.

Bob, here's the latest weather report. Today it was 42 (C) in the shade in the workshop with a breeze at the work shop (that's 107.6 F) and tomorrow it is supposed to go to 44 (C) (112 F). The breeze felt like a blast furnace.

Yes it is HOT, hot as the hinges of hell here. We knocked off work this afternoon when the bulb got to 40 and sat in the pool. Tomorrow I'm starting to load the trailer at 4:30 am when the temp will have dropped to a "cool" 36 (C) (98.6 F) in the middle of the night. I plan to knock off by 11 o'clock or so and go back in the pool.

It's supposed to cool off to "only" 36 - 38 (C) on Monday through Wednesday, then heat up again just for next weekend. Great; I pity the poor fools with no awning at the race track. I had about 250 tree seedlings growing well and forgot to water them for only two days -- they're all dead now.

In Queensland you need a roof for when it rains... and when it doesn't. Bring swim trunks! You won't need much else in the way of clothes here next week.

Thanks, Bob. Have a great time downunder and please DO give my regards to Victor (Bray), Lex Swayn, Stomper (John Winterburn), Dennis Syrmis, David Cook, and all the other racers. I met probably 50% of Australia's pro and semipro racers when I was there (in 1999).

I know that Bill Kuhlmann and the rest of the fast doorslammer contingent will be watching next weekend's events VERY closely after Kapiris went 6.07 at Perth last month. We would like to have the first doorslammer in the fives up here, but the Aussies just may do it one day soon...

Cheers!

I normally don't pass this stuff along, but when I read it I was in tears by the time I finished. I wanted to share it with you just to brighten your day. Enjoy.

INEXPERIENCED CURRY TASTER

Notes from an inexperienced curry taster named Frank who was visiting Durban.

"Recently I was honoured to be selected as a judge at a curry cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking directions to the beer wagon when the call came. I was assured by the other two judges (couple of local Indians) that the curry wouldn't be all that spicy, and besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting, so I accepted.

Here are the scorecards from the event:

CURRY 1:  Manoj's Maniac Mobster Monster Curry

Judge 1:  A little too heavy on tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge 2:  Nice, smooth tomato flavour. Very mild.
Frank:     Holy #### what the heck is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway with it. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that's the worst one. These people are crazy.

CURRY 2:  Applesamy's Afterburner Curry

Judge 1:  Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge 2:  Exciting barbecue flavour; needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Frank:     Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich manoeuvre. They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.

CURRY 3:  Farouk's Famous Burn Down The Barn Curry

Judge 1:  Excellent firehouse curry! Great kick. Needs more beans.
Judge 2:  A beanless curry; a bit salty, good use of red peppers.
Frank:     Call Colesburg, I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I've been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now, get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back; now my backbone is in the front of my chest. I'm getting ###@faced from all the beer.

CURRY 4:  Babu's Black Magic

Judge 1:  Black bean curry with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge 2:  Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods; not much of a curry.
Frank:     I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds? Savathree, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills; that 300 lb. broad is starting to look HOT, just like the nuclear waste I'm eating. Is curry an aphrodisiac?

CURRY 5:  Laveshnee's Legal Lip Remover

Judge 1:  Meaty, strong curry, cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerably to the kick. Very impressive.
Judge 2:  Curry using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers made a strong statement.
Frank:     My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I passed gas and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her curry had given me brain damage. Savathree saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from a pitcher. I wonder if I'm burning my lips off? It really bothers me that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. To heck with the lot of them.

CURRY 6:  Vera's Very Vegetarian Variety

Judge 1:  Thin yet bold vegetarian curry. Good balance of spice and peppers.
Judge 2:  The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onion and garlic.
Frank:     My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulphurous flames. I defecated myself when I passed gas and I'm worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me, except Savathree. She must be kinkier than I thought. Can't feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my butt with a snow cone!

CURRY 7:  Sugash's Screaming Sensation Curry

Judge 1:  A mediocre curry with too much reliance on canned peppers.
Judge 2:  Ho hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of curry peppers at the last moment. I should note that I'm worried about Judge #3 (Frank) as he appears to be in a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably.
Frank:     You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn't feel a darn thing. I've lost the sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with curry which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava-like #### to match my darn shirt. At least during the autopsy they'll know what killed me. I've decided to stop breathing, it's too painful. Screw it, I'm not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I'll just suck it in through the four-inch hole in my stomach.

CURRY 8:  Hansraj's Mount Saint Curry

Judge 1:  A perfect blending, this is a nice blend curry; safe for all, not too bold but spicy enough to declare it's existence.
Judge 2:  This final entry is a good, balanced curry neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge #3 passed out, fell over and pulled the curry down on top of himself. Not sure if he's going to make it. Poor Yank; wonder how he'd have reacted to a really hot curry.
Frank:     (editor's note: Judge #3 was unable to report).

NOTE:  This message came entirely in CAPITAL letters, but I've shifted it to lowercase to make it more readable. I haven't corrected the bad grammar or spelling mistakes though.

ATTN: President (CEO)

Dear Sir,

I guess this letter may come to you as a surprise since I had no previous correspondence with you.

I am the chairman tender board of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) I got your contact on the course of my search for a reliable person with whom to handle such a confidential transaction involving the transfer of money valued at thirty million two hundred thousand United States dollars (US$30.2) to a safe foreign account.

The above fund in question is not connected with arms, drugs or money laundering it is the product of an over invoice on contract award in 1999 by INEC to a foreign company for the supply of electoral materials that was used for conducting 1999 election.

The contract has long been executed and payment of the actual contract amount made to the foreign contractor leaving the balance of US$30.2 in a dormant account, which my colleagues and I now want to tranfer out of Nigeria into a reliable foreign account for our personal use.

As civil servants we do not have the necessary foreign account machinery to successfully handle this transfer therefore it becomes necessary to source for a foreign company or an individual with the capability to act as the original beneficiary or the contractor.

My dear, it is a good thing the president has endorsed the resolution passed by the senate that all foreign contractors owned by the government of Nigeria should be paid. We will seize this good opportunity to purport you as one of the beneficiaries to be paid.

If you are interested in this proposal kindly get back to me by sending me your letter of acceptance along with your direct telephone and fax numbers, but if you can not for any reason handle this transaction, I should be grateful, if you can introduce it to a reliable and trust worthy person in which in any case your interest will be properly taken care of.

Meanwhile, my colleagues and I have decided to share the money in the following ratio 70% for my colleagues and I, 20% for you the account owner and 10% for all the local and international expenses that may arise in the course of this transaction.

Further details about this transaction will be discussed in the subsequent correspondence.

This transaction is strictly confidential but 100% risk free. Note also that the particular nature of your business is irrelevant to this transaction and this transaction is expected to be concluded within 14 working days since all local contacts and arrangements have been properly perfected for a smooth and successful conclusion to this transaction.

Yours faithfully,
Dr Jide Martins.

Bob, give me a call. Long time no hear!

World Doorslammer Record May Fall

Many international eyes will be on Willowbank Raceway during the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals to see if the five second barrier for drag racing's sedans can be broken for the first time in the world at the event. A number of commentators are already tipping that it will be an Australian that makes the breakthrough.

Currently the world's quickest elapsed time for the standing quarter mile recorded by a sedan vehicle is 6.007 seconds, set by American racer Bill Kuhlmann in 2000. At the time Kuhlmann was using nitro-methane fuel which is not permitted under Australian rules, but despite being tantalizingly close to the elusive five-second mark, he was unable to crack it when he suffered a major engine explosion and life threatening fire on a subsequent attempt.

The fastest speed recorded by a drag racing sedan in the world is 237.40 mph or 381.98 kph set by six times Australian champion Victor Bray. The popular Queenslander has become a cult figure with his legendary Castrol '57 Chevy and has clearly demonstrated he can produce the horsepower to run quicker than six seconds. The secret though is getting that power to the ground.

After a series of events where he was plagued with problems harnessing the massive power he has on tap, in the latter part of the 2001 season Bray enjoyed a period where he was virtually unstoppable, winning three out of four events in a row, resetting the national elapsed time record twice and wrapping up another Australian Championship in the process. His combination was becoming quicker at every event and with a new car on order to replace his trusty seven year old chassis, most saw Bray as the man most likely to be the first in the fives.

He still may well be, but the fiercely competitive sport of Top Doorslammer racing has also now thrown up a number of other Australian challengers for the honour. As far back as the 2000 Konica Winternationals, Perth's Robin Judd demonstrated his aspirations with a then quickest in the country, 6.17 second elapsed time. Despite an up and down 2001 season which included victory at the Adelaide round of the series, but also a spectacular fire at the last event of the year, Judd is confident that given the conditions his Studebaker has got what it takes to go even quicker.

Having fully rebuilt every piece of the car since the fire, the team had high hopes at the season opening event last month at their home track in Perth, but a minor fuel delivery problem held them back. "We've sorted the problem out now, though, and fully intend to contend for the championship the rest of the way. My crew and sponsors have all worked extremely hard to get us to this point after the fire, and they deserve to be on top," said Judd.

The real eye-opener at the Perth event was the performance of Victorian fruiterer, Peter Kapiris. Also at the wheel of a Studebaker, Kapiris sent shockwaves around the world when he absolutely dominated proceedings with a series of record setting runs before running the quickest time in history by a non-nitro methane fuelled sedan at 6.07 seconds to defeat Victory Bray in the semi-final. This time was a full two tenths of a second quicker than his previous best.

In the final the Kapiris camp threw caution to the wind and went all-out for a five-second pass. With new developments in the fuel system helping to generate copious amounts of horsepower, and track and air conditions nearly perfect, it was an ideal opportunity. Unfortunately, it was probably too ideal. The combination of great track conditions and huge horsepower saw the car record the quickest half track time ever before climbing into a spectacular power wheelstand at well over 300 kilometres an hour, which forced Kapiris to lift off the throttle to get the front wheels back on the ground and hand the win to Brett Stevens.

"Our car was absolutely sensational," Peter elaborated in a post-race interview. "It was quick from the word go and just kept getting quicker. Bagging a world-best is mind blowing. It's thanks to the amazing engineering and design skills of my engine builder and Crew Chief Ian Cleland. Ian has developed a new concept in fuel delivery valving, which is sheer magic and makes unbelievable power. From the driver's seat I knew the passes were getting quicker.

"On the record-breaking run I lined up against Victory Bray who is always a tough competitor, and former world record holder. I got out of the hole okay and as I pulled away from Victor I knew the pass was going to be something special. It was smooth and straight and the car never laboured at all. At the end of the run when the boys told me the time, I was totally overwhelmed; I had to go and sit on the grass!

"As we moved into the final round against Brett Stevens we decided to go all out and nail a 5.9 second pass, so I asked the crew to hot 'er up. The car launched okay, but had too much power and the front started to lift about 3/4-track distance. I got off the throttle and the car slammed back on the track, I gave it another blast, but it wheel-stood again. At this stage I knew the pass was over and Brett took the win for the round."

Peter believes that there is still plenty of potential left in the combination his team lead by crew chief Ian Cleland has developed and is confident that despite the warm summer conditions a five-second pass is not out of the question at the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals. Someone that agrees with him is Victor Bray.

He commented "We've had our eye on being the first into the fives for a few years now and what Peter and his boys have done has spurred us on like you wouldn't believe. And it's not only Peter. Robin Judd, Brett Stevens, Andrew Searle, Gary Phillips or even Kym Petterwood in his new Corvette could easily pull the rug out from under us. Our car and all these guy's cars have more than enough power to run a five if everything goes right on the pass.

"It's all a matter of getting the combination perfect. Sounds simple but it's far from it. We've been working our backsides off on our car since the last event and there's going to be no holding back. We've got my son Ben's car at the event too so we can try things out on it as well. We'll both be running in the test sessions the night before the race meeting and will be looking at every little piece of the puzzle on every pass over the whole three or four days. I certainly wouldn't bet against someone getting the record next weekend."

Twelve drivers have nominated for the Hog's Breath Cafe Top Doorslammer category, and will have three qualifying opportunities through Thursday and Friday nights to secure a spot in the top eight who will contest the final elimination racing on Saturday night.

Big push here: It is hell being a racer and working in the race industry as you try to get your stuff ready for a race everyone else is wanting stuff for, and all done at the last minute. Worked our butts off today getting orders out the door and on customer's cars.

Tonight I have to drive to Walloon (don't bother looking, it's not even on the map) to tech a Top Fuel car (Duane Riley's car with the Bailey Brothers engine). It's 7:00 pm now; by the time I have a shower and leave it will be 8:30 before I get there and then 10:00 pm before I get back -- when do I work on my stuff?

Tomorrow I have a fuel system customer picking up their stuff and visitors all dropping by. Cloudy and overcast the last two days. Thank god it cooled off some, but it's still very muggy.

Bags packed yet?

Hi, Bob. I've just finished a new website for Gary Wall. The url is www.garywall.cjb.net. If you could put a link to it from your website it would be most appreciated. By the way, I've already put a link to Northern Thunder from his site.

The Team Mission newsletter has been updated as of today.

Off Track Entertainment a Highlight at GIL Nationals

While the main attention will certainly be on the battles for the championship in all the various categories there's going to be a lot more to see than just drag racing at the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals. Also planned for finals day on Saturday is a comprehensive program of off track entertainment.

The range of activities is designed to cater for all ages with much of it happening on a new center stage area in the concourse behind the main grandstand. While early racing starts at 9:00 am, the entertainment program gets underway at 11:00 am with the first of two spectacular, Morgan & Wacker Harley Davidson Fashion Parades.

Rock 'n' Roll follows on center stage as the "Just Rock" Dance Troop strut their stuff surrounded by a display of their classic cars. The kids can enjoy free face painting by Pip Squeaks at the Willowbank Raceway information booth and a special center stage performance of the "Bubbles the Baby Elephant" Show. The roving minstrels "Fiesta Tropicale" will be right into the summer spirit entertaining spectators while a number of other street entertainers will also keep fans amused around the complex. Every available trade display site has also been booked at the event with a huge range of products and services on show.

All attention switches trackside later in the afternoon in the build up to the start of the main racing program. Leading off the action will be a Morgan & Wacker Harley Davidson Stunt Bike Show. Also on the agenda are skydivers from the Brisbane Skydiving Centre and a grand parade of the defending Australian Nationals Champions in each of the categories of racing. Official ceremonies and National Anthem will occur immediately prior to the first race of the Lifestyle Australia Top Fuel category at 4:30 pm. At the end of the night's action the skies above Willowbank Raceway will once again light up with a spectacular fireworks display.

Hello, Bob, thanks for your reply. Here's a few answers to the questions you had: The cylinder heads are Donovan aluminum and the block is a Donovan wet-sleeve aluminum. I'll get back to you regarding the cam (cam card in the garage). We'll C-C the heads in a few days and let you know the compression ratio and valve sizes.

Another Australian answered our mail; Kim Cooney, do you know him? He suggested that we should run static water in the engine, with no pump, no cooler. What do you think. I believe they do something like that in nostalgia fuel.

Best wishes and all that for the New Year. I was wondering if you were running at the Nationals... and looking at the entries and from your site it was obvious you weren't going to be able to.

The New South Wales bushfires were close, but not too close; just smokey, not like 1994 when they came really, really close.

Unfortunately I will not make it (to the Nationals) this year; more a money issue than anything else. Plus, Western Sydney International Dragway will be online soon. Some good news about all the new tracks is in the latest issue of Dragster Australia and sort of confirms what I have been hearing. That is, that WSID now has full government funding and will be ready by October. True or not, the digging will start real soon (according to DA).

Adrenalin (Motorsports Complex in Melbourne) has started construction already, with pics in DA. And Canberra is looking real good as well. Looks like things are starting to move forward (finally!) for downunder drag racing.

Whether I go to the Winternationals or not will probably depend if I am on holidays or not. My annual skiing trip may coincide with it or not and then there's the money issue again, so we will see. Anyhow, hope you get over here for the Winters and maybe WSID by the end of the year. Regards.

GIL Australian Nationals Attracts Country's Best To Willowbank

Australian drag racing's National Championships has returned to Willowbank Raceway for the first time in 11 years. The Global Info-Links 2002 Australian Nationals on January 17, 18 and 19 features all of drag racing's eliminators, including the kings of the sport, Top Fuel, and the ever-popular Top Doorslammers. Nine racers who won their eliminators at the 2001 Nationals are returning to defend their titles and all Professional eliminators have at least full eight-vehicle fields except Top Fuel, which has five entries.

In Lifestyle Australia Top Fuel, Queensland-based Steve Read will have namesake Jim Read breathing down his neck for honours at Willowbank. Steve Read won the 2001 Nationals and last season's Australian Championship, both at the expense of Jim Read. Sydney's Jim Read, an 11-time winner at the Nationals, was certainly the hero of Willowbank's Summer Championships a year ago when he became the first driver outside North America to exceed 300 mph over the quarter mile. He has since retired the car which ran 300 at Willowbank, and his team is confident of producing even better times and speeds with a new vehicle purchased in the United States.

Hogs Breath Cafe Top Doorslammer Nationals winner and Australian Champion Victor Bray, of Kallangur, also has a big challenge on his hands with Victorian Peter Kapiris producing the world's quickest time for a methanol-powered sedan at the first round of the Top Doorslammer Championships in Western Australia last month. Kapiris, who was runner-up at the Perth event, clocked 6.07 seconds in his 1953 Studebaker, defeating Bray's '57 Chevy in the semifinals. The Top Doorslammer field could set a new record as nine of the 12 entries are the quickest Top Doorslammers in Australia.

In Travelaire Tours Pro Stock, the racers will break new ground in the eliminator with the introduction of 400 cubic inch engines. The Pro Stockers will be a lot quicker than when previously limited to engines of around 350 cubic inches. Nationals winner and Australian Champion Peter Ridgeway is expected to continue his domination of the eliminator.

Six-times Top Alcohol Nationals champion and seven-times Australian champion Gary Phillips, of Queensland, has a strong field to contend with. Opponents in the Tasman Aviation Enterprises backed category include Paul Shackleton, of Mackay, Steve and Debbie Reed, of Brisbane and the Sydney dragsters of Wayne Newby and Dean Oakey. All except the Reeds and Oakey have recorded times in the 5.7 second zone.

Nationals winner and Australian Champion Sam Scerri, of Adelaide, is favoured in Dragster Australia Magazine Pro Stock Motorcycle despite the largest field in some time lining up against him, while Australian Champion Ian Ashelford, of Perth, will endeavour to reverse the 2001 Nationals Morgan & Wacker Top Bike result in which he was defeated by Sydney's Craig Bonwick. Another Western Australian to watch will be Jay Upton with his revolutionary Triumph, while Queensland stars Brett Stevens, Jeff Smith, Dave Boreham and Craig McPhee certainly can't be discounted.

The guy that did the rendering for Nathan's dragster probably doesn't know much about the different classes, and I didn't see it until it was done. The paint is progressing though, and will be very nice. I'll send you photos of the actual car when it's done.

You asked about our current Top Alcohol car, so here's the news. Serge (Dion) finished buying the car from me last season, and while we will be pitting together and helping each other, the two teams will have separate crews. I have atached an article I wrote a few days ago for our local newsletter; maybe that will explain things better. The first priority for the new car is to get Nathan licensed, but this could take most of the season, so I'll try to re-coup some of our investment by match racing Serge, and we may even have some fun at the AHRA race in Spokane.

I'm surprised you didn't hear about the IHRA coming to Edmonton. (Actually I did... I just wasn't listening...) Track owner Rob Reeves has been working on this for at least a year and he believes it will stimulate racing in Edmonton again. Supposedly IHRA will help with some of the track improvements, and is even contemplating a National event for 2003. Rob has already extended the shutdown area by 700 feet, which will be welcome news to most blown alcohol teams.

There will be negatives, of course, as there is no equivalent to the Top Alcohol Dragster class (we'll run in Top Dragster if they have a points meet or National event), but Rob is still planning to book us for the feature shows. Also, IHRA doesn't allow the alky funny cars to run the screw blowers; it's still up in the air as to whether the "Red Wolf" or other local funny cars will be able to run here "as is" or if they have to put together an entire second combination.

In other Sitko news, my brother Steve ("Sorcerer Racing" T/AD) has sold most of his motor components (I bought the BAE-4 heads), so he is at least temporarily retired from driving. I'm not sure what car owner Martin Sjogren's plans are for the car, as he does not have a motor.

I just read through your site.... hey, congrats on running strong downunder there!

I found your site recently and would like to exchange links. My site has an average of 50,000 hits a week and I want to share my traffic with your site. I look forward to linking our sites and helping promote racing with your site. Thanks. Contact me personally by email to confirm link exchange.

Hello, my name is Jan Lundholm. I live in Skelleftea in the north of Sweden. Me and my brother recently bought a Donovan 417 from Denmark. Last summer we ran a 440 cubic inch wedge in Super Gas and our plan is to run the Donovan engine with dual carbs in Super Comp.

Our problem is that there aren't very many guys who have raced Donovans here in Sweden. And the few who have, haven't run on gasoline with a tunnelram intake and double dominators.

How should we circulate the cooling water through the engine? (In the head or the block? Or?) Are there any gaskets like Fel-Pro we can use or would solid copper do the trick? We are a little afraid that water leakage will be a problem.

How do the big port heads function in a non-blown application? Will low airspeed be a problem at low rpm? The engine is a 507 cu.in. (4.28 bore, 4.40 stroke). We are going to be running a powerglide transmission with a transbrake. The car is a Volvo Pv-62 with a tube chassis. Maybe we will add some nitrous if we have to. The car weight with driver is now 2350 lbs., but with the pg and hemi will be approximately 150 lbs. less.

I would like to get in contact with someone who has run or is running this type of setup. I hope you can help me.

The reservation number for your Hertz car is B6970532AXXX and the total estimated cost will be $272 (AUD). Quote the reservation number to collect your car when you arrive in Brisbane and pay all charges direct to Hertz. See you at the track.

Hi, my name is William. I am looking for a school to go to so I can be a mechanic on drag cars. Any information you can give will help. I look forward to your reply.

Tasman Aviation Top Alcohol Attracts Classy Field

The Tasman Aviation Enterprises supported Top Alcohol Eliminator category has attracted an extremely strong field of racers to the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals to be held at Willowbank Raceway on January 17th to 19th. The class is contested by a mix of the traditional dragsters and the popular "Funny Cars" which feature carbon fibre, sedan replica bodies draped over lightweight chassis. Both are powered by huge, supercharged V8 engines producing over 2500 horsepower running on methyl alcohol fuel.

Defending champion Gary Phillips in his Lucas Oils dragster once again looks to be the man to beat. Phillips has won an unprecedented seven consecutive Australian Championships in the class and is determined to extend his winning streak. Amongst the strongest challengers will be Mackay's Paul Shackleton, also in a dragster, who will be attempting to repeat his victory at last year's Konica Winternationals. Other dragster drivers sure to be in the thick of the action include the Sydney duo of Dean Oakey and Wayne Newby. Both showed very strong form towards the end of last season and are easily capable of causing problems for the front runners.

After a number of years where the class was totally dominated by the dragsters, next week the Funny Cars will be making up a sizeable portion of the field. Australia's most experienced Top Alcohol Funny Car driver, Brisbane's Steven Reed sees it as a real positive for the sport. "For event after event it seemed like ours was the only Funny Car left in the country," he said. "With guys like Robert Ambruosi from Melbourne coming to the event and Dean McClennan stepping his car up from the Supercharged Outlaws class I hope we can make a bit of an impression on the dragsters. We know the fans love to see our short wheelbase cars mixing it up in the category. The Global Info-Links Australian Nationals and the Konica Winternationals are the two most important events in Australia and with both now being held at our home track at Willowbank we're more determined than ever to throw everything at it."

Steven's wife Debbie is the only woman contesting Tasman Aviation Top Alcohol and is as committed to the dragster style of vehicle as Steven is to the Funny Cars. Her Chevy powered car features the smallest engine in the field but is also the lightest by far which gives her a marked advantage off the starting line. Her car's nimble performance in the first half of the race track has quite often provided plenty of anxious moments for some of the more fancied runners who have often needed every bit of their sixty kilometer an hour speed advantage to catch her before the finish line.

Qualifying for Tasman Aviation Top Alcohol gets underway with one session on the Thursday night at the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals with a further two sessions scheduled as part of the Queensland Events Corporation Night of Thunder on Friday evening. Finals eliminations racing takes place on the Saturday night.

I am using IE6 and it is working great! Good to see that you are still alive!

Hi Guy! Could you please change the URL on my link from nitroparts.com to wediditforlove.com? Thanks.

Hi everyone. This is to everyone, but especially to those of you who have websites that link to our Links page at draglist.com. We have changed our links manager service to LinksManager, active today. This means we have a new URL for our links page.

Farewell to our old friend LinkBank, who served us loyally for many years and allowed us to become the internet's biggest drag racing links site at over 10,000 entries. Unfortunately, LinkBank's parent company is ceasing operations this month.

I reviewed several replacement options and decided on the LinksManager service. Under the leadership of LinksManager president Joel Lesser, the LinksManager team worked ALL WEEKEND writing custom scripts to import my 10,000 links and 50 categories into their system. The rush was on because I did not know how soon the LinkBank servers would be turned off. (We now know it will happen in 5 - 10 days).

Thanks to Joel and his dedicated team, the DRL Links now are fully integrated into the LinksManager system with no loss of functionality. In fact, LinksManager offers a better search capability and many other neat features. I'll be talking more about these in the near future.

The NEW Draglist Links can be found at the following URL: www.linksmanager.com/draglist. If you have a link on your website to our links page, please change it ASAP. The LinkBank servers will be turned off within ten days. Thanks.

It's about time.....

I got a lot of e-mails wanting to see the rest of the report Fear & Loathing. Any chance of getting it posted?

Plus, where is my stinkin' t-shirt? (ya got that right - it's still at the bottom of the laundry barrel) The one that Ken Lowe left at your house. You promised.....

Your friend, Phil. Are you by chance going to Pomona in February?

Happy New Year from draglist.com! Hope you all had a great holiday season. We've been busy here ever since. My last day at work was Friday, December 28th. I'm an IT consultant in the Washington, DC area, so the next job isn't too far away. While the resumes circulate, I'm taking this short break to try to catch up on things long neglected in my home office.

I'm busy updating the Drag Racing List for 2002. You may already have noticed some minor cosmetic changes. The thing is, MINOR cosmetic changes to the DRL involve changing about 1800 web pages! I also just found out that my LinkBank service provider, which allows me to maintain 10,000 drag and auto links at the DRL, is about to go belly up. I'm desperately copying all that work from their servers and working with a new service provider to upload them before the current servers go cold. I also updated edrags.com to make it easier to use and easier to see. There are a lot more sites there now, including several photo sites. Check it out at www.edrags.com.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, Danny White just sent me about a thousand new updates for the draglists, so let me get busy on them. By the way, Danny just got engaged, folks. He's too shy to mention it, so I will. Congrats, pal! Luckily, he's turned her on to drag racing (she even races now and then), so it looks like I'm safe for DRL reasearch for the immediate future, at least.

Anyway, that's what we're doing. What are YOU all doing for 2002? Drop us a line with your plans. We will do our best to pull together some stories of the day based on our readers racing plans for this year. Keep in touch.

You write, you shoot, we print. We are always searching for new stories of the day and movies of the week. If you have a good drag racing memory you want to share with your fellow racers or drag fans or if you have taken a good video clip, send it to bilden@draglist.com. Don't worry too much about spelling, grammar, and that stuff. All stories and hotos will be credited to you and we can add a link to your site or email address. Let's make The Drag Racing List your site -- send us a story.

Drag Racing Story of The Day:

January 7
Injected Nitro Front Motor Diggers in NHRA Comp: Low Buck?
As a counterpoint to Stu Sandhaus's call for Injected Nitro Cars in NHRA Comp, current Junior Fuel dragster racer Ron Johnson wonders how affordable they could be, based on his current expenses with an alcohol car.

January 6
Atlantic Seaboard Rat -- The McClains Have Nitro and WILL Travel
Stephen McClain and the Tri-State Racing Team have a Chevy AA/Fuel Dragster and they want to run at YOUR track this year.

January 5
Pat Foster: The Driver and Builder as Tuner
Pat Foster was one of the greatest drivers and chassis builders in drag racing history, but he also did a lot of tuning. Pat fills us in on this little-known portion of his career.

January 4
Thursday Nights at The Nitro Garage
Gary Peters tells how all the neighborhood folks would meet down at the garage for the weekly test firing of the Hemi Hunter fuel dragster.

January 3
AHRA World Champs and Circuit Funny Cars: The Battle for Legitimacy
Does winning Spokane mean that much? And what's the deal with these 7.50 funny cars? Here's my take....

January 2
Photo Review: 2001 AHRA World Finals at Spokane
David Hapgood sent along these photos that accompany his great story on the world's wildest national event. This is the only place you will see these photos.

January 1
Show Me The Money 2001 -- What Did The Pros Earn?
Steve Klemetti shows which NHRA pro and semipro drivers made the most prize money in 2001. Includes stats on Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike, Pro Stock Truck, Top Alcohol Dragster, and Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day:

January 7
John Force vs. Tom McEwen at Sanair 1986
Rob Potter took this shot of John's Jolly Rancher Cavalier lining up to face Tom's Coors Corvette.

January 6
Del and Frank Do Doughnuts -- The CSK Mini Funny Cars
Rick Menges offers up another entertaining drag racing cartoon.

January 5
John Denski's Dodge Challenger Nostalgia Funny Car
John Denski is putting back together the former Williams and Bohl alky machine from the Midwest. Can anyone put him in touch with Williams and Bohl or provide any info on the car?

January 4
Jim Nicoll's Fuel Dragster at Indy 1970
Ken Andrus caught Jim in the pits just before the dramatic final round race against Don Prudhomme.

January 3
Rug Doctor in the House -- Jim Epler's Funny Car
Ralph Reiter caught this cool nighttime top end shot of "Mr. 300" at NHRA Seattle in 1995.

January 2
The Dawn Patrol -- Fuel Altered Fiat
Ralph "Gonzo" Crosby proves that there's nothing like a blown fuel Fiat, whether real or imagined....

January 1
Five Scale Fuelers for the New Year
Roger "Riceman" Lee sent along this photo of five of his latest scale model masterpieces to wish everyone a happy new year.

Drag Racing Movie of The Week:

January 7
The Prospector '57 Chevy Funny Car on the Loose!
Jay Mageau gets out of shape in Canada's wildest '57 Chevy, starting in one lane and ending in another.

January 6
The Greene Machine Fuel Funny Car Blows a Slick at 275!
Luke Nieuwhof sent this awesome video footage that captures the Greene Machine funny car as Alan Dobson blows a slick, but saves it.

Happy Holidays from Draglist.com! Our sincere best wishes to you and yours for a happy and restuful holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year. We have had a wonderful year at draglist.com with readership absolutely skyrocketing in the past few months. We will have shared our vision of "drag racing coverage from the hardcore fan's point of view" with visitors hitting over 1.5 million page views in 2001. We are on track for over 3.5 million page views in 2002.

Thanks so much for making us part of your daily web surfing. We do it for the love of the sport and it is really gratifying that you choose to spend time with us. We hope to put in some big site upgrades soon. For now, we'll just say Season's Greetings!

Happy New Year Bob!

I love the new Northern Thunder t-shirt but make sure you put the big image on the back and a groovy smaller version on the left front. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT put it big on the front, and of course, use the 100% cotton beefy-t. THIS WILL ASSURE YOU OF MEGA SALES. Any other combo will be used for polishing.

Your web page now takes 47 lightyears to load and I'm on ADSL. What gives? IGOR is on the dyno as I send this email to you. It looks like we're going to have some fun this year. The new fuel and ignition (censored, classified, deleted, etc, etc, etc,)................................ how good a job it just did after the dyno pull. TOO MUCH....

So it says update yesterday.... where?

Hi Bob, Happy New Year! Nice to see you back at it, with your website. Just a note about your latest update... Your front page says Saturday, January 6, 2001? I think that should say January 5th, 2002, or Sunday, January 6, 2002.

I have a knack for correcting people on their small mistakes, and I hope people would do the same for me too... LOL. Here's looking forward to your new updates, and yes, we miss your updates on the Backfire! page. Take care.

Bob: Just finished up with your site. Gad.... help us old guys will you? The first thing I noticed was the last entry was January 6th. Great, but where? I went to What's New and got a December entry. Please make things simple for us simple people. Ya know, everything in order. Sorry for being old, but am I the only one not figuring it out?

Anyways, I'm writing this at this ungodly hour (way past dark...) as I have to head to Vancouver for court. They never forget. I've been told to get used to this, as it will be probably three or four years before I won't be summonsed to attend. Some retirement. At least they have me staying at the Pan Pacific... on the house.

See ya at the digs.

Did you ever hear of the Coates spherical rotary valve engine? You can check out their website at www.coatesengine.com. By the way, are you still working on your rotary valve engine?

TOP EIGHT MORONS

1.  Will The Real Dummy Please Stand Up?
AT&T fired President John Walter after nine months, saying he lacked intellectual leadership. He received a $26 million severance package. Perhaps it's not Walter who's lacking intelligence.

2.  With A Little Help From Our Friends
Police in Oakland, California spent two hours attempting to subdue a gunman who had barricaded himself inside his home. After firing tear gas cannisters, officers discovered that the man was standing beside them in the police line, shouting "Please come out and give yourself up."

3.  What Was Plan B?
An Illinois man, pretending to have a gun, kidnapped a motorist and forced him to drive to two different automated teller machines, wherein the kidnapper proceeded to withdraw money from his own bank accounts.

4.  The Getaway!
A man walked into a Topeka, Kansas Kwik-Stop, and asked for all the money in the cash drawer. Apparently, the take was too small, so he tied up the store clerk and worked the counter himself for three hours until police showed up and grabbed him.

5.  Did I Say That?
Police in Los Angeles had good luck with a robbery suspect who just couldn't control himself during a lineup. When detectives asked each man in the lineup to repeat the words, "Give me all your money or I'll shoot", the man shouted, "That's not what I said!"

6.  Are We Communicating?
A man spoke frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" "Is this her first child?" the doctor asked. "No!", the man shouted, "This is her husband!"

7.  Not The Sharpest Tool In The Shed!!
In Modesto, California, Steven Richard King was arrested for trying to holdup a Bank of America branch without a weapon. King used his thumb and a finger to simulate a gun, but unfortunately, he failed to keep his hand in his pocket. (hellllloooooo!)

8.  The Grand Finale
Last summer, down on Lake Isabella, located in the high desert, an hour east of Bakersfield, California, some folks, new to boating, were having a problem. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get their brand new 22 foot boat going. It was very sluggish in almost every maneuver, no matter how much power was applied. After about an hour of trying to make it go, they putted to a nearby marina, thinking someone there could tell them what was wrong. A thorough topside check revealed everything in perfect working condition. The engine ran fine, the outdrive went up and down, the prop was the correct size and pitch. So, one of the marina guys jumped in the water to check underneath. He came up choking on water, he was laughing so hard.

Now remember, THIS IS TRUE....
Underneath the boat, still strapped securely in place, was the trailer.

Hey Bob: Still no word from you on what's going on. Could you let me know what is up on the t-shirt deal? It's a new year and I would like to get this cleaned up. Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.... soon.

This (see below) is the first look at the dragster Nathan Sitko will be driving in 2002. It is planned that he will compete in the Top Comp (NHRA) and Top Dragster (IHRA) categories, but it will also be a legal Top Alcohol Dragster and should be competitive with Serge Dion's car.

Nathan will start licensing in May and it is hoped that Ken Sitko will wheel the car at the Alcohol shows against Serge and any other T/AD's that happen to show up. The car is powered by a 481 cubic inch Keith Black hemi with Brad Anderson Fat Heads and a 14-71 blower. It will be slowed down to run low 7's initially for Nathan's Top Dragster runs, but is capable of low 6's when running in the Top Alcohol class.

PS: Nathan will be 17 years old in May, and his brother Troy (19 yrs.) will be getting some seat time also.

One of the 10 quickest FMD/TAD cars in history is now FOR SALE, complete with all spare parts, equipment, truck and trailer. Best performance: 5.316 at 261.79 mph. If you are not interested in this high level car, DO NOT CALL! (As I have had my fill of "tire kickers"!)

Contact me at the e-mail address above or check out the website at: www.jokerswildracing.com.

Wishing everyone a great 2002! HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Caught Red Green's New Year's tonight, then came across this shot of the possum van making a pass at Cayuga with Red and Bill at the helm....

World's Fastest To Race Pedestrian

Castrol Chevy driver Victor Bray may be a six times Australian Champion Drag Racer and the holder of the world speed record for drag racing sedans, but early tomorrow morning he'll be facing a new driving challenge. Victor will be behind the wheel of one of radio station Triple M's "Rock Patrol" utilities in a race against, of all things, a pedestrian.

Brisbane commuters are well aware of the inner city traffic chaos major road works on Coronation Drive has created over the past weeks. The challenge tomorrow morning will see Triple M sports presenter, Jerry McGuire, walking from the station's studios at one end of Coronation Drive to the Toowong end whilst Victor tries to negotiate the same trip battling the traffic. Listeners will be able to follow their progress on air from 8:00 am as they make their way through peak hour.

"I've never raced against someone on foot before so this will definitely be a new experience. The only lights I normally have to worry about are the starting lights on the drag strip and I certainly try not to hang around when the green comes on. Having to sit and wait while Jerry McGuire keeps marching on could get a little frustrating I guess. It's sure to be a bit of fun though and a great chance to promote the Global Info-Links Australian Nationals we'll be contesting at Willowbank Raceway next week" said Victor.

The Triple M promotion is just one of a range of activities being undertaken to publicise the return to Queensland of the drag racing titles for the first time in eleven years. This Sunday the cultural forecourt at Southbank will come alive with drag racing vehicles as Victor is joined by a long list of top racers for a major display with autograph sessions and poster giveaways, etc. Live radio crosses will again assure plenty of exposure for the 2002 Global Info-Links Australian Nationals.

The Global Info-Links Australian Nationals gets under way with qualifying on Thursday January 17th and continues on Friday featuring the Queensland Events Corporation Night of Thunder whilst all the finals will be run on Saturday with early racing from 9:00 am and the main program starting at 4:30 pm.