You are doing a great job of representing the sport of drag racing with your self-sponsored web page, even if you do rock the boat hard enough to take on water at times. The recent posting by our division director, Chris Blair (yes, the invisible one), is a clear indication of his desire to lose that title as commented on Bill Evans web page. A new positive attitude from anyone at NHRA, particularly Division Six, is welcome. The number of responses you accumulate in your BACKFIRE forum is a tribute to the well laid-out web page that you have created. Thanks for the effort.

Reading that story made me have flashbacks to some of the crazy stuff we did at PACE a few years ago. (I think your old buddy Bret might have a few stunt stories to share). Everything from Brian Carson's head-on crashes to our ill-fated "Net Jump" at Miami . . . it was never too stupid.

I told my motorcycle drag guys that if they would let me build an eight foot ramp at the 1000' mark we could give them one hell of a year end points fund and half of the ticket sales. (They told me they would stick with just the drag racing).

Anyway, thanks for the story and good luck with all of the shifts. I'll see if I can "borrow" some parts out of the PRI Trade Show in Indy next week to help you get that thing done a little quicker.

I was talking to some of my dirt late model buddies who are heading to OZ right after Christmas for a U.S. vs. Australia "Saloon Car" shootout. They keep telling me I have to visit . . . for now I'll just check out your Aussie Drag Babes pages and think about it. (You do know that in some towns an Aussie Drag Babe would be an Australian Transvestite).

Be sure to take some time off for the holidays. Nobody wants to see you too tired and too grouchy. Happy Holidays !

Congratulations, you are now officially admitted into the school, I've just finished uploading it. By the way, your site hints at merchandise (T-shirts, etc.), is there anything currently available?

Like the American babes, I thought about stealing the idea for my site but then realized that British babes would consist of a load of photos of women wearing seven layers of clothing, hats, gloves and waterproof boots (and probably hiding under an umbrella).

It's not really got the same impact, has it?

Since you are the authority on the really weird stuff out there in the world of drag racing, maybe you could enlighten me as to the outcome (or lack thereof) of the Ken Carter rocket-car leap across the St. Lawrence Seaway (from Canada to the U.S.) scheduled for May of 1977.

I've put the article by Paul Stenquist about the "jump" in my Press Clippings Index, but have never read anymore about it, other than a brief mention in an ad in DRAGSTER Australia a few years ago. In fact they had a video for sale about it titled "Devil At My Heels". Is that weird or is that weird?

Hope you can dredge up something from the old memory bank and pass it along. I'm sure the jump never happened and dissolved into a complete fiasco, but it would be interesting to know.

"Never happened"? Are you KIDDING?? The jump is still one of the most incredible things ever filmed. I've got the video and can't tell you how many times I've gone over it.

The car, a '77 Lincoln Town Car psuedo-FC, actually had a monocoque chassis with the driver squarely in the center. I feel obligated to mention the car was full-scale and was equipped with a factory vinyl roof complete with oval opera windows. It was, indeed, a hydrogen peroxide/silver catalyst motor.

The approach road was nothing more than a lane-and-a-half country road -- no shoulder, no markings -- which led to a ramp the size of the Empire State Building. The angle change at the base of the ramp seemed extreme, but there was a film camera mounted at ground level right there and the instant the car hit the ramp, it flexed harder than anything I've ever seen travelling at that speed. Speaking of which, I've never heard figures, but I have always visually estimated, (from the film), the speed at "ramp impact" to be 280-320 mph. The approach was just shy of a quarter-mile, I believe, but... trust me... the thing was ON A PASS when it hit that ramp!

The launch angle was too steep and the car too boxy. The instant it left the ramp, air pressure, (at well over 300 and still under thrust), pushed the nose of the car straight up. When the same 300 mph air hit the underside, it shed every body panel like a kite flying into a P-51 prop. The chutes deployed and the car fell into the Seaway about 800 feet out. The rescue teams barely got him out before he drowned.

It happened buddy...... big time! A true classic.

How does 68 degrees at 5:00 am sound ? Sun is just coming up now and everything is so fresh and crisp as the dawn cracks over the Coral Sea.

9:00 am - 74 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. It's good to be alive even if I do have to work to feed myself. Picking up an FC body today. Darren is helping me get the Fiat ready to plug white so we can take a mold off it. Since all the trends come from the USA, if you see any new trick glass parts that I could/should buy and "flop" a mold off of and make them here, please let me know. It is so much easier to flop a mold than create the plug.... just ask me.

Sorry about the fax the other day; just pressed the wrong button. Oh well, now you know some of my business. Looked up the page (Northern Thunder) last night on the web. I have a lawyer joke to tell... I think I know them all as I hate them (lawyers) so much.

What is the difference between a cat fish and a lawyer?
One is a cold blooded, bottom dwelling scum sucker
and the other one is a fish.

On August 29, 1993 Al Dapozzo was injured in a fiery crash in his Alcohol Funny Car at Bowling Green, Kentucky at an NHRA Division 3 Points race. He later succumbed to his injuries in hospital at Nashville, Tennessee.

Now we all know this a joke because there is no way Al would ever get to heaven .... just ask anyone who knew him. All kidding aside, drag racing is a smaller place without "Disposal". He and Joann were only married for a few years and had just had their first child when Al had the fire. I am going to have my first child soon (2 weeks) and can only imagine how Joann must have felt. Seldom does a week go by that I do not think about Al, as some of my fondest memories are of racing against Al when he had the dragster and later we did some match racing when he had the funny car against my dragster. In the late 80's this was rare to see in the US so promoters would book us a 2-car show.

For about 8 months we had a running gag with a broken blower belt. It all started when Al tossed one of his snapped belts into my trailer. I took it and tossed it in the back of his truck. At the next race Al put it in the sleeper of my truck. At the next race I hid it under the seat of his truck (this took several races for him to find). Later I found it up in the nose of my trailer so I put it under the hood of his truck... this went on for months.

I feel fortunate to have raced with the likes of Al Dapozzo, Don Woosley, Bill Sharp, Bill Reynolds, Mike and Janet Kosky, Don Devault, Keith Stark, Earl Datweiler, Bill Walsh, Bob and Jeff Richardson (thanks for the loan of the truck), Hal Canode, Al Kenny, Tony Zizzo, Fred Mandoline, Don Gerardot, Bill McCornack, even Tom "The Bomber" Baum.

Let's face it. If I had $100,000,000 I would not race fuel, but I would be a rich alcohol racer. I really like blown alcohol racing and I like the kind of people that alcohol attracts. The problem is that I like cars and I don't like destroying my cars and in fuel you can make a GOOD pass and not have ANY parts left... it would kill me to destroy so many parts.

I am sorry that NHRA (and others) feel Alcohol is not a marketable entertainment value. (I think it is). They usually only show fuel and prostock on tv.... maybe this is why I don't watch much drag racing on tv. What I think ALL marketing people need to remember is that the lure of drag racing is the mix of all the cars. If you only had Fuel and Pro Stock at major meets the crowd would be MUCH smaller because the mix is not there. Although, if you asked any spectator to name their three favourite classes, alcohol may not be at the top. Frequently when doing surveys you are asking a novice or an uninformed person to qualify something that they like, thinking they can articulate in detail like an experienced fan.

Example - "I like the long skinny cars". Response - "Top Fuel ?". Answer - "Yes"..... This person just finished watching a round of alcohol and can't tell the difference. They were loud and skinny, hence the same as Top Fuel. That vote just drove a nail in the coffin of alcohol. The people doing the surveys must be VERY careful with how the questions are worded or they will get badly skewed data. The results of these surveys today dictate our future. Even presidential elections are all done on poll data.

If Alcohol doesn't have successful marketing value why is UDRA still so successful ? Alcohol can provide excellent value for the promoter and the racer if the two sides are fair to each other. Alcohol must be marketed properly... it is not fuel (though the current ET's are where fuel was not many years ago) but alcohol MUST be sold by the promoters as "Supercharged Dragsters and Funny Cars" showing a big smoky burn out - do not mention what goes in the (fuel) tank. If they are promoted properly the much smaller cost of putting on an alky show can be a great value to everyone - promoters, racers and fans. Most of the fans will never know the difference unless you tell them.

Get Bret Kepner (the best announcer in the world) to do the race and two stock Hyundais would sound fast !

A few parting notes before I get back to work. I looked up the "page" last night and saw "Backfire" I had a look through... wow.... I love it.... So this is what Bret Kepner is doing now. I have to get on the net myself. I feel like I am missing out on things. Everybody is talking but I can't hear them.

Another (Drag Racing) School next week.... never ready soon enough. Have the car in the shop checking it over to make sure it is ok... Have a spare car leased as a back-up car. Nathan Peirano said he will lease the car for the November 28th race after the school. Rob Oberg said we will have some TV coverage with the Drag Racing School car from this race.

You have been quiet lately but I guess you've been as busy as possible. I know you have a lot of work to do before the move (to Australia). Time to close now and get back to work. It's 84 degrees, no clouds and a coastal breeze is blowing... Wow. (You should see the balmy nights and the stars).

I continue to read about the ongoing conflict between the racers need for realistic prizemoney but seemingly without any conditions or controls from major sponsors or promoters vs. the promoters need for good, crowd drawing shows which are cost effective but can only be maintained through their control of bracket structures, prizemoney levels and sponsorships. Add to this the supposedly neutral national governing body ANDRA which through their timid responses to this conflict seems to end up being of very little relevance to very few and what we have in Australia is a total mess.

While most if not all promoters say that the answer to everyone's problems is to attract major sponsorships, many racers, particularly bracket racers seem to hate the "loss of fun" factor that apparently comes with large corporate race packages. And big sponsorships don't necessarily mean big increases in prizemoney; just check the complaints from Federal-Mogul (Top Alcohol) racers in the states.

So what is the answer? How can money and fun be incorporated into one package that suits all??

NHRA, presently considered the world leader, is currently looking at the loss of it's major sponsor, Winston, in three years time. Does that mean that the fun will return to NHRA racing even if the prizemoney is much less? I guess the answer to that lies in looking at our own experience, given that we are the World Leaders in examining the outcome of the loss of a major sponsor, namely, Winfield, three years ago.

So I and a lot of other fans who, on the outside of the drag racing community looking in would like to know, how is it for racers and promoters three years after the loss of our major sponsor ? Is it more fun and relaxed or is it more stretched and stressed ? In the whole world of drag racing only you, the Australian racers and promoters know the answer to this question.

I and many others look forward to your reply.

No, the conditions do not exclude you from the school (nice try though). I applaud anyone that can achieve the same results on such a small budget as what I can with $1500 worth of gear !

We managed to avoid touble in Los Angeles and I did enjoy the racing, although it was very different to what goes in Europe. I wonder how those Top Fuel guys would get on if they only had two blocks to last them 5 races? A full report will be coming, probably in December (I need to get the last meet at Santa Pod done first)

Biggest problem with the NHRA ? Where's the Pro Modified racing? Next time I shall go to an IHRA meet. 30 plus Pro Mods, that sounds sweet.

Hey Willie - DAMN, I just KNEW I shoulda spent more time diggin' around yer site... just did a readathon in yer "Press Clippings" area... thank God ya finally decided to push somethin' besides those aussie babes... not that there's anything wrong with 'em... just sometimes, a fella's gotta feed his MIND, insteada his body...

Yes, the weekend was pretty good. After our first run, a 5.92, we found that the MSD coil boxes were bad. MSD gave us some new boxes and we put those in, left everything the same and ran 5.68. Made a clutch adjustment and leaned the main a bit and it ran the 5.612 - 247.66, which is a career best. The speed has really started to pick up - 202 MPH at 660 feet. The best part was that the motor looked good, not one bearing was squished at all. We leaned it a bit more for the second round and all of the incremental times were better, almost 203 MPH at half track. For some reason # 2 cylinder became very hot at the top end and leaned out, causing a backfire in the blower. Santos was running really good on the top end, but it would have been close. It will definitely help to make the winter go by quicker.

You have been working 66 days straight??? I guess that explains why we have not seen any pictures of your car on the website. Keep it up.

We haven't seen sunlight in Sydney for about a week: not really any rain, but no sunlight - very depressing.

Have you seen the latest issue of "DA" (Dragster Australia)?? There's some crap written by some crazy canuck on "Money Marketing and Nitro". Suppose I should read it ... Only joking, David brought it in and we decided to run it. Three pages - we'll make you famous yet!

And now on to the local news ... "Klappa's" (Gary Phillips) in Perth this weekend tuning Hamilton and Simpson's T/D's. He's also driving one of them! I told him to sit in his wife's car with helmet and driving suit on and practice climbing in and out doors. It'd be real embarassing for him if he tried to stand up in a Top Doorslammer.... If all goes well he will return next month for Ravenswood's TD round. I reckon a certain oil giant might get his nose out of joint about this. He'll either have to deal with it or get used to it. Klappa also renewed with Lucas Oils for another two years.

Western Sydney Motorplex is looking better and stronger every day. The array of political heavyweights offering support (from both the government and the opposition) is amazing. All we need now is one signature (Craig Knowles) on the right piece of paper and we'll have the keys to the property. Then there's the small matter of $15 million. Leave it to Jim (Read) and David (Cook): They'll find it.

Good to hear that you shifted the 392 parts before they disappeared in a pile of orange dust, too!

Glad to see that everything is falling in line. Man, those shifts gotta be killer but like all other "addictions" we sacrifice to fill our need. I previously heard you went with the 44 mag, I feel it is a good choice for the reasons you stated as well as the fact that MSD is good about updating and refurbishing their stuff. Congrats on getting the "old stuff" sold. Are you getting a new Crower or are you buying a used unit ? If looking at used, I know someone who has a Crower pedal clutch for sale that has been all redone and is in good shape and he wants $1500 for it.

As far as our stuff, my partner/crew-chief got approval from his boss, who is helping sponsor us, to go ahead and order the remaining pieces and they would help out with that stuff. Our Crower A/FD "special tune" clutch is ready to be shipped as soon as we send the remaining $$$. This piece was $5000 (Remember folks, that's REAL - ie: US dollars he's talking about).

We are planning on putting the car together in mid-December and being ready to take it to Bakersfield at the end of January to test and tune and for me to finish my license upgrade. Then we run the NHRA (your company name here) Winternationals the first week of February. The only other thing I got going is I did get approval, pending my license upgrade, to have F/MD # 701 - which is the number my uncle Steve San Paolo had when he ran T/AD, so that was kinda cool. Anyhow, that's it for the note and update. Good luck and enjoy the holidays.

Thanks for the piccy, watch for an update to the school of excellence in a week or so. You will be the first international graduate !

Sorry that I've been a while replying, but I've been over to Pomona for the Finals. There will be a feature on both that trip and the final meet of the year at Santa Pod coming during the closed season.

Thanks for your support, I'll catch you later when I'm not quite so frazzled by jet lag.

I was just wondering, whereabouts are you located ? Are you from Australia or Canada ? I found your site through a couple of search engines and find it to be very well built and I am glad you did such a fine job on it. The  SIR  (Saskatchewan International Raceway) website is also "home-made", by myself and I have far to go on it, but for now, what you see is what you get. I have been working very hard on it and I have high hopes for when I am a little more computer literate to upgrade the site to a higher status.

I tried visiting the   Mission Raceway  website, but I just get a page that tells me that the site is coming November 1, 1998. I see what you mean about it being a weeee bit late !! Ahhhh well, I hope it is worth the wait ! I at least uploaded my pages to the site while working on it, even if it wasn't officially released, so people could see it in progress.

I was going to add that   Horsepower Heaven  website, but I totally forgot. Thank you for reminding me. That is one awesome site !! I remember seeing it a while back and it still was great back then ! I have noticed that there are very few tracks online in Canada too .... pity. I know that the powers that be at SIR are too computer illiterate to put up a website on their own, so that is why I decided to do this for them. They keep telling me ANY exposure I can do for them would be fantastic ! Well, this is about as large an exposure I think that they can get !

I hope that eventually, when my technology levels rise, I will be putting quicktime videos on my site. That will make it pretty much the only site in Canada that shows those I think, well, at least ones that will be updated every race. Sorta like what NHRA does at their site, but local stuff. Going to be great when I get it running.

Thanks for adding a link to my site so quickly and if you know of any other great sites that I could add, or could add me, that would be great.

I've just been reading the tobacco agreement proposed for signing by most U.S. states. The way I read it, the NHRA can kiss good-bye to their Winston sponsorship in three years time or earlier if their current contract doesn't run that long. Under the terms of the agreement R.J. Reynolds can maintain one "Brand Sponsorship" only and that will be NASCAR Winston Cup. It is not one sponsorship for each and every brand the company has but one sponsorship for the company only. It seems the Attorney General from North Carolina has plenty of influence to even get that concession for NASCAR. Any one heard anything over there ?

I know a lot of people in the newsgroups think corporate money is some sort of disease anyway but if the NHRA lose Winston it will certainly change the face of drag racing in the USA. A lot of people that whine about catering to corporate sponsors don't realize how good the sport has had it thanks to that money. We lost tobacco sponsorship in Australia at the end of 1995. Since then, the tracks have had to supply ALL the prize money for the Pro classes. "So what?" say the bracket bombers. Well, NO ONE in any class had a prize money increase in almost five years. The sport just can't afford to after picking up the shortfall from the loss of tobacco sponsorship. We only had five captial city tracks. One no longer runs any drag racing other than off-street events and two others have cut back on their programs.

Major tracks fund all sorts of things that they do out of the profits from their one or two big tobacco sponsored events per year. Replacement sponsors at that level of investment are not lining up to invest in drag racing.

The loss of sponsorship of any kind, be it for the NHRA or a local bracket racer is BAD NEWS for drag racing. Think about it.

PS: By the way, I'm not a smoker but I love drag racing more than I hate tobacco.

Some answers to your questions about what's happening in Oz. Bob Brackam has been in the process of buying a large building for his business and race shop, all race car stuff is on hold for a while, but John Noonan has offered his car for a while for that series that is supposed to happen at Willowbank. We'll just have to wait and see.

I have no plans to travel downunder at this time and if I were hired, I don't know who it would be, as most of my people are really watching their bucks.

Just got in and checked out "Backfire", top stuff mate. I would've checked it out sooner, but I have had some nasty gremlins in my computer slowly eating things up and have only just regained control. I really hate seeing mail from Scotty Ferguson and Rob Oberg talking about race meetings they have seen while I sit here in this backwater slowly decomposing. I can't wait to get back to Queensland. Geez, when I go to Willowbank on January 2nd it will be my first race meeting since the Winternationals.... The smell of nitro is but a fading memory.....

You forgot to mention the Northwest's newest member of the Top Alcohol set. (In my "What's New" update of November 15) Steve Federlin qualified on his first try, or maybe it was his second, as his wife Patty had told me they were going to Phoenix. Didn't see him qualify at Phoenix but he was # 16 at the Winston Finals. Not bad for his first national event.

He has the ego to do well. At last year's NHRA (Division 6) banquet, he told me he would be running Top Fuel within 5 years. This first step looks like he might do it. Time will tell.

Patty says they have 3 spare engines and have Sam Shockley doing the tuning on (Tiffani) Hyland's old car. He went out in the first round, but just to qualify at that event is an awesome task.

Congratulations Steve and Patty.

Hi, great site you have. Am a fan of drag racing and wish you the best of luck in your travels. Stumbled onto your site but will visit again to see how you are doing.

I don't care what anyone says about you .... You are alright in my book although I now have one of those "wicked" A/Fuelers. I still feel strongly and agree with your views of the whole of the T/AD class even though we don't see eye to eye on combinations. I know you respect the guys who toiled to make the Nitro burners work. Anyhow, your page is one of my favorites and I visit regularly and can't wait to see the new pix of your car. Enjoy the Aussie experience and good luck.

Thanks for the Summit and NHRA addresses; I actually stumbled upon them in National Dragster. You're right, they're both written by the same critter. We got the results through within fifteen minutes of the end of the "Pissing Bloody Sleepout" (Don't you mean the "Bad Blood Shoutout"?)

Who'd have had money on Dougie or Eddie running the final?? I sure as heck wouldn't have.

Have you seen issue # 506 of DA (Dragster Australia) yet??

I didn't get a chance to look closely at the Herbert motor in Rupert's car, but I certainly saw 4 separate valve covers (2 per side) like you would expect for an overhead cam motor. Don't have a rule book handy to see what the rules say, but they let him run it.

You want submissions for the  North American Drag Babes ? I've got at least a couple where my camera slipped and got something "racy" instead of a racer.

This website stuff is neat. Kind of addictive. Only time I seem to have to mess with it is 10 pm to midnight. Think the wife is losing patience with this faster than with the race car. A buddy of mine just showed me how to make the site framed even with Front Page Express (which doesn't really support frames). Got to get that done and then rescan the pics in thumbnails so it loads faster. Just like a racecar - never really done!

PS: Thanks for the tip on making a hot link on a Header Flame post.

You should find this interesting. It comes from our most recent bulletin, just about to go on the net and posted to competitors.

In a major boost for the Top Alcohol category, Willowbank Raceway has announced major backing for a new series to be conducted from January to July 1999. The "Lucar Cargo Vans Queensland Top Alcohol Championships" will be run over five events:

• Round One of the Castrol New Year Series - January 2
• Round Two of the Castrol New Year Series - January 30
• Coca-Cola Wild Bunch - May 9
• Konica Winternationals - June 11-13
• Winter's Smash Repairs Grand Finals - July 17

January 30th and the Konica Winternationals are rounds of the ANDRA Top Alcohol Championships and will feature eight car fields. The additional rounds of the series: January 2, May 9 and July 17 will be four car fields. Prize money will be he standard payout for Top Alcohol. The two quickest non-qualifiers will receive $1000 each, provided they contest the final qualifying round at 6:00 pm. All rounds of the series are restricted to cars with known performances of 6.40 or quicker.

Don't worry about the 6.4 second thing. That's just so there so no Top Comp cars can jump into an incomplete field to grab the money and run. Dennis hates the idea of paying someone 1000 bucks for one high six or seven second pass. It's even worse if a Top Comp car puts a genuine Alcohol car out of the field because of trouble in qualifying. After investing half the national debt of Canada in the new car you shouldn't have to worry about the six second runs anyway. Let's hope not anyway.

You can have that graveyard shift. I used to do that for seven days at a time a few years ago and hated it. If I did fifty plus (58 and still counting....) it would literally be the GRAVEYARD for me.

The Top Doorslammers run at Calder on Saturday. I'll get you the news when I can.

You think you can't believe that there aren't any windows?? I'm freakin' amazed!! I started beating up rod bearings at the Mile High's when I stepped the car up from 6.50's to 6.30's. Weird part is that there is no consistency, I chase it all around the motor. When I unloaded at the points meet at Denver in June with a very conservative tuneup and went 6.50 there were no problems. Leaned on it next pass and go 6.21 and beat some up. First pass at Phoenix saw bearings hit from nothing to .012" Fattened it up a bit for the second pass and fattened some nozzles and hammered bearings that were OK on the first pass. Third pass: again fattened it and "she go boom!"

Needless to say, I ain't got a happy motor. General consensus from at least three widely different sources is "too much compression". I've got 12-1 and people are telling me that the new PSI (blower) only wants 10.75 or 11-1. I definitely think the problem was worse at Phoenix because of the better air. (I'm only getting about 2 or 3 passes on the #2 main bearing. The others are going 4 or 5).

I'm very proud of getting to where we are on my own. However, it's clear to me that I don't know what I don't know. I felt like I had a handle on it up until now, but truthfully, that deal at Phoenix was downright dangerous. When I get everything back together again I'm probably going to try and bring in a "consultant" to at least get us a better baseline. I talked to Shawn (Les Davenport's right hand man) there in Phoenix (he was helping Ron August) and he immediately told me three things that were wrong with the tuneup, that I had no clue were wrong.

Needless to say, I have fun writing about this stuff. That last run was absolutely the neatest thing that I've ever done - too bad its: A) expensive and B) Dangerous! I guess I really am an adrenaline junky.

One footnote - you can't believe the shraphnel scars on the firewall; probably from the burst panel. I have thought a few times that it would be cool to run the car with a roadster body. With that rear facing burst panel on the PSI, I'm not so sure now. It's kind of amazing that all that stuff had to have gone on the track and they never cleaned it up. I'm kind of surprised that I didn't cut down a tire or that someone after me didn't.

Another footnote - most amazing motor I've seen since the McGee was the Chet Herbert motor that was in Jason Rupert's car. They went 5.99 with it - very impressive for a new combo.

Sorry about the late reply mate and yes I'm still alive ... just ! I've been busting my ass for the last two months trying to get sponsors and I've only been able to come up with $200 !! I'm not so upset about not gaining any sponsors but I'm upset about the fact that everytime I mention drag racing to these people they either believe it has nothing to offer or tell me they have already donated $500 to the local under-12 "footy" side and that's their charity for the year. Mention that you're not looking for donations and that the car can be an effective marketing tool to advertise their company and products and they look at me as if I'm full of it. It's a bloody joke here I tell ya !

Anyway, I only went out to the Springnationals for about 2 hours as that's all I could handle without a car ! Real big crowd out there though and the meeting didn't finish until 12:30 am. Five fuellers: Rachelle, Romeo, DiFillipo, Kirby and the "Pom" in Santo's car. Romeo ran his first four in the first round against an engine exploding Kirby. Rachelle drove it through the finish line beating DiFillipo who shut off at 700' while the Pom ran a 5.04 solo. Didn't see any more but Romeo must have taken out the Pom as he met Rachelle in the final, who apparently lost the clutch at around 900-1000' and still drove it through the finish at over 280 .... that's cool ! (Spewin' that I missed that run !) Anyway, that's what I heard, no real confirmation yet, but it makes a good story !

My mate Brenton Basset who I work with at Chris Milton's (yes, I've returned to my old engine room job) ran for the first time in 18 months with his now PSI equipped BB/Gas Mitsubishi Scorpion. His first lap back only went to half track and shook so hard it damaged the rear of the body and wrecked a slick. An all night thrash had the car ready for Saturday's qualifier and the little s.o.b. ran a 7.12 at 193 on his second pass making him the quickest BB/Gas car in the country ! Not bad for 355 cubes, 2895 lbs. and a homemade chassis that they were worried about originally running a seven with. Chalk another one up for Mr. Drazy the legend !

There were a few lowlights during the meeting: a super sedan rolled in the braking area during first round. Lui Raschella snapped two Lenco's in half and zinged the engine (JP-1) to 13,500. Someone apparently cut in front of Bob Sherry's A/Streeter causing him to blow out both front tyres in the braking area. Dave Koop (Top Doorslammer) ran a 6.6 and Colin Will (T-D also) ran a 6.9.

This is only making me want to get a loan to get my car going now ! Anyway, better go now and speak to my bank manager and once again, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. Best of luck with everything 'up there' and I'll speak to you again soon.

Scott 'Never Give Up' Ferguson

PS: Sorry to read that you can't make it down yet which is good in a way because at least you don't have to worry about having to stare at the back of my diff at 1200' during the Top Alky round here in February 'cause that gold 'Chrissy' tree has got my name on it!!!! And if I manage to pull that off, god help Drag Racing !

I'd be only too glad to help you out with any little tidbits of info I can glean from the scene down here. My only problem is that I am not living in Queensland at present. My family and I are living and working in Wollongong, New South Wales and it is a bit of a drag racing backwater down here at the moment. But I do still travel up to Willowbank for the more major events and keep in touch regularly with Keith Dean, our chief scrutineer and he keeps me informed with what's happening.

We will be moving back to Brisbane about March next year and I will be going to all of the New Year Series events anyway. As you well know, it's a fair old trip from Sydney to Brisbane. My car insurers are quizzing me as to why I have travelled almost 50,000 clicks in the last 12 months ....

If only they knew that the disease called drag racing has no known cure!! I just had a thought; maybe we should throw in a small disclaimer that my view / opinions are my own and not the view / opinions of anyone else... Just in case....

I checked out your website: some neat stuff. It's not easy drag racing a professional car in a sportsman class. I worked for years with a few teams on alcohol funnies here in North Texas as a crew member. I can relate to getting everything together, trying your best, blowing up everything you got, including the borrowed tow truck (I thought that only happened to us).

We won the Division (Four) title in 1994 (I think) with Grady Bryant's "Herman Joseph (Beer) Daytona". It cost Grady so much that he couldn't afford to come back the following year.

"If you want to make a small fortune Drag Racing . . . Start with a large one" -- Don't know who said it but he was obviously very smart.

I'll check back on your website from time to time. Take care, talk to ya soon.

Thanks for the great site, very informative and colourful. I'm pleased to see that you are still coming to race down here. I read your letter in October's DRAGSTER Australia.

I found your site via a friend of yours -- Bill Evans, he and I traded a few comments in the NHRA Newsgroup. When I found out he was Canadian, I asked him if he knew of you and I find out you are good mates, small world huh?? He then directed me to your site.

I met you when you first came to Willowbank. I am one of the senior scrutineers there and you came up and asked me what process we went through teching the vehicles. Anyway . . . I look forward to seeing you run at Willowbank and hope you do well, someone needs to step up and knock Gary Phillips off his perch. If you need another spy over here I'd be glad to help you out. Ha ha.

You might want to check things out with whoever is going to be controlling things over here. It seems ANDRA is only holding on to power as the controlling body by a very tentative margin at present and a new controlling body may be waiting for an opportunity for a bloodless coup!!

Guess what. One NTSC copy of the 1999 Konica Winternationals was posted today. It went airmail and insured so if the great postal black hole swallows this one I'll be as pissed off as you but at least somebody will have to pay.

Hopefully you'll soon be able to sit back on a rainy Vancouver evening and share two and a half hours of Willowbank sunshine with your crew.

PS: Just for you there's a few drag babes included on the tape. Enjoy!

Well, I'm heading down to Firebird, then to Pomona for my "fix". Why do we do it ? We get treated like "dirt", no money to speak of, no recognition, just man against man against machine. (Hopefully no bad weather to complicate matters)

I enjoy reading your writing. Hope the "higher ups" take notes. Keep writing.

PS: That's blown alcohol -- not injected destruction

You'd be surprised how many folks hit your page, buddy. It's a much quicker system than hunting down all the Aussie sites ! You always have a lot of intersting stuff, (besides my old laundry). Heck, I forgot all about that piece I did on Lowe!!

Tom Dumbell now deals in antiques in Oklahoma City. John Davisson wrenched for Jimmy Nix for years, (they were always best friends), until his crash, of course. Davisson is now crewchief on Doug Herbert's second Snap-On TF car driven by Jim Bailey which, by the way, ran 4.85 - 303 this year with NO COMPUTER!

The "Gravedigger" team's sole problem was a total and complete lack of money. Several of my trips with them included no meals because they were FLAT broke and had only enough money for gas home. In fact, we once missed that "margin", as well. After Tom crashed the original "Godzilla" front-motored car in '76, (which actually ran 6.38/233), they put every dime into the "Gravedigger" RE car which, as you might remember, went 5.90/238 at Bakersfield '77. Heck, at the time, it was actually something like the ninth quickest car in history.

On that run, John and I went to the top end in the truck, where "Dummy" was standing next to the car. I knew better, (at eighteen), than to tell Tom the numbers after a run. Tommy asked, "Well, it felt pretty good . . . what was it ?" John, as stone-faced a person as I've ever known, made no expression whatsoever in telling him in a monotone voice, "a ninety". Dummy looked at him incredulously and said, "A NINETY?? Christ, it felt better than THAT!" John just shook his head and said, "Nope, just a ninety . . . I guess we'll see if we can get any more out of 'er later". The entire trip back to the pits, Dummy kept yelling and cussing, (remember, he's in the cockpit and we're pushing him back in the truck), how he was gonna kill the guys at California Chassis for building such a piece of trash. As you might expect, I never saw Dummy so mad as when we finally got within range of the P.A. and he heard that he'd just gone FIVE ninety!! HA!

By the way, despite the obvious, Tom was VERY proud of his last name. He constantly berated people who gave him crap, citing the fact that there were only seven people on the planet with the name and it had a thousand years of history and blahblahblah . . .

From that team, I went on to travel with other "giants", including Mark Howick's "Good Guy" TF car, Steve Picou and Tom Koulan's AA/FA, and Bill Chapelle's "Hi-Flyer" Mach I and "Red Bandit" Monza, with which I probably had the most fun and the most work !

I still do TV . . . mostly ESPN2 but some SpeedVision . . . for IHRA, National Street Car Association, National Import Racing Association, (hey, they've got blown fuel Wankel dragsters -- the loudest machines in the unvierse), UDRA, and a few other events. I usually schedule between 95-105 races per year, but so far this season I've managed 107, (Oct.23-25 was Dallas Friday, Shreveport Saturday, and NSCA Columbus Sunday !), so I'm usually . . . uh . . . busy.

I've no desire to work for NHRA again . . . I did in '83-'84. Their TV deal is atrocious, and their on-air talent is virtually working for free with the exceptions of MaC and Evans. With the weekly "Inside Drag Racing" show we do on ESPN2, I can call my own shots and go pretty much wherever I want. No complaints, here !

Keep up the good work, and keep digging up the OLD good work !

HEY BW -- STOP kicking yourself -- I always say, if ya don't screw up once in a while, ya AIN'T trying hard enough. We "fup duck", print our retractions and move along. YOUR stuff is entertaining as hell, and if ya don't keep it up when ya go to aussieland, there's liable to be a pissed off polack wingin' his way down there to find out why. ASK ? I wuz drafted . . .Grasias, Ski

. . . to tell you that I always enjoy the site. I'll never figure out why you folks seem to enjoy my garish scribblings of twenty years ago, but I must admit I consider it an honor to be associated -- in ANY form -- with a site so respected over here. If there's anything I can ever do . . .