Season In Review

The Shake and Bake category - nitro Funny Car - continue to survive thanks to the efforts of a few die-hards. With the cancellation of championship drag racing at Adelaide and Calder Park, which has been the traditional home of nitro Funny Car in Australia, it's been a quiet time for the plastic fantastics.

A proposal had been put forward by Melbourne's Gary McGrath to run a Top Fuel vs Funny Car series at Calder and Adelaide but Bob Jane's shock decision killed that idea as well. Fans still got to see the fuel coupes strut their stuff at the new Kwinana Motorplex, Willowbank Raceway and Calder Park's Nationals this past the season.

Last year, on July 22, Peter and Helen Russo entered their "Boss Lady" into the AHRA World Finals at Spokane, Washington. The Victorian couple were looking for lap time with their car, having made no passes in eight months, and even then having had only six runs over two events so the team figured they needed the practice.

A total of 11 Funny Cars ran down the track, with Russo remaining as top qualifier until the last session. The track was described as a cross between Heathcote Park and Whyalla. Gary Densham was on the non-qualifiers' list.

In the first round Russo defeated Canadian Charlie Mcintosh, 6.12 - 226 [364 kmh] to 6.61 - 223 [359] before taking out Canadian Jason Duchene, 6.19 to 6.50. That put the Aussies in the final against Wyatt Radke.

In the final Russo ran the event low ET of 5.768 at 238.12 [383.21], over Radke's 6.0 at 240 [386]. In the braking area, a gust of wind got under Radke's chute and lifted the back of the car off the ground, taking the car across into Russo's lane. Radke hit Russo,causing some minor body damage, but Russo's exhaust headers appear to have taken out a major chunk of Radke's body work.

The result at the end of the day, however, was the title as AHRA World Funny Car Champion. Following the success at Washington, the Russos towed to the NHRA Prolong Northwest Nationals at Kent, Washington on the weekend of July 28-30. There they stepped up to a US best of 5.443, which was just short of their all-time best of 5.39. Unfortunately the bump was 5.219!

At Willowbank on July 15, the Bailey brothers came out at the Winters Smash Repairs Track Championship Finals and logged a solid 5.89 at 238 [383 kmh] to "prove a point" and give the track its first nitro flopper "five" since December 1995!

In the US the NHRA Winston Autozone Nationals on October 8 produced the quickest Funny Car field ever with John Force sitting on the pole with a track record 4.87 while Al Hofmann sat on the bump with a 5.024!

The Russos returned to the States for a shot at the NHRA Finals in November. In the first session of qualifying, as part of the first pairing down the track, the Aussie entry went straight up in smoke at the poke of the throttle and shut off to a 14 second ET. In the second session Russo struck early engine problems and slowed to a 6.02, leaving them in 22nd qualifying position. With Saturday's sessions rained out, it left them out of the field.

On November 25, the Baileys put their nitro Funny Car down the Willowbank quarter for its fastest clocking of 5.74. It would have been even quicker had the blower belt not departed the engine at 900 ft.

On December 30, the sweet smell of nitromethane hung in the air for the first time at the Quit Motorplex, and what was even sweeter was the track record set by the newly repainted "Greene Machine" Funny Car which covered the quarter in just 5.72 seconds.

The night, which also featured the Bailey brothers, was full of drama, starting with a picture perfect race between the two Funnies. Side-by-side fives at 5.93 to Allan Dobson's 5.84.

Unfortunately a $2 dzus fastener had worked its way into the Allan Greene engine, and while the team was able to repair the damage, they were unable to front for the second round. Maybe Lady Luck was actually smiling on the West Aussie team as Ashley Bailey was in all sorts of trouble when a rod broke on the launch. This started a small fire and with oil under the tyres, sent the Ford Probe into the opposite lane (where Dobson should have been).

This gave Dobson the solo in the final round where he rode the wall in the final 200 ft. of the journey, but the awesome edge-to-edge traction saw him record the new track record.

After just missing an all 4-second Funny Car field at Pomona, the NHRA runners finally etched the historic number into the record book at Firebird Raceway during the NHRA Checkers - Shuck's - Kragen Nationals. Not only was the qualified field totally in the 4-second zone but the top three non-qualifiers also had sub 5-second ETs. The bump was a 4.961 by Gary Densham. The floppers also set another standard when all 16 cars qualified at over 300 mph [483].

On March 15 the two Funny Cars of Gary McGrath and the Bailey brothers were ready to rock the Calder Park house during a special exhibition match race at the Nationals. Ashley Bailey made a Friday afternoon half pass 6.71 and at 9 pm the ground shook to the sounds of two nitro engines as the bodies were dropped over Bailey and McGrath.

The Pontiac Firebird Pit Stop Oil entry laid down an awesome burnout to put some heat into the track, under what was very cold and unpleasant conditions but on the green both cars went up in smoke. A 7.05 from the Bailey Probe crossed the finish strip first over McGrath's 10.45 ET.

The option was there for the pair to run again on Saturday providing there was time, but sadly this never eventuated as McGrath and crew were busy with their Top Fuel entry.

On March 24 attention was back at the world class Kwinana facility. There Dobson faced off against Rachelle Splatt in her Top Fueler. The Nitro Challenge looked to be a one-sided affair, however that wasn't what Al Greene had in mind.

With no handicap, Dobson knew he had to cut a good light to make a race of it, and that he did. A .517 to a .855 reaction saw the Funny Car take the win light with a 5.59 - 276.92 [445.65] to the "Queen of Speed's" 5.39.

Splatt had torched heads on the pass forcing the team to miss the second match. This left Dobbo to take a solo 5.62 - 275.21 [442.90] much to the delight of the crowd and gave him a 2-0 lead in the Nitro Challenge.

The final was a beauty. Dobbo again dropped a holeshot on the little lady but this time Splatt stamped some "Girl Power" with a winning 5.33 - 273.54 [440.21]. Dobbo had his hands full crossing into Splatt's lane and almost collecting her chutes. His time was a 5.67 at 266 [428].

On April 7 the season ending Western Australia Grand Finale was highlighted by a match race between Jim Read and Rachelle Splatt. The "Greene Machine" was also in attendance as a reserve. Owner Al Greene threw Dobbo some clutch and this resulted in a wild wheelstand and an aborted pass when the car crossed lanes at the 330 ft. mark.

In closing out the season, the Baileys made a few more appearances at their home track of Willowbank. Here's hoping that we'll see more of the floppers in 2002.