BURGERFUEL PORT ROAD DRAGS

IS THIS THE WORLD’S LONGEST RUNNING DRAG RACING EVENT UNAFFECTED BY RAIN? IF NOT, 52 YEARS STRAIGHT IS STILL A HELL OF AN EFFORT!

Yet again, the annual BurgerFuel Port Road Drags held in Lower Hutt by the Cam County club started with a bang and finished in a cloud of tyre smoke, just as any good drag racing event should. The guys and girls of the club have been running this event for many years now and have definitely got the formula right, with a great mix of street cars duking it out for bragging rights and competition cars creating massive amounts of noise and smoke to entertain the huge crowd, some of who were getting their first fix of V8 action for the summer. An event as popular as this always fills up fast, and this year, number 52, was no different. Entries are capped to keep things at a sensible level, so it’s a matter of get in quick or miss out. No doubt everyone else was keeping one eye on the weather over the preceding week; we certainly were. Each broadcast or app view of the weather forecast showed rain leading up to the event, and some also forecast rain on the day, so, no doubt, many fingers were crossed. One thing official weather predictors didn’t take into account though was the fact that

it was Port Road weekend. Ask anyone at Cam County about weather and you get the same answer: “It never rains on Port Road day.” And, yet again, the event’s alternative weather wizards had their way. It was warm and overcast, with a gentle Wellington breeze to blow the tyre smoke away — perfect conditions for shredding tyres and laying down some quick times. Safety is first and foremost, and cars operating under NZHRA rules are not allowed to run under 6.50 seconds over the eighth-mile. With that in mind, and with the street car scene becoming red hot over the last few years, it wasn’t just a matter of planting boot and seeing who could cover the eighth-mile track the fastest. Many of the vehicles in the top class are more than capable of ninesecond quarters, some even dip into the eights, so those who could slow their cars down and run as close to 6.50 consistently over the day would earn victories. Aaron Thomas, in his twin-turbo Ford Pop, ran 6.54- and 6.51-second passes in qualifying, showing he was on his game. Sadly, though, the rapid blue streak dipped under the magical number in round one, putting the car on the trailer in the process. It was the first time that Aaron had been back on the strip since he clobbered the wall at Masterton Motorplex a season or so ago, so seat time and getting his confidence back were at the front of his mind.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the other higher horsepower cars either. The start line at Port Road is known to be sticky, and this was definitely the case this year, with many cars hooking up well and lifting front wheels off the line. However, once the glue ran out, it was a different story, with many breaking traction. Pete Meo, in his late model Rousch Mustang, blazed hides on his first pass, when he had an unsuccessful attempt to get all 700 horses hooked up. After qualifying, the competition cars came out to entertain the crowd. There were some wild sideways burnouts from the Crook brothers in their white Super Sedan Commodore, which left both Mum and Dad shaking their heads. Josh Trybula was also on hand to give his wild ’57 skid pig a bit of a blowout and put on an impressive smoke show. Josh is renowned for having a heavy right foot, with the alcohol-drinking Chev destroying the rears well before he hit half-track due to some mega power skids.

As always, the racing was close and was often won or lost depending on how quick the drivers were on the tree with their reaction times. The weather held off, the drivers and their cars behaved themselves, and stoppages were kept to a minimum, meaning that the spectators were entertained throughout the day. Hats off to Cam County Inc. again for running a first-class event, and special thanks to Nakita Hart, reportedly the best pit boss ever; the whole Cam County crew; and the volunteers on the day, and also a huge thanks to BurgerFuel, Armstrong Motor Group, General Metal Recyclers, Calendar Girls, Value Motors, and Central Forklift Group — without all you guys’ and girls’ time and help, the club wouldn’t be able to put on such a fantastic event.

Tony Cancian’s wild Camaro is stuffed full of procharged goodness. The car is in the process of being readied for the street, and, once it’s all legal, it’ll have the potential to move right up the NZ’s Quickest Streeters list. We can’t wait for this to happen

It’s all smiles for Dion Crook as he waits in the staging lanes for brother Aidan to boil the hides and get the white Commodore all kinds of crossed up in the burnout. No doubt his parents Joanne and Gary gave him a stern talking to after his sideways run! Parenting done right! Josh and Eddie Trybula’s 1957 Chevs. Although they left the factory the same, these two variants couldn’t be any different if they tried. How cool it was seeing both cars arriving together and driving through the pits! Now, that’s how you do parenting correctly

Not that you’d know it from the outside, but Mark Coffey’s 1934 Chev Junior has 572 cubic inches of big block Chev hidden under the hood. Looks can be deceiving, and this is one car that definitely falls into the sleeper category. We suggest you think twice before lining this thing up at the traffic lights. You have been warned!

Darren Riches sprayed water everywhere when his naturally aspirated 540ci pump-gas Pop blew a chunk of water-pump gasket out on his first run. The boys tried to fix it with some gasket goo but were unsuccessful. A mad thrash in the pits had Darren back on track for a last-ditch attempt to make the field