IHRA NATIONALS

The entries may have been down for the 2017 running of the IHRA Nationals, but the action was up!

The weather gods did their bit to disrupt this year’s running of the IHRA Nationals, but a week’s delay from the event’s scheduled date certainly didn’t seem to hurt. The entrant numbers were split a touch by other events taking place on the same day, but, for those racing, spectating, or organizing, the event was a success well worth celebrating. Going into the event, which was the final round of the 2016–2017 IHRA Nationals series, points were close in many classes, so the round would decide who took home bragging rights as national champion. With Night Speed Drag Wars taking place the night before the event, the track crew had their work cut out for them. However, they worked their magic — scraping the dead rubber, laying new rubber, and adding their top-secret traction formula, all in time for racing to take place. The air in March is ideal for drag racing, and the track conditions on the day couldn’t have been better, meaning a great weekend was about to be had by all. In the days leading up to the event, talk around Top Doorslammer was rife. Would current hot shoe Nigel Dixon break the elusive five-second barrier? Would Trevor Smith’s now-carbon-fibrebodied Statesman make it out on track? Would the DB Race Cars team of Rod Benjes and John Dillon repair their damaged engine in time? While no door car at the event actually ran a five, it was positive news all round come March 18, day one of the two-day event — there had already been PBs from Dixon, with a crazy 6.19 at 237.59mph, and Smith, with a 6.33 at 219.47mph, so the race was on. However, the competition would come down to the old saying of ‘ To finish first, first you must finish’. Dixon defeated Paul ‘PJ’ Johnson’s misbehaving Chev pickup with ease, but sustained minor engine damage in the process, putting him out of the semi-final against Barry Plumpton. The other semifinal matchup — Benjes versus Trevor Smith — was one the crowd was eager to see. They weren’t disappointed, with Smith running a 6.28 against Benjes’ 6.44. This was the quickest and fastest sideby-side doorslammer pass to have been achieved on New Zealand soil, and it set the tone for what lay ahead.

Despite taking the win and resetting the national record with a 6.26, Smith had to retire because of an oil leak in the deep end that couldn’t be repaired in time. Consequently, the final saw just Plumpton in the staging lanes. Not one to take the soft option, Plumpton wasn’t going to just bump the beams; instead he pushed the nitrous-fed mountain motor Chev Monte Carlo, ending in a bit of a messy pass but a win nonetheless. Top Alcohol was set to see the ongoing battle between the Marsh Motorsport / Mount Shop team and Chris Johnston’s Vernon and Vazey–sponsored machine. The Marshes had been talking about running PBs, but they weren’t alone in their quest — even if the field was somewhat smaller than expected. All four drivers qualified with five-second passes, those by Grant Briffault and Johnny Alsop being their very first, much-awaited ones. Alsop’s was also significant for being the first five-second pass in New Zealand by an altered and a small block, and Briffault’s was significant due to him using his own engine design. It was Marsh who was top qualifier, though, with a 5.44 compared with Johnston’s 5.53, while the other two were in the 5.9s. Come race day, Marsh put Briffault on the trailer with a 5.38 to an off-the-pace lazy nine-second jaunt. Likewise, Johnston sent Alsop back home empty handed before lining up with Marsh in the final. What looked set to be a close race wasn’t, with Johnston’s multiple-wheel-standing 6.17 a far cry from Marsh’s 5.40. The Alsop clan may not have had the event win, but, running three back-to-back fives, they couldn’t have been any happier — and rightly so, having the second quickest small block altered in the world, with a best of 5.92s at 234.78mph among their bragging rights. With both days running smoothly, thanks to the expertise of the Meremere Dragway crew, racing was completed early enough for plenty of grudge racing to take place in the afternoon, followed by the much-anticipated prize-giving. All in all, the event was a great way to cap off what’s been a stellar season of racing — now there’s just the long painful wait over winter until it kicks off all over again.