SPORT OF KINGS
> IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN POSTPONED A COUPLE OF WEEKS, BUT GRUDGE KINGS 2019 WAS ALL KILLER, NO FILLER
THE decision to postpone the Sydney Grudge Kings meeting due to bad weather was not well received by certain keyboard warriors. We get it; people take time off work, make travel plans, organise crew and a hundred other things. But postponing an event is a decision no promoter ever wants to make, as Grudge Kings organiser Po Tung could no doubt tell you.
In the end, nothing could take the shine off Grudge Kings 2019 when it ran two weeks later at Sydney Dragway. The weather was spectacular, the track was mint and the crowds rolled in to take a peek at what was certainly one of the best meets of the year.
There was the noticeable absence of a few big hitters due to the changed date, particularly last year’s champion and Radial Drag Racer of the Year, Jet Martin, who had us all hugging the flag after his efforts at No Mercy #9 in the US when he chopped drag racing maestro Mark Micke in the semis. Family commitments will have him sidelined for some time and we hope to see him at this meet next year.
Nonetheless, there was still a bunch of killer cars in the mix, including the new blown Brad Anderson-powered LJ Torana from Western Australia’s Taylor Motorsport, driven by Russell Taylor, which ran a 6.13@236mph with an early lift in the days leading up to the event. Unfortunately, come race day the car was shut down on the startline due to an oil leak from the Lenco transmission, and they were in the pits for most of the day.
Everyone was keen to see Australia’s quickest blower car take on the country’s quickest turbo car, with the Moits Racing supercharged Mustang up against Greg Tsakiridis’s twin-turbo Mustang. They didn’t have to wait long, with the two big hitters meeting in the first round. Both teams were in blistering form with a pair of 5.50 passes, making it the quickest side-by-side door car race in Australian history, with Greg smashing out another record of 272mph over the quarter-mile!
THE WEATHER WAS SPECTACULAR, THE TRACK WAS MINT AND THE CROWDS ROLLED IN TO TAKE A PEEK AT WHAT WAS CERTAINLY ONE OF THE BEST MEETS OF THE YEAR
Other standouts of the day included Jeremy Callaghan, who continues to take his racing to a new level each year. His stunning 1969 Camaro has recently had a phenomenal makeover and ran a 4.11@186mph in the Pro Street final to win the class. The EX-USA radial car was built by Sheppard Race Cars and has recently been fitted with a new 572ci stage IV Pro Line 481X engine (rumoured to have cost more than $100K) and the new Precision 102mm XPR turbochargers.
It was big weekend for the Proflo Performance team, with Paul Todarello pulling his stunning hatchback Torana out of the corner of the shed and Tristan Ockers being offered a drive in the new and relatively untested Nova owned by Mick Duggan.
Todarello had made a few passes with the twin-turbo 557ci big block-powered hatch leading up to the weekend, with mostly bottom seven-second runs. To keep the front end on the ground, at Grudge Kings they added a set of bullhorn exhausts to the front just to try something different, and boom – a 6.60@209mph pass. The additional downforce from the exhaust gas made the car a lot more stable and it even picked up 8mph on the pass. The next run the car clicked off a 6.55, but unfortunately developed a misfire that plagued the team through the meet. They did try a few changes that saw it still make a 6.60 pass, and even with the misfire the car picked up another 8mph to click off a 217 – not a bad result.
For ‘Hollywood’ Ockers, it was a huge weekend that saw him mix it against the toughest turbo and blower cars in the country. After running a 6.3 on a pedal and a startline electrical gremlin in the early rounds, he backed up with a 6.22@235mph in a car he had never driven before. “The Nova is just so intense,” Tristan said. “You just seem to go into full survival instinct. I’m not sure which part is the best; the first 60 feet is insane and the top end ain’t bad either. It’s a very physical car to drive, so raw and noisy.” We can’t wait to see how this experience will affect the rebuild of Tristan’s MINCER Capri, which is currently awaiting a heart transplant.
The other standout of the weekend for me
TRISTAN OCKERS WAS OFFERED A DRIVE IN MICK DUGGAN’S NEW AND RELATIVELY UNTESTED NOVA, AND RAN 6.22@235MPH
was the Cortina of Wollongong racer Craige Lewis; it would be one of the nicest real street cars I’ve spotted recently. The attention to detail is awesome, and it’s powered by a 363ci Pro Line small-block Ford combination with a pair of Precision 70mm turbos. Running in the 275 class, Craige was up against some stiff competition, but with the awesome weather and track conditions he managed a personal best of 7.34 at an impressive 194mph, and a 4.7@153mph over the eighth.