WILD AT HEART

IWANT to start this month by paying tribute to John Peterson and John ‘Crazyman’ Taylor, two of the most endearing characters in the history of Australian drag racing, who both passed away recently. John Peterson was a legend, the original burnout king who introduced the art of doing doughnuts in this country. His exploits in his black Ford Zephyr back in the 1970s and early 80s are part of drag racing folklore.

I first came across John at a car show in Goulburn, NSW. When he started doing doughnuts, I thought his throttle had stuck. I was mesmerised at what I was seeing and couldn’t comprehend how he was able to control the car. I decided to give it a try, and to this day, I still love entertaining fans by doing burnouts and doughnuts.

John was the motivation behind Team Bray developing dedicated burnout cars, and without question a lot of the Street Machine Summernats ‘smoking-tyre’ rituals and traditions can be traced back to John.

I was honoured to speak at his funeral, where over 1000 people turned up. John was a founding member of the Ford Zephyr & Zodiac Club, and I reckon there were over 100 Zephyrs and Zodiacs lining the road outside the funeral parlour. People travelled from all over the country to pay their respects, and I saw many faces from the Calder Park era I hadn’t seen for over 30 years.

‘Crazyman’ John Taylor was one of the real characters in the sport, best remembered for his exploits driving a fearsome Nitro Funny Car and a Fiat Topolino altered in the 60s.

Back in the days of Castlereagh Dragway, the story goes that John earned the moniker ‘Crazyman’ from his habit of having his ’chute sitting in his lap and throwing it out the hole in the roof of his Topolino to pull him up in the top end.

The funniest thing I can remember about John is the time he was running at Calder Park. He goes down the track and suffers a massive nitro fire – there’s flames and smoke everywhere – and the commentators at the time, Darryl Eastlake and Col Russell, are screaming: “Oh no, his fire extinguishers haven’t gone off and he’s in real trouble.” Finally, he pulls the car up and jumps out with his firesuit still smoking. Eastlake asks him: “Why didn’t your fire extinguishers go off?” John, as cool as a cucumber, replies: “They didn’t go off because I didn’t want to use them. They cost about $250 to refill, and I wasn’t going to pay that sort of money when there were fire crews on the scene that would put out the fire for free!” Typical of the man, and just one of many stories told on the day about this unique character.

In his final days, John’s health was failing due to complications from diabetes and he knew he didn’t have much time left, so he went around saying goodbye to all his friends – he even found time to drop into the TBR workshop.

Both funerals celebrated lives well lived and

AT THE US NATIONALS, AUSSIE WAYNE NEWBY QUALIFIED 14TH IN THE QUICKEST TOP FUEL FIELD EVER – QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENT FOR THE RAPISARDA TEAM, WHICH HADN’T RACED IN AMERICA FOR OVER 12 MONTHS

brought home the fact that Johns P and T were characters that helped make the sport what it is today.

I also want to pass on congratulations to the Aussie teams that raced at the US Nationals. It’s without question the biggest and most prestigious event on the NHRA calendar; if you get to go to only one meeting in America, then ‘the Big Go’ is the one.

Aussie Wayne Newby qualified 14th in the quickest Top Fuel field ever – quite an achievement for the Rapisarda team, which hadn’t raced in America for over 12 months. Unfortunately, ‘Newbs’ lost to NHRA front

runner Billy Torrence in the first round.

Sydneysider Jason Grima, who won the ANDRA Pro Stock title in 2013, did well to qualify eighth in Competition and was unlucky to go out in the first round. Jason has a workshop in St Louis and plans to race at more events later this year.

To me, the standout performance came from ex-queenslander Shane Tucker in Pro Stock. Earlier this year Shane and his dad, Rob, were struggling to make the field, usually landing on or around the bump spot. However, at Indy they stepped up a notch, and to qualify 15th was a great effort. The downside was losing to three-time champ Jason Line by .046sec in Round One. Shane’s reaction times and talent behind the wheel are up there with the best in the class. What the team needs to take the next step is a bit extra in terms of horsepower.

A return to race at the US Nationals is still on my bucket list. In 2005 Ben drove a Corvette alongside Troy Critchley in the AMS team. We put a lot of time and effort in the lead-up to the meet, including going out testing a couple of times at St Louis. Ben qualified, won the first round and then came up against Jay Payne, one of the superstars of the category. Ben lost by .001 second. Jay then got a bye round, then a no-show and was handed a place in the final. Sometimes we wonder what might have been if Ben had just got around Jay in that first round. Who knows?

After a five-month break, the 2019-2020 400 Thunder season will get underway at Sydney Dragway in November. There’s been a lot happening in the off-season. Much of the speculation surrounds the calendar, with Calder Park and Adelaide Raceway looking likely to be added to the race program.

The news that reigning Pro Slammer champ Paul Mouhayet won’t be racing next season is a real blow to the category. Paul and his team, Moits Racing, brought a new level of professionalism into the sport, and to win back-to-back titles was a magnificent achievement. He’s a top bloke, and I don’t think it will be long before we see Paul back racing.

Good news to see that West Australian Kelvin Lyle, who destroyed his Camaro at Willowbank in January, will be back racing in Sydney.

Gazing into the crystal ball, I think that we will see the top teams running in the 5.50s this year. A 5.60 will always get you in the field, but if you want to win, then you will need to have potentially a 5.50 ready to slap on the table.

If I had to stick my neck out and pick the leading contender to win the championship, I’d say Scott Maclean, if he can find the time out of his business life. However, don’t write off John Zappia, Steve Ham or young Ben Bray. Basically, anyone on the entry list only needs to have a good day to take home the Christmas tree.

Don’t think I won’t have my eye on the prize as well. Been a while since I’ve had a win.