HARRY HAIG
COMING into 2019, Harry Haig admitted his Drag Challenge preparation had been somewhat relaxed. “We were still putting it together on Sunday morning,” he laughed. “It hasn’t made a pass since we ran here against Frank on Day Five of Drag Challenge 2018.” Given he went achingly close to taking out the Overall win that year, nailed the Turbosmart Outlaw Blown class win and ran some epic midsevens, there was merit to his decision. The 1860rwhp twin-turbo 540ci Chev fat-block retains the twin 88mm Garrett GT47 snails that first made an appearance at DC 2017, running methanol at the track and pump fuel on the street.
Day One saw Harry hand in an impressive 7.60@186mph to sit second Overall and at the top of the big-tyre cars in Turbosmart Outlaw Blown. Once racing finished and the sun set, Team Big Dawg hit the road to the Swan Hill photo stop. But while others stayed the night there, the HQ crew drove through a warm night on a marathon road leg all the way to Mildura. The big-tyre HQ struggled with grip early on Day Two, but came back later in the night to record a 5.20@130mph to keep his hand in the game and close the gap on leader Daniel Szabolics. However, it all came together for Harry and Pops on Day Three, as he ran the only four-second eighth-mile pass of DC19, cracking off a lightning-fast 4.90@151mph to take the Overall lead.
After a horror road leg to Portland where Pops broke a rocker arm, melted the throttle cable and pushed the front oil seal out, the South Coast Raceway eighth-mile tested Harry even further, with rain and cold temperatures not suiting the big-horsepower cars. Still, Harry’s regular lapping resulted in a 5.05@140mph on Day Four to keep him at the top of the leaderboard heading into the final day.
All the pressure was on Harry for Day Five, though he’d had a good omen on the road leg from Portland. “That was the first time Pops didn’t break down on the road,” he said. “We got in early in the morning, and as we were all going to sleep I realised we hadn’t stopped once, so I woke the boys up, because that is huge for us!” As all the top contenders made laps, Harry’s Day Five PB of 7.49@186mph meant Daniel Szabolics would need a six-second run to overhaul him at the top of the leaderboard. However, just after 9pm a huge downpour signalled the end of racing for DC19. Harry stood tall with the Overall and class win, leading Brendan Cherry home by six-tenths of a second. “This event kicked our arse for six years, so I don’t know what to feel right now,” a stunned Harry said after racing had been called. “It doesn’t feel real; I keep waiting for someone to tell me we’re going out again. Until Telfo or Scotty tells me it is all over, I don’t think I can believe it!”
HARRY ran Pops in single-turbo guise at the first three Drag Challenge events, starting out with essentially stock suspension and a 275 radial. He eventually killed the BBC 30km out of Calder on the 2016 event after successive engine-related failures in consecutive days. This led to a big makeover.
For 2017 Robby Abbott rebuilt the fat-block, pushing it to 540ci with twin 88mm Garrett GT47 turbos mounted on 6boost manifolds and a Holley Dominator ECU package tuned by Terry Seng from Paramount Performance. With over 1850hp going to terra firma, Harry had Fabrication Techniques in Shepparton add more barwork to stiffen Pops up, as well as liberating space in the rear for a beefy 315 tyre.
“As I went on, I met a lot more people, and through trying different things we eventually got it dialled in, growing and learning more and more,” Harry explains. “I started knocking around with Terry Seng and Robby Abbott, and we built a bit of a community around the car to make it better and faster.”
Pops’ PB currently stands at 7.40@190mph, but Harry doesn’t have an end goal in mind. “It was always just a thing to do Drag Challenge in, plus we burn around home and do a fair few pub trips in it,” he says. “I never thought we’d run a low eight or seven, and we’ll be knocking on the door of sixes with more time. That just shows you how far the technology has come.”