SALUBRIOUS DIRT DRAGS
MUD-SPATTERED MAYHEM AT THE NINTH SALUBRIOUS DIRT DRAGS
Things got a little moist, but it didn’t stop the fun nor the funds raised for a good cause
AS RAIN fell over Archer Falls Airfield in the picturesque Sunshine Coast hinterland, a sense of serenity pervaded – that is, until the calm was shattered by the screams of a well-worked 186 grappling for traction. Welcome to the ninth Salubrious Dirt Drags. The weekend of 23-25 October saw more than 550 cars descended upon the airfield for a one-day blast of dirt racing, pin-ups, music and good times. And with the rain turning both the dirt drag strip and the makeshift skidpan – known as the Pit of Terror – to mud, this year’s Salubrious Dirt Drags became a festival of fishtailing, filth-flinging madness.
The party started on Friday night, with entrants setting up camp for the weekend to be front and centre for the following day’s main event. Racing began at 9am Saturday, with around 250 track entrants lining up to race their rides on the airfield’s dirt runway – everything from Ls-powered utes, revived original Holdens and old-school Chevs to backyard bangers built purely in hopes of surviving a single day of punishment. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the strip sat the Pit of Terror, where drivers could run amok in the muck.
“The goal is to get down the drag strip as fast and loose as you can, hit the deceleration cones and, if you feel up to it, do some hoops around the Pit of Terror or try to jump your car out of it,” said event manager Scott Law. “Some people seem like they want to wreck their cars just so they can go home and rebuild them!”
1: A number plate like ABUSED comes with certain expectations, and Duane Scott lived up to the hype and had everyone eating mud as he hit the loud pedal and slid the arse-end of his ’70 HG Premier around the Pit of Terror. Duane ripped the heart out of his Holden 13 years ago, ditching the stock-standard 186 and columnshift auto for a TH400, 9in and a worked 383
2: Darrin Suter thrashed his XW Fairmont from the moment the gates opened. “I took the running gear out of an XB and converted it to an eight,” he said. “It’s a basic Cleveland that’s been stroked to a 393. It’s still got the cast-iron heads, and it’s got Dick Johnson’s signature on the firewall!” Darrin’s had the XW for 25 years and jokes that he’ll be buried in it
3: “We were trying to build a tractor theme, and this is what we came up with,” Grain Lyne said of his Mad Max-ified Commodore. Allterrain rubber definitely helped the backyard build dig trenches in the mudpit, disappearing into holes that even the fourbies were avoiding. “I put 33in tractor tyres on the back, and it’s got an excavator air filter and a random exhaust,” Grain said
4: Tim Jenkins turned the drag strip into his very own skidpad in his carby Ls1-powered Holden WB ute. “I nearly hit the wall, but that’s all right,” he laughed. “It’s built for burnouts, track days and having fun.” Tim tore up what was left of the grass with some tight circlework as he found the end of the runway
5: “I caned it all day last year and today, and it’s still going,” said Kelhan Lyne of his AU Fairlane, which he bought for the princely sum of $350. The 4.0L was modified specifically for this year’s drags with the addition of a wild custom turbo system
6: Brett Rose’s 308-powered ’64 EH wagon is far from a grocery-getter. Brett bought the Holden with a 186 and didn’t waste any time chucking in the eight-banger and beefing up the running gear. “It’s got a Borgwarner diff, a custom radiator, HQ disc brakes on the front and drums on the rear,” Brett said