Day One – THURSDAY 5 JANUARY

IT WAS powerfully evident straight off the bat that Street Machine Summernats 35 was going to be one for the books. We’d heard the hype about record numbers of entries and ticket sales ahead of the 35th running of Australia’s Biggest Horsepower Party, but the instant we drove through the gate on Thursday, the hype suddenly seemed very real. Historically, the Thursday at Summernats has been seen as a warm-up day, but as we settled in for a couple of frosty ones at the annual Milwaukee Street Machine of the Year VIP party at the close of play that evening, the consensus seemed to be that for a Thursday, it felt a hell of a lot like a Saturday.

Skid Row and the cruise route were absolutely pumping, the ever-popular City Cruise went down a treat, and the Last Chance Wildcard Shootout was fought out on the Rod Shop burnout pad. We saw the John Peterson Burnout Hall of Fame established, and burnout royalty like of Gary Myers, Peter Gray and Peter Grmusa inducted therein.

For the first time ever, the Meguiar’s Great Uncover took place on the Thursday night rather than the traditional Friday, with a record 24 cars unveiled to the assembled masses. Then, of course, we officially presented the Laurie Starling Memorial Scholarship, Milwaukee Young Street Machine of the Year, and Milwaukee Street Machine of the Year winners with the spoils of their respective victories at our shindig up the road at the George Harcourt Inn.

It was, by any conceivable metric, the biggest and raddest Thursday in Summernats history, which boded very well indeed for the rest of the event.