The Land Down Under has long laid claim to some of the toughest Top Fuel racers outside of the continental United States, and in this years’ NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, the Australians will be well-represented by the native Rapisarda Racing team. The Australian team, with regular driver Mark Mariana at the controls, traveled stateside last fall and campaigned the final two events on the NHRA schedule at Las Vegas and Pomona.

With the new season just a little over a week away, the Rapisarda team has announced that they will expand on their short stint last season by  competing in 12 events – or just over half of the schedule – in 2011 with Sydney Top Fuel driver Terry Sainty handling the driving duties. Team Manager Santo Rapisarda Jr. confirmed that the team had discussions with noted drivers Steve Torrence, Cory McClenathan, and Tommy Johnson Jr. before offering the gig to Sainty. If Sainty is unable to make any of the 12 scheduled events, former IHRA champion and NHRA national event winner Johnson will assume the driving role.

Rapisarda Racing’s schedule includes the Winternationals in Pomona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Topeka, Bristol, Norwalk, Brainerd, Indy, Phoenix, Vegas, and the season bookend in Pomona. The three-race Western Swing is considered a possibility, and if their points position warrants, more races could be added as the season progresses.

In an interview with Nhra.com, Sainty explained: “Santo is a very generous man. I am extremely proud and privileged to drive his car in the US. It is a great opportunity.”

“We will do the test session at Las Vegas (February 21-22) then go to Pomona before coming back to do the Willowbank (Top Fuel) round,” Rapisarda said. 

“We will then go back and do Vegas and Charlotte before coming back to Australia for the Nitro Champs; them go back to the US and do Atlanta and Topeka. We will be back home for the Winternationals (Willowbank), then return to do the rest of the NHRA events.”

Sainty will continue to drive his own Sainty Engineering Top fuel Dragster in ANDRA Pro Series events in Austrailia, while Rapisarda will campaign cars for Mariana and Mark Dobson in Australia at select events, as well.