Sydney Dragway saw a brand-new type of race recently run by the Pro Drag Racing Championship (PDRC). This saw four of the regular professional car and bike categories: Pro Alcohol, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle being run with a new Pro Import category.  Additionally, it was also the Grand Final of the local state championships for the track itself.

It was the first of three events on the PDRC roster for the 2024-25 Championship Season, with the remaining rounds being run at the Nitro Champs in Sydney in May, and the season-ending Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. While the Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike, and Pro Mod are familiar, the other two have been adapted to Australian conditions. Pro Alcohol is a mix of alcohol funny cars, dragsters, and altered. Pro Import combines Rotary, four- and six-cylinder powered cars together, and it proved to be a great success.

This saw Competitors in the five championship categories score points that count towards a bracket crown over the course of the three events. Almost fifty entries across the board faced the starter with 15 entries vying for the Pro Mod title.

The event was to be run over two days, however, Friday afternoon qualifying was rained out after persistent showers frequented the track during the day. Again, on Saturday morning light drizzle stopped proceedings for five or ten minutes on a couple of occasions, and in the end, this added more time to the schedule that saw the event finish at 12:20 am.

The event saw the debut of two second-generation racers – Cheyne Phillips in Pro Alcohol and Thomas Leake in Pro Stock. Phillips, is the son of Gary Phillips, who is undoubtedly the most successful winning drag racer, anywhere – period. He faced nine other drivers; however, things didn’t go as planned. Phillips’ red Chevy Monte Carlo lifted off the ground on his first run and became quite the handful.

At the other end of the spectrum reigning Top Alcohol champion, Russell Mills picked up where he left off last year with back-to-back 5.529 and 5.519 winning runs in his unique black streamliner dragster. This put him in the A final, where he faced the Ford Mustang of Chris Hargrave. The funny car driver had peeled off 5.648 and 5.572 winning runs. On the money run, Hargrave strapped a hole shot on the traveling accelerating liquorice strap (.028 to .085), however, it wasn’t enough to hold off his fast-closing opponent who clicked the win light with a 5.534 to 5.600 victory. “This has been an awesome event”, Mills stated after the race. “I now have to get used to trying to defend my championship from last year,” he added.

For Thomas Leake, it was a rushed program to put him in the seat for this race, with a last-minute entry. Unfortunately for him, he faced defending Pro Stock champion, Robert Deckert twice who took 7.025 and 6.955 wins to put him in the A final. There, he faced the surprising North Queensland racer, John Barbagello, in his Ford Escort who had stamped out 7.014 and 6.985 winning passes, both on sizable hole-shots. In the final, he did it again to Dekert when his .053 reacted 6.997 and turned back a .104 initiated 6.955. After the race, Barbagello said, “We are just trying our best and luckily, we got the job done”.

As I mentioned above there were fifteen entries for the Pro Mod field with the A final coming down to a blower versus turbo tussle. This saw the gorgeous yellow ’71 Plymouth Barracuda of Queenslander, Peter Gratz, face the sleek red Mustang of Zoran Gajic. Gratz’s 6.054 turned back a red lighting Neil Murphy on a quicker 5.911, and then a 5.945 outran Rob Campese back on a 6.341.

Gajic’s first round 5.917 was followed by a bracket like 5.913 in the second stanza to put him into the final against Gratz. This time around, it was Gajic who left the line first by a small margin, and then just extended his lead as his 5.896 stayed ahead of Gratz’s 5.946. Despite the loss, this was the first A final for the likable Queenslander who returned to competition after an 18-year break. “My crew was great today, but we just need to find a little bit more to be on the 5.85 dial-in”, Gratz announced following the race.

The Pro Import eliminator enticed six entries to go for a $2000 prize from the Enviro Waste Services Group, in what was a Rotary versus 2JZ battle. Sam Sadek had a 26B Rotary motor in his black Camaro while eventual finalist, Frank Tarabay was at the wheel of the Toyota Camry of the late Lizzi Musi.

Tarabay had recorded 5.970 and 5.985 wins to make it to the A final, where he faced Paul Mouhayet in a Toyota Celica. He had not been as quick as Tarabay recording 6.101 and 6.13 wins. He therefore knew that he had to cut a good light to match it with the quicker Camry. That is exactly what he did, cutting a .064 light and running  6.043 to his opponent who used a sleepy .237 activated 5.997 to lose to the Celica driver. Mouhayet was driving Gas Racing’s Toyota Celica and commented after the win that the little car “never let him down”.

Other winners on the day included Joe Gattellari in Top Sportsman, Brook Rapisarda in Modified, Sean Maher in Super Sedan, Darren Foley in Extreme Bike, Michael Borg in Modified Bike, Gareth Rogers in Boosted Outlaws, Brian Atta-Singh in Super Street, Joe Catanzariti in Super Gas, Jessy Barnes in Street Bike, Zane Condello in Junior Dragster while Joshua Bertenshaw won Junior Drag Bike.

Overall, this new format had everything – excellent entries, close pairings, hole shots galore, and a successful debut for this new concept. Alas, the only thing this event didn’t have was a crowd – there were only ten people in the stands for the final run of the night (admittedly it was 12.20 am). Let’s hope that this sees a turnaround for the next stop on the roster.