Winternational wonderland

Professional drag racing is the fastest, quickest, loudest, smelliest, scariest motorsport in the world. Full stop.

If you combined Formula One with NASCAR, monster truck racing, land speed record attempts, the space shuttle taking off and a tear-gas attack you might get some idea of the violence and spectacle of this sport.

Drag racing began in the US, after WWII when hot rodders needed to get off the street to race safely. It was no different here; some of our biggest stars used to race in the streets for fun and money.

The two most popular classes in Australia are Top Fuel and Top Doorslammer. The elongated, flame-throwing Top Fuel dragsters are the F1 cars of drag racing, the pinnacle of the sport and the quickest wheel-driven machines on the planet. Top Doorslammers are wild, unpredictable caricature cars loosely based on production coupes and crowd favourites; think of them as the V8 Supercars of the quarter mile.

While F1, V8SC and NASCAR for example, talk horsepower in the hundreds, Top Fuel and Top Doorslammer measure supercharged power in the thousands, around 8000 for a Top Fueller and 3500 for a Top Doorslammer and this must be harnessed within 400 metres and 4.5 to 5.8 seconds.

Australia's greatest 'Slammer driver is the veteran, Victor Bray (the best Doorslammer drivers are over 50), a six-times champion and multiple world record holder. Now in the twilight of his illustrious career but still capable of winning, he is the biggest drag racing star in Australia and has been for 30 years.

Bray was the one of the original Doorslammer drivers, a category that came out of the appropriately-titled renegade Wild Bunch series. He was unbeatable for years and the first driver to bring major sponsorship to the category. An amiable giant with a mind like a steel-trap, Bray is to drag racing what Peter Brock was to touring cars, an icon. So what’s a Top Doorslammer like to race Victor?

“Doorslammers are the wildest drag cars because not only do they have explosive supercharged methanol-burning engines that make 3500-4000 horsepower, they’ve also got suspension [unlike a Top Fueller, which has none], which makes them hard to deal with that much power.

“The cars are so damn fast. At the Winters (son) Benny went to half-track (200 metres) in about 3.7 seconds doing 200-plus miles per hour. When you’re on the start line, you rev it up, and when you drop the clutch it’s like a bus hitting you up the arse.

“These things launch at 3.5-4Gs which reduces to about 1.5Gs at 400m. You can be doing 230-240mph, punch top gear, and you have so much horsepower that the rear tyres can’t ‘grab’ the racetrack. The back lifts up and the car gets a bit wobbly, it starts to smoke and you have to pedal back. They’re pretty wild to drive.”

Darren Morgan wrapped up his third Top Fuel title in seven years (the last two consecutively) at the recent Winternationals, the season-ending grand final. It was a major coup for a team of volunteers racing on a much smaller budget than some of the sport’s legendary outfits.

Morgan formed his team in 2007, two years after winning his first title for the Lamattina brothers in a car he tuned and prepared (they later got into Top Fuel with their own team) and within three years had his first golden ‘Christmas tree trophy’ -- named after the timed start light system -- with his own team. Morgan was quick from the start.

“When I got my licence in Sydney it was, and still is, the fastest licence ‘pass’ in this country and we were runner-up at that meeting -- it was quicker than (Aussie legend) Jim Read’s career best. I smacked my head on the dash when I pulled the parachutes!”

A Top Fuel race is the quickest motor race in the world and while an experienced driver sees things in slow motion, an awful lot happens in 4.5 seconds, says Morgan: “You focus on not smoking the tyres, you’ve got to be ready to get off the throttle. Tyre shake is the worst thing ever, you’re still suffering the after-effects two weeks later. I’ve burst the water vessels in my eyes before.

“If everything is going right they’re easy to drive, but even when the conditions and the car are perfect you are so wound up you can’t afford to relax. One time, days later, I remembered I’d seen a snake on the track,” Morgan added.

Morgan’s best ET of 4.61sec is not the quickest in the land -- on his budget he can’t afford to be -- so he must be the most consistent. “I’m just a school teacher and we need a sponsor for next year. We have equalled the record of Top Fuel titles in Australia on virtually no sponsorship. It’s cost us $17,000 per pass last season and if we can’t find a major backer we may not be out there next season.”

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