The Ballarat Drag Racing Club Inc held its annual big race on Sunday the 10th of February. Although the skies look ominous in the morning, they soon cleared and the sun was shining as the pit area filled to capacity. The major sponsor of the meeting, Lusky Automotive Reconditioners, provided two race vehicles for display; Gary McGrath's 'Croc' Nitro Funny Car and the Top Fuel bike of Peter Pearce. These two vehicles were the showcase of the event with many of the 2500 to 3000 spectators never having seen their like before.

A major highlight of the day was the appearance of Gary McGrath's Nitro Funny Car. Apart from wowing the crowed with the stunning paint work, when the Funny Car was fired for a warm up there were slack jaws as far as the eye could see. The Mayor of Ballarat was in attendance and had a good chat with Gary and crew and was very impressed with their operation and friendliness.

When the Funny Car arrived on the start line for an exhibition pass the whole fence line was full. Every spectator stood in silence as Gary was strapped in by his son. John Marshall gave the signal to fire up and the body was lowered. There is not a lot or run up and as Gary passed through the water he blipped the throttle resulting in instant tyre smoke. This simply astounded the spectators as Gary kept the boot in for the 8th mile. The crowd and officials were very impressed and the team received a very long and loud applause. Unfortunately, after the burnout Gary couldn't select reverse gear and had to shut down. Although the car did not make a demonstration pass, the job that the crew did for the whole day including setting up their complete operation, talking to the members of the public and just being in attendance certainly raised the profile of drag racing in Ballarat and our major sponsor Lusky Automotive. The efforts were very much appreciated by every member of the Ballarat Drag Racing Club.

The existing track record of 5.35, set by Graeme Morrell on his Nitro Harley, was lowered yet again by another bike. This time it was Peter Pearce on his Top Fuel bike which ran a very strong 4.91 at only 137 MPH! This was very rewarding as Pete was only on the throttle for the first half of the track.

Another highlight of the day was the appearance of Bluey 2, Victorian Police Operation Dragsafe's new car. This is a VT Commodore with a 355 Holden which was built by Mike Trhar and produces over 550hp. The car is still in testing and should run some good numbers once sorted.

Qualifying
Qualifying kicked off at 10:30am with the staging lanes kept busy with many vehicles getting in over 6 qualifying runs. Again, the number of racers turning up was very positive. Overall, there were 4 car brackets, 2 bike brackets and an exhibition bracket.

Super Gas
This meeting featured a Super Gas bracket running on a pro tree 6.40 fixed index. There were five competitors in the bracket. Qualifying was very exciting with three drivers getting straight into 'the zone' as is usually the case with Super Gas. Stuart McBain in his Gemini ran a 6.39, Darrell Mathieson's big block powered Torana LX hatchback a 6.41 and Chris Johnson's 400 chev powered Galant a 6.43.

The final of the Super Gas bracket was a repeat of the 2002 Nationals, where two Ballarat racers faced off in the first round. The result was reversed this time aground with Darrell Mathieson in his Torana hatchback taking the win with a 6.41 to Stuart McBain's better reacting but breaking out 6.39. A big thanks went to Darryl Stephens from St Helens Park in NSW with his ex Super Flow Heads Capri who went away with the Best Presented award.

Super Sedan
The final of the Super Sedan bracket came down to two of the quickest runners in the bracket. Allister Paulin is a regular at the Ballarat track in his 350 powered HB Torana and he faced Gary Upton, another regular in his super neat 351 powered TF Cortina. Both orange cars left the line with even reactions and lead to a double breakout. The win went to Paulin with a 7.54 against Upton's 7.80.

Super Street
16 cars faced up for the first round of Super Street bracket, with the final coming down to Derek Wills in his 350 powered FC Holden and the 351 powered 34 Ford Hiboy roadster of Mick Ellis. The dial in for the final was a heads up 8.10. Wills, after being sharp on the lights all day, out reacted Ellis and ran through with a backing off 8.36 which was enough to ensure victory.

Street
Street was a very tough bracket with many cars running right on their dial-ins and this bracket was always going to be decided on reaction times. Mick Dittko had his 351 powered XD Falcon running consistently and made it through to the final. His opponent was our only female racer on the day, Ballarat regular Lucinda Rowland in her BOSS XT Fairmont. Lucinda drove very well and her jewel green XT is a one very nice car. Dittko dialed in with a 9.25 against Rowlands 9.40. Although Rowland out reacted Dittko, she couldn't quite hang on with the white XD passing her right on the line.

Bikes
Comp bike had Glen Wooster doing some laps on his 1394cc Kawasaki (the new paint job looking fantastic). Wooster battled all day with Tony Frost on his 1058cc powered Kawasaki and came out victorious. Phil Parker was also testing on the day with his high powered turbo comp bike. The street bike bracket went to Adam Edwards on his 2000 model Honda CBR 900 narrowly defeating Andrew Bell.

Burnout
The best burnout award from Chris Mathews Catering went to Matt Brame in his 350 powered HJ Holden. Matt has now fitted a progressive nitrous kit and is hoping this will push the car to much quicker e.t.s.

Matt Forbes and Les Waight
B.D.R.C Race Committee