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…
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