Quentin Feasts On Another Drag Racing Award.

By Mark Humphrey

Keilor, Vic/Aus. 4^th November 2015. Quentin Feast has added to his silverware collection with the addition of the Calder Park Drag Racing Street Outlaws Modified trophy after Ali Sead was unable to complete a re-run.  With both drivers red-lighting due to an incorrect Xmas tree setting it was decided to re-run the Street Outlaws Modified final to determine the champ. Unfortunately for Sead who had been experiencing mechanical issues for the latter part of the day, a re-run was out of the question handing the win over to Feast who earlier had posted a PB with a pass of 8.13 @169.9mph in his LH Torana which was outstanding considering the car was in complete street trim. Feast who had just taken out the Street Machine Drag Challenge the week before lined up after the final for a solo hit at trying to dip into the 7’s but unfortunately spun the bags on the start line.  Richard Dedood in a Holden Monaro picked up the Street Outlaws category with a win over George Haddad in his GT Falcon.

Promoter Peter Pisalidis ventured into the unknown by running the Street Outlaw finals on the Melbourne Cup Tuesday public holiday which proved to be disastrous with regards to car numbers with around two dozen vehicles including comp cars lining up to run the quarter. Of the two dozen or so cars only 7 were contesting the Street Outlaw series which was disappointing. Pisalidis was quick to point out that the racing on the day was exceptional from the competitors and after a dozen rounds contested over an extended period due to the track upgrades the competition on finals day was nothing short of quality. To drive your car to the track, post a 169.9mph pass and then stop in for a counter meal on the way home in the same car is what the Street Outlaw Series is all about. Pisalidis has vowed to keep with the series hoping to see it grow over the years to become an elite street car event.

Although the car count was low on the drag racing side of things the same could not be said for the Kingpin Kuztums Thunder Road event which had tied into the Cup day billing. Kingpin promoter Rob Bellio had put together an event that included a show n shine, trade stalls, live music from some of Melbourne’s best Rock a Billy bands, track cruising and drag racing match ups from some of the best Gasser drag cars going around. Hundreds of spectators had ventured into Calder to catch the Rock a Billy lifestyle event which carries its own signature within the Melbourne car scene. Although the promoters have vowed to leave the Melbourne Cup day to the animal horsepower variety, expect Kingpin Kuztums to share a billing at the iconic drag racing venue in the future.

Drag racing continues at Calder with a Friday night street meet pencilled in for November the 13^th.

Click on the link for more details:https://www.facebook.com/calderparkdragracing/?fref=ts

Kingpin Kuztums next event is their Xmas show which is scheduled for the 29^th of November.

For more details go to:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009446201545&fref=ts

Drag racing returns to Victoria with round 3 of the ANDRA Summit Series at Portland’s Fuchs South Coast Raceway on the 14^th & 15^th of November. A huge event at one of the nations premiere coastal drag racing venues and one event not to be missed.

For more detail click on the link.http://www.southcoastraceway.com/

Looking to have a bet on the cricket or maybe the MotoGP?

THUNDER ROAD 15 To Take Over Calder Park Drag Racing

On Melbourne Cup Day

By Mark Humphrey

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 30th September 2015. Calder Park Drag Racing will be transformed into a Street and Hot Rod festival this coming November with promoter Peter Pisalidis opening up the venue on Melbourne Cup day to host a different type of horsepower with hundreds of street rods expected to join the finalists of the Street Outlaws series for one massive day of rock n roll entertainment that will include 4 live bands headlined by Melbourne's iconic rockabilly band Rumblin Wolf. 

Rockabilly lifestyle entertainment king Rob Bellio is joining with Pisalidis to bring in his extremely popular Kingpin Kuztums lifestyle event which will feature a classic pre 78 chrome bumper show n shine, trade stalls, ladies hairdressers, fashion from back in the day, a tattoo artist on hand, Kingpin Kuztums rockabilly clothing and of course live music belting out over the complex throughout the day with some of Melbournes finest rockabilly bands taking to the stage.

For the Hot Rodders a special area will be set aside in the Calder Park pit area to house these pristine examples of custom motoring with entrants having 2 opportunities to go cruising the track. Pisalidis has confirmed that more than likely there will be a rod cruise to kick off the day with a second track cruise during the afternoon break. Rodders will have the opportunity to cruise the famous Calder Park circuit racing track during 2 x 1 hour cruise sessions. There is also planned drop the flag drag racing sessions exclusively for the custom rods and pre 78 street cars although this is dependent on pre entry levels. Pisalidis confirmed that Hot Rodders are invited to join in with the normal test session cars if pre entry numbers don't meet the requirements. Entry fee for the show n shine and cruise are $25 per person which includes the 2 cruise sessions. An addition $50 will get your show n shine entry lining up on Calder's newly re-furbished drag racing strip going head to head against your mate.

Calder Park Drag Racing's Street Outlaws series will culminate with finals across all 4 categories on the day. Having run over a 10 round series the finals had to be put on the back burner due to track refurbishment activities and upgrades. With several more sessions available for the street outlaws guys the top 16 qualification cut-off will certainly be hotting up over the next few weeks.

Whether your a street car fan, a dude from the hot rod scene or just into live music, the Kingpin Thunder Road 15 event is one event not to miss this year. 

Go to Calder Park Drag Racing facebook page or Kingpin Kuztums facebook page for more details.

Video Highlights of Calder Park Drag Racing re-opening day

Calder Park Drag Racing

Test N Tune 13th September 2015

Final cut capturing all the day's action from the competition cars.

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Street Test N Tune Sessions

By Mark Humphrey

Keilor, Vic/Aus. 16th September 2015. With the re-opening of Calder Park Drag Racing done and dusted attention now turns to this Friday night's Fast Friday Street Meet. With weather conditions looking good for the Friday night meet promoter Peter Pisalidis is hoping for a good turnout of vehicles and spectators with action scheduled to run from 6pm through to 10.30pm. Gates open at 4.30pm Friday night. Get in early to get down the track.

Below is a compilation of last Sunday's street action.

GM StreetFord StreetImports Street

The Stars Have Aligned For Calder’s Re-Opening.

By Mark Humphrey

Keilor, Vic/Aus. 10th September 2015. The long awaited re-opening of Calder Park Drag Racing is just about on us with final preparations being carried out by Calder Park Drag Racing promoter Peter Pisalidis to ensure the best possible conditions to re-ignite drag racing at the iconic dragstrip. 

After investing a considerable amount of his own money into replacing asphalt, adding additional concrete to the start, cleaning and re-painting the staging areas, Peter Pisalidis has finally got a smile on his face with the track prep going much better than expected and well on track for the grand re-opening this Sunday. Talking to Pisalidis you couldn't help but get excited about the future of Melbourne drag racing with a successful launch last night on Channel 31's In Pit Lane with Brett Ramsay. Modified Eliminator star Jess Turner was Ramsay's special guest last night on the show and outlined the changes Pisalidis has made to the racing surface saying she was keen to roll out on Sunday for the test n tune meeting. Ramsay noted last night that although it was only a test n tune day it had the feeling of a big meeting with so much importance riding on the event. 

Talking to people around the traps the same could be said with many excited to have a run down the re furbished track which for many will bring back fond memories of the good ol days. It is vital moving forward that the Melbourne community support the venue and all the work that Pisalidis has done to get racing back up again at Calder Park with a strong turnout expected for the opening day.

With regards to racing, Pisalidis has put out an invite to South Australian racers to make the journey over to Calder to join in with what is expected to be a good showing of both street and competition Victorian cars and bikes. The track is prepped and looking a million bucks according to Pisalidis "Yep the track is coming up good. The rubber is going down well, really well in fact so I expect it will be as good as we can get it" he said. The process of applying glue and rubber has taken Pisalidis just on 3 days to complete and is the final piece in this long awaited jigsaw puzzle. 

Gates will open at 9am with the first cars scheduled to lay rubber at 11am. Pisalidis has suggested that everyone will be looked after with an extended day of racing if required. The day is scheduled to finish around 4pm but Pisalidis has the option of running on a further 60 to 90 minutes if required. “As we don't take entries for a test n tune we really don't have any idea of how many cars will turn up. We hope that there is plenty of interest around for racers to come down and have a run. I have the option of running longer to make sure everyone has a fair go" he said. Pisalidis added "people should get to the track on time and allow plenty of time to get through scrutineering to give themselves every chance of having a busy day. We will have segregated staging lanes for street and comp cars with the aim of giving everyone an equal go" he said.

With the recent passing of comp drag racer and long-time Calder regular Craig Brewer, a muscle car cruise has been coordinated to roll into Calder just after gates open with the cars being on display in the pit area throughout the day. As is the tradition with Calder Park Drag Racing, fans can take a stroll through the pits checking out the pristine machinery and watching race crews go to work setting up their machines for their next run. Hard surfaces are provided all throughout the pit area making it ideal to rock up in your cool gear. Food and drink outlets are also found in the pit area making this area a hive of activity.

With the weather forecast showing 24c and sunny, the day is shaping up as being a cracker day of drag racing, one which I’m sure will long be remembered for kick starting drag racing in Melbourne.

See you there bright and early!

Calder Park Drag Racing Action.

       Calder Park Drag Racing Upgrades

By Mark Humphrey

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 20^th August 2015. Track upgrade works at Calder Park Drag Racing continue to meet targets with the extension of the concrete racing surface completed today. Although running a touch behind the original schedule track promoter Peter Pisalidis is happy with the progress to date. “We have a number of targets set out in the rectification program with the extension of the concrete surface out to around the 330 mark as one of the key points” he said. Pisalidis added “it was frustrating in the beginning as we had to change the original start time due to circumstances outside of our control but today marks a significant point in the program. We have been getting lots of positive feedback about the track upgrades and the future of racing at Calder Park and I’m definitely getting excited about our re-opening day which will be a Test n Tune session open to all racers” he said.

Now that the extension of the concrete racing surface has been completed attention now shifts to the upgrade works on the asphalt racing surface namely the bumps in both lane 1 and lane 2 between the 600 and 1000 foot marks. Pisalidis confirmed that works will start on levelling out the bumps in the track early next week and will be completed by weeks end provided the contractors are not faced with adverse weather conditions. From there the attention shifts back to the recently laid concrete surface where surface grinding will ensure a perfectly flat surface from the existing start line out to the end of the freshly laid concrete surface. Although the grinding will be held off for a couple of weeks Pisalidis is hopeful of running the re-opening day on Sunday September the 6^th. “Yeah I’m hopeful that we will be ready to go on the 6^th but it depends on the weather going forward. The re-opening will definitely be a Sunday so if we miss the 6^th due to foul weather then we will just go to the 13^th” he said. Pisalidis added “racers should keep an eye on the Calder Park Drag Racing website for further updates with regards to the re-opening day. I have had a lot of interest from racers keen to run down the up-graded racing surface so I’m expecting the day to be pretty special” he said.

Pisalidis is looking forward to finalising the works and getting on with racing. The Calder Park Drag Racing calendar will see some minor alterations to it once the ANDRA National Series currently under negotiation has been finalised. For further updates on the calendar go to 

 http://www.calderparkdragracing.com.au/

CALDER PARK DRAG RACING IS GO!!

CALDER PARK BACKS ANDRA!!

By Mark Humphrey

Melbourne, Vic/Aus. 10^th July 2015. The Jane Corporation has confirmed what the Victorian drag racing public has been itching to hear for months and that is that work on the Calder Park Drag Racing facility is finally going ahead which could not have come at a better time for the governing body of the sport in ANDRA.

In a statement released today, Rodney Jane has thrown his weight behind ANDRA and the 2 corporate owned drag racing facilities being Calder Park and Adelaide International Raceway noting that the tracks will be running ANDRA events into the foreseeable future.

This is the news that drag racers across the country should be happy to read as it now gives ANDRA a solid platform to relaunch their group 1 championship which will no doubt be a huge relief for the Summit Sportsman Series. 

With the threat of the Revolution starting their own group 1 series, the plight of the sportsman racer was a touch sketchy to say the least with the Revolution having no contingency plans in place at their launch to support the sportsman racers. ANDRA had indicated that they still had a sportsman championship series scheduled in for the 2015/16 series which was a relief for the category after Tony Wedlock had earlier dropped the bomb shell.

So the lifeblood of Australian drag racing being the sportsman series can now look forward to competing alongside their group 1 counterparts at major drag racing venues across Australia with plenty of spectators on hand to cheer on the sportsman heroes. 

This is so exciting to know that Top Sportsman, my favourite category Supercharged Outlaws, Competition Bike and the rest of the working class brackets will have some bling time opportunity as the support card to group 1 championship racing at selected venues. The 2015/16 Sportsman Series calendar did originally list standalone rounds such as Alice Springs, Mildura and Portland which have been popular with spectators, but for sheer exposure for sportsman racers, there is nothing like a group 1 event to bring in the fans. Willowbank Raceway ran a highly successful standalone round of the 2014/15 Summit Sportsman Series earlier in the year and although the entrant numbers were excellent the spectator count was down a touch which was a little disappointing considering the quality of machinery on hand. I could be jumping the Sportsman Series gun a bit but when you look at what's on the table for ANDRA as far as venues go, you can't help but think the Calder Park announcement is the band aid they were looking for.

Right now ANDRA has Hidden Valley and Calder Park at their disposal. If Rino D'Alfonso wants to run group 1 drag racing at Adelaide International Raceway then it will be an ANDRA series only which gives ANDRA 3 quality tracks in 3 states which is exactly the same as the Revolution. Swan Hill is due to come on line early into the new year which could effectively make it 4 tracks at ANDRA's disposal although Swan Hill is yet to make a decision on which way they will roll. Regardless of the Swan Hill decision, ANDRA now has a platform to add to their round 1 events in Hidden Valley and Alice Springs and can now tie up the sportsman series with ANDRA supporting tracks which must be the best news ever for sportsman racers given the current turmoil. 

Just a couple of points of interest with regards to the Jane Corporation announcement.

Rino D’Alfonso said in an interview with Sportingscribe.com last week that he needed to run Top Fuel in order to get the spectator count up which makes sense given the popularity of the category. From what I understand D'Alfonso cannot run a round of the Revolution series which cuts out Top Fuel leaving him no alternative but to run with ANDRA Top Fuel racing. I can't understand why this would be an issue for D'Alfonso as he was never included in the Revolution calendar to host a round in the first place. This could now be a blessing for D'Alfonso as ANDRA may in fact give him additional rounds if they schedule along the lines of the Revolution. It makes sense that If they can't use Willowbank, Sydney and Perth for their group 1 championship then they need to utilize the tracks that are supporting them which quite possibly could mean more high class events for Adelaide and D'Alfonso.

Calder Park will want to have Top Fuel racing on their calendar and like Adelaide International Raceway they too can only run with the ANDRA championship. Given that Calder was once the heartbeat of the industry you would expect that ANDRA would schedule a round or 2 of Top Fuel racing at the iconic venue. One thing to remember with Calder is that it is potentially the fastest track in Australia and that is purely down to the fact that Melbourne has the best atmospheric conditions in the land. So do you think the Rapisarda outfit will want to run in these conditions in front of thousands and thousands of fans? Absolutely!! This doesn't mean that Rapisarda and the rest of the group 1 guys cannot run with the Revolution, not at all, but what it does mean is that if they want to run at Calder then it will be under the ANDRA championship banner.

Like it or not Australian drag racing needs Melbourne and currently the only way to race at Melbourne is under the ANDRA banner. For now though, Victorians and indeed Australia’s drag racing fraternity can start popping the champagne corks as this will be the start of big things to come in the sport of drag racing and in particular the Summit Sportsman Series. Let’s go racing!

Given the latest developments, it's time we were enlightened by ANDRA about on-going developments and the sportsman racing series. We are currently putting together an interview with ANDRA and expect to have a full report in Wednesday's edition of sportingscribe.com.

Calder Park Release

In light of recent events, the management of Calder Park and Adelaide International Raceways felt compelled to reconfirm our commitment to the sport of Drag Racing, ANDRA and ANDRA Championship Racing.  

Over the past few years we have enjoyed working with the Drag Racing community, the ANDRA CEO Malcom Bulley, the ANDRA Board, Members and Staff to return drag racing to our venues. 

We look forward to continuing our support for Drag Racing and ANDRA by hosting many more events in the future.

We are also pleased to announce that Stage 1 of the upgrade works to the Calder Park Drag Strip will be commencing shortly, one step closer to making it the world class surface you’ve been waiting for!

Please remember to show your support for the sport of Drag Racing by attending as many events as you can!

Alice Springs Inland Dragway needs your support!

They are looking for Supercharged Outlaw competitors to make up the required number to qualify as a points round. Calling on the best class in Australia to support the Alice crew.

All late competitors are welcome to register for round 1 of the Summit Sportsman Series.

Sportingscribe.com will be on deck to shoot the round with footage going back to Summit in the USA.More info: http://cadra.com.au/page/desert-nationals

Online Entry: http://www.dragresults.com.au/asid-results/asid-online-entry.html
Entry List: http://www.dragresults.com.au/asid-results/desert-nationals-entry-list.html