It was about as good a day as the Melbourne area could muster for this time of year to kick off proceedings for Day One of Street Machine Drag Challenge at Calder Park Raceway. Cloudy but warm, the historic track would see the event’s largest crowd break the beams and kick off what will undoubtedly be a grueling week of racing and long road sections en route between tracks.
The basic breakdown of classes is: four classes for the serious players – Radial Blown, Radial Aspirated, Outlaw Blown, Outlaw Aspirated – and Dial Your Own for the rest of the field. The classes are pretty self-explanatory, and we can definitely expect to see some fierce competition at the pointy end of the Blown classes.
Calder Park was built well before most cars were running in the single-digits, and since then, the length of the braking area has grown to be a safety concern for many of the faster types. So, to make it easier and safer for the big guns, both Radial and Outlaw Blown would run 1000ft instead of the full 1320. This may seem unfair in some ways when it comes to competition ETs, but remember each day’s results are added together, not averaged, so standings will still be balanced in the Blown classes.
A sprinkling of oil-downs delayed the day’s racing here and there, but all cars handed in timeslips by the end of the day and there was already some close battles unfolding up front. All five of the quickest competitors ran into the sixes and those leaders were split between both Radial and Outlaw Blown quite evenly.
In third after Day One is Adam Rogash, with his blue VK Commodore ALLSHOW. With almost zero sleep in the few days lead up, Adam and his crew worked tirelessly to fix a failed bearing in their gear drive before the event. He put down a 6.59@169mph to kick things off.
In second is one of the favorites this year, Frank Marchese in his white XW Fairmont. His old Ford trapped over 200mph a few months ago in testing and is capable of running very deep into the 7’s. After going 6.56@168mph today, he’ll be one to watch out for once he gets the chance to stretch its legs on a full quarter-mile tomorrow at Swan Hill.
Day One’s best result of 6.49@170mph goes to Harry Haig in his crusty-looking HQ Holden. Another entrant to already be in a sleep deficit, Harry had been thrashing to get everything ready before leaving for the track at 4.30am this morning. Considering how battle-hardened he is from multiple years on HOT ROD Drag Week, he may have the experience and determination to stay in the top of the pack throughout the week.
After a full day of racing, it was time to hit the blacktop for a 335km (208mi) drive to Swan Hill Dragway. One mandatory stop was held at the old train station in the historic town of Elmore. Aside from that, it was plenty of typical Australian country roads, wheat fields and a beautiful afternoon for the entrants.
Check out the video wrap up of the day, the gallery of images, and stay tuned each day of the week as we cover Street Machine Drag Challenge in Australia!
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