Hundreds gathered to feel the ground rumble, see cars peel out in a cloud of smoke and cheer on racers burning down the drag strip in Wilson Creek last Sunday.
The Sunshine Coast Drag Racing Association (SCDRA) put on a fantastic show with 75 drivers racing for trophies and bragging rights. Save for a few pauses to allow for planes to land, the event ran smoothly and without incident, much to the relief of association president Wayne Taylor.
He said he spent days before the event worried about the forecast of rain, which could have ended the event before it even started.
"I was worried sick about the rain. We were setting up the day before and there was this steady heavy drizzle. The weather report said rain for Sunday too and it didn't look good," Taylor said.
But when he awoke on race day at 4 a.m. unable to sleep, he checked the weather forecast one last time.
"And there it was. One little cloud with no rain," Taylor recounted with glee.
The rain did stay away for most of the event, although things wrapped up quickly at the end when the rain started falling steadily.
Taylor was happy the entire event didn't have to be cancelled saying it would have been a huge disappointment to the racers, volunteers and hundreds of fans who came out.
There were five different categories to compete in on race day, which made for a diverse selection of vehicles. Some looked less than impressive, but showed unexpected power on the drag strip, while others looked the part, but failed to impress.
A crowd favourite was Nitro Mike Kuntz in his exhibition car doing wheel stands at 75 mph while setting off a carpet of sparks along the strip and blowing flames out the back of his ride to wild audience applause. He took home first place in the exhibition category with Roger Manson coming in second with his rapid-fire rear engine dragster, which was also a crowd pleaser.
In the hot rod division Brian McLennan took first place and Jim Oshvalda came in second. In the street rod category, Cathy Rumball came in first place with Mike Van Der Linden in second. Dave Crombie took the top spot in super street with Darren Hemstreet in second. And in the street machine category, Shelly McDade came in first with Allan Crane in second place.
Now the SCDRA will start getting ready for their August event, which is much bigger and draws dozens of racers from off-Coast.
