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“Meremere Dragway came alive to tyre smoke and methanol fumes on Sunday, November 20 for the IHRA Spring Nationals”
As a round of the IHRA National Series, the event saw all classes competing, although some without the types of numbers you’d hope for a national event.
Amongst the racers who did make the effort were a bunch who had not been seen for a while, such as Andrew ‘Squig’ Miles in his always impressive Sainty-powered Falcon.
He wasn’t alone in representing long-lost (or not so long-lost) door slammers, though, with the Craig Brown / Murray Smith ’55 Chev also hitting the track, along with Ces Miller’s oversized Impala
There was probably no one more looking forward to returning to the hot seat than Tony Marsh. Since his son Anthony has taken care of driving the family’s A/Fuel and Top Fuel cars for the last few seasons, the old boy’s been watching on from the sidelines.
He showed that he’s not afraid to pedal, though, getting behind the wheel of the A/Fuel car for a solid run.
Not to be outdone, Ants was soon back in the seat, and showing that the car could almost run as a bracket car, running constant five-second passes.
While not quite at the same level, it was great to see Ross Brown’s front-engine dragster debut. The Terry Bowden–built car runs a 200-inch wheelbase and a Marsh Motorsport–built 406-cube small block.
With it being Ross’s first time on the strip for well over a decade, understandably it was more about getting used to the car than setting the world alight.
Speaking of dragsters, Gubb’s Racing Team had their twin-turbo weapon out, and showed they weren’t just there to make up the numbers.
How many people could have predicted this line-up a few years ago? Six-second turbo dragster versus six-second turbo Altered, likely the first pass of its type ever to take place at Meremere.
Street cars were also prominent on the day, with Dave Moyle in his naturally aspirated Falcon ute and Mike Carlton in his supercharged Corvette playing in the low end of the nine-second zone.
Moyle’s itching to use the nitrous once more and drop into the eights, while Carlton’s confident he would have done so on the day had his transmission not had issues.
On the import side of things, Jason Horn was the man to watch with his newly reconfigured Mitsi Lancer, now showing a whole lot more potential than ever before, and he himself showing that he’s still not afraid to drive it hard.
Keep an eye on dragway.co.nz for full results.