Former St Kilda and Swans superstar Barry Hall has proved he can excel at two sports by coming third overall in the recent Street Machine Drag Challenge, steering his VH Commodore to third outright and the competition’s quickest elapsed time.

The veteran of 289 AFL matches (pictured below with his children) has a serious horsepower addiction and has said “I was always a car guy playing footy” after being raised by his mechanic father and getting into cars – especially Holdens – at a young age. 

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He bought the Commodore about 18 months ago and was ecstatic with his results at the Challenge, which saw competitors race five times in five days. The rules state that they had to drive their road-legal, road-registered cars from track to track, which meant covering more than 1400km on public bitumen.

“Well where do I start? 2026 Street Machine Drag Challenge was definitely challenging … but my team was up for it and never blinked an eye … After a strong start, we had a shocker at Portland [in Victoria] – but we stayed positive, found a way and fought back,” Hall wrote on Facebook. 

“I’m still pinching myself at these results: 1st in Outlaw Blown, Fastest MPH (200MPH), Quickest ET (7.045), Quickest Holden, 3rd Overall.”

Prior to the Challenge kicking off last week, Hall was hoping to break into the six-second bracket for the quarter mile – and while he didn’t achieve that this time around, he promised to rectify that in the future.

In a video he posted to Facebook, Hall revealed that he went without sleep at one stage during the competition, with footage showing him wrestling with the Commodore as it got out of shape during some wild passes. 

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A problem with a roller rocker wheel that “didn’t want to move anymore” saw Hall and his crew limp the Holden into Mildura on seven cylinders, arriving at 4.30am and leaving him so “delirious” that he forgot which day it was. 

They were fifth overall at the time, so the issue obviously didn’t hold them back. Hall and his team were flooded with compliments online after the result, with one fan calling the Commodore “the quickest street car in Australia” and plenty more praising them for overcoming multiple hurdles.