“I’m totally ruined,” said Adam Rogash, as the Heathcote Park Raceway lanes fell silent after Day Three of Drag Challenge Weekend 2022. He’d just taken out both the outright win and the Haltech Radial Blown class win in his twin-turbo 427ci LS-powered VK, ALLSHOW. But he and the MPW Performance team had to dig deep to get there. Fellow combatants for the outright win, Mark Whitla, Luke Foley and Marcus Cripps, pushed him to the limit from the time the Heathcote Park gates opened on Sunday.

Adam’s 7.74 on Day One gave him a handy half-second lead over Turbosmart
Outlaw Blown entrant Mark Whitla in his big-block Capri heading into Day Two at Mildura, which was where the battle really started.

“We were in such a good position on Saturday morning, and then we turned up at Mildura,” the MPW Performance boss sighed. “If we’d been able to run a 5.1 or a 5.0 there [he ran a best of 5.59 on Day Two], it would have been an easy time today, but we just battled.”

Back at Heathcote Park Raceway for the final day’s racing, the Foley, Whitla, Cripps and Rogash crews tuned around hot, greasy conditions as they tried to throw as much spice as they could at the track. By day’s end, the final cumulative results of the top three placegetters were split by mere hundredths of a second, with Adam managing to snare the outright win ahead of second-placed Mark Whitla and Luke Foley in third.

“We knew it was going to be a battle, but we kept adjusting the tune and trying to drive through it,” Adam said. “We’ve been here before and I know this car can do the road miles – we’ve proved that plenty – but it is about making a pass stick as the track gets hot.

“We lost the mechanical fuel pump at Mildura, but we never give up, and the boys wouldn’t not let me push it absolutely as hard as it could go,” he continued. “This whole effort is a team sport, because I couldn’t turn a car like this around on my own, and the guys behind me are all legends. I am sick of listening to men snoring, though!”

Having taken the DCW ’22 win, Adam is now looking at stepping away from a driving role at Drag Challenge so he can support other members of the MPW squad. “My goal has always been to win outright, and now the car has done that,” he said. “I can’t focus on winning as well as supporting my customers and friends, and I’d like to share the feeling of winning the event with them. I also think this is a nice way to bookmark this chapter of ALLSHOW’s development.”

While the VK has run plenty of seven-second passes, Adam wants to go quicker still and is preparing to take that next step up.

“We do have another engine for it with alloy rods, dry sump and a solid-roller, which Powerhouse Engines built for us,” he said. “I want to race some Kenda and Jambo events, and then go to a big track and run a six to complete the car’s evolution.”

While reminiscing over the progression of ALLSHOW since its 2017 Red
CentreNATS debut, Adam revealed that, away from drag-and-drive and other racing events, the car truly is driven on the street. “I’m not a sentimental man, but I’ll never sell this car,” he said. “My young bloke asks me to take him to breakfast every Sunday morning in it, and we do that. To me, it’s as much his car as it is mine; he was born the first year we raced it!”

It was crucial to Adam that he give thanks to the people around him, as well as those who’ve supported him to this point. He was at pains to reinforce the fact that it takes a team of people to get these cars singing. “I have to thank Abe, Joey, Trent from Total Workz, Chris and Jye for all their hard work this weekend. I also want to thank the people and companies who have supported me and the car, including John Pilla from Powerhouse Engines, Haltech, Turbosmart, Plazmaman, Dale from XX Racing Injectors, Jason from Tuff Mounts, Scott from Gazzard Brothers, Paul and the rest of the crew at MPW, and everyone else who has helped with the build and progression of ALLSHOW.”