Willowbank Nostalgia Drags & Hot Rod Reunion 2019

LAST weekend in Brisbane was a big one for fans of old-school car culture, with both the 20th anniversary of GreazeFest and the latest Willowbank Nostalgia Drags kicking up different kinds of dust.

While more than a few hardy souls entered cars in both events, it’s likely that the date clash put a dent in numbers at the drags. Nevertheless, it was a great meeting, with plenty of cool new cars and some great racing. And it was great to see Australia’s oldest drag racer, George Wegener, taste victory yet again.

We dug Bill Taylor’s ’36 Ford dubbed Short Fuse. Running in Nostalgia Eliminator, the big-block Chev-powered beast has run a best of 11.7@118mph.

Wyld Willy was another newcomer to Nostalgia Eliminator, powered by a gassed Holden V8 that drove it into the 11-second bracket.

Bruce Cole’s Studebaker Lark was also new to Nostalgia Eliminator, but that didn’t stop him picking up the runner-up spot first time out! The Lark is still Stude-powered, too.

There were a few Drag Challenge Weekend cars out racing, including Lee Hill’s killer XY Fairmont, running 11s with a standard-stroke 302. And our 235 Aspirated runner-up, Shane Locke, took out the Street Machine class in his Chev LUV. Woo!

How tough is this? Graham Miller’s EHMAD packs an 8/71-blown small-block and runs low 10s!

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Your humble author also had a great meeting, breaking into the 11-second zone for the first time with an 11.735-second pass behind the wheel of Rob Brown’s Barbara Ann FX Holden. Thanks to Rob, Dan Hiscox and the rest of the team!

RESULTS

GAS

1st George Wegener – Toyota Corolla

2nd Darren Ramsay – Chev Malibu

VINTAGE GAS

1st David Gall – ’64 Toyota 

2nd Darren Cahill – XK Falcon 

STREET MACHINE

1st Shane Locke – Chev LUV

2nd Paul Carpenter – Datsun ute

NOSTALGIA ELIMINATOR

1st Bridger Frankland – FB Holden 

2nd Bruce Cole – ’60 Studebaker

TOP ELIMINATOR

1st Greg Ward – altered

2nd Paul Davies – funny car

MIDDLE ELIMINATOR

1st Zac Palm – ’23 Ford 

2nd Cooper Leahy – dragster 

HAMBSTER

1st Gerard O’Neil

2nd Peter Grant

AUSSIE MUSCLE

1st Tonacia Marshall – HT Premier

2nd David Olsen – Holden Tonner   

US MUSCLE

1st Jody Wentworth – Dodge Charger

2nd Craig Currey – Camaro

HOT ROD

1st Grant Carpenter – ’28 Ford

2nd Nathan Griffey – ’32 Ford

CLASSIC BIKE

1st Joe Marshall – Suzuki Katana

2nd Isaac Smith – Honda