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.

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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!

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!