DAY Of The Drags 2017 was a bittersweet occasion for family and friends of the late Scott Ribbons. It was the first time back at the track for their cars – the Wat Da? Austin and Dorris The Morris – which have been shed-bound since Scott’s tragic passing from a heart attack last November.
With Scott’s partner Michelle Lynch behind the wheel of her Morris Minor, and his mate Ant Midson peddling the Austin A40 they used to campaign together, a minute’s silence was held for Scott before the cars hit the strip at Day Of The Drags.
As you may recall, Scott Ribbons was the legend that restored Ron Keegan’s classic FJ ute to its former glory and had it on the Street Machine stand at MotorEx 2015.
He was also a great contributor to Australia’s nostalgia drag scene, as evidenced by the Austin and the Morris, which both run 186ci Holdens and are set up for fun.
Ant used the occasion of Day of The Drags to reflect on the times him and “Scoot” had with the A40, from the crazy three-week build to get it running for a Nostalgia Drags meeting in Sydney, to its dragon-slayer moment at the Six-Banger Nats at Warwick.
“We call it Steve Austin, the Six-Million Dollar car, because it cost nothing to build,” Ant said. “We’ve gotten around a bit with it. We took it up to Warwick and ran it in the Six Banger Nationals and actually came home with a trophy, so that was quite funny. Y’know, thousands of dollars’ worth of cars and here’s old Steve Austin showing them up, so it was a good story.”
Even if you never knew Scott, the car will tell you he had a wicked sense of humour. From the port barrel converted into a radiator catch can to the burnt Jim Beam and Coke can used as a coil cover to the 50-year-old au naturale patina – the Austin has got character leaking from every gasket.
“We came out today to campaign the cars again in Scott’s memory and hopefully we’ve done him proud,” said Ant.
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