They are four of the most iconic cars in the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Car tour and they have taken aim at each other – the Mach 1 Mustangs of Paul Messineo and Justin Walshe will be looking to take down the ’57 Chevs of Rick Gauci and Shane Olive at Portland.
Messineo, the driver of the Dark Horse Mustang explained that he and Walshe are ready to take down the Chevs.
“The Let’s Boogie car of Justin and my own Mustang have probably been two of the form cars over the last few events, the improvement has been fantastic.
“Both Justin and I have been consistently winning races and both cars continue to go both quicker and faster.
“In Sydney we had both Mustangs in a position to win the event and whilst I just missed the podium, it was great to see Justin standing on the box.
“I hope it’s my turn in Portland!” laughed the Queensland-based racer.
The Nitro Express ’57 Chev of Gauci is the winningest car in the series and the still new Red Devil ’57 has not yet missed the podium in competition, a fact that’s not lost on Messineo.
“Portland is a different racetrack and I think we will take it to the Chevs on Saturday, but it’s not going to be easy!”
The field for the South Coast Raceway event includes a massive field of 9 nitro funny cars, as well as the crowd favourites – two wheelstanding funny cars, Nitro Sheriff and Rocket Ship – complete with fire belching from their supercharged engines.
Series Manager, Steve Bettes added, “The rivalry between the Mustang and Chev boys is great but they have a whole field of cars that are eager to beat them as well!”
Bettes concluded, “The good news is that the weather looks almost perfect and we have an army of nitro and declare civil war – and we can’t wait for the first nitro shots to be fired!”
Racing will be from 11am with the nitro cars racing at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm and features a full range of support categories.