Queensland’s Steve Read will return to where his nitro career began when the ANDRA Top Fuel season launches at Adelaide International Raceway on October 20.
Read’s first event in a Top Fuel dragster was driving for team owner Santo Rapisarda at the South Australian venue back in the nineties and he said he has positive memories of the experience.
“I was thinking about it just the other day and remembering the debut there,” he said. “I’ve always liked the place. It has a great atmosphere, the fans are very vocal and I used to love going there.”
Since those days Read has developed his own Top Fuel operation where he positioned himself as a dark horse at any event he attends. With a personal best time of 4.68sec performance is not an issue.
Adelaide does present unique challenges to the Top Fuel teams however. Top Fuel will compete over a 1000 feet race distance due to the venue’s short braking area, something Read doesn’t mind.
“It will be my first time racing over 1000 feet; I think in a nitro car you don’t notice much because the last part of the track disappears in half a second,” he said. “You get off the throttle that bit earlier and for a few teams it helps save on parts.”
The racing surface is also unique as all-bitumen, not using a concrete launch pad. Read says his team has come into its own where track conditions are different before.
“I don’t think it will be too much of a drama, since the last time Top Fuel was in Adelaide they have had a few more events there which will put some rubber down,” he said. “It’s just a matter of tuning to the conditions; I learned on tricky tracks how to tune cars.”
The ANDRA Drag Racing Series kicks off in Adelaide on October 20 featuring championship rounds of Top Fuel and Pro Stock.
Image by Terry Andrews.