Multiple Australian Top Fuel champion Steve Read will make a return to racing at this weekend’s 45th annual Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway, Ipswich, after a 12 month absence.
Despite not racing since last year’s Winternationals, Brisbane-based Read is confident he will be more than competitive and can win his second Winternationals title, the first coming in 2001 at the wheel of one of Santo Rapisarda’s dragsters.
Read, who runs his own transport business, said a hectic business schedule and a lack of marketing partners had kept him out of the sport over the past 12 months.
“Because of business commitments and the fact that it is hard to get a serious sponsorship budget needed to run a Top Fuel operation for a full season, I have not raced as much as I would have liked over the past 12 months,” Read said. “However, the Fuchs Winternationals is the one event everyone associated with Read Speed Racing (RSR); my wife Heather, race team partner, Dwayne Riley and our dedicated and hard-working crew, really look forward to racing at.
“We (RSR) have a lot of fans who only go to one drag race event every year, the Fuchs Winternationals. They look forward to seeing us race and we enjoy meeting them each year.”
Read said in order to get to this year’s Fuchs Winternationals, his volunteer crew has worked every weekend and sometimes two nights a week preparing the Top Fuel car and transporter.
“The crew has really worked hard getting the car and transporter ready for this event. When we last raced, we had problems with tyre shake. We have put a new clutch system in the car and I am confident we will do well despite the lack of racing.”
The Fuchs Winternationals takes place on June 8-11 at Willowbank Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland. The full ANDRA drag racing experience will be on show including all pro categories and the best sportsman racers in the nation taking part in the Rocket Allstars Racing Series.
Click here for more information on the Fuchs Winternationals.