To win the Australian Nationals is an honour every drag racer wants to achieve and for the stars of Top Fuel it is no different.

Steve Read is no stranger to the prestige of Nationals victory, having accumulated six wins in total across both Top Fuel and Top Alcohol categories.

“The Nationals at Calder Park is where it all started for me in Australia. We came out to the 1992 Nationals and won Top Alcohol. I came back to Australia to live the following year and have won another five Nationals since,” Read said.

Read’s last event – Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams at Melbourne’s Calder Park on October 19 – did not quite go to plan when a parts failure during qualifying (pictured above) resulted in engine damage, preventing Read from having any further involvement in the event.

“Unfortunately, we did not have a spare inlet manifold or supercharger with us at the (Calder) track. We are a small team and it is just not possible to carry a spare of every engine part,” he said.

“We now have the engine fixed. The Nationals is a special event, not only for me, but for my wife Heather and the entire RSR/SuperCharge Batteries team. We are ready to go and another Nationals title is very much on the radar.”

Meanwhile three times Australian Top Fuel champion Darren Morgan has a chance at two ANDRA gold Christmas tree trophies, with a national championship likely to be wrapped up once he puts down a qualifying run at Sydney Dragway.

“The Nationals is a very important race to win. It has a long history in the sport and is a race everyone at some stage would like to win. We won the event in 2012 and while the ANDRA Top Fuel championship is our goal, winning the Nationals is just as important for Darren Morgan Racing,” he said.

DMR will be hosting 100 corporate guests from L & H on Saturday at the Nationals and ramping up their marketing opportunities with Victorian American Imports coming on as the major partner for this event. It will also mark the second event with their new major associate partnership with American Truckworks.

The Australian Nationals begins tomorrow and runs through to Sunday at Sydney Dragway. For more information click here.