National Funny Car Record for Stevens
By James Peete
Australian Drag Racing icon Brett ‘The Boss’ Stevens has kept his recent record breaking form intact by claiming the National Top Alcohol Funny Car record in front of the huge crowd that packed into the Western Sydney International Dragway for the Nitro Champs on the weekend (May 5-6). The man to beat all weekend in the Top Alcohol bracket, Stevens piloted his 3500 horsepower Kitten Car Care Products Funny Car to an incredible 5.60 second pass at 258 mph (415 kph) over the quarter mile strip to eclipse the old mark of 5.64 seconds.
“I knew the car had the power and we could run quick times, it was just a matter of finding the right setup for the conditions,” Stevens said. “We have also been experimenting with our rear wing assemblies to try and find a way of keeping the car more stable with the aggressive tune ups.” “Everything just seemed to fall into place this weekend and the car was running straight and hard and we now have a combination that is only going to get faster.” “The Australian record is a great reward for the team after only a little over 18 months competing in the Top Alcohol bracket.” Despite having a damaged engine and running a quicker time, Stevens was eventually eliminated in the semi final by just six thousandths of a second when Sydney’s Dean Oakey managed to out-react him at the start line.
Doing double duties over the weekend competing in the Top Bike bracket aboard his Jack Daniel’s Racing Nitro Harley as well as in Top Alcohol, Stevens also managed to collect the runner up trophy in Top Bike, but lost ground in the chase for back-to-back National Championships. “My bike wasn’t on song all weekend but despite being down on power, I was still in the number 3 position after qualifying,” Stevens said. “We changed a number of things to try to find where our power was as it was vital that I won this event to remain a chance at taking the title, but Jay Upton was just too good.” “Mathematically I am still a chance so we will go back to the workshop, get my bike back at its peak, and make sure we put on a good show at the Winternationals in a months time.”
Stevens team mate Troy McLean aboard the teams second Jack Daniel’s Racing Nitro Harley also had a great weekend, qualifying in the number 2 position and only going out of the competition after being knocked out in the semi finals of Top Bike by ‘The Boss’. “Although neither Brett nor myself won the event, to have the team’s two bikes qualify in the number 2 and 3 positions is still a good result,” McLean said. “I am now really looking forward to the Winternationals, last year I won the event so it would be great to finish off the 2006 season the same way.” The Australian Drag Racing Championship will come to a spectacular conclusion at the Winternationals held at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway from June 9-11.
