My pick for Racer of the Week is Wayne Newby from Sydney, Australia. Wayne was recommended to me by our friend in Brisbane, Greg Gow. Thanks, Greg! Wayne Newby is a 3 Time Australian Top Alcohol Champion He recently won the 2010/2011 ANDRA Top Alcohol Championship. In a championship season where the funny cars were expected to dominate, Wayne kept his dragster at the front of the 2006/2007 ANDRA Australian Top Alcohol Championship right through the season despite a late charge from eventual runner up Brett Stevens. Newby took five wins to Steven's two while Stevens took the Low Elapsed Time and Top Speed bonuses at four rounds.
Wayne went Funny Car and he's been working on getting it up to its full potential. In the ANDRA, they race dragsters against Funny Cars in Top Alcohol, and it's different than in the US, but highly competitive and exciting. Wayne's made the switch and he's committed to success with his new operation.
Car Specs:
2006 Monte Carlo Carbon Fibre Body, Gordy Chassis, 490 cubic inch Brad Anerson Hemi, BAE Stage 5 heads, PSI "D" series Blower, BAE manifold, MGP Connecting Rods, CP Race Pistons, Manley Valves and Dual Springs, Newby 10" triple-plate clutch, Lenco 3-speed Transmission, Newby 10" Billet Alloy Differential, Carbon Fibre Rear Brakes, 2-300MPH Parachutes, Power: 3500++, Top speed inexcess of 255MPH, 3 G-Forces under acceleration, Maximum 10,500 rpm, runs on Methanol Fuel.
Short bio:
Wayne Newby from Sydney, Australia 39 in July (so will I, Wayne....just kidding!)
Engaged to Allie
Been racing since 1992 when he and dad David went to the USA and came back with a dragster!
That dragster still holds the mph record at Willowbank Raceway.. 257.73 mph since 2008
3x Australian Top Alcohol Champion
Probably not too notable, but 1st one to hit the wall at Sydney Dragway lol
Goal is to get the F/C running to its full capability, which has yet to be determined.
Wayne sends Big thanks to Mum and Dad for funding over the years....
Sponsors:
Newby Engineering, JBS tools,Fabre Australia, Coldy's tow and bullbars, VP Race Fuels, Smithfield Diff & Gears, Redline Oil, Covercraft
That's Wayne Newby, Racer of the Week, June 30th, 2014. Congratulations, good luck and safe racing in the future, Wayne.
As for me, the good news is not any of my friends died this week, but it's only Monday. It was forced on me that I'm getting old when I had to sign up for Medicare this week, ya know. I visited with Kim Van Zandt yesterday for 4 hours. We jammed, talked about the future and we're gonna do it. 3 of our former bandmates have died now. Anyway, I have one weekend a month off from the band, and we're going to try to find gigs for those weekends. We play Roadhouse Boogie, so we said then let's play roadhouses, ice houses, whorehouses, crack houses, and white houses. Should be a fun deal. We're tossing around ideas for a rhythym section. It'll have to be the right combination that doesn't end up with toxic results. That's another story in itself but the ground rules are that the band will play sober. Whatever anybody wants to do after that is their business as far as I'm concerned, but if you get messed-up at the gig, you're fired, period. BB King fines his musicians full gig pay if they drink during a performance, and if they drink any time before the show that night, they don't play, and they forfeit the gig pay. That's a good arrangement if you ask me. We're paid to do a job and we're going to do it great. If it's not great, then it will be redone until it's great. I know I sound hard-line, but I've been through the meat-grinder enough times to know what works and what doesn't work, and since I have to make the rules for this band, that's rule #1.
I keep up with the South African News site that follows the Oscar Pistorius trial, and I read something today on the chat line there that I thought I'd repeat tonight. This person said if the only tool in the box is a hammer, then all the problems start looking like nails. I read that while I was rebuilding my guitar pedalboard and it sure did make sense at the time.
I was surprised today when I got a message on Facebook from Dalton Eugene Dunn. 10 1/2 years ago, DragList put on a benefit here called "Blues For Becky". We raised 4 grand to send to Becky White, editor of Quick Times Racing News, who had been in a serious car wreck. At the benefit, I auctioned off my '77 Gibson SG, the infamous "Six-String Devil". It was Dalton's mom who won the auction. Well, Dalton's 25 now, he's a pro musician, he still has the six-string devil, and he lives right down the street. We're going to hook up soon. I plan to introduce him to Nick's buddies, too. He was amazed that I have kids his age who play. Great to hear from Dalton, and it brought back many great memories from those days.
When BP announced earlier that we had lost Mark Worden, I somehow did not associate Mark with the pilot of the Twin Cities Shaker that raced against Rapid Randy Baker that day at Eddyville Raceway Park in July of 2009. It was the DragList Nationals, and I drove George, my '70 VW Beetle, up there for the weekend. That race they ran that day, with Mark driving the Shaker against Rapid driving the Drastic Plastic '70 Maverick Funny Car...was absolutely the wildest drag race I ever saw. A cold front had blown in the night before, and the track was extremely tight, with both cars set up with a hot-weather tuneup. They had so much bite, they could barely get the tires to haze when they did their burnouts...Rapid, being a quiet, soft-spoken gent, was his usual maniac self behind the wheel of that monster, and he did a series of dry-hops as he approached the starting line. They staged, the tree activated, and all hell broke loose. They both jumped up into the air, all 4 wheels off the ground, and they snaked down the eighth mile track, using every inch of lane, right next to each other. I could swear I saw the Rear Gears logo on the side of Rapid's car at 600 feet, then the Shaker took a hard right and the 2 cars went through the lights in Rapid's lane, close enough to reach out and high-five each other. When they shut off after that unbelievable run, you could hear a pin drop in that place. I was standing next to Rapid's wife behind the starting line. I said "That was the wildest drag race I ever saw." She calmly turned to me and said "Oh, you haven't seen him race very much, have you?" What a thriller that one was, folks. Mark, thank you and may you rest in peace.
Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow night for Racing Through History on Racers Reunion Radio at 7 PM Eastern. It's a Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss. Thanks, I'll see y'all next week.