The newest and most exciting Drag Racing series in Australia, the Pro Drag Racing Championship, heads to Sydney Dragway for its inaugural event to kick off the 2024-25 Championship Season.
In conjunction with the NDRC, the PDRC will host Pro Alcohol, Pro Mod, Pro Stock, Pro Bike and will also introduce a new exhibition category in Pro Import this weekend specifically for Rotary, 4 Cylinder and 6 Cylinder powered cars.
Competitors in Championship categories will race for NDRC Championship points, with the season cumulating with the NDRC and PDRC coming together at the Nitro Champs in Sydney and The Winternationals at Willowbank as the series Grand Final.
Pro Alcohol is shaping to be one of the most competitive seasons in many years with no less than 10 quality cars filling the pit area.
Led by reigning Champion Russell Mills, the field will feature current or former champions in the shape of Mills, 22-time Australian Champion Gary Phillips and 2-time Champion John Cannuli.
Throw in the young trio of Funny Car Standouts in Chris Hargrave, Jake Donnelly and Cruz Lovering as well as experienced competitors Cameron Ambesi, Brett White, Andrew Searle and Wayne Price and Pro Alcohol is wide open this season.
Last year’s #2 in points Daniel Reed is a notable absence on the entry list due to a date clash with a prior personal commitment, however it is expected that the Reed Racing team will be back on track at round two in Adelaide in February.
Pro Mod is fast becoming one of the most popular categories with racers and fans alike, as evidenced by the huge entry list of fourteen competitors – and could have been even bigger had overseas parts supply not stifled several racers’ plans.
Reigning Pro Mod Champ and Sydney Local Craig Burns is back in action in his Mustang, heading a perfect mix of seven Supercharged and seven twin turbo monsters set for a start at round one of the championship.
Contenders Zoran Gajic and Greg Tsakiridis are expected to be front and centre, along with several Top Doorslammer competitors who are taking the opportunity for more track time with Peter Lovering, Neil Murphy and Craig Hewitt on the entry list.
Joe Gauci returns after his massive crash in May at the Nitro Champs, albeit in a foreign car this time around borrowed from Outlaw Radial competitor Paul Merry. He will be the only driver racing on a Radial Tyre in the Pro Mod ranks.
With Frank Tarabay, Steve Smith, Rob Campisi, Steve Petrovski and Danny Makdessi in the “Devil’s Taxi” Valiant, Pro Mod will be undoubtedly a highlight of round one of the Series.
Pro Stock has a healthy entry list of 11 cars headed by reigning Champion Rob Dekert from Victoria, with veteran Chris Soldatos also making the trip up the Hume Highway.
New South Wales will be represented by last season’s Championship contender Rick Chilton, Mario Polito (fresh off his first six second pass at last season’s Winternationals), John Kabboura, Clint George (making his return to Pro Stock after more than a year away), Ray Oxley and Tony Polito – a strong showing of cars for the home state.
John Barbagallo and Brian Pursell are both making the long trip from North Queensland, with Barbagallo committing to the full season of Pro Stock competition for the first time in a number of years.
Rounding out the field is Bruce Leake from the ACT, who is well on the comeback trail after a nasty crash last year.
Pro Bike has its strongest Entry list in more than three years with 8 bikes set to start with multi time Australian Champ Luke Crowley looking to knock down more barriers, the first 200mph Pro Bike one of the last left standing in modern drag racing.
Jason Lee, Locky Ireland, Paul Andrews and Tony Frost are all returning for season 2024, Callam Godeassi returning to the Pro Bike ranks after a number of years away.
The event will also see the debut of rookie Brendan Sanders.
Scott White has been a late addition to the field, replacing Andrew Badcock who unfortunately was ruled out of the event with damage sustained in the lead up to Round One.
Unfortunately, Daniel Rabnott will also be a nonstarter due to injury, and hopefully he will be able to return later in the season.
Enviro Waste Services Pro Import is certainly sure to raise some eyebrows with the first ever exhibition race featuring some of the biggest names in Import Racing, including the might of the Pac Performance team with their Flagship RX9 driven by George Rehayem, the insane quad rotor powered Camaro of Sam Sadek and the low six second 20B of Jason Both.
On the Piston Side there are three of the quickest 2JZ powered cars in the land with the Gas Racing Celica driven by Paul Mouhayet, The Enviro Racing Rx7 of Eddy Hawach and the King Kong Toyota of Frank Tarabay.
This will be one the biggest races on the Sydney Dragway calendar and for the last time this year, Pro Drag Racing will be back at Sydney Dragway.
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