The season that was…Pro Street

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Australian Pro Street Association co-owner John Habib wraps up the Pro Street season just finished and looks to the future.

 

Well an amazing year of Pro Street racing was achieved in 2011, we have seen Pro Street Drag racing action like never before and growth in fan base and racers also never before realised. There has been great support and following shown from fans, sponsors, tracks and  the automotive industry in general as more and more of the Australian public realise just how special the cars and effort involved in Pro Street racing really is. The people are understanding and appreciating how awesome Pro Street cars are and the extraordinary amount of money pumped in by individual racers in some classes just to get down the 400m strip fast in Street Styled cars.

The public relate, and the beautiful thing about Pro Street Racing is, it’s not out of reach for the average Aussie that loves his street car and wants to race it in an environment especially designed for him. We have classes for all and as we grow and learn together we can cater and improve all our classes to make racing even more exciting and competitive.

2011 has allowed us to develop some amazing achievements as more passionate racers join in the fun and race at APSA events around Australia, I’d like to talk about them by class:

Pro Street

This year Pro Street has stepped into the next time zone and as the times have tumbled through the year to very low seven second passes, no-one thought they would get as low as they did. Years ago we had Rob Campisi complete one controversial high six second run but this was never acknowledged as it was done outside of the then rules, the car was never checked weighed or confirmed by the then APSA officials. This was still a credit to him but what has really got our attention is now, 2011 has delivered three official, 6 second sedans in Pro Street. What is even more amazing is that one of these numbers was done by a naturally aspirated car. To name them, Dominic Luppino, Trick & Mansweto and Mathew Basanovic, truly amazing feats by all three racers and sign of times to where Pro Street, big tyred classes will be heading in next year’s series. Mathew Basanovic was the first to do it and it was done in a nitrous assisted car.

The final at Willowbank Raceway was further testament to how big the Pro Street Blown class has become with a record 20 car field for this class. These blown, nitrous and whistling turbo charged animals are truly a credit to the owners. A beautiful mix of different power adders and awesome display of horsepower with top the of the group showing 2800hp.

Mod Street Blown \ Unblown

In 2011 Mod Street has also been an amazing class that the fans have loved to watch, with the biggest turbo versus nitrous battles we have ever seen. This war was not only occurring in the front of the field but also in the middle and lower end. As more racers are bolting on turbos, the big block nitrous cars that ruled for many years now have their hands full trying keep up, with the new technology machines being built and developed by workshops all over Australia.
Turbo small blocks are whizzing down the track in record numbers and Modified Street has also pulled out some amazing records like the first 200 MPH pass, achieved by Daniel Nunziante in an Aussie Cortina then followed immediately by Joe Gauci both on small tired cars! Our Mod Streeters are rivalling some of fastest similar combination cars in the world, with Australia owning the second or third fastest cars in world on an 11.5 inch tyre. I have said it before and am saying it again, that’s 7 seconds and 200 MPH passes with a standard chassis, standard wheelbase and standard configured suspension, who ever thought that was possible but as we have grown in 2011, it has happened.

What makes Mod Street even more exciting is, as the top runners push for speed and numbers the slower cars start winning races. Many of the slower cars have found consistency and because it is such a specialised form of racing the fine line between spinning tyres, wheel standing and the struggle to get the big power down, is making it so the win can be by any racer.

The unblown field has also been spectacular with three lightweight big blocks ruling the field all year. Small tyred, aspirated, seven second street style cars were unheard of but these top runners have taken off from the rest of pack, so much so that the APSA committee has decided to bring in weight breaks to try and even up fields. These adjustments were needed to be done to keep racing competitive and fun and although the Mod Street Unblown fields were a bit lean in 2011, we are tipping next years will be healthier than ever due to the weight adjustments. Still, what has been achieved by Unblown Mod Streeters in 2011 is truly amazing and credit to those legends that put the time effort and money into making them so fast.

True Street

True Street has become the Super Gas of Pro Street Racing, so many cars are running similar numbers with not even a second separating number one from ten 10 on the APSA National Top 10. Again the Willowbank Raceway final was testament to how many racers love this budget class, we had 18 True Street cars in the field with some of closest most exciting racing we have ever seen. Being Street cars, a lot of them still with street rego and driven, the fastest cars of the group are now running mid nines. They sound awesome, these naturally aspirated V8’s are spinning to 8000 RPM in many cases. Sounding so crisp and healthy in the burnout and down the quarter because owners are doing whatever they can to find the ultimate tune up and fish every bit of horsepower they can from naturally aspirated street cars.

In 2011, APSA has also introduced an unofficial blown version of this class to accommodate for the many blown and turbo street cars out there. True Street Blown was a bit slow in 2011 but we are hoping that this class will gain momentum and more blown streeters will jump in for the exciting fun in 2012.

Outlaw Radial

This is a quiet achieving class that we think is about to explode, the Radial fields here in Australia are a bit behind our US counterparts but we are learning fast. So many people have mentioned interest in moving into Radial as it has minimal rules and racers see it as truly a challenge to get the power down on these tyres. This year we had racers buying purpose built radial cars from the US then adding their Aussie knowhow to them, pumping anything up to 2000HP plus through DOT approved street radials. It’s all happened so fast and in its first official year, Radial has achieved Australia’s first seven second pass with no wheelie bars.

Not long after the barrier was broken we then had three others follow and we now have four, 7 second cars ranging from a 7.3 to a 7.9 on the National Top 10, to accompany many running low eights. With the achievements we saw in 2011, we admit that Radial is only a very young class and with healthy fields and the intention of many racers to get in on the action, we can see 2012 being a boomer for Radial. Many of our fast Mod Street racers that already wrestle with the small tyres are saying they want to have go on Radial racing, 2012 is looking very exciting for Outlaw Radial.

10.5 Outlaw

Since the introduction of this class a lot of work has occurred in the background to build it further. In 2011 10.5 Outlaw was very lean but we still managed one of biggest prize pools in Aussie Drag racing history with sponsorship support. Unfortunately APSA was only able to hold the class twice through the series due to lack of entrees, though this may show weakness in the class, we know from the feedback we are getting from racers that 10.5 is gaining massive momentum. We hope at this stage 10.5 will be a big crowd puller and be the class to watch in 2012, this class will compliment all our other classes as a highlight to our meetings again growing us further. Many 10.5 cars are getting built as we speak and a lot of cash is being pumped in as current Pro Street racers are building cars to run in this class as well as Pro Street Blown. So its up to the 10.5 guys to get this class happening and get these awesome machines to the tracks, at this stage though it is looking very good for 2012.

DYO

APSA also has a dedicated group of Dial Your Own racers that support us wherever we go. In 2011, with sponsor support APSA was able to give its DYO racers some of the biggest prize pools offered by any racer group in Australia. At APSA we appreciated the DYO guys as they help make our event successful and in 2011 they did exactly that, we offered $1500 first and $500 runner up money for DYO and we saw some great competitive racing. APSA intends on keeping the prize money generous for DYO in 2012 as we feel all racers on a budget or not, deserve the acknowledgment.

2011 Champions

Pro Street Blown

Winner DOMENIC LUPPINO 290 Points

R/Up BILL PERKOVSKI 190 Points

Pro Street Unblown

Winner MATT MARSH 165 Points

R/Up KEVIN MAGNER 105 Points

Mod Street Blown

Winner JWILSON/SKRYGER 425 Points

R/Up JOE GAUCI 420 Points

Mod Street Unblown

Winner DANNY SHARBAN 355 Points

R/Up MICK BROADY 180 Points

Outlaw Radial

Winner JAMIE FARMER 255 Points

R/Up R BERTALACCI /S GREENBERG 250 Points

True Street

Winner JANELLE SCOTT 375 Points

R/Up ANDREW SEARLE 360 Points

To Conclude, APSA as a group

Well as a racers group we also achieved many great things together for Pro Street racing, for years we were screaming for meetings and the lack of meetings was the blame for us not growing. Well as a group and supporting each other, all our racers from all states have come together and shown their true power and how popular this form of racing is to Australians.
Because of us working together in 2011 and supporting meetings, APSA leaders have been able to dish out the goods and give our members what they wanted for many years.

• More meetings in states of Australia where most Pro Street Racers reside.
• An official Tri State Points Series, with awards and recognition for those that travel and have the toughest cars in the country.
• Acknowledgement and support from three major tracks for who we are and what we do, as Pro Street Racers
• Sponsorship support and acknowledgement from various businesses the have supplied us with prize money for our racers, trophies and essential financial support we need as a group to keep racing and grow our sport.
• Generous prize pools for our racers, thanks to the sponsors, that benefit highly from advertising with us and supporting Pro Street Racing.
• TV coverage and extra exposure for racers and sponsors and the general public so people can appreciate and understand how awesome Pro Street Racing is.
• The biggest financial members list ever realised with more members joining every week
• An APSA merchandise line that fans and racers can enjoy while supporting a sport they love.

At this stage fan bases have grown, racers are happier than ever before and we hope that Pro Street Racing can truly shine in 2012. The way has been paved and calender is set with meetings looking to be even bigger next year. Very big and exciting things are on the cards for Pro Street racers and racing in 2012 that APSA cannot reveal at this stage, but we will keep our members and sponsors updated as these things are confirmed, stay tuned on the APSA Facebook page and website.

APSA would like to thank all our members, rRacers, supporters and especially our sponsors and fans. We call for your support next year and we also call for anyone that wants to join in on the fun to not hesitate because APSA welcomes all, without you it can’t continue. We think that 2012 will be a big year and Pro Streeters will have a ball as they wow the crowds at APSA event around Australia, bring on 2012!

2012 APSA Calender

February 18th  – Calder Park

April 7th – Willowbank

May 20th – Sydney

Sept 15th – Willowbank

Dec 1st – Sydney

To see that Official Pro Street Top 10 go to http://www.austprostassc.com.au/top_ten_nat.shtml

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