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Putting the fun back into Drag Racing

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23.01.2022 Champion drivers and club members - Ian Cameron and Steve Russell

21.01.2022 Our Angels' book has inspired a rock musician to write a song and make a music video! Thanks to Ian Wettenhall for his talent.

20.01.2022 Feeling nostalgic. Here are a few of my shots from Mildura a while ago. Enjoy!

18.01.2022 Excerpt from Putting the Fun Back into Drag Racing. Doug Anderson I started racing when I was 17 with my EH Ute at Heathcote. The ute had been an old farm ute and it ended up with a 179hp. 4 speed gear-box and 10x15 tyres on the back of it. I was in the Bendigo Race Club and the Victorian Drag Racing Club when I went up to Sydney to Eastern Creek Race Track with Gary Laird and Eric Goodswaard from Melbourne. I met up with Steve Turner, Norm Longfield and Dennis Young and w...e started talking about starting a Victorian Chapter of Nostalgia Racers. Gary Laird was the main driving force behind the idea. We wanted to bring the fun back into drag racing. The Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) had become very competitive and we wanted to promote a more social racing fraternity. I drove a front engine dragster running in modified dragster class in the ANDRA drag meetings. I sold that car to a guy in Bendigo who sold it to Ian Cameron and he painted it up in ‘Sidchrome Spanner’ colours. After that I didn’t have a car for a while but I was crewing for Leo from Grumpy Bear Racing and for Neville Foord in his C-gas Monaro. I crewed for Ian Wicks in his SS/A car, Chris Pocock’s’ super gas car, Steve Aaron Russell’s nitro funny car and Graeme McDonald’s Pro34 Coupe while I was building my own FC Holden. I travelled with the ‘Nostalgia guys’ to Calder Park, Heathcote, Mildura, Sydney, Canberra, Dubbo, Portland and Willowbank and built a great camaraderie before and after the race meetings. I can say those times were very ‘memorable’ and we are allowed back into some of those towns now! Seriously, those guys inspired me to be part of it and we are all very supportive of each other. If any of us is looking for a part, someone will have one or will find it for you. The culture of the club is to help each other and the wider community with charity donations. Everybody helps everyone in the pits. One time, Skip (Robert Hayley) beat me in a race even though he had a puncture. He borrowed my rear wheels to race a ‘bye run’ and then the finals and then he won! I claimed victory but he said that his front wheels crossed the line before my back ones so he took the prize. In the pits, we all help each other out but once the helmet goes on you have no friends! (Laughter) See more

17.01.2022 By all accounts, a good time was had in Sydney two weeks ago. A big thank you to Paul and Adrian for manning the merchandise stand and selling Putting the Fun Back into Drag Racing. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. If you have any photos of the event or the merch stand, feel free to post some here. :)

17.01.2022 When I was collecting the stories for our book, I was heartened to hear that the famed camaraderie within the club has stretched across 'the pond' to New Zealand. The boys have a strong link, dare I say 'a bond' with the New Zealand racers. That came through in interviews all the time. It's good to know the fraternity of drag racers is competitive but so very close. That friendship is what prompted me to make the back cover a pic of our boys with the NZ mob, while including some snaps of the racing in NZ. IF YOU HAVE ANY PHOTOS OF THE NZ GUYS, PLEASE POST THEM HERE.

17.01.2022 Check this out. Happy Fathers' Day to one and all.

16.01.2022 Blast from the past.

15.01.2022 While plans for the book launch take a back seat to this terrible virus, here is a snip-it from Putting the Fun Back into Drag Racing. Nathan Micallif said: My love for anything that was loud and fast stems from a few things - watching my uncle race his speedway car to being fascinated with monster trucks (mainly Bigfoot), my mum taking my brother and me to Calder Park Thunderdome to see the Auscar and Nascar races and to Bacchus Marsh Speedway to watch the Sprint Cars as a... young child. My first experience of Drag Racing was seeing Victor Bray and his ’57 Chevrolet doing massive burnouts down Calder Park Raceway. After seeing this I was hooked on Drag Cars. It took me until the age of 28 to have my very own drag car and this is where the story of the Hey Curly! Racing Team began. The Hey Curly! Racing Morris Minor was born. This 1961 model was a street driven vehicle when I purchased it and it was mostly stock. I replaced the stock engine with a modified A-Series Engine that was fitted with a Weber Downdraft Carb and a set of tuned length Extractors, connected to the original 4-speed gearbox and a welded Banjo Diff. The interior was completely stripped out, two Poly Race Seats were fitted, with a Race Steering Wheel and Mooneyes Tacho on the Dash. My first time driving the Hey Curly! Racing Morris Minor was at Heathcote Raceway in August 2017 at the Marsh Rodders’ Fun Day. It was a typical day of teething problems and issues for a first drive of a freshly built car but, with the help from my dad, we got through the day. It was one of the best days I have ever had in a car. See more

15.01.2022 Cherry Lane Laverton North

14.01.2022 Welcome to our new followers !!!! Whilst we can’t do a proper launch of the book just yet, please keep enjoying the stories and the excerpts!! Drop us a DM for book orders . Let’s all hope we can get back to racing soon and enjoying our cars !!

12.01.2022 Something a bit different. Modern blues! IMG_3214.mov

09.01.2022 The Angels Book Launch has been rescheduled after last weeks lockdown and is on this Sunday 28th Feb Pirates Tavern in Ann Street Williamstown- on the wharf. Bring your classic cars, motorcycles and hot rods for an impromptu car and bike show. Finger food provided. Drinks at bar prices. ... 1pm parking on the wharf against a beautiful city skyline so bring your cameras. 3pm a band will be playing in the outdoor area. Books available at a discount rate. See more

05.01.2022 A piece of history -- a young Jim Walton - featured in Putting the Fun Back into Drag Racing.

04.01.2022 Canary Blue is nearly on the road. David has done an amazing job of it.

03.01.2022 Member David King and I have written a new book about life in a local motorcycle gang in the 1960s and 70s. ANGELS - not the famous ones but a local Western Suburbs club - is an autobiographical account of David who was only ten years old when he met the Angels. While trying to survive a childhood of poverty and violence, David was intermittenly living on the streets of Williamstown when fate brought him to a house in Stevedore Street Williamstown. There he met a kind-heart...ed man and a group of older boys and men who shared his love of motorcycles and his need to belong. That chance meeting changed David's life. This is a tale full of childhood adventures, streets smarts and ingenuity. It is the story of a survivor in a time when violence in the home was commonplace and of the gang of Angels who took him under their wings, protected him and taught him the value of safety in numbers. David's journey took him from sleeping in the old morgue in Williamstown to working in Government House in Melbourne, with many twists and turns in the road. It's one hell of a ride. Books are $20 pick up from Altona - or add $15 for postage. Message me for more info.or call David.

03.01.2022 David King’s and my new extended version of Angels - Life in an Australian Motorcycle club in the 60s and 70s is to be published by Melbourne Books with a book launch in mid Feb next year. Hopefully Nostalgia Racers and friends will come along and bring your hot rods, drag cars and motorcycles and meet some of the stars of the book. Details to follow. Watch this space.

01.01.2022 Riverside Drags Fishermen’s Bend. The white FJ Holden on the left middle-ground belonged to member, George Peel. George believes that the car next to his could possibly belong to Skip Hayley but its not clear enough to determine that.