Motorsport: Street drags light up Whanganui’s Taupō Quay

Lindsey Stalker's Holden (right) squares off against Matt Fletcher's Audi on Sunday. Photo / Steve Carle

An unlikely guest and the threat of rain weren’t enough to derail the 37th edition of Whanganui’s street drags.

Organiser Raj Patel from the Wanganui Road Rodders said he checked the weather “about 1000 times” leading up to Sunday’s event.

“It was doom and gloom all the way to 4am,” he said.

“The drizzle stopped at 6.30am and the wind came and dried the track out. Then, the wind stopped about 8am and the sun came out.”

“It was like a miracle.”

Seventy competitors signed up to race on the one-eighth-mile track on Taupō Quay.

A slightly slower vehicle also made its presence felt.

“For the first time since we started, a passenger steam train [Steam Inc’s River City Express] came through from Wellington,” Patel said.

“It swapped tracks right where our spectators were viewing. They were awesome, though - they moved aside straight away and got to see it up close.”

He said the junior dragsters were a highlight.

Nationally, the class features drivers aged between 6 and 17 - behind the wheels of downsized replicas of standard dragsters.

Dean Toombs burns rubber in his 1964 Ford Fairlane. Photo / Steve Carle

“I think the crowd actually has a new respect for them,” Patel said.

“We had an interesting competition this year: putting two of the fastest dragsters up against street cars of the same calibre.

“The junior dragsters triumphed both times.”

Patel’s son Kayden Patel was the sole Whanganui competitor in the class this year, going up against a family from Waikanae.

“He ran a personal best - 11.1 seconds down the eighth-mile - and he’s off to the junior dragster champs at Meremere this Saturday.”

The 1923 Ford T Bucket driven by Matthew Robinson took home the fastest Ford commendation and fastest time of the day with 6.65s.

Dan Southall claimed the fastest Chevrolet title with 6.982s in his 1969 SS Camaro.

This year’s Ivan Jones Memorial Trophy went to Tristan Teki, who was pipped by Southall in the Chevrolet class but took out the V8 versus import challenge.

Karl Brown and his 2022 Suzuki 750 clocked 7.518s to take out the fastest bike and Heather Hills was the fastest lady in her 2000 Ford Mustang.

Lower Hutt's Dan Cowden lets rip. Photo / Steve Carle

Nick Szalardi’s 1992 Nissan Skyline was the fastest import and Joshua David’s 2014 Audi RS6 was the fastest in the “other” category, with a time of 7.518s.

The best burnout award went to Dave Hickfiord and his 1980 Kingswood ute, with Craig Couper winning best-presented car for his HQ Holden.

Patel said he was “sleep-deprived” on Monday morning but happy the event had gone smoothly.

“There was a lot of stress going into the day, but seeing those cars go down the track made it all worth it.

“The club really came together - pitching in for set-up and pack-up.

“It was humbling to have a beer with the members at the end of the day and say, ‘Hey, we did great’.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multi-media journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.