- Damien Harris – Australia’ fastest Top Fuel Speed – 540.45kph
- Russell Taylor – Australia’s quickest Top Doorslammer ET (again) – 5.551 seconds
- Emilio Spinozzi – Australia’s fastest Top Doorslammer Speed – 429.35kph
Another capacity crowd at Willowbank Raceway has again been treated to record breaking performances from the National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) racers today as the 2026 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals – the largest championship drag racing event held outside of North America – came to a close.
As part of an action packed day, the huge crowd paid witness to not only winning performances, but also Australia’s fastest Top Fuel Speed (540.45kph – Damien Harris), Australia’s quickest Top Doorslammer ET (again, with Russell Taylor bettering yesterday’s mark to 5.551 seconds), and Australia’s fastest Top Doorslammer Speed (429.35kph – Emilio Spinozzi), as well as no less than 8 three-second passes and 11 set at more than 500kph across BLAHST Top Fuel and XPRO Nitro Funny Car.
Harris takes back the Australian speed record on way to BLAHST Top Fuel win
In BLAHST Top Fuel, it was a morale boosting A-Final for Damien Harris, who took an ugly yet spectacular A-Final win over RAI team-mate Shane Olive after having broken the Australian Top Fuel Speed record in round two – resetting the marker his team-mate and reigning champ Wayne Newby had broken just the day before from 536.44kph to 540.45kph, while also taking the round two win from him in a blazing side by side, three second/500kph+ display (3.712/540.45kph to Newby’s 3.758/526.45kph).
In the A-Final, Harris and Olive had delivered an absolutely heart-stopping pedal fest, with neither prepared to give up all the way to the line. Harris (6.554/372.47kph) ultimately found the necessary extra momentum to turn on the win light and disrupt what would have been a fairytale result for Olive – making his Winternationals debut in Top Fuel machinery this weekend, including a breakthrough 3.76 PB earlier in the day in round one.
Harris was calm, cool, and collected in the deep end after his winning run in what was a triumphant return to form after a rough end to last month’s Nitro Champs event in Sydney.
“That is definitely a win, and a good morale booster for the team. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, like its driver. But it’s a win,” Harris said.
“Thank you to Santo Sr, Atlantic Oils, Santo Jr, Gianna, Santino, and the whole Rapisarda family and my crew.”
On the record setting pass, he had earlier said, “it definitely had me pinned, but it doesn’t surprise me too much!”
The B and C Finals were also less than pleasant for the competitors in question, with Phil Lamattina (B Final win – 5.369/219.39kph following an earlier PB of 3.749 in round one) and Kyle Putland (C Final win – 4.053/406.84kph) both enduring fireballs in their dragsters on their ways to victory, while their opponents, Steve Read (B Final – threw a belt) and Wayne Newby (C Final – tyre shake) both caught trouble early.
Record breaking Top Doorslammer final pass not enough to win the final
Two-time and current Top Doorslammer champ, Russell Taylor, smashed the Top Doorslammer ET record that he broke just yesterday in the final of Top Doorslammer at the Gulf Western Oil Winternationals, further lowering it from 5.579 to 5.551 (at 416.28kph) as he took on Emilio Spinozzi (5.639/421.86kph) in the fight for the event win.
While this impressive ET was enough to rewrite the record books, it was remarkably not enough to hand Taylor the NDRC Gold Christmas Tree – with that honour instead being awarded to Spinozzi who beat Taylor to the finish line thanks to a much better reaction time at the tree (0.024 to 0.175).
“Yeah, it does seem strange – I am the quickest loser in history you could say!” Taylor laughed when the rarity of setting a new Australian record but not winning the race was brought up.
“To set the record again feels unreal, and we are so stoked with that – it is a credit to all the boys here and the incredible job they do.
“At the same time, I am gutted that I let them all down on the tree and we missed out on the win; but all in all, we have had an unbelievable weekend, and it is a credit to the whole team.
“Congratulations to Emilio and his team, they were on it all weekend as well and ensured there was no room for mistakes. But yeah, I am definitely feeling conflicted about this one,” concluded the racer, who had earlier in the day defeated Brody Davies in round one (5.585/404.34kph v 5.824/395.51kph) before a solo pass (5.581/413.98kph) in the semi-final when John Zappia was unable to front due to a “massive mechanical failure.”
For Spinozzi, the win was a dream come true and came following a weekend of breakthrough performances with multiple personal bests – including Australia’s quickest speed for a Top Doorslammer ever (429.35kph) set as part of his round one win over last year’s event winner, Rob Harrington. He would later also defeat Brodie Zappia in the semi-final (5.634/427.08kph to 5.712/400.83kph) to make his way to the final stand.
“This is unbelievable, crazy, nuts! I am pretty stoked,” Spinozzi grinned.
“Obviously, to win the Winternationals is crazy in itself (let alone on a ‘holeshot’). I have my team to thank – Michael and the boys, they have been working hard all weekend, and I have just done my job as a driver, they are the ones who have given me the car, this is a big credit to them.
“Going up against one of the fastest cars in the category and a team who is so consistent – I mean, they are unbelievable tuners and racers – we were just going, ‘let’s just do our job, get the car prepped and see what happens.’ We would have been happy either way, it was always going to be a tough race, and we got it done on the tree, it is just crazy.
“To also have reset the top speed record for Top Doorslammer earlier in the day is pretty intense. We weren’t expecting that! It has been a crazy, crazy weekend, full of ups! I can’t event think at the moment, I am just so happy for everyone – thank you to the crew, and to Darren Maher from America who gave us this engine.”
Blazing XPRO Nitro Funny Car finale has packed house on its feet
Adam Murrihy and Josh Leahy well and truly delivered an A-Final worth waiting for in XPRO Nitro Funny Car, putting on a true flame-throwing show down the Willowbank Raceway quarter-mile with a brilliant side-by-side run.
All the way from the NT, Murrihy was in the box seat to take his first ever NFC win after having been on a charge all weekend long, but it was Leahy who would ultimately lift the NDRC Gold Christmas Tree thanks to his 4.030/439.71kph effort over Murrihy’s 4.248/456.81kph result.
Making the win even more impressive for Top Qualifier Leahy was the fact that he is under the weather this weekend.
“It is the Winternationals, baby! It doesn’t matter if you are sick in bed, you get out here so you can be part of moments like this. I am literally lost for words,” an emotional Leahy said after pausing to collect himself upon climbing out of the car.
“I can’t thank the team enough – all the race shop boys putting in the hard effort, GC, Wendy, Morice; they’ve given me this opportunity. And my mum, dad, and family for supporting me in doing this. Never in a million years did I think I would be holding this Gold Christmas tree at the Winters in an XPRO Nitro Funny Car. It is more than a dream come true.”
The B-Final win went the way of Damon Paton (6.354/171.06kph) after a full-track pedal fest for both he and his opponent, Justin Walshe (8.010). The C-Final saw Morice McMillin take on the newest XPRO Nitro Funny Car racer Luke Shepherd, with what had already been a challenging weekend for the reigning champ (round one shutdown on the line due to oil leak, round two hit a timing block) continuing in his final pass. What started out as a staunch run ended with him crossing the centre line and mowing down a few timing blocks, handing the win to Shepherd who was off the throttle early.
Defending champ makes it back-to-back Winters wins after defeating new World Record holder
Pro Alcohol was a stand-out bracket at the Winternationals this weekend, playing host to two World Record ETs by Cheyne Phillips, plenty of personal bests, and some great match-ups.
When all was said and done, it was the defending champ and last year’s Winters winner Daniel Reed who took out the ultimate prize, facing off against Andrew Searle in the final.
Reed had no easy ride to the final match-up, taking on Chris Hargrave in round one (5.410 v 5.502) before lining up against Phillips in round two for a highly anticipated showdown. It was a pass to remember, with Reed taking the victory with a holeshot of just 12 one-thousandths of a second, to cross the line first with his 5.385 second pass to Phillips’ 5.378 effort.
Searle meanwhile had taken on John Cannuli (5.418/415.00kph to 5.833/296.09kph) in round one and Darren Fry (5.393/424.54kph to 5.846/420.31kph) to earn his spot in the finale.
“I feel fantastic. The car was on rails Sunday after we were a little behind the eight ball on Saturday, but it all came together on Sunday. The crew worked tirelessly to make sure everything was perfect for race day,” Reed said.
“It is good to beat a world record holder, without a doubt, but Cheyne should hold his head high – it was an incredible race, and they are a family we respect a lot. We know they are always going to put a good run on the board, so we had to do something special to beat them.
“We decided to give it a bit more in the final than we normally do, and it paid off, we did a PB and got the win. Andrew Searle was a tough customer, and we knew we couldn’t take him lightly – he had gone 5.39 on the run before, and the converter cars can cut really good RTs. We had to get after it and hope we got the win, and we did.
“It was so great too to see the whole Pro Alcohol field really put on a good show. It was a really tough field with a good mix of the dragsters and funny cars running really good times with really close racing – it was great for the spectators, great for the sport, and great for the class of Pro Alcohol.”
First time Winters win for Pro Mod racer
It was a David v Goliath battle in the finale of Pro Mod, with reigning champ and previous Winters winner Zoran Gajic lining up against Lorenzo Gullotto – who would go on to take his first Winternationals win after taking it all the way to the end of the track (5.946/392.08kph) while Gajic was off the throttle early (7.758/182.49kph).
“I am over the moon,” Gullotto said. “Heading into the final, deep down I knew I had what it took, but I needed to make sure Zoran didn’t outrun me.
“I knew we had the car in qualifying, and we knew it was only going to get better as the weekend went on, so we just kept pushing and making sure we didn’t let ourselves down, and we won!
“My voice is gone – I was yelling in the car, I reckon they would have heard me three kilometres away! It has been a dream to win the Winters, and now that is ticked off the bucket list!”
Gullotto had opened his Sunday with a round one win (6.208/282.03kph) over a red-lighting Stew Walsh, before lining up against top qualifier Adam Tassone in the semi-final. While Gullotto raced through for the victory (5.908/396.60kph), behind him Tassone would unfortunately suffer a large crash – his heavily damaged 68 Firebird would end up on its roof, but Tassone was thankfully unhurt. Gajic meanwhile enjoyed a solo pass in round one (5.883/411.78kph) before taking the round two win on another single run (5.882/412.16kph) when his intended opponent Joe Gauci became stuck on the race track following his burnout.
Pro Stock, Pro Stock Bike, Top Fuel Motorcycle, and Aeroflow Sportsman racers delight packed crowd
Sibling rivalry was the name of the game in Pro Stock, with brothers Aaron Tremayne and Tyronne Tremayne doing battle for the final, with younger brother Aaron ultimately taking the spoils with a 7.286/246.11kph effort over Tyronne’s red-lighting 7.348/234.78kph run. Earlier in the day, they had each enjoyed a solo run win in round one (6.857/320.19kph for Aaron and 6.865/320.48kph for Tyronne), before respectively dispatching Tony Polito (6.884/320.01kph v 7.057/310.45kph) and Omar Sedmak (6.926/318.74kph v 6.997/308.81kph) in the semi-final to set up the family feud.
In Pro Stock Bike, consistency was the name of the game for Ryan Learmonth, taking the win over Paul Andrews with a 7.430 second pass at 289.63kph to Andrews’ 8.590/179.76kph effort. Learmonth had earlier dispatched Sam Scerri (7.360/294.89kph v 7.439/297.11kph) in round one and points leader Callam Godeassi in round two (7.401/291.14kph); while Andrews had a round one solo before defeating Locky Ireland in the semis (7.639/291.77kph v 8.005/283.77kph).
In Top Fuel Motorcycle, Neville Smith took the win over John Zahra, with the issues that had plagued Zahra all weekend long continuing in the finale while Smith blazed across the line with flames coming from his bike (7.321). Smith had enjoyed two bye runs in round one and two, while Zahra had defeated a red-lighting Corey Buttigieg in round one before a semis solo.
Also on-track this weekend was a massive contingent of Aeroflow Sportsman Championship racers from all across the country. When all was said and done after four big days of racing, it was Brian Alvisio (Modified Bike, over Johnny Lewis), Zayne Condello (Aeroflow Junior Dragster, over Karl Schulz), Lawrence Raschella (Aeroflow Junior Drag Bike, over Jetayah Chalk), Matt Francis (Super Street, over Ace Edwards), Tony Whyatt (Top Sportsman, over Shaun Doeblien), Mitchell Bauer (Super Sedan, over Alan Hutchen), Daniel ‘BatDan’ Carranza (Modified, over Phil Bellert), Craig Edwards (Performance Bike, over Edge Mallis), Sally Watts (Supercharged Outlaws, over Garry Cameron – who thankfully walked away from a heavy crash in the final), and John Parisi (SuperComp, over Steve Sloan). There is still much more NDRC action to come for 2026 – for all the details of upcoming events, visit www.ndrc.tv
