Donna Collins
The first national drag races, held the first Friday this month, kick started the 2018 championship drag racing season with a bang, and saw an impressive turnout of 52 entries with 1300 spectators turning up to the Tony Rust Raceway.
According to a delighted Derek Jacobs, who is Namibian Motorsport Federation Administrator, this was one of the biggest drag racing events held in a very long time, proving that there is resurgence in the sport.
The drag action started at 19:30 which by the end of the event totalled 97 races up the quarter mile strip, with at least 20 cars still in the queue at cut off time before midnight.
“There was no stopping the guys that night, and of the 52 entries, only a handful repeated a drag run, with many cars turning up at the track for the first time,” said Jacobs.
“We had at least 14 of Namibia’s current national competitors out in full force getting an early start at defending their class titles, with the fastest time clocked up the 400 metre strip by Michael Van Zyl, in 11.3 seconds.
Some of the other names to look out for are reigning champion class winners Bennie Booysen, Frank de Rebeira, Michael van Zyl, Terrence Knowles, Roberto Bertolini, Jannis Janser, Devon Farmer, Jan Everson, Terrence Knowles and Michael van Zyl.
It was also mentioned that the NMSF have allocated eight drag racing events for the season, which will be spread throughout the year at the different drag strips.
Drag races are organised by the three NMSF affiliated clubs namely Rehoboth Motor Club, Outlaw Motor Club, and the Okahandja Drag Racing Club. The three drag strips are stationed at the Tony Rust Track, the Okahandja Air strip and the Walvis Bay street drag strip which is cordoned off each time by the municipal traffic department.
“Negotiations are underway for a major corporate sponsorship for the 2018 Drag Racing Championship, with meetings over the past few weeks looking very promising and fruitful for the sport,” added Jacobs.
“With a big sponsor in place, drag racing in particular its national race meetings will be catapulted into a different league, with prize money and national title status awarded to the country’s top guns.” Drag racing fans can look forward to the next action packed drag event, which will be held in Walvis Bay over the Easter Weekend on March 31, which promises to pull a huge crowd and some daredevil dicing.