Street Car SHOWDOWN
Even in a household where Dad gets given socks for his birthday and underwear for Christmas, there’s a day that’s a true cause for celebration: Father’s Day. It’s not special because the kids have made breakfast and a card for you, but because it’s the day that you get to witness many of New Zealand’s fastest street cars battle for ultimate bragging rights.
The Petrolhead Father’s Day Drags is the brainchild of the American Muscle Car Club, and, while open strictly to factory V8-powered vehicles, as opposed to assorted hybrids with V8s thrown at them, there’s no shortage of punters. In fact, with this year’s event actually taking place on Father’s Day, and the weather actually playing ball for a change, the entrant count was higher than ever. More than 4000 spectators rolled through the gates too, filling not only the grandstands but also the nearby hill in an attempt to get the best vantage point to witness the action.
The big drawcard is the Top 8 Shootout, which is in actuality two top-eight shoot-outs: one for cars of American origin and one for cars of Australian origin. The shoot-outs run in a knockout format, top qualifier v. eighth qualifier, second v. seventh, and so on, the loser of each race being knocked out until there is just one standing.
Sadly, this year saw third-fastest qualifier in the American shoot-out, Wayne Fowler, out with a seized shifter cable in his recently reworked Camaro, leaving seven cars to compete and giving Justin Weir a couple of bye runs for an easy entry to the final, where
