DEATH-DEFYING

FROM the near-2000hp turbo small-block lurking under the bonnet to the incredible attention to detail throughout, Darren and Leah Dubbelman’s LX Torana drag car is one of the toughest and most well-sorted radial rides around. But the couple’s journey to get the car to the track has been far from easy.

Back in December 2018, Darren was just 42 years of age and fit as a fiddle, and the car was 95 per cent built. But at 1:30am one morning, he had a massive stroke and heart attack. Leah performed CPR on him for 20 minutes and the paramedics lost him a number of times while attempting to revive him. Amazingly, Darren eventually pulled through, but the incident left him with permanent