TOP 25
The following is a selection of the 25 most significant drag racing muscle cars from the early days of Australian drag racing. These are not in any particular order, and could as well be replaced by other contenders; it just depends on what you see as significant. This could as easily been a list of another hundred vehicles... These are mostly single vehicles, but sometimes we’ve morphed two vehicles into the one feature since the original vehicle was replaced by a later version that cosmetically may have been different but had the same impact and continued the impact that began with its predecessor. We figure these are the cars that influenced a generation. They might not have won the most – though most enjoyed their share – or been the fastest, but they were the ones that were most noted.
Ben Gatt XA Falcon
Sydney’s Ben Gatt has enjoyed 55 years of active drag racing, 34 of them in his XA two-door. Gatt purchased the car from fellow Sydney racer Dave Missingham, who had raced it in Pro Stock, and he in turn bought it from Canberra’s Peter Pulford, who had acquired it as a brand new shell in 1973. The car has run countless thousands of passes down the quarter mile, in every state of the nation, and with everything from a carburetted 351 to its current power from a blown 351 Cleveland. The car’s high point came with a Super Stock win at the 1990 Nationals. It remains one of the most recognisable drag racing vehicles in the nation.
Dennis Syrmis Corolla
In 1970 Brisbane’s Dennis Syrmis stunned Australian drag racing with what was regarded as the sleekest sedan yet built here. The chop top Corolla-bodied Gasser was initially equipped with the blown and injected Holden 6 that had powered Syrmis’ fast but often fragile FJ and became the first of its kind to run in the 10-second zone in 1972, as well as winning the that year’s Nationals and other major events. To withstand the challenge from rival Jeff Burnett’s HB Torana, he then went to first an injected and then blown 350 Chev, later swapping to an Escort body to fulfil a sponsorship obligation with a Brisbane Ford dealer, before the car was retired at the end of 1973 so Syrmis could meet his obligations as the head of the new Australian National Drag Racing Association.
Dave Bennett Monaro
Dave Bennett was an established name in drag racing and his Perfectune Engineering a growing force in the aftermarket industry when he bought a yellow 327 HK Monaro, on August 2, 1968, 10 days after their release. He
