Racers ready to roar | Warwick Motorsports | Car Racing, Rally Driving, V8 Supercars in Warwick

Dale Duffy will be in action at Warwick Dragway today in the first round of the South Queensland Eighth Mile Drag Racing Series.Photo blacktrack.com.au

DRIVERS from as far away as Gladstone will compete in the first round of the inaugural Nitro Magazine 2010 South Queensland Eighth Mile Drag Racing series at the Warwick Dragway today. Organiser John Winterburn said drivers would be represented from the four drag racing tracks where series rounds were held.

After the first round today in Warwick, Roma will host a round in May, Willowbank in July and the grand finals will be in Gladstone during September.

Winterburn said the six series classes were junior dragster, super street, super sedan, modified bike, modified and classic.

“Any cars pre-1964 can enter the classic class,” he said.

The fastest passes of the weekend are expected to be less than six seconds and at a speed of about 140 miles an hour.

The 2010 series was the inaugural eighth-mile (200 metre) one, Winterburn said.

“With 101 pre-entries for round one, the support will allow us to hold the series each year, which means another major event for Warwick,” he said.

Winterburn, who plans to rotate the grand finals each year, is full of praise for the support received from the Warwick District Drag Racing Association.

“The support from the Warwick association has been fantastic; we gather entries through the Willowbank website and put together the meeting for the club to run,” he said. Qualifying is from 10am until 4pm and racing from 5pm until 10pm today.

“There is a jumping castle and some slippery slides for the children at the dragway,” Winterburn said. “There will be plenty of action in qualifying and a chance for everyone to talk to the drivers about drag racing.”