Gary Phillips Nitro Champs Wrap-up

First Doorslammer Five for Phillips!


After a string of 6.01 runs at the Tin Tops at Willowbank two weeks earlier, Gary Phillips has claimed his first five second Top Doorslammer quarter mile run- recording a 5.984 at Western Sydney International Dragway’s Nitro Champs on Saturday.

‘I reckon they would have heard my screams over in Perth,’ said an elated Debbie Phillips, who after partnering with husband Gary for 39 years in the sport, rated the five second pass as one of the highlights of their career.
Feeling the heat of sixteen teams vying for the eight car field, the Lucas Oil Products team started the event with a white-washed first round of qualifying. Severe dew affected race track producing a tire spinning and very untidy 6.27 second elapsed time.

For the remainder of the qualifying rounds, the team continued to persevere with their normally fast qualifying setup. In the fourth and final session, however, the track and tune up finally came together to produce the team’s personal best time of 5.984 seconds.

The stellar run netted them a respectable fourth qualifying position.
After analysing the numbers from the landmark run, Cheyne Phillips discovered the data from the 6.01 second runs recorded at the prior event were surprisingly smoother than their first entry into the five second territory.
“It was far from a perfect run, and we’re excited about that,” he said. “What is important, is that we know how we ran it and we can build on it from here,”

From the pilot’s point of view, the best part of the run was that nothing was broken in the achievement honouring the Lucas Oil Products’ motto of ‘Keep That Engine Alive.’

‘It’s one thing to run a five, but to do it without hurting the engine is a huge bonus. We’re just relieved to get the monkey off our back,” stated Phillips. “To qualify as one of only four racers in the fives out of sixteen entered cars is just brilliant.”

With the Doorslammer national championship title out of reach with only one round to go, Phillips will compete for a respectable third or fourth place going into the final points round at the Winternationals at Willowbank in less than a month.

In the meantime, the Brisbane based workshop for the team will be a hive of activity, as the Phillips family throw everything at trying to claim some more five second passes in the Lucas Oils ‘53 Studebaker Top Doorslammer to finish the year on a positive note.

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