New Aussie NHRA Top Fuel driver Richard Crampton with partner Stephanie LaskiAustralia has a new NHRA-licensed Top Fuel driver with expat-Adelaide drag racer Richard Crampton earning his prized credentials at Indianapolis Raceway Park today.

A long-time member of Morgan Lucas's team, Crampton underwent his licensing runs in Lucas' Geico/Lucas Oils dragster and MLR team-mate Brandon Bernstein's Protect The Harvest/MAV-TV car.

Under the watchful eyes of Lucas, Bernstein and leading NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps, the 30-year-old Crampton officially secured his ticket with quick passes of 3.85sec at 307mph and 3.86/314.

Lucas tweeted soon after "@richocrampton is officially licensed top fuel pilot. Not a person here that wouldn't sign that license" with Capps replying "Tell him nice job".

ANDRA is proud to announce Fuchs and Crow Cams have joined as the naming rights partners for Fuchs Nitro Thunder presented by Crow Cams on October 19 at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway.

All bodes well for the return of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series to Melbourne, with Victorian motorsport fans set to enjoy national championship rounds of Top Fuel, Top Bike and Pro Stock Motorcycle for the first time since 2001.

ANDRA CEO Malcolm Bulley said he was proud to have Fuchs and Crow Cams on board for the historic event.

The Outlaw 10.5 scene in Australia has come on strong in the last few years and has grown in popularity with both racers and fans.

Trying to put thousands of horsepower through a 10.5W slick is a huge challenge and it doesn't take much to go from hero to has-been if you get it wrong.

But it's this racing on the edge mentality that makes it such a spectacle for fans and an adrenalin rush for the racers. To be the quickest and fastest in Outlaw 10.5 you've got to make the power, get the car set-up just right and have someone mad enough get behind the wheel.

On August 17th all of these elements came together and the Moits Outlaw 10.5 Mustang powered down Sydney Dragway to record a 5.99 at 252.95 mph, resetting the mile-per-hour record previously held by Brad Personett in the Big Stuff Camaro.

Well it's been a crazy few months for Mariani Family Motorsport. We picked up the race car from Darren Morgan Racing (DMR) in April. Since DMR didn't have the spare parts they needed, we agreed to let them use some of the parts off our car for the next few months until their shipment arrived and both ours and their teams were able to be self sufficient.

May 2013 - The car has colour! I decided to colour it in the old school style of my dads car and to put it lightly, he was awesomely surprised. A huge thank you to my friends at "Pro Signs Wetherill Park" for making this Beast look the part. I think it represents a new age feel with an old Skool touch.

Steven Ham took his second career win as Gary Phillips wrapped up his 17th ANDRA championship title on a pivotal night of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series at Hidden Valley Drag Strip in Darwin.

Ham's 5.645 second pass in the final defeated a close but losing 5.732 from John Cannuli and in the process moved to second in the championship, albeit out of reach of Phillips' points lead.

The win did not come without its share of drama for Ham, with the team enduring a run of gremlins interfering with the 3500 horsepower East Coast Lubes Funny Car.

"A lot of hard work went into it just to get us to the last round here tonight," he said. "We had no working data logger, no tachometer, oil pressure problems, it was just drama central and we had to put it all out of our minds and just go for it."

Queensland's Gary Phillips set a new track record en route to number one qualifying position in Top Alcohol on day one of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series at Darwin's Hidden Valley Drag Strip.

Phillips' pass of 5.650 eclipsed the previous track record of 5.685 that was held by Darwin local Scott Maclean.

With 11 cars battling to make it into an eight car race day field, Phillips said he was just glad that he was in the show for Saturday with his Lucas Oils Funny Car.

"As long as we weren't in those ninth, tenth or eleventh spots I didn't care," he said. "We elected to roll the dice and sit out the final session and the time managed to stay number one.