Oberg brothers ready to battle it out in Junior DragsterIt is often said that the family that plays together, stays together. This is certainly an adage the Oberg family has taken to heart with mum and dad overseeing their sons competing in the sport of drag racing.

Caleb (14) and Ethan (10) have each been racing in the Junior Dragster bracket since the age of eight and will be part of the action at Warwick Dragway on 9 February 2013 when it hosts the opening round of the 2013 JP Racing Eighth Mile Drag Racing Series.

While the family attributes the sport to strengthening their relationship, sibling rivalry does at times come into play.

"I hate racing my little brother – I don't like beating him, but at the same time I don't want to get beaten by him because then he and all my friends tease me about it," said Caleb, who in 2010 became the youngest ever Australian Drag Racing Champion when he took out the Junior Dragster national title.

Ben Bray looking for repeat success at SlamfestVictor and Ben Bray will be looking to repeat their 2012 Slamfest Series success when they take to the track at Heathcote Park Raceway this Saturday (19 January) for round one of the 2013 tour.

The Series sees a field of Top Doorslammer competitors competing across the eighth-mile distance at regional tracks around Australia. During last year's running of the series, both Victor and Ben snared a win each while Victor also reset the Top Doorslammer elapsed time record for the eighth mile.

The father and son team from Kallangur in Queensland will feature as part of an eight car field including fellow ANDRA stars John Zappia, Peter Kapiris and Russ Pavey; as well as Marcus Chambers, John Brunner and Frank Mamone.

Team Bray Racing will get their 2013 off to a high-octane start when the popular Summernats festival hits Canberra's Exhibition Park for the 26th time across 3-6 January 2013.

The annual Summernats festival is Australia's largest celebration of the modified car lifestyle and each year attracts up to 100,000 fans across its four days.

The XM Falcon Top Doorslammer of Murray O'Connor dug its heels in at the recent race meeting at Perth Motorplex but the O'Connor Motorsport team eventually got the carbon-bodied Ford to co-operate and in the process ran another personal best for the car.

"It was a tough start to the weekend! We had what we thought would be a strong but still conservative tune-up in the car but round one of qualifying saw some extreme tyre shake for us," explained O'Connor.

"The tyre shake caused the diff to break at half track, which in-turn allowed the engine rev up to 11,700rpm, dropping a valve in the process."

60foot joins Lamattina Top Fuel Racing (Photo courtesy Gardner Broz)Lamattina Top Fuel Racing (LTFR) has added another sponsor to the ranks, with clothing brand '60foot' joining the team for the final round of the 'western swing' held at the Perth Motorplex, February 1 and 2.

The Australian-based clothing brand has strong links to drag racing with its merchandise range and supporting the fastest cars in the sport was a natural fit.

LTFR driver and team boss, Phil Lamattina was pleased to confirm the partnership.

"We are really happy to have 60foot on-board with the team. 60foot is a young brand and it's great to see them support drag racing at all levels."

"Let's not forget that 60foot gives away prizes at each Aeroflow Drag Racing Series round to the junior dragster driver with the best reaction time and closest to dial in 'package' during eliminations."

Darryl Stephen takes the lead in the Southern Super Gas Series (Photo courtesy Dragpix)While there were only 6 Super Gas entries there was some very interesting racing by all reports. Even though he is still sorting out his Camira, Kym Oberauer stepped up to run Super Gas to make up the field after initially intending to run Super Sedan. It was a very impressive performance to win the bracket and check out his average qualifying ET where for the three qualifying sessions he averaged 6.300 on a 6.300 index.

The bracket also had great support from Darryl and Anthony as they both made the long haul from Sydney to Portland in the heat and hopefully the NSW fires didn't cause them any grief on the trip home. While Anthony went out in the first round Darryl made it to the semi-finals but that earned him enough points to take the lead in the series.

Ballistic Drag Racing has not had the start we wanted in 2012. The Nationals in November was the first meeting back in BB/CB after our bad luck in March so I was a little bit nervous. We had done some passes at Heathcote Park and everything was okay so we went to the Nationals with some confidence.

As 2012 winds down and the holiday season kicks into gear, Team Bray Racing is busy preparing for an action-packed 2013 following an intense year spent at race tracks around the country.

While it may seem just like yesterday, almost 12 months ago the year that was kicked off with Victor and Ben Bray taking up their usual place at the 25th annual Summernats festival in Canberra, along with their Sidchrome burnout cars and the historic '57 Chev 'Black Bess'.