Sydney Dragway - good times ahead for Australia’s quickest sport

When Sydney Dragway opened its gates for the first time back in 2004, drag racing starved spectators flocked to the venue.

I distinctly remember towing back down the return road and looking out the window to see fans leaning over the fence clapping and cheering. What was even more amazing, they were clapping and cheering for me, a middle aged man driving a Camira in everyone's favourite bracket Super Gas!

Times changed. From the initial fan fare, the popularity of the venue dropped noticeably in subsequent years. The friction between track management and the racers and the loss of numerous events to wet weather both contributed to the general decline.

Couple this with a financial downturn and growing competition for mum and dad's entertainment dollar and you've got a combination of factors that are going to put any business to the test.

At the beginning of 2010 things weren't looking that flash for Sydney Dragway. Things needed to change and quickly.

Enter Ray Treasure. Long time drag racer who earned his stripes at Ravenswood Raceway, Ray joined the management team at Sydney Dragway in 2010, after 7 years successfully managing the drag racing events at the Perth Motorplex.

Ray explains. "Perth has a very strong management team and I sort of got to a level where I was happy with how the track was operating, where we were getting very good entry numbers and very good events running. I didn't specifically leave the Motorplex to come to Sydney, however being in the industry we knew things weren't all that great over here. I was willing to offer them some help while I was looking for a job, but then I got a call from the management to come over and we sat and talked about it."

"I knew there was a lot of work needed to done because there was actually nobody in my position dedicated to looking after the racing and the racers. So there was a big void, where there was no contact from the races through to the management and I filled that void. It's a big challenge, a major challenge but now I think we are starting to see the rewards of that."

Always up for a challenge

Ray Treasure - Sydney Dragway Venue and Events Manager

As the Venue and Events Manager at Sydney Dragway, Ray faces some unique and not so unique challenges drawing a decent crowd from the local fans.

"The biggest thing in Sydney, without a doubt, is the fact that there is so much to do here as opposed to the west coast. RSL clubs, footy on everywhere, it's very hard, very difficult to get people to come out of the city and come west."

"Our main target at the moment is the western suburbs and out this way. We've realised that people just won't travel. Especially when you consider the fact that there is so much to do and there is always something on in Sydney to go to."

Ray also cites a lack of momentum with the big gap in time from when Eastern Creek Raceway closed its doors to drag racing and the completion of Sydney Dragway. "I liken it to getting into a regular pattern of going to gym on the way home from work. You would do it but if you stop at home first then you don't end up going. You start breaking that cycle and you won't go."

"We've got to get people back into the pattern of going to the drags just like people have a pattern of going to the RSL on a Sunday afternoon to have dinner and a few drinks. We've got to get them used to coming to watching us. That's the sort of thing we've got to get happening again, a pattern where people choose to come to the drags rather than spend their time and money elsewhere."

Getting back in the Groove

One of the ways Sydney Dragway is encouraging this pattern is by creating and sticking to a regular timetable of events, which creates consistency and certainty for both spectators and racers.

Since Ray has been in the position of Events Manager he has focused on rebuilding a regular timetable and calendar to include more local events. These structured local events are now called The News South Wales Championship Series. The competitor count has doubled to over 200 for each event over the past 2 years.

With racer numbers back up, Ray and the team are now concentrating on adding features on top of The New South Wales Championship events." Apart from the big events that you know about, the Nationals and the Nitro Champs, we're trying to build up the middle level so-to-speak, so we've got a good hit all the way through the year. We're running 10 to 12 medium sized events underneath the two major events to spread out the load," said Ray.

With the two major ANDRA championship events locked in, the Nationals in November and the Nitro Champs in May, in between time Ray and the team are looking to mix it up by catering to the various segments within drag racing, from Nostalgia events to Pro Street and Sport Compact.

"We're also trying to mix it up for each one of the NSW Championship events. We'll try and put some sort of feature on. It might be a Nitro Funny Car versus a Top Fuel Dragster or something like that, getting back to the match racing grassroots. We're also looking at different types of features whether it be jet cars, wheel-standers or those types of things to give people what they want and attract a new crowd."

From street to strip to star

The other side of the equation is bringing the racers back to Sydney Dragway. Without the racer's you don't have a show to put on for the spectators. It's vitally important that Sydney Dragway (and the sport as a whole) has fresh faces in the staging lanes to continue the sports growth and development.

The starting point for many racers is a street meet. This is the introduction to drag racing that gets many new racers hooked on the sport.

As Ray explains, "Street meets are very important for two reasons; firstly to help pay the bills and keep the venue ticking over. Whether we are running here or not we incur the cost, so street meets help to offset some of that day-to-day costs."

"Secondly, to get kids off the streets. Some of those kids (and middle aged guys) will come out and think this isn't a bad deal and start racing at The New South Wales Championship events. So street meets are very, very important to the sport as well as the venue."

Sydney Dragway encourages new racers to progress through the ranks by educating them about the street fighter class run at The New South Wales Championship Series. "There's no ET cut off and you race your daily driver, whether that's a four cylinder Corolla or SS Commodore. It's dial-you-own racing and that's the stepping stone that we try and get them into. So they can do exactly what they do on a Wednesday night, except they get to learn how to dial in and race in their normal street car."

Moving with the times

Sydney Dragway is also moving ahead by introducing brackets and performance cut-offs that are in line with what racers want and the horsepower modern technology can produce.

Time and technology have moved on since we started Dial Your Own racing. It's (relatively) straight-forward to push Super Sedan type vehicles into the 8s and Modified vehicles into the 7s. Today, performance cars can run into the 11s straight off the show room floor and into the 10s with some mods.

At the recent Winternationals, 65 of the 93 cars in Super Sedan qualified with a sub 10 second pass, 22 of those quicker than 9.00. In Modified, 24 of the 44 entrants ran quicker that 8.00. Only 4 entrants were slower than 9.00.

This raises the sometimes thorny question of changing the ET cut-offs for various brackets.

Ray has some ideas on how we should be moving with the times. "We run top sportsman here as you know, which takes the quick Super Sedans out and into their own bracket. We've got some very quick ones in there and I don't think it's safe running them against a 10.99 car."

"Instead of dropping brackets we should be bringing the cut-off times down a little bit so you might have Super Sedan to say 8.99, then Super Street will be 9.0 to 11.0 or something like that. That's what we are working on here - same with other brackets. The current system worked back in the day, but now you can go and buy a HSV and get a cam and chip put it in and the thing will run in 11s straight away."

Room to rent

Drag racing events take up only a relatively small percentage of the total operating hours of Sydney Dragway. There are plenty of days that can be used for other purposes.

So one of Ray's major goals, apart from getting fans and racers back into the venue, is to make best use of the facilities for events outside of drag racing.

"We've got a few on the go at the moment but we are mainly looking at things that aren't affected by weather. Obviously weather is our biggest hurdle in drag racing. We can't run in the rain as everybody knows, but what we are looking at trying to do is other outside exhibitions that aren't affected by the weather," said Ray.

Examples include the 4wheel drive show that is coming up soon which can run in all weather conditions. Sydney Dragway is also aiming to host a truck show in the future. Civinex, the infrastructure show, is on the calendar for May 2013.

"We've got an amazingly flexible venue here that can blend into doing whatever the hirer wants. Obviously there are other things that we do with the drag strip as well. We've got the fast track guys with their three seater cars, so that's another outside thing that happens in between everything else that goes on," said Ray.

Looking forward

With all that's happened in drag racing over the last few years and in particular the effort to restore Sydney Dragway as one of Australia's most popular and racer friendly venues, I asked Ray what the strategic vision is for the future.

"Since the new board has been in place they've obviously taken a few months to learn the ropes so to speak and now they are now developing a five and a ten year plan. We've never had that before so we want to know where we are going to be in five years, so we know where we are going to be in ten years."

"At the moment we are mapping that road and it's still in its early stages. We're looking at how we can grow the venue, how we can grow the sport. Obviously we need to keep the venue going but our main focus is drag racing, that's what we are here for. We are here for the sport but we obviously need other events to keep the venue viable in case we have adverse weather or something and we can bounce back."

"We've already got to that position where we can ride out some adverse stuff but we need to get on top of that further. So to answer your question there is strategic plan being put in place now and being held on tightly by the board until it's ready for release."

"We've had a massive turnaround in the last 12 months in all aspects and we are here for the long term now."

"There is no doubt what-so-ever about that."

So with that final note, I'm sure you'll agree that the management of Sydney Dragway is in excellent hands. Whether you're a racer or a fan, it's good times ahead for Australia's quickest sport in the country's largest city.