This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (3-5 May 2013) at Sydney Dragway, Team Bray Racing's Victor and Ben Bray will line up amongst a field of more than 20 Top Doorslammers for the infamous Nitro Champs event.

The Nitro Champs is one of the most popular professional drag racing events in Australia, and draws the best competitors from across the country for all of the ANDRA Drag Racing Series pro categories as well as sportsman brackets, and a few extras as well.

"This weekend at the Nitro Champs I hear two-time Pro Modified World Champion Mike Janis and his co-crew chief Kevin Peters are going to be coming out from the States to debut Sean Mifsud's new Doorslammer; that is pretty exciting!" said Victor.

Last January an article from ANDRA indicated that a change in ownership of Calder Park delayed the return of championship drag racing to the venue.

As we close in on Nitro Champs next week I thought it was appropriate we find out what the current state of play is and when we can expect championship drag racing to return to Melbourne.

Team Bray Racing's Ben Bray re-wrote the record books on Saturday 20 April 2013 when at Willowbank Raceway's Super Sportsman event he blazed down the Queensland quarter-mile in 6.807 seconds at 202.39 miles per hour in his four cylinder Nissan Altima.

The results sees Bray and his TBR Nissan Altima claim the title of the quickest four cylinder 'doored' car in the world running an SR20 motor, and the quickest four cylinder car outright in Australia.

The record-breaking pass came at the hottest part of the afternoon, and following a 6.86 second pass at 202 miles per hour earlier in the day.

The deafening sounds of high horsepower drag racing returns to Hidden Valley Drag Strip for the 2013 Season Opener on Saturday 27 April and teams are sure to be using every round this year to find the perfect setup before the ultimate showdowns at the 2013 NT Titles and the ANDRA Drag Racing Series in July and August.

Headlining the night is a revitalised list of categories with the introduction of Top Sportsman racing for the first time at Hidden Valley.

The new Top Sportsman category is open to any car capable of running 8.99 seconds or faster over the standing quarter mile.

"With the increasing number of Super Sedan and Modified vehicles competing at Hidden Valley we were seeing wildly different speeds within the combined category" explained HVDRA President Jay Jukes.

When it comes to international experience driving 8000 horsepower nitro Top Fuel dragsters, few have more runs under the belt than Avon, Indiana-based Tommy Johnson Jr.

The nine times NHRA event winner has raced in the US, United Arab Emirates, England, Sweden and Finland during his career and is looking forward to adding Australia to the list when he drives for the Rapisarda Autosport International team at the Nitro Champs at Sydney Dragway.

"As a kid growing up in a family of drag racing I loved the sport and always followed drag racing in Australia," he said. "Outside of the US, drag racing was most popular in Australia. I have dreamed ever since that young age of one day competing in an event there. I'm finally glad that it is happening thanks to the Rapisarda family.

Northern Territory Minister for Sport and Recreation Matt Conlan has announced that Alice Springs and the town's dragway will be beamed into television screens around the country later this year, putting the Centre on the drag racing map.

Mr Conlan said the Territory Government had provided $17,000 to the Central Australian Drag Racing Association to help with presenting The Desert Nationals on the SBS television program, Speedweek.

"This support will provide terrific exposure for the Centre with thousands of viewers around Australia to watch the show," Mr Conlan said.

"The two-day drag racing event will be filmed and then presented in a one hour show on 'Speedweek', a motorsports show aired on SBS around Australia on Sundays.

"This will help to grow the sport here in the Territory while showcasing the Centre as a tourist destination to viewers around Australia."

Sydney Dragway will be seeing more nitro than ever before at the Nitro Champs on May 3-5 with Top Fuel dragsters, Nitro Funny Cars and Top Bikes all on track and all burning motorsport's most famous fuel.

Among the three drivers performing in Nitro Funny Cars will be Australia's quickest active female drag racer, Queensland's Christine Steffens.

Driving her distinctive "croc car", Steffens is one of the few female nitro drivers in the world and currently the only one in Australia. She forms an even fewer group of nitro-licensed couples in the world as well, with husband Ricky previously driving a Nitro Funny Car.

Supercharge Batteries is pleased to announce our involvement with the CADRA ASID Desert Nationals as the Main Sponsor.

Russell Marquez, National Sales Manager of Supercharge Batteries said "We are pleased to announce Supercharge Batteries involvement with the Desert Nationals, and we are eagerly looking forward to the competition and supporting the activities to promote the sport."

As the Main Sponsor, Supercharge Batteries hopes to lift the profile of the event to the status of a World Class Drag Racing Competition that we know it is. The Desert Nationals will be held at the Alice Springs Inland Dragway on the 28th – 29th June 2013.