For Sydney Pro Stock racer Jason Grima, the 42nd running of the Westernationals in Perth was bar none the biggest undertaking of his drag racing career. One transporter, crew including Brandon Huhtala and Grace Howell from the United States, two race cars, and accommodation for a week. And somewhere in all this Grima was able to celebrate his 42nd birthday on the Friday!

Why go to Perth?

"I could have made it a lot easier if I did this for the Nitro Champs in Sydney as it's my home track", said Grima. "But I wanted to help the class out and make sure we were racing with a 16-car field. As it was the 14 cars turned up but had it been 12 then it would have been reduced to an 8-car field."

ANDRA Top Fuel points leader Phil Lamattina says three times world champion Larry Dixon is just another driver in a tough Top Fuel field when the Santo's Cranes Super 3 Extreme Drag Race rolls into Willowbank Raceway on March 29 and 30.

Lamattina has made every Top Fuel final in the season so far and is looking forward to showing US visitor Dixon and his partner in crime, ace crew chief Lee Beard, what the Fuchs outfit is capable of.

"It'll be great to have Larry Dixon in the field, but for us he's just another name we have to beat and that's exactly what we will be trying to do," Lamattina said. "The competition is a great opportunity for the Australian teams to step up to the plate and race against the very best there is."

Second generation racer Mark Mariani will be making an exciting return to Top Fuel this year behind the wheel of the Mariani Family Motorsports dragster.

"It's always been a dream of mine to put together a Top Fuel operation and go racing with my dad Mario and all our family. Top Fuel drag racing is in our blood, going all the way back to the Castlereagh days," said Mark.

Mariani Family Motorsports has purchased a complete Top Fuel dragster from Darren Morgan Racing, the sister car to Darren's Championship winning car.

Damien Harris will keep his traditional yellow colour scheme on his Best Tractor Parts Top Fuel dragster when he joins Rapisarda Autosport International in just over a fortnight for the Santo's Cranes Super 3 Extreme Drag Race at Willowbank Raceway.

Harris decided to give fans the final say in what colour scheme they wanted to see – choosing between his familiar "Harris Yellow" colours and "Rapisarda Black", the favourite of the Rapisarda family.

The workshop at Jim Read Racing has been quiet for the last 8 months but that's all about to change.

Crew Chief Bruce Read explains. "With the loss of a number of sponsors to other motorsports, our last race was the 2012 Winternationals in the teams 'Red' car. As a family we decided to step back from competition to see where the sport and Top Fuel in particular was headed."

"Recent developments in Top Fuel have been extremely encouraging and there's a real sense of unity amongst the teams," said Bruce. "The establishment of the Top Fuel Owners Association is a positive move for the category and we're excited to be part of it."

Matt Watts and his new ride (Photo courtesy T.A.D. Photography)Current Supercharged Outlaws National Champion Matt Watts had to sit out the first 2 rounds of the 2013 season while he and dad Guy Watts prepared the teams new altered.

While it's been a frustrating wait, a runner-up to current point's leader Luke Marsden at the recent Aeroflow round in Adelaide was an excellent result for the cars first competitive hit out.

Gone but not forgotten

With the old car gone it was time to look for a new car. The search didn't take long, and on September the 12th, 2012 (which also happened to be father's day), the team's new altered was purchased from Stan and Nola Tindal in NSW.

The Swan Hill Rural City Council has unanimously approved a business case study to redevelop Chisholm Reserve to include a full quarter mile drag strip.

While estimated costs for the full development of the site is $8 million, an election commitment by the Victorian Coalition earmarked $2 million of State Government funds for the project.

For the $2 million to become available, a proposal must be made to Regional Development Victoria including details of additional funding from council, private investment and the Federal Government as required.

The Swan Hill Drag Racing Club Vice President Lucas Woodburn said, "the club has worked long and hard to make this happen and we're all so very happy with the council's unanimous decision. But the hard work doesn't stop here."

If Drag Racing isn't fighting against the rain it's a battle against the heat & when the temps hit the high 30's this past weekend, that's exactly what the teams had to do at Adelaide International Raceway.

Top Alcohol had 9 cars enter for a 8 car field going into eliminations.

Qualifying was hot & tough. Steve got the Allstar Batteries funnycar out there clocking a 5.05 ET over the 1000' line. For session 2 & 3 Steve laid down two 4 second passes, 4.96 @ 218mph & 4.92 @ 222mph which at the end of qualifying the Reed team were in position #2.

Round 1 of eliminations paired up NT's Yak against Reed, this time the Reed funnycar took the win lights but no official 1000' time was recorded. They then advanced into round 2 meeting Wayne Newby.