Spectacular end for local heroes

Allan Dobson suffered one of the worst accidents seen in Western Australia when the ‘Greene Machine’ nitro funny car went out of control at over 300km/h.
In the final race of the night the car went into a wheel-stand and hit the wall which jammed on the throttle and made the car spear into the opposite lane, hitting the other wall and fire balling right in front of competitor Ashley Bailey who was on the brakes early after seeing trouble.
“It felt like it was going real hard,” said Dobson, “The thing was on the wall before I knew it, I had no control over it. The throttle was on, so I got to the fuel shut off, it was revving up and ploughing across the track.
“When it hit the wall the second time and the fire came up, everything was white hot and I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t realise it was on fire or anything. I stood up in the car and I was looking for the body to get out of the hatch, I couldn’t even find it.”
What Dobson didn’t realise at first was that the body had virtually disintegrated around him.
For car owner Allan Greene he had to watch as his pride and joy of ten years crunched the wall and went up in flame.
He was relived to hear that Dobson emerged under his own power and was soon able to analyse what had occurred.
“As soon as it took off I saw the wheels in the air and I thought trouble,” said Greene, “He’s such a quick driver that he hit the fuel shut off after he hit the wall, it probably saved his ass.
“It just annoys me that my hot rod’s stuffed, I’m going to have to start again.”
The earlier part of the night was almost sedate in comparison. Bailey took early points with a 5.49sec. to 5.52sec. win in the first race but damaged the diff and had to sit the second race out as it was repaired.
Dobson took a solo run and was chasing a number but overpowered the track, pointing the ‘Greene Machine’ every way but straight.
The final run went in Bailey’s favour but the night’s focus was hardly on the winners.
“It was heart wrenching to look at Greene’s car,” said tuner Rod Bailey, “What can you say to make them feel better? No matter where you looked at it, it looked bad. Hopefully the community will get behind them, the Greene Machine is like a folk hero over here.”
The Baileys will be bringing a new car to Australia and plan to have it ready for next season.
The Greene team is still planning what their next move will be but a return is inevitable.

Championships decided

Several state championships were decided on the weekend.
Graeme Simms sewed up Super Comp, Mark Reaney has enough points to claim Modified, Super Sedan’s Alistair McClure needs only to race in the first round to claim his title and Smart than Smoking Junior Dragster has been taken out by Matthew Johnson, making it his fourth championship in a row.

Fowler in deep end

Andrew Fowler recently debuted a very professional outfit in Supercharged Outlaws but most people would be surprised to know it is his first ever race car.
“I haven’t even raced a streeter,” said Fowler, “I said this looks like fun so I’ll have a go at this.”
Fowler licensed in the car at the start of the year and since then has been able to put it into the 7sec. zone, talk about jumping in at the deep end!
While he appears to have burst on to the scene, it has been the result of careful planning and a thorough construction process.
“It’s taken two and a half years to get to this stage. We bought the chassis and built everything around it,” he said.
Fowler will be continuing to race in the Supercharged Outlaws category.