New Top Fuel Australia events to embrace ‘festival vibe’

The creation of a new Australian drag racing series will open the door for a number of festival-inspired events to be launched.

The Australian Top Fuel Championship will debut in 2022, taking in six events across four states and territories.

One of the driving forces behind the series, experienced promoter Andy Lopez, explained the motivating factor was increasing opportunities and exposure for Top Fuel competitors.

“Top Fuel had been running under 400 Thunder, which is another drag racing series, up until the end of this series,” Lopez told Speedcafe.com.

“For a variety of reasons, none of which are particularly terrible, they basically wanted to set up a series where they can all compete together where it gives them an opportunity to get more cars into the series and race at more tracks around Australia.

“They were at that point under 400 Thunder, they were only able to run between Sydney and Willowbank, that was the nature of that series.

“What their stated intention was to run at more tracks around Australia and basically to get Top Fuel out in front of more people, so that was the driving force.”

A 2022 calendar announcement is expected in the next couple of weeks, involving the establishment of three totally new events. Top Fuel cars will support other events at its remaining three calendar stops.

Lopez said plans will be enacted to make their own events appeal to a wider audience.

“Top Fuel is a pretty boutique field, so currently it’s between anywhere as small as three and up to six cars racing at any one time,” he said.

“What we’re planning on is having a minimum of six cars at every round, and then obviously working with other high-quality categories of racing to fill out that entire programme.

“With the three events that we’re running that will be Top Fuel Australia-promoted events, they’re going to have probably more of a festival feel than may have been experienced at drag racing before.

“Like depending on the venue we’re at, there will be other components like drifting or there might be burnouts, live music, that sort of real kind of festival vibe that you might expect from a Big Bash cricket game and that sort of stuff.

“So something where the racing is there for the core enthusiasts and the party is there to make everyone else happy and excited to come along as well.”