Peter Russo has declared the first powered pass in his new Australian-built nitro Funny Car a success.
Russo tested the Murray Anderson-built Supercheap Auto flopper at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway today, recording an easy, shut-off 4.89 second elapsed time for the NHRA’s standard 1,000ft race track, crossing the line at 189 miles per hour (304km/h).
He had planned to only launch the car, but the four-time Australian Funny Car Champion continued to the half-track mark, stepping off the throttle after 3.4 seconds.
“The run was absolutely fantastic, I think we’ve got a really good chassis thanks to Murray Anderson,” Russo said.
“It was only going to be a launch but it felt so good I legged it through to half-track. The car did everything we wanted it to do.
“It dropped a cylinder early but the numbers show it would have run a low 4.30 – so there’s a 4.20 there which should get us into the bottom half of the field.”
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The Russo team has now loaded up and headed back to its US-base at Colton, just outside Los Angeles, where it will prepare for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season-ending AAA Club of So-Cal World Finals on November 10-13.
See below for video of Russo’s first powered pass in his Supercheap Auto-supported Funny Car.
