IN AUSTRALIA, THEY RACE FOR CROC TROPHIES

There are times when life imitates art.

The art Aussie doorslammer icon Gary Phillips collected Saturday in Darwin proved his win was truly artistic.

Phillips captured his first Crocodile Trophy, i.e. Croc, when he defeated Peter Kapiris to win the Darwin Slamfest hosted by Hidden Valley Drag Strip.

The skull for the unique trophy, Phillips confirmed, came from one of the local Northern Territory “croc” farms where the animals are raised for food and other uses.

“They’re [crocodiles] running rampant up there and they are government protected in the wild,” explained Phillips. “When they [race promoters] handed me the trophy, in all my years, it’s the most notable trophy I’ve ever received. I don’t know of many who have gotten this trophy. It’s got some serious teeth for something that is probably only a few meters long.”

Phillips chewed through the field like one of the 20-foot crocodiles he says has taken over the Northern territories. He defeated Daniel Gregorini and Scott MacLean with a steady pace of 6.0’s at 242 mph before chewing up Slamfest Series points leader Kapiris in the final.

The veteran Phillips said he took a subtle approach to winning the event and felt success was best gained by doing just enough to win.

“We just set out to get down the track every run and just feed more power to the track until we went too far, but fortunately for us, we were right on the edge of what that track could take every time and we were quick enough to win every round through to the end ,” explained Phillips.

This weekend’s Northern Territory visit is his first in nearly 21 years.

This stop came in the middle of the logistical challenge of traveling over 3100 miles, with three races in four weeks.
“We’ve been scratching our head trying to work out the most efficient way of tackling this three race swing,” said Phillips. “At times it looked impossible, but to take the Lucas brand to new territory, at a track sponsored by our sponsors in front of a huge crowd and get the win; nothing could be sweeter.”

Sweeter for Phillips with each bite.

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