Iconic Aussie drag racer Victor Bray's plans hit a snag moments before his team's rig was scheduled to leave his Queensland-based race shop headed for Sydney. Thus goes another day in what has been a challenging season for Bray.

In a span of five months, the Top Doorslammer pioneer experienced his son Ben being severely injured while racing a Factor Extreme race car and lost his major sponsorship, leaving his participation on a lesser level.

Iconic Aussie drag racer Victor Bray's plans hit a snag moments before his team's rig was scheduled to leave his Queensland-based race shop headed for Sydney. Thus goes another day in what has been a challenging season for Bray.

In a span of five months, the Top Doorslammer pioneer experienced his son Ben being severely injured while racing a Factor Extreme race car and lost his major sponsorship, leaving his participation on a lesser level.

When Bray unloads his race car from the hauler in Sydney, it will be his first race since Ben's accident and the final event sponsored by longtime backer Sidchrome -- the Aussie brand of Mac Tools.

"This hasn't been the kind of season we are used to," admitted Bray. "In racing you will lose some, and that's to be expected. But then Benny's accident, watching my son get hurt, which was painful and not having him around as a key member of the team has made it tougher. Losing the sponsorship is something we had prepared for, but Benny's accident wasn't something we could prepare for."

This weekend, Bray is running with a collection of associate sponsors which includes Gates Belts & Hoses, Hog's Breath Cafe, Century Batteries and Castrol.

"These companies support me great, and we can run the team on their support," said Bray. "It's just the extra push of the major sponsorship which let us do the extra car shows which has been affected."

Bray said he is approaching this weekend's Australia season finale as a man on a mission with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"Pretty much," Bray confirmed.

Bray said his iconic '57 Chevy will feature new horsepower and technology originally intended to run in Ben's Top Doorslammer Monaro. He added the time away from the strip provided an opportunity to reflect on one of the more storied careers in the history of Aussie doorslammer racing.

"Over the last few months I have discovered that while I absolutely love racing, I enjoy it most when Benny is with me," said Bray, who will be joined by a recovering Ben.

"Over the last few months we have taken a break for the first time in 35 years while Ben has continued to recover, and it has given me and the team some time to get things straight in the workshop, but it will definitely be good to get back on-track at the Nationals."

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