BEN BRAY MAKES AUSSIE DRAG RACING HISTORY

by Bobby Bennett; Photo by Hayley Turns    Wed, 2019-09-25 20:45

 

Ben Bray learned early in his drag racing career the importance of being versatile.

The only son of Australian doorslammer drag racing icon Victor Bray not only followed in his father’s footsteps with a Top Doorslammer championship but also added a Pro Alcohol title as well behind the wheel of a Funny Car.

Bray has also moved into the Factory Extreme division, the Australian equivalent of the American Sport Compact Pro Rear Wheel Drive.

But, it’s his latest conquest which has the folks Down Under talking.

Let the record reflect; Bray is also the first to go 200 miles per hour in the fledgling Australian Drag Radial movement. Bray, who isn’t the quickest with his 3.96 elapsed time, is, however, the fastest with his 201.17 trap speed.

“It was actually pretty exciting,” Bray said of his accomplishment at the Radial Riot event hosted by Brisbane’s Willowbank Raceway. “When I went to the track last Thursday, I didn’t think I had a hope of running that type of number.

Essentially Bray took the wide tires off of his supercharged Pro Slammer 1979 Corvette, and bolted 10.5-inch radials onto his 2,750-pound machine.

Bray wasn’t looking for a place in drag racing history, he just wanted to find out what the excitement was all about with the small tire racing. Suffice to say, he found out.

“It wasn’t so much a conquest, it was just a lot of the boys kept telling me I couldn’t do it, so I thought one morning that I’ll have a try and see if I can,” Bray said.

Bray competed in the Outlaw Radial division, the Aussie equivalent to Donald Long’s masterpiece, Radial vs. The World.

“It’s similar,” Bray explained. “We don’t have as many strict rules because we’re obviously trying to get the class up and running. So outlaw radial, you pretty much got to have a 315 and two opening and closing doors, and that’s about mainly the only rules for now.”

Bray’s ultimate goal is to come mix it up with the best of the best. However, right now he knows he’s got a long way to go before he’s ready.

“I guess I would love to but I guess I’ve got to make the car work a little bit better like them guys who are running 3.70s and 3.60s with their eyes shut over there,” Bray said. “So I got 3.90s out of it pretty easily but I’m pretty sure getting it into the 3.60’s will be pretty hard.”

But for now, Bray's baseline is history for Australian radial racing and he can live with that.

 

 

 
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