Australia’s newest drag venue, Dragway at The Bend in rural South Australia, will host the first round of the 2023-2024 National Drag Racing Championship, October 21-22.

The $35 million facility situated an hour from Adelaide, the Capital of South Australia, was expected to open in 2022, but supply shortages and construction delays pushed the date out by 12 months.

The meeting, the first to be conducted under the recently formed NDRC umbrella, has attracted six Top Fuel entries, including two cars from the Rapisarda Autosport International stable.

Leading Australian Top Fuel team owner Phil Lamattina has confirmed plans to run a single-car operation and that long-term sponsor FUCHS Lubricants will continue their partnership for the 2023-2024 NDRC season beginning on October 21-22.

LTFR has run two cars for the past two seasons—one with Phil Lamattina and the second with ex-Nitro Funny Car racer Shane Olive.

"Move over, dad" could be the mantra from Kurtis Read, son of three-time Aussie Top Fuel champ Phil Read and grandson of the legendary Jim Read, one of the all-time greats in Australian drag racing.

The 22-year-old Read, an ex-go-kart racer, recently made his drag racing debut in Supercharged Outlaw. He top qualified and under the all-run format, advanced to the final and claimed victory with a 6.59/209 mph.

NHRA veteran Tommy Johnson Jr. will make a guest appearance at the opening round of the National Drag Racing Nitro Funny Car championship at Sydney Dragway on October 27-28.

"I'm so excited to be coming back to Australia to race in the Aeroflow Funny Car Series,” said Johnson.

Western Australian Kyle Putland will unveil a new set of wheels at the opening round of the 2023-2024 National Drag Racing Championship on October 21-22. 

Putland has taken delivery of a Bill Miller-owned Top Fuel car that NHRA veteran Troy Buff raced.

Questioned how someone who races in Western Australia buys a Top fuel car from an American team owner in Reno, Nevada, 9310 miles away, Putland explained.

Leading Australian Doorslammer team Fabietti Racing will return to the track for the first time since the crash that claimed the life of their much-loved driver Sam Fenech at Willowbank Raceway in January 2023.

The team has refurbished their championship-winning Holden Monaro, raced by Mark Belleri, which landed their maiden Australian Slammer title in 2017. Fenech also ran the same car before updating to a factory-backed Chevrolet Camaro for the 2022-2023 season.

Burson Auto Parts, one of the leading players in the supply of parts, tools and equipment for the Australian automotive industry, has called time on their sponsorship of the Australian Top Fuel Championship.

The company has been naming rights sponsor for the ATF series since the launch of the championship in 2022.

“The past two years of Burson Auto Parts playing a major part in the Australian Top Fuel Championship has been both exciting and rewarding,” said Fiona Gotas, Group Marketing and Communications Manager for Bapcor Trade, owner of Burson Auto Parts.

Reigning Australian Top Doorslammer champion, Kelvin Lyle, has announced his retirement.

The decision comes in the aftermath of a high-speed crash in the final round of the 2022-23 season at Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin, June 17.

Lyle suffered four broken ribs, bruising and abrasions and spent several days in an induced coma.

Damien Harris and the Rapisarda Autosport International team were awarded the prestigious Stan Sainty Cup as winners of the 2022/2023 Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship in Darwin last June. Harris celebrated his third national Top Fuel win, having previously clinched the 2005 ANDRA Pro Series Top Fuel Championship and the 2016 400 Thunder Top Fuel Championship.