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Club Members Ricky and Christine Steffens have the following news: We were introduced to Drag Racing by a friend who was running a beautiful HQ Monaro at the time. While watching that first event Christine commented to Ricky that we have to be doing this not watching, he promptly agreed.
We started racing in our LH SLR500 Torana. That was back in the days when you could race street meets and big meets all with the one car. At street meets Ricky would race the appropriate bracket and Christine would run Powder Puff. At national meetings Ricky would usually be the driver. Our Torana was good to us having a lot of fun and winning a lot of races. The Torana was also our normal drive car. Through this time Tai-Leigh (our second child) was born and Christine supported Ricky while waiting for the funds to purchase her own drive. 
One day Christine came home from Uni to discover Ricky had used the rates money and a loan from the same friend who introduced us to drag racing to purchase the HZ Monaro. It was time to change brackets and go a bit faster. With a lot of sponsorship from local Gatton businesses Ricky began the second leg of his drag racing career. The HZ Monaro won the first major meeting it raced at and went on to win three consecutive track championships at Willowbank Raceway in Super Sedan. 
During this time Christine finally got another ride in the form of a Modified Rear engine dragster. Life was good. Our two daughters where supportive of our motor racing with our eldest girl Alicia crewing on the modified dragster. This contentment did not last long with a gust of wind in the breaking area at Willowbank Raceway in July 2001 taking the dragster, all our dreams and breaking our hearts. 
This also took away Ricky’s desire to go drag racing. Not long after this disaster a phone call from Ashley Bailey, who is the driver of the Bailey Bros Nitro Funny Car was received that resulted in Ricky becoming a part of the Bailey Bros racing crew with Christine getting roped in somewhere along the line as well. Christine then took to driving the HZ while waiting for a replacement for the Dragster. This replacement was to come in the form of a supercharged dragster purchased in 2006 and will probably run in Supercharged Outlaws. Licensing in the dragster has had to be delayed as Ricky got offered a drive in Rodney Bailey’s second Nitro Funny Car and had to start undertaking his licensing before the rule changes to group one came into effect in September 2007. Ricky got his license with little time to spare as the car had to be rebuilt and loaded into a container heading for Perth Quit Motorplex for his first public performance on 29th December 2007. He did quite well in Perth, winning two out of three passes. (He didn’t front for the second pass as he had demolished a diff so Ashley Bailey had a bye run.) This meeting finally got him keen about going racing again. .jpg "Ricky Driving the Bailey Brothers Nitro Funny Car")
On our return back to Queensland we managed a break from work and while on this break received a phone call about a Nitro funny car for sale that was reasonably priced. Now it was Christine’s turn to buy a car and tell the spouse later. Ricky asleep on the couch was oblivious to the fact that life was about to get that much busier. After a quick trip to Melbourne so that we could look at the car and spares the purchase was agreed upon. 
We have since taken delivery of the Nitro Funny Car that looks kind of like a crocodile and hope to be on the race track in 2009. 
There is lots to be done and hopefully with help from family and friends we will not disappoint all the people who want to see Nitro Funny Cars alive and well at ANDRA meetings. |
