This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
John Zappia is a drag racing competitor from Perth, Western Australia.
John races a Holden HQ 2 door Monaro Top Doorslammer, similar to an American Pro Modified. John is the current ANDRA Australian "Top Doorslammer" Champion, having won the category a record 10 consecutive times.
John holds the National ANDRA "Top Doorslammer" Elapsed Time (ET) record for this category at 5.693 seconds.
This was achieved during his qualifying run at the 2013 FUCHS Winternationals held at Willowbank Raceway Australia on 9 June 2013. This record was backed up by his 5.753 second run, achieved during qualifying at the same event, the day before (8 June 2013).
He also holds the Australian National IHRA "Pro Slammer" record, at 5.635 seconds. This was recorded at Sydney International Dragway at the 2017 Nitro Champs meeting on 6 May 2017.
His personal best speed is recorded at 256.7 mph (413.1 km/h).
On 18 September 2005, John became the first legal Australian Top Doorslammer driver to record an elapsed time for the quarter-mile at under six seconds, with an ET of 5.967 seconds at approximately 242 mph (389 km/h).
John is the current ANDRA Australian "Top Doorslammer" National Champion, having won the "ANDRA Pro Series" Championship for a record ten years straight in 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17.
The 2015/2016 Championship was won in conjunction with winning the inaugural IHRA Australian "Pro Slammer" Championship series, making John the first driver to win both Championship series in the same year.
Elapsed Time:
Championships:
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201 m) tracks, and the premiere classes will run 1,000 foot (304.8 m) races. The race is begun from a standing start which allows three factors to affect the outcome of the race: reaction time, power/weight ratio, and traction.
Pro stock is a class of drag racing featuring "factory hot rods". The class is often described as "all motor", due to the cars not using any form of forced induction such as turbocharging or supercharging, or other enhancements, like nitrous oxide, along with regulations governing the modifications allowed to the engines and the types of bodies used.
The Junior Dragster or Jr Dragster is a scaled-down version of the top fuel dragster. The cars were developed in New Zealand in 1988, with classes developed by the New Zealand Hot Rod Association. The National Hot Rod Association in the USA began sanctioning the class in 1991, with the JDRL. The JDRL is a division of the NHRA, which consists of two different dragster classes, traditional Jr. Dragster having a wheelbase between 90 and 150 inches and a single-cylinder, five brake horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine, and the larger Jr. Comp dragster being 150-190 inches in wheelbase and using a motorcycle or personal watercraft engine. Junior drag racers may choose to participate in programs run by the NHRA, IHRA and the Australian National Drag Racing Association [ANDRA], or at an unsanctioned facility. Drivers may be male or female and must be at least five years of age to test, and six years to compete, and be no older than 20 years on December 31 of the competition year.
Erica Lee Enders is an American drag racing driver. Enders has won five championships in the Pro Stock class of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and she continues to drive full-time in that class.
Pro Modified, also known as Pro Mod, is a class or division in the sport of drag racing used in the NHRA and FIA (quarter-mile) and the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) (eighth-mile). It is similar to the Top Doorslammer class as defined by the ANDRA.
The Australian National Drag Racing Association, or ANDRA for short, is a drag racing sanctioning body in Australia.
Bob Glidden was an American drag racer. He was retired from Pro Stock racing in 1997 and returned in 2010. Glidden retired as the driver with the most wins in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history at that time — a feat recently topped by 16-time Funny Car champion John Force — and he was the third-most successful drag racer of the professional class drivers — sixth when counting sportsman national event winners — at the time of his death. Glidden won 85 NHRA National Events. In the Professional classes, he was behind Force (147) and Warren Johnson (97). Currently, Glidden ranks fourth behind Greg Anderson (90). Glidden's ten Pro Stock championships included five in a row beginning in 1985. Among his numerous accomplishments, Glidden won nine straight NHRA national races in 1979 and was the No. 1 qualifier 23 times in a row, including the entire 1987 season. At one point, he won 50 eliminations rounds in a row.
Lee Alan Shepherd was an American drag racing driver from Arlington, Texas.
Top Doorslammer is a professional (Pro) class of Australian drag racing. It caters to full-bodied racing sedans which are replicas of Australian or US production vehicles. The class uses 514 cu. in. displacement (8.5-litre), mechanically supercharged V8 engines which are fueled by methanol. The minimum weight break for these vehicles is 2700 lbs (1225 kg). It is similar to the Pro Modified class as defined by the NHRA.
Victor Bray is an Australian drag racing competitor in the Top Doorslammer class of racing. He drives a 1957 Chevy. A crowd favourite known for huge burnouts and fast times, Victor is considered a pioneer and legend of the sport. He is widely regarded as a key figure in the creation of the Wild Bunch and subsequent Top Doorslammer category in Australian drag racing.
Kurt Johnson is a professional American drag racing driver. He was born in Virginia, Minnesota, and currently resides in Buford, Georgia. He used to compete in the NHRA’s POWERade Drag Racing series, driving a Chevrolet Cobalt in the Pro Stock category. His primary sponsor was ACDelco, whom he drove for since 1996.
Andrew Hines is a six-time National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock Motorcycle champion. He was the flagship Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson V-rod. Andrew follows in the footsteps of his brother and crew chief, Matt Hines. The team is headed by the legendary duo of Terry Vance and Byron Hines.
Eddie Hill is an American retired drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water. Hill had the first run in the four second range (4.990 seconds), which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing." His other nicknames include "The Thrill", "Holeshot Hill", and "Fast Eddie". In 1960, he set the NHRA record for the largest improvement in the elapsed time (e.t.) when he drove the quarter mile in 8.84 seconds to break the previous 9.40-second record.
Larry Dixon Jr. is an American professional drag racer in the NHRA. Larry is the son of Larry Dixon Sr., who won Top Fuel Eliminator at the 1970 NHRA Winternationals.
Don Nicholson was an American drag racer from Missouri. He raced in the 1960s and 1970s when there were few national events. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) estimates he won 90 percent of his match races. As of 2002, he held the record for the most number of categories in which he reached a final round : Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super Stock, Competition Eliminator, Stock, and Street. He was nicknamed "Dyno Don" after he was one of the first drivers to use a chassis dynamometer on his cars in the late 1950s, a skill that he learned while working as a line mechanic at a Chevrolet car dealer.
The Adelaide International Raceway is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. The circuit is located 26 km (16 mi) north of Adelaide in South Australia on Port Wakefield Road at Virginia, and is adjacent to Adelaide's premier car racing Dirt track racing venue, Speedway City. AIR is owned by the Bob Jane Corporation and run by the Australian Motorsport Club Ltd.
Dale Armstrong was a Canadian drag racer and crew chief. After winning 12 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and 12 International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) events in the 1970s, including the Pro Comp title in 1975, he became Kenny Bernstein's crew chief. The combination produced four consecutive national championships in Funny Car and another in Top Fuel. Bernstein became the first driver to top the 300 miles per hour mark in an engine tuned by Armstrong. Armstrong has been inducted in numerous halls of fame. He died on November 28, 2014, at his home in Temecula, California, at the age of 73. He had sarcoidosis.
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle.
The European Drag Racing Championship is a combination of four Drag Racing categories that have competed in six events since 1996. The European Drag Racing Season is held from May to September in four countries; UK, Sweden, Finland and Germany. Each drag race category pairs two drivers that compete against each other and the winner is the racer with the lowest reaction time and elapsed time over a designated destination. The drivers are adjudicated points for their performance at each stage which are tallied for a given season.