A few shots by from the 3rd Castlereagh Hot Rod Reunion, held just across the road from where the dragway once lived:
The night featured a cacklefest, including Shane Corr's Topolino...
...the Cowin & Johns AA/FA...
.....Ross Preen's Banshee...
.....as well as the ballistic Blake Family Racing FED and Scorcher.
The event also honoured three pioneers of the Australian rod/custom/drag scene, starting with Australia's original custom king, Dale Fisher, pctured here with his son Darryn. Dale was creating factory-style customs from the mid 50s and is recognised as the most influential force in creating the Aussie custom boom. As a TAFE teacher, he also taught a generation of Sydney hot rodders how to play with metal. It is also interesting to note that Dale raced at Castlereagh when the joint was just an airstrip. And yep, that is Darryn's custom '62 Lark in the background.
Drag racer Brian Keegan was also recognised for his achievements in drag racing. Brian built a pioneering dragster in 1959 - powered by a blown Y-block - and was later the first bloke to break the 13 and 12-second barriers in an FJ Holden. What was a suprise to many was the fact that Brian also won the Australian Hillclimb Championships and once went hillclimbing in an open-wheeler powered by a blown and injected 302! Brian is pictured here with drag guru Bob Honeybrook.
Bill Crealy was also recognised for his massive contribution to drag racing - the bloke has acted as starter at Castlereagh, Oran Park, Eastern Creek and Sydney Dragway! As a young bloke, Bill watched as the Panic funny car took out the starter's box - and the starter - at Castlereagh, but soon enough he was doing the job himself! There was also some amazing Super 8 footage from Castlereagh, Riverside and Pakenham.
Of course, the car park was full of hot rods.
The organisers put on a massive feed and cleaned up afterwards :-)
The major attraction of course, was bench racing, and plenty of it.
For more, check out the Street Machine Hot Rod Annual 2010, on sale 22 September.
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