I caught up with Victor and his wounded mount when his parachutes had literally just touched the ground. “I hate the smell of burnt oil on broken conrods”, the disgusted driver told me. “Looks like we’ve got a bit of work to do” was his departing quote as his crew came down to pick up the crackling Chevy and take it back for a much needed heart transplant.
When I got back to the pits I caught up with the engine trash as a bevy of Castrol team members were joined by friends and crewmen from other teams that had been beaten in competition. Like a scene from a Gilbert and Sullivan production I watched as a sea of ten people would all walk together – left then right and back again. It wasn’t long before damaged bullet was extricated from the Tri-Chevy’s chassis and was replaced with the engine from young Ben’s alcohol funny car.
As the time ticked away the new engine was extricated, transferred, dropped and had its vitals fitted to bring it back to life. The original engine was 511 cubes with the new one being 528 so some weight had to also be added. After what seemed an eternity the new engine roared to life much to the glee of the assembled navvies. Once this was done the car was fuelled up and brought around to take its place in the staging area.
He was to meet another veteran racer, Gary Phillips. While Bray’s journey had been a tortured one, Phillips on the other hand was a bunch easier. He only used a one shot qualifier with a fifth qualifying 6.19 which put him up against John Zappia (see separate piece). With Zappia not being able to make the run he merely ambled down track to a 12.62.
Phillips will always use the least amount of runs and parts to get the job done. The semis saw him face Ben Bray and this time he was pushed to the extreme to get into the final. His .545 was a tad slower than Bray junior’s .505 but had grabbed that back by the 60 foot clocks. Both ran into shake but it was Phillips who handled it best as he streaked to a 6.12 win while the GTO of Bray ended up taking out the timing blocks along the way.
In the final a good strong burnout by Bray showed that he seemed to have tamed the new engine. Phillips replied with a whiteout of his own. A .465 reaction to Phillips more than covered a battle weary Bray who got out of the box with a slower .573 and fell further back by the 60 foot clocks as he had to double pedal it to get down the track. Despite this by the 330 mark he had clawed it back and passed him by half track. Phillips was having his problems with tyre shake and fell further behind and was denied his 10th Nationals trophy as he watched Victor streak to a 6.20 to 6.41 decision.
Despite this it wasn’t over for Phillips as he had trouble stopping in the braking area but he did get it pulled up safely in the end. After the race Phillips told a small crowd that “it wasn’t meant to be” but it was Bray who drew the crowd’s attention. “I’ve got to thank the large number of people who helped us change the engine for the final but I’d really like to dedicate this win to Steve Irwin and Peter Brock”, the big man said with a slight hesitation in his voice. “I am going to donate this trophy to the Peter Brock Foundation” he concluded.
While many of you would have heard of Steve Irwin you may not have heard of Peter Brock. He was a circuit racer of some note who had won the famous Bathurst 1000 nine times. Like Irwin and Victor Bray he always came across as just another average guy who loved what he did – they will be missed.
