East versus West Sand Drags at Northern Speedway

WITH PLENTY of prize money and pride up for grabs, teams travelled from most parts of Australia—Darwin, Queensland, Sydney, Adelaide—and even some bros from New Zealand. These guys are serious about their sand drags. Bikes, buggies and sprint cars in all shapes and forms, powered by V8 motors, blowers, turbos, nitrous injection, methanol, and the list goes on and on.

Carla from South Australia had to manhandle her buggy, Handgrenade, the whole track—the bloody thing sounds like a top fueller and goes like one.

One poor guy on a Jappa was a serious contender, till he was in the hot seat, literally, his bike catching fire! Thinking quickly, he threw sand over the motor to put the flames out.

Then came the sprint car from hell—huge paddle tyres and twin nitrous bottles. Insane!

These machines are like trench cutters, leaving huge trenches in the sand, sending rooster tails 40ft long and 20ft high.

It’s amazing to watch these machines skate down the sandy quarter-mile track, trying to grab any traction the huge paddle tyres might give them.

No shortage of action here—the monster truck, Stress Factor, was great for the smaller kids, the burn-outs went down well with the bigger kids (me) with a V8 mini, buggy and utes letting rip—what a great smoke show.

Not forgetting the stunt riders who were continually jumping from morning until sunset.

That’s when the real racing started—everybody gets serious—night time racing seems to take it to the next step with everybody giving it their best. Some very quick bikes were unleashed too, making the sand drag meet a real spectacle.

I’m sure these team will come back bigger and better to the next sand drags—damn—I can’t wait…

Sand dragging is a fast growing sport in some states, proving very popular, fierce rivalry for competitors. And it’s great for the spectators too. If you haven’t been to a sand drag meet before, get your skates on—it’ll blow your socks off!

Words & pics by Gazza