JUNGA BOOGIE

AT WARWICK DRAGWAY DURING COVID-19, LESS TRACTION EQUALS EVEN MORE FUN

- SIMON TELFORD

LONG-time readers may be familiar with my love of Queensland’s Warwick Dragway. I got to know the eighth-mile track when I visited their headline Dragfest event back in 2004, and have returned many times since for the Six-Banger Nats and our own Drag Challenge Weekend. What I dig most about the volunteer-run facility is the vibe. The atmosphere is friendly, the track staff welcoming and there is always an interesting bunch of cars in attendance.

But like just about every drag strip in the country, 2020 has been a challenging one for the Warwick crew. COVID-19 has meant they’ve had to cancel their usual program, including the Six-Bangers, Dragfest and the VW Nationals.

“With the borders shut, we decided not to run those events,” says Warwick Dragway’s Matt ‘Junga’ Loy. “We get a lot of interstate competitors and it just wouldn’t be the same without them. And they are big meetings; Dragfest usually has around 240 entries, and that just won’t work with the COVID restrictions.”

The ever-changing rules around what is permissible make it tough to organise just about anything except test-and-tunes, but Matt has come up with an ingenious plan to keep things on the boil at the track, without needing big numbers or even spectators.

Dubbed Junga Bunga’s No Prep Cash Days, the new series pretty much does what it says on the box. Normally, staff will apply track prep to the startline to help cars gain traction, but at a no-prep meeting, the race surface has no traction aids applied at all.