17/08/2026
I probably say it every year, but what a great way to start the new season!
It was exciting to see the teams roll in to the Davison Ford Sunset Strip throughout the day Friday, with the pits filling up in preparation for the 2026 Nostalgia’s. With most of the 90 odd entries on site and set up, we kicked the weekend off with the traditional bbq in the clubrooms. It was a great evening with a good feed, a few drinks and some great conversation.
Race day came around and with the last of the racers rolling in early, we got underway with the 3 rounds of qualifying to seed the field for the Chicago Shootout format. The weather was almost perfect and the track equally so, with a lot of cars running pb’s taking advantage of the DA being below sea level.
After a short break we got underway with the shootout rounds, with some awesome and close racing throughout the afternoon. Quite a few brackets had multiple 3-win racers, with round 3 results determining the finalists. After a great day of racing culminating in some exciting finals, the results were as follows:
American Muscle: W – Tony Antonino, RU – Rob Kerr
Aussie Muscle: W – Peter Karayannis, RU – Nick Carusi
Hot Rod: W – Colby Poulish, RU – Michael Ahrens
Middle Eliminator: W – Neil Dyson, RU – Peter Cook
Nostalgia Super Stock: W – Michael Jennings, RU – Kieley O’Connell
Top Gas: W – Rob Bergamin, RU – Ned Karanovic
Vintage Gas: W – Wayne Edwards, RU – Troy Newton
Top Eliminator: W – Brody Sonntag, RU – Jason Kiely
With presentations completed, we tucked into another great feed and a few more drinks, and even more great conversation. Sunday morning arrived with plenty of racers hanging around for the fun day part of the weekend. Lots of laps on offer for those keen enough, and some lucky punters getting to do some passenger rides. We wrapped up the event in the early afternoon and completed a great weekend after a short pack up.
Thank you to all of our safety crews for looking after us all weekend, and huge thanks as always go to our committee and team of volunteers for all of the hard work put in, in the lead up to and at the event. As I was told many times over the weekend by the racers, the place looks amazing which is great to hear after the countless hours they have put in.
Special thanks to our great partners at Audisound, Kerri and Rob, who put in a massive effort to rebuild and update our timing system in the week leading up to the event under some trying circumstances. We really appreciate your efforts.
I was also proud to present our latest Life Membership award to one of our hard working volunteers, Danny Wilson on the weekend. He has taken on more and more work over the years to make improvements around the facility, and as every racer that has been to our track recently knows, he really has a handle on the track prep game. Congratulations Danny and thank you for all of the hard work you continue to put in.
Our next meeting is the Junior Nationals, followed by round 3 of the ANDRA Championship the Sunset Nats, both coming up in September. Check out sunsetstrip.org or the SDRA page for entry details.
See you all soon!
