11/08/2026
Our next Nitro Funny car driver - Christine Steffens in Time Traveller
Ricky and I came late to the sport of drag racing, even though I came from a Motorsport Family. It wasn’t drag racing though, as my dad was a circuit racer, including competing in the iconic Bathurst 1000.
We started where most racers do, at Street Meets in the late 80’s, driving to the track with the baby seat in the back and the playpen in the boot.
One day when I was sitting a Uni exam, I came home to find our Council Rates money had been ‘invested’ in a HZ Super Sedan. Better value for money. We stepped up from Super Street to Super Sedan.
We bought the modified dragster in 2000 and suddenly we were running two cars at events. In July 2001 I had an incident in the modified dragster, and it took 6 years and lots of nagging to convince Ricky to let me have another dragster. During this time, Ricky started driving The Nitro Freak Top Fuel Funny Car.
In 2008 I licensed the supercharged Outlaw Dragster at the Tin Tops at Willowbank. In 2009 we won several Championship meetings, including the Winternationals and my first Australian Championship. We backed that up with a second championship win in 2010.
2011 saw me step into our own Top Fuel Funny Car, ‘The Croc’, after Ricky tested it to make sure it was good to go. Ricky and I both held current Top Fuel Funny Car licences at the same time – not something you see every day!
With not enough seat time, I damaged the Croc in Perth and we stepped back from racing to reassess our involvement. We eventually fired up the Outlaw Dragster again for the 2019/2020 Australian Championship.
Then March 2020 happened and the world closed. We got the truck and Dragster back to Queensland from Adelaide with one day to spare before they shut the borders. That Championship finished in 2022 and we claimed our third Australian Title.
Ricky had been assisting Peter and Heather Peirano with the Time Traveller Nitro Funny Car running the Aeroflow series. When Nathan decided to step out of the driver’s seat, Peter asked if I would like to drive it.
Of course, I said yes, so now Ricky gets to do more work (because he loves it sooo much, what is retirement anyway).
I look forward to coming back to Palmyra, but this time in the Nitro Funny Car and a few more years behind the wheel with this great bunch of people.
