Day one of Drag Challenge 2024 didn’t get off to an ideal start, with the sanctioning body electing to cancel racing at Calder Park Raceway due to unsafe track conditions.

While a bitter pill to swallow, it gave entrants the whole day to make the trek from the outskirts of Melbourne to Mildura during daylight hours, rather than after racing. The 500km-plus leg takes well over five hours at the speed limit, and with temperatures over 30 degrees at Mildura, many entrants crawled their way through the heat.

The mandatory road route took us up the Calder Freeway, then through rural country via Marong, Bridgewater, Ouyen and Sea Lake before landing in Mildura. The compulsory photo stop for all competitors was the Bridgewater Memorial Hall, and just up the road, entrants had to negotiate a planned burn as well.

Even though we didn’t go racing, the road still took its fair share of victims off the entry list by the end of day one.

Adam Foreman’s ballsy big-block HQ One Tonner carked a lifter just outside of Ouyen, seizing in the block and putting them out of the running.

Nick Hansen’s ’63 Dodge Phoenix caught trouble with the rear leaf springs, with snapped centre bolts and tyre rub issues taking the lads five hours to fix on the roadside. Fortunately, they got back underway.

Tony Leist’s Camaro suffered an engine bay fire on the road, not far out from Calder Park. The lads had their work cut out for them to get it turned around with their domes facing the freeway.

There were niggling troubles for Paul Bertuola in his immaculate 355-stroker VH Commodore SL/E, with an injector repeatedly popping an O-ring and sending fuel southward to the road. “We had problems yesterday as well, but it’s never done it before,” said Paul. “But it’s nice to be in a bit of shade.”

We’ll get underway from 9am Thursday for day two’s racing at Atlantic Oils Sunset Strip. You can grab spectator tickets here.