Arguably one of the most famous Aussie drag-and-drive cars has made a remarkable comeback, with Brenden ‘Bubba’ Medlyn’s old seven-second VH Commodore reborn in the hands of new owner John Ricca.

The Holden V8-powered beast claimed the overall win at Street Machine Drag Challenge 2016 under Bubba’s ownership, and he campaigned the car at several other marathons after that. 

While the VH has changed hands a few times since the pandemic, it found its new home with John not long before this year’s Drag Challenge. Having sold the Skyline GT-R he originally intended to bring to DC 2024, John and his lads at Race Parts Melbourne ended up giving the VH a complete overhaul to get it ready for the event. “We had the engine rebuilt, the gearbox – we basically went through everything from front to back,” he said.

The Holden-based Torque-Power Little Paw engine that defines the car has remained, as has methanol fuel. John had the turbos changed to fresh Turbosmart 7880 hairdryers, and, on a lazy 30psi with bugger-all timing, the combo still chucked out 1684rwhp.

The VH also copped a colour change at Rajab Customs, with the old black-over-silver scheme traded for light blue and silver. The interior has been re-trimmed to match by Instyle Custom Trim, and the Commodore also copped all new wiring from front to back.

The boys at Race Parts only had a few measly weeks to get the car ready for DC, and the VH was still not 100 per cent sorted when it showed up on a tilt-tray for check-in at Calder Park on 29 October. “I’ve barely slept three hours; it’s been chaos,” John at the time.

Day One of Drag Challenge ’24 unfortunately saw racing cancelled, so the VH is still yet to get anywhere near a drag strip. However, even with no track or street testing under their belts, John and the RPM crew still had decent aspirations for the week.

“My end goal is to run a six; that’s the whole reason I bought and built the car,” John said. “We’ll try for a four at Mildura as well, but we’ve gotta make sure it’ll live on the road first.”

Follow our full Drag Challenge coverage to see if John and the VH succeed.