The second Hardass 1000 kicked off in fine style yesterday, with big day of racing at Heathcote Park Raceway.
The first Hardass 1000 ran in March this year, with two-time Drag Challenge winner Harry Haig and Chopped promoter Ryan Ford joining forces to create a whole new kind of drag and drive event. Rather than race flat out for five days, the Hardass model sees racers take a day off in between drag days to take the scenic route, check out some local landmarks and enjoy a couple of shandies at the end of the day.
Hardass #2 was already planned for when Harry Haig and fellow racer Andrew Baumgartner passed away in August, sending shockwaves through car hot car scene worldwide. After the dust settled to some degree, it was announced that the event would go ahead as Harry and Andrew would have no doubt would have wanted. With Ryan and Harry’s good mate Rich Tibba steering the ship, the event kicked off with check-in day on Monday.
Monday’s racing kicked off with a tribute run for Harry. Harry’s last-ever pass down a drag strip was at Wilby in his HK wagon dubbed Fred, against Leigh Horgan’s WB, so the pairing were brought back together for the first pass of the day, with Harry’s son Corty steering Fred to victory over the WB.
After a solid day’s racing, the crew hit the road yesterday for a drive day, with more racing tomorrow at Wilby Park. Thursday will be another drive day, with the event climaxing on Friday back at HPR.
Today’s drive was dress-up day, with some spectacular results.
And to really ratchet things up, there are a solid bunch of racers who are doing both the Hardass 1000 and then Drag Challenge back-to-back! These include reigning Hardass champion, Rod Lyall, as well as Jason Waye in the Tuff Mounts LT-powered HQ wagon, John Kerr in his Mercury Comet and Dave Carnell in his one-tonner.
Rod Lyall ran the quickest pass of the day with an 8.60.
There are a stack of cool cars entered in the event, including Joel Beatson’s stunning, ProCharged XP sedan delivery.
It was cool to see Damien Kemp’s 1966 Fairlane tearing it up. Damo stuck his hand up to manage the staging lanes for the week.
Another ripper is Mark’s VH Vacationer wagon, which you can read about about in the latest mag.
As is discussed in the video, the community vibe of Hardass remains impeccable, with everyone from the organisers, to the entrants and the track staff making sure they do Harry proud.
Stay tuned for more coverage during the week.
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