While he’s played with cars for years, Traralgon’s Daniel Clarke is only a recent convert to the drag-and-drive life. But he wasted no time in heading to the shed to get stuck into a stout small block-powered HR build so he could join the fun.

What made you want to start doing drag-and-drive events?

I watched Street Machine Drag Challenge and Hot Rod Drag Week online, so I started building the gold HR for DC. The Hardass 1000 was my first event with the car, although I’ve had a few runs down the Bairnsdale track back in the day. I only got the HR done right before the event, and we were doing a driveway tune and then loaded it straight on the trailer to go! I had some nerves, wondering if I should be there, as I didn’t know where to pull up, but then the first trip down the quarter got me hooked.

Are HRs your automotive poison of choice?

My first car was an HR, which I picked up as a bare shell for $500. I’ve built them ever since. I’ve had Monaros and Sandmans, but I always end up coming back to HRs, and I’d always wanted a V8 one. When I was younger, the HRs I was building were mostly the same, but with hot sixes. I picked this one up as it was engineered with a V8, so I pulled it apart and put the 408ci small-block in it. I wasn’t sure how the Chev would go on the road with the solid cam – it was fairly aggressive. The engine and gearbox were out of a drag-and-drive car from America that came back to Australia. It had been built to do Drag Week before COVID hit, and on the bottle in a Mazda ute, it did 9.7s.

How did she go at the Hardass 1000?

The car’s PB was 12.2@112mph. I learned a lot during that event, like how the small-block got hot if I tried to do too many back-to-back runs. But then I put it back to street duties, and recently sold it. I ended up putting a 6/71 blower on it to cruise it around, and a fella made me an offer on it too good to refuse.

So, what’s next?

I’ve picked up a ’66 HR from near Bathurst to push further into the nines. It’s all patina, as it’s been sitting in a paddock for years, but it’s a total stocker. It’s going into HellBent Fabrications soon to get a nine-inch and tubs, and I’ve got a front end for it, too. It’s getting a turbo 5.3-litre iron LS, because with the kays you do on Drag Challenge, I wasn’t sure about revving the SBC so hard on the highway. Hopefully I’ll see you guys at the startline in it later in the year!