FOR 29 years the Summernats Burnout Championship has been the closing event for Australia’s biggest horsepower party, and this year Darren Bromage and his blown small block-powered Holden one-tonner took home the big trophy and some cash. We had the opportunity to chat with the new champ after his big win.

How stoked are you right now?

Yeah, it’s just starting to sink in a little bit now. I was loading the car to leave when [Summernats’ chief burnout judge] Aaron Mackley rang me and told me I’d won. We were just hoping for the bottom half of the Top 10, but it’s pretty hard to top this.

How many years have you been coming to Summernats?

This is my fourth year with the one-tonner. I wasn’t actually going to come this year because we had some trouble with the transmission, but my mates convinced me to get into it and we swapped a fresh trans into it two days before Summernats.

What’s the engine and driveline combo in the tonner?

It’s a 400ci Chevy small-block built by Addicted Performance. It’s got a 6/71 blower and two Quickfuel 750cfm alcohol carbs and it makes 989hp at 6800rpm. The trans is a Turbo 400 and the diff is a full spooled 31-spline nine-inch.

Wow, it’s got some grunt. That’s an interesting colour, too.

Yeah, I’ve rebuilt the car twice over the last eight years. I went to get it painted black the last time and the panel beater painted it pink.

Well it looks pretty good to us. What do you reckon gave you the win this year?

I made sure I used as much of the pad as I could. I went down to the exit and then back to the start line, and then back to the pad to finish. I’m happy I didn’t have any fire issues because I’ve had a few recently, but I think we’ve got it sorted now.

What’s the plan for the future?

I fucked up when I built this thing because I’m actually a Ford man at heart. I’ve got a ’57 Customline that I want to turn into a burnout car.

Hit play on the video below to check out SMOKINU’s skid that took out first place in the Summernats 29 Burnout Championship.