Building a rig with your own two hands to take on the endurance test of Drag Challenge is one thing, but Brad Schreiber took that to another level by not only winning his class, but creating a seven-second machine from a crusty VB Commodore.

First published in the May 2026 issue of Street Machine

“I had an LS-swapped, pro street-style HZ ute, and I spectated at Drag Challenge 2019 and decided I wanted to build something more appropriate,” says Brad. “I told my dad an early Commodore would be beaut, and when I got back from DC, he’d already found a clean, patina VB on Gumtree. It was a two-owner car that was in good, rust-free shape.”

A boilermaker by trade, Brad found building the VB in his spare time to be a therapeutic exercise.
“Everything on the car I built myself, even down to a lot of components, mainly to save money where I could, but also to build them how I wanted them,” he says. “From the nine-inch, all the chassis fabrication, tubs, subframe and custom front struts, to the rollcage, wiring, turbo manifolds and plumbing; even the intercooler is a custom unit I fabricated myself from two cores welded together.”

His DIY work also extended to the engine, which is a fairly basic combo for the performance it churns out. “It was my first full engine rebuild as well, so it’s cool that it’s still the same bottom-end package that I screwed together four or so years ago.”

Brad sourced an alloy-block Gen IV L76 LS, keeping the standard crank but using Molnar rods and CP pistons. The bumpstick is a Crow Cams unit, topped by a pair of cheapy Liberty LS3-style 255cc heads. The BTR manifold cops up to 22psi from the Precision Pro Mod 91mm turbo, and the package is controlled by Holley Dominator EFI, with the flex-fuel capabilities that are essential for Drag Challenge.

“It’s never been dynoed; Jeff Johnson helped me with the initial set-up, and it’s only street and track tuned on the fly,” says Brad. “My guess would put it around 900rwhp, but it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s run a PB of 7.97@174mph, and those are the numbers I’m focused on.”

That’s quite an improvement from when the car debuted at the Holden Nationals just a few years ago to the tune of a 10.0, with Brad refining the package over time to earn his seven.

“The car has developed a lot on the way, changing components and seeing how it reacts to the changes. Different turbos, gearing, converter, cam, heads, intake, adding additional sensors for data and so on,” says Brad. “Building the car myself has been a big advantage to making it work at the track, because I already know all its ins and outs.”

That kind of intimate knowledge between man and machine is key at an event like Drag Challenge, and it yielded Brad a win in the PSR 8.5 Radial class at DC 2025.

“The year before, we did the 9.5 index class, so I figured why not go into the 8.5 class for last year,” he says. “Sure, the car runs sevens, but 8.50 is a really good number for us to chase, and we reckon we did an 8.55 average for the week the previous year.”

An 8.53@161mph on the first day of last year’s event at Dragway at the Bend set the tone for Brad’s week. He then ran several low 5.5s over the eighth-mile at South Coast Raceway in Portland and Mildura’s Sunset Strip (equivalent to 8.5s over the quarter).

While second-placed Chris Imlach in the equally crusty Chevy Nova was chasing Brad for the top gong in class, Brad’s one and only pass of 8.51@163mph back at Tailem Bend on the final day sealed his win.

“It was a good run; I was stoked to get such a good result, and the car had basically no issues all week cruising four-up,” says Brad. “I’m in the middle of making some changes for this year, and we’ll turn it up.”

Brad intends to jump from the Pro Street Radials 8.5 index class to the Speed Pro Radial Blown ranks this year, where he’ll be able to chase outright pace over an index target. “I’ve tubed the front of the car and knocked about 30 kilos out of it. It was already only 1330kg with me in it, and I’m keen to lean on the engine a bit more,” Brad says. “We’ll hopefully get to Kenda at The Bend in May, and then look towards Drag Challenge in October.”

BRAD SCHREIBER
1980 HOLDEN VB COMMODORE SL

2025 Drag Challenge class:

PSR 8.5 Radial

THANKS
My dad Steve for his help over the years with my builds; my crew of mates that come to the track with me and help out. Especially on DC, having a good crew goes a long way to not just finishing the week but being successful.