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John Z Zappia might not have walked away with the trophy at the opening round of the Summer Slam season on Saturday, but the Dananni Hotshots/Fuchs Lubricants team left full of optimism for the season ahead. The positive day began with a 5.752 pass in the single-shot qualifying session that would set the field for the sixth annual Powerpalooza, a motorsports festival that includes drag racing, speedway, burnouts and more at Perth Motorplex. “We were a little down on speed at 249mph but besides that we couldn’t complain,” Zappia said. “We were number one, ahead of Daniel Gregorini’s 5.828 and Matt Abel’s 5.868.” That would set up a round one encounter with Pino Priolo’s ’37 Chevy. As the last pair of racers for the round, Zappia watched his potential finals opponents run first, with Kelvin Lyle’s 6.042 the pass to beat if Zappia was to make the A Final. Unfortunately, the racing gods were not on his side. “As soon as I let go of the transbrake the car started misfiring and hosing fuel out of the pipes,” he said. “We only ran 6.36, but we did get the win light against Pino so we could at least salvage a B Final appearance.” Back in the pits, the team discovered the Dananni Hotshots/Fuchs Lubricants Monaro had only been running on five cylinders, with two faulty spark plugs and a damaged spark plug lead. A very zen Zappia acknowledged that he couldn’t control the manufacturing process of parts and could only set himself up for the best chance in the B Final against Mark Chapman. “We obviously didn’t have much data from the previous round, so we made some little suspension changes and put a bit more into the tune up. It must have worked because the car left with a 0.972 60 foot time and felt absolutely awesome to half track. We clicked a 5.69/253mph, which was our quickest pass in a couple of years — we didn’t run a 5.6 at all last season.” Zappia said there was about 13 kilograms of weight that could still be taken out of the car (and the driver), giving the team plenty of confidence as they target the second round of Summer Slam as well as the second round of the ADRC series at the Goldenstates at Perth Motorplex on the 11-12th November. “This is a really good start to the season and we are making inroads on the Ty-Drive and converter with the three-speed B&J transmission. I’m sure there is more to come. “This weekend we are going to be back at the Motorplex competing in Top Comp and doing some more testing to work on the consistency of the car. We were all a bit rusty after a long break but with two events on consecutive weekends, and the Goldenstates just over two weeks away, we are all going to get lots of practice.” Photos thanks to: Phil Reeves Dragsmedia Ian Moore Phil Luyer

Drag racers must be adaptable in order to succeed, and John Zappia certainly had to stay on his toes as weather conditions and schedule changes at the Red Centre NATS at Alice Springs Inland Dragway put his team to the test. The Dananni Hotshots/Fuchs Lubricants Monaro Top Doorslammer was originally meant to hit the track on Thursday for qualifying, but rain saw qualifying pushed to Friday. Once the sun was out, Zappia didn’t take long to make an impression with a 5.96 run to top qualify in the single-session shootout, earning the Crow Cams Top Qualifier Award. “We didn’t want to overdo it given we had just one shot at qualifying, so we backed the power down for a tune that would go straight down the track,” he said. The first round would be up against Matt Abel, who reached the final at the opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship in Darwin. With a little bit more spice in the tune, Zappia scored the win light with a 5.87. “The Dananni Hotshots/Fuchs Lubricants Monaro was moving around in the top end and I pulled the parachutes early,” he said. “But then my muscle memory went to push the clutch pedal in — I don’t have a clutch pedal anymore! That’s where the brake is now, so then I had the wheels locked up and it was a bit wild. I won’t do that again.” For the second round, Zappia was on a bye run. With the cold night air closing in, the track surface would not be able to hold much power. The result was a sliding 7.30 run that gave up lane choice to Kelvin Lyle for the final. But then the news came that the conditions were no longer safe for racing, and the final would instead be contested later in the year at the Perth Motorplex championship round. “Obviously we wish we could have run the final, but it’s just not safe to put 3000hp race cars down a cold track,” Zappia said. “While the event had its challenges, we still had a great time meeting all the Alice Springs fans and we hope they enjoyed the show we could put on.” Those same fans got to see a new look on the Monaro, which now has joint naming rights from Dananni Hotshots and Fuchs Lubricants. Tony’s Auto Wreckers have also joined the team once again as a major sponsor. “We’re proud to represent Dananni Hotshots, Fuchs Lubricants and Tony’s Auto Wreckers once again,” Zappia said. “We’ve also been joined by WA Bolts and Callies Crankshafts for the first time, and we are happy to welcome them to the team. It’s also great to have Crow Cams and WA Suspensions back on board and all of our supporting sponsors — they make this all possible.” The next event for Zappia Racing will be the opening round of the Summer Slam at Perth Motorplex’s Powerpalooza on October 29. This big night features drag racing, speedway and burnouts all in one huge event. “Powerpalooza is such a unique event and we get to meet new fans from across each motorsport, so we will be looking to start the season strongly there,” Zappia said. Photos: Drag News

John Zappia and his Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro Top Doorslammer have continued their exploration of new driveline technology in a mixed opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship. Zappia headed to Darwin’s Hidden Valley Drag Strip following a full week of testing at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway with a Ty-Drive Converter Drive. Alongside Supercars and Australian Superbikes, plus the Australian Top Fuel Championship, for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown, there was positivity mixed with the realisation that the combination was still completely new and a big learning curve. “We used a backed down tune for the first qualifying run as we thought the track surface would take some time to come around, and we hit a 5.87 at 245mph,” Zappia said. “It was a pretty straight and easy run, though the Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro did fishtail a little through the top end. “For the next qualifying session, we put more in it, but I had some of my old muscle memory come back and I forgot to push the transbrake, so the car just drove right off into a big wheelstand. The good news was we were still qualified number one as everyone else had their struggles with the track.” Race day arrived with tens of thousands of fans keen to see what the Top Doorslammers had to deliver for Hidden Valley. Zappia’s first round race would take place against local favourite Matt Abel. Zappia left with the holeshot, but silence came over his car at half track, leaving Abel to scoot around the outside for the win light. “At 3.6 seconds the power just cut out and Matt got around me. We got back to the pits and found the engine had broken the idler pulley, which took out a brand-new blower belt and damaged the top and bottom supercharger pulleys. Everything was a bit of a mess.” The team got to work in the Darwin heat to replace the mangled parts and returned for the next round against Kelvin Lyle. “The second round was a tough one. I got flustered on the line and took off with a 0.320 reaction time. That’s way too slow at this level of competition and despite a 5.82 we were beaten by Kelvin’s 5.96. I was pretty disappointed in myself, and I’ve got no real explanation. It doesn’t take much of a distraction to get a bad light.” That left just the B Final against Daniel Gregorini. Hoping for redemption, Zappia would have to settle for leaving Darwin without a win light after a wild pass. “We stepped it up for the final and the Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro Top Doorslammer took off like a rocket. The only problem was it was carrying the front wheels, and it just got higher and higher. I put the front down and tried to keep it in my lane, but I put half a rear tyre into Daniel’s lane. So, I guess we found three new ways to lose and hopefully got them out the way and can concentrate on improving our performance and consistency over the ADRC season!” Despite the lack of results on the time sheets, Zappia was still satisfied that the team had learned more about the new combination and what the car wants. “It was a risk making this change just as we start the new season and championship, and we are still not 100% comfortable with the procedure, but we are making good ground. We still had the quickest car in Darwin even with the dramas and our incremental times are within 2.5% of our PBs.” That’s not bad considering we are comparing 1200+ runs in a clutch manual car to 14 runs in the current setup with the Ty-Drive. The Top Doorslammer teams next head to Alice Springs for the Red Centre Nats in September 1 and 2 alongside the Top Fuel cars and all the burnout and cruise action. “We have some improvements to make before Red Centre Nats and we are hoping the car will run some quick times there as part of another awesome show.”

The Winternationals is one of Australia’s most prestigious drag racing events, but for John Zappia it was a chance to dial-in a new auto transmission across almost two weeks of testing. Weather and ambulance shortages in Perth saw Zappia unable to test at the Motorplex throughout May, so he made the decision to drive to Queensland early to get some much-needed runs on the board with the fresh combo. “We have a Ty-Drive Converter Drive in the car now along with the B&J three-speed,” he said. “We were running out of time in Perth and realised the chances of us being able to test were slim. With so many test days before the Winternationals, I decided to get over there and do the lot – all up we would get to do about seven days of testing racing across almost two weeks of being at Willowbank Raceway.” The first days of testing saw the team battle through some setbacks, with the skeleton crew performing well to keep the Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro on the track. “We blew the tyres off on the only run we made on day one, then came back out and banged the blower off the motor on day two. We got back to the pits and realised it had kicked a rod out of a brand new motor also. We also had ignition problems to fix from the blow up. The team worked until midnight to change the motor. “We got back out there and launched well on day three and then sheared a keyway on the magneto. Again, we got everything all fixed up and then finally we were able to make a full hit with a 5.82/249mph.” Zappia and his full-time crew member Curtis Spadaro spent a few days between testing and the Winternationals going over small details on the car to make sure everything would be perfect for the start of the event on Friday. A compulsory sighting run would be the first pass to make, where Zappia improved to a 5.78/251mph. “We felt like we were going in the right direction,” he said. “This was a brand-new setup, but it seemed like we could make changes and see the effect of those changes straight away.” With two separate championship rounds on Saturday and Sunday, Zappia would have two chances to emerge with victory from the weekend. Saturday began positively with a 5.720/252mph, followed up by a 5.76. The seeding breakdown, based on times from the second round, saw Zappia miss a place in the final by just one hundredth of a second. He made a solo run in the third and final round of the day, with a wild wheels up run that had the crowd cheering. “The Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro carried the front wheels for about 550 feet (3.45seconds), and we still went through for a 5.73/250mph. It was a bit scary but a lot of fun as well!” Sunday saw an unusual set of circumstances as Zappia faced off against Sam Fenech three times during racing. Both racers had their fair share of bugs during a mixed final day. “On our first run the MSD Grid was unplugged, which meant we had all the power delivered to the rear wheels instantaneously. Needless to say, we blew the tyres off, and that blew our chances of making the final for the day. “For our second run Sam had problems with oil pressure so we had a solo. Our car launched well for a 5.74 pass. “We hoped the third run would be a good side-by-side race for the crowd. I’m still getting used to the new auto setup, which requires me to use a button and full throttle in stage instead of balancing the clutch with the revs. I got on to the two-step too early and then off it again, then back on again, and I ended up red lighting. But still we went through for a 5.71/255mph, our best run of the week.” While Zappia’s name was not to be etched on another Winternationals trophy, he still saw the Queensland trip as an extremely positive one. “We had no idea what we would be in for with this new transmission setup, so to come away with a 5.71 is impressive. I’d like to thank Todd Tutterow for all his help getting us going with the Ty Drive. My crew worked their butts off, they did a hell of a lot of work. We had a really good start with this automatic deal.” Zappia had little time to spare after racing was finished at Willowbank Raceway, packing up the transporter and beginning the drive to the Northern Territory for the opening round of the Australian Top Doorslammer Championship as part of the Darwin Triple Crown, which will also feature the Australian Top Fuel Championship, Supercars and Superbikes. “This was a perfect test session for us in advance of a new era for Top Doorslammer racing. We’ve got a strong field of Australia’s best Top Doorslammers heading to Darwin and we can’t wait to return there for all of our NT fans. Let’s hope we can kick off the new ADRC Top Doorslammer Championship with a good result and get the season started on a positive note!” Photo: Drag News www.dragnews.com.au

A dream finish to the season proved elusive for John Zappia and his Dananni Hotshots/Tony’s Auto Wreckers Monaro Top Doorslammer after a first round loss at the ANDRA Grand Finals. With a championship in his sights, the first goal for Zappia was to qualify well. After a pedalling 5.81 n the Friday night qualifying session, Zappia returned for Saturday’s second session and clocked a 5.761, missing the top spot by just two hundredths of a second. “Our first run left okay but we had tyre shake and a 5.81 was definitely not where we wanted to be,” Zappia explained. “We only had one more shot to get it right. We stepped the car up to our 5.64 tune-up and took a swing to try and go to number one. The car left hard, but we again had the tyres rattling, and then we smoked a piston which took down our top speed.” The Zappia Racing team got to work replacing the engine, and then softened the tune-up in an effort to make an A-to-B run. As night fell, the conditions became tricky for every team to manage. On one hand there was excellent air, allowing the supercharged engines to produce enormous amounts of horsepower, but on the other hand was the cold, which meant traction was on a knife-edge. “We were up against Stu Moresby, who has shown consistent five-second pace lately. I launched well, my reaction time was a 0.056 which is pretty good for this car, and then we had tyre shake again! My vision was blurred and when I could see again I realised I was way out of the groove and heading for the wall. I tried to recover the run but we ended up grazing the wall and putting us out of the race — and the championship”. “I did everything I could to save the run, as even with a couple of pedals we can still potentially run fives. The data logger showed I was on and off the throttle four times. I knew I’d let both championships go at that point; there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders.” Moresby’s Dananni Hotshots Studebaker went on to win the event, and overtake Zappia for the Direct Mining & Industrial Summer Slam championship too. “Congratulations to both Stu and Daniel on their performances this season. Western Australian Top Doorslammer racing is as competitive as it has ever been, with more cars coming in. I know the fans got a great show, and while we’d always love to come away with the ANDRA gold Christmas trees, seeing the class at such strength is awesome. “I’d also like to wish Steve Aldridge all the best in recovering from his big crash. We never like to see that in drag racing and we hope we can see him back.” Zappia now turns his focus to interstate events, including Darwin’s Nitro Up North and potentially the Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway. “We’ve got some R&D to do over the next month and we’re going to shift our focus to a new season, with some exciting developments to come for Australian Top Doorslammers very soon,” Zappia said. “A big thank you to all our Sponsors, crew and volunteers, supporters and fans for your invaluable support throughout the year. We finished Runner up in both the ANDRA Top Doorslammer Championship and the Direct Mining & Industrial Summer Slam Championship and will set our sights on an even better year in 2022/2023 and give our sponsors the best exposure possible”. Photos: Phil Reeve and Ian Moore