"There's pressure on ourselves. We ran a .26 in testing (for the December 1 meeting), then we went out and ran a 6.19 in the first qualifier, went out for the second qualifier and ran a 6.23. Three days earlier that would have been astounding. I suppose it'll be like what Victor has been going through for the last 10 years; every pass everyone is expecting him to run a 'teen or a low .20. I think the thing is, because we backed it up, people will expect it, but as you know, track conditions, weather and all that plays a big part in it."

Of course, now that it's the Kapiris team with the big edge, Bray's busting his backside. He's hanging out to get his new car, he has to do something because at the moment he's being made to look bad.

"Yeah, well, he's been doing that to me for the last 12 years," Kapiris responded. "He rang up Geoff (Cutajar - crew member) and said, 'I wake up in the middle of the night screaming, Peter Kapiris!' But I'm sure as quick as it comes it can go."

So how long do the guys think they can hold this edge?

"I know Brett (Stevens, racer of the Jack Daniel's-backed Studebaker Top Doorslammer) bought a new blower and apparently Victor's been on a fuel bench for the last five days, so what does that tell you? I reckon by the end of next year, if not earlier, Victor will be right up there with us, and probably ahead again. He's very resilient. When Peter Gratz came out and beat his record at 228 mph, two or three meetings later Victor comes out with a 235.

"We never expected to do what we did. Ian was confident, but Ian has always been confident. That's why we stuck with the PSI and never sold it."

TEAM HAS WORKED ON COMBINATION FOR YEARS

So where did the Kapiris team find Ian Cleland? How long has he been with them?

"Not that long, only the last 11 years! The 'newest' member of my crew has been with me for six years.

"When we ran the Holden Statesman (Top Doorslammer), we spent a lot of money building it and thought that was going to be the answer to our problems. Within the first year, we went backwards. That's why we went back from the PSI to a Rootes blower. The number of people, and the calibre of people that came up to me and said about Ian, 'What are you doing with that jerk? Get rid of him!' I'd be having arguments with friends, and I would say, 'Don't worry, he knows what he's doing.' And they'd be saying, 'But look what Victor's doing.'

"Like when Brett came out and at his first meeting in Top Doorslammer and ran a .30, we'd had the car for two years and we still hadn't run a .50! Everyone said 'Get rid of him, he doesn't know what he's doing,' but we knew where we were at. We knew where we wanted to be, it was just a matter of getting there. He always knew what we had to do.

"At the 2000 Nationals, I said, 'Look, let's just take a step back, we'll go to a Rootes, we've played with the PSI and when we're ready we'll get back to it.' At this stage, the fun was getting out of it, you know, losing, tyre shake and the car falling apart because of tyre shake. I figured let's go to a Rootes, have a bit of fun and then go back to the PSI, and that's what we did.

"At that stage too, Victor wasn't getting down the track either. We'd go one round and Victor would go a round and shake the crap out of the tyres. I'm not sure what happened in Perth (on December 1) but Victor now has that car running with the ability to get down every track with .20s. Before that he was like me, struggling, but he persisted with it.

"I thought about selling it but I wouldn't have. You've known me since I started drag racing. I don't do much with it. I drive it, I pay the bills. I wouldn't do it to Ian.

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