Words and photos by Jon Van Daal
6/2/06

anta had to remove his thick red coat when he delivered his presents to the good people of Sydney, Australia, on Christmas Eve. Following 108 degree temperatures and dodging smoke from wild fires that ringed the city, he realised he wasn’t in Kansas anymore. This was Xmas down under, and after consuming a massive amount of Xmas cheer, our intrepid reporter Jon Van Daal set a course for Western Sydney International Dragway for the Nitro Thunder USA Top Fuel Invasion Boxing Day event.

For those of you that don’t know, Boxing Day was a celebration for workers when their generous employers would give them boxed presents as a thank you for their efforts over the previous working year. For me, the USA Top Fuel Invasion event turned out to be a great package which concluded the following day with record times.

To give you a bit of background, Team Kalitta members, Scott Kalitta and “Aussie Dave” Grubnic were in town to take on the best local top fuel drivers. Scott Kalitta led the pack on day one with an on and off 5.27 which will give you an idea of how tough it was to put down the copious power to the track.