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Australian doorslammer legend John Zappia plans US racing venture By Bruce Biegler / DragRaceCanada. com
Some very interesting rumblings from the Southern Hemisphere have one of the most talented and influential international drag racers of all time planning a trip to America. Fast Western Australian-based John Zappia, who is arguably the most successful and winning drag racer for that country’ s thriving Top / Pro Doorslammer racing scene( a 10-time ANDRA world champion!) has announced some plans to dip his toes into the waters of North American drag racing for the very first time. The driver of that country’ s fan favorite, very feared, outrageously successful and record-holding“ Zap Rat” 1971 Holden GTS Monaro has confirmed a new alliance which will allow him to hit some American drag strips later this summer. Zappia, in conjunction with Jamie Noonan, the principal for Australian-originated Noonan Race Engineering, of Brisbane, Queensland, will field a USbased race car that will target some select PDRA events and potentially make some quarter-mile Outlaw Pro Mod appearances. That car will be a Jerry Bickel-built 1969 Camaro, a former NAS Racing Pro Extreme car. For Zappia, this big opportunity will allow him to strike off the next item on his starred drag racing career bucket list.
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How did this opportunity come to be?
With Noonan Race Engineering opening up their premium new facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a door was opened. They also bought three top-notch race cars. I’ m leasing a ride in one of them for this season with the option to outright buy one at the end of the season. A primary focus will also be doing real-time, on-track development work with the Noonan motor programs
– both the 4.8- and 4.9-liter versions. Why do you want to race in America? It’ s been a lifelong dream for me to come over and race in the USA. It is an exciting new horizon for me – the opportunity for me to come over and mix it up with the best in the world. I’ ve won a lot in Australia and I felt now was a good time
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to make a move. Drag racing is a lot like surfing – and right now I’ m riding on the top of a wave and I’ d like to keep that going – before I get dumped!
What are your expectations while racing in the USA?
We do have the attitude to let the performance come as it may. But that being said, I’ m excited about the potential. Our“ Zap Rat” car in Australia has run 5.63 seconds weighing 2740 lbs. This new car will be much lighter at 2350 lbs minimum. We will also have a C-rotor PSI blower and another 20-percent overdrive to work with on the new Noonan 4.9 L. We will also run a clutch compared to most of the Pro Extreme cars out there being automatics. When we sit down and do the math, having that configuration car with a lot more power and being that light, it all adds up to something potentially fast – very fast.
What events are you looking at attending this season in North America?
We’ d like to race at the last three PDRA events of the year and will kick things off in August at Tulsa. I also want to look at running this car a full quarter mile. Going for that all-time quarter-mile speed record is a very big attraction and part of all this for me. The Street Car Super Nationals out at Las Vegas in November is certainly on our radar. What would be your long-term future vision? We will continue our racing focus within Australia, but I do want to expand Zappia Racing into North America. I’ m looking at the possibility of starting a business over in the USA. We are going to come over with our eyes open and see what doors we can open up. We will move forward based on what we learn this season and depending on how much noise we can make to set things up again for 2018. DI
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PHOTOS: BRUCE BIEGLER |