Zimpapers Logo

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS . . . These two cars, including a Subaru on the left, will once again be the star attractions during the 2016 Telecel Drag Racing season at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THE local drag racing fans should look forward to another exciting season this year after the Dragpro Club who run this motor racing sport in Zimbabwe yesterday released their calendar of 2016 events.

According to the Dragpro Club, just like in the just-ended year, the 2016 drag racing season will once again consist of four race meetings which will be spread over the months of April, July, August and October.

All the four race meetings will be staged at the home of local motorsport — Donnybrook Raceway in Harare — and the first one will rev off on Sunday, April 24 with the second one slated for July 3.

The third and fourth drag racing meetings will be held on August 28 and October 2 respectively and all these events will be staged on Sundays.

“We only have four events a year and try for two socials — we have found that Saturdays don’t really work for either competitors or spectators and unless we can get sponsorship who knows what 2017 will be holding for us. But we look forward to bringing you an exciting 2016 racing year,” the Dragpro Club said yesterday in response to some reservations by a number of the drag racing fans on why all the events were going to be staged on Sundays instead of Saturdays.

After having been officially accepted as a member or affiliate of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation at the beginning of 2012, the Dragpro Club, under the astute stewardship of their secretary Susan Zevgolis and her husband Mano, have turned drag racing into one of the most popular motor racing events in Zimbabwe.

In fact, the past two years have seen thousands of local motorsport enthusiasts thronging Donnybrook Raceway in Harare to watch every drag racing event and Temba Mazvimbakupa of the ZMSF recently acknowledged that this exciting event has really been a breadth of fresh air in the local motor racing scene.

“While motocross and main circuit racing draws a good number of spectators at Donnybrook, drag racing has surprisingly turned out to be the ‘main thing’ in our local motorsport calendar for the past two years as it is now a big hit at Donnybrook.

“I think this is all because of the hard work that is always put in by Susan Zevgolis and her team at the Dragpro Club. They organise each and every event in a very professional way and they don’t leave anything to chance. Kudos goes to them for making drag racing one of the most popular motorsport events in Zimbabwe,” Mazvimbakupa said.

But what is drag racing?

In the simplest terms, drag racing is a sport where two vehicles compete side-by-side in an acceleration contest. Both drivers race in a straight line from a standing start to a finish line 1/8 mile away. The first to cross the finish line wins the race. Competition is part driver and part machine.

The event in Zimbabwe has mobile giant Telecel as its main sponsor and since 2012 and it has been held at Donnybrook Raceway at the outskirts of Harare and it attracts big motorsport fanatics.

The love of drag racing among Harareans, in particular, has just been unbelievable as a colourful crowd always make its way to Donnybrook to watch each and every event of this exciting motor racing competition. And 2016 will be no exception as four race meetings have already been pencilled in for the season by the likeable secretary of the Dragpro Club, Susan Zevgolis, and her team.