National-Championship-1966

 

 

2016 is bringing many new things to Pro-Race & Graham Withers so where do I start ? Well its already June, yes half the year has gone already….. So what has the first half of the year brought Pro-Race?

Well firstly I have had Nicole Coughlin Senior Online Producer, Institute of Online Business Pty Ltd upgrade the Pro-Race website & I will be doing weekly blogs which hopefully everyone in cyber land will enjoy! The Facebook page is going well with many lively conversations, I attempt to post one or two new pictures a week and then share to the Australian Drag Racing History & Memorabilia Facebook page.

Pro-Race has Geoff ‘Mr G’ working hard in Sydney to get us more presence in the NSW market and this will then increase our Australian market client base.

 

Outside of North America, the other great “hot spot” for drag racing in the world is the continent of Australia. For years many professional, and some not quite so professional, racers from the U.S. took advantage of the opposite seasons and traveled “down under” to supplement their incomes by match racing and putting on exhibitions during the Australian summer. It was during the preliminary stages of one of the more quirky, and ultimately ill fated, of these exhibitions that an inquisitive youngster from the country had his first brush with what would soon become an overpowering passion.

Murray Anderson moved with his large family to the sprawling city of Melbourne on the south coast of Australia in 1971. Always interested in things mechanical while growing up, 14 year-old Murray continued to tinker with old motorbikes or whatever motorized piece of gear he could lay his hands on after moving to the city. Shortly after graduating from high school at the age of 17, he embellished a bit on his technical qualifications and took a job as a Mini Minor mechanic at a Leyland garage. Ironically, directly across the road was a speed shop owned by Aussie Top Fuel legend Graham Withers, and unbeknownst to young Murray at the time, the future course of his life would eventually be charted due to that very juxtaposition of circumstances.

Looking back, Murray vividly recalled his first encounter with a professional drag racer. “It was in 1974, not long after I had talked my way into my first motor mechanic job,” he said. “Graham Withers brought an American Top Fuel driver over to Australia with the intention of putting on a demonstration on an unfinished section of freeway here in Melbourne. A major bridge collapse had left the road sitting unused for several years, and Graham thought it would be a perfect place to stage a Top Fuel exhibition. While waiting for government red tape to be cleared, he put the car on display in front of his shop. At the time, I knew nothing of drag racing; I’d only ever been to a speedway bike meeting in my local country town. During my lunch hours, I’d go across the road and just look the car over from every angle. I did this every day for a week, even bringing my camera to work so that I could get a few photos because I’d never seen anything like it. Like I said, I knew absolutely nothing of drag racing up to this time.

Graham Withers is Australia’s Premier Drag Racing Champion from the 1960’s and 1970’s.

During his racing career Graham broke every outright speed and elapsed time record at every drag racing strip across Australia, and was Australian Champion on three Occasion in a race car that he himself built.

After retiring in the mid 70’s Graham turned his attention to business with the same passion, drive and commitments he displayed during his racing career.  Capitalizing on his racing experience and know how, he established a retailing operation for high performance automotive components.

GW-Ampol

But Graham wanted to give back something to racing, and due to his desire for continued improvement he developed and built a new all steel crankshaft Vibration Damper for high performance vehicles.  This component later become the world’s best seller.

Graham was appointed to the position of International Advisor representing the society of Automotive Engineer (USA/Australia), in which he served for over five years in addition to managing his own successful international business as Group President of the Cyco Group of Companies.

Graham’s drive for innovation and continued improvement has never diminished.  After several years of research, evolution and testing, Graham has led the development of a new light weight aluminum MMC (ULTALITE®).

Graham Withers won his first Australian Drag Racing National Title in 1966 and his love for Drag Racing is still as strong today as it was 50 years ago. In 5 years of racing dragsters Graham won the Australian National title 3 times, was runner up twice and held the record for fastest quarter mile time and speed on every track in Australia all done in his Top Fuel Charged V8 Hemi Dragster he developed and built himself. ‘The Ampol G-T Dragster’

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Today Graham is kept busy making and exporting ‘Harmonic Dampers’ to the United States and currently being sold via Summit Racing Equipment, The Harmonic Dampers are designed and manufactured for racing and are available for a wide range of engines.

Pro-Race ‘The Race Model’ for high performance cars, Pro-Sport for middle range cars and Pro-Street ‘The Street Model’ for lower range cars.

 

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