CHOPPED REBORN

BACK FROM HIATUS, CHOPPED ENTERED THE ASPHALT ERA WITH PLENTY OF SMOKY OLD-SCHOOL OO RACING ACTION

- CARLY DALE

A STAUNCH 60s-style gasser roars to life before lurching into first to noisily idle its way to the start line, leaving a dust haze from the uncorked headers in its wake. Hundreds of eyes eagerly follow its course, hungry for the anticipated display. Quickly, the lumpy idle becomes a bellowing roar as the tyres blaze into plumes of burning rubber. Backing up over the twin blacks that’ve just been created, the driver and wide-eyed passenger prepare for the launch before slingshotting off the line.

Welcome to the reborn Chopped – ‘The Asphalt Era’! After a two-year hiatus, Chopped was back at the new venue of Maryborough Harness Racing Club in Carisbrook with its focus shifted from dirt and mud to tarmac and tyre smoke. Any entered car or bike that met the pre-’65 or invited criteria, with a helmet-wearing driver, could send it down the blacktop as many times as they liked!

“It’s so much better than the dirt drags,” organiser Ryan Ford beamed as we stood at the startline while Richard Townsend’s show-and-go 60s-style gasser roared off into the distance. Richard used the opportunity for a bit of seat time, as did the drag-spec ‘Tall 28’ Model T pick-up, which passed countless test launches.