Man Over Machine
He’s heading out for a run down the 1/4 mile. Look at his eyes. Is that concentration or concern? Maybe even fear? Is he the master of that massively powerful machine he’s created? Or is he the slave that it needs to bring it to life? His name is Norm Oakey, and his car has a twin supercharged aluminium hemi engine with over 3000 horsepower. This image was taken around 1980 at Castlereagh Dragway in Sydney’s western suburbs, with my first camera, a Pentax ME Super, and I consider it my first good photograph. What do you think?
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Matthew Setright
Nice and I thought the Picture I took was a big blower, but wow.
Clayton Haynes
Thanks Matthew. Yes, it still rates as the biggest engine I’ve seen in a drag car since I took the picture over 25 years ago. By today’s standards it’s down on power, though. These days, running nitro, they’re seeing over twice that power.
Lost Lost
Holy crud, I haven’t seen a pic of Norm in years! Was he 80 something when retired? My old man used to race a FED here :) Always tells me the stories..
Nice one.
Clayton Haynes
I don’t know what happened to Norm after they closed Castlereagh Dragway. I guess a lot of old timers from that era never got the chance to race in Sydney again.