A return to Heathcote Raceway after two decades has netted Gary Phillips a pleasing return to form, claiming the top qualifying spot and a semi-finals berth in the Aussie Slamfest Pro Modified eighth mile Series last weekend.

“The last time we raced here was January 25, 1992, so it’s almost exactly twenty years. The venue has still got that same family friendly feel it had way back then, when we racing the blown funny car,” Phillips said, unsure if the delayed return to the Victorian venue made him feel nostalgic or ‘just plain old.’“Back then we were about ten years into running the blown deal, but this is the first time the locals had seen the Lucas Oils Studebaker, and the response from the crowd was amazing. The track was packed with spectators and there was a real buzz in the pits as well. It was a great event for Slamfest and to have the car respond so well to some changes we made in the rear end is a massive bonus.” With a string of 4.1 second elapsed times, Phillips stayed within three hundredths of a second over all of the weekend’s runs, giving the Lucas Oils team a massive confidence boost for the next Slamfest round in Portland next weekend, on Feb 4th as well as the upcoming ANDRA Pro Series round in Perth as part of the forty-first Goldenstates event in March, where the doorslammers will return to the full quarter mile race distance. “Regardless of whether it’s eighth mile or quarter mile, what we’ve learned with these changes will benefit us over both distances so we’re really looking forward to capitalizing on it for the rest of the season, but we must be doing something right because this is an even playing field out here so to top the charts in qualifying is fantastic.”