Fri, 14 Nov 2008, 04:00 PM Trying To Get On Top

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc. & Bob Johnson Photography

Steve Harker

The 2008 season ended the same way it began in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, and that is, with Frank Manzo on the top. Just like he has been doing since 1981, Frank won the championship and this year he did it in dominating fashion. Frank ran the table at the allotted number of races, winning five national and five divisional races en route to his record twelfth national championship, and this century alone he has won seven national championships. As good as Frank was this year, and he was very good, another racer had a pretty good year and that's the man from "down under" in Australia, Steve Harker. In fact, in some years, Steve may have had enough points to win the championship, but not this year.

Harker in Memphis '99.

Steve Harker will be fifty-eight years old next month and he has been racing for most of his life. "I actually began racing motorcycles in Australia," he said. "I raced a wide variety of bikes including some fuel bikes back in the early '80's. I started out with a street bike and moved up to a fuel injected bike, a supercharged bike and an alky bike. I won the Top Fuel championship a couple of times. We ran in the low eight-second zone at around 180 miles per hour which was really good for those days." After having success in the motorcycle class Steve switched to the alky category around 1990, and a few years later he came to the United States to race. "I bought my first car from Dave Uyehara and the folks at Brad Anderson Enterprises put it together. I had heard about Dave when I was racing in Australia and I knew that he built a good race car. I intended to get it and take it back to Australia but I had some success here so I stayed." He has raced here since 1999 but has never had the success that he has had this year. "Yeah, we had a good year, this year," Steve said. "The car ran well and the driver did his job, too." When asked what the difference was this year Steve said that it's simply a matter of getting more runs in. "We ran a lot of races this year and the car performed well. Plus, the more passes you get in the car the better and more comfortable you get as a driver. That's why Frank does so well, because he does it more than anyone. That and the fact that he is really good at every aspect of what he does. There have been good alky racers over the years, like Pat Austin, Bob Newberry and a few more, but Frank is the best. I'm really impressed with what he does."

Harker celebrates win.

Being the driver of one of the best alky funny cars in the class is only one aspect of what Steve has done this year. The other part of his activity comes when he watches his twin daughters, Kate and Diana, compete in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. "The girls are very competitive and very supportive of each other," he said. "They love to race and both of them would like to drive the funny car some day." In fact, Steve had the car ready for Kate to drive earlier this year. "We had a seat fitted for her and she was ready to make some runs in it. But when they put in the ban on testing for the fuel cars it eliminated a lot of the test sessions after the national races and we never did get to make the runs." Steve did say that he expects one or both of the girls will eventually drive his car, but not right now. "I only have a few years left to drive and then they can take over," he said. "But right now I'm really enjoying it and I still would like to win the championship. If I ever did that, then I'd probably retire and let the girls drive."

Kate Harker

Part of being a father is to support your children in everything they do, even if it's tough on you. Steve got a glimpse of that last year when his daughter, Kate, had a blow-over in the alcohol dragster she was driving at the national event in Sonoma, California. "That was tough," he said. "But with all of the safety equipment we have on these cars you really do feel pretty safe. We all know there are a certain amount of inherent risks in driving these cars and we accept it." Kate was unhurt in the incident and she came back to drive again later in the year and again in 2008. "The girls both did well this year. Diana had a twelve race deal to drive for Randy Meyer and Kate was able to compete at a few races. We're trying to put something together for next year but it's not easy, especially with the economy the way it is." The world economy makes it even tougher for Steve since the Australian dollar is now worth just sixty cents compared to the American dollar. "That just makes everything more expensive for us, and unless we can get some help for next year we may have to cut back on our racing schedule."

In all of his previous years of racing in the states, the best finish for Steve was fifth place last year. In 2008, he raced at eighteen events, evenly split between national and divisional races and he went to the final round at a dozen of them. "One of our goals at the start of the year was to get to more final rounds than we had before and then to convert those finals into wins. We did a pretty good job of that this year." And now, with one race to go, Steve is already beginning to focus on 2009. "The car I have probably needs a little freshening up, but it's a good car. If I want to make a run for the championship I don't think I want to start the year in a new car. This one is kind of like a nice old pair of shoes, the new ones may look nicer but the old ones fit so well, if you know what I mean. Dave built a beautiful car for me and it's still good and it works well. It's a limo to drive, it goes right down the track." Steve said that it would mean everything to him if he could win the championship, but he knows that he would have to beat Frank in order to do it. "Frank is so nice and we talk at the races. He'll give you some cryptic information that's designed to help you. He won't come right out and tell you what you need to do, but he'll hint around. Like he'll come over to you after you run, put his hand on the engine and say, 'Your engine's running too hot.' He won't tell you why or what to do, but he'll point you in the right direction and it's up to you to be smart enough to figure it out."

Harker vs. Payne

Steve, who has raced on two continents, says that the three main tracks "down under" are comparable to some of the best tracks in the United States. "They're really nice facilities, and Sydney and Perth were modeled after the Chicago track. Hey, drag racing is drag racing." And when I asked him if he is a hero back home, he just smiled and said, "Not really, Australians are all alike, we're just regular guys." Well this regular guy had a career year in 2008 and it's not over. After winning the Division 7 race in Las Vegas last week Steve and his wife, Janelle, who travels to all the races with him, has his sights set on ending the year on a high note. "I love racing in Vegas and that was a fun race. Now if we could just win this weekend it would be the end to a pretty good year." Yes it would, but if he is to win this weekend, he'll have to beat a very good field in Pomona, since there are a lot of cars on the grounds at the Fairplex including several from back east. But there is one that isn't there, and that's Frank Manzo. And if the rest of the year is any indication, that should make the gentleman from "down under" the favorite to win in California.

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