50th Annual Western Nationals Preview: Peter Townsend

We caught up with former drag racer now Perth Motorplex official Starter Peter Townsend who has seen a lot of racing over the years.

What was your first Western National you raced in?

My 1st Western Nationals was in 1989 in my first full season of racing where I reached the final against Alan Hudson in the cyclops dragster and had the same result as when I raced him in the final of the golden states earlier in the same season “runner up”.

What’s your Western Nationals Drag Racing Highlights? I have 3 highlights when i won in 1993, 1994 and 1995 and one I remember well was 2001 when I lost the final to Qld racer Rodney Moore who was staying with me for the weekend I had him covered but I backed off too early and let him back past which is also my biggest regret of my racing career let alone Western Nationals.

The last race of my racing career was 2003 Western Nationals when i lost for the first time ever to gentleman John Craig in the second round.

Since then I have enjoyed every single meeting and especially the trophy presentations and the party afterwards Some more history is 2018 Western Nationals when my B/D track record was broken since I set it at the very 1st meeting at the Motorplex.