THE Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Sports Association (TTASA) kick-starts its 2023 calendar with the first of six drag racing competitions at the Frankie Boodram Wallerfield International Raceway, Wallerfield, on Friday.

The three-day event begins with a test/tune event on day one, additional testing and qualification races on Saturday, and climaxes with final round races and mandatory grudge matches on Sunday.

Among the featured drivers will be drag racing icon and rail car speedster Sheldon Bissessar, rotary rail car racer Dale Myers, Miguel Pustam, another rail car driver from Bissessar’s camp and Kervin Ribero among others.

A wide array of other cars and motorcycles will be on show from varying racing camps throughout TT.

Categories being contested range from 13 seconds to seven seconds, over a quarter mile.

Speaking to TTASA president Ashton Eligon said the event is expected to draw a large turnout since it officially announces the start of their 2023 season.

The grudge matches/call out races, which race off after all official competition races, is gearing up to be a scorcher, Eligon said.

Drivers from Grenada were also scheduled to compete but owing to “ferry issues”, they will be unable to. However, some of the Grenadian drivers have still made the trip to Trinidad but will not compete.

Eligon added that this will be TTASA’s first event since regaining their full membership of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA); the sport’s global governing body.

“We want to start the year with good racing and we anticipate good weather. Coming out 2022 when we had lots of cancellations because of weather and only had two competitive events. So we’re ready to go,” he said.

Eligon confirmed all six drag racing events will be hosted in the first six months of 2023.

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