Valley Run 2013 - India's first international drag racing event

Class records, spills and thrills were in aplenty at India’s first international drag racing event at the Aamby Valley air strip last weekend. Thousands of motorsport enthusiasts turned up to witness some of the finest drag-spec automobiles in the country pitted against each other to clock the fastest time on a quarter mile.

The event saw participation from over 200 competitors armed with all sorts of exotics including super bikes, supercars as well as race-prepped Indian cars and bikes – a clear indicator that the rapidly spreading sport of drag racing is going full throttle, even in this country. 

Taking the Valley Run 2013 to an international level was ten time world drag race champion Rickey Gadson, who put up an exhibition run on a very special Kawasaki ZZR 1400. While his fastest time of 10.080 seconds was slower than his personal best of 7.2 seconds clocked elsewhere in the USA, the spectators were left awestruck by the sheer speed of the big Kwacker nonetheless.

Speaking on the occasion, Rickey Gadson said: “India has a huge and thriving drag racing fan base. So I'm honored to be the first US Champion Drag Racer to come over and be a part of The Valley Run 2013; there is so much passion and enthusiasm for automobiles here and I am stunned by the sheer number of vehicles participating in this event. Drag racing has a huge fan base in India and it’s good to see people take it seriously. I see people put a lot of effort in their machines in tuning them up and it’s highly appreciated that they’ve travelled across the length and breadth of the country to come participate in the Valley Run.”