Graeme Cowin
Graeme Cowin began his racing career in the early 1960’s with a 292 Ford Y Block powered Fiat Topolino. Before long the need to go faster caused him to replace the Ford with a supercharged Chevrolet coupe. In 1973 he replaced the Chevrolet with a supercharged Chrysler powered altered roadster on nitro and began his “nitro” career.
Graeme’s first outing with a AA/Fuel Funny Car came in 1973 and was followed by a string of nitro fueled altered and funny cars all entered under the name Psycho. While he was based in Australia, Graeme competed in the Funny Car circuits of both IHRA and NHRA in 1985 and finished as runner up at the 1987 NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA.
In 1988, with Funny Cars losing some of their popularity in Australia, Graeme switched over to racing a supercharged Chrysler powered AA/Fuel Dragster and in 1993 became the first Australian to run under five seconds when he posted a time of 294.43 mph and 4.89 ET. After a string of wins at various racetracks, Graeme won the Australian Top Fuel Championship in 1995 and has continued to be a serious competitor over the years.
Using his involvement in the sport as a template, Graeme opened the doors to his first speed shop in 1980 under the title Rocket Industries and in 1993 he created the Outlaw Nitro Funny Car Series that became a huge success in Australia and the Rocket Allstar Series that gives non-professional category racers an opportunity to earn reward points for substantial prizes.
Graeme was inducted into the Australian National Drag Racing Association Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Australian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2018. Graeme is not backing away from his involvement in racing and will be fielding another AA/Fuel Dragster with him as crew chief and his son Andrew doing the driving.