Drag Racing Unplugged XVII

With the 2015 season over we are, for the seventeenth year in succession, pleased to bring you the finest comments from the year's Event Coverage on Eurodragster.com - and other quotes we didn't publish at the time.

We open with the Quotes of the Year of the Eurodragster.com staff:

Tog's Quote of the Year

"I told Nick Davies and Rob Loaring I wanted a mushroom cloud on the launch and when the smoke cleared I would be sitting in a big hole in the start line"
-- Nitrous Pro Mod racer Peter Wacker has lost none of his sense of humour in his time away from racing

Simon's Quote of the Year

"This is how life works: you get a good education so that you can get a good job. You get a good job so that you can earn loads of money. You earn loads of money so that you can get a faster race car"
-- Listen to your teachers kids and one day, like Spencer Tramm, you could afford a Pro Mod

Kirstie's Quote of the Year

"Liam did a great driving job and showed the steering wheel is not just for hanging your handbag on"
-- Unmistakably Gary Page, commenting on Liam Jones' lively Top Fuel Dragster licencing pass

Julian's Quote of the Year

"We have a Top Fuel oil ring kit and a surplus of yellow paint so why not?"
-- Tuner Peter Lantz explains the addition of a Top Fuel Dragster to Stefan Gunnarsson's Top Methanol Dragster stable


And the rest of the 2015 Drag Racing Unplugged collection in chronological order...

"It's better to hurry slowly and to make sure that everyone is happy"
-- Anders Hildebrand of Eurodragster.com sponsor Anglo American Oil has a long-term plan

"Now that we can do it I've got to try it once!"
-- Super Pro ET racer Nick Good is pleased to see nitro readmitted to the class

"It's better than people going around Europe with huge amounts of fuel in their trailers because you know what will happen eventually, and it will only have to happen once"
-- Pro Stock Bike team owner Roger Lyrén welcomes the deal for Sunoco to supply and distribute race fuel for the EDRS

"I'll have to practice burnouts somewhere, maybe outside the workshop!"
-- New procedures necessary for Andrew Agroment's newly blower-equipped VW Pro Beetle

"Oh, what do you want to know?"
-- At Autosport International, Steve Venables finds himself trapped behind his Super Street Bike with no escape

"I wanted to do it and I just decided f*** it!"
-- No faffing for Liam Jones when he fancied Top Fuel Dragster

"The engine was out last week then we got an invitation to appear at this show!"
-- Scott Hauser's Super Pro ET dragster suffers the equivalent of not having a new dress to wear for Autosport International

"I think that the level of understanding among racers has grown tremendously - they don't see safety equipment as a cost but as an opportunity"
-- Previously it would take a crash but no longer, due in no small part to the efforts of Jan Phersson of Eurodragster.com sponsor Simpson Europe

"We want to show other industries about cooling; we work with Formula 1, McLaren GT and Morgan as our products apply to all forms of motorsport - everything gets hot!"
-- Graham Smith of Serck Motorsport tries to bring other disciplines up to drag racing standards

"It's a grass-roots track and without grass-roots support we couldn't do it!"
-- Sponsor appreciation from Jerry Cookson of Shakespeare County Raceway

"If the object of testing is to find issues then we had a successful year last year!"
-- Deborah Laugher ostracises the gremlins from her Super Pro ET Corvette...

"Now I need to remind myself what the end of the track looks like - that's why I ran in my street car last time out, just to see the shutdown area!"
-- ...after a difficult 2014

"Remind me how much you are paying for this free webcam?"
"I don't know"
-- Quick to moan, not quite such quick wits

"The car is the same as last year, a lot of fun"
-- Ronald Huis enjoys a Super Comp and Super Gas outing in the big Chevy Handyman

"It's a tight squeeze and I have a lot of bruising on my upper arms, but no pain, no gain!"
-- Bring the baby oil and warm spoon for Willem van Baalen after licencing for Super Pro ET

"The car has been performing as well as expected but the oil colour is darker than we would like to see"
-- Dave Catton makes with the glucose check for one of Nick Good's Super Pro ET dragsters

"I cut the body off the Camaro and found it didn't fit. But Jon Webster had a spare imported chassis which it did fit"
-- Peter Lane returns to the track with a 1955 Chevy in Super Pro ET

"We realised the problem in the other car was big when we saw a hole in the sump"
-- Conrad Stanley suspects something amiss with Liam Jones' Super Pro ET dragster

"With the money I have spent I want to do more than Run What You Brungs"
-- Why Steve Bowen went Pro ET

"It's great fun to drive but it all happens so quickly at 150 mph"
-- Tom Margesson takes a run out in Andy Williams' Super Comp dragster

"I can hear it now... Who's Super Pro 99? We haven't got a Super Pro 99! Oh crap, Super Pro 66 has got a problem"
-- All crew Colin Roaf did was to hold Peter Lane's 8.98 dial-in upside down in Super Pro ET qualifying and now this silliness

"It has taken some getting used to pushing the lever rather than pulling it but the car is two tenths quicker and pulls better lights"
-- The Huxleys' Pro ET Mustang grows a Powerglide

"It all happens so quickly in Top Fuel, there is so much to take in and I struggle to tell the team about the run"
-- Top Fuel Dragster licencee Birgitte Bremnes explains the sensory overload

"There is more to come, especially when the wire stays on the data logger switch!"
-- Allan Davies makes his first Pro Stock Bike pass of the season

"We are glad to be here and love seeing our fans visiting us"
-- Pro Mod racer Mats Eriksson loves Santa Pod Raceway

"Running a good time means having to get the gear shifts right down the track as well as the car settings - it's the total package"
-- Roger Johansson neatly sums up a successful Pro Mod run but risks a copyright writ from Simon Gough

"It's difficult to get the shift points right when you get shake and are fighting the car"
-- Roger Moore neatly sums up a not-entirely-successful Pro Mod run

"That was a driver issue"
-- Pro Mod racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson 'fesses up about a double gear shift

"I was excited to run so quick even though the scoop left the hood"
-- Jean Dulamon's top end moment in Pro Mod qualifying

"I feel better about the car than I have done for the last four years"
-- A pleasing return for Bob Jarrett and the Showtime Fuel Funny Car team

"We didn't like the Cruise as we were always getting disqualified from it but now we look forward to it"
-- A second radiator does the job for Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Al Williamson

"We want to go forward and not up!"
-- Down-to-Earth Pro Mod racer Tero Laukkanen

"We learned some things from that race but have yet to apply them"
-- Fredrik Fredlund returns from a Pro Stock Bike outing in the USA

"Our back-up motor was not ready and we had to go back to Kent to get the parts and create a bitza engine"
-- But then Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop's mongrel motor went 7.397

"I am now financing the bike myself and my pockets are empty and the bike is full"
-- Martijn de Haas discovers a disadvantage of Supertwin (and several other classes)

"Our other engine broke yesterday, however Happy is singing well!"
-- Anita Mäkelä's Top Fuel Dragster is in good voice

"We still have a Pro Mod blower and could go back however it would be more costly and we would need more sponsors"
-- One of the reasons the Lindahl brothers run Top Doorslammer

"It is not doing wheelstands any more on launching and the photographers are all complaining"
-- There is still time for legendary Super Gas racer Bosse Hall to bring back the wheelies

"We were still late this morning"
-- Super Gas and Stock / Superstock duo Carla Pittau and Rick McCann live thirty minutes from Tierp Arena yet still run on Racer Time

"At Malmö we got pulled over at the toll by the Swedish Army who, when they found out what we are doing, said "Have fun racing"!"
-- Stock / Superstock racers Dan and Nic Williams: not terrorists

"It has done everything I expected of it and more"
-- Late and much-missed Pro Mod racer Robert Joosten loves his new 'Cuda

"Isn't DQ a bit churlish on top of everything else?"
-- Feedback from a Eurodragster.com reader after Mattias Wulcan's crash at the Tierp Internationals was listed in the live report as No time DQ

"The other problem is I keep finding myself in the Pro Stock pits"
-- Alex Hope runs in Super Street Bike at Tierp Arena

"We started the car ten times yesterday but one of our main power switches broke and so couldn't run"
-- Robert Joosten loves his new 'Cuda but crew member Arjan van Bemmel reveals its initial temperamental streak

"It's fun but I can't believe how little opportunity there is for testing away from events"
-- US tuner Mike Moran works with Comp Eliminator racer Peter Thöranäs

"It wanted to come into the car and shake my hand"
-- Micke Johansson's Pro Mod was going full pelt when a door opened

"I bought a Fuel Altered after I had been at a party one night and Johnny Nilsson persuaded me"
-- Some hold that you have to be drunk to drive a Fuel Altered so it could be argued that Björn Mårtensson was licencing

"We just want to see if the bike will go straight but a seven would be cause for celebrations"
-- Thomas Olsen learning his way in Pro Stock Bike

"I was surprised about how hard it is to ride, it looks so easy"
-- Robert Karlsson's first Pro Stock Bike outing

"There is not much difference yet between the cars' acceleration but the Top Fuel car makes a lot more noise"
-- Stefan Gunnarsson compares A/Fuel and Top Fuel

"The track here is one of the best in the world and I like the racing, teams are not too hard on their parts"
-- US tuner Jimmy Walsh approves of European Top Fuel racing

"When you get new parts they get you in trouble"
-- On the other hand, Micke Gullqvist probably wouldn't want to leave parts to wear out in his Pro Mod Camaro

"We hope to go quicker as more power is available and are planning how quick we want to be"
-- Just a suggestion but we'd advise Pro Mod racer Anders Nilsson to plan for a 5.844

"I went very close to the wall and waited for the bang but it turned away at the last moment"
-- Jan Sturla Hegre's close call in Top Fuel Bike qualifying

"We repaired the blower with the help of a file and grinder on the end of the rotors and case"
-- An overnight case of needs must for Luke Robinson of Andy Robinson's Pro Mod team

"This has been a typical Pro Mod weekend"
-- Overnight work, too, for Pro Mod racer Rick Garrett

"I went in as far as the service road, about a hundred yards and before the crops, and just parked it"
-- Nick Davies undertakes field work with the Chaos Fuel Altered

"The car is street legal but it's a bit of an animal"
-- Phil Middleton's Pepperami Outlaw Anglia

"Why have you called your car Hepatitis?"
-- An admiring viewer of Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster's Hephaestus Nostalgia slinghot flunks his Classics degree

"Fuel went everywhere, the engine went lean and the manifold exploded"
-- The wrong type of pop for Steve Wells' Outlaw Anglia pick-up

"I have made it so that the driving position is knees-up and there is a parachute lever in the style of an early seventies altered"
-- Gary Parkes' tribute to the likes of Tee Rat

"In 2010 I took it down the track for the first time and it handled like a drunk coming out of a club"
-- Bryan Whitfield tries to keep Henry Hirise from getting into a fight

"The best anti-depressant I know of"
-- Why Richard Warburton's Willys is called ProZac... but Comic Sans MS? Come on!

"Using the standard crankshaft output shaft was asking a lot of the parts"
-- Top Fuel Bike legend John Hobbs reveals one of the drawbacks of a double Weslake on nitro

"Entertaining - there is plenty of involvement"
-- Steve Harrison explains why his and Duncan Scott's blown 100E van is named The Clencher

"I just put a 150 horsepower shot of nitrous in it to ward off evil spirits"
-- Colin Millar's idea of taking things gently with his Outlaw Anglia

"I like the look of slingshot dragsters and Dragstalgia has proved to be popular so I built the car to be part of it"
-- Possibly an extreme measure for Eurodragster.com sponsor Jon Webster but it was worth it...

"When it came down my head went from side to side and the next thing I knew I came round in the Medical Centre. Yet I got out of the car myself"
-- ...even after an up-on-one wheel wheelie and thumping landing on the début pass

"I forgot how quick everything is on a run and the feel of the machine which you learn over many runs"
-- Johnny Munn rides the Hobbit Top Fuel Bike after a break of thirty years

"It's just meant to be a bit of fun though"
-- Wayne Allman brings the house down with the Mental Breakdown blown-alcohol pick-up at Dragstalgia

"First the crank sprocket broke which caused the blower belt teeth to shred off and I got covered in confetti, and then at the Yanks Weekend the engine went lean, burnt two pistons, liners and a copper head gasket"
-- Wild Bunch racer Dave 'Lucky' Southworth

"My spare block is in California and my spare crank in Colorado being repaired"
-- Pro Mod racer Andy 'Lucky' Robinson

"Running on a Pro tree, might get past the first round"
"At least you can't redlight on a Pro Tree"
-- Conversation between Super Pro ET racer Tom Atkinson and Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator Co-ordinator Ben Barnwell not long before Tom... er, redlit on a Pro tree

"The crew are telling me the shift light is only advisory!"
-- Roger Moore has gear selection problems in Pro Mod qualifying

"We have reached the stage that we want to weigh up whether to repair what we've got or to go a different route"
-- One way or another Bobby Wallace's Pro Mod could sound different in 2016

"It was my mistake, I pedalled when I didn't need to, the car was on one and I wanted a full pass. I don't even know why I lifted"
-- Eurodragster.com sponsor Urs Erbacher takes the Shag Up Fairy for a ride-along during Top Fuel Dragster qualifying

"The weather here is draining the power out of the engines, even when I ran at Las Vegas it was not this hot"
-- Stig Neergaard tries to tune his Top Fuel Dragster in a Hockenheim heatwave

"The guys were waiting outside UPS whenever a delivery was due"
-- How Leif Andréasson and team achieved the feat of rebuilding his Top Methanol Funny Car in four weeks after a two-car crash

"We put more weight on the front and none on the rear, which were obviously not the best settings to use"
-- Jean Dulamon's Pro Mod nudges the wall

"We use some tricks to keep the car cool between rounds, for instance pouring water on transmission casings. Every few degrees saved makes a difference"
-- Frank of Giles and Hartley Racing reveals a Super Pro ET secret in the same heatwave

"My run was about half a mile in length and the shift light had fallen off and the bike didn't get into sixth gear"
-- Other than that, Pro Stock Bike racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Martin Newbury had a great run

"I will have to put a radio in the car to give me something to do"
-- A new clutch has taken a lot of the drama out of Rolf Ammann's Supercharged Outlaw Coupe

"A friend had a spare engine and it was a long night, we worked until 05:30 and then missed some tools we needed and went to bed until 08:00 then worked again"
-- Fellow Supercharged Outlaw racer Ingo Ekert breaks a motor

"This was good for the team - they were getting bored towing me back!"
-- A full run and round win for Pro Mod racer Roland Bolleter

"The breeze caught the flame and blew it forward. Some got into the bug catcher which drew it in and robbed the engine of oxygen. The whole of this time, the blower bag was fire"
-- An eventful fire burnout for Wild Bunch racer Bob Hawkins

"Not for them the popping in and out of the Media Centre like weather houses when the Pros appear"
-- Eurodragster.com photographers Kirstie and Patrik put in the hours at Tierp Arena

"Your live reports are quick and adequate"
-- Your Race Reporter's favourite ever compliment on Eurodragster.com's Event Coverage

"I threw my meat on someone else's barbecue"
-- Super Pro ET racer Dave Catton causes much mirth in Race Control at Shakespeare County Raceway with his description of cooking arrangements

"Parachutery! Like it"
-- Shakespeare County Raceway Track Announcer Barry Bohannon approves of Your Race Reporter's latest neologism

"Last year the engine had a snapped rod and now this. I'm not sure Santa Pod likes me or the car!"
-- Pro ET and Super Gas racer Alex Mahl makes a second fruitless trip from Austria

"She finds driving a Fuel Funny Car easier"
-- Jayne Kay's crew let slip a secret about her blown-alcohol Super Pro ET altered

"I have got used to driving with both feet"
-- Pro ET racer Geoff Cowley's transbrake has yet to function

"When we start a race car up they come round to give us the thumbs up"
-- Would that everyone had Carla Pittau and Rick McCann's Swedish neighbours

"I wanted at the start to build a car that could race and go on the road, however I now have a pure race car"
-- Three years on the slippery slope for Pro ET racer David Nichol

"We will be having to talk to our sponsors"
-- Jürgen Nagel's Top Methanol Funny Car puts out a rod with enough force to damage the chassis

"Getting shake and lifting early doesn't make maintenance any easier, we had to tear it down to the last nut and bolt in case it had caused damage"
-- A late night for Kevin Kent and the West Ten Fuel Funny Car team

"I thought I was going to do a good job on the Tree but I started with a 0.001 red and it wasn't going to get better from then on"
-- Super Pro ET racer Chris Parker spends a weekend picking cherries

"In the 2014 race I ran 6.55/206 which is the fastest Nitrous Funny Bike pass in Europe but no-one remembers that because I went for a ride with Steve Woollatt"
-- Filippos Papafilippou's fifteen minutes of Top Fuel Bike fame has lasted twelve months and counting

"I feel sorry for Anita who I raced against, she and Tommi are good friends but that is racing"
-- Jari Halinen ends Anita Mäkelä's Top Fuel Dragster Championship charge

"We are winning again, I'm back in the race and the engine is in one piece"
-- Grounds for optimism for Top Fuel Bike racer Rene van den Berg

"It's quite emotional, we were the first in the sevens and now first in the sixes and they can't take that away from you"
-- Steve Venables clocks the first six-second Super Street Bike pass outside the USA

"It was awesome to be part of the celebration for Steve's six and the racers at the far end went nuts"
-- Thomas Granica and the other Super Street Bike racers were first to congratulate Ven

"We have either not enough or too much power and the adjustments we made each time haven't worked"
-- Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard is scratching his head

"The six second run was in there and all we had to do was to find it"
-- Belinda Bull's Comp Eliminator pick-up blasts out of the sevens

"In qualifying we had a half second on the rest of the field which was pleasing"
-- One of the several steps in Jonnie Lindberg's journey to the 2015 NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Funny Car Championship

"We have a base near Brad Anderson's store in Pomona as well, although we are hoping we won't be needing many spare parts"
-- Fred Hanssen returns to Top Alcohol Dragster competition in the USA

"I will wear my usual glasses rather than the varifocals I had on today"
-- Rob Turner also returns to competition in Top Alcohol Funny Car in the USA but maybe needs to go to Specsavers

"The mind says one thing and the reaction is something different"
-- Ulf Leanders regrets pedalling in Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying

"Even my parents Christina and Gordon and partner Vanessa weren't worried when they saw the lack of chutes"
-- Top Alcohol Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Manners gets stopped on the brakes

"There was a missing piece of paper"
-- Manty Bugeja explains Why Joe Carabott's Top Alcohol Dragster missed its first US date

"We will pull it apart in the morning, but I've been here before and I'm pretty sure of the outcome!"
-- Colin Millar suspects engine damage in his Outlaw Anglia in Las Vegas

"We were in a deep hole but it finally seems that we are seeing the light"
-- Jörgen Leanders finds the sweet spot in Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying

"It is more difficult getting a Top Alcohol Funny Car to avoid tyre shake than a blown alcohol dragster where you can salvage the run in many cases"
-- A narrow tuning window for the Turner team

"We want to win the whole thing"
-- Manty Bugeja sets the bar high as the Mr Whippy Top Alcohol Dragster team regroup at Pomona

"It is an honour and a privilege. Your culture is enchanting. I hope to get back here and drive a race car down the track"
-- 1989 NHRA Funny Car Champion Bruce Larson is pleased to be at the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Dinner

"I told Fred Miller I had firesuits older than him"
-- Bob Muravez plays the seniority card

"Garlits' Crew Chief Ron Barrow was firing up the car when he got his hand caught in the blower belt and a finger came off. Ron didn't flinch, put a rag around his hand, picked up his lost finger and put it in his pocket and ran Garlits. And you say you have a headache? Things have changed I think"
-- 'Waterbed' Fred Miller shakes his head at reports that Courtney Force and Alexis Dejoria underperformed due to headaches

"Thanks for asking, I was afraid it wouldn't come up!"
-- Rat Trap Fuel Altered pilot Ron Hope is asked how the car ended upside down in a ditch

"We needed to do this even though no-one else in Norway understood what we were doing"
-- Why Fred Larsen started drag racing

"If you look at the record books Floyd Lippencotte Jr won more races than Bob Muravez!"
-- It's been years but it still rankles with Bob Muravez

"Ray Beadle was leaning on an engine block with one foot. We asked "Where is the car?". There was a bare chassis propped up in one corner. We asked "Where is the engine?" and they said "You're standing on the engine block"!"
-- Waterbed Fred recalls his second trip to Santa Pod Raceway

"Driving a Fuel Altered there are a lot of defining moments!"
-- Hopefully one day Ron Hope will write a book about his experiences with Rat Trap

"Racers will be racers and want to win no matter what. They stretch the rules and cheat to win"
-- We'd imagine that Bruce Larson was excepting present company but we bottled out of asking

"Look at Jungle Jim - he won one event but he was the most popular racer out there"
-- Waterbed Fred bemoans the lack of characters in present-day drag racing

"Who did you not want to see next to you in the pairing lanes?"
"Prudhomme. He was pretty much unbeatable"
"And who did you like to see next to you in the pairing lanes?"
"Bernstein, because we always kicked his ass!"
-- A discreet enquiry of Bruce Larson after the Bench Racing session


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