1994 Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway
Results © TSI Timers, photos © original photographer, programme © Santa Pod Raceway and report © Dave Alexander, Jerry Cookson, Fiona Moor, Lesley Wright
Although the weather for the 1994 Main Event was mainly good, with just an odd shower on Sunday. But the surface of rubber and traction compound which had built up over years without having been scraped away, broke up at “an alarming rate” in the words of reporter Roger Gorringe. “It created a dangerous surface, likened to running on marbles, that eliminations were stopped after only the first round”. So the meeting came to an abrupt end in front of a capacity crowd.
Top Fuel
Qualifying
In test runs on Saturday, Tony Bryntesson had a great 60ft time of 0.971s, but then Liv Berstad and Rico Anthes went up in smoke from the start. In the single qualifying session on Sunday, Liv Berstad continued with an excess of clutch bite causing her to go up in smoke. Rico Anthes had a broken blower belt at the 1000 ft mark and crew chief Dal Denton remarked “We broke everything except a rod”. Tony Bryntesson, with Glen Mikres as crew chief, suffered a broken oil line while Peter Lantz went up in smoke. Peter was running with a new injector scoop he designed which was claimed by crew chief Morgan Svensson to increase air flow by 15% and had NHRA certification. Eliminations Round 1 Peter Lantz 0.567 RT, 7.681/150.27 def. Tony Bryntesson 0.536 RT, 13.268/63.89 The match-up between Peter Lantz and Tony Bryntesson was a pedalfest, ‘raining track debris down the whole racetrack’, as Roger Gorringe described it. The following race between Liv Berstad (after her clutch had been adjusted) and Viveca Averstedt produced some respectable times, but only because they were both careful to run in the tyre tracks of the previous pairing. Viveca smoked some pistons with consequent head damage.
Top Alcohol Qualifying (no times or speeds available)
The 1994 Main Event was the third round of the RAC Torco Oils UK Championship. Frank Bennett got his Topolino in as an alternate when Craig Lowes’ dragster suffered a starting line fire from a loose hose, without serious damage resulting.
Round 1 Rob Turner 0.963 RT, 6.599/214.50 def. Paul Jackson, broke on burnout
Super Gas sponsored by Kingston Medical Gasses 1994 was the tenth anniversary of the introduction of Super Gas to the UK and the Main Event had the largest field for over a year, Lesley Digby (now Lesley Wright) wrote in her report from the event. Dave Clarkson was new to the class in his “Rat Infested” Ford Escort XR3i powered by a 427 c.i. Big Block Chevy. Also George Chiarella, known over the last couple of decades for his ’37 Ford Coupe, had moved up to the class from Modified ET (10.00-11.50 bracket), his Opel Manta using the ‘Straight to the Point” moniker.
There were two qualifying sessions on the Saturday and Sunday of the three day event. In session two Mark Flavell’s Performance Unlimited Monza blew its own door off , becoming detached at the hinge with the lock still intact. Help from Luke Ramage, Peter Lane and his own crew enabled Mark to be ready for his first round match-up with Al O’Connor, which Al won.
Qualifying Round 1
Trevor Graves 0.522 RT, 9.976/134.14 def. Simon Oxberry 0.508 RT, 10.563/127.06 Round one happened early on Bank Holiday Monday morning, but it was a long time before the class got called to the second round after Top Fuel and Top Alcohol had run their first (and only) round. During the lunch break, Ray White had run a perfect 9.90 in a demo race against a Porsche Carrera for TV.
Lesley described the crews “standing at the startline in amazement at what was unfolding before them” at the commencement of round two. “Commentators often say “…tearing up the track” and that’s precisely what happened. Despite much hard work by the clean-up crew, the RAC/MSA steward declared that the surface would not support further racing and the event was abandoned. Tim Adam and Alex Nicol were still waiting in line after all this time and along with many other racers agreed to try to put on some kind of burnout and launch show for the crowd who had patiently waited. The result of Alex’s VP Racing Fuels Camaro crossing the centreline was enough to put a halt to any further crowd pleasing show and the track was closed”.
IHRA/UK National Championship
Super Pro ET
The three qualifiers were Steve Johnson (7.655), Martyn Jones and Mick Kemp.
First round winners: Jerry Clayton (8.804 no.1 qualifier, Sierra), Steve Warner (8.894 no. 2 qualifier, dragster), Ian Giles (9.097 no.3 qualifier, dragster), Rob Emmett (T altered), Ivan Birch (’34 Plymouth coupe) and Chris Worsell (dragster).
Second round winners: Steve Brown (10.005 no.1 qualifier, Pinto), Ray Barrow (10.025 no.3 qualifier, Vega), Trevor Capewell (Topolino), Fay Fischer (T altered), Tony Guy (’32 Model B).
First round winners: Stuart Crees (11.67 no.1 qualifier, Monza), Lorraine Payne (11.694 no.2 qualifier, Challenger), Graham Jones (11.982 no.3 qualifier, Mustang), Richard Sawatzki, Jon Evans, Dave Day, Dave Worron.
Second round winners: Mark Watkins (Mazda RX7), Glen Rees (Camaro), Carla Pittau (Camaro)
Funny Car and Exhibition
The 1994 Main Event was notable for the reappearance of Sammy Miller and his Vanishing Point Rocket Mustang Funny Car. He had been at the Easter Thunderball but atrocious weather conditions including snow, hail and high winds had prevented him running. Previous to that, his last appearance had been eight years previously in 1986. Sammy being back at Santa Pod in 1994 was driven by two main factors. 1994 was the tenth anniversary of his famous 3.58 second pass, the quickest run in history. Also Sammy had obtained a new supply of hydrogen peroxide fuel after it had become almost unobtainable in the US or UK. Whilst the track problems precluded a full run, Sammy as usual was happy to meet the fans and have his photo taken.
Top Fuel Bike Qualifying Competition Bike
Qualifying Round 1
Dave Branch 0.616 RT, 19.881/131.65 def. Chris Hall 0.551 RT, broke Pro Stock Bike
Qualifying Round 1 Len Paget 0.574 RT, 8.128/159.08 bye Super Street Bike
No.1 qualifier was Dave Turner, his brother Roger was no.2 qualifier. Mark Watkins ran a 8.9s pass on his Terminator II based on a Brian Emery chassis with bodywork by Dave Turner. Colin Hall had brought a new road-legal Suzuki GSXR 1260cc bike and qualified mid-field with a 9.12.
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