Friends old and new at BDRHoF Gala. 31st October: The British
Drag Racing Hall of Fame is pleased to announce further sponsors and guests for their Gala Awards Dinner
being held at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel, London Heathrow on 19th November, and it's a mix of new and old friends.
One of our new friends is DialAFlight. This unique
travel company is in its thirty fifth year of trading. Coupled with their major travel partners in all airlines,
car hires and hotels, DialAFlight can tailor-make itineraries suiting individual needs to virtually any destination
in the world; from a first-class round-the-world ticket to a European city break. On a daily basis they juggle,
shuffle and switch around flights, hotels and transfers – anything that can help their customers get to their
destination when things go wrong. One of their customers, Diana Heimann, commented on the independent review
site TrustPilot "Friends, who think they can make their own travel arrangements via the internet, moan about
everything that doesn't go according to plan. I just tell them about DialAFlight. They soon become 'hooked'
with the attention to detail, getting you the best deal and all with a very personal touch". Many of the overseas
guests attending the 2016 BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner have used DialAFlight, as do US Automotive, ICE Automotive,
Beech Underwriting and other drag racing fans visiting the USA. DialAFlight are protected by both ATOL and ABTA so
all monies are safe from the moment of booking. The company has three hundred travel managers, many of whom have
travelled the world and so have a real passion for their job.
The International Organisation of Professional Drivers is
sponsoring us for the second year – increasing its support. The IOPD was formed in 1990 to regulate and support
the driving-experience sector of recreational motorsport in the UK. It was brought about by the MSA / RAC's refusal
to recognise and permit Run What You Brung events and track driving activities, thereby denying participants and
organisers a route to legitimisation and parity with mainstream motor sports. As well as drag and sprint events,
the IOPD now takes on authorising permits for a range of disciplines of recreational auto activity across one-, two-
three-, four- six- and eight-wheeled activities including tracked and jet thrust vehicles – in fact any discipline
from Mini Moto to F1. Through its statutory powers, the IOPD also authorises and permits many of the world's
international motor manufacturers' driving-experience programs and track days. Steve Murty of the IOPD said "We
are more than happy to support the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame as a totally non-political, impartial organisation
dedicated to recognising and celebrating the special people that have given so much to create our sport today.
The annual Gala Awards Dinner is a fabulous event and I am looking forward to another fantastic evening. Next year
we celebrate forty years of drag racing at York Raceway so maybe we will start the party early."
The BDRHoF has been working with a division of The Big Film Group for some time regarding the BDRHoF logo appearing
on popular TV programmes. That division is Prop Portfolio
Limited and they have achieved considerable success on our behalf with multiple appearances on Hollyoaks
and more to come. Thus far, the logo appearances have reached a media value of just over £5K, secured 45 seconds
of airtime for the brand and reached an audience of 2.5 million people. Latest storylines have featured the sticker
as an integral part of the show with it being in the pathway of a bullet used for attempted murder – one of the biggest
storylines this year. Keep your eyes peeled for more placements on popular TV soaps.
The list of legendary names attending the Gala just keeps growing. From the UK the guests include John Hobbs,
Ian Messenger, Dave Clee, Steve Murty, Dave Lee Travis, Gary Page, Peter Crane, Nick Davies, Barry Sheavills,
Andy Carter, Liz Rowland (aka Liz Burn), Dennis Priddle, John Hazelton, John Wright, Gerry Cookson, John Whitmore,
Bill Sherratt, Charlie Draper, Geof Hauser and Robin Read. The latest news from the USA is that more American guests
have booked for the Gala as the event gains a global status as a drag racing social occasion.
Tom Hoover began his drag racing career in the summer of 1962 and took the Top Fuel Dragster title at the
1965 AHRA Winternationals. He switched to Funny Cars in 1968 and it this class in which he really found fame.
Tom's cars were known for their fabulous looks as well as performance. He won five NHRA National Events and was
1976 AHRA Funny Car Champion. But in the UK we know him because we adopted him as a Brit when he raced extensively
at Santa Pod during the 1980s. Many of his cars had a second life in this country with different drivers. He always
has time for the fans which is why he is considered one of the most popular Funny Car racers of all time.
Cleveland based Gentleman Joe Schubeck is the drag racer who started Lakewood Products back in the
1960s – Lakewood being a suburb of Cleveland. He had to retire from racing for a while as the business grew but
George Hurst eventually persuaded him back in a car by promising that Linda Vaughn would be on his pit crew.
Joe is a former SEMA Board Member, a pioneer on the SEMA Safety Committee, and has been inducted into the SEMA
Hall of Fame for his dedication to creating products that make racing a safer sport. Lakewood Industries is now
a trademark of the huge Prestolite Performance business but Joe is still inventing parts for dragsters under
the name Schubeck High Performance Solutions, particularly for the Nostalgia scene. He also runs a classic blown
and injected 392 Chrysler Hemi nitro-burning slingshot which delights the fans at Nostalgia events.
GiGi Carleton was Robert E. Petersen's personal administrative assistant at Petersen Publishing Company
for over forty years. Before its sale in 1996, Petersen Publishing had thirty six monthly magazines in its stable
including Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Rod & Custom, Sports Car Graphic and Circle Track. Robert's wife Margie Petersen
and GiGi also formed Petersen Interiors & Designs and did all the design and purchasing for the company's sales
offices throughout the USA along with company-owned suites at many sporting venues in the U.S. GiGi continues
to work for the estate of Mr & Mrs Petersen and is President of the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation whose
mission is to fund cancer medical research, children's charities and support the world famous Petersen Automotive
Museum in Los Angeles. Mr & Mrs Petersen were the founding benefactors.
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame CEO Brian Taylor said "It is fabulous that so many drag racing legends want to
join us to celebrate our UK drag racing pioneers. The Gala has really developed into an event of global significance
and we are very proud of it. Much of our recent success is down to Geoff Stilwell of Beech Underwriting Agencies who
has renewed his support, and we are already working on some amazing ideas for 2017.
"Winning sponsorship is a tough game these days and it is vital that we attract corporate backers. That's why it
is great to announce new sponsors such as DialA Flight and Mintex as well as the continued support from others
such as the IOPD, Lucas Oil Products UK, US Automotive, Atlantic Fluid Tech and Rat Trap Racing. Some sponsorship
comes in the form of support-in-kind such as Aptitude and Prop Portfolio. This can sometimes be worth many thousands
of pounds. We thank these and our other sponsors for their involvement: Santa Pod Racers Club, Pennine Drag Racing Club,
Eurodragster.com, Avon Park International Racing Association, Shakespeare County Raceway, Santa Pod Raceway, York Raceway, and
the National Street Rod Association. We think that we have developed a product of significant value to the corporate
sector and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss what we can offer in this regard."
Congratulations also to Adam Flamholc who took Outlaw Pro Mod from #2 qualifying spot at the Outlaw Drag Racing Championships in
Bradenton, Florida. You can read more on the Flamholc / MMR
Racing Facebook page and on the Bradenton Motorsports web site at
www.bradentonmotorsports.com.
A bonus gallery. 30th October: Today's (Sunday's) Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway took place in mild conditions and
as well as the usual large number of RWYBers was attended by a handful of racers who stayed over from yesterday's Flame and
Thunder Show. One welcome sight was George Chiarella's popular Straight to the Point '37 Ford returning to the track and
now equipped with a turbo motor.
With unexpected time on his hands having finished yesterday's gallery and packed away all of the webcam kit Your News Editor made
a rare visit trackside to photograph this afternoon's session and you can check out the gallery, which is presented in association with
John Woolfe Racing, by
clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
We plan to post a gallery at the end of the day, and the Webster
Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcam will be on-line
broadcasting live video and commentary / Nitro FM audio so long as the track is open.
You can check out our Flame and Thunder Show Event Index, which also includes links to the provisional running order and Nitro FM audio-only
link, by clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Swift snippets. 29th October: We would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to our good friend and MSA British Drag Racing Championship
PR Robin Jackson. Have a great day Robin.
Remembering Larry Brancaccio. 28th October: Job Heezen has been in touch with a tribute to US Top Fuel Harley
racer Larry "Drums" Brancaccio, who died earlier this week:
It was with pain in my heart that I read of Larry's passing. Larry was one of the most colourful drag bike riders of our time,
one of those one-of-a-kind guys at the drag strip, and he was very special. Instead of racing a Top Fuel Harley he could
easily have played a role in The Sopranos with that deep Anglo-Italian accent which comes with guys from New
Jersey.
Thinking of Larry I always remember an occasion at a race in Bithlo, Florida at the annual Daytona Bike Week.
Larry was often used as a hired gun to test bike owners' and constructors' new material. At that particular race
he had to test two new bikes and ride one regular bike, his own. They took all three bikes to the line-up and
the only thing he tried before the run was whether he could reach the handle bars, the foot-pegs, where he should
shift and where the fuel shut-off was. That was all.
We were lined up one pair after Larry when Don Johnson fired up his new creation and Larry got on the bike,
did his burnout when all of a sudden the engine exploded big time. He fell off the bike and was dizzy for quite a
while but recovered after a few minutes, walking unhurt to his motorhome.
After that we made our qualifying run and went back to the pits. I walked to Larry's motorhome to see if he needed
some coffee after his incident - he felt we made the best coffee in Florida - but there wasn't anybody in his motorhome.
When I walked back to my place I thought I heard something behind his motorhome, something which reminded me of the
times that I served as an altar server in the Catholic church. I walked cautiously around the corner and saw Larry with the
Priest of the Course sitting on their knees with their heads against the motorhome praying and thanking God that he saved
his life once more.
After this he went back on the remaining two bikes and finished the race. That was one of those things which you never forget.
Thanks Larry for being around, you will never be forgotten.
An invitation to the beach. 28th October: Multiple FIM European Top Fuel Bike Champion
Ian King
says that the 18th Annual King Racing Beach Party in Florida will once again cap off the racing season:
This year's festivities will kick-off 8:00 pm on Monday 14th November at
Shephard's Beach Resort on beautiful Clearwater Beach.
An evening of indulgence with a side of all-you-can-take bench racing is in store for those brave enough to partake.
As a bonus this year, at 11:00 on Tuesday morning (weather permitting) Jay will have a pair of watercraft on the Shephard's
beach for the survivors of the previous night to enjoy.
The gala event is open to one and all from across the globe, as long as you leave your Brexit and Trump v Clinton rhetoric outside,
and we hope to see you there!
Switzerland's Sascha Pretzsch entered his freshly-updated Jerry Bickel Cavalier in Top Sportsman, a class which had nearly 100 entries divided into two groups. Sascha did not
make the cut but had engine builder Sonny Leonard help change a valve spring and overall he had a fantastic weekend.
In Pro Boost, seasoned racer Adam Flamholc qualified but lost in round one. Adam also took delivery of the Corvette which he recently purchased with the intent of racing FIA
in Europe in 2017.
Interestingly there were two Swedish entries in the fastest class, Pro Extreme. Michael Lindahl and his blown screw Corvette did very well and qualified #5 with a 3.565
eighth-mile at 214 mph which meant that he faced #9 qualifier and fellow Swese Stefan Holmberg. This all-Swedish first round pair almost didn't happen as Michael was
very late getting the motor started, but thanks to Stefan who waited patiently, the two drivers got to race and Michael took the win with a 3.661/210.70. He then lost in round
two against no less than Pro Extreme 2016 Champion Brandon Snider.
Most if not all these teams plan on racing in the USA again in 2017.
A Champion's tale. 24th October: Becky Parker has been in touch with the story behind 2016 UK National Super Pro ET Champion
Chris Parker's title:
Since going to his first drag race at York Raceway in 1978 with his dad, drag racing has been a big part of Chris' life. Over the
last twenty years his involvement has grown to include crewing with a number of race teams and working in marketing with both racers
and venues throughout the world. My first experience of drag racing came somewhat later than Chris', at Santa Pod in 2001. I had never
been particularly interested in motorsport but had always liked American cars (well, trucks to be more precise) and I was keen to see
what Chris was so passionate about. The experience didn't disappoint and I was struck not only by the diverse nature of the sport but
also the sense of community. After a few years spectating, I found myself "on holiday" in Bahrain with Barry Sheavills and Rune Fjeld
Motorsport and ended up getting a little more involved than I expected; after that spectating was never really enough.
In 2012, I suggested that Chris try his hand at being the meat in the seat and take the opportunity to attend Frank Hawley's Drag Racing
School at Royal Purple Raceway, Houston. Frank generously invited me to sit in on the classroom sessions and the course was to be a
defining moment for both of us, proving not only that you can be taught how to drag race but you can also learn a lot about yourself at
the same time.
During 2014, Tethys suggested that Chris approach Nick Good to discuss the possibility of getting some track time in the UK and he made
his first passes in the NG Motorsport Windscreen Wizards / Lucas Oil dragster at the Test Day of the 2014 European Finals. Happy with how
the Test Day had gone, Nick offered Chris the opportunity to race at the next meeting and Dave Catton also agreed to come on board as
Chris' mentor. Chris' first race meeting was the 2014 UK National Finals 2014 where he made his first ever side-by-side pass on a drag
strip alongside Tom van der Wijden in his five-second Funny Car. We also started to discuss with Dave Catton the possibility of Chris
sharing the drive in the 2015 Championship season. However, during the off-season Nick contacted Chris to say that Dave had decided to
hang up his race boots for a while and asked Chris whether he would be interested in doing the whole season.
Chris' rookie season in 2015 was a huge learning experience, not just for Chris but also for me and our crew. Dave Catton mentored us
throughout and we set achievable targets for each event, which we met or surpassed. We continued to develop our dial-in predictor which
had been successful for our good friend Matt Moxon and which helped us achieve #1 qualifier off the trailer for the first time at the 2015
UK National Finals. We ended a successful first season in seventh in the SPRC Championship and twelfth in the UK National Championship.
Nick was happy with the way we were progressing as a team and invited us back for another year with NG Motorsport in 2016.
Our goals for 2016 were simple: to go rounds at every event, to qualify consistently in the top half of the field and to still be in
mathematical contention for the National Championship when we arrived at the UK National Finals. After analysing our 2015 data and updating
the algorithms in our dial-in predictor during the off-season, we were very positive about our 2016 season and what a season it turned out to be!
We won the Super Pro ET #1 Qualifier Off The Trailer Award for the second consecutive event at the season-opening Festival of Power, dropping to
third after three rounds in what were tricky conditions. Chris took the win in the first round of eliminations but, sadly, rain stopped play early.
Having never raced at Shakespeare County Raceway before, we had no data for the track and Chris originally intended to put in a half pass on his
first qualifying run at the APIRA Springspeed Nationals. However, Dave encouraged him to have the confidence to drive it out the back door and
with the help of our dial-in predictor, we took the #1 Qualifier Off The Trailer Award for the third consecutive event and remained #1 qualifier
going into racing. In eliminations we got as far as the semi-finals but, for the second event in a row, rain stopped play early.
Returning to Santa Pod Raceway for the FIA / FIM Main Event, we achieved #1 qualifier off the trailer for the fourth event in a row. As Dave noted
on the Nitro FM morning show with Oz Wright, if Chris won any more of these medals he would start looking like a South American dictator. We dropped
to a respectable sixth place after nine rounds of qualifying but Chris lost to Colin Millar in the first round of eliminations.
We had experienced intermittent tyre-shake problems early in the season at Santa Pod and that, twinned with forecasts of bad weather, meant
that in order to achieve our goals, it was important to dial more conservatively on our first qualifying run at the SPRC Summernationals to be
sure of qualifying in the top half of the field. The last thing we wanted at this point in the season was to break out and be sat at the bottom
of the pile if the rains came. We still managed to take #3 spot in the first round of qualifying and dropped to sixth again after round two. We
met Mo Blackburn, who was driving the S&K dragster, in the first round of eliminations. On leaving the line, Chris knew his light was good but
he had a hard time reeling in Mo who had gone 0.007 on the tree. At the top end, Chris managed to just ease past Mo and lifted in the speed trap,
taking the stripe by a mere nineteen inches. The closest race for us this season. In round two, Chris met multi-time Champion Scott Hauser and
knew he that had to cut a good light. Unfortunately, a -0.006 red put us on the trailer.
Back at Shakespeare County Raceway for the APIRA Open Sport Nationals, we adopted the same strategy of dialling slightly more conservatively,
to ensure a top half qualifying position, especially given the bad weather forecast. Again we placed third off the trailer and dropped to sixth
going into race day. Sadly, both Bill Murfin and John Atkinson broke giving us two byes before Chris met Bob Doyle in the semi-finals where he
left early, handing Bob the win. Despite this, we were thrilled to have secured runner-up in the 2016 APIRA Championship, with our NG Motorsport
team-mate Brad Jackson taking both the event and Championship wins.
Returning to Santa Pod for the FIA / FIM European Finals we anticipated the same tyre shake issue which we had encountered previously and allowed
for this in the dial-in. The car hooked up really well, resulting in a breakout in the first round of qualifying. The tyre shake problems had not
completely disappeared however and returned in the fourth round of qualifying; as Tog noted at the time, Chris did indeed take "A step away from
the straight and narrow at half track" and smashed a tooth in the process! By the end of qualifying we only placed eighteenth with a 7.729 on a
7.71 dial-in but it was interesting to see that the top ten drivers were all on or within 0.007 of their dial-in. At the Super Pro ET Awards, Chris
was noted as being fourth in the class award for Closest Average ET To Dial-in so we clearly had a great race car going into eliminations. Despite
the poor qualifying position, we progressed to round three of eliminations where a red light against Peter Walters ended our event.
We were now sitting fifth in the UK National Championship and the final event of the season, the UK National Finals awaited. After two rounds of
qualifying, Scott Hauser was leading the field 0.005 above his dial-in. Looking at the seventeen-car ladder, it became obvious that this would
give Scott two competition byes should everything go to plan during eliminations, and with Scott ahead of us in the National Championship it was
important for us to try to take the #1 qualifying position. Taking into account how much we were losing each time the car suffered from tyre shake,
Chris and I decided to give ourselves the best chance of slotting into that 0.005 as we could by dialling as if the car was going to shake but allowing
Chris if needed to drive the top end as if it were an elimination round, making a call on when to lift depending on how good the run felt. The strategy
worked. The car didn't shake so Chris lifted early and killed four miles per hour and just short of 0.02 from the ET and we took #1 qualifier in the third
and final round of qualifying, with a 7.731 on a 7.73 dial-in.
After a competition bye in the first round of eliminations, Chris took out Paul Marston in round two with a holeshot win, lifting at the top end to take
the stripe by just two and a half feet. Chris then beat Laura Turburville in round three and a second competition bye in the semi-final secured our place
in the final. The UK National Championship was now to be decided in the final round of the final event of the 2016 season, between Chris and Ian Powell
who had been locked together in the Championship points all year. As a team, we had come into the event without any expectations of winning the Championship
and I knew it was essential that we retained that same, calm focus that we had applied to great effect throughout the event, taking it one round at a time.
Chris was clear that he was not going to push the Tree; he had made that mistake more times than he would have liked this season already. Ultimately, we won
the final and the 2016 UK National Super Pro ET Championship. We also added a third place in the SPRC Championship to our runner-up in the APIRA Championship.
We would both like to thank Nick and Cristiann at NG Motorsport, our crew this year, Matthew Moxon, Bill Mears, Dave Rudd, Chris Maddox and Jim Broome and
our team-mates Brad Jackson, Wayne Jackson, Alison Jackson and Natalie Cooper. Thank you also to Les Downey and everyone at Lucas Oil for their support for
the whole NG Motorsport team and to Frank Hawley for setting us both down the right path. Thanks also to Tethys for his wise introductions, everyone in
Super Pro ET for making it such a great experience and to our wider team competing in Sportsman ET, VW Sportsman and ET Bike for your support. Thank you
to all the staff, officials and marshals at both Santa Pod and Shakespeare County Raceways, to the guys and girls at Eurodragster.com (Thanks, you're
welcome - Ed) and to everyone who has supported us around the world. Finally, we would like to thank our drag racing mentor Dave Catton who has put
in countless hours of work with both Chris and I to get us to where we are today. The last three race meetings of the season without him have been really
hard but none more so than our first event win and our Championship at the National Finals. We did it your way Dave... it works!
Swift snippets. 24th October: James Humphreys asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to his mum Angela Haydon White. Our pleasure
James, have a great day Angela.
Fun Fun Fun at the BDRHoF Gala. 22nd October: There have been many influences and events which have raised the awareness of drag racing and hot
rodding as sports and pastimes. Automotive shows and films like American Graffiti and Grease, feature articles, displays,
TV coverage and festivals - all have played their part, particularly on a national basis. The popular music culture has always been a
primary source of what is considered cool or not – by young people especially - but as far as drag racing and hot rodding is concerned
only one band can be described as the masters of the music which promotes our sport internationally.
The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in association with the
National Street Rod Association is proud to announce that The Beach Boys will
be recipients of a special Global Impact Award being presented at the BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner being held at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel,
London Heathrow on November 19th. One of the original Beach Boys, David Lee Marks, will be there to accept the award on behalf of the band
who have been behind the music which inspired more than a generation of hot rodders and drag racing enthusiasts, and who via their concerts
have continued to raise awareness of these unique sports throughout the world for over fifty years.
Often called "America's Band", The Beach Boys are the number one-selling US band of all time. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame Class of 1988. Specifically the award is being made for the 1963 Album Little Deuce Coupe although they have featured
drag racing and hot rodding songs on many of their albums that have sold in excess of one hundred million copies. Little Deuce Coupe
includes numbers such as Car Crazy Cutie, 409, Cherry, Cherry Coupe, Our Car Club and Shutdown.
David Lee Marks was Dennis Wilson's best friend, and lived across the street from the Wilson Brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl. He jammed
with them, and was part of the band for the first four studio albums Surfin Safari, Surfin USA, Surfer Girl and Little
Deuce Coupe. He left the band for a while and formed his own group The Marksmen, and also played with artists such as Delaney and Bonnie.
He re-joined The Beach Boys in 1997 and was part of the band for their 50th
Anniversary World Tour in 2012. At that time Mike Love said "David rocks. A phenomenal guitarist. When he does those leads on Surfin, Surfin
Surfari and Fun, Fun, Fun it's so authentic. He's a fantastic musician". David has since worked on The Beach Boys' 50th Anniversary Album That's
Why God Made the Radio and Brian Wilson's album No Pier Pressure. This link takes you to a YouTube link about the tour and the 50th
Anniversary album.
David said "I will be delighted to join those celebrating British drag racing pioneers and The Beach Boys contribution to the British motoring world.
It will be an honour to accept the award on behalf of the band which is still on tour. I'm really looking forward to meeting fans of the sport and
of The Beach Boys."
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Honorary Chairman Stu Bradbury said "It is an extraordinary opportunity to have a member of The Beach Boys with us
at our Gala Evening and I thank Jason Hollamby of the National Street Rod Association for sponsoring this award and BDRHoF Management Board Director
Guy Loveridge for organising this along with our Sponsorship Partner Beech Underwriting Agencies. This was the music of my youth and it is great that
they still include those 1960s songs in their itinerary today. I can't tell you how much of a thrill it is to host this award presentation."
National Street Rod Association Chairman Jason Hollamby said, "I'm so pleased we could take part in this fabulous occasion again and celebrate the
music that has been a part of drag racing and hot rodding for so many years. The Beach Boys have, and always will be, the band that plays our music
and it is fitting that we share this award with the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame."
Joining the presentation team will be well known radio and TV presenter as well as popular music historian Mike Read. Famous for his time on Radio 1
and Top of the Pops, a little-known fact is that Mike's first voice over radio commercial in 1976 was promoting Santa Pod Raceway, so he has a long
history with the sport. He recently launched his new TV series Tin Pan Alley, the first ever TV competition for songwriters which can be found
on Showbiz TV (Sky 266). The show is broadcast on Sundays at 18:30 hours with a repeat on Fridays at 20:00.
Ticket prices for the 2016 BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner remain as last year at £60 per person. Corporate tables of ten are available at £580.
More details are available by clicking
here. For advance booking of tickets contact stuart@britishdragracinghof.co.uk
or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102.
This highly-popular end-of-season event at the Warwickshire drag strip has long attracted interest far and wide and this year
is no exception. It's the final round for the Outlaw Street series of events and organiser Mark Wallington has promised a
king-sized turnout. At the last round held at Shakey there were a number of Personal Bests set including a 10.883 from Rob
Leyman's LS1 twin-turbocharged C10 pick-up as well as Chris Richard's Cobra Mustang.
It's also the final outing in a very busy season for the National Sprint Association with their eclectic mix of classics and
modern sprint bikes. The last round held at Weston Zoyland in Somerset hosted a good turnout of machines and so far there's
an entry of over thirty riders for this weekend including Ray Law, Robbie Dobbie and Louis Davies.
Saturday evening will have the usual mix of fire burnouts, jet machines, bonfire, fireworks, and of course the Halloween Ball
hosted this year by Ms Claptrap... whoever she is!
On Sunday we will hold two Bracket Gamblers Races: the popular end-of-season event for the cars and added by popular demand an
ET Bike Bracket open to all machines. All this and more including from the UK Drag Karts and the Honda Drag Series.
Admission is £12 each day or £22 for the weekend. RWYB Track Fee is £25 a day or £40 for a weekend of
unlimited RWYB fun from 10:00 am each day. Don't forget your driver's licence and helmet to compete in RWYB.
What better way than to spend this weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway. See you there!
Flames and thunder by Daimler. 21st October: The UK's Robin Read has been in touch to announce that he will be making exhibition passes in
his six-second blown-nitro Daimler-powered dragster at next Saturday's (29th) Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Robin says that
the dragster has had some love, attention and treats since its epic races against Julian Webb in the Split Second Jet Dragster
at York Raceway's Hot Rod Reunion in August:
We have fitted a brand new Littlefield race 4-71 supercharger, which is the first new supercharger since my dad Jim assisted me financially with a blower in the late 1980s.
I have to thank my Crew Chief Mark for his financial assistance with the carriage and duty on the new blower. This blower will deliver more air more quickly at the hit of the
which in turn should make the car react better off the start line. We have also made changes to the rear end gearing to give the car more top end. As the race gears are not
available in the ratio required, I purchased some street gears and Bertie Hopkinson did the research and the legwork needed to have them heat-treated again to lessen the
hardness. Hardness is good for anti-wear characteristics, but in turn it makes the gears brittle and that is why they break. The new gears have survived nine passes so far so
should be nicely run-in.
We have also made some changes to the lubrication system, part of which was a new billet aluminium System One Pro Series oil filter supplied by Nimbus Motorsport. I'd
like to thank Steve Clark for his technical and financial assistance. The new filter allows an increase in oil pressure; we were concerned that our old cast alloy Oberg filter
would not withstand the increase in pressure without leaking. We have also redesigned the internal layout of the oil sump and the oil pump pick-up to try to prevent the
loss in oil pressure at the top end of the track when the parachute deploys. There have also been changes to the ignition system. Extra support brackets have been added
to the Pro Mag 44 mounting as we had suffered problems with the magneto coming loose during the run which caused the timing to vary from our optimum setting.
We think that everything is now as good as it can be and we are hoping for some quick times and speeds at the Flame and Thunder Show, but everything needs to be good.
Let's hope that the weather is kind to us all.
Thanks to my crew for their input and assistance with the massive amount of work needed to keep developing and running the dragster, which I greatly appreciate.
Thanks also to Santa Pod Raceway and James Forster for organising my appearance at the event.
Advance ticket bookings for the Flame and Thunder Show close at the end of office hours today (Friday); for more details or to order your tickets check out
www.santapod.com or call 01234 782828.
Storming into the fives. 19th October: After a long break the UK's Roger Goring has return to the track with the new
Ford Mustang-bodied Firestorm Jet Funny Car. Testing has already been successful as Roger recently broke into the
fives at Shakespeare County Raceway. He got in touch to tell us how he got there, and how you can get involved next
season:
So far it has been shakedown and test passes only but nonetheless it has all been very productive and really rewarding.
It has been a long and somewhat challenging project following the decision to build a new car, with blood, sweat and tears
along the way but once we got back to the track we all realised it has been worth it.
The first test was at our home track York Raceway, where the runs were necessarily slow to get a feel for the new car and
for the crew and I to knock the rust spots off. I had insisted that the new car should have exactly the same wheelbase and
steering geometry as the old car - the reason being the old car drove so well. We were pleased to find out that after some
slight adjustments at the track the new Firestorm was well on the way to driving exactly as I wanted. A minor
annoyance at the first test was that we couldn't find the fire show but that was never going to be a problem.
We followed this initial test with a trip to Shakespeare County Raceway three weeks later for some eighth-mile passes.
All went very well and in the eighth it was already faster than the old car, bearing in mind also that it was on very modest
settings. It had come to light that as the new Firestorm was lighter one of our parachutes was no longer suitable;
it was too fierce as it deployed. We got round it by using one our other chutes which was much more gentle (if a little old),
but we really needed to do something about that first chute so we spoke to Simpson about our requirements and a new
chute was ordered. We had a brilliant weekend's testing, times and speeds were all consistent and the bonus was that I
found the missing fire show (I misplaced it – it's a boy thing)!
We followed this with a visit to Santa Pod Raceway for a Run What You Brung meeting, where we made two runs on
Sunday as strong, gusting winds plagued the whole weekend. Both runs were really smooth, times and speeds again
pretty consistent with the previous runs and although disappointed at only making two runs we were pleased that
everything had gone so well.
We headed north again where we had a successful weekend's testing back in front of our home crowd at York Raceway
over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The newly-found Firestorm fireshow went down a treat. Next stop was
back to Shakey, again armed with the new Simpson parachute. We also had the benefit of a camera fitted at the rear of
the car to check the chute operation, which I'm pleased to say was perfect, and as a bonus the camera also gave us some
great footage which has since been posted on Firestorm's Facebook group. Over the weekend we made some
slight adjustments to the fuel system and I was comfortable leaving it on a little longer, shutting off just before 1000 feet.
All of the weekend's times and speeds had been to plan but the icing on the cake was the first run on Sunday when after
a strong launch it was obvious to me that the car was really trucking, and we were rewarded with a time slip of 5.92/245
at the quarter mile with the car shut off at about 1000 feet. Our first ever five-second run, that is the ultimate reward
for all the hard work!
Our next stop is Santa Pod for this weekend's RWYB.
We have now been to York Raceway, Shakespeare County Raceway and Santa Pod and each time the welcome we received
from both the track crew and race fans was absolutely fantastic. We have been blown away by people buying our old but
now nostalgic Pontiac Firestorm merchandise and posters, thank you! All of the proceeds have gone towards the continued
cost of testing and development.
We are all really looking forward to the 2017 season. It will be an exciting time for the Firestorm team and with that
in mind we are looking for a crew member to join us, check out the advert on the Eurodragster.com
Swap Meet or on the Firestorm Facebook group.
We have kept a diary, including photographs of the build of the new Firestorm Jet Funny Car, on our web site
at www.firestorm-jfc.co.uk. It makes interesting reading
and shows some of the hard work involved in the project, particularly the new air intakes and the alterations to the new
carbon fibre Mustang bodyshell. The report also mentions all the people who have been involved and who have gone above
and beyond the call of duty, without whom we would have undoubtedly been really stuck. Looking forward to seeing you all
at the track!
More horses for the Dark Horse. 19th October: It was a good year for the UK's Brian and Lee Huxley as not only did they
win the UK National Pro ET Championship but they made their first foray into Super Pro ET, which led to their first
foray into the world of nitrous, which led to their foray into the eights. Lee writes:
We were due to enter Super Pro ET at the FIA Main Event but we had suffered engine damage at the Springspeed Nationals.
We got a full set of new pistons, valves and a head repaired by Trevor Hirst and our goal was to give the car a whiff
of nitrous to help run into the eights and be competitive. So I set about trying to rent or borrow a nitrous kit.
Who came up trumps but none other than the Wizard of NOS himself, Trevor Langfield. Trevor sent us everything we needed:
a spider kit, bottle, progressive programmer and all the fittings. We fitted the kit and to keep it simple put a button
on the steering wheel.
Our first run with no gas was a new PB of 9.32/142. Our first nitrous run with 100 hp jets was 9.11.
We were off! Time ran out and in our first race against Joe Kellett we could only manage another 9.11 and Joe drove
round us.
The story continues at the Mopar EuroNationals. After winning the Fast Bracket our attentions turned back to the nitrous.
With 125 hp jets and a few minor alterations to fuel pressure and programmer settings we ran a new PB of 9.07/146.
This set us up for Super Pro ET at the European Finals. With 150 hp jets we ran 9.100 and 9.103 into a strong headwind!
On Friday we upped to 175 hp and ran 9.08 and 9.02. Saturday was rained off but on Sunday, race day, the wind dropped.
In the first round we dialled-in an optimistic 8.92 against Nick Good in his dragster. Nick redlit allowing me to keep
my foot in running a 8.927! Whoohoo, our first eight-second pass! A bye run in the second round took us to round three
against Ian Powell in his dragster. An 8.92 dial in again but Ian cut a 0.005 reaction time and ran two hundredths off
his dial-in. We ran 8.95 with a 0.02 reaction to lose. But well done Ian!
This was the end of a great experience with nitrous, bearing in mind that dad Brian Huxley was running 9.5s and with
gas I ran 8.9s. Wow! Many thanks to Brian, Tim Hines, Trevor Hirst and most of all Trevor Langfield who is the Wizard
of NOS, there when he was needed and very helpful. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who has never run nitrous
before!
Swift snippets. 19th October: Ian Hart has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to his son,
UK Junior Dragster racer Ruaridh Hart. Our pleasure, have a great day Ruaridh.
Havoc gets Trapped. 19th October: Ron Hope, owner/driver of the historic and popular Rat Trap AA/Fuel Altered, has
announced that Rat Trap Racing will sponsor the 2017 US Tour of the British AA/Fuel Altered Havoc, driven by Nick Davies.
"We raced Havoc several times in England during our recent 50th Anniversary World Tour", said Ron. "We got to know Nick,
his business partner Rob Loaring and their team very well during Dragstalgia and the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in
England. What we learned was that they don't really have anybody to race. We're taking care of that by bringing them to the US
and inviting them to come race out of our shop in Franklin, Tennessee."
Four other sponsors have also stepped up to help make the tour happen: Geoff Stilwell of Beech Underwriting Agencies, Lucas Oil,
Stuart Bassett of USAutomotive, and Lawrie Gatehouse of the UK's Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association.
Havoc and Rat Trap will both be displayed at this year's British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala at the Sheraton Skyline,
Heathrow, England, on 19th November after which the cars will be shipped to Tennessee where they will be prepared for the 2017 season.
To date, Havoc has been scheduled for three races, and more are anticipated:
March Meet, Auto Club Famoso Raceway, McFarland, CA
15th Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, Bowling Green, KY
26th California Hot Rod Reunion, Auto Club Famoso Raceway, McFarland, CA
"This is a terrific opportunity to race against our heroes", said Nick. "We've attended the CHRR several times, but to be able to race at
that historic track, as well as Beech Bend, is a drag racer's dream come true. We're extremely grateful to Ron, his son Brian, and all the
sponsors for making this happen."
Reaping the whirlwind. 19th October: Ex-pat UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Smax Smith made a whirlwind tour of the
UK taking in the FIA / FIM European Finals before returning to Canada then on to the USA to drive the Leverich
family's Top Fuel Dragster at the NHRA Dodge Nationals in Reading. Smax writes:
Once I heard it was fifty years of Santa Pod I knew I had to be part of the celebrations but due to work and racing commitments I
couldn't book for sure until the last minute. So finally flying to England from Canada with my butterfly Belinda was almost a dream!
I drove from Preston to hook up with long time friend and team-mate Robin Moore then to the Pod for Top Fuel qualifying and a
few well earned pints! I couldn't believe the welcome I got. I hooked up with Al O'Connor, Clive Mechaell, Alky Malky, Barry
Sheavills, Dennis Priddle, John Tebenham and my Top Fuel family Anita, Urs, Micke Kågered and Rune Fjeld's teams. It was
mind-blowing! Big congrats to Anita and Tommy on the big win - well-deserved!
I was blown away by all the selfies, everyone wanted one, until I heard that my boy Aidan had posted on Facebook that there was
a prize for best selfie with Smax! I hung around with Dave and Gordon at the Shockwave pit, as Dave and Lee were over in Canada
recently helping Terry Haddock at the Canadian Nitro Nationals which we won! I didn't go Saturday because of the rain but Sunday
was a great day. I went over to the Hall of Fame tent and ended up signing autographs with a bunch of superstars of drag racing - neat!
Great to connect with Keith Bartlett and family, to meet Liam Jones and to see Kevin Kent's 4.29 run then have a beer with him after!
Old friend Bill Sherratt's nitro fire- up was also really neat! I hope we can get our Top Fuel machine over to run against the truly amazing
Europeans once again - watch this space!
I said goodbye to Robin and we drove over to the Trip Out Festival where best friend Odgie had a DJ set then headed north back to
Preston to spend an amazing couple of weeks in the lakes and the east coast around castles and stone circles with Belinda then
hooking up with old friends and scouring the pubs and chip shops.
Once back in Canada I had to get my racing head back on. Up at 3:45 am at Aidan's with Jake to drive to Pennsylvania to hook up
with the team in time for the first qualifier at 2:00 pm Friday, but typical - it was raining! I left England - raining, arrived in Canada - raining,
now in the States - raining in three countries in three days! The good news was that we finally got a Pro 2 racepak so we could accurately
monitor just what was going on and what an amazing decision that was! Friday was rained out but the Rapisarda team invited us to join
them at the restaurant and I was blown away. We were sat with Larry Dixon, Lee Beardm Rahn Tobler, Aaron Brookes to name a few
and they all seemed to know who I was! A great night!
Saturday was so cold that we thought it would be a crap track with only 70° track temperature but in Q1 at 2:00 pm we were on
a solo. Once I launched the car shook really bad at around 250 feet and I couldn't drive through it. After two quick pedals I had to coast
to a low six-second qualifier. The track was amazing so we needed more horsepower! Aidan ripped the clutch out and jake had the bottom
end apart in record time while Dan and the boys had the heads off. No damage, so we decided to put more primary on and take out some
retard to help the wheel speed. Rain was looming and it looked like no more qualifying until suddenly a tiny window emerged and we were
ushered to the start line.
Clay Millican and Terry Haddock hadn't qualified and were the first pair. Clay pedalled and blew up but got in the show so left McMillen
on the bump. We were next against Shawn Reed knowing we had to improve to secure a spot. Aidan did his usual stellar job of strapping
me in, lining up the car and signalling the burnout before pre-staging me perfectly - we both rocketed away but shook so we both pedalled
twice. I knew to roll the throttle to get hooked up and rocketed away to secure #14.
Del Worsham brought Chad Head over to meet me and we had a great chat - it was amazing to meet these guys! Chad brought beers over,
for my new best friend he said. After checking over the motor Jake saw that the crack we had in the crank was now too bad to rely on after
two shaky runs so we decided to swap short blocks as Gary had a crank, cam and geardrive in the spare block which meant it would be quicker
than swapping just a crank. The rain was heavy and as we had no awning Jake put the rods and pistons in block in the trailer before we lifted
the short motor in the rails at midnight. Gary went to put the fuel pump drive in, but bummer - some idiot had designed a 9/16 rather than the usual
5/8 fuel pump drive spud so we had to take the one off our old cam then re-degree the cam etc. So it ended up real late before we left drenched and
aching but close to being ready to race Shawn Langdon in the first round.
Up at 6:30 on Sunday morning, the weather was better but still pretty crap. We serviced car and fired up and, being the only team that does the nitro
whacks to seat the clutch, we got a standing ovation from the enthusiastic capacity crowd! As we were the sixth pair I saw all the top teams doing near
perfect runs and knew they weren't going to falter. After Aidan had me do a great burnout I knew I had to try something as Shawn is one of the best
leavers as well as qualifying with a 3.73! I took a wild shot at the Tree but it wasn't going to help, my terrible -0.200 red light made no difference to
Shawn's 0.045 lite and 3.71 ET but at least I got pictures ahead of him! See the
video!
We ran our best NHRA run of 4.12/278, I was proud of Arran, Grant and Gary for figuring out the tricky track and for making a great run. Our
Racepak revealed that our BDK failed at 3.2 seconds and dumped eleven gallons it shouldn't have then leaned the motor out to burn pistons and
torch a head! It would have been our first 3.90 run, but we had it figured and could have run next round had we not lost! So the season ended on
a real high - I got my first TV interview, I never shut up and John Force would have been proud of me, we got a sponsor for new hero cards just
from that! We got the car figured, ran our best sixty at 0.890 and our best early incrementals so we are already excited for 2017. I am #20 in the
despite doing only six races and not winning a round yet!
Stay tuned for all our exploits. Aidan constantly updates the Ant Hill Mob Facebook page and check the news on
www.leverichracing.com. Enjoy the closed season and we'll have more next
spring.
Web site updates. 19th October: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with galleries from
Sunday of the Late Summer Madness Public Track Day at Shakespeare County Raceway. You can check out
Mad's pictures at
www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.
No-Prep Nationals: Interested? 18th October: Paul Marston Racing are gauging interest in a no-prep doorslammer event which could
be held at North Weald Drag Strip, just outside London, in 2017. Paul explains:
We are looking at reviving a real legendary name from the past and giving it a makeover. A lot of people will remember the Gary's
Shack Doorslammer Nationals which were held at Santa Pod Raceway back in the 1980s. I certainly remember those events well
as my first venture into heads-up doorslammer racing.
This event will happen in the summer of 2017 and will be open to any doorslammer, road legal or not. No altereds or dragsters.
Any make, any model, any power adders, 2WD, 4WD. If it's got doors and the safety is right, you're in. Most people have seen
Street Outlaws; if you think you have a car fast enough then this is your opportunity to prove it. We would not be expecting
the real fast race car times which you see in UK Top Sportsman at the Mopar EuroNationals. North Weald is no prep, so in past
Quick 8 Competitions a fast time would be an ten- or eleven-second time ticket. If you can run in that region then you can win.
North Weald has continued to be the only drag race venue adjacent to London and it is very, very popular. There is a friendly
atmosphere and the events are outstandingly successful. The No Prep Doorslammer Nationals would be held on a Sunday in
conjunction with one of their normal RWYBs. It would be run the in same way as UK Top Sportsman: pre-entry only and the entry fee
includes sign-on. Pit space could be set aside for competitors. There will be a substantial cash prize fund and we would televise the
event as we do UK Top Sportsman, providing that we could attract a sponsor.
What we need to know is how many teams and drivers would genuinely be interested in entering this kind of event. So please
contact us to register your interest or to ask questions by phone on 07831 650230, E-Mail
pmracing@fsmail.net, or on Facebook at Paul Marston Racing
or UK Top Sportsman. We do not want to waste the organisers' time; this event will only happen if it is supported by the racers.
So the ball is now in your court.
If you would be interested in becoming a sponsor or marketing partner and sharing in the success, then please contact us as
above.
We must express our gratitude to Tony Huck of Maitland Racing for giving his blessing, allowing us to gauge interest in this new
event.
Swift snippets. 18th October: Geoff Stilwell of British Drag Racing Hall of Fame sponsor
Beech Underwriting tells us
that Ed Iskenderian is looking forward to meeting UK racers and fans at the Bench Racing
Session on the afternoon of the BDRHoF Gala Dinner at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel at London
Heathrow on Saturday 19th November. Admission to the BDRHoF Bench Racing session is free but by
ticket only, and there are only a few places left. For your ticket drop Geoff a line at
geoff@beechunderwriting.co.uk.
Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for passing us the final 2016 points standings in
the UK National Drag Racing Championships and Santa Pod Racers Club Championships, which you can check
out on our OCS
Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here
or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page.
Many thanks also to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe
for sending us the official timing data from the weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend. You can
check out the Bike Weekend timing data by clicking here or
by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Editor's note: Due to your News Editor being shagged out after a race weekend, plus the standard
quotidian commitments and pressures, we have a backlog of news which we will clear on tomorrow's update.
Tune back then for updates from Roger Goring, the Huxleys and Smax Smith, and please keep the news coming to
news@eurodragster.com.
Web site updates. 18th October: Colin Donisthorpe has updated his Flickr site with pictures from the
UK National Finals. You can take a look at Colin's great shots at
www.flickr.com/photos/colin_donisthorpe.
Bike Weekend results. 16th October: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend
at Santa Pod Raceway:
Funny Bike: Allan Davies no time (bye), Dave Buttery broke
Super Street Bike: Garry Bowe 7.0926/205.19 def. Graham Balchin 7.8246/185.12
Comp Bike: Sean Mills 7.8144/186.50 def. Eddy Smiley 7.9283/173.74
9.50 Bike: Lewis Burgess 9.6872/123.74 def. Richard Sawatzki 9.7205/138.26
8.50 Bike: Jay Roe 8.6960/128.35 def. Jake Mechaell 9.0635/158.55
Junior Drag Bike: Liam Holgate (9.84) 9.9060/62.99 def. Blade Dummer (9.20) 9.2047/69.31
ET Bike: Wayne Bradley (9.10) 11.0540/91.01 def. Gary Hester (11.00) 15.5509/113.79
Supertwin Gas: Alfie Udall 9.3907/135.27 def. Scott Collier 9.5738/134.58 DQ red light
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored reports, results
and galleries by clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Further to yesterday's news item about Jonnie and Johan Lindberg contesting Top Alcohol FC in Las Vegas
and Pomona, a look at the entry lists for both the Vegas and Pomona National events reveals another European invasion in the making as not
just Sweden's Ulf Leanders but the UK's Rob Turner (Vegas only) are also entered in Top Alcohol FC, and Malta's Manty Bugeja and Norway's Fred
Hanssen are entered in Top Alcohol Dragster, Fred having dropped a lawsuit against US tuner Will Hanna.
25th-26th March: Season Opener Shakedown at S-Town Public Track RWYB Weekend
8th-9th April: Spring Madness Public Track RWYB Weekend
29th April-1st May: MSA/ACU 10th Annual Springspeed National Drag Races
13th-14th May: Late Spring Madness Public Track RWYB Weekend
27th-29th May: Yanks NASC 39th annual Gary's Picnic Public Track RWYB Weekend
10th-11th June: Street Drags Public Track RWYB Weekend
23rd-25th June: 24th Annual NSRA Nostalgia Nationals
8th-9th July: 30th Annual GTi International
22nd-23rd July: Mid Summer Madness Public Track RWYB Weekend
10th-13th August: 31st Annual Bulldog Bash
26th-28th August: 11th Annual MSA/ACU Open Sport National Drag Races
15th-17th September: 29th Annual NSRA Hot Rod Drags
30th September-1st October: Mid Autumn Madness Public Track RWYB Weekend
14th-15th October: Autumn Super Gamblers Public Track RWYB Weekend
28th-29th October: Halloween Bonfire Burn Up
"Shakespeare County Raceway are also looking for a new left lane sponsor for 2017 to complement their existing partnership with Serck Motorsport", says Jerry.
"We would like to thank On The Bottle for the generous support over the last two seasons. Interested parties should get in contact with me at
shakespearecountyraceway@gmail.com or call 01789 720180."
Provisional 2017 UK/ACU calendar. 12th October: Following Shakespeare County Raceway's announcement the provisional 2017 UK National and ACU Drag Bike
Championship calendar is as follows. Please note that not all classes will run at all events, and that other events may be added. As mentioned
in Simon's Championship Outcomes piece on Monday, Junior Drag Bike is to be an ACU UK Drag Bike
Championship class from next year.
14th-16th April: Festival of Power, Santa Pod Raceway
21st-23rd April: Big Bang, Santa Pod Raceway
29th April-1st May: 10th Annual MSA/ACU Springspeed National Drag Races, Shakespeare County Raceway
20th-21st May: Race, Rock'n'Ride, Santa Pod Raceway
26th-29th May: FIA / FIM Main Event, Santa Pod Raceway
24th-25th June: SPRC Summernationals, Santa Pod Raceway
21st-23rd July: Bug Jam, Santa Pod Raceway
28th-30th July: Mopar EuroNationals, Santa Pod Raceway
26th-28th August: 11th Annual MSA/ACU Open Sport National Drag Races, Shakespeare County Raceway
7th-10th September: FIA / FIM European Finals, Santa Pod Raceway
23rd-24th September: UK National Finals, Santa Pod Raceway
Details of rounds and classes will be confirmed at the 2017 UK Riders' and Drivers' Meeting next February.
As the calendar is provisional we will not accept responsibility for time off work etc booked on the basis of this news item.
The FIA and FIM European Championship calendars are still under discussion.
A brace of Lindbergs in TAFC. 12th October: Many thanks to Stefan Boman for writing us an English version of the news that former FIA European Top
Methanol Funny Car Champion and current FIA Pro Modified racer Johan Lindberg is to contest Top Alcohol FC at the NHRA National and Divisional
events in Las Vegas later this month, and at the NHRA's Finals at Pomona next month.
Johan will be driving his 2014 Championship-winning Funny Car which is now owned by the US' Steve Harker, currently out of the seat after
a bad crash in Norwalk earlier this season. Stefan writes:
When Johan's Funny Car was for sale in Europe no-one even called to enquire how much he was asking for it, so the Lindbergs shipped it back
to the USA where Steve Harker bought it.
Steve will be tuning the car. As Ulf Leanders also is scheduled to run at both Vegas events and at Pomona there will be three Swedes in Top Alcohol FC at those three events, Johan's
brother and reigning NHRA Champion Jonnie being the other.
Rovalin AB, Johan's main sponsor from his FIA-winning 2014 season, have come on board to support him for the three NHRA races.
Steve doesn't know if he will drive the car in 2017 but he will be back racing, possibly with another driver. But that is the next chapter and not the story right now.
Web site updates. 12th October: The latest update to Alan Currans' excellent Acceleration Archive comprises two galleries.
First up is a page of pictures taken at Shakespeare County Raceway this past Sunday which included the concluding round of the Supercharged Outlaws' season. The second addition
is Readers' Gallery 34 which features pictures taken by ex-drag racer and Land Speed Record jockey Mark Newby and which is a celebration of 1970s Fuel and Pro Comp Funny Cars.
As ever you can check out the latest updates via What's New at
www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk.
SPR release 2017 calendar. 11th October: Santa Pod Raceway have released their calendar for 2017. The events with UK National
Championship interest are provisionally as follow.
Note that the ACU and UK National Drag Bike Championship round contested at the Extreme Performance Bike Weekend in October
each year is to be be replaced with a round at Race, Rock'n'Ride in May. This will also make the UK National Finals the final
round for both car and bike classes.
14th-16th April: Festival of Power
21st-23rd April: Big Bang
20th-21st May: Race, Rock'n'Ride
26th-29th May: FIA / FIM Main Event
24th-25th June: SPRC Summernationals
21st-23rd July: Bug Jam
28th-30th July: Mopar EuroNationals
7th-10th September: FIA / FIM European Finals
23rd-24th September: UK National Finals
Other favourites return including the Dial-In Day on 4th March, Dragstalgia on 14th-16th July, and VW Action on 1st-3rd September as
well as the various lifestyle events some featuring the JDS Series, and Peak Performance Days, RWYBs and Saturday Night Specials. You can check
out the full 2017 Santa Pod Raceway calendar at www.santapod.com.
First time out... in this Viper. 11th October: We are quite used to seeing the UK's Chris Orthodoxou in the Apocalypse Motorsport Dodge Viper but his latest on-track
appearance in a Viper was in his daily driver in Sportsman ET at the UK National Finals, an event which Chris said he found a breath of fresh air due to
a profusion of fellows with their feet on the ground and heads one doesn't need a proctologist to locate (You understand I'm paraphrasing what Chris
actually said - Ed):
This was the first time I have ever driven this car with force in the six years I since I imported her and it was good to be able to give it some beans. Amazingly I was finally number eight qualifier running
13.56 on a 13.4 dial-in. I went out in the first round to Ricky Hale in a double-breakout race - he managed to not be quite as bad as me! I have many excuses though: the car is a six-speed manual
and I'd never run a stick shift car down the track in all the years I've been racing and a Dodge Viper not being the ideal car to start experimenting with - it either bogged or smoked the tyres off the
line. However I started getting the hang of it when it was a bit too late, pulling a 0.0084 light in my match-up with Ricky, which I was quite pleased with.
Angella and I had a great weekend racing the road car, albeit they were the slowest quarters I'd ever run, but the bonus was minimal maintenance, the car never complained once, and we put her
away in the trailer all in one piece.
Many thanks to the Hale family - I lost count how many of them were there, but they invited us to their Saturday night barbecue and plied us with sausages, burgers, chicken, cakes etc all
evening whilst having good conversation and witty banter. Thanks also to Alan and Gill Medley who helped us out with jump leads and a power pack when my trailer genny battery went flat,
and to Clive Dandridge who offered help trying to figure out why every time I plugged in the Pod power supply the trailer fuse board breakers blew. Thanks too to Elaine Hancock and her
brother Dave for their assistance and friendly company. What a great bunch.
We went home happy and smiling and looking forward to next season, when I hope to be back out with a little more horsepower!
Smith's life in drag racing. 11th October: Having announced his retirement here on Eurodragster.com yesterday, UK Fuel Funny Car pilot Gordon Smith
has been in touch again with some thoughts on his life in drag racing:
I would like to pay tribute to the huge effort which all of the staff at Santa Pod go through to bring the best of motorsport to all of the fans, this includes all the office staff. All the track marshals,
all the safety crew, all at Eurodragster.com (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed) but most of all the fans. I must thank Keith Bartlett for supporting the Funny Car class and I hope that both he and Neale
continue to work to grow the class over the next few years. There is no doubt that the class needs more cars, and with more cars come more events and more competition.
I would also like to thank Bob Jarrett and the Showtime team who were a huge help to both Dave Bryant and I especially in the early days. Now we have a new kid on the block in Kevin Kent
who is a racer in my own image and will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.
I would like to say to the fans that the reason I have done this for so long is for you. I have always cared about putting on a show for you and there is no one more disappointed than I am when
things don't go to plan, I leave the driving seat with many goals not achieved, I would liked to have finished with the Series win and to have the fastest Funny Car outside of the USA but the lack
of funding over the last few years has proved too big a hurdle to climb. However I believe that with the new driver and some new finance Shockwave will again rule the Funny Car class.
Dave Bryant is a class act and definitely has what it takes to run real fast; I will remain a partner with Dave for the time being and who knows I may get the chance to have the odd ride now and then.
Saturday 15th October
07:00 Signing On office opens
07:00 Scrutineering commences, no set order (notes)
09:30 Track open for qualifying
Sunday 16th October
07:30 Signing On office opens
09:30 Track open for qualifying and eliminations
The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked out by
clicking here or
by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note as ever that running
orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.
No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event. Before 09:00 race vehicles should
be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not ridden under power. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event.
Junior racers please remember the rule about pushing vehicles back to the pits once through the arch beside Scrutineering.
Only race officials and SPR staff are allowed in Race Control whilst racing is underway. Should racers wish to
raise any matter with race officials then please do not visit Race Control; please firstly see Race Secretary Kathy
Taylor who is based in Signing On.
Colour commentators are requested to come to Commentary only when their class is at the head of
the lanes, to vacate Commentary when their class has run, and not to bring guests to Commentary with them.
The Eurodragster.com office at the Bankside end of Race Control is similarly out of bounds during racing except to Eurodragster.com staff,
TV crew, and racers or crew collecting Perfect Award money.
If you wish to receive class call-outs by smartphone then it is recommended that you carry out the following steps before coming to
Santa Pod Raceway:
Download App.net from the Play Store for Android or the iPhone App Store
Create an account for App.net
Search for the SPRC channel and follow it
When these steps have been completed you will receive notifications. The app relies on mobile network or wi-fi so you will need some kind of
connection throughout the event for it to work. Call-outs will still of course be made by your Pit Marshal and on the PA.
Under no circumstances are racers to use any type of spike etc to hold down awnings and/or tents on any of the tarmac surfaces.
Any racer found damaging the pit areas in this way will be charged for repairs and may be excluded from the event.
Smith retires, Ashdown steps in. 10th October: UK Fuel Funny Car racer Gordon Smith has announced his retirement from the seat of the Shockwave Fuel
Funny Car, a seat he has filled since the late 1990s. Top Fuel Dragster racer Steve Ashdown will be driving the FC in 2017. Gordon writes:
Gordon's alive! But the time has come for me to park my race suit and allow the Shockwave Nitro Funny Car to move on. It has become clear this year that the race car needs increased financial
investment which I can no longer put in whilst trying to fund my retirement - apparently there is life after drag racing, or so I am told. I am sad that it has had to happen as I believe
that I am still doing a good job driving the car (Hell, yes - Ed), but I must do what is best for the team if Shockwave is to continue.
I would like to thank partner and friend Dave Bryant for keeping me safe for over twenty years, he is a great person and a great tuner. I would also like to thank the whole team
for their help and support, from Kathy's Café to Steve Loader who has been with me for the whole journey, and all of the crew who have helped me over the last twenty
years and have played a part in the team's success. Thnak you all.
I will apply for my race license for 2017 just in case things don't go to plan. There has been much written and said recently regarding Jayne Kay driving Shockwave on my
retirement but this cannot happen in the short term as Jayne has not been able to get her licencing finished. The Shockwave team are however committed to seeing this through
as both Dave and I believe that Jayne is a natural Nitro Funny Car driver, and I am sure that we will see her in a Nitro Funny Car in the near future.
Dave and I have had to take some difficult decisions to make sure that Shockwave continues in the years to come. I can therefore announce that Steve Ashdown will drive
for the team in 2017. Steve, Dave and I have come to an agreement which we all believe will secure the required funding to allow Shockwave Racing to be more than competitive
as we go into 2017. Steve has his Fuel licence, has driven Top Fuellers for Rune Fjeld in 2016 and has made his mark in Top Fuel with competitive times and results. Steve is very
enthusiastic and can't wait to get started, and we all welcome him as part of our family team. Good luck Steve! I will be around to help him get to grips with the car so you will all
have to put up with me for a bit longer (Good - Ed).
Finally I would like to thank all of those race fans who have supported me over the many years I have been racing, and I hope that you will all continue to come and visit the car
at race events and talk to me as so many have done over the years. Please everyone continue your support of Steve and the Shockwave team.
UK Championship outcomes II. 10th October: This weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway
is the final round in ACU UK Drag Bike and UK National Championship bike classes. Simon, who with Yvonne Tramm
co-ordinates the UK National Championship points, has provided the following analysis of Championship outcomes:
ACU Top Fuel Bike had its final round at the recent UK National Finals; congratulations to Steve
Woollatt for earning another Championship to add to his huge collection.
Phil Crossley leads ACU Funny Bike with a large margin of 845 points from second-placed Allan Davies
and Eric Richard a further 65 points back. Seven bikes are entered making a maximum of 520 points available
(assuming no records are set), so congratulations to Phil on his first Championship. The race is on between
Allan and Eric for second place with less than one round of eliminations between them.
ACU Pro Stock Bike has no entries for the final event and so congratulations to Alex Hope, who has
won both rounds contested this year. Len Paget is runner-up.
Steve Venables leads ACU Super Street Bike by 470 points over Graham Balchin, and Graham is 780
points ahead of third-placed Garry Bowe. Fourteen bikes are entered which means a sixteen-bike field
and 690 non-record points available. Steve needs to qualify two places ahead of Graham and win two rounds
of racing to secure the title.
ACU Comp Bike is a close contest with Eddy Smiley winning at the SPRC Summernationals and the APIRA Open
Sport Nationals and then Mick Winyard then triumphing at the UK National Finals, making it a much closer chase.
Eddy is 230 points ahead of Mick, who is in turn 200 points ahead of third-placed Kev Osman. Nine bikes are
entered so 540 points are on the table. Mick would therefore need to qualify at least three places ahead of Eddy
and win two more rounds than him - or make sure he, rather than Eddy, has the bonus points for low ET and top
speed of the event. However if Mick has problems then Kev could get runner-up place by qualifying better and
getting two more round wins.
In 8.50 Bike, Jay Roe is in the lead from Andy Haley with a 630 point margin. With five bikes entered,
there are 590 points available so congratulations to Jay on his first UK National Championship. Andy Haley is
130 points ahead of Augy Harrison but that margin increases to 330 after the all-rounds bonus is applied.
Richard Sawatzki is leading Brett Cordelle by 1010 points in 9.50 Bike. Seven bikes are entered and
with 610 points available Rick can be confirmed as provisional Champion; congratulations Rick on his fifth
UK National Championship. Brett is ahead of Stacey Reed by 150 points. Stacey will have to qualify at least
five places better than Rick and go one round further to become runner-up in her first season in the class.
SPRC / ACU Supertwin Gas is a tie between former Junior Drag Bike racers Scott Collier and Alfie Udall.
Both have won an event this year and so with three bikes entered it is likely that whoever goes furthese
in eliminations will be Champion.
SPRC ET Bike / NAST has been a success story as a class with a large and varied entry; the Extreme
Performance Bike Weekend being no exception with fifteen bikes entered. Wayne Bradley leads with a margin
of 30 points over Gary Hester. Dave Smart is 170 points behind Gary. Wayne needs to qualify three positions
ahead of Gary and then go further than him in eliminations to secure the title. Dave would have to qualify
no worse than three positions below Gary and go two rounds further to win the title. In the event of a tie,
Wayne and Dave have each won an event.
In Junior Drag Bike, now confirmed as an ACU UK Championship from 2017, double Champion Louis Davies
is a mere 30 points ahead of 2015 Champion Liam Holgate. Third-placed Blade Dummer is 420 points further back.
With less than one round of racing between Louis and Liam, every point will be hard fought. Good luck to all.
The post-UK National Finals UK and SPRC Championship standings are available on our
OCS Paint-sponsored
Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the
OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. The ACU UK Drag Bike
Championship standings are available on the King Racing web site at
www.kingracing.com.
Eurodragster.com will of course be at Santa Pod Raceway this weekend to bring you all the news from the
Extreme Performance Bike Weekend in association with John Woolfe
Racing, together with Webster
Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcast.
You can check out our Extreme Performance Bike Weekend Event Index, which includes a link to the final official
entry list, by
clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any
Eurodragster.com page.
Bike Weekend Perfect Awards. 10th October: This weekend's Extreme Performance Bike Weekend at Santa Pod Raceway is the final event in the 2016
Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards Scheme. £100 is on offer for perfect performance.
This weekend's Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was
won by Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Aaron Fensome at the UK National Finals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to
record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available during qualifying and eliminations in Pro Stock Bike, Funny Bike, Super
Street Bike, Comp Bike, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Junior Drag Bike, Supertwin Gas and ET Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the
event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET).
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com
decals are available from the Signing On office.
This weekend's Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supporting the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has been
reset to £50 after it was won by VW Sportsman racer Natalie Wood at the UK National Finals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this
weekend to run an ET to the thousandth of a second on dial-in or index. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend during qualifying or eliminations in 8.50 Bike,
9.50 Bike, Junior Drag Bike and ET Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the event. The Perfect ET Award is presented by Derek and Fiona
Flynn of Eurodragster.com sponsor Gold RV in support of the National Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children; you can donate to the NSPCC at www.nspcc.org.uk.
To be eligible to collect the Perfect ET Award, racers are required to carry Eurodragster.com / NSPCC decals(right), one on each side of
the vehicle. If you pull this weekend's first Perfect ET but are not carrying decals when the run is made then there will be no discussion; we will not
pay out and the next person to record a Perfect ET will get the money assuming that they are carrying decals. Eurodragster.com / NSPCC decals are
available from the Signing On office.
Three grand from the Field of Dreams. 8th October: With a well-manicured pitch and the floodlights in place the Bloodwise
Bombers and Highlander United watched the grandstand fill to capacity in anticipation of the third annual Charity Football
Match in memory of Paula Marshall, between the racers and the staff and officials of Santa Pod Raceway and Santa Pod
Racers Club. Darren Prentice of the losing side Bloodwise Bombers and Santa Pod Raceway writes:
The crowd and the Field of Dreams made for another great night of football and fundraising for
Bloodwise, which means so much to us all.
With the Bloodwise Bombers ready to right a big wrong, we watched the racers warming up in their lovely pink football
strip with Sam Innes and Craig Wright leading the mincing up and down the touchline. Colin Theobald did another cracking
job at pitch-side commentary and a special thanks to Colin and to Paul Marston and his team for the PA system and help.
The result of this incredible football match was 4-1 to Highlander United, well done lads. Also incredible is that with all
the money collected from the buckets, auction, on-line donations and a very generous top-up amount from SPR CEO Keith
Bartlett we can announce that together we raised a staggering £3000 for
Bloodwise.
It's now a steady march on to next year's game. Hopefully there will be a few changes: the result for one, and maybe Billy Everitt
won't break any of my ribs with his face again. But the first bit of end-season gossip is that the Board of Directors at Bloodwise Bombers
FC have had a meeting at their headquarters and will be calling in the manageress to explain why her team has lost three cup finals in a
row. Should she be sacked? This would leave the door open for Jon Giles - who has been seen leaving the SPR offices and shaking hands
with KB - to defect and take control of his own team and not hide in the eclipse shadow of Highlander United manager Spencer
Tramm.
We need to thank a lot of people without whose help it would have been very hard to make this football match a great success:
The spectators who all came along to support the match and who gave so generously;
Both of the teams for putting on a cracking sporting event worthy to grace any reputable sports channel;
The team at Eurodragster.com for the on-line coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed);
Everyone who raised funds and to the Street Eliminator boys for selling their passenger seats on the Cruise;
Scott Flemming for giving up his time to referee a bunch of wannabe football stars and the Bloodwise Bombers;
Richard Deevey for running out and putting down some tekkers which was a great sight to behold;
Webster Race Engineering for the half time oranges;
Jon Giles, Susan Ponsford, Alison Hackney and Mason Prentice for help to rattle buckets and collect money;
Raunds Town Football Club for the loan of the pitch marker and goals;
Mr and Mrs Cook-Abbott for patching us up after all our injuries;
Everyone who donated an auction prize and to Phil and Avril Brown for getting such a great collector's item in that amazing signed programme;
Carlsberg for the beer and to Paul Savage and the Fuelers Bar team;
The cheerleaders although the one with the beard doing cartwheels was a little scary;
Last but by no means least Santa Pod Raceway for hosting and setting up of the Field of Dreams so that we could just turn up and play.
You can check out Kirstie's pictures from the Charity Football Match by
clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page and selecting
the UK National Finals.
Allard Chrysler: Job done. 8th October:Allard Chrysler
Action Group Chair Brian Taylor says that the Group's mission has been accomplished:
We have achieved what I set out to do back in 2007 - to restore the dragster so that it can parade under its own power.
There will be general maintenance to do of course and we have someone who has volunteered to redo the seat upholstery.
The tacho needs to be fixed and we need to ensure that Beaulieu staff members are familiar with operating procedures.
I also need to complete the full story for the Beaulieu library so everyone can access the story of the dragster and
its restoration. At the moment that is about 330 pages.
I will keep everyone informed about future appearances and ACAG team members local to the museum will continue to
help out as necessary. Thanks to everyone who has helped. You have been a part of a very special story.
One lost by a nose, one won. 7th October: With another season done, Geof Hauser of Eurodragster.com sponsor Hauser
Race Cars says that it was a hard-fought season for son and Super Pro ET racer Scott Hauser. Geof and Scott are pleased to have won the Santa Pod Racers Club
Championship:
It was not at all easy, another tough year in the most competitive class and going into the last race we were more than two rounds behind leader Billy Gane, who was on a bit of a roll.
At the Festival of Power, with ever-threatening weather, a cold track and several delays, we managed to qualify second at +0.019 secs in the tricky conditions, and then beat Barry Giles
in the first round before rain came and ruined the day. Still, a promising start. Off we went to Shakespeare County Raceway for the Springspeed Nationals at the end of April. The gods
had decided that three days' good weather was not on, so we got rain for the whole first day. With only two qualifying runs on Sunday, we made the second one count with a +0.009
which put us in second place. That put us against Jack Brewster, but a red light sent us home.
The FIA / FIM Main Event was next, and with a full field and nine qualifying runs it was always going to be tough. We ran +0.002 and ended up seventh! Crazy. We managed to spoil
Craig Wright's début (sorry Craig), and Rene Meierhofer's day, and then Joe Kellett in his beautiful brand-new HRC dragster before we lost to Billy Gane in the semis. The
next race was the SPRC Summernationals. Despite only getting two qualifying runs, we excelled ourselves by running +0.005 on the first pass and +0.003 on our second! We got prizes
from the Super Pro ET sponsorship scheme too. Went two rounds before losing to Daniel Giles and the points tally wasn't looking so good.
Things didn't improve for us at the Open Sport Nationals in August. Despite another good qualifying effort at +0.004, good for second spot, yet another red light put us out in round
one against John Atkinson. On to the FIA / FIM European Finals. With another huge field and an awesome track, again the qualifying sessions were insane. Thirteen cars managed
to get under +0.010, three cars went perfect +0.000, we ran +0.001 and we were fourth! In eliminations we got round Martyn Jones and Marc Henney before Brad Jackson slapped
a very unsociable 0.009 holeshot on us and ended our day. Our qualifying points were helping, though, and we could see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
And so onto the UK National Finals. We ran +0.005 off the trailer which stood as number one until Chris Parker just pipped us at the end of the last session. That drew us against
Championship leader Billy Gane in the first round. Make or break time. Scott did a great job and got payback on their earlier race which threw open the Championship and suddenly
we were in with a chance. A bye run next and then we faced Rick Cooke, in his last outing at Santa Pod before he retires. Scott got a better light and took the stripe by a nose. Unfortunately,
both cars broke out, but we did it worse so that was that.
If we had won that round then Scott would have won the National Championship for the third time, but we will just have to settle for the SPRC this time. Congratulations to Chris Parker, he
had a perfect end to the year, and thanks to every racer in Super Pro ET for making the class what it is. Special appreciation too for Rich Walters for his tireless work for the class.
I'm going to vote for Championships to be decided on qualifying positions, this racing lark is far too difficult. Now I'm off to get a new practice tree!
The Chaos ends prematurely. 7th October: UK Comp Eliminator racer Robin Orthodoxou's season in the wild Chaos Bros started late, although
it was not for the want of trying, and finished unfortunately early. Robin writes:
Due to delayed parts there was a mad thrash to make it to the Festival of Power at Santa Pod. After spending the start of the race putting the finishing touches to the car and missing
some qualifying rounds we were armed and ready for Saturday's qualifiers, then rain cancelled the day. Not in the show, go home. At the FIA / FIM Main Event we were ready for
action and the altered was running well until we found a broken valve spring after the last qualifying round. Belinda Bull was our all-A/A match-up in round one but we couldn't come
out to play. Belinda went on to win the event with a nice 6.9-second run in the final.
In Q1 at the SPRC Summernationals Robin forgot how and when to change gear, ran 7.3 only 0.2 under the index. Belinda was a mile in front, #1with a 7.1 pass. Q2, Last Chance
Saloon sitting in the bleach box in the right lane watching the yellow pick-up launch hard, and when 7.025 came up on the gantry I was thinking "**** it Belinda is qualified #1 again".
Burnout done, Mike Oates in other lane. Launch and run felt bumpy, not happy but I think maybe I remembered to shift on time. The crew told me it was 7.0244, not bad and apparently
we were #1 by 0.0007 of a second.
E1, Rene Ehrismann, we win. Back in the sixes at 6.9986. E2 bye run, went slow so as not to hurt the index. E3, the final and Kev Perkins got me on the Tree by 0.02. It was all over
then but we were happy with runner-up.
Dragstalgia, a great weekend until Sunday morning when two exhaust valves decided to smash up their pistons. That was our season done.
I would like to thank my crew, and my 2016 sponsors for their support: UK Dump Truck Hire, Blackett Photography, Hauser Race Cars,
Flip Vieira Paint, Chunk Tuning and Dave Goddard Motorcycles.
It is with great joy that we can announce that a new sponsor is joining our current supporters for our 2017 season in Comp Eliminator:
Ziebe Förch UK, the largest supplier of consumables in
the south of England. Thanks to owner Terry Slade and Sales Manager Lewis Slade.
Isky to attend BDRHoF Gala. 7th October:British Drag Racing Hall of Fame has
announced that Isky – Ed Iskenderian, also known as the Cam Father - is flying in for the BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner at the Sheraton Skyline
Hotel at London Heathrow on Saturday 19th November. Now ninety five years old, this will be Ed's first trip outside the USA since 1944.
Ed (right, with BDRHoF Sponsorship Partner Geoff Stilwell of Beech Underwriting
Agencies) decided to enter the camshaft grinding business in the late 1940s after having to wait five months for delivery of a special cam.
He soon had engines producing more than 1 hp per cubic inch, greater than any other racing cam maker. He pioneered drag racing corporate sponsorship
in the 1950s by backing Don Garlits and produced the first co-ordinated cam and assembly kit for hot rodders.
In 1963, in collaboration with a few other industry pioneers, Ed created what is now the Specialty Equipment Market Association, originally the Speed
Equipment Manufacturers' Association. One of the first official events which SEMA backed was the International Dragster Challenge organised by Sydney
Allard in the UK during the same year. The picture below left shows Ed with the SEMA Trophy which was awarded to Sydney Allard in 1963 and which now
resides in the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.
Ed built his company into the world's largest racing, performance and economy cam manufacturer. In 1985 he was inducted as a member of Chevrolet's
Legends of Performance and SEMA's Hall of Fame. Ed has certainly earned the title of the Cam Father.
BDRHoF Honorary Chairman Stu Bradbury said, "Ed is very much part of drag racing's DNA; admired all over the world. He joins a growing list of drag
racing greats who want to help us celebrate the pioneers this side of the Atlantic. I thank him for making the journey. What a wonderful night it
will be for all those attending."
As well as attending the Gala Awards Dinner in the evening Ed will be joining the Beech Underwriting Bench Racing Panel during the afternoon of 19th November.
The list of legends is now Ed Iskenderian, Steve Gibbs, Ed 'Ace' McCulloch, Bob Muravez, Fred Miller, Harry Hibler, Paula Murphy, Don Schumacher, Carl Olson,
Dennis Priddle, Eileen Daniels and Ron Hope. The host is Bob McClurg. What a line-up!
Admission to the BDRHoF Bench Racing session will be by ticket only. Seating is very limited and there are only a few places left so
don't end up being disappointed by not getting your name on the list. The chance to be able to sit in the same room and listen to these
legends should not be missed. You can apply for tickets to this very special event by sending
an E-Mail to geoff@beechunderwriting.co.uk.
Ticket prices for the 2016 BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner remain as last year at £60 per person. Corporate tables of ten are available at £580.
More details are available by clicking
here. For advance booking of tickets contact stuart@britishdragracinghof.co.uk
or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102.
Web site updates. 7th October: Our good buddy, photo-journalist Steve Moxley has had a Dragstalgia report published on the Eat My Ink web
site at www.eatmyink.com.
The great pair of UK nostalgia paintings above are by artist Richard Hearn who tells us that prints are available for sale on Etsy at
RichardDelaportHearn and on EBay at
Richard
Delaporte Hearn art.
Swift snippets. 6th October: Nuthin' Fancy Racing tell us that the Bond, Hannis and Osbourne slingshot has had its block repaired and
will be back on track at either Shakespeare County Raceway's Halloween Burn-Up or the Flame and Thunder Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Meanwhile
the team's Big Red Motorhome is on sale on EBay closing
this weekend.
A detailed report of the MSA Pro Modified action at Santa Pod Raceway's recent UK National Finals, the deciding round of this year's MSA British Drag Racing Championship, is now available on
the series' official web site at www.msadragracing.com.
A hive of Gamblers and Outlaws. 6th October: It's Shakespeare County Raceway's penultimate Public Track Weekend of the season with the second annual Super Gamblers race
and the final showdown for the Good Vibrations Motorsports Supercharged Outlaws series (see above).
To clinch the title in his rookie season all Joel Kerr has to do is turn up with his 500 ci STP Pontiac Firebird and complete two sessions of four to win the series. Going into this
final shootout Joel has an unassailable 286 point lead over defending title holder Paul Watts with his '57 Shoebox Chevy on 232 pts. Andy Gallimore's Funny Car is third but he
won't be contesting the final round due to engine damage sustained at last month's Hot Rod Drags but he will be at the track putting some passes in on his bike in the weekend's
RWYB. All the usual suspects will be running including Jonny Hall at the wheel of The Thing Dodge Daytona Funny Car.
By the weekend we should know who the thirty two drivers will be contesting the second Super Gamblers. Defending title holder Andy Knight will be at the wheel of his 380 SEC
Mercedes but there will be plenty of racers out there to stop him including the Gasser Circus class Ford Falcon of Nick Barnett and Duncan Watts with his '72 Plymouth Duster.
There's a full RWYB programme on both days. Gates open from 6:00 pm Friday while the track is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. General admission is £12 or
£22 for the weekend. Track fee is £25 a day or £40 for a weekend of unlimited runs but please remember your driver's licence and helmet. Further details
can be found on our Group Facebook page or at www.shakespearecountyraceway.com.
Bring your own pumpkin, win stuff. 6th October: Got any pumpkins to spare? That's the call going out from Santa Pod Raceway as its Halloween weekend family entertainment spectacular, the Flame
and Thunder Show, approaches. But not any old pumpkins, mind – nothing shop-bought, for instance. No, Santa Pod is seeking home-grown originals, pumpkins of a volume, girth and grandeur to
match the eminence of the occasion. And the venue will offer a pair of Flame and Thunder tickets with a combined gate value of £50 to the first five pumpkin growers to have their produce
accepted - plus it will send a truck to collect the jumbo squash if it lies within a ten-mile radius.
So, if by chance you happen to have a properly big pumpkin occupying your vegetable patch or up the allotment and you don't know what else to do with it, send a photo to
pumpkin@santapod.com and let the Raceway decide. No cheating, now – you need to include a comparison
object in the photo alongside the pumpkin to prove its size. A tape measure would do the trick. If you win, your pride and joy could wind up greeting guests at Santa Pod's hospitality centre or
adorning the Raceway start line – or how about feeding the mighty Monster Trucks, a fruity addition to their usual diet of scrapped cars?
Santa Pod's Commercial Manager, Caroline Holden, explains: "A few years ago, a gentleman arrived unannounced and donated us a giant pumpkin he'd grown, which we were able to despatch
in style to the delight of spectators young and old. With our 50th Anniversary season coming to an end, we thought it high time to revive this idea and see the year out in a splurge of glory."
Flame and Thunder's on-track action features Jet Dragster fire shows and a Top Fuel Dragster display headlining an array of race car demonstrations along with stunt driving and riding performances
in the Live Action Arena and all manner of family entertainments, all culminating with a grand bonfire and fireworks – and don't forget the Monster Trucks. Your children never do.
As ever, kids go free – up to three under-16s can accompany each adult ticket-holder free of charge, so our winning pumpkineers can bring a veritable vanload to see their produce grace the
occasion with a starring role.
Santa Pod loves to end each year with a flourish. If all goes to plan, 2016 will go out with a flash, a bang and a squelch. The Flame and Thunder Show takes place on Saturday 29th October.
For further information, please visit www.santapod.co.uk/e_flame.php. Please send pumpkin pictures to
pumpkin@santapod.com.
Firstly I need to say a huge thank you to Ron and Brian Hope and the Hope family of Rat Trap Racing Landspeed Projects, and to racer and tuner Kevin Cradduck and racer Jim Blenkarn
who helped me all weekend. I could not have done it without them.
First part of the story was to repair the damage the car suffered at Bonneville. We had no idea that we had cracked the oil pan, nor that as usual a 10¢ part can cause so many problems.
When I arrived at the Nashville race shop the car was just having the final repair work to the oil pan: when servicing the car Brian and crewman Keith discovered a crack so Keith welded that
up, and then we fired the car up only to find the fuel regulator pouring fuel out. Taking it apart we found a small hole in the membrane causing the fuel to leak. "No problem" said Brian, a
quick call and the parts were on the way overnight to our hotel at Wilmington.
Friday dawned very wet, similar to the Saturday of the European Finals, but it stopped by 1:00 pm. The track dried really quickly and within forty minutes they where running the slower cars,
amazing, and by 6:00 pm had put over one hundred and fifty cars and bikes down the track. We got on with fitting the new parts only to discover that we had been sent the wrong parts. A
quick search of the Internet said that Jegs in Columbus had a complete regulator. Brian and I jumped in the truck and hightailed it for the hour's drive to Columbus. Regulator collected we got back
to the track at 5:00 pm and got it fitted. Ran the engine up and everything looked good. The trouble was that we were too late to make a run as the track closed at 6:00 pm sharp. So we put the car
in line and covered it up.
The next morning we had a drivers' meeting at 7:00 am and the track opened at 8:00 am and the first car ran over 200 mph in the mile. Wow! As this was the first time I had run at Wilmington I
had to run between 125 mph and 145 mph. The car does not like running slow and it was really difficult to run it that slowly, but I put in my first pass at 128 mph and we put the car straight back
in line. The next pass was 166 mph but the engine was not pulling properly so Kevin Cradduck, who had already run 216 mph in the car, jumped in for a pass. He ran and confirmed what we
thought, that the car was running really rich. We changed the jets and went back round for another pass and went slower... hmm, back to basics.
More changes and I got back in the car and ran 176 mph, straight back in line and some more minor tuning. This pass was 183.4489 mph, brilliant, we were back on track. Again back in line as
the track was going to close at 4:00 pm. There was a heavy shower in the shutdown area at 2:00 pm forcing them to call it.
So we have more unfinished business, to be continued in 2017. Again I cannot thank everyone involved enough and it has been a privilege to be part of the Rat Trap Team.
Swift snippets. 4th October: Many thanks to Andy Marrs of TSI Timers Europe for sending
us the official timing data from the weekend's Jap Show Finale. You can check out the Jap Show Finale timing data by clicking
here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Thanks also to Marrs for forwarding us an updated table of UK Bests now including the Front Wheel Drive ET record set by
Kiel Priestman at the Jap Show Finale. You can check it out by clicking here or by clicking on the
European and UK Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
The Super Gamblers is an extension to the normal Bracket Gamblers programme held throughout the season and is open to any doorslammer.
Entry must be submitted before the event. The entry fee is £30 (on top of General Admission and track fee) which goes into the prize pot.
Entry and payment are required by close this Wednesday (5th) but the thirty two cars will need to be registered by Saturday for the race to take place.
Bacs payments are preferred, the APIRA bank details are Sort Code 20-48-08 and account number 10027391. Please add your surname and race number as the
payment reference (maximum sixteen characters please).
Qualifying will take place on Saturday for those who want to take advantage of the available track time (subject to track and weather conditions) and a further
single qualifier on Sunday then into eliminations. A Sportsman Tree will be used.
The Pre-Event Sign Up form can be found on the Downloads page of the track's web site at
www.shakespearecountyraceway.com. For further information
please call Brian on 07837 985973 or check out the SCR Bracket Gamblers Race
Facebook page.
Swift snippets. 3rd October: Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm for forwarding the post-UK National Finals points
standings in the Santa Pod Racers Club Championships including the final 2016 standings in car classes. You can check out the
SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored
Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS
Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
An eventful season. 3rd October: The season of UK Super Comp team Paul Brown Motorsport can be described in one word: eventful. Lesley Brown
writes:
After a winter of changes and plenty of pre-testing launches, the Shorty arrived at Santa Pod and proved to be the consistent and competitive car we
had hoped for. Unfortunately, after good qualifiers at Easter and at Shakespeare County Raceway both events were rained out. In between these events
we had a fabulous trip to Las Vegas where Paul got to race in the Spring Fling Millions event in a Land Shark Shorty, courtesy of
Dragtarp's CEO Jeff Shrunk, which proved to be an incredible experience.
Back at Santa Pod for the FIA / FIM Main Event, we were brought back to earth by a first round exit against Jon Morton with a win margin of 0.0074.
Things were looking up at the SPRC Summernationals with a second number one qualifier for the season and a place in the semi-final only to lose against
Stuart Doigne with a 0.0007 red light! Nevertheless, Paul was still smiling and having a ball driving his Shorty dragster.
After what seemed to be a never-ending summer break it was back to Shakespeare County Raceway, where Paul has always enjoyed racing and this was
another good weekend, qualifying in number one after some nifty welding on the car by Lee Stapleton. We were all looking forward to race day, only for
the computer to say No, putting an end to the weekend's racing. We were sweating that it was the MSD at fault in which case our season would have ended
with less than two weeks to get a replacement. Fortunately our crew member and computer guru Andy Harrison returned from holiday. It transpired that we had
lost all the data from the car's computer and it wouldn't allow the car to start. Andy soon got everything up and running again.
We were back in the game for FIA / FIM European Finals using "Dave Brown's laptop" - a piece of paper and a pen which was none too shabby and which
helped Paul to a satisfactory number five qualifier and a place in the semi-finals. Even this was not without drama - the nose cone broke off at the finish line
during the second qualifier causing it some damage. Luckily Dave Day was able to come to the rescue with a fibreglass kit and we only missed one qualifier
during the repairs.
As most people know, raceday was full of drama. Paul pulled a perfect 0.0008 light against Paul Letchford to win the race, only for the car to pull sharp left,
pirouette 720 degrees and side swipe the wall. Paul says of the incident "I was standing up in the car before the safety crews got to me. They did a fantastic
job as I may have been a tough customer trying to get me to stand still. I was more interested in finding out if I actually won the race and having a look at the
damage. Whilst I was spinning I did manage to shut the fuel system down and until the front left wheel went flying off I thought I had saved it. Watching the
replay back in the medical centre, the car had gone airborne and there were some incredible angles. I was lucky not to roll it. It may have been a different
story. My girlfriend Zoe was visiting her family back in Cornwall. She was watching live and saw everything. A few phone calls with the crew to reassure her
before I spoke to her. I jokingly said that the new kitchen's not happening now."
Without a car we were gutted not to be on the start line for the final and unable to give Pete Cresswell a race in the final, but delighted that Paul was the
recipient of a 50th Anniversary trophy, albeit for runner up.
We were not giving up on the season having got this far. Snapping at the heels of Stuart Doignie and Pete Cresswell, we moved heaven and earth to get to
the start line at UK National Finals. Earlier in the year we had imported another dragster which was up for sale. Paul had tested it successfully a few times
but the SFI tags were out of date and running times were consistently in the 9.3s. So the week building up to the National Finals involved trips to Hauser Racing
nearby, down to Andy Robinson in Basingstoke with the gearbox, and then up to EDA in Castleford with the engine to look for some more horses. A few were
found but in the time left - it was now Friday lunchtime - there was little more we could do other than to take the engine up to the track in our hire van where
Paul would meet us with the rest of the dragster.
Dave, Paul, Lee, Andy and Ian and Ruaridh Hart worked until 10:00 pm getting everything back together, but we would not find out if it would start until the
curfew lifted at 9:00 am the following day. To complicate matters, in the process one of the spark plugs broke and no one else seemed to use our type, so
Lee spent first thing chasing around Northamptonshire and myself around Bedford trying unsuccessfully to replace it. All the effort was worthwhile when
Paul arrived at the start line in time for Q1 and completed a confident, fault-free run.
Knowing that we couldn't realistically offer a serious challenge for the title we relaxed and enjoyed the weekend, pleased with the effort which had gone into
just being there and delighted with the consistency of the dragster which was running similar times, a best of 9.17.
Congratulations to Stuart Doignie for winning the National Championship and Andrew Williams the APIRA Championship and to Paul Watson for the event
win. A huge Thank You to the team and to everyone who has helped out this past year; to achieve an overall finish of third in Super Comp is brilliant in a
tough field.Thanks also to everyone in Super Comp for all your support.
As for next season, we are going to sit back for a few weeks to consider a number of options which we have in the pipeline. Meanwhile the dragster (not
Shorty!) is still for sale. Full details can be found on Eurodragster.com's Swap Meet.
King's tenth crown. 3rd October: Despite the final round exit in the previous German round UK Top Fuel Bike racer
Ian King and the Gulf Oil Dragracing team entered the final and home round of the FIM European Dragbike Championship
with a small lead over nearest rivals the RG Engineering team of Rikard Gustafsson of Sweden and Rene van den Berg's Eurol team from Holland. If Ian was to win his first round then
an amazing tenth Championship crown would be his but both chasing riders had a chance of winning the crown should King falter and either of the other riders win the event.
Once again, however, Ian suffered from a number of obstacles not least of which was the continuing issues with sprocket failure caused by a change in quality of the EK drive chain
plaguing most of the top riders in the class across the world. In addition a qualifying day lost to inclement weather meant that Ian finished qualifying in 'only' second position and facing
fellow British rider Stuart Crane in round one.
On paper Ian should have had little problem in taking the round win over Stuart's machine and so the team decided for a safe tune, taking a large amount of horsepower out from the
Puma-powered machine by way of clutch, ignition and fuel settings. However even this setting was too powerful for the track when Ian lost traction a few metres out from the start. As
Stuart took a healthy lead on the track Ian 'pedalled' the throttle and managed to hook the huge rear slick up, resuming traction and then gaining on his opponent. It seemed Ian's rate
of acceleration would allow him to pass his opponent however, disaster struck when the stretched chain slipped off the driveline taking all the teeth from the hardened steel drive sprocket.
With Rikard Gustafsson and Rene van den Berg winning their respective first rounds it seemed inevitable that the team's quest for a tenth title was all but lost.
Rene failed to take his challenge to the final when losing to Greek rider Fillippos Papafillipou in his semi-final but Rikard fared better with a fine win over UK rider and multiple UK Champion Steve Woollat.
With Rikard facing the Greek rider on a significantly slower machine, the event win and title looked to be in the Swedish rider's grasp however as per Ian's mechanical woes in the first round Rikard's
fortune took a turn for the worse when his crank failed as he chased the fast leaving Fil leaving the popular Greek to take his first FIM event win.
Being on the outside looking in was not quite the way the team wanted to clinch this amazing milestone, however their consistent performances saw them through to the Championship once again.
After the historic mark was set Team Principal and rider Ian said "The Gulf Oil Dragracing team are ecstatic after reaching Championship win double figures, particularly after suffering such poor luck
in round one and thinking this was not to be our year. After running so well with five time five-second passes in the opening round of the Championship we did not forsee that a simple chain quality issue
could impede our success in each and every of the following events but I'm proud of the way my record-breaking team managed the issue despite the burden of the additional between-round maintenance
work. When we started this collaboration with Gulf Oil in building a world class machine some six years ago we could only dream about winning five consecutive Championships but thanks to their fantastic
support and world class oils and lubricants and the superlative products from our team of world class partners and sponsors the dream was realised. We couldn't have done it without their support and that
of Grand Prix Originals, my dream team of Michael Beaumont, Marius van der Zijden, Martin Brookman, Nick Pepper and Debbie King, Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes, my daughters Georgina and Alex, our f
riends and our awesome fans across the globe and for that I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. They are simply the best! I'd like to add a special mention to Eurodragster.com for their superb live event
coverage (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed), the officials and awesome track crews employed by Track Group Europe in providing us with world leading track preparation, safety and fabulous free live event
streaming, and I hope that the Championship will prosper to the benefit of all the great teams competing across Europe in the future."
The team followed up their European Championship victory with a successful attempt on a new FIM Land Speed Record for the standing start quarter mile in the partially streamlined up to 1600cc category
at Elvington Airfield.
For more information on the team visit www.gulfoildragracing.com, @kingracing on
Twitter, and the team's Facebook and YouTube pages. For more
information on Gulf Oil International visit www.gulfoilltd.com.
The Gulf Oil – GPO Dragracing team uses and endorses exclusively Gulf Oil greases and lubricants in their history-making machine. The team is extremely proud to be supported by many leaders in
their chosen markets in their endeavours to secure a tenth European Championship:
APE - The world's most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for drag bikes Bell Helmets - The most iconic name in helmets, since 1954 Cometic Gaskets - The premier manufacturer of racing gaskets Drift Innovation - Europe's leading source for action sports cameras Gates - The world's most trusted name in drive belts, hoses and hydraulics Goodridge - The original and the best in fluid transfer systems Grand Prix Originals - The brand for drive and lifestyle, past and present Graphite Additive Manufacturing - A leader in 3D printed technologies and rapid prototyping Gulf Oil International - The world's most iconic brand in automotive fuels and lubricants Hotrod Hangar– Home of the world renowned custom artist Knud Tiroch Hyperpro - The leading producer of progressive suspension products for motor bikes JE Pistons - The world's premier manufacturer of high performance forged pistons John and Dea Morgan Racing - The creators of the world's most advanced New Age Funny Bike Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc -The highest quality valve train components on the market King Racing - The most successful Top Fuel Bike team in European drag racing history Mickey Thompson Tyres - Simply the best drag race tyres in the world MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems MTC Engineering - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world NitroShutter - Europe's leading drag racing photo-journalists NCT Engineering - Manufacturer of the world's leading non contact torque sensors for motorsport NGK Spark Plugs UK - The world's number one spark plug manufacturer Pär Willen - Master webmeister and proprietor of HarleyDrags.com Portable Shade - The best custom branded collapsible canopies available Pro Alloy Motorsport - UK's leader in fabrication of alloy racing tanks, intercoolers and radiators Puma Engineering - Manufacturers of the world's most powerful motorcycle engines RSG Customize - The UK's most creative website designers and vinyl artists Supertough - Custom cases and covers for the Film, TV, Music and Motorsports Industries Spies Hecker - The world's leading supplier of paint for car, commercial and industrial finishing Tryka LED - The UK's cutting edge LED lighting manufacturer Van Es mobility - The leading manufacturer of telematic products for management of moving objects Vanson Leathers - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods Web Camshafts Inc - Simply the company for Top Fuel Bike camshafts Worldwide Bearings - The world's leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing Zodiac - Europe's largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts
Documenting history. 3rd October: Besides looking after events and race meetings at Shakespeare County Raceway
drag racing historian and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Selector Jerry Cookson has launched a new Facebook page
UK Drag Strips That Time Forgot! dedicated to former RAF airfields, motor racing circuits and the occasional public
road converted into temporary quarter and eighth mile drag strips and sprint tracks since the 1960s but now no longer in use.
"I took my inspiration for this page from frequent visits to the two American Facebook pages Lost & Forgotten Drag Strips and Drag Strips That No Longer Exist", says Jerry.
"Having driven past some of our country's abandoned RAF airfields recently I began to wonder just how many temporary drag and sprint tracks were created back in the day! We know of
some tracks in Ireland but how many were converted into temporary venues, and who ran them?"
So far the list includes more than eighty venues from the early 1960s researched and documented by Sprint historian Clive Rooms with not only details of events but how the airfields came about as well
as their construction by the RAF and the Ministry of Defence before or during WW2.
"If Eurodragster.com readers have any photos taken at any of these venues then please join the page and post your history-making contribution", adds Jerry. "Same goes for programme covers and
page content, promotional leaflets, magazine and newspaper articles, tickets, stickers, club badges or just general articles of interest which will be of benefit to this page. All are welcome and appreciated.
I have to thank Clive for his time spent researching and his encouragement.
"As we start to get more in-depth I want to start photographic albums for venues so that we can make the page into a valuable reference source of information to which everyone can contribute."
So far the page has been very well-received (It is excellent - Ed) with albums related to Aintree and Bitteswell added. The biggest input from members so far has been photos, from the Welsh Sprint
Society tracks at Pembrey and the Old Swansea Road at Merthyr to the PDRC's ill-fated Crosland Moor track from 1974. There is so much history about these venues which has been and needs to to be
preserved and documented wherever possible.
Editor's note: If anyone would like to put your News Editor out of his misery about Kenley Aerodrome being used for drag racing in the early 1970s, which he remembers but which no-one else
seems to recall, then please visit the above-mentioned Facebook page and post either evidence or a kindly-worded
rebuttal.
Web site updates. 3rd October: If you are a fan of our Webster
Race Engineering / Nimbus Motorsport webcasts then you might be
interested to read that we have a YouTube Channel featuring clips requested by racers, race officials or sponsors sellotape-edited
by your News Editor. The most recent additions, uploaded over this weekend, were the eight runs by the Rat Trap, Bradfords
Topolino and Havoc Fuel Altereds and the Apache Nostalgia FC at the recent FIA / FIM European Finals. You can check out
our YouTube Channel by clicking
here. To prevent an understandable influx of E-Mails the answer is no; we only have so many memory cards and they are overwritten
once Zeon TV are done with them.
Swift snippets. 1st October: No news update yesterday but overnight on Thursday Geof Stilwell of
British Drag Racing Hall of Fame sponsor
Beech Underwriting got in touch from Ohio
where he will be driving one of the Rat Trap Racing Land Speed cars in the Ohio Mile. "Following Bonneville we found a few issues",
said Geoff. "First was a cracked sump which we had to weld, then we put a new set of gears in the rear axl,e and then we found that the fuel regulator was leaking so that is
on overnight delivery to us in in Wilmington. So it was a late night and then we had the six-hour drive to Wilmington". A checkout pass planned yesterday (Friday).
Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding a tweaked final version of the official entry list for the Extreme Performance Bike
Weekend, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 15th-16th October. You can check out the Bike Weekend entry list by
clicking
here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com
page.
Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding the post-UK National Finals points
standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships including the final 2016 standings in car classes. You can check out the
UK National points on our OCS Paint-sponsored
Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS
Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Ian King tells us that post-UK National Finals points standings in the ACU UK Drag Racing Championships are now also
available on the King Racing web site at www.kingracing.com.
Michel Tooren and the Pro Dutch Racing Pro Modified team have published a
review of their weekend at the UK National Finals which you can check out by clicking here(Dutch-language
PDF).
Sweden's Sjödin Motorsport Top Doorslammer team had a successful end to their season with Personal Bests aplenty. You can
check out the team's full and very interesting report by
clicking here.
Very best wishes for a long and happy future to Lisa Bridge and UK Pro ET racer Glenn Pallant who are due to be
married today (Saturday).
Editor's note: Full news service will be resumed tomorrow. Keep the news coming to
news@eurodragster.com and we'll post it here.
Web site updates. 1st October: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with galleries from the recent NSRA Hot Rod Drags at Shakespeare
County Raceway. You can check out Mad's pictures at
www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.
31st October: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of
Eurodragster.com came with the words "New toys to learn and play with!". If you know more, or if you would like to
send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at
Tom Hoover began his drag racing career in the summer of 1962 and took the Top Fuel Dragster title at the
1965 AHRA Winternationals. He switched to Funny Cars in 1968 and it this class in which he really found fame.
Tom's cars were known for their fabulous looks as well as performance. He won five NHRA National Events and was
1976 AHRA Funny Car Champion. But in the UK we know him because we adopted him as a Brit when he raced extensively
at Santa Pod during the 1980s. Many of his cars had a second life in this country with different drivers. He always
has time for the fans which is why he is considered one of the most popular Funny Car racers of all time.
Cleveland based Gentleman Joe Schubeck is the drag racer who started Lakewood Products back in the
1960s – Lakewood being a suburb of Cleveland. He had to retire from racing for a while as the business grew but
George Hurst eventually persuaded him back in a car by promising that Linda Vaughn would be on his pit crew.
Joe is a former SEMA Board Member, a pioneer on the SEMA Safety Committee, and has been inducted into the SEMA
Hall of Fame for his dedication to creating products that make racing a safer sport. Lakewood Industries is now
a trademark of the huge Prestolite Performance business but Joe is still inventing parts for dragsters under
the name Schubeck High Performance Solutions, particularly for the Nostalgia scene. He also runs a classic blown
and injected 392 Chrysler Hemi nitro-burning slingshot which delights the fans at Nostalgia events.
GiGi Carleton was Robert E. Petersen's personal administrative assistant at Petersen Publishing Company
for over forty years. Before its sale in 1996, Petersen Publishing had thirty six monthly magazines in its stable
including Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Rod & Custom, Sports Car Graphic and Circle Track. Robert's wife Margie Petersen
and GiGi also formed Petersen Interiors & Designs and did all the design and purchasing for the company's sales
offices throughout the USA along with company-owned suites at many sporting venues in the U.S. GiGi continues
to work for the estate of Mr & Mrs Petersen and is President of the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation whose
mission is to fund cancer medical research, children's charities and support the world famous Petersen Automotive
Museum in Los Angeles. Mr & Mrs Petersen were the founding benefactors.
Johan Westberg.
Often called "America's Band", The Beach Boys are the number one-selling US band of all time. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame Class of 1988. Specifically the award is being made for the 1963 Album Little Deuce Coupe although they have featured
drag racing and hot rodding songs on many of their albums that have sold in excess of one hundred million copies. Little Deuce Coupe
includes numbers such as Car Crazy Cutie, 409, Cherry, Cherry Coupe, Our Car Club and Shutdown.
Del Worsham brought Chad Head over to meet me and we had a great chat - it was amazing to meet these guys! Chad brought beers over,
for my new best friend he said. After checking over the motor Jake saw that the crack we had in the crank was now too bad to rely on after
two shaky runs so we decided to swap short blocks as Gary had a crank, cam and geardrive in the spare block which meant it would be quicker
than swapping just a crank. The rain was heavy and as we had no awning Jake put the rods and pistons in block in the trailer before we lifted
the short motor in the rails at midnight. Gary went to put the fuel pump drive in, but bummer - some idiot had designed a 9/16 rather than the usual
5/8 fuel pump drive spud so we had to take the one off our old cam then re-degree the cam etc. So it ended up real late before we left drenched and
aching but close to being ready to race Shawn Langdon in the first round.
Up at 6:30 on Sunday morning, the weather was better but still pretty crap. We serviced car and fired up and, being the only team that does the nitro
whacks to seat the clutch, we got a standing ovation from the enthusiastic capacity crowd! As we were the sixth pair I saw all the top teams doing near
perfect runs and knew they weren't going to falter. After Aidan had me do a great burnout I knew I had to try something as Shawn is one of the best
leavers as well as qualifying with a 3.73! I took a wild shot at the Tree but it wasn't going to help, my terrible -0.200 red light made no difference to
Shawn's 0.045 lite and 3.71 ET but at least I got pictures ahead of him! See the
This weekend's Eurodragster.com / Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was
won by Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Aaron Fensome at the UK National Finals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer this weekend to
record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available during qualifying and eliminations in Pro Stock Bike, Funny Bike, Super
Street Bike, Comp Bike, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Junior Drag Bike, Supertwin Gas and ET Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the
event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Bad Habit Racing (Cath and Tig Napier, Pro ET).
"I took my inspiration for this page from frequent visits to the two American Facebook pages Lost & Forgotten Drag Strips and Drag Strips That No Longer Exist", says Jerry.
"Having driven past some of our country's abandoned RAF airfields recently I began to wonder just how many temporary drag and sprint tracks were created back in the day! We know of
some tracks in Ireland but how many were converted into temporary venues, and who ran them?"
