Pictures of Rob Carter and Matt Davison from Flame & Thunder.
There were several FWD cars hoping to run PBs and Matt "Mr Boost" Davison ran a PB of 9.7115/146.22 in his Honda Civic. Craig Evans took his Raggy Conversions Corsa to within 0.05s of his PB ET by running 9.6196/154.16. Rob Carter's Street Eliminator VW Passat ran a new PB of 8.4835/166.66. Congratulations and well done to all racers who braved the conditions yesterday.
Super Comp racer Allan Schofield's dragster was there for the final time under current ownership and on Sunday it was the turn of SPR marshal Darren Krauesslar to go behind the wheel and ran a creditable 9.9642/140.33 on his first time in the car.
There are other stories coming out of the final weekend of the year which we will be presenting in due course.
Swift snippets. 31st October:
Happy Birthday for today to former Top Fuel racer Pelle Lindelöw and to Jet and Super Comp racer Gerd Habermann, we hope you both have a fantastic day and see you at the track next year.
Drag racing historian Nick Pettitt has posted video of the 1993 European Drag Bike Championship held at Avon Park on his Youtube channel at this link. The footage lasts for almost two hours, a great trip down memory lane. A write-up of this event by Darren West can be seen at Chris Dossett's Trakbytes website if you search FIM Drag Bike, and see many racers who are still participating, and some whom are sorely missed. You can also see VWs and Outlaw Anglias at the 1995 Goodguys UK Brian Burrows Volksfest at Avon Park Raceway produced by Keith Taylor at First Image Video.
You can see complete timing data at ETSlips.co.uk thanks to the Santa Pod Raceway timing crew. Below we list the top quarter mile times of the day by vehicle:
In addition to the above, Martin Hill in Fireforce 3 and Roger Goring in Firestorm had a Jet Funny Car match race over 1000ft, Roger the victor 5.2344/237.76 to Martin's 5.6548/183.56.
Heavy rain overnight meant the Santa Pod Raceway track team had a gargantuan task to dry the waterlogged track and shutdown area in the morning. Once dried, the track produced some great times for the vehicles assembled and a few PBs, including Super Comp Bike racer Steve Howe's first seven, Brad Head's 8.17, ET Bike racer Anna Sasiak's 9.0 and FWD racer Ian Pepper's 10.1106/142.61. Several racers will be staying on to Sunday's RWYB which also includes the final Outlaw Street round for cars ineligible for nostalgia events earlier in the season.
You can see video of some of the action from Theo Thompson from the spectator banking at this Youtube link.
Swift snippets. 30th October:
A very Happy Birthday for today to Super Street Bike racer Stephen Mead, Outlaw Anglia racer Phil 'Ginner' Middleton, former Sportsman ET racer Sandie Gibb, German Pro ET Beetle racer André Nahler and Swedish Pro Mod racer Jan Brännvall. We hope you all have a great day.
Nimbus Motorsport's new website. 29th October:
Steve Clark of Nimbus Motorsport has announced a new website at www.nnimbusmotorsport.com to celebrate 30 years in business, with a special discount code for readers of Eurodragster.com. Thanks to Steve for continuing to support Eurodragster.com and congratulations on a successful 30 years trading. Steve writes:
Celebrating our 30th year in business we are thrilled to share our brand new website with you all. This new platform has lots of features to make it a much improved experience for everyone, we also have lots of new content lined up for the coming months celebrating the brilliant teams we work with and useful guides for our fantastic products.
We are UK importers for Torco advanced lubricants and have supplied these products into drag racing and other disciplines since we began 30 years ago, using the products for our own projects for more years prior to that. Only supplying products we trust and can recommend, we stock the full range of heat management products from Design Engineering Inc and Thermo-tec as well as the versatile Nimbus Heatshield materials.
To explore the above and more please check out the site, for the next couple of weeks use the code 30YearLaunch at the checkout to get 10% off your order.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed over the years in making Nimbus Motorsport what it is today, we look forward to many more years to come.
See Nimbus Motorsport and other Eurodragster.com sponsors at Autosport International from 12th-15th January 2023.
The second competition, Mälardalen #10, June 18th-19th unfortunately coincided with the big EDRS competition at Tierp, which made it look difficult at first as drivers, officials and the public might have chosen Tierp instead. There was a certain loss of competitors, but the 100 teams that chose Kjula produced a whopping 726 timeslips!
The third competition, Mälardalen #11, 6th-7th August, was really a success in every way! It rained heavily before but not a drop during the actual competition. This competition was a so-called "sound weekend" where zoomie headers were allowed. There were 141 teams on site producing 956 time cards.
There were 14 different vintage cars, some short, some tall, all gnarly. Organisers estimated that it was a crowd record at Kjula Dragway 2.0, now that they also had a motorcycle and a fine car parking lot.
The fourth competition, Mälardalen #12, 17th-18th September, was the final for the year 2022. Records were set in so many ways and on so many levels!
173 teams on site produced 1018 time cards! The weather was a bit unsettled with a light shower on Saturday but all teams were offered four qualifying rounds. No major clean-ups and a good flow made the competition a real success!
You can see the final points for the track championship at this link on the excellent Kjula Dragway website. Congratulations to champions and runners up as follows:
4 to 6 Pro: 1st place Björn Lundin, 2nd Kim Norgren, 3rd Jörgen Andersson
Real Street: 1st place Åke Törnqvist, 2nd Ulf Axelsson, 3rd Torgny Sundelius
Pro Street: 1st place Johan Hedman, 2nd Peter Almqvist, 3rd Patrik Nygren
Street: 1st place Benny Wallenbro, 2nd Emil Johansson, 3rd Micke Sahlin
Bracket: 1st place Fredrik Seth, 2nd Pål Axelsson, 3rd Anders Edin
Modified Street: 1st place Kalle Aurell, 2nd Lars Eriksson/Mats Jansson, 3rd Tommy Orest
Junior Dragster: 1st place Assar Lahti, 2nd Emil Eriksson, 3rd Elvira Hall
Outlaw 440: 1st place Fredrik Widerberg, 2nd Henrik Gustavsson, 3rd CG Nord
Pro Comp Bike: 1st place Jens Karlsson, 2nd Peter Rundström, 3rd Tony Andersson
Super Comp Bike: 1st place Thomas Nilsson, 2nd Peter Svensson, 3rd Anna Rosander
Super Gas Bike: 1st place Moa Nilsson, 2nd Joachim Westrin, 3rd Nils Lagerlöf
Gathojar (Street Riders): 1st place Fredrik Karpouzis, 2nd Kim Hilander, 3rd Mattias Bohlin
As well as the track championship, Kjula took part in the Doorslammer Tour where points were awarded for Real Street and Street for registered competitors competing in races at Malmö, Lindesberg and Mantorp as well as Kjula. Åke Törnqvist was Real Street champion with Martin Hagström Street champion.
You can see photography at the Facebook sites for accredited photographers Henrik Lindberg and Micke Falk.
If you are looking to see great sportsman drag racing action in Sweden just over an hour west of Stockholm, set your satnav to 635 06 Eskilstuna, Sweden on the following weekends in 2023:
Mälardalen Open #13: 27th-28th May
Mälardalen Open #14: 17th-18th June
Mälardalen Open #15: 5th-6th August
Mälardalen Open #16: 15th-17th September.
Swift snippets. 29th October:
A big Happy Birthday to Santa Pod Raceway PR and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame director Robin Jackson. Have a great day Robin from all of us at Eurodragster.com and your colleagues at the BDRHoF.
We also wish engine builder and Eurodragster.com sponsor Jeff and Belinda Bull of Jeff Bull Race Engines a Happy Anniversary for today.
Fuel altereds at CHRR gallery. 28th October:
Further to our race results and video links from the AA/FA competition at Famoso Dragstrip last weekend, thanks to Andy Willsheer for sending a gallery of images from the event organised as the swansong of Ron Hope's driving career, although we will undoubtedly see Ron at the track in future (left: Ron's final race in Rat Trap against son Brian in Pure Hell).
Andy has included two photos of the Problem Child Nostalgia Funny Car team of driver Billy Morris and owner Eddie Knox who is supporting the Hayley Hadfield appeal for Pancreatic Cancer UK and the Christie Hospital Manchester. Announcer Mike English also gave a mention of Hayley's fight with cancer on the Famoso Dragstrip PA at this link. Great to see that Hayley's appeal continues to attract international support following the NitrOlympX dedication by Gary Page and Benni Voss.
You can see Andy's photos, supported by Lucas Oil Products, at this link, or via news, then features from the main menu which brings up a list of all features published on Eurodragster.com since 1998.
Swift snippets. 28th October:
Happy Birthday to Nostalgia Funny Car racer Tony Betts who is on a tour of California and Nevada, taking in race meetings along the way, have a great day Tony from all of us at Eurodragster.com. Also Happy Birthday to all motor FWD racer Jorel Wells, enjoy your birthday Jorel.
Good luck and stay safe to the European racers who will be competing at the NHRA Nevada Nationals this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Expat Norwegian Julie Nataas will be hoping to bounce back from her DNQ a fortnight ago at the Texas Motorplex. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Rob Turner and Swede Ulf Leanders will be trying to get into the 16 car field with a full entry of 18 cars this race, fellow Swede Jonnie Lindberg also on the crew of Brian Hough. Markus Svensson will be competing in Stock Eliminator. You can follow the NHRA Nevada Nationals at www.nhra.com or www.dragracecentral.com.
"I’d also like to thank all the hard-working staff and officials at Santa Pod Raceway, Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster, along with the trackside photographers, journalists, and trackside support for supporting the championship and contributing to its ongoing and longstanding success.
"Thanks, and well done all!"
Swift snippets. 27th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Supercharged Outlaws racer Des Taylor, to Wild Bunch Racer Lee Hartnell who reaches the big four-oh and to former Top Methanol Dragster racer and team dad Paul Ingar Udtian, also a belated Happy Birthday for yesterday to Supercharged Outlaws racer Paul Watts. We hope you all have, or had, a great day.
Flame & Thunder preview. 26th October:
This Saturday, Santa Pod Raceway holds its Flame & Thunder season finale, and have lined up a great entry list. If you go to Kieran's Facebook Mk1Kieran video page you can see footage of several of the entries.
There will be five Jet cars including Martin Hill in Fireforce 3 (Funny Car) and Fireforce 5 (Dragster), with Roger Goring in the Firestorm Funny Car, Julian Webb in the Split Second dragster and Perry Watkins in Oklahoma Willy.
Eleven exhibition vehicles under the title Quick & Quirky include no less than six Drag Karts, the two minis of Nathan Dobson and Stuart Meads, the mini tractor of Danny Key, the turbine powered Jeep of Matt Wright and The World's Fastest Shed of Kevin Nicks.
Drag Car demos include 69 vehicles from most classes. There are will be representatives from Gasser Circus, Pro ET, Front Wheel Drive, Competition Eliminator, Street Eliminator, Outlaw Street, UK Nostalgia Superstock, VW Pro, Outlaw Anglia, Sportsman ET, 4 and 6 Cylinder, Junior Dragster, Taz Racing, Old Skool Fords and Run What Ya Brung racers.
Drag Bike demos are from Super Street Bike, Comp Bike, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, ET Bike and Run What Ya Brung racers. A full entry list can be seen at this link on the SPR website.
With much additional entertainment in the Live Arena, Live Stage, Drift Arena, Trials Bike Arena and Aero Display Arena booked into the programme, there will be something for all the family. After the track closes at 8pm, there will be a live band Slim 47 in Fuelers Bar. SPR's gates open at 8am on 29th October and you can get tickets at this link. Weekend Admission includes camping for Friday and Saturday night.
We plan to post a gallery from the event. Whilst there will not be a livestream from the event, you will be able to keep up with the commentary by following on Nitro FM.
TAFC rules changed by NHRA. 26th October:
NHRA has re-evaluated its rules for their Top Alcohol Funny Car class and made a number of revisions for 2023 in order to increase the number of competitors and make the class more attractive to the many cars that do not currently compete in the category.
Chief amongst these changes is the introduction of injected nitro funny cars, a combination last allowed by the sanctioning body in 1981. Injected nitro Funny Cars will feature a 2,300-pound (1,043kg) minimum weight, and will race at 5.35 pounds-per-cubic-inch with a maximum of 90 percent nitromethane. Their supercharged methanol burning counterparts race at 2,200-pounds (998kg) with roots superchargers and 2,300lb for screw blowers and a 5.00 pounds-per-cubic-inch weight break. Engine capacities will be set at 456ci for injected nitro, 528ci for screw blown cars and 565ci for roots supercharged cars.
Discussions between the racers and NHRA Top Alcohol Rules Committee Chairman Josh Hamming concluded that changes need to me made for the class to increase participation in the class. Notwithstanding that issues of parity may arise with differing combinations in the same class, as was the case with Pro Stock in the 1970s, the introduction of the new unblown nitro combination is somewhat unusual in that no active teams have undertaken a successful testing programme with the new combo. In connection with this we note the clutch rules for the new combo is a manually operated four disc clutch (three discs are allowed for supercharged cars) which is seen as a tricky area for tuning by their A/FD cousins.
Other changes to the 2023 TAFC rules may indeed have a bigger impact on the size of fields. Bodies from 1969 or newer will be accepted (currently the cutoff is 2000). Electronic fuel injection and 'two step' ignition devices will be permitted, also billet roots superchargers will be allowed.
Josh Hamming stated the NHRA "wants to help grow the class and keep it interesting for both the racers and the fans," a laudable goal, as many cars that are eligible are racing on the eighth mile Funny Car Chaos and quarter mile California Independent Funny Car Association, however we believe many would struggle to be competitive with current NHRA front runners. For European teams, the new rules may be considered for 2024 introduction by the FIA, let's hope they will allow some of the Funny Cars stored in Europe to be converted to the new specs, although running these spectacular cars is neither easy or cheap.
Nathan Freke (pictured top right) wrote on his Barney the Purple MR2 Facebook page "We managed to get 3 runs in today. We had a small clutch issue that made launches inconsistent and on the last run it caught me out so managed to short shift 1-2 then also through other gears. Ended with 8.41 @ 176mph. It’s been nice to get back out and we hope weather is better next weekend where we can build on this and dial those times down."
Sean Maclaren (pictured right) from Stirling in Scotland got his street driven Audi TTRS down into the eights thanks to the help of Ecotune and we look forward to see him running in 2023, possibly in VW Heads Up?
Mart Dainty overcame his problems at the Sports Compact Shootout, including a broken hub carrier in his first run, to run a new PB of 9.7371/149.06, also enjoying side by side racing with fellow FWD racer Craig Evans who was in the 9.8s in his Corsa. Another FWD racer Ant Mincher in his VW Golf Ml1 ran a new PB of 10.031/142.03. Well done on the new PBs guys and good luck at the Flame & Thunder Show where there will be FWD demos.
John Floyd's Yamaha RD engine in his former Super Twin Gas bike (pictured below left) is a mobile demo of his work in two stroke tuning and engine building through his business Floydyracing.com which is based in Hastings, East Sussex.
Anna Sasiak from The 'Rents go Racing Team tested their new Hayabusa (pictured above right, photo by Bob Long) and the team were delighted with their result: "Great day testing the new bike, couldn't have been better. Jake from JKE Race Works put in a base clutch setting in the Gen 2 clutch and a base map in the Maxx ECU. Did 3 runs and learned a hell of a lot from the data logging, every run was faster than the last. So watch out for PB's at Flame and Thunder!" Anna thanks all that helped create the new bike including JKE Race Works, BTC Moto, Big CC Racing, Suzuki Performance Spares and Warp Speed Racing.
Swift snippets. 25th October:
Happy Birthday for today to longtime Eurodragster.com supporter and Top Methanol Dragster crew member Gittli Kürten, Super Pro ET team mum Kirsty Giles, Super Pro ET racer Joe Kellett, Top Fuel team owner and former racer Urs Erbacher and VW Pro racer Michael Mooney. Here's hoping you are all having a great day.
The latest video posted by Simon Letkey on the Veedubracing Youtube Channel is footage of Taylor's Trophy Supper Street Bike at the National Finals. You can see the action by clicking here.
The results of the Fuel Altered sessions were as follows:
Session 1
James Generalao Jnr (Impatient) 6.210/225.67 vs. Johnny West (Plan A) 6.421/167.95
Tom Padilla (Red Dragon) 6.146/200.95 vs. Kyle Hough (Nanook) 6.529/172.30
Shawn Callen (High Heaven) 6.492/202 vs. Jeff Bennett (Pure Heaven) 8.628/129.63
Dylan Winefsky (Nitro Moose) 6.526/190.22 vs. Brian Hope (Pure Hell) 14.488/61.26
Randy Bradford (Bradfords) 14.488/61.26 vs. Ron Hope (Rat Trap) 7.739/129.24
Rodney Flournoy (Godzilla) 8.117/112.03 bye
Session 2
Kyle Hough 6.905/143.16 vs. James Generalao Jnr 7.012/139.75
Johnny West 6.092/211.26 vs. Dylan Winefsky 6.317/216.06
Jeff Bennett 6.523/214.62 vs. Rodney Flournoy 6.802/200.50
Shawn Callen 6.348/203.55 vs. Randy Bradford 7.270/171.14
Tom Padilla 6.341/151.87 bye
Brian Hope 6.270/228.07 vs. Ron Hope 7.698/171.49
Third/fourth place
Brian Hope 6.296/222.58 def. James Generalao Jnr 6.581/220.48
Final
Johnny West 6.064/217.39 def. Tom Padilla 6.705/150.08
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Ron for organising the event, as he has with many previous Fuel Altered races at the CHRR. We hope to see you back at the track and this side of the Pond soon Ron.
Other classes
To tune into video of racing for other nostalgia nitro classes, you can follow the links to Nostalgia Funny Car qualifying session 1 (Friday), session 2 (Friday) and session 3 (Saturday) with eliminations round 1 (Saturday), round 2, semi final and final.
Photo: Ron Hope at 2018 California Hot Rod Reunion.
Swift snippets. 24th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Santa Pod Thrill Ride crew member Baron Sharpe, Nostalgia Funny Car crew Kerry Fowler and former Pro Stock Bike racer Kenneth Holmberg. We hope you all have a great day.
Tonight on Draglist Live, you can see Funny Car and Top Fuel legend Roland Leong being interviewed by Draglist.com's Bill Pratt, Roland visiting the UK for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame gala in 2017 and also Dragstalgia 2019 where he entertained Tony Betts' Venom team and those of us who were lucky enough to meet him. You can catch Roland's interview at this link on Facebook. The starting time is 1am UK time, however you can catch up with the show after transmission.
Tom Hoover. 23rd October:
We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Funny Car and Top Fuel legend Tom Hoover on Saturday.
Born in Minnesota, Tom's introduction to drag racing came as part of a family team after dad and crew chief George ("Pa") and mum Ruth ("Ma") bought a Dragmaster gas dragster in 1962, running the supercharged engine on nitro from August 1963. The next Hoover car built by Rod Stuckey was a AA/FD which the family toured in 1964 and won his first National event, the AHRA Winter Nationals at Beeline in 1965. Another two new cars came in 1965 from Woody Gilmore, the first stolen from the team but the second known as "The Fishbowl", a beautiful machine. Tom started getting a lot more ink after a successor car ran a Ford Cammer engine and competed in the small number of NHRA National Events in that era.
The family team switched to Funny Cars in 1970 with a Gilmore built car supported by his local White Bear Dodge dealership. His first car was one of the most beautiful of a large number running a late model Chrysler engine. It was said Tom was claustrophobic when the body was first lowered on him, but he quickly acclimatised. From 1974 he named his cars Showtime and with them he won many races.
International racing appealed to Tom after contact with the Phelps family, and he made his debut at Santa Pod Raceway at the September 1980 World Finals, not in Showtime, but in the Blue Max, substituting for Raymond Beadle. Tom went quick immediately in the unfamiliar car got through to round two when he was defeated by John Andersson. In 1981 he brought his Jaime Sarte-built Corvette to Santa Pod, running it in the 6.3s and returned to race it in subsequent years, the car being stored in the UK and ultimately sold. He later brought over his '85 Pontiac Trans Am which was later campaigned successfully by John Spuffard and Gary Page.
It was Tom's friendship with winner of the first Cannonball Bill Sherratt that resulted in him coming to the UK frequently, Tom also racing in Australia, Canada and Mexico during his career. Tom raced through to 1999 and Pa George was his crew chief into his late eighties.
Tom had many honours in his long career and was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2014.
We were fortunate to see him in 2017 at the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala where the years dropped away and he retold stories of his racing career of decades earlier.
We send our deepest condolences to Betten, Tom's wife of nearly 50 years, their children Paige, who accompanied him on visits to the UK, Troy and Landon and family and friends.
Photo credits: portrait of Tom: Tog, Showtime in SPR pits: Dave Mann
Pictured: left, Sally Woolner at Hot Rod Drags, right, Simon Paul at Fast Show Reloaded.
Awards for winners are determined for three competitions. The most improved ET award in round 8 (Melbourne Raceway) was Martin Rawlinson in his Challenger with an improvement on his last round of 0.8635secs to net a 11.5552 @123.19mph (the time converted from 1/8 mile to a notional quarter mile), Martin won £50 prize money and a winners certificate by Design by Binnie. Biggest improvement over the whole season so far has been Pete Lane with a 1.8595 improvement in round 5 (Mopar Euro Nationals).
Each season Outlaw Street awards a trophy for the fastest 4/6 cylinder car of the year, at round 8 this was Simon Paul with a converted 11.147 @ 140.97mph, who scored the quickest for each event, his best being 10.3108 @ 138.11mph in round 6 (VW Action). The trophy for the quickest V8 of the year could be going to Sally Woolner with quickest timeslips at six events and quickest of 8.2222 @ 166.06mph at round 7 (Hot Rod Drags). The most recent round at Melbourne saw Ian Walley's Cortina score the quickest ET with a converted 9.9852 @ 151.13mph.
So good luck to all competitors for this weekend, and we will report on the final results of the season which will be presented at the series Prize Night on 12th November.
Swift snippets. 22nd October:
Happy Birthday to Top Fuel Bike racer and 2022 FIM-E Champion Rikard Gustafsson, FIM-E official Job Heezen, Comp Eliminator racer Robin Sattler and Super Comp racer Andre Müller. We hope that you all have a fantastic day.
Webmaster for U.S. site We Did It For Love and former Top Fuel racer Don Ewald has announced that WDIFL.com, one of the longest running drag racing photo and history sites, will be co-presented with Dave Bellaver into the future, and Don with Dave are hosting a promotional booth at the California Hot Rod Reunion (on the midway near the AAA tent if you are there) this weekend and Nitro Revival on 5th-6th November. Whilst the site has a subscription area it has plenty of free stuff for new users to sample.
Class 9.10: Mark Taylor 9.16/161 def. David Storrie (pictured) 9.65/147 Oldschool USB Stock: Mickey Blackburn 10.81/131 def. Dan Leather 11.43/121 Oldschool USB Modified: Roy Chappell 10.11/142 def. Alan Seeley 11.59/118 Oldschool USB 2-Stroke: Rob Briers, uncontested Nostalgic Pro Stock: Richard Peachey 14.00/97 def. Chris Spry, broke Straightliners No Mercy Shootout: Leigh Williams (9.80) 10.20/121 def. Dave Grundy 11.40/123 Scooters No Mercy Shootout: Ade Horrocks (12.95) 12.88/98 def. Mike Pacey (15.94) 15.18/88 Juniors: Jack Taylor (19.91) 20.21/57 def. William Mountford (19.96) 19.74/60 breakout
Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Straightliners championships:
Car champions
Pro Extreme Car: Pete Youhill Pro ET: Bob Molden Sportsman ET: Pete Eborall
Bike and scooter champions
Class 6.00: David Storrie Straightliners No Mercy Shootout: Phil Tomlinson Juniors: William Mountford Oldschool USB Stock: Mickey Blackburn Oldschool USB 2-Stroke: Rob Briers Nostalgic Pro Stock: Claire Rule Race Legends: Colin Fallows Scooters: Eric Cope
The racing was held in partly sunny conditions with qualifying being run in the morning and eliminations in the afternoon.:
Complete lists of ETs and speeds recorded on Sunday, including a sizeable British and European RWYB bike contingent, are available at this link.
Swift snippets. 21st October:
Happy Birthday for today to drag bike crew member Baz Rathbone, UK Nostalgia Superstock racers Richard Granger and Paul Smaile and VWDRC racer Stacey Fenton. A belated Happy Birthday to Ruaridh Hart for yesterday. Hope you guys have, or had, a great day.
For those wishing to watch the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, which takes place this weekend, a stream will be on the Youtube channel DragRacer.tv from 21st-23rd October.
Phil Kenyon (Chief Scrutineer) has been carrying out work on behalf of racers, looking at re-certification dates across SFI and FIA safety gear, and has come up with a comparison list which you can see by clicking on this link.
If an item on the list is dual-certified, as long as one of the certifications is still valid, the item can be used.
For example, a driver restraint system with an out-of-date SFI label but an in-date FIA label will be ok.
Further information will follow regarding re-cert of SFI-only head and neck restraints.
Trakbytes update. 20th October:
Thanks to Trakbytes webmaster Chris Dossett for a further update to his site, the prime source on the web for history of the sport in the UK:
"The Trakbytes website has been updated with
23 entries this time, spanning thirty years from 1962 to 1992. I failed
to notice on the last the last update (because it never occurred to me
to count them) that the number of entries in the main yearly archive has
just passed the 1000 mark! I had no idea 24 years ago, when I started
putting together a list of notable events in the history of British Drag
racing for my own interests, that it would grow into something as
extensive as this. My thanks to the fans, racers, friends and family
who, over the years, have helped by contributing material. There are
still plenty of gaps and so if anyone can help fill them all
contributions will be most gratefully received. Race reports, individual
results, singular personal achievements, programme covers, entry lists,
all are welcome.
"Included in this latest update: the next volume of The Retford
Scrapbooks has been uploaded. This one contains material from the first
half of 1974. There are also details of some American bikes at the
Dragfests, Keith Parnell’s accidental combination of scrambling and Drag
Racing at Martlesham, a new entry on the Santa Pod Bike Strip Records
page, Roz Prior’s first drive in a fuel car, Two new Fuel Altereds at
the 1987 Big Go and much more. I have also addressed the recurring error
regarding the terminal speed of Sammy Miller’s Vanishing Point on that
record run at the 1984 Cannonball, and I think I may know where the
misleading information began."
Congratulations to Chris for keeping the site live, and ever more comprehensive, for 24 years, and we look forward to many updates in the future. You can send him updates on chris@trakbytes.co.uk.
Swift snippets. 20th October:
Happy Birthday to Super Pro ET racer Peter Lane, we hope you have a great Birthday Peter as you celebrate your special day.
Pictures: event winner Richard Peachey (left), 2022 champion Claire Rule (right), photographed at Dragstalgia 2022.
"In the semi's Chris Spry run his bye on the other side of the ladder going 10.22@123mph. In the other semi Claire lined up against Richard, but with Claire having a remote starter not playing ball and failing to make the run, this left Richard a guaranteed place in the final. However, Richard's hot creeping clutch inched him forward to a red light (which still beat Claire's no show), and he took another leisurely bye run 12.3915/113.92mph!
"So this shaped the final round to be Richard up against Chris, both of whom had managed to get there without a rider in their opposing lanes in either quarters or semi's. Then, as it turned out, the gremlins struck yet again, only this time on poor Chris who had clutch problems immediately after the burnout and was unable to stage, so Richard breezed through to take the win 14.0098/97.77mph in one of the weirdest war of attrition races we've seen in OSS. Well done Richard, reliability and tenacity bought home the trophy!"
Congratulations to Claire Rule for taking this year's Old School Stockers Championship for her third year in a row with Kev Melling in runner-up position. You can see the final points table in our points page at this link or via News, then Points Standings from the main menu.
Kev concluded "Well done to everyone who participated, and hoping we manage to get a few more join the mayhem next year!"
Melbourne Raceway announce 2023 dates. 19th October:
Melbourne Race have announced their 2023 calendar:
15th-16th April
13th-14th May
17th-18th June
15th-16th July
5th-6th August
16th-17th September (changed from 9th-10th)
7th-8th October
Further information will be announced as received, but don't miss the Northern Swap Meet at the track this Sunday from 09:00-14:00.
Greek championship hots up at Agrinio Raceway. 19th October:
The event at Agrinio Raceway on 14th-16th October had the largest quantiry of 6s and 7s quarter mile times that have ever taken place in Greece. Despite the difficult rainy conditions that prevailed until Saturday morning, the organization and teams gave their best in terms of track preparation and competition, and the result was a race that will go down in history.
A record entry with 150 entries in all categories, very strong competition and many surprises, in some classes it became like a real war.
Many national and personal records were broken, including that of Konstatin Dinev from Bulgaria who set a world record of 7.222/315.23kph as the fastest Audi AWD in the world!
Some of the best times were the 6.930/298.50 of Grigoris Kyrou (Super Pro bike runner-up), the best motorcycle time that has ever been run in Greece, also the 6.949/295.32 and 6.945/304.56 by Dimitrios Gkosios (Super Pro bike winner), the only Greek drag bike racer who has entered the 6s three times locally, the awesome Panhellenic Super Street Bike record of 7.128/311.68 and 7.186/302.01 by Sam Mavrommatis, winner of Super Street Bike in a competitive field of 15 bikes, also the very strong 7.127/306.38 of Bilas Haris (Super Street Bike runner-up).
In the index car classes, the 8.944/266.07 of Savvas Petropoulos with his FWD Corsa could have been improved, but he suffered from minor problems. the #1 qualifying 7.769/279.72 of Yiannis Pasxalis for the Real Street bike category, 7.596/290.08 of Xristos Agapidis for Pro Street 2 #1 qualifier, 8.460/251.39 of Simos Elafris Pro Street 2 #1 qualifier and winner, and many from other categories were outstanding.
You can see qualifying and ladders on the Proaction Racing website at this link (Word document). The stream of the event can be seen on the Youtube channel of SportalTV
For more photos see the Agrinio Raceway Facebook page.
Final stop for the 2022 Panhellenic Drag Racing Championship is on 11th-13th November, again at Agrinio Raceway.
Swift snippets. 19th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Santa Pod Raceway marshal Phil Brown, former Pro Stock racer Jonas Dantanus, former Palladin Lotus racer Martyn Potter. Have a great day guys.
For some great onboard drag bike footage click here for a Youtube video of testing and development of the snowmobile-engined drag bike built by Jerry Collier's Projoint Fabrications, ridden and owned by Steve Cope of TK Cope Moto.
Head and Neck Restraint Systems with SFI only specs for sportsman racers will expire 5 years after the manufacturing date; if your restraint is of FIA spec then there is no expiry date and providing they are in serviceable condition they have no life date. If you own a Simpson Head restraint it may have both SFI and FIA certification, this remains legal regardless of the SFI date as the FIA date allows for use beyond the SFI certification.
If you have a Head restraint with only SFI certification you must at the 5 year expiry either have the head restraint re-certified (currently by the manufacturer) or purchase a new Head Restraint, if you are in the position of requiring to purchase a new item, should you purchase a Simpson Head Restraint, you can ask that the FIA sticker is also added (there may be a small charge) but this will then give the extended life to the Head Restraint, alternatively purchase an FIA unit therefore removing the expiry date altogether.
Added to GSR 10.5 will be: "Harnesses homologated by the FIA will display the FIA hologram on the left shoulder strap (as sat in the car)."
Sportsman Fire suits
Any Driver currently using an FIA 8856-2000 Fire suit is reminded that the suit's ten year expiry date comes in on the 1st January 2023, please check your FIA suit date as you may need to update the suit before competition begins in 2023.
Class designations
Class designations for ET Classes are not currently listed in the Rule Book; from 2023 onward the ET designation will be:
Super Pro: S/Pro followed by your race number Pro ET: Pro/Et followed by your race number Sportsman ET SP/ET followed by your race number
Balaclavas
Drivers using a Head and Neck restraint will in 2023 be required to wear a Balaclava under their helmet, as we no longer use neck braces in vehicles that utilise full harnesses and head restraints, this leaves a gap between the fire suit and the helmet, therefore an FIA 8856-2000 / 8856-2018 or SFI spec 3.3 Balaclava will be required, the exception being if you have a SFI 3.3 skirted helmet that covers the gap between the helmet and suit.
The Rule book will be updated to reflect these updates in 2023.
Nitro Revival preview. 18th October:Nitro Revival is now only just over two weeks away and if anyone is travelling to it or looking at a last minute booking, here is a reminder of what is on offer.
Nitro Revival takes place at Irwindale Raceway from 4th-6th November, with the first day dedicated to set-up and participant parking. At 5pm on Friday there will be a Meet 'n Greet Social Gathering with In-N-Out Cookout, followed by a memorial to two greats of the sport we have recently lost, Dave McClelland and Bill Schultz who will be honoured posthumously.
On Saturday 5th November the gates will open at 6am to participants and 7am to spectators, with on track action starting at 9am with time trials, fun runs, A/FX & Gasser qualifying, Cackle Car push starts, exhibition runs and fire-ups in the pits. At 12:15 there will be a Nitro Exhibitions, Wheelstander & Push Start Session, with an autograph session at 1pm, Nitro Revival Honoree introductions and evening festivities of the "Line of Fire" Cackle Car Static Starts being introduced at 17:30.
Sunday's on track activities start at 10am until 4pm with Nitro Exhibitions & Wheelstander Exhibition Runs at 12:15 and 15:00 and eliminations for Gassers, A/FX, & others between 12:30 and 17:00.
Honorees for induction who will be present include Gas Ronda, Doc Conroy, Jim London, Stan Adams, Charlie Allen, Bill Schultz and the trio known as “The Sour Sisters,” Don Ratican, Don Gaide and Kenny Safford. You can see biographies of them at this link on the excellent nitrorevival.com website.
On display and cackling will be 73 historic nitro burning cars, making for a truly memorable experience, with over 115 personalities, characters
and other drag racing royalty. Amongst the 33 members of the media present will be Andy Willsheer who will be providing photos to us which we will post on Andy's return to Blighty. Our Nitro Revival sponsor Geoff Stilwell will also be present a week before he takes to El Mirage near Los Angeles to attempt to set a new class record of over 250mph over a mile on the dry lake bed.
Schmidt announces link with Lencsés. 18th October:
Super Street Bike racer Margot Schmidt from the Netherlands has announced a tie-up with the record setting team of Dániel Lencsés from Hungary for 2023:
"We have teamed up with Brothers Racing from Hungary, the drag racing team from Dániel Lencsés. The fastest man on a 68” Super Street Bike in the world.
This weekend we took our bike to his amazing Hungarian workshop and started making plans for the 2023 season! We also started to make some changes on the bike, it’s going to be a good one.
"We can’t thank Dani and Rita Lencsés-Kántor enough for this amazing opportunity, very very thankful!"
JT raffling Pro Mod start up. 18th October:
Santa Pod announcer Colin Theobald has been fundraising apace for the charities Pancreatic Canver UK and the Christie Hospital through the SPRC Auction for Hayley Hadfield’s chosen charities Facebook page. The raffle, for which you can buy tickets through the page, includes many treasurable items and experiences and Eurodragster.com sponsor John Tebenham has just announced a superb opportunity to be included:
"We auctioned off one of my sumps which a con rod went through at the Hayley Hadfields auction. So me being me and probably not a normal man. I am going to offer a start up in the beautiful The Fabulous Lightning McQueen. The throttle will not be contacted but starting one of these babies up is crazy. We will run the car for about a minute to do checks. Also I can’t believe how mad these are when you stand outside, I love it.
"So the raffle prize winner gets to sit in my pro mod and fire it up, probably at the Doorslammers. The crew will teach you how to start it and at any time you want out, we will turn it off. I tried to buy a couple of pro mods but no one would let me start them up, mad as I know I would have brought them. This is a once in a lifetime chance. These cars cost over £250k to build. Most of my crew have started my blue car so it’s not all about me as a driver."
The prize includes free t-shirts, posters and an evening barbecue and drinks for one night with The Fabulous Lightning McQueen team.
You can buy tickets to the Hayley Hadfield charity raffle for £5 each, limited to two tickets per person at this link and messaging Colin. Payment can be made at this link.
Swift snippets. 18th October:
Photographer Ashley Dale has posted an album of pictures from the Melbourne Raceway Season Finale 2022 which you can see by clicking here.
The Youtube channel Shoestring Motoring has posted a 52 minute review of the 2022 NSRA Hot Rod Drags which you can see by clicking here. Also included on their channel are reviews of 2022 Dragstalgia and Nostalgia Nationals.
"The whole event is a giant show & shine with around 1000 amazing cars. All participants are considered for the award ceremony Saturday evening!
Cars in motion is poetry to us and since the venue is the Gardermoen International Raceway we enjoy seeing some of the fastest nostalgic racers there are on the track! You can expect to see everything from Schwimmwagens to the fastest pan-car on the planet, also known as the Skinne Beetle.
You will find stock cars, rally cars, custom, cal-lookers and home-built monster race cars. SCC is the place big dogs go to prove their worth!
Pictures by Roger Iversen: Jens Petter Brandstorp (who ran quickest ET of 8.1383/282.02kph in 2022's event) and Morten Tønnessen.
"Friday night the Screwdrivers club host their annual T-Bar-B-Q and serve burgers and beer, this is a tradition as old as the event itself.
The SCC is focused around letting people use their cars and having fun, that’s why we also arrange a slalom competition on site where everyone can participate. Saturday night we welcome all to a live concert and the there will be a DJ playing in the big tent for those that want to party the night away.
"You will also find the best swap-meet on site, and big vendor shops with parts and special discounts for the weekend. There is catering on hand with great food and drinks so you don’t have to have a BBQ unless you want to. Long after the smell of track bite is gone you will remember the friendly atmosphere!"
The cash day prize is an innovation for 2023. The organisers say "The trend of cash days has been a craze for years in the United States. And we are now bringing it to SCC and the Volkswagen community! We will invite the 32 fastest cars in Europe to fight it out at SCC 2023.
"To be eligible you must have a recent time slip with a ET that lands you within the 32 spots. The competition is hard, but the reward is substantial. The competition boils down to a mix of fast car, the ability to perform when it counts and the luck of the draw. The first 16 pairs are drawn, and and proceed to race. The winners draw again to produce eight pairs, and race. This repeats until there are only two drivers left. The winner of the last race takes home 5000 euro! And the second place gets 1000 euro!
"There is no additional fee to enter SCC cash days and you can sign up at this link to become a "Flywheeler" and join the fun."
Swift snippets. 17th October:
Happy Birthday to 2022 ACU Top Fuel Bike champion Neil Midgley, have a great day Neil!
For fans of Malta's 4-cylinder dragsters who are on Facebook, a page dedicated to these exceedingly quick cars has been set up at this link which gives details of drivers and powerplants. Now if we can only get them to enter the same race for a full ladder...
Artist and photographer Carol Rule has been doing a sterling job of writing up Santa Pod Raceway nostalgia drag racing events for the U.S. web site Nostalgia Drag World, and you can see her latest work on the NSRA Hot Rod Drags at this link.
Thundergod to rest in 2023. 16th October:
Supercharged Outlaws racer Des Taylor has announced that the Thundergod altered he drives and is owned and tuned by Duncan Beard, will be on the sidelines for 2023 as Duncan battles a debilitating (but not life threatening) illness:
"Duncan has been unwell now for a while and after Tuning Thundergod to consecutive personal bests at every meeting for 2 years the 2022 season has proved challenging.
"The cumulative effects of ill health, lack of finance, working a full time job and then having to start working on the car on a night has taken its toll. I used to work on the car with Duncan 3 nights a week and weekends but since I moved South over a year since Duncan has been struggling to do everything mainly alone.
"In spite of this Duncan got the car to the track and achieved his dream of driving a blown methanol dragster and whilst a novice driver he was rewarded with a 8 second run (see picture below) and was over the moon.
Duncan has also tuned the car to allow me to run a string of seven second runs and 180 plus mph terminals which is amazing as he had never touched a blown big block Chevy engine before.
"This year it became obvious to me that Duncan was really struggling and I now realise that having a driver who never wants to get beat and expects the car to run faster every meeting was putting even more pressure on him for which I am sorry.
At my age every run counts and people who know me, know I ain't just there for the barbecue...
"Duncan allowed me to extend my racing career and add 7 second blown methanol altered driver to my CV, for which I will always be forever grateful.
Together we have achieved everything we set out to do.
"The main thing now is Duncan needs to rest and get better and who knows in 6 months time he may feel like doing a couple of meetings next year but that will be entirely dependent on his health, finding a local crewman and me taking the financial burden off his shoulders and finding the funds to cover the £500 costs to run an event which will certainly help him enormously."
Duncan issued the following statement:
"I have decided to not run the Thundergod next season. I'm not selling it yet, the plan is to park it up for a year and see how I feel after that. It's something I've been thinking about since early last winter. For the last 2 years I have suffered with a chronic physical health issue which has prevented me from doing a lot of things or made them less enjoyable. I need a physical, mental and financial rest.
"I'm really glad that we got involved with the Supercharged Outlaws, I've met a lot of interesting, funny, nice & helpful people. I'm really proud that I've kept the car going fast & reliable on a budget and I've learned a hell of a lot along the way. I was hoping to get Des into the low 7s & myself into the high 7s but we were a meeting short of getting it sorted. At least I got the high-speed tuned enough to pull the terminals up at the last meet! Plus I did run a few mid 8s myself at Dragstalgia which was awesome. Thanks to everyone who has helped us with parts & advice, I'm sure I will be at some meetings next season as a spectator. Thanks to all the team: Des, Karen, Gilly, Amanda & Matt. See you all next year, Duncan."
Swift snippets. 16th October:
Webmaster of ukdrn.co.ukJon Spoard has posted his review of the FIA/FIM-E European finals, including a large number of excellent photos. You can see Jon's review by clicking here.
Malta Drag Racing Association secretary Konrad D'Anastasi has announced that the 130 vehicle limit for entry to the Malta Drag Racing Association 2022 finale to be held on 17th-20th November (pre-race RWYB on 5th November). Entry includes UK racers Sean Prout in his Smurf FWD Honda Civic, Terry Newton's FWD Escort Van and Steve Jennerway's Mk2 Escort. We plan to publish a spotter's guide in advance as well as galleries from the event
Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the Thrust SSC team setting the World Land Speed Record of 763.035mph - making it the first and only car to reach speeds faster than the speed of the sound. You can watch the team's official video marking the event by clicking here.
Commiserations to Top Alcohol Dragster racer Julie Nataas who was bumped from the tough TAD field in the Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex yesterday. She wrote: "We are no.18 after qualifying and for the first time in my career I’m not qualified to race.
We were sitting 16th going in to our last qualifier this morning. As a driver, I wanted to improve our ET as much as possible so I made sure to stage shallow. The light blinked once before I had a solid and was staged. Well I got a red light, and not because I left before the tree came down, so I was confused but stepped on it. We made a good run! I came to learn that I was given no time for my run because I flickered the light.
Thanks NHRA for...including sportsman racers in your email about the difference in the timing system at this track, I flickered the light just as much as the Pro drivers (even if I was fully staged). And thank god we’re not in the championship chase! See ya in Vegas." We look forward to seeing Julie rebound at Las Vegas where our roving reporter Andy Willsheer will be on hand to ascertain that all is in order.
Photo credit: Pascal Koch
Super Comp saw Michael Maderer qualify #1 in his BMW 8 series at 9.751/270.68kph, however two successive breakouts in eliminations (the first a 8.676/281.25 against a no-showing Sebastian Laskowski) saw Gerd Habermann take the event win and championships. In Super Gas, Andre Nahler, who impressed us greatly with his gearshifting technique at the Euro Finals, ran his Beetle to 10.134/214.93 to qualify first of three, but was defeated by Stephan Blauwitz's Camaro in the final.
14 cars qualified for Junior Dragster with Liam McDonald getting pole position with a 0.028 reaction time. In eliminations, Liam went out to eventual runner up in round 2. Winner Thore Wolf defeated Mia Thorna in round 1 and Mia-Joline Hanke in round 2, then Julian Guttzeit in the semi final. Junior Drag Bike had six competitors and Eric Spanowski stayed ahead of the quicker Marie-Madleen Rosen.
In the other bike classes, 8.50 Bike was the largest field with 18 bikes qualifying and Clemens Walleit was #1 with 8.701/266.67, Clemens an occasional runner in Super Street Bike. Clemens reached the final where Torben Frahm was the victor, the only other bike in the 8.5s in eliminations. ET Bike had 14 qualifiers with Johan Rijs #1 at a +0.033 9.033/243.24. Eventual winner Jan Kamberg defeated a breaking-out Johan in the semi finals and new champion Rainer Hescher in the final.
We also congratulate champions of German drag racing series (all German racers except where indicated), for which we are grateful to Andrea for supplying details:
DMSB Drag Racing Pokal (official ASN Cup in Germany)
Super Pro ET: Winner: Frank Römer, 2nd Place: Thierry Senges (FR), 3rd Place: Franz Aschenbrenner (DE) Super Comp: Winner: Gerd Habermann, 2nd Place: Enrico Bailo (IT), 3rd Place: Arndt Putzmann Super Gas: Winner: Stephan Blauwitz, 2nd Place: Marianne Wisotzke, 3rd Place: Oscar Scappocin (IT) Pro ET: Winner: Armin Widmann, 2nd Place: Janine Petzold, 3rd Place: Ronnie Mercer (UK) Sportsman ET: Winner: Maurice Heller (DE) Super Comp Bike: Winner: Tim Christensen (SE), 2nd Place: Brad Head (UK) ET Bike: Winner: Rainer Hescher, 2nd Place: Hubert Franger, 3rd Place: Bernd Thomer
DMSJ Junioren Drag Racing Pokal (official ASN for Junior Motorsports)
Junior Dragster: Winner: Max Timmers (NL), 2nd Place: Hugo Lajoux (FR), 3rd Place: Marie Camilleri (FR) Junior Drag Bike: Winner: Marie-Madleen Rosen, 2nd Place: Wichard Veldman (NL), 3rd Place: Eric Spanowski
DMV Drag Racing Meisterschaft (Championship of the Promoter of German Drag Racing)
Pro Modified: Champion: Norbert Kuno, 2nd Place: Walter Strobel Competition Eliminator: Champion: Robin Sattler, 2nd Place: Bernd Rudolph, 3rd Place: Manuel Kreiter Extreme Outlaw: Champion: Karl-Heinz Kleider, 2nd Place: Dominik Reinhardt Super Pro ET: Champion: Alain Dürr (CH), 2nd Place: Frank Römer, 3rd Place: Franz Aschenbrenner Super Comp: Champion: Gerd Habermann, 2nd Place: Arndt Putzmann, 3rd Place: Michael Maderer Pro ET: Champion: Armin Widmann, 2nd Place: Janine Petzold, 3rd Place: Gerd Habermann Super Gas: Champion: Stephan Blauwitz, 2nd Place: Marianne Wisotzke, 3rd Place: Pascal Czieschowitz Sports Compact: Champion: Dirk Radzanowski Sportsman ET: Champion: Maurice Heller, 2nd Place: Dieter Langner, 3rd Place: Sascha Herrmann Public Race: Champion: Tom Brandes, 2nd Place: Bernd Rudolph Junior Dragster: Champion: Thore Wolf, 2nd Place: Liam McDonald (IRE), 3rd Place: Max Timmers (NL) Super Twin Bike: Champion: Chrisian Jäger Pro Stock Bike: Champion: Karl-Heinz Weikum Funny Bike: Champion: Markus Laur, 2nd Place: Thomas Joswig E.T. Bike: Champion: Rainer Hescher, 2nd Place: Hubert Franger, 3rd Place: Lutz Kreupeintne Junior Drag Bike: Champion: Marie-Madleen Rosen
Swift snippets. 15th October:
A very Happy Birthday to Trakbytes webmaster Chris Dossett, Outlaw Flat Four racer Ian Shorrock and also to Top Alcohol Dragster racer Larry Miersch. We hope you all have a great day.
Good luck and stay safe to expat Norwegian Top Alcohol Dragster racer Julie Nataas who currently sits on the bump spot of the Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex with a 5.381/273.91. You can follow Julie's progress at www.nhra.com or www.dragracecentral.com.
Winner Calvin Skerritt (turbo Honda Civic B series 1800cc B18 engine, below left) qualified second with a 8.8309 164.89, then defeated the Lancia Delta HF Turbo-powered Fiat Uno of Ben Faggetter in round 1, Grant Moore's Saab-motored Vauxhall Corsa in round 2, Ryan Omarni's newly liveried Civic EG in the quarter final, Matt Davison's 9 second Civic in the semi and Jorel Wells in the final. Three eight second runs culmininating in a 8.9396/158.58 in the final but a lot of hard work replacing the engine overnight on Saturday to 5am Sunday morning.
Calvin told us "I would firstly like to thank the organisers for such a good event and being able to participate in it. It was a unexpected weekend with having to fit a new engine in at the end of day 1, which took us through to early hours of day 2 to complete.
"I am grateful for the help and support my team and sponsors gave me over the weekend, as without them we wouldn’t have been able to win the Jap Show which was an amazing end to the racing year. I would like to show some extra appreciation to my sponsors which are DP Raceparts, JNR Fabrication and BWH Performance and my team Xavier White, Teshaun Wells, Kai Richards and Delbert Greenaway, without you this wouldn’t have been possible to achieve.
"My team and I are very excited to see what the racing events hold for 2023 and we are coming back bigger and better!"
Matt Davison, aka Mr Boost (above right), suffered with gearchange issues in his Civic, but still ended in the semi finals after qualifying sixth with a 10.06. "Busy lead up to the weekend prepping for Japshow Finale and it was excellent as usual. I’m starting to get the hang of the Pfitzner Performance Gearbox aka PPG dog box. Now the shifter is working properly, I just need to learn to leave go of it between gear changes. It was getting better every run until I lost 2nd gear for some reason. Another evening gearbox swap later we put the standard one back in ready for eliminations. From 32 cars we got down to the semi finals again, but lost to Calvin’s insanely fast Civic, he went on to win the event after swapping engines during the night so massively well deserved.
So throughout all this year's Shootouts and Doorslammers, we have either come 1st, 2nd or joint 3rd. We are definitely on the right track for consistency and reliability.
"Massive thanks to Murph for the help all year I would really struggle without him there, and to Rach Boville for looking after us and making sure we eat and drink. Really happy to see Lisette in the 10’s finally with her single cam, and everyone else who got PB’s. There are too many people to mention, but big love to everyone we race with throughout the year. Now I’m going to strip this gearbox and see what’s happened and get it sorted for our last event of the year in 3 weeks, at Flame and Thunder doing demo runs."
Matt thanks his supporters Competition Clutch, Turbosmart, Precision Turbo & Engine, VP Racing Fuels International and Funk Motorsport.
Semifinalist Ian Pepper (below left) made some suspension changes to his turbo C20LET Vauxhall Nova 2000cc coming into the weekend, and added a little more power to try to join the 9 second club. In qualifying he managed a massive pb of 10.16 at 149mph and won three eliminations rounds before being eliminated by Europe's fastest naturally aspirated K series Civic 2400cc driven by Jorel Wells, winning the £250 that Santa Pod put up for semi final losers. He said "Had another great time being part of the Sports Compact Shootout at Santa Pod Raceway! First time out with the new power and little changes to the suspension, but it went straight enough and felt quite nice to drive.
"Managed a massive pb of 10.16 at 149mph in qualifying to put me in the top ten so well over the moon with that. In the knockouts on Sunday I managed to win all my races to get me to the semifinals but Jorel's super fast Honda Civic was just to0 fast for me and just couldn’t catch him - Manajah Wells well done.
My best of that day was 10.21 @147mph.
So in all it was a fantastic weekend and I’m buzzing of what this car has done so far for me and much more to come.
Big thanks to everyone for the support and Allan Duthie for being my crew chief for the day and getting some spot on pics and videos, and my dad Roger Pepper who comes every time I race.
"Roll on Flame and Thunder as I have got a few little things to try to get that 60ft down and bring me into the 9s and break that 150mph mark.
One more thing is to congratulate Dean Hyndman and Sean Prout for cracking the 9s and Lisette de Koning for her 10sec pass."
Ryan Omarni, who was running new livery on his Honda Civic 1800cc (above right), said "Had a awesome weekend, second time out in the car. A big shout out to Street Racers Rolling Road tuning & remapping, BWH Performance, Jack Wilson for the track side support and getting the car ready, couldn’t have done it without him, SW Motorsports for making a awesome job of the cage work and extra goodies and really happy for my mate Sean Prout for getting his pb 9 club. Unfortunately my gearbox decided to delete but always next time. Well don to Big Man Ting Performance, Congratulations to Calvin Skerritt for the win but me the lumberjack chopped ya at the tree, and to everyone who took part, awesome weekend."
New member of the nine second FWD club Sean Prout (below left) said "What an epic weekend of racing! Finally got some good runs in and some good data to work with! Also had a mega fun time doing it and a right laugh with all the FWD family. Massive thank you to my main man Gordon Darby from FuelTech UK dealer Streetracers, you sir are a legend! Finding that 1 tiny issue has opened the doors up to the road to big things, also need to thank Simon Crowley and Stacey Fenton from Pro-Race Engineering for building and supplying my Darton sleeved short block. If anyone needs any machine works or engine parts etc give these guys a shout I promise you won't get better service! And obviously and I can't leave her out, my no.1 fan,my wife Jade Prout, she's the one that's been there through all the failures, all the heartache and all the bills, thanks for sticking by me and keeping me going babe.
"Congratulations to the big guy for smashing it once again, Ahmed Jamshaid new PB and also Calvin Skerritt taking the well deserved win after an engine swap overnight! Dean Hyndman, we did it! We both ended the weekend both going nines back to back, and I genuinely can't think of a better way or person to do it with. Well deserved dude!"
Darren Dewhurst (above right), who races a Corsa B powered by a turbo C20LET engine, wrote "What a weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. Firstly well done to all who got PBs during the weekend, you all worked hard for it.
"We started out on low boost on Saturday to make sure car was going to drive straight after we had made a few suspension changes, and the car was feeling good. On the second run we turned it up, then got a clutch slip in 3rd going into 4th. So luckily Allan Duthie managed to source us a clutch from Germaine Shelton (thanks again) and Saturday night we had the box out. Sunday clutch wasn't slipping but we ended up with a misfire from a dodgy subloom connection, sorted all that out after we got knocked out in the Shootout to then go on to what was probably one of the best races I've had against Dean Hyndman where he went on to smash a 9 second pass and we managed to get back to a 10.1 on 80% boost. Hopefully we will have better luck at Flame and Thunder and join the nine second club. FULL SEND!"
Mart Dainty (Vauxhall Nova 2000cc below left) said "Hectic weekend at Santa Pod Raceway for the European FWD Shootout. Big love to the family, great entertainment as always.
I started the weekend by breaking a hub carrier in the burnout and the wheel snapping off which put me out for the first two qualifiers and leaving me with only one run to set a time. Luckily I managed a 9.9 which meant I qualified 5th, so was really happy with that result out of 32 cars.
"But on the Sunday, after battling problems all day run after run with the car and getting knocked out due to it not starting, it could have gone a lot better, but that’s racing. I did run 2 x 1.54 60fts so when the car gets sorted, she should be boogeying. Also I think I got reaction time of the day both days so another bonus, silver linings and all that..."
Grant Moore (Vauxhall Corsa powered by Saab, qualified 15th, above right) said he "Had a great time with everyone as usual at Japshow, it's always a laugh and good racing, the car has yet again been faultless all weekend. I finally had a cage put in the car by Raggy Conversions, Craig Evans did a great job as always.
"A crazy thing happened in my first two qualifying runs, they were practically identical, back to being a little old bracket car. On to eliminations, I had Lisette de Koning who did what I said she would do and have me off the tree, but I reeled her in on the top end for the win, onto the 2nd round and I get none other than the fastest FWD guy i have ever seen, Calvin Skerritt's car is epic, I took a stab at the light and red lit, but I never stood a chance regardless, so why not? Congratultions on winning the event you and the team deffo deserved it after your 5am finish on the engine swap. Congrats Dean Hyndman and Sean Prout on the 9’s well deserved. Might be out for Flame and Thunder to finish the pigeon off before it goes to the vets."
Luke White (below left) who qualified in the high 10s in his Honda Civic 2000cc and went one round wrote "Bit late to the party, but what an epic weekend at Pod and returned with a fully working car which in my eyes is a win! Great vibes and even better people. I made it to eliminations round 2 where I went out against Jorel Wells but what a car he has! Never seen an normally aspirated car move the way that thing does. Congrats to Calvin Skerritt for going on to win the shootout after an overnight engine swap! He really deserved it, well done mate, one hell of a car you’ve built!
"And mostly a huge congrats to Sean Prout for his multiple PB’s and ending the weekend getting himself into the 9’s after all the hassle that car's thrown at you, and all your hard work time after time, and not giving up! Well deserved mate.
I think that’ll be us done until next season which should give us some time to improve a few things and get into them low 10’s with some decent 60ft’s which I found I struggled with most of the weekend! Some suspension upgrades should see us where we want to be for next season hopefully!
"Thank you to everyone else who has helped & supported along the way this year, since getting into it I can’t thank you all enough from my Mrs Karis Conboy to my pit man & my tuner Gordon Darby and everyone else for their part. See you all next season."
Lisette de Koning aka Lola Racing (above right) made the journey from Holland worthwhile as she netted her first ever 10 second pass and backed it up with another one in R1 of eliminations in her D Series Civic EK. She said "It took some struggles to get to this point, the last proper event for the car was Japshow 2019. Three years later, I finally feel like I'm back in the game.
"On Saturday I ran a 10.85 while letting off before the finish line. Then on Sunday in eliminations I ran a 10.9 whilst one spark plug wire had come off. I almost had you, Grant. There's definitely more potential for this car because I've done two 10sec runs and they weren't even full clean passes, unfortunately I couldn't test it before the end of the weekend.
"Thank you EFI Parts (Chris Backshell and Lauza Garrett) for tuning the car, helping to fix the bugs and your patience with the car, making sure I got to run this weekend. Rach Boville thank you for all the positivity and making me feel like home, bestie. Grant Moore, thanks for picking-up a new crank and bringing it to Matt's. Murph thank you for being the best pitcrew chief ever. Aart de Winter thanks for always joining on the long roadtrips and the badass pictures.
"I wanna thank especially the one person who made all of this happen in the first place Mr. Boost, Matt Davison. Thank you for rebuilding my engine, helping me out with advice, teaching me a lot, making sure the car is safe and taking it to the dyno. Thank you for your time, patience, blood, sweat and tears! I couldn't have ran a 10-second pass without you!"
Picture credits: Callum Pudge for Santa Pod Raceway and Kieran.
Straightliners Championship Finals preview. 14th October:
This Sunday 16th October it’s the Straightliners Championship Finals at Santa Pod Raceway on the 1/4 mile fully prepped surface. The event will be preceded by Run What Ya Brung on Saturday with all vehicles welcome.
To enter for Straightliners Championship Finals the Entry form is at this link, and online entry for cars and bikes for Sunday can be bought at
this link.
Camping and Saturday run what you brung is also available, click on this link.
Championships will be decided in several bike categories, with double points to be awarded. Race Legends has been wrapped up by Colin Fallows, congratulations to him. The 6.00 index class (to be run to a quarter mile index of 9.10) is between David Storrie, Rob Briers and Mark Taylor. In the Straightliners No Mercy Shootout Andy Higham is leading a trio of Ashley Hodgson, Carl Mountford and Phil Tomlinson all of whom are on the same points total, with Trevor Houlden and Terry Mountford also in with a shout. Juniors are led by William Mountford over Amy Wolstenholme. Oldschool Ultimate Street Bike Stock is led by Darron Trowell over Mickey Blackburn, Oldschool Ultimate Street Bike Modified has Alan Seeley and Roy Chappell on the same points total.
The Old School Stockers will also be racing the final round of their five round championship. At the previous round in Jurby Claire Rule defeated Kevin Melling in the final and we will report on the championship outcome after the race.
Shark Attack season review. 14th October:
Thanks to Simone from Shark Attack Drag Racing for sending a review of the multi-bike team's 2022 season:
After two years with Corona vicissitudes, suddenly there was season 2022. In March the world was still partially locked down and traveling was a lot more difficult, however in April the redeeming word came. There was to be a European Drag Race Championship!
Fortunately we hadn't been sitting still the 2 years before and we were ready. René van den Berg would compete in the premier class Top Fuel Bike,
Aswin le Noble would compete in the Pro Stock Bike class and Anouk Burgering would participate in the FIM-E cup in the Junior Drag Bike class.
The competitions that formed the European Championship were Main Event, Santa Pod England; Tierp Arena, Sweden; Nitrolympx at the Hockeheimring, Germany; and European Finals, Santa Pod England. Anouk, racing in Junior Drag Bike, would ride at the same competitions except Tierp in Sweden.
In addition to the above competitions, other competitions would also be occasionally participated. First of all there was the Easter Festival of Power at Santa Pod, the opening competition of the season with Rene, Aswin and Anouk all racing. The first race of the season was very helpful. René decided not to race on the final day as some things had to be sorted out, Aswin tinkered and learned a lot and Anouk survived the 1st elimination round, but was too fast in the 2nd round ending 3rd in the competition!
On May 8, we were at Circuit Park Zandvoort with the entire team. We were allowed to make a a number of runs there and furthermore we were able to promote our great sponsors!
On May 27, the first competition for the European Championship was held at Santa Pod, England. What a weekend!
Unfortunately, Anouk's motorcycle let her down after two runs, this could not be solved on the spot. Still a third place for her.
Aswin still have some problems but know how to tinker away, end result 2nd!
René drove very consistently this weekend and finished in a deserved 1st place!
On June 10 there were the Drachten Nationals. After four years, finally we were able to drive again on home soil. The entire team, except René, entered the race. For René, the drag strip is short so he enjoyed himself helping the rest of the team. This was a super fun weekend. Anouk was still interviewed by the Youth News at this link.
2nd July, Summer Nationals, Santa Pod
Fortunately, all riders were able to make a number of runs. And every weekend we ran, we become wiser about the motorcycles. We just kept learning. This weekend everyone has luckily been able to make normal runs. René had a top run this weekend, a Personal Best of 6.05 seconds, with a terminal speed of 394 km per hour! As a result, René rose 3 places on the list of fastest times in the world!
The weekend of August 12, René and Aswin competed for the European Championship paddle in Tierp, Sweden.
Between the 1st and 2nd round FIM there was a lot of time due to the cancellation of two events. We made good use of this time, so René and Aswin went to Sweden well prepared. Unfortunately, only a very small part of our team was present here.
The next race was at the Hockenheimring in Germany with the entire team there from the start.
26th-28th August, Nitrolympx, Hockenheimring Germany, an event where all riders came out, so full throttle!
René, Aswin, Anouk, Hannes Burgering and Patrick Lenaers (the latter two in ET Bike) were racing. Qualifying took place on Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday there were eliminations where René and Aswin again won prizes.
On Saturday evening there was the Nightshow. It's a big event with a huge audience. René was invited to appear at the start there, which is definitely an honour.
After 8 days at home, working and servicing the engines again, we went back to Santa Pod for the last race of the championship.
At the start of the weekend, René led the ranking in his class, Aswin was ranked 2nd in Pro Stock Bike and Anouk was 4th in the juniors.
Due to weather conditions there were very few runs. Unfortunately, if a run doesn't start well, you will be punished immediately.
This weekend did not bring us what we had hoped for but overall, season 2022:
Final standings FIM European Championship:
René van den Berg, Top Fuel Bike 2nd
Aswin le Noble, Pro Stock Bike, 3rd
Anouk Burgering, Junior Bike 3rd
For dessert, everyone drove at National Finals, Santa Pod. Every run gives a piece of experience,
knowledge of the motorcycle but above all a lot of adrenaline and fun!!
We would like to thank all sponsors for the trust in us. We have no shame for 2022 and will go even harder next year!
Iconic doorslammers for sale. 14th October:
Within a couple of days, two cars that can only be described as iconic in UK drag racing have come up for sale.
DM Racing through crew member Jack Williams, have announced that "With much regret we are selling our car due to retirement from the sport." In its current form, the Shogun Mk1 Capri has been part of the sport in the UK since 2008 with team led by Pel Norman, however the car's history goes back to 1984 with Pel and team mates Stretch Harrison and Michael 'Frank' Francis. Stretch and Frank then shared the driving of the Shogun Capri with Pel on the crew in Modified Eliminator.
The team then went circuit racing from 1999 to 2005 and ran a pickup and Legends at Rockingham. Buying the car back from its new owners in 2004, they found it to be in less than pristine condition and a £3,000 rebuild turned out to be £35,000 in expenditure with a new chassis from Dean Forward of P9 raceshop (now Forward Motorsport) in Barnsley tagged to 7.50. The Shogun Capri is for sale as a rolling chassis with a price for £25,000 (excluding shipping and taxes). And DM Racing? Think Danger Mouse, whose image is still on the hind flank. The car has run a best of 7.568/184.94 at Santa Pod.
Dave Evans and team have the Doomsday Impala for sale as a rolling rolling chassis for £30,000. Dave says "We are scaling down our operation, my Covenant cargo trailer and truck are still for sale. You can put "Dooms" in the trailer and drive away £36,000 or put "Dooms" in the trailer and hook up my F350 and drive away for £45,000." Dave is also up to trade, swap, or do a deal for a street/strip muscle car.
When the Doomsday Impala first appeared in 2011, Dave said at the time "It was a three year build which I undertook with Andrew Bennett, I wanted something different and we are big Impala fans. The car is quite light thanks to a chrome moly tube chassis which has been tagged to 6.0s." The car has run consistently in the low eights and its best was 7.916/171.08.
Swift snippets. 14th October:
Nigel Charman says "A Happy 80th Birthday to Bill Ewins of the Timelord Altered and Atomic Rebel dragster from the 70/80s." Nigel adds Bill still follows the sport and we join him in wishing Bill a Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday for today to Top Fuel Bike racer Shawn Rodman and FWD VW racer Ant Mincher. We hope Shawn and Ant have a fantastic day.
Our 2021 season wrapped up with “Who knows what 2022 will bring", but Lee said “Bigger and better things are to come in 2022." You never know what challenges are going to be thrown at you and 2022 proved to be far from straight forward at Dark Horse HQ.
After purchasing the Dark Horse Mustang outright from Brian at the start of the year, we had plans to step up to Super Pro ET with a new engine combination. We were rocked early on with the death of our long-time engine builder and friend Tim Hines in February. Not only did we lose a great friend, but we lost a valuable source of advice and information on getting the new engine setup and in place.
As part of our plans to go quicker over the winter we had the chassis upgraded and tagged to 7.50 and the gearbox refreshed/upgraded, but after only a handful of runs at the Festival of Power, in the 1st round against Dave Fulton we didn’t take the green as we couldn’t engage 1st gear. Gearbox said no.
The gearbox was rebuilt this time with straight cut gears. However at The Spring Speed Nationals we were still experiencing issues causing us to miss the first two qualifiers (thank you Richard Walters for the fix). During eliminations we made it to the semi finals, though we couldn’t make the call as we’d dropped a valve in the quarter final against Dave Cherrett. It really wasn’t looking like it was going to be our year!
With The Doorslammers (one of our season highlights) only three weeks away, fixing the engine was going to be tight but we were determined to get there. So with a set of new valves and skimmed heads (thanks to Trevor and the team at ASD), we were ready to go again on the Thursday before the event. The hard work paid off with a £5,000 winner’s cheque on the Saturday beating Jon Turner in the final, though more bad luck came on the Sunday suffering some more engine damage in the 2nd round against Dave Cherrett.
With a new engine on the horizon and with the damage suffered, we were resigned to retiring Dark Horse 1.0 and missed both the Main Event and Summer Nationals and with much disappointment cancelled our planned European trips to France and Germany. However a weekend trip in Sportsman E.T at The Bugjam resulted in a great weekend away so it wasn’t all bad!
With various hold-ups with the new engine build, mainly due to parts being delayed, there was only so much sitting on the side-lines we could take. So we took the plunge to rebuild the existing engine with what parts we could beg/borrow. (Thanks again to Trevor Hirst and the team at ASD Engines), introducing Triggers Broom…
The second half of our season proved to be much better, Triggers Broom managed to run consistently between 9.36 and 9.49 which made dialling things in a little easier. On our return at The Greenlight Nationals we managed to qualify #7 out of 17 in the Big Bracket class. Though a red light against Stuart Doignie in Round 2 saw us out – but it was great to be back at it!
At the penultimate event of the season The Euro Finals we just about squeezed into the field qualifying 27 out of 32 – a 0.0446 bump is good going (that’s why we love Pro E.T!) Eliminations saw us get past Dave Cherrett in the 1st round – a good sign the Cherrett curse may have passed. One of Lee’s highlights was taking on Stuart Doignie in a tight race in the Semi Final. Then to make it all the way to the final against Marc (The first all Huxley final) with Darkhorse taking the win this time around just topped off the event.
At the National Finals we managed our best qualifying position of the year number #5 0.0097 off but losing in the 2nd round against Will Clark. It was great to see our passenger rides as part of the Hayley Hadfield Charity Auction raising £700 for the cause. So one more event for Trigger's Broom with a little seat time for Brian.
Bigger and better things for 2023? Yes for a new engine and to finally run Super Pro E.T.
Thanks Team Dark Horse crew Slap and Richard Bell and the Huxley family.
Also thanks to the whole team at Santa Pod Raceway.
Not forgetting our sponsors of course for their continued support:
Blackpole recycling, Bradfords Building Supplies, PJ Home Improvements, M F Hydraulics, B A Hirons, Blackpole Powder Coating, ASD engines, VP Fuels, Mark Twigg Heating Services, GG Holloway and Sons, SB Plumbing and Heating, Hafren Environmental Associates, Willis Westcott Roofing Supplies, Maverick Diagnostics, Zannetec and Serck Motorsport.
ATD 2023 dates. 13th October:
The Association-Trophee-Dragster have announced their dates for the 2023 season, all events taking place at Clastres Raceway and sponsored by Speedflex:
20th-21st May - 20th European Dragster
24th-25th June - 21st European Dragster
29th-30th July - 22nd European Dragster Speed Final.
More information will be posted later at the ATD at website and their Facebook page. As a taster, have a look at their Facebook promotional video by Luc Vanmeerbeck.
Swift snippets. 13th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer and sponsor Mike Lacey, Supercharged Outlaw racer Aaron Windridge, UK Nostalgia Superstock supporter Yvonne O'Rourke, from the US Team Thermoreg Funny Car crew chief Wayne Dupuy, We Did It For Love webmaster Don Ewald and Malta Escort racer Steve Pace. Have a great day all.
Best wishes to Supercharged Outlaw racer Simon Boot who is recovering after a minor stroke, hope you are back to full health soon Simon. Also we send all our best to Outlaw Street racer George Ralph who is in hospital recovering from an operation. We hope you will be back at the track soon George.
Kieran has updated to his Mk1Kieran Youtube a video of the Japshow Finale at Santa Pod last Sunday (excluding the Sports Compact Shootout which is at this link) which you can see by clicking here.
2023 SPRC Dinner Dance. 12th October:Santa Pod Racers Club are pleased to announce that the 2023 Dinner and Trophy Night, to recognise our Championship Winners and Runners up, will be back at Stadium MK on Saturday, 18 February 2023 (address: Stadium Way West, Milton Keynes, MK1 1ST).
The arrangements are as follows :
Please be seated by 6.15pm, presentations will begin at 6.30pm prompt with Dinner will be served at 7.15pm.
Tickets are £40/adult and £20/child 12 and under, which includes a three course set meal plus tea/coffee and mints. You can book your places up to a group of 10 on the online form at santapodracersclub.com. The online form has menu details; the children’s menu will be chicken nuggets and chips followed by ice cream.
If you have any special dietary requirements, please contact Yvonne at yvonnetramm235@gmail.com so that we can accommodate your needs. Please do not approach the hotel with requests. Seating will be 10 per table, therefore if you require more than one table please complete a second online form.
SPRC have negotiated a preferential rate for rooms at the hotel with prices at £80/single or £90/double including breakfast. To book a room please call the DoubleTree on 01908 364170, ask for ‘In House Reservations’ mentioning that you are attending the SPRC Dinner and quote Ref : GSPRCD. Alternatively, if may be easier if you book online by clicking here. For a double room you will need to click ‘Edit Stay’, at the top of the page, and change details to 2 persons.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Yvonne by email or phone on 07762 195729.
See you there.
More details of Jon Morton's funeral. 12th October:
Thanks to Heide Stanley for more details about the funeral of Jon Morton which will take place at 11am on Friday 14th October at Dorchester Abbey, High St, Dorchester, OX10 7HH, afterwards at Benson Parish Hall, Sunnyside, Benson, OX10 6LZ until 5pm and then at the Three Horse Shoes in Benson. Refreshments will be provided at the Parish Hall and there will also be a bar (cash only).
"The dress code is whatever you feel comfortable in, Hawaiian shirts, Race Shirts etc.
"If you are planning to attend can you please ensure that you are at the Abbey by 10.30am as there will be a walk from the car park. Please follow signs for Event Parking.
"For those who are unable to attend you can watch the service on Facebook at this link.
"If you would prefer to watch via Zoom, please let me know and I will send on the details.
"We would like flowers to be family only and have therefore set-up a memorial page with donations link if you would like to donate to one of the charities close to Jon.
"Thank you all for your love and support over the past few weeks."
2022 Melbourne Raceway champions. 12th October:
Congratulations to the 2022 Melbourne Raceway champions:
Duck All Prep and Pro Extreme Car: Pete Youhill Pro ET: Bob Molden Sportsman ET: Pete Eborall
Race Legends: Colin Fallows 6.00 Class: David Storrie Straightliners No Mercy Shootout: Andy Higham Juniors: William Mountford Scooters: Eric Cope
Thanks to Martyn Greathead of Straightliners for compiling the points which you can see in detail at the Straightliners results repository. The overall Straightliners points will be published after their final round at Santa Pod Raceway this Sunday.
Bond, Hannis & Osborne running bests. 12th October:
Many thanks to Supercharged Outlaws race Joe Bond who tells us of pleasing progress with his Nothing Too Fancy blown alky slingshot in 2022:
The last few years have been very stop start, what with the pandemic in 2020 and then a mixed season in 2021 due to weather, covid isolation and general issues with the car.
The Hot Rod Drags in 2020 did have the one exception where through the engine issues we ran what felt like a 'Hail Mary' 6.29 @ 226 out of nowhere. We were obviously over the moon with such a run, but given the following few years, it felt a bit like a flash in the pan.
2022 came around and early indications at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals looked promising with good early numbers, and we were full of high hopes going into Dragstalgia. The first run of 6.50 felt good but low MPH indicated we still hadn't sorted the problems, and it was a bitter pill to swallow that we missed the final by 3 hundredths of a second!
Martyn, Dad and Lawrence went back to the drawing board, and after some technical feedback, and some hard truths for me as a driver, we believe we found what was causing our issues!
The Hot Rod Drags came about last month and we were duly rewarded with a early run of 6.28@219, which we improved on to a 6.20@220 later that day. The Sunday came about and with another 6.28@224, the Hot Rods showed the potential the combination has and we are looking to progress and break into the 6.1's.
I was contacted by the guys at Draglist.com, and we now have the 4th quickest Blown methanol slingshot in the world, but I didn't realise that the 226mph run from 2020 is the 2nd fastest, so we are obviously very pleased!
Wanted to say a huge thank you to Martyn Hannis, my parents Doug and Jayne, Lawrence, Wife Melanie for all their support! Also a huge thank you to Shawn and Krista Van Horn at Titan Speed Engineering for their product sponsorship for 2022 and beyond.
Finally a big thank you to Andy Fadster and everyone behind the scenes with the Supercharged Outlaws, we look forward to racing with you all next season.
I've had a lot of people ask if we can beat Dennis Priddles 6.04. It's not something we are openly targeting, and if we get anywhere near then we will be very pleased. But you never know!
Paul Whitehouse's art calendar. 12th October:
Drag Racing artist Paul Whitehouse has been in touch with news of his 2023 Drag Racing paintings calendar.
Paul says:
"For a number of years people have been asking if I'd ever considered producing a calendar of my work. So this year I've decided to go ahead and get a limited number produced. With Christmas not far away it would make an ideal gift for any drag racing fan.
Looking back over the many I've produced over the years it was very difficult to choose the ones for inclusion. I've depicted so many I have enough to fill a calendar of images of each class of drag racing!, but these are just a few of my favourites that I've painted...some older, some more recent, featuring both cars and bikes taken from a catalogue of my work from the last few years. I hope you enjoy them!
There are only going to be 50 calendars printed and each will be numbered and signed. They are full colour, A3 size - 42.0cm x 29.7cm (16.5" x 11.7"), premium quality printed on 250gsm paper with plenty of room for notes and race dates.
The calendars should be with me, and ready for shipping, early next month. I envisage of price of around £19.50 each plus P+P.
Please email me at pwhitehouse3@aol.com to register interest and I will be able to let you have more details."
Swift snippets. 12th October:
Happy Birthday for today to UK Tech Crew member and Top Methanol team member Tim Read, German Funny Bike racer Stefan Hagenstein, Malta FWD racer Marvic Galea and former Top Fuel racer Tommy Möller. We hope you all have a wonderful day.
The latest upload by Kieran to his Mk1Kieran Youtube is video of the Run What Ya Brung at Santa Pod last Saturday which you can see by clicking here.
Video from Melbourne Raceway covering last weekend's Grand Finale can be found on Youtube. Duck All Prep promoter Lee Child has posted videos at his LA Lee channel. The Youtube channel Spotted Motors of Michael Castle and Dale Ackworth has a video of Michael's Duck All Prep twin turbo LS engined Cortina which you can see at this link, Michael enjoying his entry into the unofficial Melbourne 5-Second Club.
Talking of the unofficial Melbourne Raceway 5-Second Club, photographer Ashley Dale has set up a list of the best ETs recorded at Melbourne Raceway since it reopened which you can see by clicking here.
Melbourne Raceway Grand Finale results. 11th October:
Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Grand Finale held at Melbourne Raceway:
UK Nostalgia Superstock: Ben Fielder (pictured below right) (7.65) 7.73/93 def. Nick Martin (8.80) 8.79/78 breakout Duck All Prep: Pete Youhill (Pontiac Firebird 9.5 Ltr) 5.86/122 def. Michael Castle (Ford Cortina 5.3 Ltr) 6.20/121 (best of 3) NSCC Eliminations (Saturday): Ian Walley (Ford Cortina '68 5.7 Ltr) 6.82/116 def. Nick Gunby (Ford Mustang '87 5.8 Ltr) 8.86/86 NSCC Eliminations (Sunday): Ian Walley 6.36/119 def. Stephen Gilmour (Ford 100e Anglia) 8.78/91 Class 6.00: David Storrie (BMW S1000RR) 6.46/123 def. Mark Taylor (Hayabusa 1300cc) 6.81/103 Race Legends: Colin Fallows, unopposed No Mercy Shootout (Bikes): Tina Taylor (X9 Special) (9.30) 9.34/76 def. Jack Frost (Holeshot Turbo Busa) (6.20) 6.17/139 breakout No Mercy Shootout (Scooters): Ade Horrocks (Vespa Primavera 149cc) (8.10) 8.01/85 def. Eric Cope (Lambretta 248cc) (8.30) 8.20/88 No Mercy Shootout (Juniors):Arron Gregory (Gilera DNA special 70cc) (12.15) 12.25/53 def. Jack Taylor (Spiderman) (12.00) 12.45/54
Full detailed results are available on the Straightliners results repository, many thanks to Martyn Greathead of Straightliners for producing and posting them.
No Mercy Shootout victor Tina Taylor (pictured left) said "Well what a day! I’m still absolutely buzzing! After starting at Melbourne this season having never even rode a bike I actually managed to win the No Mercy Shootout against the amazing Jack Frost! This is thanks to so many people including family, friends and everyone at Melbourne who gave me the encouragement and advice I most certainly needed (especially Phil Gilson).
The biggest thank you however goes to my dad Tony Taylor because if it wasn’t for him, it wouldn’t be possible."
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Northern Street Legal Shootout
results and galleries by clicking
here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link in the main menu at the top of the page.
Please join Simon in thanking former editor Tog for supplying the galleries and posting results over the race weekend.
Photographers have been quick to post their work from the weekend. Mad Welshman Photography has posted a Facebook album of 190 photos from Saturday at this link. Bad Yeti Kustom Print, aka Steve Purdon, has posted a Facebook album of 279 photos from Saturday which you can see by clicking here. PWPics (Pete and Wendy) have also posted an album on Facebook which you can see by clicking here.
We will announce Melbourne Raceway champions in due course and also announce 2023 dates and other events in due course. In the meantime, one date for your diaries at Melbourne Raceway is the Northern Swap Meet held by the NSRA being held on 23rd October, more details at this link.
Swift snippets. 11th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Pro Modified and AA/FA crew member Scott Barnes, Top Methanol Dragster racer Timo Habermann and BMW doorslammer racer Harvey Bhogal, we hope you have a great day.
In winning £1,000, Calvin in a Honda Civic 1800cc qualified #2 with a 8.8309/164.89 after Ahmed Jamshaid had run new PB of 8.7933/171.09 to qualify #1, a later 8.696@170.46mph being disallowed. These two were the eight second runners in the 32 car field. Runner up Jorel Wells, also in a Honda Civic, 2400cc without power adders, won £500 after a string of 9s passes.
During qualifying (click here for qualifying details in pdf format) there was mechanical attrition with several cars - including Calvin - suffering significant engine damage, and having to swap engines overnight. Others with problems preventing first round appearances included Lee Openshaw who had a failed head gasket, Allan Duthie whose Corsa engine had a broken rod in his burnout and Chris Backshell with metal filings in his oil.
Other personal bests came from Sean Prout who ran 9.659@153.12, Dean Hyndman who ran 9.986@144.77mph in his Ford Fiesta, both runs being their first in the nines. Lisette De Koning ran her first ten, 10.85@126. You can see elimination results by clicking here.
Thanks to Kieran for supplying galleries for both the qualifying at the Saturday RWYB and the Japshow Finale on Sunday. You can see Kieran's galleries and full qualifying and elimination details by clicking here or going via the Event Coverage list in the main menu. Thanks to John Woolfe Racing for their sponsorship of event coverage. Kieran's video of the Sports Compact Shootout is also live on Youtube at this link.
Video from Japshow finale is on Youtube at the channels of J55 Swifty and Czech Engine. Santa Pod's own Facebook album is at this link.
You can see video from the tower with commentary by Luke Stevenson and read snippets from racers by going to the European FWD Facebook page, which you can 'like' to get help Luke and his team break through the 50,000 mark. Thanks to Luke for the information and snippets, and to the Santa Pod timing team for timing data.
Swift snippets. 10th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Comp Eliminator racer George Chiarella, former Wild Bunch racer Mark Slattery aka "Digger Sid", Street Eliminator racer Ray Tucker and from Malta dragster racer Roderick Fenech. Have a great day guys.
You can see the video of the Hot Wheels UK Legends Tour 2022 on the Car Throttle channel on Youtube at this link, involving at least two drag cars. We won't spoil the announcement of the winner...
Come back tomorrow for the results from Melbourne Raceway at the weekend's Grand Finale meeting.
Oliver wins NSS lifestyle championship. 9th October:
Following our prediction that the UK Nostalgia Superstock championship would be down to Stuart 'Kiwi' Thompson and Dave Billadeau, with James Oliver not attending the Melbourne Raceway Grand Finale this weekend, the championship went to James after Kiwi and Dave qualified towards the bottom end of the field, leaving Kiwi with two rounds to win to secure the title and Dave out of mathematical contention.
Following a round one loss, Kiwi was only able to accumulate 160 points from the weekend which were then deducted as the worst of his four races attended, so even a 200 points all rounds bonus was not enough to give him the points lead. Whether Kiwi maintains his second place depends on how many rounds Dave goes, winning the race would give Dave the runner up spot.
Stop press: Dave had a mechanical mishap in his burnout for the semi final against newcomer Ben Fielder and a pool of oil spelt the end of his bid for runner-up. The final was Ben Fielder who defeated a breaking-out Nick Martin who had defeated Adrian Portelli in the other semi final.
Congratulations to Pete Youhill on winning the Melbourne Raceway Duck All Prep championship after a best of three against Michael Castle's turbo LS powered Cortina Mk4.
You can see the end Saturday results from Melbourne at this link with thanks to former Editor Tog for posting galleries from each day of the race. We will announce the winners of the rest of the race tomorrow with Melbourne championship positions a day or so later. Thanks to Martyn Greathead of Straightliners for calculating and posting Melbourne championship points. Video from yesterday has already been posted by Dave Anthony aka Rat Ford.
The Straightliners bike championship concludes at Santa Pod Raceway next Sunday.
Swift snippets. 9th October:
Happy Birthday to superfan, seen on many photos with late husband Neil, Sue Hunter, we hope you are having a lovely day Sue.
We will endeavour to post the results of the final round of UK Nostalgia Superstock later this evening.
FIM-E season review. 8th October:Job Heezen of FIM-E has posted an end-of season wrap up which summarises the highlights of the 2022 season and looks forward to the future:
Pictured: FIM-E Top Fuel Bike champion Rickard Gustafsson, FIM-E Super Twin champion Marcus Christiansen.
Now most of the prize monies have been paid to the racers it's about time to wrap-up the season. For unknown reasons it has taken some extra time to get the money out but there is very good news to tell : the organising body of the Santa Pod Finals has decided to pay all foreign riders not just the prescribed normal travel money but to double the amount instead. This is done to support the racers in these difficult times. Bear in mind that this is a well chosen but totally volunteer action, showing the commitment of the promotor towards the FIM-E European championship. A very important action showing that, even in these challenging times for tracks, they share the burdens of the time we live in. No need to sum up the issues we're facing, just check the evening news and you know what I'm talking about.
FIM-E has undergone a period of significant cost-cutting measures in order to drop the charges and make sure no unneeded money is taken away from the racing and the racers. And all this without sacrifising the level of support and commitment. There are still some hard nuts to crack but you can be assured that we will continue to work on those. We are also facing issues that we can't control, one of them is the ongoing Brexit/carnet story. It seems like things are turning into a better direction but all is not cleared yet.
We have been criticized for not being on top of the matter but all I can say is this : a number of people have done a lot of work to manage the situation which was a mission impossible when organisations who make the rules don't even understand how to implement their own rules. All in all I think the issue was not as bad as we feared for and we will keep on monitoring the developements and advise on it the best we can.
Despite all this we can look back on an interesting season in my opinion. In all 4 events I have seen a lot of positive. Some very nice on-track battles, a number of top-level performances in different classes, championship's that have been decided just at the last race or even the last run of the year. We have been racing twice at Santa Pod that showed once again their status of one of the best venues worldwide, both times with huge crowds of 30.000+ paying visitors.
We also had the chance to be back racing at Tierp that hadn't been scheduled since 2019. A well organised event which is a performance as such after this rusty period. And also before a huge crowd of spectators, estimated on a number of 35.000. I can't remember having seen so many on the grandstands since the first race some 10 years ago at the openings race of the Tierp Arena. In between the famous Nitrolympx of Hockenheim, same thing here, a record of 54.000 spectators this time. No issues at all and according to long-time racer Rikard Gustafsson, this years event was the best ever he had been to in all these years coming to Germany.
Pictured: FIM-E Pro Stock Bike champion Martin Newbury, FIM-E Super Street Bike champion Daniel Lencses, FIM-E Junior Drag Bike Cup champion Hollie King.
There is a lot of positive to go from here. Having these 4 events with so many fans shows that the sport is alive and kicking. It also brings in the needed money to get things organised. If we like it or not, we need that money to have events at this level. Therefore we will continue to focus on combined car/bike events for the European championships. It makes it possible to have events with this unique character. No matter how far you will travel over the globe, you will have a hard time to find events that can match ours. So there is everything to fight for I guess.
To end the story of the 2022 season, I would like to stress that we need the commitment of the racers to enter our events. Make sure you use your race- bikes what they are made for, racing. They are not made for exhibitions or even worse, collecting dust in a shed. And start planning to race and try to find partners to travel which can drop the costs of racing significantly. We need to get the entries up again, there is no racing without you. And so I'm back again to the opening sentences of this story : why it is so important that a promotor pays extra money to help racers financially. It shows that we are all in this boat together and must try to make next season better than the season before...
Happy Birthday Keith Parnell! 8th October:
Funny Bike racer Lorcan Parnell wishes his dad, drag bike racer great in the 1970s, Keith Parnell, a Happy Birthday today:
Keith Parnell's birthday tomorrow, 8th October. He will be 86 and still follows our efforts at racing Storm with his old teammate, Mick Hand. A mention on ED would be lovely. Here he is in the early days, being the original Spiderman on his Velocette sprinter.
Uncle Derek Parnell painted the helmets of their friends with different insects (I know, spiders aren't insects). Derek was a sprinter too but didn't follow Keith into drag racing.
Keith's moment in the sun was running the first 8 by a non-American at Santa Pod in 1975.
Swift snippets. 8th October:
A busy day for birthdays today. Happy Birthday to Street Eliminator racer Al Williamson, Pro ET and Super Comp racer Allan Schofield, Pro ET racer Sean Law, and Malta doorslammer racers Mario Muscat and Joe Galea. We hope you all have a great day.
As the Circus rolled into Santa Pod for the final round it was Sean who was still at the top of the standings, due to the points he had also picked up at the previous events. Without being presumptuous he looked odds on to take his 4th Championship. However, he would be chased all the way by 3 others drivers still in contention, Ray Irish, Billy Jones and with an outside chance Tom Margesson. With Gassers arriving in the pits, it was with disappointment and some sadness, when Sean confirmed he would not be racing at this the final round.
Life has a way of refocusing your mind and so it was that Sean’s priorities were with his family over the weekend. This news, had a knock on effect on the Championship, as it now looked like a 3 way shoot out instead of 4. Of course there were another group of Gassers all determined to ensure they influenced the outcome of this year’s race series. Taking a win against any of the top contenders would be a feather in each drivers cap. The run to the title looked far from over and so it turned out to be.
Saturday and qualifying was soon underway, with not only a crisp cold feel to the air, but also a healthy tail wind which assisted with several Personal Bests being recorded. It also began with a new Gasser joining the ranks, with Chris Layram and his ‘Outa Gas’ Ford pop seeing its first track action after its build by Tony Pearson. With only 3 qualifying runs on Saturday, it looked like Ray Irish and his ‘Gas Junkie’ Willys pickup was on his way to the title as he sat at number 1 qualifier with a superb 10.1119 on a 10.11 dial in. However, it was wise of Ray not to get ahead of himself as in the final round of qualifying Katie Booth running her ‘The Mighty Mouse’ Pop, ripped off a stunning 10.3000 on a 10.30 dial in, an outstanding perfect dial in. Katie was delighted and over the moon as were the Honky Tonkin crew who without their 57 Chevy, were crewing on Katie’s Pop this weekend as husband Ted cruised around in the mobility scooter seen at previous meetings as he recovers from foot surgery.
Saturday night on the track is Cracklefest which was well attended with 3 Gassers on parade. Jason Pickett and his ‘Cherry Bomb’ 55 Chevy, Tom Margesson and John Gumble’s ‘Tinsel Town Hustler’, and Paul Dominey in his Austin Dorset. Saturday night in the Gasser Circus pits, was awards time, with a fine selection of spoof awards handed out to each driver in recognition of their shortcomings, failings or moments worth revisiting.
On Sunday morning the wind had dropped slightly but the bitter cold was still reminding you to wrap up warm. Various and numerous permutations showed a somewhat confusing way the Championship could be decided. The simplest one was for Ray Irish to keep going rounds and stay ahead of Billy and Tom.
As the day unfolded, I do not think anyone would have imagined what would happen, but it was an amazing end to another great Gasser Circus season.
Round one of eliminations got underway with Paul Dominey and he left early on Tom Margesson handing the win to Tom. Simon Glenn dialled 11.45 and ran a winning 11.46 against Jason Hollamby in his ‘Jumpin Jalapeno’ Ford. Katie Booth and Nick Hewison ‘Short Fuse’ Fordson had the Ford battle with Katie coming out on top. Patrick Hobbs in his ‘Southern Flyed’ Ford Falcon beat Lee Pike in his ‘Honky Tonkin’ 2 Nova. Billy Jones ‘Grumpy Grizz’ Willys Coupe saw of the challenge of debutant Chris Layram, Adam Kruczynski in his ‘Not So Mellow Yellow’ 55 Chevy failed on the line with a misfire in the battle of the 55 Chevy’s, handing the win to Jason Pickett in his ‘Cherry Bomb’ Chevy.
Ray Irish lined up against the resurgent Ray Turner in his ‘Green Onions’ 55 Chevy, unfortunately for Ray Turner he pulled a cherry, and Ray Irish moved into round 2 of eliminations. The Championship still up for grabs.
At 1:30 the superb Santa Pod crew called the Gasser Circus to the fire up road for Round 2 of eliminations. Within the pits all was not well with Simon Glenn, as he was desperately willing power into his discharged battery, as without the required 12 volts his MSD was not coming out to play. As Gassers fired and headed past the Café before entering the fire road, there was no sign of Simon and his ‘Straight Shooter’ Austin Pickup.
As the Gassers pulled into their pairings, news reached Billy that Ray Irish (his title contender) was on a bye with the no show from Simon. Patrick Hobbs in his Falcon and Tom Margesson ‘The Tinseltown Hustler’ Pop came to the line. Tom knew to keep his charge to the title he had to win this race and go on to win the final, Patrick had other ideas taking the victory with an 11.40 on an 11.38 to Tom’s 10.70 on a 10.59. Toms tilt at the title was over.
Katie Booth was on a bye, and Billy knew he had to win his run against Jason Pickett, as various Gasser crews watched both cars leave the line and run side by side we all looked towards the finish line gantry as the win light went on in Jason’s lane. Was Billy’s title chase also over, all Ray had to do to be certain of taking his first Championship was stage and break the beams. Buts as we turned to see the ‘Gas Junkie’ Willys come round, we were greeted by the sight of Ray walking towards us race jacket flailing in the wind without his helmet on. He too had suffered mechanical issues and the Willys would not fire.
However, a quick review of the standings and the celebrations could begin as despite not making this round, Ray was still head on the points, and he had just secured his first Championship, taking the Gasser Circus Showdown for 2022.
Hugs and handshakes all round with a few kisses! Ray a staunch supporter of the Gasser Circus for many years had taken a memorable victory. With his pickup up stranded at the end of the fire up road, we suddenly saw Simon coming down lane 1, he momentarily seeing the Willys at the end thought he still had a chance, but his opportunity to race had passed.
The semi – final was a strange affair as both drivers ended up on bye runs to the final. Patrick was due to be racing Katie, but it transpired that Katie suffered engine issues on her previous run. With Both Jason and Patrick concluding their semi-finals they began their preparation for the final.
Jason was buzzing and just like Patrick this was an opportunity to take their first win in the Gasser Circus.
Both drivers lit up their slicks in the burnout box and edged their cars to the line, Patrick had dialled in 11.40 with Jason dialling in 11.04. We had a green light race as both Gassers left the line together and stayed like that all the way down the quartermile, as they hit the line side by side, the gantry lights and Colin in the commentator’s booth told the story. Patrick broke out running 11.36 thereby handing the win to a very excited and delighted Jason, who had run 11.07.
In an ironic twist, Jason had been looking after the winners' trophies supplied by Neil Melliard in the week running up to the event. The Winner's Pin was wrapped up and no one knew what colour it was. But as it was unwrapped it turned out to be the same colour as Jason’s 55 Chevy a befitting end to a challenging and awesome season.
6 rounds of racing with 6 different winners, new cars, 16 plus fields, a whole host of PBs and a new Gasser Circus Champion - Ray Irish. What more could you want, I know, it was so good, let’s all do it again in 2023.
The Gasser Circus wish to thank their superb sponsors Neil Melliard Modern Pinstriping & Lettering, www.melliardsign.co.uk, The Rocket Racing Team, and our supporters Serck Services, Renegade Fuels and the NSRA.
Finally a huge thank you to all the staff that ensure we can go racing each year and do all the work behind the scenes. See you all next year.
AA/FAs at Bakersfield - and Oxfordshire. 7th October:
It's not every day you accidentally meet up with two AA/FA legends, but a meeting at Havoc AA/FA racer and Pro Modified racer Nick Davies resulted in such a co-incidence. Nick answered the phone and it was Ron Hope on the other end of the line, in the UK on a business trip, along with Stewart Bassett of Eurodragster sponsors US Automotive.
After Ron and Stuart arrived we were given a tour by Nick of his race and road car collection, including a restomod pickup which looks highly suitable for RWYB at a nostalgia meeting, and Nick's OSCAR (Old School Classic Altered Racer) Fiat Topolino which is in mid-build with a complete blown Hemi engine on the side.
Whilst Nick is currently resting from track action, Ron said he is driving a Fuel Altered for the last time at this year's California Hot Rod Reunion from 21st-23rd October, and has confirmed the list of altereds attending to bid Ron a farewell from competition. Ron will however continue to be involved, with son Brian as driver of Pure Hell and grandson Michael who will be racing a blown alky altered in 7.0 Pro once he is licensed.
The line-up for the CHRR is:
Rat Trap - Ron Hope
Pure Hell - Brian Hope
Nanook - Kyle Hough
Bradfords - Randy Bradford
Pure Heaven - Jeff Bennett
High Heaven - Hughie Callen
Godzilla - Rodney Flournoy
Panic - Nick VanHorn
Nitro Moose - Dylan Wynefsky
Plan A - Johnny West
Impatient - James Generalao
Red Dragon - Tom Padilla
Travelling all the way to Bakersfield to photograph these cars for Eurodragster.com will be photojournalist Andy Willsheer and we look forward to publishing his galleries of his Bakersfield visit and other events in late October and early November, including the NHRA Legends of Nitro at Las Vegas, the SEMA Show and Nitro Revival.
"A hard fought season against the fast and consistent Gary Parkes Team Purple Daze but pipped at the last event by only 8 points separating the two teams.
We look forward to both teams coming back to do it all again in 2023!
You can see the 2022 Supercharged Outlaws points table at this link, or via our points page which you can find under news, and then points standings in the main menu. Andy adds "Special thanks to Meghan Evans for taking on points duties and assistance during my time away from the group to support my wife Hayley."
Japshow Finale 32 car Shootout. 6th October:
At this weekend's Japshow Finale, some of the quickest "Compact" cars in the UK will be competing in a 32 car Sports Compact Shootout at Santa Pod Raceway. The entry level has been transformed from previous years with a prize fund of £1,000 to the winner, £500 Runner Up plus trophies.
The Sports Compact Shootout is open to FWD, RWD and 4WD cars with compact engines (4, 5 or 6 cylinders and rotaries). Entries include Fast Show winner and Fast Show Reloaded runner up Matt Davison (Honda Civic), Fast Show Reloaded winner Ahmed Jamshaid (Honda Civic) and Ultimate Street Car winner Ian Pepper (Vauxhall Nova), also USC runner up Craig Evans (Vauxhall Corsa). Expect times in the nines at over 150mph from the quicker runners and even the odd eight if conditions allow. For videos of the contenders head over to the Mk1 Kieran Facebook page.
As the car show season closes, Jap Show Finale is your last chance to get your car out there before winter draws in. Santa Pod Raceway have something for everyone with the Show Paddock with six prize categories, public Run What Ya Brung with nine trophies, one for each Japanese marque, is to everyone including bikes with a Trade area and more. You can get tickets at santapodtickets.com and see the running order at this link.
Nostalgia Superstock thanks. 6th October:
Thanks to Don Scott, UK Nostalgia Superstock co-ordinator, for supplying his thanks to the folks who have helped the class have its best year yet:
"Well, other than our last event at Melbourne, that's a wrap on the NSS race season at Santa Pod, and what a great year it's been, with record race entries at Dragstalgia and Mopar Nats.
"So on behalf of myself and my fellow reps, I'd like to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you that make this class simply the best, all the racers, crews, supporters, commentators, sponsors, and of course my fellow reps Bev N Rob Tyrrell, Jim Chandler, Andrew Bishop, and Nïamh Frances Smith, also my lovely long suffering wife Brigitte Scott.
"Also of course, our thanks go out to Santa Pod Raceway and all their staff, management, fire crews, marshals, medical teams, and to Ian Marshall with the SPRC team for putting on fantastic permit events.
"As I pulled slowly out of the Pod on a beautiful autumnal Monday morning last, I found time to reflect on those less fortunate than ourselves, the awful time Hayley Hadfield and her family are going through, the sad loss of Jon Morton at the track, the passing of our Queen, and several other families going through a difficult time at present. It certainly makes you appreciate every day we are blessed with.
"So as the nights draw in and the winter months arrive, all the best for your race car updates, improvements, repairs and in general anything you're up to.
My passion for this class is no secret, and its always been my dream to see a full 64 car ladder plus bumps ... can we do this in 2023? I certainly hope so, and I know it's something that Santa Pod would love to see, what a sight that would be, all those U.S. muscle cars filling the pairing lanes!
"Well thats it from me for now, sadly due to family commitments I will not be able to make it to Melbourne, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone soon in 2023, love and peace to you all."
See Don's championship winning Superbird in two well produced and imaginative videos from Max Wolf Media on Youtube.
The lifestyle championship at Melbourne Raceway looks like coming down to a battle between Stuart 'Kiwi' Thompson, Dave Billadeau and Adam Nowak as contenders James Oliver and Simon Rickwood will not be attending. Despite the worst of four rounds being dropped, a points bonus of 200 for attending all four rounds will make it tight at the top. Qualifying and eliminations have been planned for Saturday with grudge racing to be held on Sunday.
Drag bike racers do speedway. 6th October:
Santa Pod Raceway starter and sometime drag bike racer Dave Warren writes to say that a group of noteworthy drag bike racers had a try at speedway recently and found it fun, but not without its risks:
"So after going to Cardiff to watch the FIM Speedway GP, a comment was made "How good would that be to have a go, it cant be that hard" and seeing Brit Dan Bewly win, we decided to see how hard this speedway was. So after booking in with Speedway Ride n Slide Dayz I think it's safe to say we found out. After a few chats, we had the following group of people:
Ross Morrison
Alan Morrison Jr
Martin Hallett
Paul Furlong
Steve Venables
Mark Harrison
Jake Mechaell
Chris Perkins
Chris Bois Reed
With Andre Cross on his own bike showing how it should be done.
"After a great day at the school with some great teaching and advice from the instructors it looked like some of us may be the next Dan Bewly in 20 years time. If you are looking to have a go ride 'n' slide is the place to go, they are very good at what they do.
Come to the end of the session and the last go of the day, which involved starting next to each other at the tapes. On the penultimate lap Bois might of had a little issue, which ended with him collecting the fence and sending him and his bike down right in front of me!
"For those that don't know a speedway bike is a 500cc methanol single cylinder, has no brakes, and are only designed to go left. Which resulted in me going straight into Bois' bike and me flying and landing on poor Bois (sorry dude).
"Bois has ended up in hospital for a few days with a few broken ribs and some fluid on the lungs, the rest of us are all sore in one way or another but all left with smiles on our faces after a great day of riding, and looking to doing it again.. well maybe not Bois.
So lesson learnt the pros make it look easy and it might take a bit more practice, but I think we have got the crashing down to a T.
If this hasn't put anyone off, I would highly recommend giving it a go! You can book it at www.speedwayridenslidedayz.com."
There will be racing from up to 16 members of UK Nostalgia Superstock in the final round of their lifestyle championship, Outlaw Street and National Street Car Challenge racing as well as Duck All Prep and qualifying and eliminations for the usual Melbourne bike classes. Also featured is a Saturday evening firework display and live music. Weekend camping is available. The event takes placee this coming weekend 8th-9th October at Melbourne Raceway, Ash Lane, Melbourne, Yorkshire YO42 4SS. Track action is from 10am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.
You can book in advance by clicking on the following links. Spectator booking can be made by clicking on this link or you will be able to get in by paying on the gate. Racers should fill in an entry form at this link and then car racers should get their race tickets by clicking on this link and bike racers by clicking on this link.
Former Eurodragster.com editor Tog will be on hand to take photos and post results. In the meantime, longtime Melbourne track photographer Richard Smith has posted a gallery from the September meeting on his website.
FIA drag racing is on again. 5th October:
Thanks to Pär 'Pippi' Willén for sending a season review by Pro Stock racer and now 12 time FIA Pro Stock champion Jimmy Ålund:
The last two years have of course been dismal. First and foremost, the pandemic caused many personal tragedies. It also affected material things like world-wide sports, including international drag racing. The 2022 season was a good start for normalizing the FIA Drag Racing Series. However, the effects of the pandemic caused long term issues for planning and moving forward. This included not being able to run the number of events we were used to, the FIA Pro Stock Championship was decided over three events.
The FIA Pro Stock season started with the Summit Racing Scandinavian Internationals at Tierp Arena in Sweden.
Qualifying was exceptional for the Ålund team. The car ran not only very strong, the numbers would have made for a successful outing in any ET-class. The four qualifying runs netted ETs of 6.56, 6.54, 6.57, and 6.55. All speeds were in excess of 340 km/h (211.27 mph). Ålund ran the quickest ETs and speeds in all the qualifying runs. This also means that he collected the maximum available 12 bonus points. Keep that in mind.
"That was quite a start to the FIA championship" says Ålund. "The conditions were great and we had also managed to fit in a test session earlier in the summer. The results made for better short incrementals, especially the 60 foot times, and better consistency".
Sunday, eliminations. The performance from qualifying continued, Ålund won the first round with an ET of 6.56 at 341.77 km/h (212.37 mph). The second round was not as stellar, mechanical issues made for a loss against the would-be event winner Robin Norén.
"That's racing", says Ålund, "despite what happened to us, we're good with what we accomplished in qualifying and in the first elimination round". Ålund continues, "it was a great comeback weekend for drag racing in general with almost 300 racers and large crowds in place. Pro Stock did real well, 11 teams in place with a great mix of cars. Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and Pontiac were represented".
Race number two: the NitrOlympx, Hockenheim, Germany. Tough conditions, it was very hot. The high temperatures made it hard to master the tricky track. As usual an enormous crowd, about 58.000 and a new record according to reports.
Qualifying started out well, #1 qualifier after the first round, Q1. Q2 did not go well with engine trouble but things turned back to the better for Q3 and Q4 where Ålund ran the quickest ETs. He thus collected 9 qualifying bonus points.
Sunday, eliminations. Still very hot but Ålund kept up his bracket racing consistency with wins all the way through the final.
"Hockenheim delivers another spectacular event, sure the track was very hot which of course beyond the control of the organizer but it's a great feeling to race in front of such a huge and appreciative crowd", says Ålund, "we had some issues in Q2 that had us worried but the team managed to sort it out which made for the event win".
Race 3. Season ending at Santa Pod Raceway, the FIA Euro Finals.
Notable was that going into this event, the top-3 in points Pro Stock teams were all here and they all had a shot at winning the 2022 championship.
The weather did not cooperate, rain made for only one qualifying round on the Friday. The Ålund car shook the tires off the starting line and ended up in the last qualifying position, not the place to be for an event that decides the championship.
"No, not good at all, every single point counts, especially here at the last event of the championship" says Ålund, "the weather is unpredictable and no one knows if we'll get any qualifying rounds tomorrow. That is a worrying proposition when you're trying to go to sleep".
Saturday made for more rain but the Santa Pod track crew worked relentlessly as usual which made it possible to get one more qualifying round in before eliminations. Ålund got down the track OK and ended up as the #2 qualifier.
"I'll take that all day long" says Ålund, "we got down the track with fair numbers but Malmgren is clearly the person to beat".
Sunday, eliminations. Again, the weather made for delays to the start of the proceedings. Fog this time, not rain. Ålund made the best of the situation. It was all on the line in round 1, Ålund took the win and secured the teams 12th FIA Pro Stock Championship. Ålund went to the finals where he was up against the #1 qualifier Michael Malmgren. It was as good a final race as there can be, Malmgren took the event win with an ET of 6.615 against Ålunds 6.618. Notable is how tight the points were after the smoke cleared. Ålund finished #1 and 2022 champion with only 11 points more than Malmgren. At the first race at Tierp, Ålund collected 12 qualifying bonus points.
"Lost the battle but won the war" says Ålund, "like I said earlier, Malmgren was the guy to beat. Not only did he get the ET on me but he also cut down the tree with a great reaction time". Ålund continues, "the championship fight was very tight, I won by only 11 points. Qualifying points matter".
Congratulations to the FIA Pro Stock Championship number 12. "Thanks" says Ålund, "be sure it was an all-out team effort, it's great to race for a championship again. We're looking forward to more of the same in 2023".
Summit Racing Equipment is sponsoring the Ålund Pro Stock Camaro Racing Team this year as well. This is in addition to Tunghantering, Funny Garage, Viking Industrimålning, Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, and Stigs Axle and Parts. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.
Photo credit: Glynn Dennis
Malta entry opens Sunday. 5th October:
Malta Drag Racing Association secretary Konrad D'Anastasi has announced that on Friday at 8pm the club are holding a presentation for the fourth and final 2022 Quarter Mile Event at Hal Far Raceway. Konrad says:
"From next Sunday 9th October we are opening registration for the November event. Registration is going to remain open until either we reach 130 vehicles, or on the last day of registration which is 5th of November, during our run what ya brung event.
"Since we are expecting a lot of entries for this event, we suggest that if you plan on participating, you should register as early as possible, as once the limit is reached no further registrations will be allowed. Registration is going to be on a first come first served basis."
We look forward to posting galleries from the event from Kieran who will be attending as a videographer, and photos from Andrew Green who will be spectator-side.
Swift snippets. 5th October:
Happy Birthday for today to newly married 9.50 Bike spouse and FB group administrator Debbie Sawatzki, Straightliners boss Trevor Duckworth, photographer and hot rodder Kenzie Taylor, Dutch racer Hans van der Spek and NHRA great and B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving School owner Doug Herbert. We hope you all have a great day.
The 2022 finale of Funny Car Chaos promises much action with 50 Funny Cars signed up and also 15 Outlaw Fuel Altereds (alky or nitro) who will all be racing this coming weekend over the eighth mile at the Texas Motorplex. To get us up to speed for the event, there is a live preview being streamed on Youtube at this link at 01:00 UK time on 6th February. The preview will be hosted by announcer David Rattan and pit correspondent Lee Craft, with series promoter Chris Graves also taking to the mic. You can see the entry list at this link. Floracing will be streaming the event from 19:00 on Friday 7th October (subscription payable) via this link.
The UK Drag Racing Technical Committee will meet on Sunday 16th October 2022 at 10:00. The meeting will take place at the Hotel Restaurant Campanile, off Junction 15 of M1, Loake Close, Northampton NN4 5EZ.
Could any persons wishing to attend the meeting please contact Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com. Please do not just turn up as we have a limited amount of space booked. Also if you wish to have a topic discussed, technical matters only please, then please also email Ian by Tuesday 11th October, so that items can be added to the agenda.
DRU Pro ET champion decided at Zerbst. 4th October:
Thanks to Drag Race Union organiser Markus Münch for sending his account of the deciding round of the Pro ET Championship at the DMSB Cup race run by AMC Dessau at Zerbst Airfield on 1st-3rd October.
What a season we have behind us, Rivanazzano, Clastres, NitrOlympX as well as Santa Pod and Zerbst races. AMC Dessau is the first German organizer after the Jade Race in 2019 and the races in Bechyne, Czech Republic, to organize an official National (NEAFP) race. Hats off to that, you have to trust yourself first. Otherwise the only German drag races are the international NitrOlympX, and clubsport events in Germany that are limited to classes slower than 9.00 seconds. Over 200 entries at Zerbst speak for themselves. The track in Zerbst was flooded - in several respects. The paddock was full, that's how it's supposed to be. We need more "official" races to keep the sport from dying out. Thank you AMC Dessau, thank you for taking this risk despite the limited crew and I hope you can take it again in 2023.
The paddock was also flooded by massive waterfalls from above. On Saturday only the juniors went on the track, on Sundas almost everyone had a qualifying run. On Monday there was a little qualifying for those who hadn't run yet and then the eliminations.
In Super Pro ET, the four participants qualified as follows: Oliver Krautberger in first place, followed by Michael Mikuscheit in his El Camino, Frank Römer in his Camaro and Oliver Petzold in his Corvette. The Chevy Festival has begun.... In round one, Krautberger won against Mikuscheit and Petzold against Römer, who pulled a red light. In the final, Oliver Petzold defeated the Austrian Oliver Krautberger. This did not change anything in terms of the overall DRU Challenge Super Pro standings this year which you can see at this link.
In Pro ET, the DRU Challenge was still open, albeit difficult to change the rankings of the top four as only the best four races count towards the overall ranking. Janine Petzold (pictured left) was fourth, only four points behind Ronnie Mercer(pictured right), who could no longer collect any points. For that Janine needed a passable qualifying result and had to drive up at least to round three, which would make her third in the challenge. Martin Weikum led the Challenge in his golden Camaro ahead of Armin Widmann's white Camaro (pictured above), only fifteen points separating the two. Both needed to advance to the semi-finals to improve their score at all.
Martin Weikum was eliminated in round one which gave the young Bavarian Widmann the opportunity to win the title. Widmann needed to advance to the final in order to collect enough points. He won rounds two and three, was in the semifinals which he had to win - and he dis! Crazy how close that was. However, Widmann lost the race in the final against Michael Försch from the A Team Dragrace Team, who, with that success, moved up from the midfield to fifth place in the challenge with just three races this season.
Congratulations to the last minute challenge winner Armin Widmann from BDRC and HARA, the runner up Martin Weikum, as well as Janine Petzold in third place and Ronnie Mercer in fourth place. With his participation in the semifinals, Thomas Bublitz moved up to sixth place in the challenge.
An exciting season has come to an end in both challenges. Be our guest in Bitz near Stuttgart when the winners are crowned. There is food, drink, live music, a DJ and of course trophies and traditionally a good atmosphere.
Spitfire Raceway announces 2023 dates. 4th October:
With the final race of 2022 being on 10th December, Perranporth, Cornwall's Spitfire Raceway has announced its dates for 2023:
18th February
29th April
8th July
16th September
25th November
Thanks to Spitfire Raceway for arranging the dates and to track promoter Lee Child for announcing them and continuing to promote the venue for racers in the south west.
Swift snippets. 4th October:
Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Kieran Turner, expat racer and carburetor guru Tony Morris, Maltese Super Street Bike racer Franklyn Borg and German Super Pro ET racer Oliver Petzold. We hope you all have a great day.
In addition to the Straight to the Point '37 Ford of George Chiarella and Motor Psycho AA/FA of Adam Gleadow, the Rocket Mercury Gasser of Simon Prest made it to the UK Final of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. The shortlist and UK winner of the competition will be announced on Friday.
German photographer Volker Seifert has updated his website with a gallery of photos from this year's NitrOlympX which you can view by clicking here.
Dave Henderson (pictured left) (Audi RS3) 9.4067/156.35
Paul Jordan (pictured right) (VW Polo) 9.0797/144.77
Richard Milton (VW Caddy) 10.0644/145.70
Jacob Bailey (VW Jetta Coupe) 9.5568/147.68
Grant Parker (Mk1 Golf) 10.3911/127.98
Marc Taylor (Seat Leon) 10.5469/140.27
Chris Waterhouse (Audi A3) 9.8815/130.57
Wayne Gill (VW Golf) 10.7281/126.65
Eliminations:
Round 1:
Davve Henderson 9.348/156.87 def. Grant Parker 10.465/123.73
Richard Milton 10.018/147.20 def. Chris Waterhouse 10.578/126.51
Paul Jordan 9.525/148.58 def. Marc Taylor 11.016/138.68
Jacob Bailey 10.516/147.68 def. Wayne Gill 11.263/123.40
Round 2:
Dave Henderson def. Richard Milton
Paul Jordan 9.636/146.18 def. Jacob Bailey 10.052/145.78
Final:
David Henderson 9.260/159.63 def. Paul Jordan 10.233/142.94
Not eligible for competing in VW Heads up but VW based and turbo LS powered, the new Passat of Rob Carter ran an impressive PB of 8.5665/165.46 on Sunday in only its second event and we look forward to seeing it in VW Pro and Street Eliminator in 2023.
Photos courtesy VWDRC.
Swift snippets. 3rd October:
Happy Birthday today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and drag bike pioneer Alf Hagon who celebrates 90 years, 8.50 Bike racer Andy Haley and Super Pro ET racer Saskia Jell. We hope you all have a wonderful day.
A couple of photographers have uploaded albums from the recent NSRA Hot Rod Drags, MCT Photography aka Kenzie Taylor has a Facebook Album which you can see by clicking here and Gary Keep has posted sets of photos to the UK & European Drag Racing Photos Facebook Group which you can see by clicking here.
Also posting photos, timely in the run-up to the next meeting at Melbourne Raceway is Bad Yeti Kustom Print, aka Steve Purdon, who has posted photos from Saturday 17th September which you can see by clicking here.
Our thoughts at this time are with those who suffered loss as a result of Hurricane Ian which hit Florida a few days ago. A few expat European racers reported the effects of the storm and we wish them well also any others affected. Former Top Fuel racer Viveca Averstedt said "We are ok and are lucky we didn’t get flooding like our neigbor. Just a bit disaster in our backyard with a tree over the power lines plus our giant cactus also over the power line. We will probably be without power for a week." Pro Modified and No Prep racer Adam Flamholc said "Craziest 48 hours of my life, heartbreaking to see all the damage in our area, and to hear about the people that lost their lives here.
It’ll be a while before we get electricity and water back, and it’ll be a longer while to get our house and shop back to how it was." Former Pro Mod and Top Fuel racer Joran Persåker reported "The radio works sometimes, no power, no internet. My house got out of it complete but many roofs of others have gone, with pool cages and fences destroyed." We hope that repairs and restoration of services can be undertaken speedily so life returns to normal for many, and send our condolences to those who lost loved ones.
Dakota gallery and video. 2nd October:
Thanks to Kieran for supplying a gallery of photos from the Drag & Drift event held yesterday at Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe, Devon.
Kieran says "The day was dry and there were plenty of bikes as well as a number of cars." We will supply results as soon as they are published.
You can see Kieran's gallery sponsored by John Woolfe Racing by clicking
here or by clicking on the Event Coverage link in the main menu at the top of the page. You can also see Kieran's video from the event on his Mk1 Youtube channel at this link.
The event was the last 2022 Drag & Drift at Dakota, we look forward to publishing the 2023 calendar in due course.
Swift snippets. 2nd October:
Congratulations to 9.50 Bike champions Debbie and Richard Sawatzki (pictured left) on their marriage yesterday. Debbie says "Although I changed my name years ago and, after keeping the date secret, we finally got married at 4pm yesterday". Our best wishes to Debbie and Richard on a long and happy marriage.
Happy Birthday for today to radio presenter and former Nitro FM DJ Nigel Fitzmaurice who reaches 60 years young, Street Eliminator racer Mark Sheridan, former 9.50 Bike racer and Billy Gane team member Jak Hylton, and former Junior Dragster racer Joe Holland-Villa. We hope you all have a great day.
You can see video of the VW Heads Up competition from Santa Pod Raceway being shown on Facebook live at the VWDRC FB page. Qualifying and elimination rounds will be shown with commentary from Luke Stevenson.
Congratulations to Lex Joon who had a new PB of 3.878/310.91 at the NHRA Mid-West Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway yesterday, however commiserations as he was only five hundredths of a second outside the 16 car field for eliminations today. Follow today's race at www.nhra.com or www.dragracecentral.com.
Dale Ackworth and Michael Castle's Spotted Motors Youtube channel has footage of their LS twin turbo engined Cortina at Melbourne Raceway at the September meeting. You can see the behind the scenes footage of Dale and Michael's exploits at this link.
"Super Pro ET has already been decided, Angel Romero & his team are the DRU Super Pro ET Challenge 2022 winners so congratulations to Angel and crew. The Super Pro ET Challenge involved 24 participants from six nations, scoring points from a number of nominated races. Angel with Team Centauro, who went through a course at the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School in Gainesville, won the Clastres #18 race and the Rivanazzano Wide Open race for the majority of his 2022 points total. Billy Gane was runner up following his win at the Springspeed Nationals, and Alain Dürr was third after being a semi finalist in the final Clastres Race.
"In Pro ET it will be very exciting. We can't wait. Martin Weikum (pictured below left) is not even a race lap ahead of Armin Widmann (pictured below right). Both have the problem of having to get to at least round three in order to score more points due to the "4 race count" rule. This means only Armin can make only make up points on Martin from the semi-finals. Janine Petzold will likely be passing Ronnie Mercer from rank four to rank three.
"The Drag Race Union annual end of the season party will take place on 29th October, 2022 at Hillbilly's Heaven in Bitz, Truchtelfinger Strasse 1, D-72475 Bitz. Included is a practice tree competition sponsored by Hoosier-Rennreifen.de for one person per team, with the first prize a voucher worth € 500 runner up getting an OGIO backpack worth €100. Payment of €30 for the pulled pork buffet and drink should be made by 22nd October."
We wish Markus a get well soon, as due to ill health he will be unable to attend this weekend's race.
You can see the 190+ entries, schedule and results of the DMSB Cup - AMC Dessau race at Zerbst Airfield at this link. There are entries in most sportsman classes, including a strong Sport Compact contingent running in three brackets from 9s to 11s index. Junior Dragster will include Liam McDonald.
Pictures from 2022 NitrOlympX by Kirstie
Swift snippets. 1st October:
Happy Birthday to Wild Bunch Antique Toy racer Daniel Wilson, have a great day Daniel.
Good luck and stay safe to expat Dutch racer Lex Joon who is racing at the Worldwide Technology Raceway at Madison, Illinois this weekend in the NHRA Midwest Nationals. Lex says "Our first qualifier last night didn’t bring us the run we where looking for due to a clutch malfunction.
We are going to fix the issue and give it another try." You can follow Lex's #NVRQuit team with crew chief and wife Gerda on www.nhra.com or www.dragracecentral.com.
You can see a video sequence of ET Bike racer Scott Collier's National Finals, taken by Dad and crew chief Jerry, with plenty of onboard footage, on Youtube at this link.
For those seeking live streaming this weekend a free stream of the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars meeting at Palmyra Dragway, Australia, is currently on show via Youtube at this link.
