The second weekend of the 1964 Drag Festival took place in the north of England visiting RAF Woodvale near Southport on Saturday 26^th September where again a crowd of 20,000 eager spectators poured through the gates. With the first two meets out of the way the festival began to pick up momentum as much had now been learned by the BDRA and RAC officials. The confusion based on inexperience became a thing of the past and new procedures and suggestions were passed on to the local organizing clubs, the Lancashire Automobile Club, the Northwest centre of the Auto Cycle Union and as with all meets held on RAF bases the RAF Motorsports Association.

The traction on the Woodvale strip was excellent, the only problem was another runway crossed the strip just before the finish line causing a bump in both lanes. It was worse in the left-hand lane at 3½ inches causing some of the faster cars to take-off. The weather started out cool and bright but a stiff breeze from the sea kept the weather changing bringing rain by noon then warm sunshine in the afternoon.

As before the bikes started proceedings with their two-timed runs apiece. Running in the 751 – 1500cc Class, Alf Hagon made best bike time of the day with a quick 10.71/125mph on his lightweight nitro burning 1100cc JAP. He’d been talking to Don Garlits who suggested he upped the ignition from 35 to 45 degrees. The JAP motor came from the Irish hill climb and sprint car known as the Leprechaun but was running un-blown for now. Also in the tens was Neville Higgins on his Vincent Jindivik with a 10.88/134mph but the class winner was Ian Ashwell on his Vincent Satan who beat Howard German on the blown VW powered Drag Waye, 11.89/121mph to 12.75/119mph. Earlier Howard had clocked a strong 11.75/124mph sitting behind the rear wheel slingshot style. Strangely the bike eliminations were run when it was raining and while all the Americans were away at a luncheon invitation during the scheduled lunch break so both Bill Wood and Don Hyland missed out.

The 501 – 750cc Class win went to Bill Bragg on his Triumph Blue Peril who took out Pete Smith on the Hagon Triumph 12.41/117mph to a slowing 13.93/74mph and Eamon Hurley on his Manx Norton took the up to 500cc class against S Woods’ Norton Jap with a 13.55/98mph to 14.26/94mph.

Tony Kinch in his Cortina GT took the up to 2500cc Saloon & GT Class beating F Meakin in an MGA 17.01/80mph to 17.76/79mph. The only other entrant running in the class was Irishman Jim Gavin in the Cortina GT powered Renault. The 2501cc – 6000cc Saloon & GT Class went to Dick Jones in his 16 second Chrysler Valiant as he was the only competitor entered.

There were only two entrants in the up to 2500cc Sports Car Class, Peter Westbury in the Lotus BRM and G Austen driving a rare Emeryson. Peter clocked an impressive 11.93/122 during the morning timed runs and easily beat the low 14 second Emeryson. The 2501cc – unlimited Sports Car Class was a bit healthier with 12 entries, many of them Jaguars. G Pitt in a Lotus-Climax 19 took the eliminator win running 12.50/119mph to shut down Bruce Ropner’s Shelby Cobra at 12.90/107. Other cars in the class were Phil Scragg’s ex-John Coundley Lotus-Climax 19, two C-Type Jags, a D-Type Jag, an E-Type Jag, a Lister Jag, an HWM Jag, an XK120, the Chapman-Mercury and a Bentley.

The Racing Cars up to 3000cc Class had a field of six cars, Ken Wilson’s 2.5 litre BRM, the Twinny Mini with a Mini engine at each end, Peter Westbury’s 4WD Ferguson, Peter Meldrum’s Lotus powered by a Shorrocks blown Allard Dragon motor, a Cooper-Daimler V8 and a Fairley Climax. Ken Wilson shut down the rapid 4WD Ferguson in the final when Peter Westbury mucked up a gear change and the BRM just got ahead at the line with an 11.76/123mph to a 12.04/123mph. Peter wasn’t too upset as the Mayor of Southport presented him with the Southport Cup and £25 for best British car time of the day accomplished earlier in eliminations at 11.01 seconds, so close to a ten. Dick Soanes’ 3.5 litre Cooper-Buick was the only entrant in the over 3001cc Racing Car Class, and he was put with the smaller capacity racing cars running a best time of 12.85/111mph.

An interesting entry at Woodvale was Les Bolton from Blackpool who turned up with his aluminium bodied 1000cc Jap powered three-wheeled sprinter. He did some demo runs with a best of 13.70.

The British Dragsters were also run as one class making five cars, John Harrison’s Austin powered DD Atlantic, Leon Moss with his blown pre-war Riley powered Square One, Alan Allard in both the Allard Dragon and the big Allard Chrysler dragster and Allan Herridge in the blown straight eight Buick dragster. Alan Allard took the eliminator win in the Dragon beating Allan Herridge in the final with an 11.30/127mph to a shut off 16.77/56mph.

Herridge earlier ran a 13.45/100mph. Alan Allard also got to grips with the Allard Chrysler clocking 11.72/121mph, his best run in the car so far.

Tommy Ivo came out for a morning run in his Double A Fueller in the right-hand lane, the one with the smaller bump and reeled off an 8.64/167mph. Then Don Garlits followed with a quicker 8.54 audibly backing off to 141mph over the bump. Ivo’s motor had been setup for durability for the six-race series whereas Garlit’s motor was the same one that pushed Swamp Rat to over 200mph. Don felt it was getting tired after the first two meetings and had visited a northern enthusiast’s workshop to freshen it up before Woodvale.

Using straight 100 octane petrol from the local garage Tony Nancy’s Wedge II made a beautifully controlled run at 9.08/171mph, edging towards the eights while Bob Keith in the other Gas dragster, Dos Palmas, took it easy over the bump recording 9.80/111mph. Dante Duce was running well in the AA/Modified Moonbeam sports car recording a best time of 11.81/142mph and Doug Church in the Porsche powered F/Dragster was down to 11.45/114mph.

KS Pittman and Chuck Stolze finally retrieved their spare parts and tools from customs at Southampton docks and had repaired the rear end on the blown hemi Willys Gasser. They came out for a run in the morning. Pittman romped hard on the loud pedal, engaging the B&M Hydro he plunged forward, the big Goodyears chirping and smoking for 30 feet then the car veered left suddenly, and the motor was cut. An axle half-shaft had broken, unheard of for the bulletproof Donovan Olds conversion. Refusing to quit Pittman looked for another ride and Dante Duce offered the use of Carroll Shelby’s AC Cobra. A matchup with one of the British Cobras was arranged. With the flag up Pittman lurched forward with a loud clank, leaving a pile of smashed parts on the strip. Another axle had let go, so with a red face and near to tears from laughing in embarrassment, Pittman made a hasty exit.

The crowd-pleasing A/FX cars of Ronnie Sox and Dave Strickler were back out running elevens with speeds in the high 120s. Then George Montgomery in his Willy Gasser took a challenge race with Ronnie Sox. To even the battle Sox was lined up six car lengths ahead of the line. Starter George Wells, on leave from the US armed forces in Belgium, pointed the flag at each driver for the okays then as the flag left the deck Sox was away. Montgomery hesitated for an instant then reared up and charged after the Mercury Comet just catching and passing him at the line. The crowds loved it cheering and clapping both drivers as they came back down the strip. It was this sort of thing that put real life into the festival.

Showmanship more than drag racing became important and for the US Team the festival was merely an exhibition. The spectators asked for nothing more, a good show with noise, smoke, and colour, and they got it. Just before the two AA/Fuel Dragsters came out to end the day's proceedings Ivo was honoured with a bunny girl who’d escaped from the local Playboy Club and gave him a basket of shrimps, one of Southport’s prime products. Tony Nancy and Steve Swaja bunny-hopped across the staging area in hopes of picking up the scraps but Ivo didn’t leave any.

Due to the top end bump, it was decided to run the fuellers one at a time in the slightly better right-hand lane. Wally Parks had a word with both drivers suggesting they take it easy after a good take off from the start. Tommy Ivo went first with a strong run of 8.40/177mph getting airborne over the bump the motor upped its revs and did in the blower. As he cleared the top end Garlits was already on the start line ready to go. He trod even deeper on the loud pedal not letting off to record a sizzling 8.09/195mph getting wildly out of shape at the top end. Even Garlits admitted he was ‘Close to God.’ On his earlier run when he backed off for the bump the announcer had mumbled ‘sissy.’ At the bump, his rubber marks had ended, starting again forty feet later, right side first; nobody calls Garlits sissy...

The following day the festival moved to RAF Church Fenton, about 100 miles east of Woodvale. The organizing clubs were used to running sprint meetings at Church Fenton and good organization was evident immediately from the Yorkshire centre of the British Automobile Racing Club and the Tadcaster District Motorcycle Club as the entire day ran smoothly. The weather was dry and sunny with a light cross wind and a good surface gave excellent traction, but the big cars still produced plenty of smoke for the huge crowd of fans estimated at well over 20,000.

This time George Brown on his Vincent Super Nero made the quickest bike run of the day at 10.72 with Neville Higgins not far behind at 10.86. In the eliminations Eamon Hurley took the win in the up to 500cc class taking out Dave Lecoq on his AJS Special. The 501cc – 750cc class went to the BSA of Glen Garside who took out Pete Smith’s Hagon Triumph and the large capacity class saw George Brown shutdown Alf Hagon.

Bill Wood was having troubles with his Harley by the box-full, his gearbox being full of broken pieces. Experiments with nitro may have helped break the main shaft. Apart from that the Harley was getting off the line well and it looked as though the British bikes may be pressed hard, but not today.

Things were beginning to shape up pretty well as far as the British cars were concerned, picking up a lot of pointers from watching the Americans and asking questions. By the same token the Yanks got an opportunity to see a little ingenuity in action. Not blessed with a ready abundance of bolt on equipment, some real thought had to be put in on homegrown equipment. The John Chapman Mercury had a big Mercury mill in a sports car chassis and carburetion was by a series of Amal motorcycle carbs bolted directly to the ports. A unique linkage gave simultaneous operation yet allowed full and separate adjustment of idle, fuel supply, mixture, and throttle air control for each cylinder. Ian Grant’s Fiat had a four-cylinder Ford engine stuffed crossways under the rear lid, which could no longer be closed. Unique supercharging systems were manifest, such as Allan Herridge’s Buick straight eight with front mounted blower making it mighty long after it was all added up.

Unlike at Woodvale Tony Kinch did not have the smallest Saloon & GT Class his own way as Ken Lee’s very hot Mini Cooper saw him off with a run of 16.23/83mph, only to then get beaten by Mike Wheatley’s 16 second MGB in the final. The larger class again saw just Dick Jones running on his own.

The small Sports Car Class saw four entrants with Peter Westbury taking the win in his Lotus BRM running 12.60/117mph to knock out JR Walton’s Bristol at 16.01/85mph. The larger Sports Car Class saw a good entry of 11 cars. Ken Wilson in his Lister Jag beat the lightweight E-Type of Phil Scragg only to lose out to Bruce Ropner’s Shelby Cobra in the final which ran 12.81/110mph to Ken’s 13.17/108mph. Other cars in the class were two C-Type Jags, another E-Type and a Lister Jag, an Allard J2, a Bentley, John Chapman’s Mercury, and Don Farrell’s Farrallac.

The Twinny Mini was this time driven by Chris Lawrence and he won the small Racing Car Class as Peter Westbury retired the rapid 4WD Ferguson after pipping Ken Wilson’s BRM so with no one to race in the final Chris was awarded the win. Dick Soanes’ 3.5 litre Cooper Buick was again the only competitor in the larger Racing Car Class.

Alan Allard, despite a missed gear change, again won the smaller Dragster Class in the Works Dragon beating Leon Moss in Square One at 12.23/122mph to Leon’s 14.92/79mph.  In the first round Leon had taken out Tony Densham. The larger Dragster Class saw just Alan Allard in the Allard Chrysler dragster as Allan Herridge had broken and being so far from home didn’t have the parts to effect repair. So, Alan ran a solo 11.25/141mph to take top time of the day for a British car, gaining valuable experience with the brute on every run and now looking for a ten.

The only true amateur team over from the States were Keith, Goodnight and Williams with the Dos Palmas AA/Gas Chevy powered rail and Bob Keith ran the first of the morning warm-up runs for the US cars. He made a good run of 9.24/165mph with the front wheels hardly touching the deck, then Tommy Ivo came out and ran an 8.98/161mph.

For the lunch break activities Don Garlits accepted a hairy ride down the strip in one of Britain’s first cars, an 1897 Daimler which was a great hit with the spectators though Don looked a bit odd in his silver fire suit. Also, Sheffield hot rodder Brian Hardy got to drive up and down the strip in his Ardun flathead powered ‘32 Ford Cabriolet complete with twin 3branch exhausts and Kelsey-Hayes wheels.

After lunch Don came out to record a strong 8.37/195mph equalling his top speed at Woodvale. Tony Nancy encountered the first of his real troubles putting a rod through the sump. The crew including Steve Swaja, the car’s designer, burst into action to repair the car but couldn’t get it done before the end of the meet. Sox and Strickler ran several close 11 second matchups, Montgomery ran a 10.63/133mph and Duce in Moonbeam was running low 11s. Doug Church in the Porsche dragster took on Peter Westbury driving the Lotus-BRM. Unfortunately, the Lotus broke off the line handing the win to Church at 11.64/115mph. Peter did better against Duce in Moonbeam who he just beat with a good hole shot off the line.

For added excitement two car vs bike races were held in the afternoon, Duce took on George Brown on Super Nero with Moonbeam just taking it 11.28/141mph to 11.07/140 indicating that Duce got out the hole before Brown made his move. George was more into sprinting than the drags. Then it was Alf Hagon against Alan Allard in the Dragon. This time the bike took it running 11.59/113mph to the Dragon’s off form 12.06/111mph.

As always, the meet was wrapped up by a double A Fueller race. The cross wind had got stronger so they both ran without the front bodywork fitted. Ivo caught Garlits sleeping on the line and leapt out the hole to a winning 8.65/192mph to the Swamp Rat’s slowing 8.88/149mph.

Then it was back to London for a few days before the final weekend of the festival. Some of the teams made good use of Allard’s Clapham High Street workshops for repairs. Pittman and Stolze replaced their axle and gave the Willys a thorough going over, the Wedge II boys were busy installing a new motor while Bill Wood was fitting a new main shaft to his transmission.