2024 SPRC Perpetual Awards – Most Promising Newcomer.
13th December 2024

Thanks to Peter Walters from Santa Pod Racers Club and Peter Walters Race Design for sending the first set of Perpetual Awards. For the 2024 season, Santa Pod Racers Club are accepting votes for the prestigious Perpetual Awards. This gives viewers and readers the opportunity to contribute to the selection of award winners, who will be honoured at the SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation on 22nd February 2025.

All votes will be carefully considered by the SPRC Committee in determining the award recipients.

Today’s category is Most Promising Newcomer. Nominees for SPRC Most Promising Newcomer have impressed whilst contesting their first full season in a class or making their on-track debut in 2024.

You can view and vote on the SPRC Committee’s shortlist by clicking here or by clicking the picture.

Shortlists will be announced weekly, with nominations for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy will remain open throughout the voting period.

Each individual is allowed one vote per award, based on their unique email address.

Voting will be conducted on an award-by-award basis, so after casting your vote for the Most Promising Newcomer, you may proceed to vote for other categories such as Best-Appearing Car, Best-Appearing Bike, and so on.

Please be aware that attempts to manipulate the voting process – such as encouraging colleagues, forum participants, or social media connections to vote in large numbers – will be easily detected. Any such votes will be disqualified, as in previous years. Efforts to rig the vote will result in the disqualification of the nominee, regardless of their involvement or awareness.

The next voting category will be Best Appearing Car which will open on 20/12/24.

2025 FIA European Drag Racing championship dates.
13th December 2024

The dates for the 2025 FIA European Drag Racing championship have been approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council during the meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda which took place on Wednesday 11th December.

  • 23rd-26th May, Santa Pod Raceway (UK)
  • 7th-10th August, Tierp Arena (Sweden)
  • 29th-31st August, HockenheimRing (Germany)
  • 4th-7th September, Santa Pod Raceway (UK)
Swift snippets.
13th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET and Wild Bunch racer Callum Swinchatt and to VW Sportsman racer Holly Sanders. We hope you both have a great day.

Roy Ayton.
12th December 2024

We were sad to hear of the passing today of Roy Ayton aged 65 years old who raced with his cousin Martin Ayton in the 2004 season.

Martin contacted Eurodragster.com with this sad news on Roy, Martin says: "He was a typical petrol head working as a bus mechanic until he took medical retirement, but always had an interest in anything mechanical"

Roy had planned to rebuild his 1962 Mini next year and see his cousin racing again next year at Santapod.

This photo of Roy and cousin Martin in a tent at the Pod in 2004.

We at Eurodragster.com send our deepest condolences to Roy's family and friends.

UK Nostalgia Superstock seeking 2025 sponsorship.
12th December 2024

Thanks to Nïamh Frances Smith for sending in this update on UK NOSTALGIA SUPERSTOCK seeking sponsorship for 2025, Nïamh writes:

It’s that time of year folks! 

I’m putting out our annual call for sponsors for the 2025 season! Sponsors are really important for the class, without them we couldn’t do anything that we do: prize money, trophies, party, Dragstalgia BBQ, events like the NEC car show etc.

We get a lot of support from them, but there’s also some good marketing opportunities and brand exposure on offer for our sponsors in return! If you would consider sponsoring NSS in 2025, please drop a committee member a message via our Facebook or an email at this link, and ask for more details or a sponsorship proposal to be emailed to you.

Thank you to all of this years sponsors, we will be contacting each one of you soon to see if you would like to continue your support into the 2025 season.

Swift snippets.
12th December 2024

Happy Birthday to many times-retired car and bike racer Paul Watson, VW Sportsman racer Lottie Bradford, former altered racer Mark Richardson, Super Twin racer Marko Lantto, Stock Eliminator racer Kjell Erickson. We hope you all had a great day!

 

Jordan Payne - Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30.
11th December 2024

UK Comp Eliminator racer, Jordan Payne, has been named as an honouree on Drag Illustrated’s prestigious 30 Under 30 list – announced earlier this morning.

"I am overjoyed to have been selected by Drag Illustrated!" said Jordan. "It’s incredibly exciting to be recognised alongside so many talented individuals and I’m very proud to be standing with them."

The Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 Program recognizes and celebrates the achievements of young individuals in the drag racing community. Aimed at highlighting the next generation of talent, the program showcases those under the age of 30 who are making a significant impact in the sport. The initiative seeks to inspire and motivate young people to pursue careers in drag racing  and aims to ensure the continued growth and evolution of the sport for future generations.

"It’s been a tough secret to keep since I first found out back in October," Jordan explained. "I’ve been bursting to share the news, and now the official list has been announced, I’m finally able to share my excitement! I’d like to thank my sponsors - VP Racing Fuels, CTR Developments, Nimbus Motorsport, Cam Auto Developments, Racetech, and Fuelab - for their backing. Their continued support has helped me to receive this great accolade!”

Jordan is flying out to Indianapolis this Wednesday to attend the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show, where the Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 ceremony will take place. At the event he will receive his 30 Under 30 jacket and meet many influential people from within the racing industry.

“I’m really looking forward to the trip,” Jordan added. “It’ll be great to meet with my sponsors who are exhibiting at the show and I’m also looking forward to catching up with my friends from KB Titan Racing, GESi, Edelbrock and Rottler. I’d like to thank everyone at Drag Illustrated for choosing me to be a 30 Under 30 Honouree this year. The recognition really means a lot and I’m thrilled to be acknowledged by such a credible outfit within the world of drag racing! I’m confident that this achievement will help me to make big steps towards my ultimate goal - to compete in NHRA Pro Stock!”

Jordan will be documenting his upcoming trip to PRI on his social media channels. Make sure to keep up to date on this link and by clicking here.

Drag Illustrated Article – Drag Illustrated Issue 191, November / December 2024 | Page 153

Swift snippets.
11th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to videographer extraordinaire and regular contributor Mk1Kieran, we hope you have a fantastic day from all the Eurodragster.com team. Also Birthday wishes to Santa Pod Raceway Events Manager James Forster, Santa Pod marshal Holly Donisthorpe, FWD racer Ahmed Jamshaid, Street Eliminator racer Michael de Souza, Swedish marshal Thomas Andersson, Austrian Pro ET racer Alex Mahl. We hope you all have a great day!

Swift snippets.
10th December 2024

Happy belated Birthday to Top Fuel Racer and Malta Motorsports Association President Duncan Micallef. We hope you have a had day Duncan!

SPR Outstanding Social Media Presence Award
9th December 2024

Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway's IT/News Media Dave Jones for sending in this annoucement of Santa Pod Raceway's Outstanding Social Media Presence Award, Dave writes:

In the age of social media, publishing video and photo content out on social media has become ubiquitous, but that doesn’t mean to say it is any good. However, when done right, social media content can be thoroughly entertaining to the viewer as well as beneficial to the poster on multiple levels.

A great video posted in the run up to an event, on race day, or in retrospect can entertain fans of the team and the sport of drag racing as a whole. It also serves to promote the team’s sponsors, the track’s sponsors, the sport and not least the event.

Santa Pod Raceway has a marketing department who work fulltime to promote its events, venue and the sport of drag racing through multiple advertising platforms including social media via YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and X. Our efforts can only reach so far though and as event and sporting representatives we are always grateful for the drag racing related content created and posted by race teams.

As such Santa Pod Raceway are proud to sponsor the inaugural “Outstanding Social Media Presence Award”. This award is intended to recognize and reward the efforts race teams go to in helping promote their teams, the events they attend and the sport as a whole.

The winner will be chosen by the SPR marketing team but we would like the drag racing community to nominate contenders for a short list. Who is your favorite drag racing influencer? Who’s TikTok feed do you follow closest? Who’s videos are you most excited to see drop? Let us know by clicking here with links to their best content.

Santa Pod Business Directory.
9th December 2024

Thanks to Liam Kimberlet from Santa Pod Raceway has sent into Eurodragster.com this update on Santa Pod's Business Directory:  The Santa Pod Business Directory is here! A phone book of companies owned or ran by people involved in the sport.

The idea is that the information is publicly available to everybody within the sport to access and use. There is a link at the top of the website for anybody who would like to add their business to the directory.

https://santapoddirectory.co.uk/

Swift snippets.
9th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to Tierp Arena announcer Christer Abrahamson, former Sportsman ET racer and photojournalist Nigel Holland, Danish Top Fuel crew member and KEG mastermind Karsten Andersen, Supercharged Outlaws racer Ian Merryweather, Outlaw Anglia racer "Anxious" Ian Tweddle, Pro ET racer John Bean and to Sportsman ET racer Clive "Dan" Dredge.  We hope you all had a great day.

Spot the JT blower...
8th December 2024

Pro Modified racer John Tebenham has sent in this candid photo of his kitchen with the caption "The only place to keep your 2022 NHRA blower warm...in the kitchen."

Which is another way of saying that JT and his five second '53 Corvette Pro Mod will be back in the 2025 season. So all of you queuing to buy the car will have to look elsewhere (other Pro Mods for sale are available).

Driver`s Diaries Part Six.
8th December 2024

Mark Coulsell from Limited Funz Racing lends us his thoughts from 2024,

Mark Coulsell - BallBreaker - Super Pro ET

2025 will be our 3rd year in Super Pro ET & we are absolutely loving racing in this class. I (Mark) raced with The Wild Bunch for 26 years & enjoyed every moment of it. It's a fantastic class where I achieved some great results, made some lifelong friends, had so many laughs & made many memories. Unfortunately the numbers were dwindling at MSA/MSUK level & we were hungry for a bigger challenge plus with Harley & Ada racing in Junior Dragster, it made more sense & was more cost effective to do the same meetings that the Juniors were invited to so that combination was what made us make the very difficult decision to leave to race with Super Pro ET.

2023 was a fantastic season for BallBreaker with us winning  SPRC Best Appearing Car just to add to the delights. We were all looking forward to 2024 & it started very well. Summer Nationals is where things started to go wrong & we encountered a few issues. Problems didn't got away & Euro Finals & National Finals were both fraught with more issues! The 1st elim at the final meeting of the year was the final straw when I heard a weird noise & felt a strange vibration before even doing the burnout so clicked it off.
We still haven't completely finished stripping everything to see what the full extent of what we're looking at (£$£$) & as I write this, The Chief, Steve Cassisi, is on his way for another day of analysis.

So what 2025 will bring we don't yet know. Obviously we want to race but with the ever rising cost of living & race parts, we may have to sit this one out or rob a bank ;) Fingers crossed things aren't too bad & we can come out & race with Super Pro ET & maybe even improve on our 10th position but only time will tell :)

Ada Cassisi - Cherry Bomb - Junior Dragster JMA

Ada has been loving her time racing in Junior dragster in Cherry Bomb which is one of the LFR family cars, originally Harley Coulsell's first Bandit 1. Ada struggled to find consistency this year due to her almost out growing the car and with it's little engine. She did manage to achieve 10th place in the championship which we as a team were all very pleased about. Ada is very excited about stepping up into Harley's JMA Bandit 1 in 2025. If we can find a new body it will look very similar to the current Cherry Bomb, if not then you will see Bandit 1 out for another year with Ada at the helm.

Photos with thanks to Julian Hunt, Tog & Blackett Photography

Next up is painter and decorator, taxi driver and Ford fan, Terry Newton:

2024 has been an amazing year for us. We started the year doing 8.9s. And decided to see what we could do. We broke and engine early in the year. Then doorslammers was excellent. We hit the magical world record for a fwd ford. The meguiars ford focus managed 8.76 at 162. We did 8.76 at 165. So we are pushing with the old zetec engine. Back end of the year after struggle with drives shafts we did 169 mph with a delicate start so there's plenty more to come.

Target for 2025 is billet block fitted and shoot for the sky and try for low 8s with the van. 180 mph is the target We also should have the zetec dragster out with me displaying my L plates.  It will be the first zetec turbo dragster in the world I believe. Target is 6 seconds and 200 mph.

Nathan Hulkes , Mustang driver lends us his thoughts on the season:

So last season for me was building the car. I brought the car from Andrew Chilton in October 2023, the Przybyls imported car from the states and did a stunning paint job on it. I got the car to mine for Christmas that year and set about the build. In the year I completely wired and plumbed the car, built the 420ci LSX and turbo system. Edge performance built me a 2000bhp capable powerglide.

I managed to get the car out for the fireworks event at Santa Pod this year, unfortunately only managed one run due to the weather which netted me a steady 11.7 at 144mph. It was only to make sure we was ready for next season anyway. It showed up a few things to changed for next season.

So this winter I have a small oil leak to sort, remake and move the puke tank to the boot. Plus a few other little changes. I’m hoping next season to run in super Pro ET and 7.60 Heads Up, but it’s going to be a steep learning curve. Would like to say a massive thank you to my wife for putting up with me while never being in the house.

Massive thanks to ASD Fuel Tech UK Authorised Dealer for all there help, John Sleath Race Cars for the mapping , Edge Performance Transmissions, Straight To The Point Racing, Hashtag Mechanic Ltd sponsoring, Pete Smith Pragmatis sponsoring me, Andrew Chilton sponsoring all my laser cut CHILTON MOTORSPORT Lazer Cutting. Lastly Jason Clark Joe Baxter and Jamie binnie. Everyone needs a team behind them.

Swift snippets.
8th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to VW Pro racer Graham Fairhead and Outlaw Anglia racer Rob Brindle, we hope you both have a great day!

Swift snippets.
7th December 2024

Happy belated Birthday for yesterday to Carolyne Beckwith, wife of announcer Graham, and to Nostalgia Super Stock racer Jake Cawthorne, hope you had a great day.

British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Evening gallery.
6th December 2024

Many thanks to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame and Julian Hunt for covering the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Evening, which took place at the Oatlands Park Hotel on the 23rd November 2024.

You can see all the pictures at this link or by clicking the news icon at the top and selecting features.

The Full report of the evening will be published soon, you can view this report on our news page. We will let you all know.

Drag Seen 5 – Press Release
6th December 2024

Thanks to Paul Martin for this press release for Drag Seen 5 which is Out Now! You can buy this edition by clicking here.

Drag Seen #5 is a glovebox sized magazine featuring 76 pages of glorious techni-colour photos of smoking' burnouts, wild wheel stands, wilder racers and trackside drag racing action 'seen' through the lenses of trackside photographers Julian Hunt (Santa Pod), Callum Pudge (Hal-Far Raceway, Clastres Dragway, Rivanazzano Dragway) Kenzie Taylor (Street Weekend 2024) and Paul Martin (MPH Drags 2).

A 60th Anniversary Mooneyes feature and interview with main Moon man himself Shige Suganuma by Niamh Smith plus a chat with the guys behind MPH Drags 2.

Jo Clifford’s diary from Sick Week 2024 where she and Richie Webb battled the odds to come out top in Class K.

Drag Seen #5 - 76 pages printed on A5 high quality paper and perfect bound with a 300 gsm cover it's the perfect stocking filler for the drag racing fan in your life. or buy it for yourself to fill the gap till the 2025 season begins.

Profits from the sale of the magazine will be donated to the BRDHoF Benevolent Fund.

Swift snippets.
6th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to to Swap Meet sponsor Jeff Bull and Super Pro ET racer and constructor Scott Hauser, we hope you guys had a fantastic day.

Manston Raceway Park update.
5th December 2024

Thanks to Paul Marston for sending in this latest update on Manston Raceway Park and 2025 Dates and Events, Paul writes:  We are very pleased to announce our provisional dates, these are booked dates with Manston Airport and are subject to being granted events licenses by the local council, so still plenty of work to be done.  But it all has to start somewhere.

I would like to personally thank all the people who have contacted us with offers of help in various departments, we still need a lot of equipment, expertise and staff/ volunteers to make this happen.  So if you have not already touched base and can help please do.

Our provisional dates for 2025 are as follows.

  • Season Opener and Inaugural Event - 12th-13th April 2025
  • Second Event - 3rd-5th May 2025
  • Third Event - 7th-8th June 2025
  • Fourth Event - 26th-27th July 2025 
  • Fifth Event - 23rd-25th August 2025
  • Sixth Event - 13th-14th Spetember 2025
  • Last Event - 4th-5th October 2025

There is a possibility that we will run a test day on the Fridays prior to and event, this is subject to the council license, the economic viability, staff availability of doing so, etc.  It is still very early days.

We are currently formulating our class structures for the dates that we have available.  This is grass roots No Prep 1/8th mile racing, most of our classes run will be heads up.  We will be announcing these and the format in which we will be running our events soon.  We do hope to have a timing system in place at some stage during the year.  So we are inviting any organizations/ informal classes who would like to attend one or more dates during the 2025 season.  Now is the time to contact us to discuss your needs and options available to you.  Two maybe three of our dates are already spoken for however that still leaves potential room on the other five dates.

Just contact Paul on 07831 65023 or via our FB page Manston Raceway Park.

We will have more news very soon about the classes we will be running, I can assure you, there will be a few surprises for sure.  Please do bear in mind we are grass roots and what we run will reflect that. 

Once again I would like to thank Santa Pods upper management for their encouragement and vision.  It is places like Manston Raceway Park that will hopefully start new racers on their journey to gravitate to National Event competition someday.  Grass roots tracks are important.

Wild Bunch Prize Presentation Evening.
5th December 2024

Claire Meaddows updates Eurodragster.com with this latest news update from their brilliant Wild Bunch Annual Prize Presentation, Claire writes:

The Wild Bunch held their 28th Annual Prize Presentation on Saturday, 30th November at Drayton Manor near Tamworth, and it was a wonderful evening, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone attending! 

Many thanks to our great comperes Barry Bohannon and Paul Wright, who did their usual professional job, announcing the winners, reading the citations and adding their own flair to the occasion.  Barry was himself duly surprised and thrilled to receive an award from the Wild Bunch for his 20 years of service as a brilliant compere at our presentations!All the various Series winners were presented with their awards, with the 2024 Wild Bunch Series win going to James Auld with the “Little Fauss” rear-engined dragster, his first win of this Series! Many Congratulations to him and the whole team and to all those who finished in the Top 4, and Top 10 in Wild Bunch!!!   Rob & Pete Brown won the Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series in their beautiful “Rebel” funny car.

They also won the Springbridge MSUK Challenge Series Cup held over the 3 MSUK events that the Wild Bunch competed in, as well as the SPRC Championship in the Wild Bunch, with that trophy to be presented in February! Well done to them both!!  James Auld also won the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series with his historic rear-engined dragster, now 52 years old!  

There were various presentations made on the night, including gifts and flowers to Secretary Hayley Fyfe, and Race Co-ordinator, Treasurer & General Manager Claire Meaddows for all their hard work. Claire also received a plaque to commemorate her 10 Years as General Manager of the Wild Bunch! Gifts were given to all the lovely ladies attending. These were kindly assembled and sponsored by Hayley Fyfe of The Burnout Boutique.  Thank you to Pete and Rob Brown who sponsored the flowers for Hayley and Claire.

In addition, the winners of all the Wild Bunch Special Merit trophies were announced, with almost all of the winners present to receive their well-deserved awards :

MERIT AWARDS

  • Big Bang Trophy - Bob Hawkins  “Time Traveller II”                     
  • Fastest time by a British-engined dragster - Ian Wild “WildsCat” (11.323)
  • Fastest MPH - Bob Hawkins “Time Traveller II” (206.81 mph)  
  • Quickest E.T. - Bob Hawkins  "Time Traveller II” (6.436) Bob also received a certificate for this new Wild Bunch E.T. Record                                 
  • Best Newcomer - Colin & Joey Childs  “Boxo Bomb”
  • Best Radical/Dragster - James Auld “Little Fauss”
  • Best Altered - James Griffen “Kiss my Gas”
  • Best Slingshot - Pete & Rob Brown  “Rebel”
  • Best Turned Out - Hold Fast Racing “Kiss my Gas”
  • Best Achiever - James Auld “Little Fauss”                         
  • Perseverance Award - Rob & Pete Brown “Rebel”   & “Wrathchild”
  • ‘Crazy Chris’ Showmanship -  Andy Roy “Shawcrank Redemption”
  • Crew of the Year - Bob Hawkins & Team “Time Traveller II”  
  • Personal Achievement (Daddy Cool Sag) - Jones Racing - Danny, Elliott, Glyn & Annette  “Ragin’ Cajun”
  • C & C Sportsperson - Pete & Rob Brown “Rebel” & “Wrathchild”  
  • Derek & Brenda Annable trophy - Team Chasin’ Time  “Chasin’ Time”
  • Driver Dave Memorial Bell (Kept Calm and Carried on) - Claire Meaddows 
  • Scottie Durrant Above & Beyond Award - Jones Family Racing - Danny, Elliott, Glyn & Annette “Ragin’ Cajun”                                  

The greatest Wild Bunch accolade of the evening was as always, the Don Garlits ‘Spirit of Drag Racing’ Shield, the most prestigious award in the Wild Bunch, which represents sportsmanship, achievement, perseverance, commitment, presentation and a host of other attributes. 

Last year’s Winner, James Auld, made the presentation of the Don Garlits Shield to our 2024 Winners, The Marras – Pete & Rob Brown, partners Hayley & Natalie and Mum and Dad George & Julie of Team “Wrathchild & Rebel Racing”.  This is the second time this team have won this prestigious award! They really excelled themselves this year, going over and above and persevering through challenges, overcoming them and then putting on an amazing show wherever they went!  They are super passionate about their racing and the Wild Bunch and are great ambassadors for the sport in general!  Very well deserved and a popular win!!

We also held a raffle to raise funds for the club. Many thanks to all who donated some fantastic prizes. There were so many that over two-thirds of those who bought tickets, won prizes, including many repeat winners! The night was made complete with more celebrations, dancing to the brilliant disco provided by Stuart of SOS, loads of chatting and lots of laughs and fun all round.

The Wild Bunch would like to thank Bob Hawkins of Springbridge Direct Ltd for his continued support, via his Springbridge MSUK Challenge Series, now in its 12th year! Also thanks to our host of other event trophy and prize money sponsors this season, including Ian Hart of Team Bravehart, Chris & Claire of the Backdraft Nostalgia Drag Racing team, Hayley Fyfe of the Burnout Boutique,  Keith Crampton of Wiz Training & Coaching Facilitation, NSC Tool Supplies, Field of Dreams CL Caravan Site, Team Ratcatcher Resurrection, Hollins Hot Rods, The Charles Bang Special Team, Mick & Frankie Taylor of Team Banshee, Team Wrathchild & Rebel Racing and SPRC for providing trophies and prize money at the MSUK events.  

Many congratulations to all of our winners! 

Full info can be found on the news section of the Wild Bunch website at this link.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas, a great off-season and a Happy, dry, safe and quick New Year to all racers and teams, marshals and officials, track and safety crews, photographers, media, promoters, managers and of course eurodragster.com staff, who work so hard! Thanks to everyone for all they do for this sport of Drag Racing which we all love so much!  Looking forward to seeing you all at the drags next season for another fantastic year! We can’t wait until 2025 to be back out at the drags for the 29th Anniversary season of the Wild Bunch, and 30 years since the club’s inauguration!

Thanks to Paul of Team B-Sting for taking all the photos on the night. 

Swift snippets.
5th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to Norwegian Super Comp racer Mari Udtian, Top Fuel bike racer Jiri Lukes, former Top Methanol Dragster racer Tony Dönges and VW Pro racer Andy Voce. We hope you are all had a great day.

American Super Stock revival 2025 at Melbourne Raceway.
4th December 2024

Thanks to Howard Holmes for sending in this update on American Super Stock Revival 2025 which will take place at Melbourne Raceway, Howard writes:

 

Round 1: 12th-13th April 2025

Round 2: 10th-11th May 2025

Round 3: 14th-15th June 2025 (Street Weekend on Saturday) 

Round 4: 12th-13th July 2025

Round 5: 2nd-3rd August 2025

Round 6: 30th-31st August 2025

Each round will have qualifying on Saturday. One-shot or emergency qualifying early Sunday, followed by eliminations on Sunday. 

Once again, American Super Stock is a dial-your-own bracket championship, with a sportsman tree. Participant's four best results count towards the championship, so it's no problem if you have a holiday. 

There is also an event at Melbourne on October 4-5, which we can use if an event was a rain-off for example. 

None of the dates clash with our friends, Nostalgia Super Stock at Santa Pod, the two championships are complementary to one another. 

American Super Stock will run under the same rules as in previous years, which will be available to participants soon. 

Melbourne Raceway will have a brand new state-of-the-art timing system from the first event. Although unlikely, should there be any unsolvable teething problems at this event, we'll throw in a wildcard and run this round as a 'heads-up' round.

Round 3, June 14-15, is Street Weekend. Saturday will be busy, but most SW participants will head off after lunch, so there will be plenty of opportunity to put in some qualifying runs on Saturday. 

Thanks to the American Super Stock Tactical Division for thrashing this out, and to Trevor Duckworth and the Straightiners Crew for building, investing and supporting drag racing.

Follow us on Facebook and we’ll see y'all at the track!

BDRHof Benevolent Fund Raffle.
4th December 2024

Nikki Marshall from the BDRHoF Benevolent Fund has been in touch to say a huge Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets at the BDRHoF Gala Dinner which took place on the 23rd November.

The raffle raised a total of £2,712, which is an amazing boost for the Benevolent Fund.  Once again Thank you to everyone who donated prizes and there were some great comments from people on what could be won. We could not have done it without the valued support. 

Thank you also to Kathy Taylor for her help on the day selling tickets. 

The money raised will go to help those involved with drag racing, including racers, marshals and others,  where situations have placed them in financial difficulty.

Congratulations to the winners:

  • One nights accommodation with breakfast at Oatlands Park Hotel - Simon Groves
  • 2 weekend tickets to Dragstalgia - Kevin Howlett
  • Three Brothers Brewery Tour for 4. - Des Brown
  • 12 month Cinema Pass - Geoff Hauser
  • Fender Snap On Guitar - Colin Miller
  • Ear Defenders with built in radio - Phil Evan’s & Alison Dundjerovic
  • Wine Hamper - Roy Wliding 
  • Dolly Daydream hoodie and t-shirt - Simon Groves 
  • Gin Hamper -J ulian Hunt 
  • £100 voucher for the Ivy Group - Colin Miller 
  • 3 months flower delivery - Bev Bradbury
  • Luxury Food Hamper - John Bean
  • Luxury Chocolate Hamper - AS Walker
  • Paul Whitehouse Calendar -Darren Prentice

Please contact Nikki by clicking here if you  or someone you know could benefit from the benevolent funds assistance. 

From the drag racing family. For the drag racing family. 

Swift snippets
4th December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to Norwegian Super Comp racer Mari Udtian, Top Fuel bike racer Jiri Lukes, former Top Methanol Dragster racer Tony Dönges and VW Pro racer Andy Voce. We hope you are all having a great day.

Swift snippets.
3rd December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to former Pro Modified racer Paula Atkin, expat Norwegian Top Fuel Dragster racer Julie Nataas, Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders, and Outlaw Anglia racer Brian Nixon, we hope you all had a fantastic day.

Swift snippets.
2nd December 2024

Happy Birthday to Funny Car legend and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame inductee John Spuffard, crew chief extraordinaire Luke Robinson, Pro Modified pioneer and Junior Dragster grandad Dave Pollen and Outlaw Street racer Dave Mahoney. We hope you all have a great day.

Drag Race Union Championship Celebration.
1st December 2024

Thanks to Markus Münch and the Drag Race Union for sending this report of the Drag Race Union Championship Celebration into Eurodragster.com. The celebration took place on 19th October, 2024 at Knight Riders Clubhouse, Bad Kissingen. Markus writes:

The 2024 season was given a fitting farewell by the DRU. Over 100 people came together in Bad Kissingen/Germany to officially end the season. After a delicious dinner, the winners and runners-up received their trophies, non-cash prizes and prize money for their achievements in the Pro ET and Supro ET Challenge. For the first time, the winners of each challenge were able to take a seat on the DRU throne.

In detail. In the late afternoon the guests arrived. At around 6.30 p.m. there was a very tasty buffet and the drinks were already flowing. Traditionally, DRU chairman Jonny Niesner presented a small thank you gift for organizing the celebration at the beginning of the trophy ceremony. Rosti from the Knight Riders MC was happy to accept it. Like the trophies and the DRU throne, it was made by the custom artist Wild Jack.

In the traditional “Practice Tree Shootout”, each team registered in a challenge could nominate a representative who had to go through qualifications and eliminations. This year the winner received a €555 voucher from “Hoosier Rennreifen”, a “Snap On Tools” goodie bag for the second place and a Hoosier backpack for the third place. Armin Widmann, who unfortunately didn't drive at all this year, won, Frank Römer came second and Oliver Krautberger came third.   

Now there were trophies. First for Supro ET. A very close season lies behind us. Angel Romero wins ahead of Frank Römer and Robert Gassner, Alain Dürr and Alex Halter.

A similar picture in Pro ET. A very close season brought Ronnie Mercer the title, Thomas Bublitz, Niek de Kruif, Janine Petzold and Til Schöninger followed. Ronnie Mercer and his wife Annette were unable to attend in person, but were joined via video call by Anne Catrin from Team Bublitz and were able to watch the ceremony from their home in the Lake District, northern England. That was a very beautiful thing.

The evening traditionally ended with drinks, conversations and good music from the rock n roll duo “Mr and Mrs Curtis” until early in the morning.

A special thank you goes to all the sponsors and supporters who made it possible with small and large amounts to hand over a total of €12,000 in prize money for the two challenges this year. The winners each received €2,400.

Thank you all for coming along, supporting and celebrating. The DRU is already working on next season.

Pictures by Christian Heuer.

Driver`s Diaries Part Five.
1st December 2024

Rob Carter is first out the gates in this issue:

Must apologise in advance writing is not my strong point. 2024 had its ups and downs. The ups were completing all 6 rounds in Street Eliminator and VWPro, wining Street Weekendand runner up in Doorslamers. The best result by far and most fun was finishing Swedish Drag Week, what a country and people and also great company from the English contingency that I went out with. Downs, struggled all year with my new LS long block, kept having to swap my old engine in for various reasons. Also a niggly electrical problem that kept cutting the engine out randomly. 

Plans for the winter, Full engine re-wire and more diagnostic on the motor, new heads for the motor to hopefully release its full potential. 2025 will compete full season SE, rounds of VW Pro only when not on the same bill. Swedish Streetweek definitely. Try different tracks in the UK and Europe, really enjoying no prep on the slicks over 1/8 mile, so definitely more of these events.

On top of that I’ve just built another engine for my daughters 75 Passat, making some big changes over winter so she can run in VW Pro next year. Also got an 83 Passat Wagon project on the go that my wife will compete in VW Sportsman next year. Hope you can pick the bones out of this? Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks Rob

Next off the startlne is Motorsport UK Pro Mod Champion for 2024, and veteran of the lanes, Andy Robinson, the teams thoughts are shared by Stefani Kate Fisher:

The 2024 season for the Anger Management Pro Modified Team was full of highs but not without its struggles. 

It started with Andy and the team being very unsure we’d even make the first meeting. Over the winter months the team made the decision to change the location of the motor and drivetrain in an effort to improve static weight distribution. Our team was noticeably missing from the original entry list because there just simply was not enough time to complete the chassis modifications, however with the weather being so unkind again and the date of the Festival of Power moving by 6 weeks, there was a bit of hope so the work pressed on and we were able to get 1 run in which we were pleased with. To put this into perspective the car was still on the jig on Thursday afternoon while qualifying started Friday morning. 

The Doorslammers and Main Event were both fairly successful with some solid 5 second passes, a new speed PB, and qualifying in the top 3 at both meetings, however we exited in round 2 at both events and suffered from a bit of engine damage which was frustrating.

At The Summer Nationals our season really came together, a new ET PB with a 5.82 and a win was a great achievement. This started a 4-event final round appearance streak, only stopped by the unfortunate rain off at the National Finals. 

We took the win at The Bug Jam and The Greenlight Nationals (in Greenlight Pro). Despite positive outcomes, at both events we were unsure whether we would even make eliminations due to engine damage caused by valve springs breaking – the engine damage was minor, but the knock on effect caused a huge amount of work for the team and it really was only down to the determination of the entire crew that got us to the start line ready to race. 

At the European Finals, we qualified 6th with a respectful 5.92. We battled through the fierce competition on race day knocking out 2 of the potential 4 teams that could have taken the FIA Championship, only to fall short due to a broken air fitting on the transmission in the final. Still, a great meeting for us and a result that we are extremely proud of.

After this success the MSUK Championship was tied up as soon as we signed on at the National Finals – This made us officially 9 x MSUK British Champions.

So what about the 2025 season? 

We aim to defend our MSUK Championship, but also we are pleased to confirm our plans to add the Greenlight Nationals to our 2025 schedule. We’re excited about how the Greenlight Pro class can expand in the future and want to be part of building this into something spectacular. If you have a fast car (especially one that runs on Nitro) then we want to race you! Dragsters, Funny Cars, Altereds, Import cars, whatever you’ve got, lets get involved and make this something special!

Of course we must finish by saying thank you to our partners and sponsors:

  • NGK Spark Plugs (UK)
  • Torco USA
  • Mike Janis Racing
  • Starracerbelts.com
  • Noonan Race Engineering
  • PAC Racing Springs
  • EZ Motorsports
  • Manton Pushrods
  • Precision Racing Suspension
  • Carbon Collective
  • Vivid Vinyl 

Photo Credits: Jon Spoard, Personal Collection and Eurodragster/Julian Hunt

Superbird Racing’s Don Scott and Grace Roaf write:

A blue race car on a trackDescription automatically generatedWe had a great first full season in Pro ET attending all rounds with the new 493 (small) Big Block from Dave Billadeau as a trial to see if we can get more reliability and consistency than the 572 Keith Black Hemi we’d been running for many years previously and what can we say…

For an engine that was originally destined for low 10’s, maybe a 9 if we’re lucky, we’ve run a PB of 9.70! (Twice as a perfect ET that still wasn’t good enough for #1 qualifier in both cases, always the bridesmaid… but congratulations to Rouven and Marc who pipped us at Euro Finals and National Finals!)

A person and person working on a race carDescription automatically generatedOur self-imposed goal was to finish top 10 in Pro ET but after a tricky Main Event with alternator issues resulting in us not making the cut for the 32 car field and dragging our average points per meeting down, we finished 14th in the points overall which is still respectable and we are happy!

Also had a play out in Super Gas this year, which was great to try an index class, race against different cars and give Don a go at a Pro tree in competition to see what lights he can cut! We hope whoever has the red marquee puts it up in the same place next year so Don can judge lifting off to that 9.90 now the engine has settled in and got a couple of tenths faster.

A full permit season in NSS as well, ending up 3rd in the Championship, many congratulations to Adrian for the win (very well deserved) and Mick for runner up! Always amazing to see the turnout for NSS at the lifestyle events too – Don even got the perfect reaction time at Dragstalgia too! Don made the decision to step down from the NSS committee from 2025 to focus on his own racing and enjoy these busy meetings more.

We’ve had some close races across all the classes we’ve entered this year,A group of people standing next to a blue carDescription automatically generated the pair of us work well as a team, have a great laugh along the way, and have achieved some great results together, but it has also been really nice to have Colin, Grace’s dad, helping out a bit this year as well – the big blue thing with a wing is heavy to push sometimes and an extra pair of eyes (and hands) is always helpful, so thank you!

Don has already started a full check over on the Superbird working from front to back and preparations have begun for 2025 with new front tyres, slicks and a new fuel pump system.

A blue race car with people wavingDescription automatically generatedWith Don driving great with the new engine, enjoying racing and Grace now having more data and timing tickets to nerd out on, our goals for 2025 are to try again for a Top 10 finish in Pro ET and get that illusive number #1 qualifier, hopefully with another perfect ET thrown in somewhere over the year as well – ultimate crew chief badge of honour!

As always, a big thank you to everyone who supports our racing campaign – not limited to sponsors, friends and family!

A very special mention to Dave Billadeau for building a kick-ass engine, Chris Goodale for any parts you could want (also big thanks for organising the inaugural GAS Bash after Mopars – so much fun!) plus anyone who offered help of parts, tools, hands over the season as we sorted out issues with alternators, carburettors, fuel pumps, punctures… but what’s racing without problem solving? See you at the track in 2025!

Swift snippets.
1st December 2024

Happy Birthday for today to Supercharged Outlaws racer Brian Watson, Supercharged Outlaws owner and, from 2025 Thundergod driver Duncan Beard, FWD racer Calvin Skerritt and Old School Stocker racer Steve Howe, and Super Gas/Pro ET racer Simon Fulton. We hope you all have a great day.

Kieran MK1Keiran Jenkins posted on his Facebook this video of Luke Spiteri who ran his first 9 second pass at the MDRA National Finals with a new PB of 9.93 at 146 MPH securing a spot on the European FWD list. you can view it at this link and Kieran has more videos to watch on his page.