Following the article posted Thursday 13th June describing the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia taking place at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee over Dragstalgia weekend, 5th-7th July, we present the next six lots for auction:
Lot 40 – Signed TV Tommy Ivo Poster
TV Tommy Ivo, a member of the visiting American Drag Racing Team way back in 1964 for the International Drag Festivals recently celebrated 30 years of drag racing and 19 years as a movie actor with this A2 size poster depicting all of Tommy’s Dragsters, Funny Cars and Jet Cars (36 in total). He was the ultimate drag racing showman.
Lot 41 – Ed Pink – The Old Master autographed book
Ed Pink: The Remarkable Life and Times of Racing’s Most Versatile Engine Builder is packed with motorsport history, pictures and behind the scenes, first-hand accounts of Ed’s seven decades of building high performance racing engines. From drag racing’s golden era to IMSA sports cars to Indy cars, Pink built championship-winning engines for racing’s top teams. Now you can read the whole story in this signed 264 page autobiographical non-technical hardback book.
Lot 42 – Parachute from Fireforce 3 Jet Funny Car
One of the most vital stopping aids to be found on any dragster is the parachute! This one has been attached to and has stopped the fire breathin’ ‘FireForce 3’ Chevy Lumina Jet Funny Car of jet ace Martin Hill from 0-290 mph in the blink of an eye at Santa Pod Raceway. Fully displayed this would make for an interesting conversation piece on any home or mancave wall.
Lot 43 – Original Gary Page Firesuit
Want to own a piece of drag racing history as worn by one of British drag racing prolific racers Gary Page and member of the BDRHoF. Well now here’s your chance. Although outdated and beyond certification Gary’s suit was commissioned by Kendall Oils we believe in the 2000s when he drove for Mark & Jackie Hawkins in British Funny Car Championship. Truly a great piece of drag racing history.
Lot 44 – Hot Wheels Snake & Mongoose '72 Plymouth Cuda & Duster Funny Car 2-piece set
Since the sports mega deal sponsorship in the early seventies with American toy giant Mattel The Snake & The Mongoose Funny Cars of Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen are the most sought after Hot Wheels cars since first release in 1971. Manufactured from the original tooling these recreations are recent releases from the 1:64 scale Hot Wheels Premium Car Culture 2022 series with one addition: rear rubber tires. A great item with its backing board artwork and unopened blister pack.
Lot 45 – 32 Ford book by Tony Thacker
In 1931, Henry Ford famously announced that his company would produce an eight-cylinder car, if only because its competitors were building fours and sixes. The result, introduced in 1932, was Ford Motor Company’s first V8-powered car. The Deuce was a design and technological milestone that would become the quintessential hot rod platform. Arriving just in time for the Deuces 75th anniversary, this is the story of that 32 Ford written and signed by BDRHoF Gala announcer Tony Thacker. This spectacular soft back edition, for vintage-car enthusiasts and hot rodders alike, also includes a foreword by Edsel B. Ford II, grandson of the Deuces principal stylist.
How does the auction work? See an item at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee that takes your fancy, then write your bid on the bid sheet for the item at any time and raise it as often as you want if you find someone else outbidding you. The Auction runs on Friday from 2pm to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am, closing at 5pm when successful bidders will be notified by text. Winners can pay for and collect their items up to 6pm that day or on Sunday till 4pm.
There will be no Auction on Sunday but the Sale of memorabilia will continue on all three days. Credit card payments are accepted for Auction and Sale purchases.
As well as the Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia, there will be a unique display of Competitor Protection Gear harking back to the earliest days of British drag racing.
Thanks to Caroline Holden from Santa Pod Raceway has announced that Coated Race Bearings have entered into a new partnership with Santa Pod Raceway, the most iconic dragstrip in Europe, located in England.
This exciting new collaboration will benefit both Coated Race Bearings and Santa Pod Raceway, offering the opportunity to further expand their involvement in the motorsport community.
Santa Pod Raceway is renowned worldwide for its fantastic events and races, and we are proud to associate our name with this legendary location. Through this partnership, we will be even better positioned to highlight our high-quality bearings to a broad audience of car enthusiasts and motorsport fans.
"We are incredibly excited about this collaboration with Santa Pod Raceway," says Richard Batist, owner of Coated Race Bearings. "It is a fantastic opportunity for our young company to be part of the rich history of this iconic raceway and to strengthen our presence in the automotive and motorsport world.
The coated bearings we offer are designed to withstand extra stress, making a partnership with Santa Pod Raceway a perfect fit. Drag racing is a sport where engines certainly face a lot of resistance, aligning perfectly with the capabilities of our products.”
Santa Pod Raceway’s commercial manager Caroline Holden said “We look forward to developing our relationship with Coated Race Bearings over the coming seasons. Their products are clearly of a high quality and drag racing will certainly put them to the test!”
For more information contact Coated Race Bearings by email at this link or visit their website by clicking here. You can also contact them by telephone on this number: +31620858540.
Many thanks to Claire Hartnell from Backdraft Drag Racing Team for sending Eurodragster.com this update Crazy Chris and The Backdraft Team, Claire writes:
‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell has informed of an exciting first for him. At this weekend’s ‘Dragstalgia’ event, he will be running both his nostalgia slingshot “Backdraft” with the Wild Bunch, and his nostalgia bike “Backdraft Two” with the NSA sprint bikes!
We hear that this is a first for a racer at ‘Dragstalgia’ to run in both a car and a bike class, but please do let us know if any different! It is not unique in today’s drag racing, since young Andrew Willcox runs both a Junior Dragster and a Junior Dragbike at the same MSUK events, but we believe it is very rare for a British drag racer to do this at one event!
Chris is really looking forward to his first event of this season racing with the fantastic Wild Bunch, in which he was Chairman for some 13 years. He is also really looking forward to pairing up with the guys from the brilliant NSA on his bike, for the first time at Santa Pod! Many thanks to Keith Lee for making that possible!
Chris and partner Claire and the team are celebrating the 30th Year since they first started running their much loved “Backdraft” slingshot, which was originally built in 1969 as “Malibu Express”. In that time, Chris has gone from a first run of 24 seconds at 24mph, to a current Personal Best of 8.629 @ 153.57mph!
He is only in his second year of running his dragbike, the frame of which dates back to Easter 1976 with a John Clift and Mick Warne build, which is a great coincidence as that is the very first event Chris ever attended at Santa Pod!! Chris’ PB’s on the bike are 13.328 @ 101.06 mph so he hopes to improve on that. The whole team can’t wait for Chris’ first ever double duty event at the awesome nostalgia event that is ‘Dragstalgia’!
Look forward to seeing everyone at the drags!
Many thanks to sponsor Peter Walters and points co-ordinator Yvonne Tramm for updating the points for the classes at the Summer Nationals, which you can see on our points page by clicking here or on the Santa Pod Racers Club website.
A very Happy Independence Day to all our friends in the USA, have a great day one and all!
Happy Birthday to the ever youthful queen of Signing On at Santa Pod Kathy Taylor, to US fuel altered racer Randy Bradford who thrilled us all in 2016, to Swedish Pro Mod racer Michael Nord and to 8.50 Bike racer Gary Malone, we hope you all have a fantastic day.
Congratulations also to Junior Dragster racers Harry Peters and Jacqueline Bartlet who won the Bob's Photo Finish Award of £50 each posted by sponsor and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Bob Roberts for the closest finish of a green light and non-break out race. Harry and Jacqueline's finish line margin was 0.0008 seconds or 1.0177 inches.
Please can the parents of Harry and Jacqueline's contact Chris Winn to arrange the winnings by email or via Facebook by clicking here.
Following the article posted Thursday 13th June describing the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia taking place at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee over Dragstalgia weekend, 5th-7th July, we present the next five lots for auction:
Lot 35 – Original Kenny Youngblood Cartoon drawing
Kenny Youngblood is one of America’s prolific automotive artists and graphic designers. Kenny’s love for drag racing also led him to building his own slingshot dragsters as well as racing them in the late sixties. Now he does a lot of personal appearance which is where BDRHoF member Roger Gorringe picked up this one-off cartoon of a wild looking and fire breathin’ Plymouth GTX dedicated to Roger.
Lot 36 – Funny Car Hero Posters ’65-’68, ’68- ’73, ’72- ‘78
Esteemed drag racing photographer and friend of the BDRHoF Bob McClurg produced a series of black & white posters called Funn Car Heroes depicting some of the greatest Funny Cars to ever race down an American drag strip. Names like Ramchargers, Jungle Jim, Blue Max, Tom & Jerry, USA-1 and many more feature covering the years 1965 to 1978 in 3 A2 size posters offered as one lot.
Lot 37 – Paul Whitehouse Painting of Commuter
Although a little bit before his first visit to Santa Pod in 1973 Paul has captured the flowing lines of this iconic late sixties (1968) dragster ‘The Commuter’ driven by BDRHoF member Tony Densham. Against the backdrop of the Pod’s white tower and the infamous Double Diamond advertising board Paul’s painting captures both the moment and the period that made this dragster one of the most photographed race cars back then, and it’s from a picture in Nick Pettitt’s book British Drag Racing The Early Years which inspired Paul to create this unique painting. The painting itself measures 519mm x 380mm (20” x 15”) and is Gouache on art board.
Lot 38 – Two posters signed by Alex Xydias
Triton Poster – This is a recreation poster of a 1950 Autoweek magazine advert issued by Triton Oils in celebration of Alex Xydias and Dean Batchelors record breaking times on the Bonneville Salt Flats for factory-built engines using Triton Oil by 76 Union in the So-Cal boys streamliner.
NASCAR Speed Week poster – Back in the fifties NASCAR sponsored an expo at the Armoury at Daytona Beach. At the show one of the cars on display was the So-Cal boys Special which back then was the fastest car ever built in America timed at 210.986 mph.
Lot 39 – Pure Hell Redline Oils Fuel Altered T-Shirt
Missed out on owning a Pure Hell Racing #1 AA/Fuel Altered T-Shirt! Well now’s your chance with this X-Large 100% cotton T featuring a 5-colour graphic of Rich Guasco’s famous altered Pure Hell along with the teams racing partner Redline Oils.
How does the auction work? See an item at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee that takes your fancy, then write your bid on the bid sheet for the item at any time and raise it as often as you want if you find someone else outbidding you. The Auction runs on Friday from 2pm to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am, closing at 5pm when successful bidders will be notified by text. Winners can pay for and collect their items up to 6pm that day or on Sunday till 4pm.
There will be no Auction on Sunday but the Sale of memorabilia will continue on all three days. Credit card payments are accepted for Auction and Sale purchases.
As well as the Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia, there will be a unique display of Competitor Protection Gear harking back to the earliest days of British drag racing.
Many thanks to author, photojournalist and announcer Keith Lee for sending in this NSA Bike Shootout preview, Keith writes: Dragstalgia will be upon us imminently, and for those of us bike fans who remember classic racing days of the seventies, it brings with it the much-anticipated reappearance of Hogslayer, which has sparked interest worldwide!
Having first stood on the start line at Ontario in 1973, where I witnessed the bike take the NHRA Supernational Top Fuel Bike win, it was a pleasure to get to meet up with TC Christenson and John Gregory again when they came over to the UK for two events in '74, where the black double Norton clocked the first 8 second runs in Europe. I have stayed in touch with John over the years since.
When I interviewed TC during that trip, he stated that they aimed to be first into the sevens - and they indeed ran in the sevens just a year later, but frustratingly just after Russ Collins' triple Honda! However, the fearsome black Norton blitzed the field with a string of seven second runs, which was a privilege to witness.
It will not be trying for any records at Dragstalgia, but just enjoy seeing this old war horse out on track again, as a tribute to TC and John, who created this legendary machine. The small team of Neil and Ray Baskerville, and Chris Illman - plus several other bike racers who have contributed - has given us the chance to see this legendary machine back on a racetrack. Hogslayer is up and running on nitro and has performed a short burnout - so all is looking set for the weekend!
A big thank you is due to the National Motorcycle Museum at Solihull, who have been so supportive in loaning out some of their amazing collection of race bikes to appear at Dragstalgia. Alongside Hogslayer, Chris Illman will be riding the Nero Vincent, which dates to the beginning of drag racing in Europe! Sister bike, the blown Super Nero, will be on display in the Historic Marquee.
There will be a total of four twin-engine bikes on track during the weekend, with three of them using Norton motors. One of the highlights will undoubtedly be the regular appearance of Dutch rider Jan Honee, on his unbelievably powerful Jawa 500 single cylinder machine. A new fuel pump and clutch have been fitted in the search for quick runs - so fingers in ears for that one!
Do look around the bike pits during the weekend, and have a chat to the riders, and note the different style of machinery being raced in the first two decades of drag racing in this country - in a stark comparison to the current state of the art drag bikes.
We are pleased to confirm another bonus the Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award will be available at this week's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway.
The Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award supported by Andy Hadfield have kindly offered to post £50 The Perfect ET Award will become available at the start of qualifying, currently Gasser Circus Q1 which is scheduled for 17:00 on Friday, and from that point will be available to all racers in all classes. As ever, the money will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the event. As this is a bonus event, if the Perfect ET Award is not won at Dragstalgia then it will remain at £50 for Bug Jam on the 26th-28th July at Santa Pod Raceway.
Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.
Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
The Malta Drag Racing Association Drag Racing Series Round 3 takes place at Hal Far Raceway this 4th to 6th of July. The Summer Shootout, the only night race of the year, action starts each evening at 19:00. The event is presented by Ladmu Chassis Builders and the series is sponsored by Enemed Fuel Stations.
The quickest and fastest teams on the island battle it out halfway through the championship under the lights. 62 racers are registered, and action commences on Thursday with test and tune from 19:00 and qualifying session 1 from 22:00 (21:00 BST).
Another four qualifying sessions are planned for Friday from 19:00 to 01:00, and, after a shakedown session at 19:00 on Saturday, eliminations commence at 20:30 with semi finals at 22:30 and finals at 23:30.
You will be able to see a stream of the event at Motorsmt Facebook page. In the meantime, as a taster head over to the Youtube channel of committee member Konrad D'Anastasi and you can see video of Round 2 held in May by clicking here.
This weekend Malmö Raceway will host the Raceway's 20 years Jubilee Summer Nationals on 5th-7th July, a special Top Fuel match race will take place between Dennis Nilsson and Stig Neergaard. As announced last year, Dennis's brother Tindra will also be in attendance.
We believe this is the first time that a pair of the 11,000 horsepower cars will be racing at the eighth mile track.
In the 20th anniversary season, Malmö Raceway has announced 15 dates, including no-prep events and a night race on 17th August. You can see the details by clicking here.
The 2024 Street Week first day of competition is at Mantorp Park. SHRA Mantorp, this Sunday 7th July.
Five competition courses are visited according to a driving schedule where the participants must clock as fast a time as possible on a 200 meter course. Between the tracks, the cars are driven by their own machines, where all See the coolest and fastest street cars in the world travel in Sweden. 200 competing crews drive between five different tracks during an intense week to chase the fastest track times. This is Drag and Drive at its best where the fastest average ET from the week crowns a winner.
To follow and find out more on Street Week Sweden 2024, please click here.
Thanks to Jon Crawford for sending Eurodragster.com his report from last weekend at Santa Pod Raceway for the Summer Nationals: Jon writes:
Coming into the SPRC Summer Nationals the Crawford Motorsports season was in danger of stalling. After a near-total rainout at the Festival of Springspeed and a first-round exit at the Sportsman Nationals, the team were languishing in 12th place.
The weather forecast was looking good for the Summer Nationals. The heat and humidity caught a lot out (us included), and we ended the day languishing in 18th place. We were on the wrong side of the ladder and facing a tough series of races. However we were determined to plant the revival of our season, and with a smidge of luck, we waded through the eliminations.
First up was Rhys Finney in the all-white Lupo. Not a lot of difference in dial-ins, so when Jon got to 3/4 track and a wheel spinning Rhys was still a way behind, we could take the stripe with confidence.
Second round paired us with Thomas Webb and his awesome Golf "Jimmy". A bigger difference in dial in this time, and unfortunately whilst Tom and Jimmy needed to wait four seconds for their green, they could only manage 3.89 seconds, putting the win-light on in Jon's lane.
Third race was with Thomas Circuit. Points leader and winner of the previous round, he was the man-in-form. Jon was in chase mode, and the first half of such a race is always exciting. Harold the Lupo is quick to the 1/8th and it was a nervy time until the torque kicked in at the top end and pulled us into the lead. It's counterintuitive at that point to lift to avoid breaking out, but Tom gave us the space at the stripe to be able to do that and squeeze past.
Fourth round (semi-finals) was against Jordan Clark. Unfortunately for Jordan, The Thunder Bug lost its earlier consistency, and we took the win.
So, on to the final, where we were against Phil Jones. Phil dialled about a second and a half quicker than us all day, so when he suggested we went heads up, we were a bit confused. It was his call, of course. A superb reaction time by the silver Audi was not a good start for us, and at half-track Phil was well ahead and heading for a huge breakout. He then slowed, but too early. This allowed Jon to slingshot past and take an unlikely win.
A cracking result against the odds, and we are back in the game. Up to third equal in the points and a little over 200 points off the lead. Back in the game and heading into Bug Jam with momentum.
Thanks to Super Crew Damian Burke, Dayglow Dave Grundy, and the whole of the VWDRC family.
Happy Birthday to today to British Hot Rod Association pioneer Maurice Takoor, also to former Super Street Car racer Bob Lees and to Comp Bike racer Daniel Bergelin who last ran here in 2018, we hope you all have a fantastic day.
Following the article posted Thursday 13th June describing the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia taking place at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee over Dragstalgia weekend, 5th-7th July, we present the next five lots for auction:
Lot 5 - Brand New 1970s Commuter Dragster Poster (125cm x 47cm)
This poster of BDRHoF member Tony Densham at the wheel of Santa Pod Raceway’s iconic ‘The Commuter’ dragster was first released in the very early 70s by PACE International. The poster is one of two in the series (the other being Bill Weichelt’s Asmodeus/Dos Palmas dragster) which back in the day could be bought at any high street card shop or from Santa Pod’s Dick’s Place. This picture shows a pre-loved poster but we have one on offer which hasn’t been mounted or framed in any shape or form and looks in the same condition as it did when first purchased for just 70p!
Lot 31 – Drag Racing Handbook
Produced by Santa Pod Raceway in 1970 the Drag Racing Handbook was a 48 page A5 glossy booklet featuring British racer, car and bike profiles, facts and figures, a quick history of the NHRA Nationals and American drag racer and land speed record racer Mickey Thompson with period pictures and adverts. A great addition to any fans collection.
Lot 32 – 1976 Drag Racing Calendar by Adsell
Produced by Adsell this large format calendar featured lots of action shots captured at by Simon Adsell, Tony Freeney, BDRHoF member Lawie Gatehouse and Bob Massey while on location at NDRC on-tour meets and at Santa Pod. Swedish photographer Bo Bertilsson also contributed images taken at Mantorp Park. Featuring 8 double sided full colour pages (one of which features picture descriptions) features 2 to 6 images on one page, was ‘back in the day’ a must for any drag racing fans office wall or workshop.
Lot 33 – 1977 Drag Racing Calendar by Adsell
Produced by Adsell this large format calendar featured lots of action shots captured at by Simon Adsell, Tony Freeney, BDRHoF member Lawie Gatehouse and Bob Massey while on location at NDRC on-tour meets and at Santa Pod. Swedish photographer Bo Bertilsson also contributed images taken at Mantorp Park. Featuring 8 double sided full colour pages (one of which features picture descriptions) features 2 to 6 images on one page, was ‘back in the day’ a must for any drag racing fans office wall or workshop.
Lot 34 – Original Kenny Youngblood Cartoon drawing
Kenny Youngblood is one of America’s prolific automotive artists and graphic designers. Kenny’s love for drag racing also led him to building his own slingshot dragsters as well as racing them in the late sixties. Now he does a lot of personal appearance which is where BDRHoF member Roger Gorringe picked up this one-off cartoon of a Top Fuel Dragster racing across London Bridge to the sound of Big Ben at the 2001 SEMA Show.
How does the auction work? See an item at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee that takes your fancy, then write your bid on the bid sheet for the item at any time and raise it as often as you want if you find someone else outbidding you. The Auction runs on Friday from 2pm to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am, closing at 5pm when successful bidders will be notified by text. Winners can pay for and collect their items up to 6pm that day or on Sunday till 4pm.
There will be no Auction on Sunday but the Sale of memorabilia will continue on all three days. Credit card payments are accepted for Auction and Sale purchases.
As well as the Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia, there will be a unique display of Competitor Protection Gear harking back to the earliest days of British drag racing.
Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for a reminder that the closing entry date for Bug Jam to be held at SPR on 26th-28th July is this coming Friday 5th July.
The Bug Jam entry list is at this link on the SPRC website, and you can see details of the event at bugjam.co.uk.
Bug Jam '37 entry
closes in 2 Days 11 Hours 14 Mins 58 Secs
We are pleased to confirm that a bonus Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award will be available at this week's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway.
The Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award are usually posted at UK National Championship events but sponsors Cath and Tig Napier of UK Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing have kindly offered to post £50 for the first 0.000 Reaction Time at Dragstalgia.
The Perfect Light Award will become available at the start of qualifying, currently Gasser Circus Q1 which is scheduled for 17:00 on Friday, and from that point will be available to all racers in all classes. As ever, the money will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. As this is a bonus event, if the Perfect Light Award is not won at Dragstalgia then it will remain at £50 for Bug Jam on the 26th-28th July at Santa Pod Raceway.
Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory to collect the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate if it they are carried, although we do of course understand about decals on period-correct cars and bikes. If you would like to carry Eurodragster.com decals then they are available in Signing On.
Our event coverage is supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Thanks for Nigel Charman for sending this news into Eurodragster.com. Nigel says:
"We will be attending Dragstalgia this weekend with the Two Much dragster to honour the loss of Norm and his contribution of around 50 years to Drag Racing
We hope to run the car as exhibition only and will have a book of condolence to sign.
Please come and visit us as this will be our only event this year as it has been a difficult year and much still to do".
Thanks for Niamh Smith for sharing this information for Nostalgia Super Stock racers for this weekends Dragstalgia 2024 event at Santa Pod Raceway: Niamh writes:Our second instalment of our lifestyle championship, and this trophy will be one hard fought over, as we will be running a 64 car ladder WITH bump spots! On that topic, we have had confirmation from Santa Pod that there are a small number of spaces left to enter Nostalgia Super Stock - as of 01/07/24 there are 2. If you wish to take them, please either speak to Don Scott or ring up Santa Pod ASAP.
SCHEDULE (Provisional schedule can be found on the Santa Pod website or by clicking this link.
Nostalgia Super Stock Provisional timetable is:
Friday 5th July
- Q1 - 18:10 hrs
Saturday 6th July
- Q2 - 09:40 hrs
- Q3 - 12:00 hrs
- Q4 - 14:20 hrs
- E1 - 16:40 hrs
Sunday 7th July
- E2 - 10:10 hrs
- E3 - 12:25 hrs
- E4 - 14:40 hrs
- E5 - 13:30 hrs
- Final -16:30 hrs
We will be having our brilliant BBQ Saturday night as now has become tradition for Dragstalgia! This is a great opportunity for Nostalgia Superstock racers, crew and sponsors to come together and socialise. We are able to do this thanks to our brilliant sponsors, so once again thank you to all of those!
We will be hosting this in the pits after the track closes (so those who want to watch Cracklefest and the end of the racing can), so I expect this will all kick off around 20:30hrs
At our BBQ there will also be a few awards to hand out, as you may have seen on Adrian Portelli’s post, him and Zoe Thompson will be doing their usual bonus awards! They’ll be coming around collecting money for qualifying prizes, as well as some extra fun ones this time! Also the Spirit of Sixty Six - Superstock Racing Team is putting up a Spirit of Dragstalgia award for the first time which will also be presented.
Goodale American Speedshop are putting forward 3 x £75 vouchers to spend with GAS which will be randomly drawn, so start writing up your shopping lists! The brilliant winner and runner up trophies are yet again hand painted by sponsor Craig Ainge Traditional Signwriter - even the missus will let these go on the mantle piece I think…
I believe we won’t receive a pit plan prior to Thursday, however I’m guessing we’ll be sort of in the middle where we usually are; the marshals will direct you where to go when you arrive. As this is a busy event, please do not take up more than your allocated pit space, be conscious of how much room you’re taking up and work with staff to ensure they can fit all the racers in.
We will have our 2024 posters with artwork from Rust & Chrome and MCT photography, Nostalgia Super Stock logo T-shirts and also our 2024 T-shirts with our sponsor logos on the back for sale in the pits! Also possibly a few hoodies and previous years T-shirts. I will also have a few copies of the Drag Seen magazine that I write for at reduced prices (shameless plug). Just come and find me with the Hillbilly Hotel in the Flag Jumper pits!
There may be one or two new cars/drivers to the class. If this is you, please see Chris Goodale to have a little look over your car before racing - this is just an informal scrutineering as per our class rules to make sure your car is safe and complies with our rules.
Thanks to former editor Tog who attended last weekend the MPH Vintage Sprint at Deenethorpe Airfield Corby and has supplied us with two photo galleries, one on-track and the other pits, return road and show field.
You can see Tog's galleries by clicking here or by going via our Events sponsored by John Woolfe Racing.
Happy Birthday for today to Eurodragster's pit photographer and crew member for Mark Sheridan, Diana MacRae, Hot rodding and drag racing pioneer Maurice Takoor, colleague of John Bennett at Spa Engineering, to Supercharged Outlaws racer-in-waiting Bob Glassup, to former Super Street racer Bob Lees, Comp Bike racer Daniel Bergelin and to Nostalgia Super Stock racer Nick Martin. We hope you all have a fantastic day.
Sportsman ET racer Michelle Walker would like to say a big thank you to Mark Fairhurst, Mark Munday, Williams Brothers, but mostly my husband Roy Walker, for all their hard work they have done to get me back on the track after 2 years of revamping my car, it's been a lot of money, hours but it was worth it. They brought her into the 21st century.
Michelle came out at the Summer Nationals test day on Friday and gained a new PB in both time and speed, She hopes to made them all proud and worth it.
Today's Pioneer Story: This year sees the 60th anniversary of the 1st British International Drag Festival and to mark this occasion the British Drag Racing Historians are producing more stories to be published on Eurodragster throughout this year starting with the first British Dragster.
Phil Waters has put this story together about the Allard Chrysler Dragster, the brainchild of Sydney Allard who had been reading Hot Rod Magazine in 1960. It was designed and built at Allard’s between January and June 1961 as an attempt to generate interest in Drag Racing in the UK. Sydney ran the dragster at sprints and speed trials from 1961 – 1963 breaking records and creating much interest from the motoring press.
The Allard Chrysler Dragster will be one of the many historic dragsters at Dragstalgia along with a replica of the Mooneyes Dragster which was the first American Dragster to arrive on British soil after Dante Duce challenged Sydney Allard to a race in 1963.
You can read the full story by clicking here
Following the article posted Thursday 13th June describing the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia taking place at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee over Dragstalgia weekend, 5th-7th July, we present the next five lots for auction:
Lot 26 – Bob McClurg’s Digger, Funnies, Gassers & Altered book
Dedicated and autographed to friend and trackside colleague Roger Gorringe author Bob McClurg looks at the 60's from its grass roots era to its full-blown professional motorsport. Along the way, it created some of the most exciting racing and race cars ever built. An accomplished magazine writer and photographer, Bob McClurg is best known for his drag racing images of the 60s and 70s. With more than 350 colour and black and white photos, this book is an exciting visual history of the Golden Age of drag racing packed into 204 pages including 248 colour & 128 black and white photos.
Lot 27 – Drag Racing Funny Cars of the 1960s photo archive
In the 1960s funny cars captured the fans with tremendous smoky burnouts and gigantic wheelstands, they were so unpredictable. Photographer Lou Hart has created a photo archive of the finest that has ever graced a drag strip. Many raced for Saturday night bragging rights, but many raced for a living - today they are legends of the sport, several of which have contributed information to this 128 page soft bound book.
Lot 28 – Drag Racing Funny Cars of the 1970s photo archive
See the cars raced by many of the legendary names in drag racing, including Don Prudhomme, Tom McEuen and Jim Dunn. The authors, Lou Hart and Wallace A. Wyss have included action shots, as well as detailed "in the pits" shots. Photographs show various makes and models of cars that have been reconstructed as Funny Cars, plus everything from Stock to Modified Camaros, Mustangs, Javelins, Dodge Chargers, and Firebirds, to oddball exhibition cars. Loads of nostalgia packed into 128 pages of soft bound pleasure.
Lot 29 – Vintage & Historic Drag Racers book
Researched by Robert Genat this soft bound publication features the history making Dragsters, Funny Cars and more of the best vintage drag racers of the late 1950s and 1960s! Genat describes each car's race history and their well-known drivers and tuners of the era. See Don Garlits' Swamp Rat 1, and many others. Super Stock drag racing of the 1960s is covered extensively, most notably the radically altered stock bodied vehicles that would forever change the face of drag racing. 96 pages of colour and black & white will keep you quiet for ages.
Lot 30 – Petersen’s Best of Hot Rod book
HOT ROD – the iconic American magazine. The Best of chronicles some of the publications best photographs and articles from the world of hot rodding, drag racing and speed records since the late 1940s. This 190 page soft back also covers the development of the hot rod with a variety of customized and high-performance cars ever conceived on four wheels. A fantastic and rare collector’s edition that could grace any enthusiast bookshelf!
How does the auction work? See an item at the BDRHoF's pitside marquee that takes your fancy, then write your bid on the bid sheet for the item at any time and raise it as often as you want if you find someone else outbidding you. The Auction runs on Friday from 2pm to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am, closing at 5pm when successful bidders will be notified by text. Winners can pay for and collect their items up to 6pm that day or on Sunday till 4pm.
There will be no Auction on Sunday but the Sale of memorabilia will continue on all three days. Credit card payments are accepted for Auction and Sale purchases.
As well as the Grand Auction and Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia, there will be a unique display of Competitor Protection Gear harking back to the earliest days of British drag racing.
Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Sportsman Nationals held at Santa Pod Raceway:
- Pro Modified : Andy Robinson 5.8200/245.13 def. Bobby Wallace 6.0924/237.77
- Pro ET : Ronnie Mercer (10.35) 10.3265/121.81 def. Amy Watkins (9.63) 9.5561/141.12
- Super Pro ET : Daniel Giles 7.4359/172.34 def. Scott Hauser 7.3037/179.93
- Super Comp : Paul Hudson 15.8083/68.28 def. Warren Watts 9.0025/149.11
- Comp Eliminator : Gary Carr (11.79) 11.0613/112.33 def. Nic Williams (8.45) 8.0107/170.46
- Street Eliminator : Andy Bond 7.339/206.00 def. Alan McSweeney 8.0745/134.42
- Sportsman ET : Peter Walters (12.32) 12.3382/109.63 def. Gary Lake (13.92) 13.9613/96.01
- VW Sportsman : Jon Crawford (16.10) 6.2571/77.47 def. Phil Jones(16.10) 16.6144/79.65
- VW Pro : James Hodson (10.85) 11.1073/114.16 def. Jake Fronda(11.88) 11.7314/111.80
- Super Gas : Stuart Morrice 9.9127/150.56 def. Dave Fulton 9.9064/143.01
- Outlaw Anglia : Ben Kennedy 8.8174/154.76 def. Colin Miller 7.9848/160.16
- Wild Bunch : No Contest (All competitors broke)
- Junior Dragster : Luke Mugridge (8.01) 8.1005/76.81 def. Ted Sullivan(8.33) 8.4904/75.26
- ET Bike : Scott Collier (9.60) 9.7365/120.19 def. Phil Pratt (8.92) 8.9723/147.59
- 8.50 Bike : Craig Wright 8.5945/161.35 def. Carl Thomas 8.4963/164.26
- 9.50 Bike : Dave Hall 9.5518/129.41 def. Joshua McClean 9.9081/138.21
- Super Street Bike : Jake Mechaell 6.8398/212.87 def. Alan Morrison Jnr 7.0875/160.81
- Comp Bike : Jasmine Cordelle 7.4829/171.75 def. Michael Piggott 7.8355/181.42
- Funny Bike : David Peters 7.2031/177.80 def. Thomas Josvog
- Top Fuel Bike : Steve Woollatt 6.2520/203.31 def. Phil Crossley 8.5410/98.84
- Junior Drag Bike : Declan Butt (13.95) 14.1271/48.25 def. Maggie Smallman (9.73) 9.9115/23
The meeting was held in Sunny and Hot conditions Saturday and Sunday overcast with sunny spells, the track superbly prepared by the SPRC marshals.
Congratulations to Ronnie Mercer who won the Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award of £50 supported by Cath and Tig Napier with 0.0003 RT and to Hayden Mechaell who won the Hayley Hadfield Perfect ET Award of £50 supported by Andy 'Fadster' Hadfield with 9.5006 on 9.50 dial in.
Bob's Photo Finish Award by sponsor and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Bob Roberts for the closest finish of a green light and non-break out race, winners will be announced once the data has been received and verified.
Thanks to the Santa Pod Timing Crew for sending us detailed timing data, including test day results, which when received we will post to our timing data area which you can see by clicking on Data, then Timing Data at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. Official results can be seen at Santa Pod's Official Results Site.
You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Summer Nationals reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the Events link at the top of any Eurodragster.com page. We should repeat our new policy that the watermarked photos from our galleries can be downloaded and may be used in social media posts but please do not crop or modify them, in particular, we need the watermark retained. Social media sharing may be done on mobile devices from the new site.
Please join us in thanking Graham Watkinson, Julian Hunt and Diana MacRae for their hard work over the race weekend providing their amazing reporting and pictures.
We look forward to receiving racers reports from the weekend, please email us at [email protected].
Many thanks to Julian and Diana for covering the final day at the Summer Nationals, Santa Pod Raceway, you can see all the pictures at this link, supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Markus Münch from DRU (Drag Racing Union) and Dragmag.de has released this update on DRU Pro and Supro ET Challenge Standings. Markus writes:
Pro ET: At Clastres #24, Rene Schindler is in the final against Gerd Habermann. Habermann wins. This puts Rene Schindler in second place in the DRU Pro ET Challenge with 166 points. Ronnie Mercer from England continues to lead with 177 points. Niek De Kruif from the Netherlands, Rene Siefert, Thomas Bublitz and Janine Petzold follow closely behind in terms of points.
Supro ET: At Clastres #24 Alain Dürr is in the final against young gun Lucas Potthoff. The Swiss/Basel located Dürr loses to the young man from Iserlohn Germany. But Alain Dürr collects enough points to move to third place in the DRU Supro ET Challenge. Oliver Petzold from Gera Germany (Team Schumann Motorsport) is busy collecting points and leads the gang with 221 points, ahead of Michael Mikuscheit (219 points) and Alain Dürr with 204 points. Franz Aschenbrenner, Lee Huxley and Christian Schneebeli follow.
There are plenty of opportunitys to collect further points. The NitrolympX, the Hillsrace in Rivanazzano and a few races in Santapod are still on the agenda for various participants. If you are interessted in participating next season, just get in touch with us.
A special Tour will happen during the next two month. The Teams of Thomas Bublitz, Jens Könnecke, Ronnie and Annie Mercer, Billy Gane (in the 7.6 Sec heads up class) „Mr Fraudster“ Jenkins will go on a summer Tour to Mantorp, Gardemoen, Tierp and Hockenheimn to have a blast. And they can collect points for the DRU Challenges as well. That‘s a great thing to happen. Travel, race, make new friends, meet old friends, Dragracing is so much more then just racing.
We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all our sponsors who are supporting us this year. Their support is the winners and runner ups prize money.
Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET/Sportsman racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters, Competition Eliminator racer Rob Smallworth, German photojournalist David Beitle, racer husband and muffler supplier Mike Smith, crew member Ricky Emms and ET Bike racer Dave Grundy. We hope you have a great day.
