We present below the presentations from the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala held on Saturday 23rd November. Acceptance speeches can be heard on the video at the bottom, and you can see Julian's gallery from the Gala by clicking here or via News, then Features in the menu above.

Fund raising for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Benevolent Fund has seen new impetus and for this we must thank Colin Theobald and Nikki Marshall. The fund has helped 6 people this year and your generous purchase of raffle tickets today will help us to be able to provide more support in the future.

Colin Theobald says "We are privileged to have genuine drag racing royalty in the room with us. In 1964, the International Dragfest brought leading American stars to Britain for the first time, and the greatest of those stars was Don Garlits.  Donna GARLITS is joined by her daughter, SARAH, and by her cousin, CHUCK KEPPEL, the General Manager of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Florida.

Donna also serves as an International Ambassador for our Hall of Fame. A year ago, another of our International Ambassadors was here with us, sadly for the last time. RON HOPE died in June. Best known as the owner and driver of RAT TRAP, the Fuel Altered, Ron was also a great friend and supporter of British drag racing in general and of our Hall of Fame in particular. And it was thanks to Ron that Don Garlits was invited to appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2015.

Donna said a few words about Ron and to propose a toast in his memory. And at the same time we’ll remember our departed Members, ROGER GORRINGE and GERALD COOKSON.   Winston Churchill said: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Ron Hope definitely made a life. He was one of the most giving persons I’ve ever known. My last phone conversation with Ron, right before his 80^th birthday… he said:

“Donna, it has been an honour to know you.”  To which I responded:  “No, Ron, the honour has been all mine and we will see each other again.”

We are grateful to those supporters, Lucas Oil and Philip Evans’ company Atlantic Fluid Tech, and to Santa Pod Racers Club which each year kindly provides the trophies that we present.

In 2021, in memory of our late Founding Chairman, Stu Bradbury, we inaugurated the Stuart Bradbury Junior Drag Racing Awards. Each season’s Junior Dragster and Junior Dragbike champions and runners-up receive a commemorative trophy in Stu’s memory, and a financial award.

For many years, Stu and Bev Bradbury were the linchpins of the organisation, and Bev continues her essential work in preparing this evening’s celebration as a director of the Hall of Fame. So to present the Stuart Bradbury Junior Drag Racing Awards, please welcome to the stage – BEV BRADBURY.

Robin Jackson introduces the next honours: Lest anyone doubt that drag racing is a family sport, the example of the Huxley family will set you straight. From an early age, father of the clan Brian Huxley has loved all things auto-American and his continuing thirst for speed has spilled over to his three sons – Lee, Darren and Marc have all competed in various motorsport disciplines: drag racing, drifting and gymkhana.

In 2008 the Roadster was sold to make way for the ex-Tim Hines, Pro Mod Ford Sierra, Top Banana Too.  Then, Brian and Lee (helped by Marc and his company Huxley Motorsports) introduced the family’s most successful car to date, a full tube-chassis, glass-fibre ’68 Ford Mustang Fastback, also imported from Florida. Dark Horse has earned the pair countless championships and class wins.

Next up with Robin introducing are Ray Baskerville and Peter Miller began racing within a year of each other at Santa Pod and would go on to contribute to the sport’s evolution by pioneering new development methods.

Running nitro in 1972, Peter set the official 500cc world record at 9.93 seconds. The bike, known as Mendusa, won many Top Bike races against bigger opposition and earned Peter the BDR&HRA championship and the Motorcycle Drag Racer of the Year Award. He retired the bike with 9.5 second, 142mile-an-hour bests.

Friends through racing, Ray and Peter teamed up as BM to construct a new bike. Their BM Elephant 900cc motor was Britain’s first purpose-built dragbike engine, utilising their own slipper clutch and a two-speed transmission among other parts. Peter clocked 9.6sec on nitro.

Robin introduces Martin Hill and says: You immediately think “Jet Cars”. With four decades’ experience of all things jet, it’s easy to understand why. This year the FireForce brand has celebrated 35 years. But where did it all begin?

To present the Bootsie trophy to MARTIN is CEO of Santa Pod Raceway, Trakbak Racing and Drag Racing Europe. KEITH BARTLETT

Lesley Wright concludes with thanks to those who make this evening possible - our sponsors and those who work behind the scenes – our Directors, Selectors & Advisers. In particular I would like to thank Julian Parsons and his team from AMP Audio for putting together such a great presentation for us.

A special thanks also goes to Bev Bradbury who once again has done her usual, excellent job collating all our dining arrangements, in conjunction with the hotel.

Robin Jackson finally had one more special award, Robin says: The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is a limited company, The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Benevolent Fund is a registered charity.

Limited companies don’t form themselves and charities don’t register themselves just by magic. They require a degree of knowledge and expertise, and indeed of perseverance, to achieve fruition, and the creation of both these entities for us has been the work of one man.

Simon stepped away from his Hall of Fame responsibilities earlier this year to spend more time enjoying life with his wife, Ros, especially their musical lives together. Violins and drag racing aren’t the most obvious bedfellows, but Simon does have a variety of strings to his bow.

But we didn’t want to let him get away that easily, so we’ve decided to create a special award for him as a token of our gratitude and respect. We hope he will take this trophy home with him and display it with pride, so that every time he visits his smallest room, he’ll be reminded of us.

Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Ian Marshall for sending in this message:  2024 is coming to a close next week, and what a year it has been at Santa Pod Raceway and Drag Strips around the UK. 

Thanks to Honorary Eurodragster.com member Andy Marrs has produced an analysis of FIA and FIM European Championships points tallies since the Championships' inceptions. Andy has looked through European Championship points and has calculated cumulative points earned and Top Tens based on total points won since 1996 (FIA) / 1992 (FIM) as well as Championship wins:

End of year stats 2024

FIA 

Low ET

TF: Duncan Micallef, 3.7912

TM: Tony Bryntesson, 5.2309

PM: David Vegter, 5.7661

PS: Jimmy Alund, 6.5392

High speed

TF: Duncan Micallef, 321.40/517.24

TM: Jonny Lagg, 275.94/444.08

PM: Andres Arnover, 254.86/410.16

PS: Jimmy Alund, 212.64/342.21

Jimmy Alund (PS) #1 qualifier in every event for the second time (2024, 2013)

Jimmy Alund (PS) set the low ET at every event for the second time (2024, 2013)

Jimmy Alund (PS) set the high speed at every event for the 5th time (2024, 2019, 2016, 2015, 2013)

Linn Floysvik won her first round in TF

Mike Reymond won his first FIA round (PM)

Jimmy Alund passed 9000 points in the FIA all time combined classes points scorers list

Bruno Bader up to #10 from #11 in the FIA all time combined classes points scorers list

Duncan Micallef up from #10 to #8 in the all time TF points scorers list

Bruno Bader up to #2 from #3 in the all time PM points scorers list

Fredrik Fagerstrom up to #9 from #11 in the all time PM points scorers list

Roger Johansson passed 3000 points in PM

Jimmy Alund has passed 7000 points in PS

Richard Sundblom uo to #6 from #7 in the all time PS points scorers list

Stefan Ernryd up to #8 from #10 in the all time PS points scorers list

FIM 

Low ET

TFB: Rikard Gustafsson, 5.7315

STTF: Marcus Christiansen, 6.1109

PSB: Bertrand Maurice, 7.0921

SSB: Jake Mechaell, 6.7155

High speed

TFB: Rikard Gustafsson, 254.39/409.40

STTF: Marcus Christiansen, 227.79/366.60

PSB: Bertrand Maurice, 191.89/308.82

SSB: Daniel Donat Lencses, 230.45/370.88

Rikard Gustafsson set the low ET at every event this year

Rikard Gustafsson set the high speed at every event this year, and for the second year running

Marcus Christiansen (STTF) won every event this year, the first rider to do so in any FIM class where all finals were contested.

Marcus Christiansen (STTF) was #1 qualifier in every event

Marcus Christiansen (STTF) set the high speed at every event for the 2nd time, and for the second year running

Bertrand Maurice (PSB) set the high speed in every event

Joerg Lymant is the 50th rider to win an FIA championship

Jiri Lukes won his first FIM round (TFB)

Kostas Giannopoulos won his first FIM round (SSB)

Rikard Gustafsson has now won 3 TFB championships in a row

Marcus Christiansen has now won 5 STTF championships in a row

Rikard Gustafsson had the biggest ever points margin of victory for a TFB championship win, 218

Hollie King had the highest ever points total in JDB

Hollie King had the largest ever points margin of victory for a JDB championship win, 77

Per Bengtsson up to #5 from #6 in the FIM all time combined classes points scorers list

Rikard Gustafsson is now the #1 points scorer in the all time TFB points scorers list

Rikard Gustafsson passed 3000 points in TFB

Marcus Christiansen up to #6 from #10 in the all time STTF points scorers list

Alan Morrison Jnr up to #7 from #13 in the all time SSB points scorers list

Erich Gruber up to #8 from #9 in the all time SSB points scorers list

Whichever out of Evangellos Karamatzakis, Ioannis Lampraropoulos, Kostas Giannopoulos, Spyros Tsiouris or Stanislav Pozivenec was he second rider to put in a qualifying run in round 1 of qualifying at the NitrOlympX was the 100th rider in FIA SSB to score championship points

Hollie King is now the all time leading points scorer in JDB

There have now been over 600 points scorers in FIM competition

Jaxon King became the 150th rider to appear in an FIM final

Thanks to former editor Simon Groves for taking the time to complete The scoring for the UK National Championships Champions' Champions is based on an event having to be completed for a win to be registered. Race wins are ranked by number based on the driver or rider. Points for car classes are scored and ranked on a team basis, as are numbers of Championships. For teams with multiple cars or drivers changing teams during or between seasons, the compiler's decision is final.

In 2024 the National SPRC Championship again had six events held under Motorsport UK or ACU permit. Our hope that the weather would be equally accommodating in 2024 as it was in 2023 was dashed, as the Festival of Power, Main Event and National Finals were all rained off.

We had first time champions in eight classes, compared with seven last year and a record eleven in 2015. The number of back to back champions from 2023 was four, the same number as 2023 with the record being nine in 2017. 

The Motorsport UK Pro Modified champion was the resurgent Andy Robinson winning his ninth British Drag Racing Championship - he also won two National championships in the 1990s before it became designated as the premier title in the UK. Andy won two of the three completed events, with 2024 FIA Champion Jere Rantaniemi winning the other. Andy leads the number of championships won (9) and event wins (23) and points total scored since 1999, ahead of Kev Slyfield, who is second in championships and joint second with Nick Davies in event wins over the period since 1999.

The Funny Car Cup was won by Kevin Kent who won Bug Jam, Steve Ashdown winning the Euro Finals. Kevin is now one ahead of Gordon Smith and John Spuffard in number of championships. He now leads John Spuffard with 11 event wins in the period under review, however Spuff won several events in the years prior to 1999. 

The first Nostalgia Funny Car Cup was fittingly won by Tim Garlick who has raced the Apache Firebird, since its debut a decade ago, to many wins before the establishment of the Cup.

In Competition Eliminator, Gary Carr won his first championship with a single win, the other wins coming from Nic Williams and Thirty-under-30 nominee Jordan Payne. Andy Hone has the most championships over the period under review (three) and Nic Williams and Kev Perkins have the largest number of race wins (seven).

In Super Pro ET, Scott Hauser took his fourth championship champion winning one event, the other two completed events being won by championship runners up Giles & Hartley Racing (one by Barry Giles, the other by son Daniel).   Over the years, Scott Hauser has won the most championships in the class, whilst six drivers or teams have two each. Barry Giles has won 16 races in the still-show-quality Giles & Hartley dragster.

Brett Featherstone took the Pro ET championship for the second time despite winning no races. The three completed races had two first time winners, Rouven Dawson and Stevie Gates, with international traveller Ronnie Mercer picking up the other win on his way to his Drag Racing Union championship. Seven championships have been won by the newly inducted to the Hall of Fame Team Dark Horse (previously known as Top Banana) of which Lee Huxley has had 14 class wins over the last 25 years.

In Sportsman ET Gary Lake became a triple championship winner on the trot repeated his title from 2022 with two event wins. The remaining two completed races were won by Eurodragster.com sponsor Peter Walters and our Kirstie Tramm. As well as Gary, Craig Wright, Geoff Cowley and Team Rainy City Lightning (Al and Linda Platt) each have three Sportsman ET championships. Craig, with ten wins during his time in the class, leads Geoff Cowley and Rick Denny who both have seven wins.

In Super Comp, Dolly Daydream racer Leah Kellett won her fifth championship (third successive title) with a single win to Paul Hudson's two. Leah now has the most championships in the class ahead of Stuart Doignie. Brian Pateman has the most wins with thirteen over Leah's twelve.

In Super Gas, Stuart Doignie won his first championship since the incredible run of four consecutive double championships in Super Gas and Super Comp from 2015-18. The other completed race was won by Stuart Morrice. Stuart Doignie now leads the late Jon Morton and Tim Adam with five championships to Jon and Tim's four each. He also goes into the lead in terms of race wins over Jon Morton with 14 race wins to the much-missed Jon's 13. 

In Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, congratulations to Tony Higgs on his first championship and two wins in the hotly contested class. Andy Bond and Al McSweeney each won a completed event during 2024. Steve Pateman leads the overall listings with five Championships, and is equal in wins with Andy's 16.

In Junior Dragster, congratulations to Luke Mugridge on his first championship including one win from the four rounds completed. Eva Davies and Ted Sullivan both had maiden wins, with McKenzie Love being the other winner. Joe Kellett has the most championships with three and Nick Mugridge continues to have the most wins with nine.

Jay Roe won his fourth 8.50 Bike title with a single win to runner up Craig Wrights's two and Ian Crichlow's one win. Jay has won the most championships since the class's inception in 2011, with Jake Mechaell and Mick Winyard have each won three titles. Jay has the most wins, 15 to Jake's 13. 

In 9.50 Bike, Dave Hall won his first championship after over 25 years in competion and many congratulations to him. Dave won two races and well done also to Hayden Mechaell and Rob Stanley for their first event wins. Now-retired Rick Sawatszki has won ten National championships to Fred Furlong's four. Rick's 32 wins heads Fred's eleven.

Former Junior Drag Bike quadruple champion Scott Collier won his first ET Bike championship with two event wins to Gary Hester's two; Phil Pratt has a run of five championships, excluding the Covid Cup year, and also heads Gary Hester in events won with 15 compared to Gary's six.

In ACU Top Fuel Bike Steve Woollatt took his 20th championship (16 in the period under review) with a single win in a year of transition for the remainder of the class, six bikes competing in the final round. Steve leads the way in championships won with an unprecedented wins total of 36.

In ACU Funny Bike, congratulations to Roger Moore on his first bike championship. Roger is only the second UK racer to win championships in both car and bike classes, Jon Morton being the other. Dave Peters won two events to Roger's single win this year with Eric Richard winning the other completed race. Neil Midgley continues to lead championships with five over Chris Hall's three, and seventeen event wins to Dave's fourteen. 

Mark Dainty won a back to back ACU Comp Bike championship in another highly competitive year. Mark achieved his championship without an event win as the year saw maiden class wins for Jasmine Cordelle and Graham Dance, the other wins being from Danny Cockerill and Dan De'ath. Phil Leamon has four titles to Ivan Birch's three and eleven wins to Ivan's ten.

In ACU Super Street Bike congratulations to Jake Mechaell on his first title winning three races out of four competed, the most of any SPRC class. Alan Morrison Jnr won the fourth race. Steve Venables continues to lead the number of titles with 12 in ACU Competition and has 36 wins leading the points total over Graham Dance who lies second in championships with four, and in wins with nineteen.

Hollie King won her second ACU Junior Drag Bike title, with a single win. The three other completed races had maiden wins from Alia Lester, Declan Butt and John McClean. Liam Holgate and Scott Collier share the lead of titles won with four apiece, and wins with ten each.

You can check out the UK Champions' Champions by clicking here or by clicking on Data on the menu above when slecting Champions' Champions on any Eurodragster.com pages.

Paul Brown and the BBQ Roadster kicks us off today:

Dolly Daydream pilot and all round superstar, Leah Kellett joins us for her view on 2024 and beyond:

It was tough racing wise this year, we started off broke, ended up almost broke! And competition was tight! Absolutely EVERYONE stepped their game up this year! It only made me hungrier for it, though! Special thanks to Dave Day providing us with a new torque converter for the first race of the year and to Steve Hudson for absolutely all his help with it too! Bro unfortunately missed all his qualifying, but I managed a one shot qualifier and hit number 1! I then unfortunately red lit in the semi’s, but I'm going to blame chemo brain for that one (haha).

With changes to a new shift point made for the new torque converter, it then through all my throttle stop settings out the window, which I tried SO hard to try and get back most of the year! So racing for me became a massive struggle! Finally, we're adjusted the shift point back and with the help of Spencer Tramm with the throttle stop, We got there in the end! Thank you, Spence! Appreciate that so much!! With those changes made, Bro was smashing PBs out the park! With a personal best of 7.26 @ 184mph!! He took the top step at the greenlights and ended up 9th overall in the point standings, Which is absolutely amazing considering he missed an event and a series of events with the car! Not to mention, is also in SUCH a tight field of cars and racers! Really thrilled for Scott Hauser taking the championship in Super Pro! Well deserved! And to Giles and Hartley for runner-up! Well done chaps! Awesome work.

Also thank you to Scott and Geoff for all they do on the car too!! With three of us ending up all battling for that top spot and a tight squeeze for it in comp! I knew i had to up my game, as Paul Hudson and newbie Warren Watts were on it!! Luckily I gained the Euro Finals Win which just about got me to overtake in the points, but it was all still to play for at the National Finals where then we had another unfortunate breakage with a rocker!!

We were offered parts thanks to the awesomeness that is the Drag Fam who always offer endless help and even Andy Fadster up in Manchester even got Purdie to stop on her way to pod whilst he brought her some parts for us! Which unfortunately were not the right fit, but how amazing is that? And cannot thank enough for!!

I was even offered a ride from my brother from another Billy Everitt and my good friend Marc Huxley, if we couldn't fix Dolly (Thanks boys! Again, how amazing?!) so i could at least try and get 1st round points, but as luck would have it, Bobbie Wallace and family saved the day with a part that worked! And with the endless help from the fabulous Jeff Bull, we were fixed! Thank you ever so much as always to Jeff and Belinda for their continued support and all they do for us and of course the Wallace family! And of course all of you that helped!! Then the rain stopped play anyway… but then actually sealed the championship for me!

- Photo credit to Callum Pudge for the group shot of everyone in their dolly tops! 

- and whoever took the one of the car on the track? 

Finally joining us for this episode, we have "Rattler" driver and Foxbody fan, Daniel Holloway:

Given the imminent arrival of baby however, on no other than the Festival of Power 2025 race weekend (hospital bag will be packed!), it wasn’t going to be wise to try and go racing with a completely alien setup which logistically is harder to run throughout the year, let alone the costs involved. 

So 2025 will be spent continuing to accumulate the parts I’ll need to try and get out with Rattler in Super Pro in 2026, so long as the baby hasn’t rinsed us dry! At the same time, and after two years of not racing by the time the first event comes around, I’ll be having a play with the No Fox Given Foxbody Mustang in Sportsman, a return to the class where it started for me with my trusty S10 SS Truck Norris which still sits proudly on my drive!

Thanks to Paul Marston for sending in this update on Manston Raceway Park, Paul writes:  

Before I start, I must say a BIG shout out to KYE KELLY RACING who last weekend took their NO Prep Kings 1980s Steel Roof and Quarters Trans Am to the Snowbirds at Bradenton Florida to compete in the Outlaw Pro Mod class. To say this is a class full of bears just does not do it justice. 

It is a who’s who of Pro Mod drivers and the biggest Pro Mod field I have ever heard of.  66, yes you heard right SIXTY-SIX entries. You must qualify in the top 32 to run on Sunday.  Kye’s car isn’t a state of the art Pro Mod, it runs a Reid cased TH400 with 80+ runs on it.  It’s a No Prep car.  Well, he qualified and ran the table, running a 3.59 to clinch the final.  If you get a chance go watch it on U-Tube.  

We will be running under a sanctioning body and will tech cars in.  More details will come on all of that, let’s get to the classes we will be running.  To be clear, these classes are for cars only.  These are the classes we intend to run at our events, however they will all be subject to a minimum car count.  We will most probably not run all the classes at all the events. I will publish the classes that we intend to run at the season opener soon.

BIG TYRE

1/8^th Mile Heads up.  Flashlight start. Traditionally the fastest class, there are a lot of very capable big tyre cars in the UK.  Big Tyre is exactly what it says, any tyre size goes, now you could run a small tyre car in big tyre if you wanted to double class.  But you can’t do vice versa.  This is also the class for all AWD Cars.  I will publish more detailed rules, but in a nutshell, this is it.  Other than safety there are no rules, as many power adders, no minimum weight, slicks, drag radial or treaded dot, run what ya brung and hope you brung enough.

SMALL TYRE

1/8^th Mile Heads Up. Flashlight Start. This class is by far the biggest in the States ATM.  It has just exploded; it has the biggest car counts.  Small Tyre is a maximum tyre width of 10.5 inches, other than that it’s the same as big tyre.

TAILGATE

1/8^th Mile Heads Up.  Flashlight Start. This is a brand-new class to the UK, this is a pickup truck only class, hence the name Tailgate. (we might allow Jeeps) There are a lot of real nice and a few fast trucks out there.  This will be a non-tube chassis class, unless enough full tube trucks want to run.  In which case we will run them separately.  We want street or street appearing trucks, back half is fine, front half is fine.  If you are unsure, contact us.  Slicks allowed, two power adders, no weight or tyre size restrictions.  This could be a real fun class and if you double class you could run in maybe small tyre as well or big tyre.

FWD

1/8^th Mile, Flashlight Start.  This is a class we have decided to trial, as there are a lot of very good FWD cars out there now.  So, if you support this class we will continue to run it.  The rules will be simple, and we will post them as soon as they are finalized.

STICK SHIFT

This could be FWD and RWD, no 4WD, as the sign says, needs to be a 3-pedal deal.  Any power adder, any size motor, any tyre size.

RWYB

As always test and tune, we do intend to have a timing system but this needs to be confirmed.   RWYB will run at ALL our event dates.

Nostalgia Doorslammer – Heads Up 1/8^th Mile Flashlight Start.  Pre 1989 Doorslammers, all types English or American.

INDEX CLASSES

If there is interest in some index classes, most probably 6.50 (9.75 ¼ ET) and 8.00 (12.00 ¼ ET)

TRUE STREET

True street will be a full interior class, Taxed, Insured and a Mot, will have to complete a cruise.  This class is Heads Up 1/8^th mile eliminations.

DAILY DRIVER

This is same as above, but cars will return from the cruise and drive straight to the staging lanes and run 3 passes back-to-back.  The winner will be the car that is the most consistent on their timeslip.

So, for us to run the classes you want, we would like to ask for help.  Please contact us and let us know what classes you would intend to compete in.  This will allow us to run what you want.  You can register your vote by messaging us on our FB page Manston Raceway Park or our No Prep Racers Club FB page.  Remember your vote counts and matters.  Even if you intend to just RWYB, let us know. 

Apologies for not posting this earlier, but it has been busy here, a lot to do.  I must thank all the people who have stepped up with offers of help, support and advise, you know who you are, and I appreciate you very much.  It will take all of us to make this happen.  If you think you can help us out with equipment of just time.  Please touch base with me, many hands make light work.  Many thanks to Eurodragster for posting this. 

Thanks to Peter Walters from Santa Pod Racers Club and Peter Walters Race Design for sending the second set of Perpetual Awards - 2024 SPRC Perpetual Awards – Best Appearing Car:

Thanks to Johnny Nilsson for sending this great news from Sweden:  The 2025 edition of Meguiar’s Drag Festival will mark a new chapter in drag racing history. Mantorp Park is proud to present the largest Top Fuel lineup in Europe, featuring 8 Top Fuel cars on the starting line and the highest prize purse ever in European drag racing – a quarter of a million Swedish kronor.

“In 2024, we made a significant commitment to drag racing by hosting Europe’s largest Top Fuel competition with 6 drivers from 4 countries. Now, we’re taking it to the next level. 2025 will be the year we make history in Swedish and European drag racing,” says Matilda Svensson, Project Manager for Meguiar’s Drag Festival.

“Together with our partner Auto Art, we are proud to present a Top Fuel competition featuring 8 drivers battling for a record-breaking prize of a quarter of a million Swedish kronor for the winner. This will be a historic race that perfectly embodies what Mantorp Park and Meguiar’s Drag Festival stand for – world-class drag racing,” concludes Matilda Svensson.

Tickets for Meguiar’s Drag Festival 2025 go on sale on December 22. Keep an eye on our website for more information at this link.

See you at Meguiar’s Drag Festival, July 24–27!

Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Warren Watts, Supercharged Outlaws racer Luke Watts, Top Doorslammer crew member Pelle Eriksson, retired Pro Stock Bike racer Ulf Ögge and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Ivar Kolberg. Happy belated Birthday for yesterday to VW Pro racer Polly Judge.

Leah Morrison starts us off this episode with her view of the year:

Next out the start is Jess Bishop with her "Nightmare" Pro ET Dragster:

At the start of the 2023 season, I debuted the Pro ET “Nightmare” dragster as my own. With a rich history, I knew this car would be an incredible drive. At just 16 years old I gained by licence only weeks before the season started therefore, we had limited testing.

At the first event, Springspeed Nationals, in my second ever qualifying run, I managed to get NO.1 qualifier and running a perfect dial in. The remainder of the event I focused on staying calm and doing what I love in the new class. I managed to get to the semi-finals with no breakages, which unfortunately wouldn’t be the case for the rest of the season…

The Festival of Power caused the biggest problem the team have had in racing. In the second round of eliminations, around 60ft, the car stopped. I instantly knew something wasn’t right and was towed back to the pits. Here we found out that the gearbox had seized solid, with damage to the input shaft and plates. Absolutely gutting but humbling at the same time as we realised the highs and true lows of drag racing.  At this point I began to realise how lovely the Pro ET class is as everyone who could come to help or give advice, to which we are forever grateful for.

At the Main event, the issue was still not fixed, unfortunately, as the box was stuck in reverse. No runs for us that event, which made us realise how hard it was to just sit back and watch after racing for a few years. However, yet again, everyone who could was at our pit to help in any way they could.

The national finals began as I was leading the championship points but after a leaking oil cooler and semi-inconsistent numbers, we unfortunately had struggles getting the car to perform to usual standards and lost the first round of eliminations. We ended the 2023 season second in the championship just behind Leigh Morris who was so deserving of the title.

2024 was an odd year to say the least. With dad, Paul, having a medical complication leading to him losing his driving licence and job at the start of the year, we had no choice but to have this season out and get him recovered, which I’m glad to say he fully is now! I luckily am surrounded by some of the kindest people in the world who gave me the opportunity to still come to the track and enjoy this year from a different perspective. I have so much respect and gratitude to everyone who asked about my dad and let me come with them this year. Although it was strange not racing myself, it was so nice to have a season to watch European records being set, friends winning events and being surrounded by my racing family.

2025 over the past few months, we have been making progress to get back racing in 2025 and hopefully, racing the full season. Dad has still not been able to have his HGV licence back, so some plans have changes. He’s working ridiculously hard while I’m studying at university to make sure we are able to be back next year. The checklist is slowly going down as plans begin to fall into place as we now have a trailer and tow vehicle. We still have the dragster to work on, but fingers crossed, will get everything done. With any luck, we should be ready for pre-season testing in March to get both myself and the team back into routine and prepped for a hopefully exciting year!

Crossing the finish line to conclude this episode is drag racer and piano maestro, Elliot Day:

Though being only 20 years old and now going into my 4th season of SPRC Street Eliminator i am balancing a degree in law alongside my motorsport; so, next year will be a challenge to complete fully but i’m sure we will make some of the big events and hit that elusive seven second run.

See you all in 2025,

Elliot

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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

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.

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:

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

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

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.

We are currently formulating our class structures for the dates that we have available.  This is grass roots No Prep 1/8^th 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.