The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present Wally Parks' involvement in British Drag Racing part five. Originally posted on the 2nd February 2024: You can read the fifth and final part of our excerpts from NHRA founder Wally Parks' memoir by clicking here.
This part includes the letters Wally wrote to his wife Barbara with some of his humour and affection finding their way into them. "I’m sure you’ll flip over this place – it’s too much! This coming weekend up at Southport is supposed to be the real cold one. I bought some pyjama’s so I can wear the bottoms under my pants if it’s really that cold.
"Last night I had dinner with the Allard’s at their home. Mrs Allard is a really nice person and had cooked us a meal that I expected was typically English. We had roast beef, oven-brown potatoes, carrots, green beans, some sherry, apple pie with cream and coffee in another room. It was delicious and the company was most enjoyable. I seem to be getting a lot of wrinkles over here. Don’t know what it is, but this country must age a person more rapidly. We are really making history over here.."
The story was produced by Richard Parks, photos, images chosen by Nick Pettitt and John Hunt and published by editor of Eurodragster.com Simon Groves. We all thank Jim Miller of the American Hot Rod Foundation for scanning the photos and adding captions.
Thanks to Niamh Smith for sending in this news to Eurodragster.com, Niamh writes: Unfortunately UK Nostalgia Superstock are announcing that Don Scott has made the tough decision to step down from his place as the Chairman of the Nostalgia Superstock Committee.
We have tried to convince, blackmail, and finagle him to give up his idea of stepping down all year, however after 9 years of being wholly dedicated to this awesome class, Don feels it is the right time, given he also has a lot going on away from the track too.
When Don first stepped into his committee role almost a decade ago, UK Nostalgia Superstock was in its developing stages, having only began in 2011. At this time, there would be a few handfuls of cars, growing steadily in numbers as time went on. However, Don has seen this class go from strength to strength, and spearheaded it as we became THE largest nostalgia drag racing class in Europe. Now, it is regular to have around 60 cars entered into our lifestyle events.
I hope you’ll all agree that Don has always taken a fair, considerate, and good humoured approach to everything he does, from being a sportsman himself when competing, to even some of the tricky moments we have had in the class and big decisions that have needed to be made, and I can tell you there has been a few. But - and here’s a bit of an insider perspective - Don has always acted in good conscience and remained true to himself. He’s done an excellent job of communicating with racers and the Pod, always trying his best to do what’s right by the racers, all without getting a single penny in return.)
In his years in the class, he has also taken a number of lifestyle and SPRC championship and round titles, but always managed to balance both this and his duties to the class.
We would like to thank Don for being so committed and such a great spokesperson for NSS all these years, and you know you won’t have seen the last of him yet!
I’d also like to thank our racers for their patience while the rest of the committee try to navigate the coming seasons without him while we find a good rhythm that works for us. If, in the meantime time, anyone has any questions, please just reach out to a committee member (Andrew Bishop, Bev Tyrell, Chris Goodale or Niamh Smith)
UK based drag racing artist, Paul Whitehouse, has been in touch with news of next years Drag Racing Paintings Calendar featuring Paul’s paintings from his catalogue of work spanning the last 15 years. The calendar is A3 portrait, printed to a high quality and will be a limited edition.
Each calendar will be signed and numbered. Priced at £25.00 plus £7.95 P+P it makes a great Christmas gift for the drag racing enthusiast.
Paul has had the calendar advertised on his social media pages and already has many advanced orders. Paul plans to put this into print next week and if anyone is interested in one please contact Paul via email at this link or his social media sites - Paul Whitehouse Art.
The calendar features 12 of Paul’s paintings that, over the past 15 years, have been commissioned by clients worldwide. Paintings featured are:
- Geoff Redgrave. Top Bike Hayabusa
- Allard Chrysler Dragster. 1964 Dragfests
- ‘Rat Trap’ and ‘Havoc’ AA/FA
- ‘Ain’t no Saint’ Volvo Gasser
- Billy Jackson ‘Controlled Chaos’ nitro Harley
- Jon Antonsson ‘Glacier Shaker’ and ‘Sundance’
- Team PBM ‘Satan’s Lady’
- Don Garlits and Tommy Ivo 1964 Dragfests
- Brian Johnson ‘Imperial Wizard II’
- Joe Schubeck Carlsbad Raceway 1964
- Ronald Balderama. Valiant Outlaw Pro-Mod
- Martin Maxwell ‘Color ‘o’ Money’ vega bodied N/FC
Happy Birthday to Top Methanol Dragster crew member Tim Read, hope you have a great day Tim.
We are sad to hear the loss of Gerald Cookson, Son Jerry Cookson contacted Eurodragster.com to publish this Obituary. Jerry writes:
It is with very deep regret that we have to inform the drag racing family of the passing of my father Gerald Cookson after a short illness. Thankfully he passed away peacefully in his sleep and without pain in the early hours of Monday 14th October. He was 94 years of age.
After visiting the International Drag Festivals at Blackbushe Gerald started his drag racing career at the third meeting of the newly opened Santa Pod Raceway in a self-built and designed BMC powered slingshot dragster called ‘Minor Leaguer’.
In between his day job as a factory planner and engineer working for Birmingham based Lucas Electrical, he began designing his next dragster with a much more traditional American slingshot look about it called ‘Trouble Shooter’ and still using the dependable BMC engine from a 998cc Mini Cooper.
Dad never wanted anything bigger in cubic capacity or expensive to race. He wanted good old dependable British ingenuity that he could pull off the shelf, modify and develop from race to race.
From this point onwards, race wins started to come in the lower ranks of the dragster classes, but an untimely incident in the Santa Pod fire up lane ended Trouble Shooter’s days when the push bar broke. A year later his most successful dragster appeared in the early seventies called ‘The Joker’. Again, BMC powered but this one had a blower attached that carried him to numerous wins at Santa Pod as well as on tour National Drag Racing Club meets at Blackbushe and of course his home quarter mile at Long Marston.
After the success of the dragster he turned his attention to the Modified class where after acquiring a 1958 Berkeley Sports Car he began constructing his own chassis to take the Berkeley’s framework and a blown Lotus Twin Cam.
This picture on the left was taken by Mike Collins.
By the nineties he’d purchased a part-built circuit racing MG Midget, which in its time had his trusty blown BMC followed by an Imp OHC and finally a factory experimental K-Series engine; all blown and nitrous injected.
A few years later the Midget was put into storage and the Berkeley came into its own with a new set up, consisting of a turbo charged 850cc BMC armed with enough nitrous to launch the car before the turbo kicked in midway down the track. The theory was great but whether it would have worked or not he’ll never know.
Above all, amongst all his racing endeavours he was a devoted husband for 68 years to wife Joan and father to me – his son. Joan never missed a meeting, providing all the food, fetching and carrying, back up lady, you name it she did it.
His biggest accolade was having the family name etched into the annals as inducted members of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2018. He also received two Lifetime Achievement awards: one presented by the Wild Bunch and the other by Jeremy at the 2017 APIRA Championship Awards as well as being presented with the Don Garlits Spirit of Drag Racing Shield in 2000.
God speed dad. You’re at peace now. Now go join your other racing buddies who left before you.
Gerald featured in Eurodragster's and British Drag Racing Historians Pioneer Stories in 2022, you can read all three parts by clicking these links PART ONE, PART TWO and PART THREE or by visiting the Pioneer Stories page at this link.
We here are eurodragster.com are sadden and send our condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.
Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway's Commercial Manager Caroline Holden for contact Eurodragster to publish this update, Caroline is involved in an educational Design & Technology project to design a product to safely store or transport race helmets.
A member of the racing community is carrying out some research regarding the storage and transportation of helmets in Motorsport for a GCSE Design project. We have made a short questionnaire to help with the research. It would be great if you could take part.
Caroline says: "It’s just a quick survey for research and I know our drag racing community are always helpful and willing to support, it will only take a few minutes complete and Thank you for taking the time to complete."
Click here to view and complete the survey.
A very Happy Birthday to Trakbytes webmaster Chris Dossett, Junior Dragster racer Max Taylor and Outlaw Flat Four racer Ian Shorrock. We hope you all had a great day.
The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present Gerry Belton's story part four. Originally posted on the 23rd January 2024: This year is the 60th anniversary of the First British International Drag Festival. The man responsible for organising the Drag Festivals was Gerry Belton.
Former Eurodragster.com editor Simon Groves had the opportunity to interview Gerry in April 2015 kindly arranged by Dave Riswick at John Woolfe Racing. You can see the interview at CLICK HERE.
In it, Gerry answers questions about his early background, working at Allards, his involvement with drag racing, organising the Mooneyes/Thompson demos in 1963 and the Drag Festivals in 1964 and 1965, the SEMA Trophy, British Drag Racing Magazine, the Drag Festival LP, the Dos Palmos dragster and life after Allards.
Gerry’s son Simon also adds to the story with some of his own words about his dad.
Thanks to Gary Gooding for sending this updated posted on Facebook at the weekend, Gary writes: Something that is incredibly important to us is keeping Jack’s memory alive, whilst raising money for St Elizabeth’s Hospice, who with their care and compassion throughout Jacks time as an inpatient right up to the end both for Jack and us his family as well as his friends was nothing short of amazing. We will forever be grateful to all staff.
We have been in talks with Kerryanne Frazier and Peter Walters to have this t-shirt designed, which as I’m sure those who know Jack will say depicts Jack and everything he loved.
Gary will be at the printers tomorrow to go over cost of each t-shirt and hoodies. But for now we are seeing how many would be interested in purchasing one.
Money will be going to St Elizabeth’s hospice and a junior fund to promote youngsters in motorsport.
They will come in a variety of sizes, toddler sizes should also be available.
For now if anyone is interested, please contact here. hope to have a price some time next week.
Please comment below with how many and sizes please.
8 weeks today a massive piece of our lives left us, forever missing you Jack, forever wanting to hold you and feel your warmth again.
Santa Pod Raceway have announced today on Facebook 2025 National event dates:
Springspeed Nationals - 29th-30th March 2025
Sportsman Nationals - 7th-8th June 2025
Summer Nationals - 5th-6th July 2025
Greenlight Nationals - 16th-17th August 2025
National FInals - 19th-21st September 2025
More events to be added soon, you can see the full calender for Santa Pod Raceway by clicking here:
Old School Stocker Kevin Melling has posted this report on their Facebook page yesterday, Kevin writes:
Another ‘war of attrition’, would be an apt summary of the OSS 2024 Championship final round, held at Santa Pod this weekend. We had six entered to this Straightliners organized event… Richard Peachey on his ever improving black GSX, son Adrian on his newly acquired ex Tyne Blight orange EFE, Claire Rule on her trusty EFE, now resplendent in its trick new red paintjob, Alan Ward on his black GSX ET, Pete McGuiness on his diminutive but rapid little green Kawasaki 500 H1 triple stroker, and myself on our usual Kawasaki H2 triple, wearing its latest red metalflake scheme. Originally, OSS regulars Rod and Chris Spry were entered, although unfortunately had to change plans, but as always we look forward to their participation again next year.
We all arrived on the Saturday, and some of us entered the RWYB for a little pre race testing and tweaking, as a few hadn’t thrown a leg over their bikes since Dragstalgia, three months earlier. Unfortunately however, we didn’t get our first runs down the strip until well past 3pm, as some unexpected morning showers plagued proceedings. Still most managed at least a couple of passes, sufficient to get back into the groove. So far six bikes all in fine fettle, or were they?.
Sunday morning arrived and the forecast was much improved, dry throughout the day, a lighter cross/head wind, and some decent cooler air. The morning session followed a RWYB format, with best times being used as qualifiers for the elimination ladder. By lunchtime the qualifying was as follows:
1. Kev Melling - 8.4750 at 147.22mph
2. Alan Ward – 9.9202 at 136.49mph
3. Richard Peachey - 10.4196 at 97.93mph
4. Claire Rule – 10.7955 at 118.88mph
5. Pete McGuiness – 11.3163 at 116.13mph
6 .Adrian Peachey – DNQ
Sadly, Adrian had just started his burnout, when a gearbox breather vent popped out, which obviously necessitated an immediate shut down. Being so close to lunchtime, there was insufficient time to remedy the issue and get another run in. Meanwhile Claire lined for her first pass of the weekend, launched hard as per usual, but immediately encountered some serious shifting issues, which resulted in her coasting to a very off form 10 second pass. Once back at the pits, Claire gave it her all to investigate and sort the gremlins, but after making every possible effort it became clear this was not going to be a trackside fix. Although I had managed our 8.4 pass reasonably early, and decided to park it thereafter, it wasn’t until prepping for the first round that we also encountered an issue with our motor. With insufficient time to sort it there and then, we were also scuppered. So that meant that half of the field now wasn’t even going to make the first round of eliminations!
With just three of the six still standing, this event result was going to be sorted quickly, and the ladder first saw Alan Ward pitted against Pete McGuiness. Pete bravely gave it his all in this David and Goliath match, but Alan cruised to a comfortable 9.7499 at 137.29mph (and a new PB for this steadily improving bike), against Pete’s very respectable and weekends best 11.0263 at 117.47mph run. This just left Richard Peachey to take a bye run, with a much more on form 8.9920 at 146.23mph. So the final was to be Alan against Richard in an all Suzuki 16V head to head. However, just to add to the mayhem of OSS mechanical woes, during his burnout Alan had an oil line sprout a leak, resulting in an immediate motor shutdown. A quick fix was definitely out of the question, and so Richard Peachey took the bye run, and easy win, but with a stout 8.8811 at 145.30mph pass.
And so there endeth another year of OSS shenanigans. Despite the war of attrition (66% broke!), everyone had a great time (albeit bloody cold!), and we all can’t wait for the 2025 season to come around. I will work out the final point standings and announce positions asap, but it’s clear my #1 plate will be coming off, to take up position elsewhere? Watch this space.
Congratulations to Claire Rule for taking back the #1 Plate in this years OSS Championship. Another very well deserved win for Claire, with a mix of outright performance, reliability, and top notch setup/riding expertise. To be fair, Claire only lost the #1 plate in 2023 due to her RTC, sidelining her for the whole year, and if not for that unfortunate incident, then she'd likely have won it last year as well!
Here's the final points standings for all 15 of this years participants. Thanks to all involved, well done everyone, and see you next year...
Happy Birthday for today to Top Fuel Bike racer Shawn Rodman and FWD VW racer Ant Mincher and former Junior Dragster and rumoured future Wild Bunch racer Harley Coulsell. We hope you all have a fantastic day.
Eurodragster.com team member Graham Watkinson was at Santa Pod Raceway for the final event for Straightliners. You can see his gallery of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Happy Belated Birthday to UK Tech Crew member and Top Methanol team member Tim Read, German Funny Bike racer Stefan Hagenstein, Malta FWD racer Marvic Galea and former Top Fuel racer Tommy Möller. We hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday.
Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer and sponsor Mike Lacey, Supercharged Outlaw racer Aaron Windridge, UK Nostalgia Superstock supporter Yvonne O'Rourke, from the US We Did It For Love http://www.wediditforlove.com/ webmaster Don Ewald and Malta Escort racer Steve Pace. hope you all had a great day all.
Thanks to Association Trophée Dragster official and Super Comp racer Clément Dubois for sending this 2024 report and the schedule for 2025 at Clastres Raceway, France:
We, the Association Trophée Dragster, are very happy how our 2024 season turned out, with three great rounds at Clastres Dragway, the only permanent ¼ mile dragway in France!
Even though the weather did not always cooperate, we consider ourselves lucky regarding how it has been this year in the rest of Europe, as we managed to complete eliminations every round. We are glad that the investments made over the winter allowed for the most track time possible, cleaning and drying the track as fast as any professional racetrack! We are delighted that there was no track-incident this year; we are working closely with the FFSA (Fédération Française du Sport Automobile) to always push for more safety for the racers.
Thank you to our amazing staff the “Yellow People” for their hard work, and thanks to our sponsors, partners and friends for supporting us!
We also want to congratulate our 2024 Championship winners:
- M TECH Junior Dragster — Marie Camilleri
- NITRO Street Run — Nicolas Chevassus
- Super Gas — Oscar Scapocin
- Super Comp — Clément Dubois
- SPEED FLEX Pro ET — Gerd Habermann
- DULAMON RACING Super Pro ET — Michael Mikuscheit
Well done to them all!
We will be happy to welcome racers and fans back in 2025 at Clastres Dragway:
- 17th-18th May
- 21st-22nd June
- 26th-27th July
For more information don’t forget to check out our website: https://association-trophee-dragster.com/ and our social media @association trophée dragster!
Thanks to Dale Leeks for sharing his story, which he posted few days ago on his Facebook page, Dale writes:
Well, I’m back home and what can I say. I’m on top of the world, 2 years ago I sent my bike over to Dan Wagner as he had the most horrendous fire wiping out his whole business. Losing nearly everything he lived for. Terry Schweigert lost his bike in that fire along with others and I was busy building my business and needed to take time out. I wanted to send the bike over there to help the man that had helped me so much in the past. Never did I think it would lead me on this journey.
The original plan was that Terry would ride the bike, but Terry wanted time out. Then Rob Garcia was going to ride the bike and that fell through. So, with 2 days’ notice Dan made me pack my leathers and head out to Maryland International Raceway and throw my leg over my bike for the first time in the USA.
I turned up to the track before Dan to be greeted by Joe Procopio who had just got back into racing after many years out and had accommodated me in his trailer and taken my bike with his to the race meeting.
Little did I know how important that man would become in my race career over there and a man who I would say is one of my best friends the most generous guy you could ever meet. Not only has he hauled my bike around the USA he has since brought a whole second set up and laid everything on for us to race. I seriously could not have done any of this without him he is the unsung hero for me and Dan.
The whole Procopio family of which there’s so many of them have taken us in as their own. Fed us, laughed with us cried with us they will forever be my racing family. I have made friends for life. They have made getting on that plane every time worth it. Having Ronald Procopio JR in my corner coaching me along the way has been invaluable the guy was my hero for so many years and to have him in my corner was surreal. They say don’t meet your hero’s well they are wrong on that one I couldn’t have done it with him.
Last season my rookie year we ended up 3rd in the championship I’m forever humble to roll down the shutdown area and park up with my hero’s I’ve followed for years. The whole pro extreme class have been great to me it’s like racing with a bunch of friends. But the fastest friends in the world.
This year we went out there with a different plan my rookie year was over it was time to race. Dan has pushed me to become undefeated throughout the first half of the season bagging a load of number 1 qualifiers and winning 2 meetings back-to-back. But the big milestone was to join the 3 second club I had skimmed so close for a while but finally my first 3 second pass was deep in the 3’s with a 3.930 at Virginia motorsports park. It was great to be joined by Terry Schweigert with me and him being the heavy hitters at the meeting. And Terry going on to take the win, my teammate John Collins was back in the 3’s it was the dream meeting for me.
To be number 1 qualifier on a list of names of heroes from. Over the years was emotional for me to read. I had the likes Of Paul Gast, Jeremy Teasley, Richard Gadson, Tommy Saxon, George Whitaker, John Collins, Terry Sweigart, Chris Cutsinger, Terry Wynn, Chris Theodoris, and Rob Garcia. And my name was at the top.
We went into the final round with a points lead and there was a mathematical chance for Rob Garcia to beat me, but I had to be disposed of first round. I went out Friday night and Dan had the tune up on point and we went number 1 qualifier for the weekend with a 3.95 pass Friday night no other bike came near me.
Saturday Q2 I lay down a slower lap which leaves my 3.95 the bar to beat Rob goes down swinging for the fence and runs a 3.96 to go into number 2 spot I even thought that was a bad mistake, but he was one step ahead and quite clever skipped the scales to disqualify me from that run. If he wasn’t going to bump me from number one he needed to be dead last to face me first round Sunday morning to be in with a chance to win the championship he was going to have to get rid of me himself.
So, it was all down to e1 where me and Rob faced off for the championship if I won it was done I was champion if Rob won he had to win the meeting which would have left me standing on the start line all day with my fate in other hands. I didn’t have to do that Right when it mattered I laid down the fastest pass of the weekend with a 3.93 to Robs 4.02 both of us hurting our motors in the process.
I went down through the shutdown area soaked from head to toe in oil to become the champion. Rob congratulated me on the top end and the wait was over for both of us it was done. I’m not ashamed to say I was in tears to become the champion. Dan had given me everything I needed to become a champion I just had to use it. He is simply the best tuner there is, and he never loses his composure he is world class he will forever be family to me.
So, I didn’t become champion we became champions everybody mentioned above but finally the man that is always standing by my side the man I drag around the earth to live out my dream. He turns the bike around between every round and he’s always standing there watching me go. My Dad I’m lucky to be able to do this with my dad and in many years to come I’m sure I will look back and smile on the adventures we have had together. Some people don’t get to do that, and I am grateful for his help and his confidence in me. Oh, I’ve frustrated him many times mashing trans on late night runs and having to swap motors through the night because of my bad riding. But he’s always there until the end thanks Dad.
I will never forget the help in motor swaps from the likes of Lowry Callahan, Chris Garner-Jones and Costello these guys where a given, but one man who would always turn up and helped when we needed it was Wes Hawkins. Well, there’s so many people to thank every single person in the XDA has made us so welcome and I’ve loved every second of it. Thank you for making it so great.
Kathie McGregor you’ve sorted everything in the background from shipping to admin to accommodation etc. we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you
Thank you everyone, from the support of Steve Nichols at Maxx ECU, Paul Gast at Fast by Gast. Everyone at Grothus Dragbikes, Ehren Litten for all the shop work, Walter Timblin, Warpspeed Racing for working with Dan to create this package and Jason Miller for giving us the stage to perform on it’s been magic.
That makes me the First European to win an XDA Championship and the 2nd European to win a World Dragbike Championship, 40 years later after Brian Johnson with the Fuel Bike the year I was born.
Thanks everyone what a retirement for me from bike racing, its emotional for me to write this but, that’s me done. What a position to finish in hey and I owe it all to Dan and the team.
Now let’s see what all the fuss is about with these 4-wheel machines.
Thanks to Kelly Marie Seager for putting up with me never being here and all the boys at Leeks Landscapes for holding the fort while I’m away.
Happy Birthday for today to AA/FA and landspeed crew member Scott Barnes, presumably-retired Top Methanol Dragster racer Timo Habermann and BMW doorslammer racer Harvey Bhogal, we hope you have a great day.
Happy Birthday for today to former Super Comp and Comp Eliminator racer George Chiarella, former Street Eliminator racer Ray Tucker and Maltese Dragster racer and Junior Dragster dad Roderick Fenech, we hope you had a great day.
Santa Pod Raceway announces major 2025 Dates "Save to Date" with more events to be added.
- The Fast Show - 6th April
- Festival of Power - 18th-20th April
- Doorslammers - 16th-18th May
- VW Breakout - 16th-18th May
- FIA/FIM-E Main Event - 23rd-26th May
- Dragstalgia - 27th-29th June
- Bug Jam - 25th-27th July
- USC - 1st-3rd August
- VW Action - 29th-31st August
- FIA/FIM-E Euro Finals - 4th-7th September
You can view the racing calender at www.santapod.co.uk.
Thanks to Liam Kimberley from Santa Pod Raceway for sending this announcement, Liam writes:
We would like to start building a business directory of companies owned or managed by people within the sport of Drag Racing. The idea is that the information will be publicly available to everybody within the sport to access and use. We know that there are a huge variety of businesses and business types associated with people from within the sport. We are already know that we have everything from Chassis Shops and engine builders to landscape gardeners, web designers, plumbers and everything in between.
Historically, where possible, everybody within the sport of drag racing supports each other and this is another opportunity to create connections and support your businesses. If somebody is looking for services you offer, this directory will give them the means to contact you. It is going to take time to gather and collate the information but the sooner we start the soon we can all benefit from it.
Please see below a link to a questionnaire which has been created on google forms to gather the information. You can access this form by clicking here.
Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Straightliners Championship round 8 at Melbourne Raceway last weekend.
Complete lists of ETs and speeds recorded on Saturday and Sunday, including RWYB bikes, are available by clicking on this link. Thanks to Martyn Greathead for supplying Straightliners Championship results and points, which are available by clicking here.
Without doubt this was the best weekend of racing at MELBOURNE RACEWAY to date. Large crowds both days witnessed some epic runs and not forgetting the jet cars of Julian Webb and Lee Dennick providing the flame and thunder show prior to the magnificent fireworks display from the FORCE OF NATURE’S rocket man Graham Sykes, who’d put down a brilliant run earlier in the day, and Shaun “dangerous ” Walker. There then followed Blood Sweat and Beers band in the club house plus the celebration of MR STRAIGHTLINERS, Trevor Duckworth’s 80th birthday.
The commentator had his work cut out over the weekend updating his 5 sec list with a whole string of new members plus some new 5sec personal bests added into the mix.
David Swift on his first visit to Melbourne with the AMX ran a 5.42sec straight off the trailer later dropping that to a 5.11sec.
Street Weekend winner, Rob Carter, in the Passat ran a couple of 5s with a 5.88sec best, having one scary lane crossing moment. Luckily the driver in the other lane, who’d left first, saw the incident unfold and thankfully got on the brakes to avert a coming together.
Bob Molden, Mr Consistent, in the White Noise Peugeot, ran a 5.88sec and backed that up with a 5.95sec. Bob usually dials in 6.00sec dead in Pro ET so his 5.88sec was a big breakout but no doubt him and the team were suitable elated.
Jamie Brookes was another running his first 5 on his turbo GSX1400 running a 5.98sec.
Another to get his first 5sec was Allen McSweeney in the wayward Volvo who’d run a couple of 6.00sec deads eventually got a 5.99sec.
Mark Todd improved to a 5.20sec in the Aston Martin.
There were 9 Junior Dragsters along for the weekend plus 3 of our Junior Sprint cars joining in. They put on a great show with our own Jude Elliott making it through to the final against the quickest of the Junior Dragsters, Harley Coulsell just pipping Jude to the line, Harley just 0.04sec outside his dial in and Jude just 0.03sec.
Straightliners No Mercy
We had a new name progressing through to the final demolishing some tough opposition on the way. That man was Nic Deighton who lined up against Ashley Hodgson. Nic got a perfect start only just crossing the line in front of Ash. So nice to see a new name taking the trophy.
6 Second
Chris Hodgson beat Peter Slater, Peter being a little too cautious knowing how easy his bike runs 5’s and Chris getting the jump on the green.
Scooters No Mercy
It was good to see Stuart Donald along on his stock TV 175 Lambretta and making it through to the final against Amy Wolstenholme. With a 2.83sec handicap Amy knew she’d have her work cut out, Stuart has done a lot of winning over the years, but she was too keen and got a red light which was lucky for Stuart who went under his dial in!!!
Juniors
In the eliminations there were a few breakouts along the way so it was that for the 3rd time Maisie Thornton lined up in the final against William Mountford. Maisie cut a good green with William having a stumble away from the line so Maisie was across the stripe for her 3rd Junior win.
Junior Sprint Car
Jake Little got a bye in the semi’s making it his first final lining up against Toby Jackson, the ever improving Jake taking the win.
NSCC SATURDAY
There was a 16 car field for NSCC though Ian Walley was too busy to attend, a few breathed a sigh of relief!! It was good to see Jamie Hughes back but star of the show was Grace Sleath who in only her 2nd meeting made it through to the final against evergreen James Murray. Grace cut a perfect light and was quicker to the 60ft but James hauled past just before the line to take another win.
NSCC SUNDAY
As Nick Gunby had already wrapped up the championship as promised he let daughter Anna run the Mustang so she joined Grace in the line up though both were out in the quarters. Craig Brown once again did a giant killing act in the little Civic all the way to the semi’s beaten by James Murray who lined up against Derek Beck in the final. Derek made his usual lightening start to hold off James who just edged over the stripe by a whisker to do the double. He later said he was convinced Derek would get the win it was that close.
Thanks to Former Eurodragster.com editor Andy (Tog) Rogers. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Thanks to Markus Münch from Drag Racing Union for sending in this report from Challenge Showdown in Zerbst at the weekend. Markus reports:
Zerbst, a showdown with highs and lows. The first race on Thursday and Friday was heavily influenced by the wet weather. There was only one qualifying round, first it rained on Thursday after a few classes, then on Friday morning a motorcyclist spilled oil on the track. Qualifying ended, on to the elimination rounds. It started around midday. Pro ET was able to complete two laps, Supro ET not a single one. Frustration.
Saturday morning the second race continued. Hardly anyone thought it was possible, but it happened. No rain, no oil, four qualifying rounds for each class. The organization delivered. Then we printed out flowcharts in the evening and on Sunday we went into the elimination part two. Everything was completed, up to the final rounds. Yes, some classes had already completed the finals when a major engine failure ended the event, 300 Meters oil on the left lane. No chance to remove it. Pro ET and Supro ET had gathered for the final, but then had to be pushed back after two hours. The left track simply could not be put in a safe condition. In Pro ET, Challenge champion Ronnie Mercer and the guarantee of good races, Martin Weikum, were in the final. Katja Krull in the grey Beetle was in the small final for third place with Til Schöninger in the Honda (last time with a small block). Thomas Bublitz in the orange Nova was already out in qualifying for race two. Technical defect. But he had picked up so many points in race one that he overtook Janine Petzold (then second place), as did Niek de Kruif in the orange Firebird. He ultimately secured third place ahead of Janine Petzold, who unfortunately had to say goodbye to race two a little early with a red light. So only the much-travelled Ronnie Mercer from northern England is the first English DRU champion, followed by the man from north Germany, Thomas Bublitz. Third place went to Niek de Kruif from the Netherlands in the (for sale) Firebird. Behind him were Janine Petzold and Til Schöninger.
In Supro ET, first 9, then 10 participants were registered for the races. In the first race there was only qualifying, then rainout. In the second race there were 10 participants, male and female. In the race there were only 8. Then the decisive run was in the semi-final. Römer against Gassner. Robert Gassner in the yellow Camaro could even have overtaken Angel Romero and would then have become champion. In a very close run he lost by a -0.028 seconds Breakout. This meant that Frank Römer from Witten/Germany pushed past him into second place in the overall ranking. Romero ahead of Römer and Gassner, those are the first three. Behind them were Alain Dürr and Alex Halter. As I said, after that came the oil, and the rollercoaster ride of rain, oil, rain, oil came to an inglorious end. But that doesn't detract from the idea, the effort and the overall work of the weekend that the 1st AMC Dessau offered us. 180 plus participants in a variety of classes proved the idea right. It will probably take a while before an event like this is repeated.
Thanks to all challenge participants and sponsors. We'll meet on Saturday, October 19, 2024 in Bad Kissingen at the Knight Riders for the championship celebration. We're looking forward to it. Register now, we're looking forward to seeing you.
Ous sponsors fort he 2005 Challenges are: Camion Ferry, Diener AG, Hoosier-Rennreifen, Dragmag, Pats Postkarten, Schwefel Garage, Schöninger Glas, Ehrismann Garage, Stefan Eisenhauer KFZ-Service & Racing, Schumann International Spedition, SaCo Tec Pulverbesichtigung, Nold Kunstoff-Technik, Bonnie Blue Racing, Quick Performance, Zollshop, Lex-Power, Smeagol Racing, VINTECH Performance Autobedrijf den Das und Vos, Race Point, CUBERAS, Färber & Steiger, Knight Riders MC, Centauros Drag Team, JK Fahrzeugtechnik, Rechsteiner Bauspenglerei.
Happy Birthday to Sue Hunter, we won't be forgetting the much-missed Neil, and we hope your day is full of happy memories.
Kieran (MK1Kieran) Jenkins has release this video from the final Yam Yam Racing Drag Club test day which took place on Monday 7th October, with a handful of big power GTRs from the JM-Imports clan putting ona show. you can view this video by clicking here.
Happy Birthday to Top Fuel Dragster Susanne Callin, hope you have a great day Susanne. David Vegter team member and Santa Pod marshal Holley Marshall, Street Eliminator racer Al Williamson, Wild Bunch and future Super Pro racer Allan Schofield, Pro ET racers Sean Law and Roy Walker, and Malta doorslammer racers Mario Muscat and Joe Galea. We hope you all have a great day.
Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Ian Marshall has announced it's that time of year again, Santa Pod Raceway are looking for any used Drag slicks out there that Racers may want to get rid of, we are happy to pop and collect them, all you need to do is email by CLICKING HERE with what you have and some contact details, we will take care of the rest once we have a suitable number, a date will be set and we will come and collect them from you.
Please note we can only use Drag Race Slicks, as street type don’t work with our equipment, as ever thank you in advance, they all go to a good home on the back of our sled for track prep use.
The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present the secord part in our Pioneers of UK drag racing series, told in the original words of the racers, and accompanied by photos and images from their collections, covers the period 1964 to 1967 for Surrey dragster racer Derek Metcalf.
The story covers the 1964 Drag Fest event at Blackbushe on 4th October, when Derek's Wombat dragster made its debut, and goes to the car's final year of competition in 1967. You can see the second part of Derek's story by going to this link, or via the new index page for the pioneers' stories, which shows links to the UK drag racing history web sites that provide the wider story and context for the story of the sport.
Eurodragster.com thanks racers for providing their stories, and John Hunt and drag racing historian Nick Pettitt for help with editing and proof reading the feature and making archive images available.
The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present Chris Pattison story part one. Originally posted on the 6th January 2023: 
The latest in our third series of Pioneer Stories is of UK drag racing pioneer and enthusiast Chris Pattison.
Brought up in a RAF family, Chris Pattison lived in Hornchurch and was introduced to motor racing by his father who, after retiring from the RAF, ran a country garage. Chris attended the 1964 International Drag Festival at Blackbushe. A major event for him was winning an Allard Dragon dragster in a competition in the British Drag Racing magazine. The car was initially driven by its designer John Hume and Allard works driver Rob Mackie, however Chris first had the opportunity to drive it in Spring 1966. In the first year of Santa Pod, Chris shared the driving with his father, gaining 13 awards from 11 meetings. His entrance to college resulted in the Allard Dragon being exchanged for Alan Ing's roadgoing Turner Climax.
Part one is at this link. You can see our list of pioneer stories at this link or by clicking on the link under News in the main menu.
Eurodragster.com would like to thank John Hunt, Nick Pettitt and Mick Gleadow for recording, transcribing, editing and providing illustrations for our stories.
Former Eurodragster.com editor Andy (Tog) Rogers is at Melbourne Raceway for this weekend's Straightliners Round 8. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from day 2 of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Melbourne Saturday off- and on-track galleries and best times (courtesy Martyn Greathead) now showing on Eurodragster.com.
Happy Birthday for today to Top Methanol Funny Car racer Urs Embacher and former Super Street Bike racer Dave Holland. We hope you both have a great day.
We are sad to report Dave “Fuzzie” McKenzie, long serving Chair of the Supercharged Outlaws passed away on Saturday 5th October. Thanks to Andy Fadster for sending in this news to Eurodragster.com, Andy says:
The group have known Dave to be poorly for quite some time but nevertheless, the loss is a shock. As a founding member and such a huge supporter of S/O, Dave went out of his way to introduce people to the group and encourage them to join.
He was a key member of Team Thing, later to become Team Tiki, and piloted the car on several occasions.
His stoic manner was a thin veil over the gentle and caring man he was and he was adored by anyone who knew him. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to his son Will McKenzie and the whole of the McKenzie family.
Rest peacefully Dave, your legacy speaks for itself and you will be very much missed.
We here are eurodragster.com are sadden and send our condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.
Former Eurodragster.com editor Andy (Tog) Rogers is at Melbourne Raceway for this weekend's Straightliners Round 8. You can see his galleries of on-track and off-track pictures from day 1 of the event, plus results by going to our event coverage page at this link supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Melbourne Saturday off- and on-track galleries and best times (courtesy Martyn Greathead) now showing on Eurodragster.com.
The British Drag Racing Historians John Hunt and Nick Pettit explains how they got to do the exhibition at National Motor Musuem, Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival. John writes:
It all started the afternoon before the Surrey Pioneers Reunion at Blackbushe Airport, 28th July 2021. The BDRH had their first get together and what came out of our chat was the question 'what would happen to our collections after we pass away?’. Five or six members in the group have substantial amounts of memorabilia from the start of Drag Racing in England and from Sprinting before that. The National Motor Museum Trust at Beaulieu was suggested as a place that might be interested in receiving these collections.
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I knew Doug Hill, Museum Manager, and got in touch with him which led to my pre-visit with Simon Groves, meeting Doug and Patrick Collins, Curator of Vehicles & Research, together in September 2021 to discuss the possibilities of the Museum being bequeathed any or all of the collections for their archives. We both had a tour of their Collections Centre archive building which was very interesting and we discovered the museum had very little if any material covering the sport of Drag Racing.
This led to the BDRH group being invited to the Museum November 29th 2022 of which seven members attended and all were given a Collections Centre tour and afterwards discussed their individual collections with three Curators. Each Curator introduced themselves, talked about their roles and the Collections they cared for. The BDRH material could be bequeathed to their archives giving a one-off comprehensive collection to represent the Motor Sport of Drag Racing in England and Europe.
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Andrea Bishop, Director of Collections and Engagement, asked if there was an important event coming up in Drag Racing to celebrate. I very quickly said yes and passed her a folder and said the '60th Anniversary of the first British Drag Racing Festival' September 19th 2024. Andrea also said if the Exhibition can happen it would be a great platform to showcase the sport and also illustrate the excellence of the BDRH holdings, in support of the case for a comprehensive one-off collection to represent Drag Racing. We were then introduced to Carina Taylor, Curator of Library Collections, who closely worked with us in collating suitable and engaging content material for the exhibition.
After an exhaustive and frustrating process for Nick Pettitt and I supplying endless amounts of information and a large selection of photographs and original items available for display, there followed much toing and froing of emails and phone calls as the items and information were whittled down to a usable quantity with a large amount not being used. This is a necessary editing process when making a museum exhibition. The result is an exhibition called 'Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival' and is now open at the National Motor Museum’s In Focus temporary exhibition gallery.
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I believe I speak for all of the BDRH members in saying we are all very proud and grateful for this opportunity to have the 60th Anniversary of the 1964 Drag Festival celebrated at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu running for over five months. The Drag Festival was such an important occasion at the time for the growth of British Drag Racing. What this Exhibition means to the BDRH, is that it will be seen by many thousands of visitors and give them an understanding of how the Motor Sport of Drag Racing started in England and then in Europe.
Nick's video includes a quick look at the exhibition, then he films Dave Riswick talking to Derek Metcalf and the opening speeches, firing up the Allard Chrysler dragster, Chris Pattison taking a seat in the Allard Chrysler, Alan Allard talking to Rob Mackie and then Nick climbs into the Allard Chrysler dragster. You can view Nick's video by clicking here.
(Pictures are credited to National Motor Museum)
Thanks to Andrea Bishop, Director of Collections and Engagement at National Motor Musuem for letting BDRH and Eurodragster.com to publish this report: Andrea reports: Thursday 26th September 2024 was the Private viewing of The Exhibition called 'Burnout! 60th Anniversary of British International Drag Racing Festival'. It has opened at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu in the 'In Focus' temporary exhibition gallery situated in the museum's main building, and includes a wall display of photos and original material, cabinets with original items and TV screen constantly showing original footage from the festival. The Exhibition continues for over five months ending February 2nd 2025.
The event was attended by members of the British Drag Racing Historians who contributed much information for the exhibition and a host of different people from within Drag Racing. Alan Allard, (son of Sydney), Alan's wife and two son's Gavin and Lloyd. Alan drove the Allard Chrysler dragster and the Works Allard Dragon dragster at all six rounds of the 1964 Drag Festival. The Allard Chrysler is permanently on display at the museum and we were treated to the firing up of the dragster just outside the main museum building within view of the Exhibition.
Other invited guests included Derek and Pam Metcalf who built their own dragster 'Wombat' and raced it at the final round of the festival at Blackbushe. Ian Bartlett son of Peter and Erica. Peter won an award at the festival which is on display. Chris Pattison who won the Works Allard Dragon in a magazine competition and raced it in 1966, Bob Mackie and his son, Bob drove the Works Allard Dragon at the 1965 Drag Festival. Dave Riswick from John Woolfe Racing who supplied photos from his archives, Lesley and John Wright who represented the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame and Darren Prentice, Max Frost and Cullum Pudge from Santa Pod Raceway.
Anger Management Pro Modified team published this recap of the National Fianls on their Facebook page earlier this week:
National Finals 2024 Recap: A tough test from the weather...
After our final round finish at the Euro Finals, spirits were high leading up to the National Finals. Despite only 2 weeks between events, our usual schedule of maintenance was followed, this means blower, intake, cylinder heads removed, pistons and rods removed for measuring, transmission out, clutch out for flywheel and pressure plate resurfacing, gear ratios changed (more on that later), the list goes on. We were glad to see that we had no signs of detonation when measuring the rod bearings after the 4 runs we made on the Sunday, so our tuneup was relatively safe.
Leading up to the event we saw the barometric pressure was up over 30, this is extremely high for our UK racing season, to give you some context, in relation to the English system of measurement, one atmosphere (atm) equals 29.9213 inches of mercury (inHg), or 14.6959 psi. A swing of 1 inHg of mercury therefore is around 0.5 psi, combined with a lower ambient temperature can mean around 1 psi extra boost, doesn’t sound like much but we are only working with 37-38 psi overall. The reason for all this claptrap is we were gearing up for some potentially record setting weather.
Q1 we went with our usual (tall) 1st gear ratio, which in theory is the ideal setup for the prevailing conditions. The barometer had dropped quite significantly by Friday however, and with a constant threat of rain the humidity % was fairly high. We still expected a low 5.90 or even a very high 5.80. We were quite disappointed when a 5.96 showed on the boards, when you see us on the startline looking disappointed and kicking rocks it’s not always because the performance was bad, more so there is a feeling of missed opportunity.
The track conditions were absolutely stellar and we had clearly underestimated the grip levels available, that much was obvious once we saw the low wheelspeed numbers and high clutch slippage from the on board datalogger. We use laser ride height sensors on the front of the chassis, rear (next to the 4 link) and on the axle, we also use 4 travel sensors on each corner of the car. We could see the car porpoising on launch on the slow motion video, our data showed this wasn’t a function of suspension movement, it was all rear tyre compression, then rebound, compression and rebound. A sure sign of not enough wheelspeed, for a smooth launch we need to spin the tyres a certain amount to get them nice and round, otherwise we risk suffering tyre shake.
To combat this we installed a shorter 1st gear ratio, just like we did at the Euro Finals. A side note from Q1, we had increased our port nozzle sizes significantly to change the balance between fuel going through the blower and injector hat and the ports themselves in an effort to give us a bigger window on the tuneup (smaller nozzle sizes mean a small step in size is a larger % change in fuel flow when compared to larger nozzles, as the nozzles are measured in orifice size). Usual conduct would be to do a short run but with the constant threat of the weather we didn’t have that luxury, so some calculations were made and the tuneup was deemed to be ‘safe’ for a ¼ mile pull.
With that being said, some small cylinder to cylinder changes were made to even up the cylinders based on spark plug readings and to a lesser extent EGT values. We also made a minor change to the timing curve, and headed to the pairing lanes.
Unfortunately when we got there the motor would not fire. Thank you to the Wallace Motorsports team for waiting for us, they are true sportsmen, however no matter what we tried it was no bueno. We could see the problem lied within the circuit for the emergency shut off device, this piece of equipment has the ability to kill ignition, throw the parachutes and shut off the fuel depending on it’s input parameters. Perhaps we will go into more detail in another post. Either way, the system is a welcome lifeline when things go wrong. Sometimes it will cause you a problem, although 99% of the time it’s a user error rather than an inherent problem with the system. In our case once we got back to the pits, with the use of a torch we could see that the ‘burst plug’ that sits in front of the burst panel of the inlet manifold had come loose, which is an instant ignition cut. We use a burst panel ‘chinmey’ to direct the pressure out of the bodywork so it is not possible to access this plug without disassembly of the chimney. On the bright side it was a quick fix so we had a nice evening meal and an early night.
On Saturday morning a riders and drivers meeting was held, the SPRC, aware of the weather front that was due to hit us on Sunday elected to hold eliminations on the Saturday instead. This was absolutely the right decision, championships were yet to be decided and packing away in the rain sucks. E1 we kept the same tuneup in the car, running against an ever improving Mick Payne in the Plymouth Duster. Mick unfortunately left before the tree was activated, Andy streaked on to the win, but again only a 5.96. We had again underestimated the track, the grip levels causing a huge amount of clutch slippage. Despite no increase in performance we at least knew the short 1st gear worked okay, we had a bye run in the 2nd round so it was time to swing some counterweight at the clutch.
Sadly Mother Nature had other plans, a biblical storm ensued, haildrops the size of marbles fell from the sky and some parts of the pits were subject to flash flooding. This went on for nearly an hour, at that point we figured we were done for the day. However the Santa Pod team did not give up, in a monumental effort they cleared the standing water, dried the entire track and shutdown area, prepped the track and started running again! This kind of dedication is the norm at Santa Pod however we must not underestimate the amount of hard work the team there put in, they are true heroes of the sport and without each and every one of them we would not be able to compete at the level that we do safely or otherwise.
Well done guys! We were due to be called but we could see we were very close to dew point, this is not always an issue if the track has some heat in it, but unfortunately the temperature dropped and it was no longer viable to run cars down the track as the dew was coming in very fast. Again, thank you to the Santa Pod team for their hard work, and also for knowing exactly when to call it a day. These decisions are not easily made.
Sunday was a complete washout sadly, so with that was the conclusion to the 2024 season. We amassed enough points to win the MSUK Drag Racing Championship for the 9th time which we are ecstatic about! We also were greeted with the news that Wayne Nicholson and the Lucky Devil Drag Racing team are retiring from competition. A great shame, we will miss them at the track, not many teams have the tenacity those guys have, they proved themselves to be top
Thank you to Diana Macrae, Julian Hunt and Katie Higgs of the Eurodragster.com team for these pictures.
NGK Spark Plugs (UK), Torco USA, Mike Janis Racing, Starracerbelts.com, Noonan Race Engineering, PAC Racing Springs, EZ Motorsports, Precision Racing Suspension, Carbon Collective, Vivid Vinyl
Happy Birthday for today to turbocharged Rat Rod exponent Graham Butler. Have a great day Graham.
Thanks to Nigel Taylor for sending this to Eurodragster.com, Nigel would like to wish Kenzie Taylor a very Happy 20th Birthday. Nigel writes:
Kenzie has been bought up around drag racing and hot rods ever since being born and it staid in his blood , at the age of 16n and he obtained an MSA License and was driving his dads 100e up the famous Santa Pod Drag strip. As soon as he was 17, he purchased his rare 1959 Hillman Minx Wagon (that he wanted from the age of 13) and 3 months later he passed his test and the Hillman went absolutely everywhere.
You may of seen Kenzie at the track taking photos with good friend Callum Pudge (when these 2 are together beware of the banta and mis-behavior )
Kenzie has been lucky to do photos trackside For the NSRA, Feature & Drive.
Colin woods amazing Husky, as well as the Nostalgia Super Stock class, Willys Wars, Goodales private track days and the recent Street Weekend for Drag Seen Magazine along with thousands of more great photos.
Kenzie works at the excellent Old bones Fabrications workshops in Andover, Hampshire where the work quality speaks for itself (check out the recent Best in Britain competition 56 Chevy build).
The camera hobby hasn’t had so much of a look in this year due to crewing on his friend Dougie Hills 6 second slingshot dragster which has meant even more time at the track , so much that after wrecking so many tents has now treated himself to a Bedford Bambi Camper (luxury -compared to a tent).
This year has been a massive learning curve on the dragster & Kenzie hopes to spend more time getting to know more over the next year as well as an already planned trip to America. A diff repair on the Hillman teaching his girlfriend Erin how to drive the 100e and he hopes to drive the 600bhp MK2 Cortina for Julie Simmonds as she starts to learn the ropes of drag racing.
Thank you for all your enthusiasm, encouragement and support not only for myself and Unusual Car Sales U.K. and for every single drag racer, hot rodder etc. you have spoke too .
The fourth round of Santa Pod Raceway’s Sports Compact Shootouts for 2024 took place last Sunday 29th September. Congratulations to Lewis Simpson for winning the hard fought event.
The win came on a frenetic day with three rounds of qualifying taking place in the morning and then four rounds of racing in the afternoon.
Results, thanks to etslips.co.uk, were as follows:
Qualifying:
- Dave Henderson (Audi RS3 saloon) 8.9499/154.16
- Lewis Simpson (Civic EG 2000cc) 9.5738/159.68
- Dannie Highman (Golf 2000cc) 9.8592/118.27
- Ian Pepper (Nova 2000cc) 10.0170/148.12
- Ant Mincher (Mk1 Golf 2000cc) 10.0684/137.75
- Paul Jordan (Polo 1800cc) 10.1648/138.26
- Grant Moore (Corsa 2000cc) 10.3383/136.04
- Brian Askew (Corsa 2000cc) 10.5447/147.60
- Simon Fogg (Corsa 2300cc) 10.6960/133.62
- George Baker (Civic 2400cc) 10.7390/129.14
- Andrew Crank (Corsa 2300cc) 10.8172/137.38
- Darren Dewhurst (Corsa 2000cc) 10.9813/136.57
- Billy Bamber (Nissan Micra 1800cc) 11.2018/123.07
- Scott Linacre (Chevette 1809cc) 13.2148/81.38
- Peter Cole (Renault 5 2000cc) 16.6521/88.73
- Alan Kenyon (Focus 2000cc) 17.2146/73.21
Eliminations
Round 1
- Andrew Crank 11.5054 /137.37 def. Paul Jordan 13.1433/103.37
- Brian Askew 10.9525/112.1 def. Simon Fogg 10.5345/135.32
- Ian Pepper 10.5238/144.31def. Billy Bamber 11.2446/119.63
- Alan Kenyon 11.2952/129.91 def. Dave Henderson, broke
- Dannie Highman 10.8034/118.37 def. Scott Linacre , broke
- Ant Mincher 10.410/137.70 def. Darren Dewhurst, broke
- Lewis Simpson 11.8109/120.15 def. Peter Cole 14.7877/94.25
- Grant Moore 10.4149 137.41 def. George Baker 10.7147/137.28
Round 2
- Ian Pepper 9.9163/145.31 def. Ant Mincher 9.8427/141.58
- Alan Kenyon 15.474/107.31 def. Brian Askew broke
- Andrew Crank 10.0431/142.11 def. Dannie Highman broke
- Lewis Simpson 9.8118/151.57 def. Grant Moore 10.4048/138.21
Semi Finals
Ian Pepper 10.5259/126.66 def. Alan Kenyon 11.1428/130.16
Lewis Simpson 9.7309/153.64 def. Andrew Crank 10.1794/134.9
Final
Lewis Simpson 9.274/157.99 def. Ian Pepper 9.7413/148.09
Well done to Alan Kenyon on a new PB in the semi finals and winner Lewis Simpson’s new PB of [email protected]
You can see footage of the Sports Compact Shootout at das GTI Show on the Mk1 Youtube channel at this link or click on the image at the top of the article.
The final Sports Compact Shootout of the year takes place at the JapShow Finale at Santa Pod Raceway this Sunday 6th October with action starting from 9:30am. A 16 car ladder will be contested once again. Other attractions of the event including Show & Shine Competition, Japanese Run What Ya Brung public track time open to cars & bikes, Drift Rides, Club Stands, Stunt Shows, Jet Dragster, Trade area and more. A limited quantity of JapShow Finale day tickets are available by clicking here.
Thanks to Remco Scheelings from Drag Racing Europe for this news update about David Vegter:
David Vegter finished the 2024 season with a more than excellent second position in the FIA European Pro Modified Championship. With around twenty participants per race, participants from ten different countries and 36 drivers who scored points this year, Pro Modified is the most competitive and most international class of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. But still, there were mixed feelings for Vegter and his team Vegter Pro Mod Racing. In almost all races, the Dutchman was the quickest driver on the track, led the championship for a long time, but missed the title by a minimal margin because bad luck struck at the most decisive moment of the season.
You can read the full article by visiting this link.
Happy Birthday for today to Straightliners boss Trevor Duckworth, 9.50 Bike FB group administrator Debbie Sawatzki, photographer Kenzie Taylor, Dutch Pro ET racer Hans van der Spek and NHRA Top Fuel great and B.R.A.K.E.S. Teen Pro-Active Driving School owner Doug Herbert. We hope you all are having a great day
Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Kieran Turner, expat racer and carburetor guru Tony Morris, Nostalgia Superstock racer Jason Dodd, and German Super Pro ET racer Oliver Petzold. We hope you all have a great day.
Robin Jackson updates eurodragster.com with this news: The August/September issue of Race Engine Technology magazine (issue 154) contains no fewer than 25 pages devoted to drag racing.
There is a detailed 15-page analysis of the engines used in Kalitta Motorsports' Top Fuelers and Funny Car ("9850 ft.lb. of torque... 12,800bhp" -- Alan Johnson, crew chief) and another 10 pages on the Texan racer Mark Griffin and the compressed air system he uses to supercharge his Top Sportsman Camaro.
Race Engine Technology can sometimes be found on newsagents' shelves. If not, it can be obtained from the publisher by contacting [email protected]
We are sad to hear and report that Liam Churchill, passed away on 30th September 2024.
All of his family, friends, neighbours and colleagues will find it hard to believe that such a huge hearted, extra-ordinary human being is no longer here.
Liam's family will post on Facebook soon regarding the funeral arrangements, but if you would like to contact them please send a message by clicking here or via Liam's Facebook page here.
We here are eurodragster.com are sadden and send our condolences to Liam’s daughters - Sarah, Vee, Carly and Laura at this very sad time.
The British Drag Racing Historians are proud to present part three of the 1964 Drag Festival Reports:
This is the last part in a series of three race reports from the ‘1st British International Drag Festival’ which happened 60 years ago today. This part covers the third weekend which happened on the 3rd and 4th October 1964 visiting RAF Kemble on the Saturday and back to Blackbushe Airport on the Sunday.
The Drag Festival was probably the most reported event in drag racing history such was the importance of this historic venture, bringing the American sport to the UK and beyond. Reports appeared in countless magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Story produced by Nick Pettitt and published by editor of Eurodragster.com Chris Winn.
You can view this story by clicking here.
Andrew Willcox has posted on his Facebook page today with a quick update on his mum's (Julie Willcox) funeral, Andrew writes: For anyone who is unable to attend the service in person and would like to feel present, here is the link and login details for the livestream.
Streaming details for the service of Julie Willcox at 12:00 noon on Wednesday 9th October, at South Oxfordshire - Chapel, run by Edward Carter Funeral Directors are as below.
Watching Live & On Demand - https://watch.obitus.com
Username - dixi3803
Password - 875248
Family flowers only please, mum would rather you made a donation to one of the animal charities she supported (details will be on the service card) If people would like to raise a quick glass to mum after the service please feel free to join us at the Boundry House pub in Abingdon.
Stuart Doignie posted on his Facebook page a few days agao with this update on him competing at Bakersfield, Stuart writes: Really happy to be confirmed 2024 Super Gas Champions! It’s been a tough year on and off the track with the house fire and having to miss a round of racing but we did it recording just one round loss to Andy Dibley. Congrats to Collin Morrice and Stuart Morrice on second place and also Dave Fulton a very close third.
It was a big season for us as it now takes to the top of all time wins and championships in the class.
We start our next adventure where we fly out to the USA and compete in my new NHRA Stock Eliminator car. We are racing at the divisional event double header in Bakersfield California. This is a dream come true and special thanks to our good friend Mark Kirby for making it happen and sharing his valuable knowledge on the car and class. Can’t wait to meet you in person!
As always special thanks to my crew Dad, Tim, Dave and Tom as well as my understanding and supportive wife Jody Doignie. I couldn’t do it without you. I have attached some pictures of the new ride as well as a few of this seasons roadster
Blame goes to the Williams Bros. Racing crew for convincing me this is the way forward.
(Pictures taken from Stuarts Facebook post)
Happy Birthday today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member and drag bike pioneer Alf Hagon 93 years young, 8.50 Bike racer Andy Haley and Super Pro ET racer Saskia Jell. We hope you all have a wonderful day.
Straightliners hosts its 2024 Championship Round 8 this weeked 5th-6th October at Melbourne Raceway.
Melbourne Raceway's E.T bracket classes this year will be racing, Sportsman ET (up to 7.90), (Pro ET (6.90-7.89) and Pro Extreme (5.90-6.89) with dial-ins used on the Sportsman tree. There's also the NSCC final round will take place. And for quicker cars that want to run a heads up pro tree, we have Pro Comp running a Cannonball style format with the two quickest running a shootout in the final.
Julian Webb with the Spiderman and Split Second Jet Dragsters and Lee Dennick with the Reign of Fire Jet Funny Car will both be there. Graham Sykes with The Force of Nature Rocket Bike too! Don’t forget the end of season fireworks display!
To celebrate Trevor’s 80th birthday we will be having his late son Andy Duckworth’s old band, Blood Sweat and Beers playing in the clubhouse to close the evening off.
If racers don't have a Motorsport UK or ACU licence for bike racers, a Nora licence is needed but can be purchased easily and cheaply at this link.
For more details on the car rules, click on this link. The No Mercy Bike series offers bracket racing opportunities to bikers, jnr bikes, scooters, Ultimate Street bikes for modified bikes, stock and 2 strokes, racing legends for the over 70s among others. For more details on the bike rules, click on this link..
Specatator entry, available on the gate, is £15 a day, or £27 per weekend with camping available free from 17:00 on Friday 12th July. Bar and catering facilities are open with Statis Quo are playing Saturday night.
Run what ya brung is now exclusively pay on the gate, so no pre booking is required for RWYB. Racer and spectator tickets can be purchased at straightliners.events.
Class racers should be quick to secure their place in the weekend's activities.
Eurodragster.com will be covering pictures by photographer and former editor Andy (Tog) Rogers. which you will be able to see via our coverage page supported by John Woolfe Racing.
Happy Birthday for today to Street Eliminator racer Mark Sheridan, former Nitro FM DJ Nigel Fitzmaurice, Billy Gane team member Jak Hylton, and former Junior Dragster racer Joe Holland-Villa. We hope you all had a great day.
Happy Birthday to Wild Bunch racer Dan Wilson, have a great day Dan!
