1982 Cannonball at Santa Pod Raceway
Photos © original photographer, and reports © Annie Lee and Santa Pod Raceway
The 1982 Cannonball was a success for reasons other than the spectacular Funny Car action on offer. This event was one of those special occasions when Sammy Miller broke track and European records, this time driving his Oxygen Rocket dragster. The event was incorrectly announced in the poster as 'The Return of Sammy Miller in Vanishing Point' as well as mentioning three Swedish Funny Cars, however only Lee Anders Hasselström actually appeared at the event, and Sammy eschewed Vanishing Point for Oxygen. Happily though, there was a field of eight Funny Cars thanks to Santa Pod Raceway promoting the development of such cars in the UK which helped maintain numbers.
The previous year's Cannonball had been in support of the eponymous film and 1982 also saw a film tie-in – to the teen sex comedy film Porky's described somewhat exaggeratedly in its own publicity as 'the funniest movie about growing up ever made'. Nevertheless, SPR offered a complimentary ticket for a special showing at the Granada in Bedford on the Saturday of the event - starting at 11:30pm. The event was also notable for a media initiative, Santa Pod Raceway publishing its own newspaper International Drag & Custom News, designed to promote the sport and custom shows around Europe. The minus points were that the track's timing system was exceptionally troublesome at this event, the results of several races being decided by emergency times or visual means, and the non-appearance of the 1981-winning Cannonball car and driver Bill Sherratt due to mechanical and crew woes.
The Cannonball was run alongside a normal event with the usual sportsman classes. Here is a summary of what happened: Funny Car Cannonball Round One
Saturday practice was truncated by intermittent rain, so Chris Filsell took Satan's Sledge to a 7.69/183 pass and Gladiator driven by Allan Herridge recorded 9.93/142. The weather and traction on Sunday gradually improved, and eight cars lined up for the first round of racing, the competition being run on aggregate times and a complicated system of bonuses, as it had in the previous year. However when ETs were not recorded by the timing system in the first two rounds, the winner was given a time of 6.40 and loser 6.50 which further tightened up the competition.
Allan Herridge (Gladiator Pontiac Firebird Keith Black 426ci) 6.51/210 def. Dave Stone (Stardust Mustang Rodeck 481ci) 7.74/169 Round Two
Allan Herridge NT, bye Round Three
Allan Herridge 6.42/215 def. Owen Hayward 6.30 Aggregate times after three rounds were: Owen Hayward 19.10, Allan Herridge 19.12, Harlan Thompson 19.62 and Dave Page 19.90.
Final
Owen Hayward NT def. Allan Herridge NT
Professional Drivers Elimination Qualifying Eliminations
Semi finals
Gerry Andrews 6.87/196 def. Norm Wheeldon broke (DNS) Final
Steve Read 7.01/193.4 def. Gerry Andrews 6.85/196.4 DQ red light
Super Comp Top Qualifiers (against class index) Eliminations (excerpts)
Round one
Steve Johnson 9.19/148 def. Herb Andrews 9.84/123 Semi finals
Steve Johnson 9.69/109 bye Final
Russ Carpenter 8.19/129.3 def. Steve Johnson 14.69/53.9
Comp 1
Eliminations - Final
Malcolm Beken (Fusion dragster Chrysler BRM 116ci) 10.03/132.4 def. Dave Burfitt (Boss Cat Topolino Jaguar 231ci) 16.52/47.61
Comp II Eliminations - Final
Phil Herrick (Vicious Trait TR8 Rover 215ci) 12.16/111.2 def. Paul Cummings (Liquid Diamond 23T Jaguar 231ci) 11.67/121.5 DQ red light
Comp III
Eliminations - Final
Barry Giles (Tequila Sunrise 23T 231ci) 13.48/108.3 def. Steve Collins (dragster Ford 91ci) broke
John Woolfe Racing Top Modified
Qualifying
Eliminations (excerpts)
Round one
Richard Wloszek 13.03/101 def. Phil Turk 12.04/102 Semi-finals
Richard Wloszek 13.14/100 def. Al O'Connor 10.27/134 Final
Sylvia Hauser 10.53/125.1 def. Richard Wloszek broke off line
Modified 1 Eliminations - Final
Mick Cheley (Mr Shifter 27T Chrysler 383ci) 10.76/122.3 def. George Johnson (The Warrior Pontiac GTO 400ci) 12.34/106.8
Production Eliminations - Final
Phil Evans (Super Vogue Chrysler 109ci) 16.91/80.06 def. Steve Dunn (Tokyo Toy Celica Toyota 120ci) 16.17/83.68
Roadster
Eliminations - Final
Steve Green (Ford Cortina Rover 3528cc) 14.42 def. Bill Wootton (Red Wizard Pontiac 350ci) 17.57/78.43
Exhibition
There were three exhibition vehicles. Whilst the jet cars, Vampire driven by Kieran Westrom and Hellbender driven by Steve Horn, made demo runs, the main interest was whether Sammy Miller could break his world record time of 3.74 seconds.
The times he recorded got quicker and quicker, after a first run of 4.2 he ran 4.46/268, 4.06/284 and then, late on Sunday afternoon 3.81/331, the first ever three second run outside of the USA. Motoring News reported 'On deceleration from the last round he endured 9Gs, the strain clearly etched on his face as he later remarked 'I guess I could have stopped her without the chutes but I just didn't feel like trying it'.
Bikes
Pro Fuel Bike Qualifying Eliminations
Semi finals
John Clift 8.68/133 def Rod Pallant broke (chain) John Clift's bike suffered cylinder barrel damage on his run and was unable to make the final; John Hobbs was allowed to substitute for him.
Final
Steve Tong 8.83/160.5 def. John Hobbs 8.34/166.1 DQ red
Top Bike Top qualifiers Eliminations (excerpts)
Semi-finals
Tony Lewis 9.31/143 def Chris Russell (Eastern Magic Kawasaki 1015cc) 9.77/137
Final
Tony Lewis 9.24/144.0 def. Martin Hurll (The Probe Honda 998cc) 10.13/124.2
Senior Bike
Eliminations - final
Allan Nash (Grandad's Piece 1325cc Suzuki) 9.65/137 def. Brian Simpson (Enginuity Kawasaki 1105cc) 10.66/119
Middle Bike
Eliminations - final
Ray Law (Triumph 996cc) 9.43/145.3 def. Ton Pels (Double Dutch Puma Triumph 1600cc) 20.28/22.78 broke (belt)
Pro Stock Bike Top qualifiers Eliminations (excerpts)
Round one
Geoff Stilwell 9.63/136 def. Paul Andrews (Crusader Kawasaki 1197cc) 9.93/138 Semi final
Geoff Stilwell 9.64/134 def. Brian Johnson broke (clutch) Final
Pip Higham 9.17/146.1 def. Geoff Stilwell 9.52/137.3 Street Bike
Top qualifiers Eliminations - final
Jack Valentine 11.05/129.00 def. Arthur O'Hare 18.29/52.68
Event programme (4 Mb pdf file)
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