Drag Racing Europe AB is a consortium formed from the existing venues of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Santa Pod Raceway (TBR), Tierp Arena, Hockenheimring and the Finnish Hot Rod Association (FHRA), together with the FIA EDRC administrator, Speedgroup AB. The FIM Europe is a Continental Union, recognised by FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme), that groups 46 National Federations (FMNs) and 6 Regional Motorcycling Associations together. FIM Europe owns the FIM sporting rights on continental championships, plus all commercial, marketing, video, and other rights.
2022 FIM Europe Drag Bike European Championship calendar:
26th-29th May, Great Britain, (Santa Pod Raceway)
16th-19th June, Sweden (Tierp Arena) TBC
30th June-3th July, Finland (Kauhava)
11th-14th August , Sweden (Tierp Arena) TBC
26-28 August, Germany (HockenheimRing)
8th-11th September, Great Britain (Santa Pod Raceway)
Thanks to Remco Scheelings for words. Pictured: Rickard Gustavsson (Top Fuel Bike) at 2019 Main Event, Marcus Christiansen (Super Twin) at 2019 Euro Finals.
Melbourne Raceway welcomes nitro cars. 31st December:
Melbourne Raceway and Eurodragster.com sponsor Lee Child have announced the track's event on 25th-26th June will be named Mid Summer Nitro Showdown, with good reason:
"It’s great to confirm that nitro is heading north with Jason Phelps and the Hawk Racing Gladiator funny car and joining Jason, Andrew Raw with the Nitro Bug nostalgia funny car.
"Feel it, smell it and never forget the ground shaking experience. With a combined horsepower total of 15,000 ready to be unleashed. Also racing will be Supercharged Outlaws and Duck All Prep with two days of winning cash, including a good field of Super Pro Comp. This will be the most powerful event in the North this summer at Melbourne Raceway, with plenty of other car and bike categories battling out the whole weekend on the 25th-26th June at the Mid Summer Nitro Showdown. Ticket info will be released soon."
The lineup of cars, which may change before the first round, will include:
Tim Bull (Ford Modular 330ci engine, nitrous, Lenco gearbox)
Scott Collin (ex Paula Atkin car with 540ci twin turbo BBC 1350hp and Powerglide)
Jools Davison (Rover V8 and JW Glide)
Tim Evans (small block Chevy and TH350 gearbox)
Stuart Flitton (Chevy 363ci and Powerglide)
Tom Harris (another ex Paul Atkins first 100e car, nitrous 400ci Big Block Mopar)
Mark Haswell (632 ci BBC Hughes Powerglide)
Paul Lorne (552ci Ford nitrous and C6 gearbox)
David Mott (small block Chevy and TH350 gearbox)
Mark Wade (Zetec engine with turbo to be added)
Steve Watson (Ford 302ci supercharged and C4 gearbox)
Robert White (Chevy 383ci and TH350 gearbox)
Garth Wong (Chevy LS nitrous supercharged and TH350 gearbox)
Scott said: "With four of these cars already proven sub 10 second runners, with as many again to join them in 2022, this is looking to be a fast-growing quick class to watch out for. Whilst, behind the scenes, you can not only expect to see a full chromoly twin turbo SBC return from Sean Doyle by 2023, others by late 2022 include the use of LS turbo, Zetec turbo and even Hemi twin turbo motors."
Pictured: Scott Collin's new Adrenaline Rush and Garth Wong's eight second/160+mph LS powered machine
Swift snippets. 31st December:
Happy Birthday for today to Paul Harris crewman Mick Sharpe, former Dennis Priddle crewman Phil Pead and videographer Séan Bowe, have a great day all. Belated birthday wishes for yesterday to Supercharged Outlaw racer Paul Dale who reached his half century, dragster team boss Pete Kellett and former Moonlight Bandit altered racer John Tebbutt who reached three score and ten, still going strong, we hope you enjoyed your special day.
A reminder that voting for the 2021 SPRC Perpetual Awards closes at midnight tonight. Results will be announced after the SPRC awards dinner on 29th January. You can vote via the link.
I am, of course, talking about the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) coming up on its 72nd year over the weekend of Jan 28-30 at Pomona, California. The show got its start in Oakland, California in 1950 when the first winner was Bill Neikamp’s street and lakes racing flathead-powered ’28 Ford Roadster on Essex rails. That car, which still exists at the Petersen Museum, would still be a winner today but in many ways we have come a long way in 70 years.
The show moved to its permanent home at the Fairplex, Pomona in 2004 and now attracts some 600 vehicles displayed in seven huge buildings. There are typically up to another 1,000 cars displayed outside depending upon the weather. It’s winter then and it has been known to rain but it’s a warm rain. Rain or shine, you’re going to see more than a 1,000 top-notch cars and rub shoulders with many of the builders. And some might even talk to you.
Scattered around the show cars are any number of manufacturer’s booths that display their latest builds and products. You can expect to see everybody from Brits such as Mick Jenkins of Mick’s Paint (Bldg. 6) to Mike Hermann of H and H Flatheads (outside Bldg. 7) and many many more.
A huge draw of the show remains the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) Award that typically attracts nine top class entries. And now, since 2020, there is the Al Slonaker Memorial Award sponsored by ARP Fasteners to the tune of $12,500 (as is the AMBR Award) for any car or truck not competing in the AMBR. Meanwhile, if you like a little rust on your ride there’s always the Suede Palace and the theme of Building #9 this year is Hot VWs of which there will be many famous hot VW drag cars.
Besides the stunning show you can also visit the Wally Parks Motorsports Museum that is adjacent to the show. However, there is a separate charge for the museum as it is not part of the GNRS. Also be careful when parking in front of the museum because that is Fairplex property, not the show’s and not the museum’s, and they can hit you pretty hard for the convenience. In the past, it has been $25 per car.
Within a few minutes drive of the Fairplex there are a number of shops that often have open houses or at least let you look around. They include the Early Ford Store in San Dimas, The Kennedy Bros., the Veazie Bros., Mick’s Paint and Walden Speed Shop are all within a stone’s throw in Pomona while Schrader’s is just a few miles west in Azusa.
Further afield are the John Force Race Shop, Yorba Linda; The Lions museum, Wilmington; The Justice Bros. Museum, Duarte; the Petersen, Los Angeles and the new Segerstrom Shelby Event Center in Orange County. Obviously, check their web sites for opening times, prices, etc.
If you want to get out of the cold and enjoy a long weekend in sunny southern California maybe the Granddaddy is for you. The dates for 2022 are Jan 28-30 and for more info go to RodShows.com. Incidentally, the WinterNationals are Feb 17-20 likewise at the Fairplex Pomona so maybe you can hit both.
You can see a gallery of photos from previous year's shows by clicking here.
Feature: The history of UK Pro Modified - part 5. 29th December:
Our latest historical feature, supported by Lucas Oil Products, focuses on the Pro Modified class in 1994 and 1995, following our previous four features from the inception of the class. We describe the political fall-out between the class and the tracks during these years, with new cars, closer racing, including race results at both Santa Pod Raceway and Avon Park Raceway, incidents and championship positions. The feature includes over 95 photographs of the cars with the stories of races for those years and car details from the period.
Thanks go to drag racing historian and British Drag Racing Hall of Fame director Jerry Cookson for supplying archive material and the photographers who are credited within the feature. You can see our feature by clicking here or by clicking the features, interviews, tributes link from the main menu.
Red Victor 3 for sale. 29th December:
News came in of an iconic doorslammer for sale from Andy Frost:
Red Victor 3, the Vauxhall owned and developed by Andy, is world famous for being the world's fastest street legal car, with "the best of everything and IVA tested street legal in the UK, with best times of 5.87/263.75. The full spec can be seen by clicking here. Andy says it "Comes with spares if the price paid is the correct one. In dry storage with all the rockers/pushrods taken out. Consistent 5 second car even at 3050 lbs. Has plenty of potential left with the right owner. Easy 5.60's at 270mph at a lighter weight.
"Will be sad to see it go but I reached where I wanted to be with it."
Only very serious offers for this will be considered, with a guide price being £160k, Andy pointing out it would take £250k to replicate this car. Contact details can be found in our Jeff Bull Performance Engines-sponsored Swap Meet.
S&K Racing retire. 29th December:
With the announcement by crewman Kevin Tearrell that the S&K Racing dragster is for sale, after being involved in drag racing since the late 60's Roger Sinclair has decided to retire the team which he ran with Mick Kemp and others. Kevin says "I think he could write a pretty good book about his time in racing." Now there's a challenge...
You can see details of the car in our Jeff Bull Performance Engines-sponsored Swap Meet.
I think most of us at this time of year manage to reflect on our life in general and what we have achieved in the 2021 race season, unfortunately COVID was still about and it's not going away anytime soon, something we're all going to have to deal with as we move forward.
I came away with a race car undamaged during 2021, I don’t think I’ve ever managed this before, amazing when you think how hard we leaned on the car to get those crazy numbers, albeit on occasion a bit ragged and either too close to the wall, or dying to jump into the other lane often using the whole track when taking the long way round, its amazing to think this car built by Robinson Race Cars in 2005, yes 16 years ago is still going strong with every weld on this chassis still intact and to this day not one weld has cracked or any chassis damage has occurred, yes we’ve always been on top of the car with a lot of upgrades being handled by Jedd Guy at Shorty’s Fabrication Shop which is ongoing into 2022.
Two words define The Flyin Fyfer's season in 2021, Tyre Shake, it took me so long to overcome my brain telling my foot to lift during the mad violent occurrence which, as an engineer, feels so wrong, as we know the damage that is occurring for this duration that, when in the car, feels like a lifetime but in reality is less than half a second. We would return to the trailer and I would say to Aaron Springford, great run and then the Racepak would clearly show I lifted when the shake started, however as the season progressed I did manage to get that brain to tell the foot to keep it in the game and the numbers certainly started to show this as well as the Racepak, which kept everyone in the team happy and I stopped getting a row.
The one big plus in the class is the ability to share data freely and discuss options on how we can go faster. Instead of spending time after time learning from only one person, you can get help from many racers who experience the same problems and sit, discuss, combine and learn.
The Tyre Shake is a hell of a lot better but, yes, it was still there but fingers crossed we WILL beat it in 2022.
The car's performance was continually increased over the season with good data and positive progress in the 60 foot, as well as in ET in the front 1/8th and the back 1/8th. You quickly realise if you’re not in the 1.0 something sixty foot then you're not in the game. I was really happy as we started to show real progress with consistent runs in the 7.0 something and MPH always in excess of 190.
Was I thinking to myself this six will come? Of course I was, all the hard work, the upgrades, the effort by everyone involved, so close but it wasn’t to be, 7.04 ET at 194.72mph was the closest it would get to that elusive six!
The year went by without a hitch, we got to the track for five out of the six events with Dragstalgia being missed for family reasons which was a hard one, but it's done and in the past.
The team, including Aaron Springford and my Lynn Purvis, run like clockwork, although small, the one advantage of OA is you can be slick and small but also be successful. We were ecstatic with the car and the whole operation and as the season came to a close with the onset of the Hot Rod Drags, there was a massive buzz within the team as we knew we could make history.
The biggest thing in any class is having competition, either they are miles out in front of you and you make a plan which may take a number of years and a deep pocket to do, or you're in the game and running so close that anyone has the opportunity to win. My inspiration was to somehow beat Paul Wright then beat Cliff Griffin which took some doing, I can tell you that, in 2021 now we have Mick taylor who jumped into the sevens with big feet, Paul Hensher back out, so dangerous as he can run the numbers, then Jedd Guy who we all knew had the hardware to deliver and, right on my heels, Jon Webster running into the 7.1 bracket, wow, what do you need? Well you need a plan and we had a plan to keep in the zone, as the margin as you go this quick in an Anglia gets to a point where its so so small, hard to explain but you run out of so many options and the window to fail is huge.
I have no regrets on the outcome and genuinely I am so pleased for Jedd Guy achieving his own goals and making history in the process. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the final of the Hot Rod Drags was my best race ever in my racing career and I would have so liked to join Jedd and run that six, Jesus what a result that would have been, I often say this but this one is where I was “Living the Dream”.
Regrets, I have none, I love racing, I love my team, I love OA, it's that simple.
2022 will be with us in a matter of days, its just over a year know since Gerry passed and this only confirmed that we only get one kick at the ball so go out there and grab it with both hands.
The upgrades have started with a complete new Nitrous system crazily having the ability to put out 1700BHP with three stages (small jets first though lol), new bigger diameter tyres to push for the mph and fancy new rear shock absorbers to help with the shake as well as the normal maintenance for engine gearbox and axle, all of which is advancing well as April isn’t far away.
We wish you all the very best for 2022 and can’t wait until the Outlaw Anglias are back out in full force, we hope all your dreams come true in 2022, see you at the track real soon.
Swift snippets. 28th December:
Thanks to Jerry Cookson for letting us know that today is National Sprint Association racer and The Sprinter magazine event reporter Neil Jenkinson's birthday. We wish you a very Happy Birthday Neil, and hope you are having a great day. Also celebrating today are Pro ET racer Laura Baynton, Supercharged Outlaw racer Mike Couch, and blown alky crewman Kirsten Krause from Germany, best wishes for a Happy Birthday.
Cliff Jones. 27th December:
We were sorry to hear of the passing on 11th November of UK drag racing pioneer and US sportscar racer Cliff Jones, who was involved in two of the most iconic vehicles in British drag racing history.
A Chrysler dealership sales manager from Hornchurch in Essex, Cliff's UK drag racing history started when he and his brother Chris attended the Chelveston Dragfest in 1964. A couple of years later they were attracted to go to Santa Pod Raceway at the end of the 1966 season started racing a Pontiac GTO with a small block Chevy engine in the Sports Racing category, which he would later sell to Tony Dickson. At this event, Cliff raced others who would later graduate to dragsters such as Pete Crane, Bruce Brown and Alan Ing.
In June 1967 they debuted a new Opus HRF (the car was launched that year), powered by a blown Shorrock Ford. Later in the year, this was upgraded to a Daimler Hemi engine. During 1967/68 winter a small block Chevy was installed which for a few meetings was upgraded to a 5.3 litre engine out of Cliff's Stingray. Dave Collis who drove it at the start and end of 1968, and during 1969. In 1970 Cliff sold the car to Dennis Stone when in August it became the first of the Stones' series of altereds, dragsters and funny cars.
1970 was a change of direction for Cliff. The Chicken Coupe car, campaigned by Pete Millar in California, had come over to Sweden via Harwich in early 1969 and had gone on display in Malmö. Word of this had got through to Dave Riswick of John Woolfe Racing. If he bought the car, he would be able to secure its 354cu in blown Chrysler Hemi car for the new Quartermaster slingshot being built by Tony Gane and Dennis Priddle in Yeovil, and sell on the rolling chassis. Mike Treutlein with Cliff were the purchasers of the chassis and the pair teamed up to rebuild the car which had been renamed Crescent Coupe, in recognition of the sponsor of the trip to Sweden.
Crescent Coupe, featuring a Formula 5000 engine, with exhaust collectors fitted later in the year, made its UK debut at the BDR&HRA meeting at Elvington in August, with Cliff as the driver. From early on the car thrilled with its off the line wheelies. Mike became the regular driver for the next three years during which Cliff helped prepare it for races and spent time on administration for the NDRC. After the last race in 1974, Mike and the team decided to go rear-engined and as, by now, Cliff had a family, he was no longer in a position to spend the sort of money required to build a new car and Keith Dancey agreed to buy his share of the car.
Cliff was also known for 'Devon Cream', a Pontiac powered Austin A40 Dorset which he bought from Pete Crane. Pete says "Cliff bought it from me as a runner, it had a 400ci Pontiac engine and as much of the running gear from the donor Pontiac Firebird as I was able to use. The body was built by Fibre Glass Repairs for me. After he bought it from me he changed the steering to rack and pinion and resprayed the car red (it was black), and added a custom interior. When Cliff left to go to the states he sold it to Len Beech, it is currently in Spain owned by Len’s son Vinnie."
He moved to Los Angeles in 1980; life the other side of the Pond had beckoned since he attended events in the 1970s. But it was sports car racing that Cliff went into once he had settled in the US. He had suffered a detached retina whilst drag racing and thought the vibration from a fuel motor might be unwise in the circumstances.
Cliff still kept in touch with his former UK drag racing friends was a regular poster on the UK Drag Racing Nostalgia forum and attended races in the US such as the Winternationals where he would meet up with Rex Sluggett, Clive Skilton, Brian Taylor and Pete Crane as well as US legend Carl Olson and others.
Pete Crane remembers Cliff as "A great competitor, NDRC organiser and friend. We used to go to the SEMA show in the 1970s. I’ll miss you Cliff. RIP."
Cliff leaves daughters Samantha and Nicola. We send them and all of Cliff's friends and family our condolences.
Picture of Cliff at SEMA Show courtesy Pete Crane.
New series of Pioneer Stories launching. 27th December:
The group of UK drag racing authors and historians led by John Hunt with help from Nick Pettitt are pleased to announce that Series 2 of the Pioneers will start on Monday 3rd January, featuring drag racers from the 60s telling their own stories from being inspired by the Hot Rods in American Magazines in the 50s and The International Dragfests in the 60s to building their own homegrown versions of what they had seen. Each part will be published on Mondays and Fridays during the months of January, February, March and April 2022.
The new series kicks off with a seven part family story covering over 50 years' involvement in the sport, followed up by another seven stories which all have one thing in common: each racer built and raced Altereds with the same body style...
Each part will be published exclusively on the Eurodragster news page and also featured on its own stand alone page. You can see our list of pioneer stories at this page.
Spy picture. 27th December:
We received two further spy pictures with the message "Wood you believe it."
If you know more, or have a spy picture of your own to send, please contact us at [email protected].
Swift snippets. 27th December:
Janet and Wayne Schreier wish son and Santa Pod Raceway startline marshal Chris Schreier "A huge Happy 30th Birthday from both of us". We would like to echo Janet and Wayne's wishes, have a great day Chris from all of us at Eurodragster.com.
Get Well Soon to Mike Smith, Santa Pod pit regular, husband and crew to Sportsman ET racer Georgina Smith. Mike has been in hospital poorly for a few days with an ulcer problem but is on the mend following an operation.
Drag racing historian Nick Pettitt has posted several videos of action from the 1999 FIA European Drag Racing Championship to his Youtube account. Included in the posts are a season preview, Mantorp Park Top Fuel and Pro Stock, Mantorp Park Top Methanol, and Alastaro Top Methanol.
Smax's seasonal message. 27th December:
Many thanks to Smax Smith who with son Aidan Heatley Smith has spent the year preparing for Top Fuel in 2022 and kindly supplied video footage of some of his 2021 exploits:
Hi gang! First of all - Merry Xmas and a Fast New Year to all my fellow racers, friends and fans. Your support has been overwhelming during the pandemic.
Well Smax, Aidan and the Ant Hill Mob didn't get deterred by this bullsh*t pandemic, so in 2021 we built ourselves a new shop (3300 sq feet), well mainly Aidan lol, and purchased our second Top Fuel car - the ex-Stefan Gunnarson operation via Tony Bryntesson, who was a star sorting all that shipping nonsense!
After our disastrous return to Top Fuel last year - kickin' a rod - we rebuilt everything and went to Grand Bend-see my burnout vid!
We got shut off with a tiny fuel leak twice! So back home sorted all out and went to next meet at Cayuga where after a big burnout I launched the car, but immediately had tyre smoke, but I managed to catch it, so no damage but we realised something was terribly wrong.
After returning to our shop and tearing down, we discovered our clutch cannon was faulty from the get-go, so all sorted now and awaiting our next opportunity to get out in anger.
We have been talking to Cayuga and hopefully we can have a father/son match race with our two cars and see if one of us can be the fastest in Canada in the 1000 foot era!
Again, enjoy the holidays - one day we hope to be back at the Pod in Top Fuel! Full revs, Smax.
I'd seen him drive the "Nuthin' Fancy" altered some years ago, and in one particular instance being stood on the startline watching the cars run. I saw him wrestle the car down the track and always remember saying to the people around me down there at the time that "that guy can drive!".
Whenever we spoke, Joe had been quite complimentary about my outfit and what I was trying to achieve, so initially I just started to drop a few hints. Before long I think I used the line "you should come and have a go in my car" not being sure how it would be received.
The Bond family's standing and history in the sport requires no introduction, so the fact that he was interested in the first place sparked some interest back in it for me. Since then we've spoken on numerous occasions and Joe recently visited me to iron out a few things and try the seat for size.... he fits better than I do!
I'm pleased and excited to announce that as of next year, Joe Bond will be driving the Dirty Deeds NFC, this will give me time to concentrate more on the tuning and running of the car and help newcomers to the team to find their feet properly. The recent hype in activity around the class makes me want to be a part of things all the more!
Myself, Joe and Doug are looking forward to the new year with a fresh focus on the racing. It's nice also to feel like it's opening the door to Joe to fulfil a dream of his to drive a car like this.
I recently invested some money into the car in the purchase of a 9.5 inch Strange Axle complete with carbon brakes supplied with the help of Trevor Hirst at Auto Services Doncaster who have more than a few times helped me keep the car out on track with a number of machining and parts shipping tasks.
Needless to say there's some work to do to get ready for the first event, but with the fresh enthusiasm from the Bond family I'm sure we'll be there bigger and better than ever.
We are currently looking for people to join us on a long-term basis for crew and also have marketing partnership opportunities available. If anyone can help in either case or are interested, please get in touch.
Bring on 2022.
Martin Maxwell returns. 23rd December:
Nostalgia Funny Car racer Martin Maxwell’s return to drag racing hasn’t been a two-minute affair, in fact it has been bubbling away in the background for around 3 years, writes Rob Elsom:
After initially proposing to build a Fuel Altered he was coerced into building a funny car by the likes of Rob Elsom and Tony Betts (in jest). It’s like a drug that once you’ve been addicted it merely goes into recession and then something like this happens.
Martin has been spending a lot of time around the pits with Dave, Steve and the guys at shockwave racing and there’s usually only one way that goes.
Since then, Martin has been gathering parts with the help of Dave Bryant and Rune Field. With the help of Bill at Comanche race cars a NFC has been assembled. The rolling chassis, tin and a whole host of other things effectively being built by Bill, with much of the design being from both Bill and Martin. The body, a 1972 Chevrolet Vega, came from what was originally going to be a car built by Rob Loaring and Nick Davies and was effectively brand new.
This was however originally made for a 118 inch wheelbase so the body had to be modified by moving wheel-arches around in the body rather than cutting and lengthening to suit the standard 125 inch wheel base that these cars have, again these works were completed by Bill and the whole package prepped and painted by Kerry Fowler and Kristy at Chamelion Auto Refinish Ltd in Derby, the paint job being initially designed by Martin himself. Machining works for items within the motor have been comprehensively carried out by Tom Craddock of Frontline Performance Engineering. The airbrushing and detailed artwork has been done by Luke Bryant.
The resulting car is going to be a credit to the class and to the greater extent is period correct visually in so many ways, with lots of the right bits underneath it will hopefully be one to watch.
All the guys in the class want to wish Martin all the best in his efforts to get on track.
At a meeting just 2 weeks ago everyone has agreed to pull in the same direction together and the plan is to put on a show... we’re all in this together and any help needed will hopefully be found in the ranks.
Bring on 2022.
2021 SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 5. 19th December:
Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster.com are again teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the 2021 SPRC Perpetual Awards, which will be presented at the SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation on 29th January 2022.
For several of the 2021 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted
for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon their
winners.
The final category is the James Edgar Memorial Trophy, awarded for outstanding performance by a Crew Chief, tuner, racer/tuner, or crew member. The
SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. If in any doubt about what constitutes canvassing then please drop us a line at [email protected]. Voting for the Awards closes on 31st December.
Additionally, if anyone should have issues with the content of any of the shortlists then please contact SPRC direct rather than E-Mailing Eurodragster.com or commenting on social media.
SPRC Christmas message. 23rd December:
Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for the club's Christmas message:
As we look to close the book on the 2021 season, looking back, it’s been a tough, trying and perspective-changing year, but from the racing perspective what a year, so many great performances from so many racers and their crews, and all completed in a shorter period than we would normally expect. For those who came out to race this year, we thank you, for those who chose to stay away we understand.
2022 is shaping up to be another great year, Championships are returning, hopefully, all of our friends, colleagues and competitors from around the world will be able to come back to the UK to race again, you have been missed on many levels, there are also many surprises in store for all of our competitors in 2022 (no peeking) but all will be revealed in the coming months. Keep busy in those garages and lock ups, as, before you know it, it will be Easter and the thrash will be on.
To all our members, crew members, families, marshals, Santa Pod staff, Eurodragster staff (thanks - Editor) and Nitro FM presenters, please all stay safe and well over the off season (off season: carrying out all the jobs you put off during the Race season), and I hope Santa is kind to you all, we look forward to seeing you again in 2022.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Swift snippets. 23rd December: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to UK drag racing historian Jerry Cookson for today and Nitro FM presenter and occasional Contributing Photographer Nikki Marshall for tomorrow (Christmas Eve). Also we wish a belated Happy Birthday for yesterday to Competition Eliminator racer Elaine Hancock, Comp Bike racer Scott Collier and Super Pro ET team member Chris Swinchatt. We hope you are having special days.
2021 Champions' Champions. 23rd December:
The Champions' Champions
tables show the all-time highest points earners since the FIA and FIM European Championships began in 1996 and 1992 respectively, and since the
UK National Championships began in 1999.
Honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Andy Marrs has had another year off from compiling lists of European and UK Champions' Champions. However we continue to include the 2019 FIA and FIM-E edition in this year's update.
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 however 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 2021 the National SPRC Championship was able to be resumed with six events held under Motorsport UK or ACU permit. Four of events were able to be completed, the Springspeed Nationals victim of bad weather and the Greenlight Nationals able to be run with the exception of final rounds thanks to the efforts of Santa Pod Racers Club track crew. Without FIA/FIM-E competition in Pro classes, the Champions Champions for those categories have again not been able to be updated. A year off for Andy Marrs, but hopefully normal service will return for 2022.
We had first time champions in four classes, compared with eight last year and a record eleven in 2015. Discounting 2020, the number of back to back champions from 2019 was eight, compared with seven in 2019-19 and a record nine in 2017.
Motorsport UK Pro Modified had its championship back and the victor was Kev Slyfield, in his first title since 2015. Kev won the Festival of Power and National Finals on his way to the title, with Annie Wallace, Nick Davies and Bruno Bader also holding winners' cups. Despite being out of competition for the last three years, sponsor Andy Robinson leads the number of championships won (seven), event wins (19) and points total since 1999.
In Competition Eliminator, the first year of combining Stock/Super Stock and traditional Comp machinery proved a success, expanding the numbers in the category. Despite changing vehicles half way through the season with the acquisition of the COPO Camaro, Nic Williams secured the title with fewer wins than runner up Jordan Payne who was forced to miss the first round waiting for parts. Andy Hone has three championships over the period under review, Kev Perkins has the largest number of race wins and Robin Orthodoxou now leads the aggregate points.
In Super Pro ET, Giles & Hartley won their second title, the first having come nine years ago. Daniel Giles won two events on course to this. Over the years, dad Barry has won 15 races and leads the points aggregate, all with the same show-quality dragster. Scott Hauser has won three championships in the class, the only racer to do so in a fiercely competitive category.
Pro ET has been dominated by the Huxleys for so long that even running three race cars in 2021 did not relax their hold on the class. Lee Huxley won the 2021 championship, despite not winning any races during the period. His first solo championship is shown separately to the seven won by the Team Dark Horse (previously known as Top Banana with Brian and Lee Huxley sharing driving), Rick McCann remaining in second place with three. Lee has had thirteen wins over the last 23 years, with Rick McCann and Bob Doyle having won six each. The Huxleys continue to lead the points tally ahead of Team Heaven & Hell.
In Sportsman ET Dan Holloway won his second title, despite running a backup vehicle (Truck Norris), winning one event along the way. 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. Team Rainy City Lightning still lead the points aggregate ahead of Nick Gay.
In Super Comp, Leah Kellett won her second championship with two event wins at the Festival of Power and National Finals. Stuart Doignie, with four championships in 2015-18, continues to lead Brian Pateman for the most Super Comp championships, Brian having three in the period under review. Brian has most wins with thirteen over Tim Adam's ten, and the most points over Pete Creswell.
In Super Gas, Andy Harrison won his second championship with two event wins at the Festival of Power and Euro Finals, and congratulations to him. Stuart Doignie, Jon Morton and Tim Adam have four championships apiece, with Stuart's four coming in consecutive years 2015-18. Jon and Frank Mason both have twelve race wins in the period, whereas Frank leads points scored over Tim Adam who has overtaken Jon to go second.
In Street Eliminator, congratulations to Andy Bond who won his second title, with four event wins, the most in any class; Steve Pateman still dominates the overall listings with five Championships, seventeen wins and leads the aggregate points over Ian Hook.
In Junior Dragster, congratulations to Harry Redshaw on his first title in his sixth year in competition, despite no event wins. Joe Kellett has the most championships with three, Nick Mugridge continues to have the most wins with nine and Joe Kellett leads aggregate points over Thomas Cook-Abbott who, in his last year in the class, has overtaken Billy Everitt.
Jay Roe won his third title in 8.50 Bike with wins at the Festival of Power and Summer Nationals. Jay now equals Jake Mechaell and Mick Winyard in championships won with three. Jake leads wins with 13 over Jay's 12, and points with Jay closing in on his total.
In 9.50 Bike, Richard Sawatzki scored his ninth title with wins at the Summer Nationals and National Finals, and congratulations to Richard who has now recorded more than 1000 competitive passes in the class. Richard has had six championships in a row, not counting the Covid Cup year. His 26 wins head Fred Furlong's eleven, and he continues with the overall points lead over Fred.
In ET Bike Phil Pratt won his fourth championship with three event wins; he has won every title since the class's points scoring status began, apart from the 2020 Covid Cup. Phil also heads Gary Hester in events won with 14 compared to Gary's three, and leads Gary also in aggregate points.
In the ACU classes, we have continued from 2019 to accumulate points under the ACU scoring system. Steve Woollatt won his 15th Top Fuel Bike championship (19th overall) with an unprecedented 32 event wins including the Euro Finals and National Finals in 2021. Steve leads the aggregate points scored by a huge margin.
Stuart Crane returned to ACU competition in 2021 and won his second ACU Funny Bike championship in his first year in the class with with race wins at the Festival of Power and Summer Nationals. Neil Midgley continues to lead all three scores with five championships over Chris Hall's three, seventeen event wins to Chris's ten and the points lead over second placed Tim Blakemore.
Louis Davies returned to ACU Comp Bike after a foray into Funny Bike in 2020 and won his second title in the class with three wins. Phil Leamon has four titles to Ivan Birch's three, eleven wins to Ivan's ten, Phil also leads the points with a substantial margin over Stu Crane.
In ACU Super Street Bike Steve Venables won his eleventh title, with wins at the Summer Nationals and National Finals. Ven continues to lead the number of titles and has 32 wins leading the points total over Graham Dance who lies second in championships with four, and in wins with nineteen.
Hollie King won her first ACU Junior Drag Bike title in her rookie year, with wins at the Euro Finals and National Finals. Liam Holgate shares the lead of titles won with Scott Collier, with four, and wins with ten. Scott leads the points tally over Louis Davies.
You can check out the UK Champions' Champions by clicking here or by clicking on Data, then Champions' Champions in the main meny at the top of most Eurodragster.com pages.
Drag Racing Unplugged XXIII. 23rd December: As has become traditional on our last pre-Christmas update, we have posted Drag Racing Unplugged, with a difference. This year we have made our selection of top stories of the year from our news pages, including Simon's, Diana's, Kirstie's, Julian's and Kieran's Stories of the Year..
We are pleased to present Drag Racing Unplugged XXIII, the 2021 collection, which you can check out by
clicking here, or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand
side of any Eurodragster.com page.
Eurodragster.com Christmas lists. 23rd December: We will now be taking our Christmas break until 27th December. News updates and postings to our
Jeff Bull Race EnginesSwap Meet will resume on that date as well. Keep those
news items coming to us at [email protected] and we will post
them after our break.
In the meantime our core team have compiled our usual requests to Father Christmas, together with our New Year resolutions:
Top of Diana's Christmas list: Covid, go away, and a lottery win!
Top of Kirstie's Christmas list: Chevy Blazer. One day I’ll be 100% Redneck.
Top of Simon's Christmas list: More travel and less travel bureacracy.
Top of Julian's Christmas list: The latest (very expensive) Camera from Canon.
Top of Kieran's Christmas list: New video editing software!
Diana's New Year resolution: Learn computers and how to upload my pictures without launching the laptop across the front room.
Kirstie's New Year resolution: Try to get that half marathon under my belt and keep persevering.
Simon's New Year resolution: Keep up with the pace of change (or try to)
Julian's New Year resolution: To stop blaming old equipment for the not so good pictures.
Kieran's New Year resolution: To get to as many events as possible and keep pushing the Youtube channel.
Kirstie, Diana, Simon, Julian and Kieran would like to wish all Eurodragster.com readers and their families the very Happiest of Christmases, and to
thank everyone who has sent us personal Christmas wishes and cards. Have a great time.
Who and what races at Bonneville: Streamliners, Roadsters, Production Cars, Belly Tanks, Lakesters, Motorcycles.. you name it. In 2022 George Poteet and Speed Demon will be going for over 500 mph in his Turbo Chevy powered streamliner car which has already run over 480mph. Plus I will be going for over 300 in the 7707 Lucas Oil Landspeed Car. Racing starts at 7am each day until 6pm or the weather prevents us from running. Expect around 600 teams in 2022 from all over the world to be competing. There are usually 4 courses for us to run on depending on how fast you are.
Also each evening in Wendover over the first weekend is the Nugget Car and Bike Show which is always worth a look. Free entry and you can also visit Wendover Historical Airfield which is 5 mins from the main road.
There will be many names from the Drag Racing world there such as Ron Hope and the Hope Family, Nick Arias Jnr, Carl Olson, or visiting. So you never know who you might bump into.
Also, bear in mind on adjacent weekends there are other racing events such as the Nightfire Nationals at Firebird Raceway, Boise, Idaho (4th-7th August), the Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Park, Topeka (12th-14th August).
If anyone wants more specific help or info please email me at [email protected].
Autosport International postponed. 21st December: The organisers of the 31st edition of the Autosport International Show, scheduled for January 13-16 2022, at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, announced today that in response to the ongoing Covid-19 variants and the Government’s recent directives related to the Omicron variant, the Autosport International Show scheduled for January 2022 has been postponed. Alternative dates are under consideration and options for ticket holders will be communicated shortly.
For several of the 2021 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted
for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon their
winners.
Today's category is Most Professional Appearing Team.
The Most Professional-Appearing Team trophy recognises not just the presentation of a race vehicle but the team's overall approach to racing.
As well as a well-turned-out car or bike, the Committee have considered such aspects as the appearance and attitude of team personnel, the organisation
and appearance of their pit area and support equipment, and their readiness when their class is called.
The SPRC Committee's shortlist is as follows:
Louis Davies (Louis Davies and team, Suzukiperformancespares.co.uk Comp Bike) Vote for Louis Davies
For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. If in any doubt about what constitutes canvassing then please drop us a line at [email protected]. Voting for the Awards closes on 31st December.
Additionally, if anyone should have issues with the content of any of the shortlists then please contact SPRC direct rather than E-Mailing Eurodragster.com or commenting on social media.
The next voting category will be the James Edgar Memorial Trophy for outstanding performance by a Crew Chief, tuner, racer/tuner, or crew member.
Bengt Ljungdahl to retire from Pro Stock. 17th December:
Pro Stock racer and double FIA European Pro Stock champion Bengt Ljungdahl has announced he is retiring from the class, citing health reasons:
"Many thanks to everyone who has supported me and the whole Ljungdahl racing team during these years. Unfortunately, the Pro Stock era is over. It has been a fantastic time, where I learned a lot about racing and about the advanced technology behind a pro stock. But also, a lot about myself as a person, which has been very developing.
"Having the chance to meet new people, experience the adrenaline behind the wheel, the competition and to be at the top of the prize podium are memories for life.
"A close-knit and fantastic team, where we supported and helped each other led to great successes in a short time. We should all feel very proud!
Sponsors who stood up, who believed and supported us from the very beginning of our journey. I'm extremely grateful to all of you!
"Together we managed to achieve a lot:
Silver 2016 – European Championship FIA Pro Stock
Gold 2017 - European Championship FIA Pro Stock
Gold 2018 - European Championship FIA Pro Stock
European record 2016 @ 402 m (6.491)
European record 2016 @ 201m, which still stands today, and I hope it can do so for some time to come.
Health comes first, and I need some time for recovery before I am "race ready" again.
But I love competition and the creation of things, so who knows…
Once again, thank you and with hope that we will meet again.
Fireforce 3 to display in Riyadh. 17th December:
Jet car racer Martin Hill of Fireforce Jet Funny Cars has revealed that FireForce 3 was loaded in a container to ship to Saudi Arabia for the very first car show at @autoville_riyadh.
Autoville Riyadh, billed as the "Saudi International Festival of Motoring", takes place from 8th-14th January 2022 at Dirab Park, Riyadh with a huge variety of motoring and other entertainments. The motoring side will include drifting, a sprint track, static motor show, and OEM track for demonstrations including a drag strip, an off-road track and a live action arena. There will be concerts on 7th and 13th January and names will be announced shortly.
Martin, who has made an incredible 2,000 runs in his jet cars around the world, is on the select list of Motor Celebs along with Gymkhana star Ken Block, Brits Pro Drift driver Michelle Westby and Fast & Furious Stunt Driver Jonny Irwin.
For several of the 2021 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted
for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon their
winners.
Today's category is Best Appearing Bike. The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows. Click on a picture to see a large version.
For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. If in any doubt about what constitutes canvassing then please drop us a line at [email protected]. Voting for the Awards closes on 31st December.
Additionally, if anyone should have issues with the content of any of the shortlists then please contact SPRC direct rather than E-Mailing Eurodragster.com or commenting on social media.
The next voting category will be Most Professional Appearing Team.
EDRS class calendar announced. 15th December:Speedgroup have published their list of classes that will be running at each of its 20 European Drag Racing Series races in 2022. The class calendar can be seen at
this link.
There will be a full range of classes; it is positive to see the two races at Tierp and the July Kauhava race holding their place in the calendar. We await announcements for whether these are also FIA/FIM-E events.
There will be five rounds of Pro Modified racing and six rounds (to be chosen from 13 currently listed) of Top Doorslammer racing. Pro Bike racers will have five rounds of racing to look forward to.
Spy picture. 15th December:
The latest spy picture received at the offices of Eurodragster.com arrived with the message "All systems goooooo."
If you know more, or have a spy picture of your own to send, please contact us at [email protected].
New advanced biofuels set to transform racing. 15th December:
Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels, Inc., a global leader in performance fuels, lubricants and additives, announced Thursday that advanced bio-renewable components are available for adaptation with the company’s current race fuel portfolio.
"With enhanced concern over the global environment and an ever-increasing demand on the transportation of people and goods, government regulatory authorities continue to push for more stringent regulations on pollutants and CO2 emissions," said Mark Walls, VP’s Director of R&D and Fuel Technology. He added, "Auto manufacturers continue to pursue advanced powertrains, such as electric and hybrid-electric vehicles to address this problem, but we felt onboard fuel could play a part."
VP is currently developing and testing race fuels with advanced renewable components to meet upcoming renewable fuel requirements of multiple race series, including Formula 1 and IMSA. The company features more than 70 proprietary fuel blends in its portfolio, of which 23 use renewable components. VP is now expanding that line with advanced renewable options.
John Brown. 13th December:
We were sorry to hear of the passing of John Brown, who worked for many years behind the scenes at Shakespeare County Raceway and previously Santa Pod Raceway. Jerry Cookson writes:
It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the death of John Brown who died peacefully earlier this morning after a courageous fight against cancer.
John was one of the ‘backroom boys’, and one of those unsung heroes of Shakespeare County Raceway, and formerly of Santa Pod Raceway looking after the venues amenities’, making sure that racers and visitors to the tracks were kept safe while working tirelessly besides his wife for many years Janet.
This kind of on-site welfare extended also to non-drag racing events such as the Global Gathering, LMA Model Air Show, Convoy for Heroes and of course the Bulldog Bash.
Even on weekends when there was no racing taking place John would be found with a paint brush, or a spanner in his hand battling against the odds and whatever everyday life working on a busy events site could throw at him. John was certainly one of Shakey’s extended family in more ways than one, and will be sorely missed by his extended family.
To Janet, close family and his many friends we send our sincere condolences. God speed my friend. Keep on smiling.
Ida interviewed at PRI. 13th December:
Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterström was interviewed by NHRA commentator and former Funny Car racer Tony Pedregon at the PRI Show in Indianapolis on Saturday. To see the interview you can click here.
In the interview Ida talked about her licensing, how much safer she feels in a Top Fuel dragster compared with her previous 200mph Super Street Bike, how she would like to gain sponsorship to race in the NHRA, and her most feared competitor - Antron Brown, who also raced motorcycles before switching to Top Fuel.
Ida's web site at www.idazetterstrom.com includes details on her racing career, links to her social media account and sign-up for e-mail updates.
Spy picture. 13th December:
We received a picture with the message "An oldie junior but a goodie, it’s had a complete overhaul..."
If you know more, or have a spy picture of your own to send, please contact us at [email protected].
Swift snippets. 13th December:
Birthday greetings today to Super Pro ET racer Callum Swinchatt and VW Sportsman racer Laurence Clark, hope you have a great day. Belated greetings to Top Fuel Bike wife and Comp Bike mum Clair Davies, multi class racer and tuner Paul 'Grumpy' Watson and former Junior Dragster racer Lottie Bradford, we hope your day went splendidly.
Drag racing historian Nick Pettitt has uploaded more historic footage to his Youtube channel. This time it is the 1994 Goodguys UK Shootout #5 Avon Park part 1 which you can see at this link and Part 2 at this link.
For several of the 2021 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted
for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon their
winners.
Today's category is Best Appearing Car. The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows. Click on a picture to see a large version.
For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. If in any doubt about what constitutes canvassing then please drop us a line at [email protected]. Voting for the Awards closes on 31st December.
Additionally, if anyone should have issues with the content of any of the shortlists then please contact SPRC direct rather than E-Mailing Eurodragster.com or commenting on social media.
The next voting category will be Best Appearing Bike.
Wales opens for Straightliners. 11th December:
UK-wide organisers Straightliners and Eurodragster.com sponsor Lee Child have announced that Llanbedr Airfield in the Snowdonia National Park will be the site of a Welsh Drag Racing weekend on 14th-15th May next year.
Lee said: "There will be two days of 1/4 mile drag racing, 1/2 mile top speed and 1/4 mile roll racing. It's a fantastic venue, just a mile away from the beach with Snowdonia mountains on the other side." Racing will include Duck All Prep and NSA action as well as run what ya brung.
Llanbedr Airfield is the base of Snowdonia Flight School and Skydiving Snowdonia, also the site is a mere half hour's drive from the iconic and beautiful tourist village of Portmeirion.
More details will be announced soon.
Racing developments at Melbourne. 11th December:
The next season of racing at Melbourne Raceway is set to have a drastically different look with the Straightliners organisation, in conjunction with Eurodragster.com sponsor and Duck All Prep promoter Lee Child, expanding activities:
Additional classes
More classes will be taking part with Gasser Circus (7th-8th May), Supercharged Outlaws (7th-8th May and 25th-26th June), Outlaw Street (7th-8th May and 8th-9th October) and Nostalgia Superstock (8th-9th October) all running rounds of their championships at the track. These additional classes which are eligible also to run in the Duck All Prep competition, will include cars not often seen at Santa Pod Raceway.
Lee said "For Duck all prep 2022 we will be awarding 3rd place trophies. The drivers that get knocked out in the semi finals will race for the 3rd place trophy just before the category final."
Powerfest Day
The track will be holding its Powerfest day from 6th-8th May 2022. Trevor Duckworth of Straightliners said "The investment at The Raceway continues with upgrades in infrastructure and on the track. There are more and more cars switching on to the fact this is the second venue of choice for drag racing in England and next year promises to be a cracker. Powerfest will combine all of that live music, kids stuff, traders, catering and a whole lot more.
"The first wave of tickets are on sale now and the gate price for weekend camping will be £35 – these tickets are limited and the offer will end on 31st December. They includes camping Friday and Saturday night, the entertainment in the marquee (with some mint live bands lined up) and all the racing (Saturday and Sunday only) – that’s a great price and it gets even better for families with no charge for children under 16.
"Day visitors are welcome and it’s a great way to spend a day!
"If you’re in a club and want to benefit from Club Discount from 01/01/22 then get in touch and we’ll get it sorted. We’ll also be holding club racing where you can race against your mates or club v club – it’s your weekend and we’ll do our best to make it work.
"If you fancy racing and haven’t been before then show us a picture of your chariot - all racing enquiries will be arranged through The Raceway and they will provide details early in the new year.
"We are open for traders and pitches will be £90 for a single pitch and £180 for a double. If you are interested then please send us a message and confirm what you sell and we will be in touch.
Another change in store in motorcycle racing at Melbourne is the introduction of dial in racing replacing the index classes that have previously been the norm. This follows an upgrade to the timing system and was agreed on at the Straightliners AGM. Trevor Duckworth said "We will have a No Mercy dial-in class which will pay £500 for the winner of each round, and alongside this will continue to run a single 9.1 index class, Juniors, Legends and Run What Ya Brung. The Midsummer Madness and Straightliners 25th anniversary event will have a first prize of £1,000."
Media-wise, Eurodragster.com will be covering all races at Melbourne Raceway with guest contributors, with Custom Car magazine running Duck All Prep race reports next year too.
Agrinio race postponed. 11th December:
After seeing an unfavourable weather forecast for this weekend, Greek drag racing organising body ASI has announced the postponement of the final race of the season being held at Agrinio Raceway, to next weekend, 17th-19th December. The entry list at regulator OMAE-EPA's site has been extended and the current list shows fifty entrants.
Some quick machinery is entered, in the seven second bracket is Vis Kosova's Nissan GTR R35 which came to Agrinio in 2020 and ran 5.1s in the eighth. The car was modified by Boost Logic and has raced in Vis's native Albania, Germany, Malta and Kosovo as well as Agrinio.
A few bikes have entered too, notable is the Super Street Bike of Vaggelis Karamatzakis, who hasn't been on the scene since 2017 and is looking to break into the sevens after running a 8.042/276.07kph back then.
Swift snippets. 11th December:
Happy Birthday wishes go to our Kieran, Santa Pod Raceway marshal Holly Donisthorpe, Pro ET racer James Forster and FWD racer Ahmed Jamshaid. Have a great day all. For yesterday belated birthday wishes to Top Fuel racer and Maltese Motorsport Federation president Duncan Micallef, Czech drag racing organiser and Top Fuel Bike wife and crew Yvona Kneblová, and longtime sportsman racer and supporter Trevor Graves. Many happy returns to all of you.
Many thanks to Eurodragster.com sponsor Geoff Stilwell for letting us know that the Dos Palmos dragster which ran in the 1964 Drag Fest and continued in the UK until 1970, is for sale at Mecum Auctions, Kissimmee, Florida 6th-16th January 2022. You can see the entry for the car, which has no reserve, by clicking on this link.
Swedish Hot Rod Association Mantorp have announced that there are plans afoot for Mantorp Park drag strip to be resurfaced and upgraded before the 2022 season. The intention is to make the surface safe for Top Fuel cars with other safety improvements maintaining the same overall layout as current. A "very productive" meeting was held with the Linköping Municipality and a schedule of several dates agreed.
Due to bad weather the run what ya brung event planned for today at Hal Far Raceway, Malta has had to be cancelled after unsuccessful attempts by MDRA officials to dry the track. However Sunday's RWYB is still going ahead and can be seen live at this Facebook link.
Cornwall drag strip Spitfire Raceway will be shown on BBC's Top Gear at 20:00 tomorrow and on iPlayer, as presenters Freddie Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness undergo a road trip through Devon and Cornwall in "interesting old cars for new drivers".
Of existing cars, Tony reports "Tim Garlick is progressing with his new engine and updates having run quick and consistently for seven years on his 'A' engine. Class pioneer Wendy Baker will be back in 2022 with her rebuilt and lighter Mustang which first came out in 2019. Also Paul Harris is making sure Chi Town is fit and ready for Easter." Tony's own Venom's engine will be treated to new parts after displaying an appetite for pistons in its last run of 2020, a 6.15/235 reaching the performance levels expected for the class. Rob Elsom will be developing his combination for the Dirty Deeds Camaro with the new slippery carbon fibre body we revealed last December, the car having run sixes with its old, heavy Firebird body.
Wendy Baker commented: "After heading out with the new car and suffering some bad luck at the mopar Nationals, we are going to take the car testing at a run what ya brung before entering competition. Essentially, it is a new untested car and we want to be comfortable with it before going out running with someone in the other lane. The car is complete, minus a couple of adjustments to the body, and is waiting to go back together. Meanwhile we are looking to get all the necessary safety equipment retagged, so when we are ready the car is all good to enter competition."
News from the Netherlands, Ramon van der Weurf has sold his Wildr' At Heart alky-fuelled '71 Charger and the new driver will be picking it up tomorrow. Ramon said "The only ad was on Eurodragster back then. If something's good, it'll go by itself sooner or later. And off it goes to Germany this week. I don't know the buyer, he fell in love with Nostalgia racing recently, by racing a slingshot last year, and found his ultimate "next step". It was not an easy decision to retire for me, but a wise one with business commitments! I quit while I was ahead, and boy oh boy...did I enjoy thís
ride to da max!" We hope the new owner will be visiting the UK as well as racing on the continent.
What of the Bubble Gum nitro Capri? Owner Bob Glassup's son and former Super Pro racer Matt said "It’s not for sale at present, that said, we will have a door car finished for this season, a tube chassis Mk1 Capri. The FC engine is rebuilt and ready to rock, but we're not sure if dad will race it at this stage".
From Sweden, Tobba Jansson running the Nitrocalypse Corvette and Erik Wallinder in the Tre Kronor Arrow came over in 2019 to become the surprise winners of the Cannonball competition at Dragstalgia, and the Brits will no doubt be wishing for a return visit to even the score.
The key to running these expensive and parts-consuming machines competitively is sponsorship deals and a championship structure. Santa Pod made moves towards establishing a championship structure in 2020. Whilst the pandemic put paid to a formal championship that year and in 2021, there are hopes now for a re-establishment along the rules set out, which could mean a field of up to eight cars running only as nostalgia fans know how.
One car not in the championship mix, however, is The Nitro Bug of Andy Raw with team will be running, albeit in its 'outlaw' spec with larger fuel pump and magneto repairing and rebuilding Andy Raw's VW which ran an engine-breaking 6.31/191 at Bug Jam (1.01 to 60ft and 207mph at 1000ft), its final appearance of 2021. Crew chief Karl Harrison said "We sustained pretty major engine damage that then caused a fire on our last run. We got the car stripped, unfortunately as we expected the block, crank and cam are irreparable, however we are in pretty good shape with our inventory of basic spares we have to carry like bearings, plugs, gaskets and seals." The team have obtained sponsorship from Fastec Racing Ltd as well as Cool Flo, Lite-Steer and TSR and will be developing our spare Brad Anderson block and Bryant crank for use in 2022. We want to be the first beetle bodied car to run a 5 at over 200mph".
We've assembled a list of the class's best times (any corrections, write to [email protected]) and racers should contact Tony Betts at Venom Racing who has been nominated as spokesperson for the class.
Photos: Tony Betts in Venom vs Tim Garlick in Apache, 2021 Euro Finals; Paul Harris in Chi-Town Hustler, Dragstalgia 2019; Doc Stinger, Dragstalgia 2018; Ramon van der Weurf in Wildr' At Heart, Dragstalgia 2014; Erik Wallinder in Tre Kroner, Dragstalgia 2019; line-up from Dragstalgia 2018.
Bennett Racing - time to move on. 9th December:
Luke Bennett has been in touch to say that Bennett Racing's two blown alky altereds and their inventory of parts and tools is up for sale after a career in the sport spanning the 1980s-2000s:
"Bennett Racing have raced around Europe since 1981 but the time has come to sell up. We’ve pretty much exhausted ourselves racing over the years and after winning the NFAA championship in 2009 the intention was to regroup, rebuild and get back out racing. Sadly this wasn’t to be, so everything is for sale.
"Ideally we want someone with deep pockets to take everything in one go otherwise we spend the next 300 years selling parts. It’s an everything or nothing kinda deal. This will be both race cars, motors, so many spares, spare body, rcd starter, etc etc. The list is endless.
"We’d love to continue racing but with day jobs and other commitments this is no longer possible. We’re at that point of do it full time or quit. And here we are.
"We’d like to thank every racer and team member we’ve ever raced, every sponsor, past and present, every single fan that has followed us throughout our years of racing, thank you to anyone who’s lent us a part at the track or given us help. As ever thank you to Eurodragster for their support with news articles and our blog (you're welcome – Editor.)
We will miss it like mad. We loved it all."
Write to [email protected] for enquiries. We wish Frank, Luke and their families and the team all the best for the future and thanks for all the entertainment and thrills over the years.
VP Racing Fuels Announces Licensing Agreement with the Fan-Brand. 9th December:
Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels, Inc. , a global leader in performance fuels, lubricants, and additives, today announced the signing of a licensing agreement with The Fan-Brand. VP Racing Fuels has licensed its brand names and logos to The Fan-Brand’s extensive line of home décor products.
"The Fan-Brand has created an incredible selection of VP Racing Fuels and Mad Scientist® signs and lights," said Bob Merz, VP Racing’s Director of Brand Management and Licensing. "Race fans can now bring the excitement of VP Racing into their game rooms, "man caves," "she sheds," or garages. We look forward to working with The Fan-Brand and building our brands together."
The Fan-Brand’s VP Racing line is extensive, numbering 40 products. There's something for every style and application with pool table and game table lights, wall signs, clocks, mirrors, and more. You can see the complete collection and make your purchase at this link.
Bringing VP Racing Fuels décor products to market hits close to home for Harrison Grimm, Founder & CEO of The Fan-Brand. Grimm has always been drawn to the car culture, from collecting die-cast cars and building model kits at an early age to the racing stripes down his daily driver muscle car. "It’s a way where I can take what I do on a daily basis and be able to merge both those worlds together with a brand I’m familiar with and have an affinity for," says Grimm.
The licensing agreement was brokered by Pacific Swell Brands, VP Racing Fuel’s exclusive licensing agency.
Swift snippets. 9th December:
Photojournalist Steve Moxley's report on the 2021 NSRA Hot Rod Drags can be read on Tim Hailey's Eat My Ink web site. Included are many great photos and results of the featured nostalgia classes Outlaw Anglia, Supercharged Outlaws, Wild Bunch and Gasser Circus.
We've several Happy Birthdays today. Many Happy Returns to announcer and sometime Eurodragster.com pit note assistant Christer Abrahamsson, former Top Fuel tuner and BDRHoF member Karsten Andersen, Supercharged Outlaw racer and Isle of Man drag racing promoter Ian Merryweather, and former Sportsman ET racer Nigel Holland. Have a great day all.
VW Team NDA Air-cooled Drag Racing, incorporating John Mills' VW Pro Beetle, Fi Sinclair's VW Sportsman Beetle and Phil Unsworth's VW kit car have posted an 2021 year end review on their Little Horus Youtube channel incorporating shots from Bug Jam and other events around the pits and on track at Santa Pod. You can follow their channel for more of the same.
For several of the 2021 season awards, a shortlist has been decided upon for which votes can be submitted by E-Mail. Nominations are now also being accepted
for the Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy. The votes of Eurodragster.com readers will be taken into consideration when the SPRC Committee decides upon their
winners.
Today's category is Most Promising Newcomer. Nominees for SPRC Most Promising Newcomer have impressed whilst contesting their first full season in a class or making their
on-track début in 2021.
The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows:
For each of the Awards, one vote per E-Mail address per nominee will be accepted: multiple votes for the same nominee from the same E-Mail address will all be disqualified. Please note that blatant attempts at organising mass votes - for example asking workmates, forum members or Facebook friends to vote en masse - are easily identified and all such votes will be disallowed as they have been in previous years. If in any doubt about what constitutes canvassing then please drop us a line at [email protected]. Voting for the Awards closes on 31st December.
Additionally, if anyone should have issues with the content of any of the shortlists then please contact SPRC direct rather than E-Mailing Eurodragster.com or commenting on social media.
The next voting category will be Best Appearing Car.
Three Huxleys - One Class! 7th December:
Many thanks to Huxley Motorsport crew member Richard Bell for sending a review of their 2021 year:
2020 saw Team Dark Horse win their seventh Pro E.T championship, however the 2021 Drag Racing season saw some big changes for father and son team Brian and Lee Huxley. After sharing driving duties for over twenty years, for the first time since 1997, they would compete in separate cars and race against each other.
Lee opted for a new challenge taking the driving seat in long-time friend Neil Bell’s Chevy Nova. Brian took the reins of the Dark Horse Mustang. Meanwhile 3rd Huxley son Marc entered in a replica of his dad’s ‘Can Do’ Toyota Corolla which was campaigned back in the 80s. This meant that three Huxley’s would compete against each other in the Pro E.T class...but which Huxley would come out with the bragging rights?
The first round (Spring Speed Nationals) would have seen a first round meet-up of Brian vs Lee, their very first competitive race against each other. However the Huxley curse put pay to that – rain stopped play!
Next up was The Festival of Power which saw Marc reach his first final, not bad going for only his second competitive outing in the car. Unfortunately he lost out to Will Clark. Other results from that meeting were Lee qualifying 5th out of 32 but losing in the 3rd round and Brian only getting so far as the first round.
July saw The Summer Nationals. Marc was sadly a no show with engine issues which then left Brian and Lee to battle it out for the family spoils. Lee qualified number one off the trailer. In eliminations Brian was knocked out by Simon Innes and Lee pulled an unexpected red light in the 2nd round against Dave Cherrett.
The Greenlight Nationals held in late August saw the first Huxley vs Huxley race with Brian and Marc meeting in the 1st round with Marc taking the win (getting a bit emotional in the process). Lee lost to points leader Amy Watkins in round three. After this event Lee was number two in the championship points race with only two races remaining.
Round number five of the championship was the Euro Finals. Lee beat Marc in their 3rd round match up before going on to reach his first final of the year, sadly losing out to Ronnie Mercer. After qualifying number 3 and with points leader Amy losing in her first round race this gave Lee the advantage going into the final round of the championship.
The final round of the championship and Lee was in a strong position as points leader. Lee struggled to get the Nova dialled in during qualifying and finished up in 19th position meaning Amy could still win the championship if things went her way. After the 2nd round, match ups saw Amy lose alongside fellow points chaser Ronnie Mercer. Lee had sealed his first solo championship with a win against Amy’s dad Neill.
After another fantastic year of competitive racing Lee finished as Pro E.T champion with Marc finishing a respectable 9th (who knows where he’d have finished if he hadn’t missed a meeting) with Brian finishing 17th out of 49. A great result for all Huxley's! Amazingly Brian and Lee managing to avoid each other throughout the season!
Finally, outside the main six championship rounds, the Doorslammer event saw Lee back behind the wheel of the Mustang. Saturday saw a red light loss in the quarter finals to Keith Herbert. On Sunday Lee faired much better, luck was on his side with two solo runs pulled from a hat on his way to the final. In the final, Lee would lose a tight race against good friend Billy Gane.
The Nova is off to a new home so who knows what 2022 will bring, but Lee said “Bigger and better things are to come in 2022. Bring it on!
Plus a huge thank you to all of our sponsors; Blackpole Recycling, JGM Flooring, SJ Carpet and Flooring Supplies Ltd, ETB Worcester, Bradfords Building Supplies, PJ Home Improvements, M F Hydraulics, B A Hirons, HSC Utilities, Blackpole Powder Coating, ASD engines, VP Fuels, F and A Racing, GG Holloway and Sons, SB Plumbing and Heating and Hafren Environmental Associates.”
SportsTribal hits the mark. 7th December:
Many thanks to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame director Jerry Cookson for sending a review of the SportsTribal FREE steaming TV service and its extensive NHRA programming (click the photo to go direct to the NHRA channel):
I have downloaded the app to my ipad and some of the NHRA stuff from back in the day has been impressive to say the least. In fact there's earlier content streaming that I have never seen before. Just watched the 1965 Winternationals; the original ABC Wide World of Sports show all in glorious black and white.
In some of the shows there's a lot of up to date programming from Fox Sports and coverage from 2020 and 2021 seasons. Announcer Brian Lohnes also has his own look back segment concentrating on racing stories from back in the day.
And that's not all. Sports Tribal also features programming from MavTV with many programmes sponsored by Lucas Oil featuring a variety of US motorsports from NASCAR, ARCA, World of Outlaws, Pro Pulling League and Drag Boat Racing. In the 'On The Edge' series they have featured drag bikes from South Georgia Motorsports Park with Top Fuel and Top Fuel Harley.
Other channels include Extreme (this channel has featured drag racing before)and RPM Motorsports with British and European based circuit racing and rallying.
From the web site it was so easy to download the app to any device and it's all FREE 24/7. I believe that you can also watch it on your TV through an Amazon Firestick (some smart TVs and TV boxes include SportsTribal on the Plex app - editor)!
I know what I'll be watching during the closed season even if some programmes are repeated several times but some of the earlier NHRA TV shows from ABC are rather good entertainment; some I've seen on our own ITV World of Sport in the 70s. Great stuff.
Perhaps if more respond and join the channel for the drags then maybe they will increase there coverage to feature IHRA, other American drag racing programming and European races from the past.
Superb entertainment.
Swift snippets. 7th December:
Happy Birthday today to Tombola assistant extraordinaire Carolyne Beckwith and to Nostalgia Superstock racer Jake Cawthorne. Have a great day both.
Lee Johnstone, owner and co-driver of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour-winning Ain't No Saint has an unusual request: "Would the owner of this picture please get in touch with me as we have a media company who wishes to use it and wants your permission?" The picture shows Ain't No Saint in the far lane racing the 'Frite of Mark Bull and Stephen Gotz.
"The second car is the well known 1968 Velocity Ford Mustang Pro ET car which has a high revving 388cid small block with Powerglide trans, with a small sniff of nitrous; the Mustang is capable of 8.9 secs in the quarter mile and its new driver will be Nick Weel. Nick will start without nitrous to get used to the car.
"Our race dates are not fixed yet however we want to go to the Main Event of course, depending on covid restrictions, and the rest of the season is to be decided.
Readers may spot the Viper as the ex Johan Ooman car which competed in UK Super Pro ET between 2012-16.
Swift snippets. 5th December:
Good luck and stay safe to expat Swedish Pro Modified racer Adam Flamholc who ran an eighth mile qualifying time of 3.682/205.41 to go 23rd out of 49 cars for the 50th Annual Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Florida. The tight 32 car field for eliminations was between 3.616 #1 and 3.717 #32. For those interested in the detail of what combinations competed in qualifying, we recommend this Facebook post from Cole Rokosky. If you want to see the action from Bradenton live, tune into Floracing from 14:00 GMT onwards.
We wish a Happy Birthday to Norwegian Super Comp Racer Mari Udtian, expat Czech Comp Bike racer Jiri Lukes, and to former Top Methanol Dragster racer Tony Dönges. Belated greetings for yesterday to Sportsman ET racer Holley Walters, Top Fuel crew chief Mark Bodimeade and Fuel Funny Car crew member Malc Short. Hope you are having, or had, a great day guys.
Flamholc at Snowbirds this weekend. 3rd December:
We last reported on the racing activities of hyperactive expat Swedish doorslammer racer Adam Flamholc in March. Since then, he has covered thousands of miles in the US, made racing visits to Russia and Sweden, won his first no-prep title, entered into No Prep Kings and built a doorslammer for son Mattias and crewman William Serler to race.
Back in March, Adam did two races in one crazy weekend when he qualified his Corvette on 19th at NMCA Musclecar Mayhem at Bradenton Motorsports Park, then he took his blower and various other parts off the Vette and placed it on his big tyre Viking Nova II, driving some 500 miles to do some 'Arm Drop' racing at Powerhouse Dragway, Fountain, Florida on Saturday 20th. There was a problem with the 'Vette as both front wheels were found 10 minutes before his run to be cracked, however thanks to another expat European Rene Meierhofer, a spare set of wheels were borrowed, and he went on to record 3.704/205.07 to qualify #3. His first round win in the Nova is shown on a Youtube video courtesy National No Prep Association. The Nova unfortunately suffered some front end damage and the race was on to repair the nose before its next race.
After that, Adam went back to Bradenton on Sunday to race his '63 Corvette, where he ran a winning first round 3.781/204.51. Adam improved to 3.71 in the second round but went down to Randy Weatherford's 3.61 when his engine shut off at 450ft.
April - “Street Outlaw Fastest in America”
The damage to the Nova was made good by crewmen William Serler and Thomas Monsenego, Adam joking that "We have become bodywork experts since we started no prep racing!" The quick repair was needed as the team headed out for a three week road trip, stopping at Turn Key Speedshop in Texas to get the front of the Nova painted and completed. The destination, after 45 hours drive, was Las Vegas for Discovery Channel’s “Street Outlaw Fastest in America”, his first race on the street. Thomas said "It’s definitely really different that what we’re used to but we love it". Adam tested on 31st March and 5th April and ran the race on 9th April. He said "I really like racing on the streets! It's like going back to my roots! When I grew up in Sweden and started racing, we didn't have any tracks, so basically every Wednesday and Saturday we found places to race. And its all coming back to me now!" The only problem was a steel body was required to be legal for street racing (if you see what we mean).
Once back at his Cape Coral, Florida base Adam concentrated on tuning customer Steve Wiley's '63 Corvette at a Pro Mod race at Xtreme Raceway Park, Ferris, Texas on 18th April where Steve qualified second and won the race with a best run of 3.71 @ 210 (new PB for speed). Steve commented "Adam helped turn a car that I’ve been fighting for about 2 years into a badass hotrod that was on rails! Thank you for all the help!"
May - ADRL rain-off replaced by RODS
Preparation for Adam's two next races in Texas was next, first to the Texas Motorplex for the ADRL Dragpalooza season opener April 30-May 1st, then with the Nova for Brawl In The Falls 2.0 No-Prep on May 7-8 at Wichita Falls, TX. Both cars went into Adam's 18 wheel trailer however the day before the ADRL event the sanctioning body took the decision to cancel the race with inbound bad weather likely to ruin the weekend.
Not to be deterred, Adam found the RODS Pro Mod event at Albuquerque Dragway, New Mexico starting 30th April and proceeded to drive through the night to get there in time. Even taking account of the drive there were other challenges. Adam said "Always interesting to race at new tracks! This is a high elevation track, altitude is 8000-9000ft above sea level. This will be a fun challenge changing gear ratios etc to try to get the car right for the conditions here." He qualified second despite the car "Keeping blowing the tires off half way down the track. We made a bunch of changes to the car to soften it up, so hopefully it’ll go down today!" It did, Adam qualifying first with a 4.163/165.62, but there were ignition problems on that run. "On the last q run the car shut off before the finish line. We changed everything in the ignition system, tried to run it straight on the mag, just couldn't get it to fire." Running out of time to try to fix the car, Adam and William packed up and headed towards Texas.
At Witchita Falls, Adam brought out the Nova but lost first round. Adam explained "The track was better then what I expected down low, so I took a bit to much power out of it, then at the top end it got lose, so I pedalled it a couple of times, and lost by a car length." The team found out the source of the ignition problem at Turn Key Speed Shop a couple of days later, where the Nova got treated to a new, lighter front end, hood, doors and a silver paint job whilst the Vette was being tested at Xtreme Raceway Park, Ferris before the following weekend's (14th-15th May) round two in the Texas outlaw Pro Mod series. Adam admitted "We didn't really put the work needed in on my Corvette to make it right for outlaw Pro Mod racing".
The following weekend (22nd May) was Bobby Wildchild's Big Tyre Cash Days no prep race at US19 Dragway Albany, Georgia, with the Nova. Adam won the race in the hot conditions, his first no prep race win. He commented: "It's a lot of work between races having both the Pro Mod Corvette and The Viking Nova, and changing setups almost every week, and its just me and William that works on the cars, but he ain't complaining, and make sure it gets done! This is the first race we won in No prep, I want to dedicate it in honour of Daisy Mae, a 6 year old girl lost her life a couple of weeks ago, this win is for her, Andy Cowen, Kayleigh Cowen and their families."
June - No Prep Kings
Back to Florida, Adam undertook preparation for his trip to Russia (a race in Bowling Green, Kentucky 29th-30th May with NHRA inviting 8 outlaw Pro Mod teams to run at their divisional event was passed up), followed by testing the Nova at Orlando Speed World Dragway and then to National Trail Raceway, Hebron, Ohio for No Prep Kings 5th-6th June. He said "This was our first No Prep Kings event, and it was huge! A ton of people, a ton of cars and good racing. We ran in the class Future NPK, and made some good runs, getting to the semi finals". His run was spoilt by a failed Bruno convertor, following a staging delay, causing the car to overheat.
The next No Prep Kings race was June 18-19 at West Palm Beach International Raceway. Adam said "Not a good weekend of racing for us, on the first test run the ring gear on the starter broke, and it took some time to fix it, so we missed both grudge/test runs. Then in first round of eliminations the car shut off 3 seconds into the run.. Haven't looked at it yet, so I dont know why. But, it was great to race close to home with family at the track! And the young Flamholc Racing crew worked hard in the Florida summer heat!"
July/August/September - Russia and Sweden
This was Adam's last race in US for a while as he headed to Russia (RDRC to help with tuning and technical things at the Russian Drag Racing Community, particularly with the team of Dmitry Samorukov. Because of Covid, its been hard to travel overseas, but yesterday I got a Visa, so on Wednesday Im heading over! Gonna be good to meet all my friends in Russia again. I also hope to be able to see family and friends in Sweden, that I haven't seen for almost 2 years now, also because of Covid."
The first race was at RDRC Racepark in Zhukovsky, Moscow, Russia on 3rd-4th July, but Adam's participation was limited due to waiting on parts to finish the RDRC Technology Viper of Dmitry Samorukov and his own Mustang, however the dragster of Dmitry Lisin which Adam tuned went 7.47 for a PB improvement of 1.5s. Adam's family were in Sweden where they held a early 20th birthday party for his daughter Isabell, but Adam was unable to leave Russia due to covid-related visa restrictions and, worse, went down with food poisoning. The second race at RDRC Racepark (first round of the RDRC champsionship) was on 30th July, however the first day was rained off limiting qualifying. It also rained pretty hard after first round of eliminations, so the race got canceled. In the RDRC Technology team, Dmitry qualified first with the Viper, and won first round. Adam's Mustang had issues with the brakes and Dmitry Lisin's dragster suffered a broken pump in the transmission broke. "Its not easy to find parts for these cars here in Russia, or to get parts shipped here," In the event, the other cars of Dmitry Samorukov and Dmitry Lisin were able to run, but Adam's did not.
Mid August Adam took a break flying back to Florida and then on 24th August to Sweden to support Rimbert Vahlström's '53 Vette Bankrobber Top Doorslammer to #1 qualifier at Malmo before the rains came, then heading back to Moscow for round three of the RDRC championship. The race, scheduled for 28th-29th August, got postponed, making the 17th-19th September race at RDRC Racepark and 2nd-3rd October at Fort Grozny Autodrom in Chechnya the final round. As well as preparing the cars, there was time for tourism and exercise, and a trip back to Florida. In the Russian Drag Racing Championship, only one race was completed this season, and in that event Dmitry Samorukov lost the final on a holeshot, so he ended up second in points.
October - making history in the NHRA
Adam returned to Florida on 4th October, however wasn't able to run the No Prep Kings in Tulsa 9th-10th October as he was still waiting on parts. But at that stage he was starting to work on a Chevy Beretta, named Odin, that he plans to do some street racing with son Mattias Flamholc and crewman William driving, which they tested at Bradenton, the pair due to license soon. The Viking Nova has also been treated to a new engine however Adam was unable to attend his second no prep race in October due to viral pneumonia.
After recovering from illness, Adam embarked on his biggest road trip of the year, Cape Coral-Texas-Oklahoma-Las Vegas and back, around 5600 miles. The Texas stop was Brawl In The Falls 3.0 No-Prep at Wichita Falls on 23rd-24th October was a good race for Adam, reaching the final. He said "I lost the final to Brandon in his super cool Studebaker, the final was our first run in the left lane, and I had problems seeing the Christmas Tree, I deep staged and left way late. Brandon made a solid pass and deserved the win!"
As reported on 23rd October Dmitry Samorukov licensed for the NHRA race at Tulsa on 25th October and became the first Russian to race with NHRA. At the Las Vegas race, Dmitry raced the same Pro Modified Camaro that he competed in the 2019 FIA Championship and plans to race in the 2022 Championship, which will be his main focus as well as some NHRA dates in the US. Although there were electrical issues in qualifying, Dmitry had his first NHRA round win at the expense of former champion Stevie 'Fast' Jackson to the delight of his and Adam's fans.
November - World Street Nationals
Adam went to the World Street Nationals at Orlando Speedworld Dragway with the Corvette, the first time he raced it since mid-May. "The Thursday test day was cancelled by rain, then on Friday we waited in line for 3 hours then when we where gonna run the starter broke. Saturday in Q2 the car with a new engine, shut off after half a second. We got one test run and one qualifying run in, and I missed the tuneup on both of those. We had other issues as well, like the blower starter didn't work, MSD point box went bad." Adam worked on the car and returned to Bradenton to test on 20th and 21st November with a best eighth mile time of 3.734/202.94 (0.941 60ft) lifting to a 5.999/184.04 at the quarter.
December - Snowbirds
Adam will be racing this weekend in the 50th Annual Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Pro Modified (1/8 mile). In testing yesterday he recorded a best of 3.714/203.22 with a 0.935 60ft time. He said "On the first test run, I had it a bit too aggressive, it almost made it, but broke the tires lose at the first gearshift. We calmed it down a bit and made a good run!" The race should be a barnburner with 50 Promods all trying for a winning purse of $50,000. So good luck and stay safe to Adam.
You can see streaming video coverage of the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Floracing from 21:00 GMT tonight (subscription required) and media coverage at David Hilner photography.
Swift snippets. 3rd December:
A very Happy Birthday from us at Eurodragster.com today to Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders, Outlaw Anglia racer Brian Nixon, and expat Norwegian Top Alcohol Dragster racer Julie Nataas. No news update yesterday but we hope Funny Car racer John Spuffard, Pro Mod racer Dave Pollen, Robinson Race Cars constructor Luke Robinson and Outlaw Street racer Dave Mahoney had a great day.
Thanks to Drag Seen publisher Paul Martin for letting us know that Drag Seen 2 is now officially sold out, and sales have raised £390.43 for Cancer Research UK.
Kieran has uploaded his Top 10 Drag Cars of 2021 to his Mk1Kieran Youtube channel. He said "This list consists of cars I filmed on track throughout this year and includes some awesome new builds and stand out performances at Santa Pod Raceway. As always it was really hard to narrow it down to just 10 that I haven't picked in previous years, This is just my personal choice and lets me make a fun video in the off season which hopefully you all enjoy!"
Flame and Thunder in the year 2000 and 5 year old me was taken to my first ever event at Santa Pod by my parents. I remember the jet cars of the time, the huge bonfire, the cracking fireworks and all that goes with, but the biggest aspect of my first event I still remember to the day was experiencing the noise and speed of the cars that this unique sport has to offer.
Fast forward through the following number of years which saw me start to go to race meetings with my Dad Adrian, who crewed for our good friend Dave Ward in Pro and Super Pro with the Rampage nostalgia funny car, where at a national event I would see a junior dragster for the first time. Dad! Dad! Can I drive one too?! And so eventually for my eleventh birthday I got the chance to drive the SPRC junior; I was hooked. Unfortunately my parents weren't financially interested in funding such a venture (can't think why?!) so I had to watch the other lucky guys and gals my age race them instead, as I continued to go to every event and help Mr. Ward with his 'grown up' car. My Dad's words at the time after declining my proposal of junior drag racing are still remembered to this day - "when you're old enough, you'll be able to race in big cars" - well having been officially an adult for 8 years now, I wish he'd told me at the time that it isn't as easy as that! However I said to myself at that time that one day, somehow, I'd be one of those lucky ones who gets the chance to race what I called a 'grown up' car.
I made my drag racing debut in 2018 in Truck Norris, my cracking little Chevy S10 SS pickup, in Sportsman ET, coming third in my first event and winning the second. 2019 saw my first full season, taking my first championship. In that same time period I purchased and built up my procharged Foxbody Mustang aptly named No Fox Given, debuted it in the Covid Cup series in 2020, blew the head gasket in the first event and believed to have done a bit of bottom end damage too, so sidelined it and jumped into Truck Norris for the following few events, winning the National Finals and finishing the series runner up.
That first event and debut for my Foxbody Mustang saw brothers Dave and Stu King come by and watch a spot of drag racing and take an interest in what me and my Dad had done with the Fox. They're mainly of F1 stock car racing background, you know that roundy roundy stuff, but love their drag racing too and are friends of whom I've known through Dave Ward for a number of years, as Dave King painted the chromoflair paint on the Rampage funny car. The event ended and I received a phone call from Dave Ward saying he'd just got off the phone with Dave King who had a proposal for me. Dave and Stu had been piecing an altered together for a number of years prior to this point, but the project had stalled in the last few years due to various reasons and it was just sitting in the garage waiting to be finished, eager to be let loose again on the 1/4 mile. With neither of them able to offer the time needed to finish the car, would I be interested in finishing it off...and then subsequently race it. I don't think Dave Ward had finished his sentence in full to me over the phone before I replied a resounding yes! All of a sudden the boyhood dream of racing a fully fledged 'grown up' car was about to come true.
This meant my Foxbody would have to wait for now, as me and my Dad had a new project to undertake. He hasn't told me he's grown tired of the next project I've brought forward to the table yet, so he must still like doing it! Upon first seeing it, the altered to the naked eye looked pretty close to being track ready, and it was thought to be too. Named Rattler, the striking rattle snake airbrushed to the gorgeous red paint looked fantastic, coupled with a roof chop from the original mould and a big block Chevy; I was more than sold on it. It's the ex-Wobble car that competed in Supercharged Outlaws many moons ago; a Steve Plueger funny car chassis that used to house a rather enormous supercharged methanol burning hemi, so with it's now mild big block Chevy the chassis will be saying its thank-yous in comparison.
We started going over the car, and to cut a very long story short, it was found the engine was unfortunately a bit worse for wear, to put it lightly, and being an already 60 thou over 2 bolt main 454 truck block it wasn't going to be viable to continue with it given the extent of the damage. A new one was needed. This meant the plans to be out in 2021 with the altered were quickly curtailed and with a broken Mustang I turned back to my ol' faithful Truck Norris, with whom we went onto win a second national championship with. I managed to source a new build but mild 489BBC from Lee Huxley on behalf of Neil Bell, which we took straight to Hauser to be gone over, before making its way to the Williams Brothers for a dyno tune. I wanted an engine that ran on pump fuel, would do 'laps' all day long without breaking a sweat and be low maintenance, and this engine should prove to be just that. Stick something with a bit under 600hp into what's effectively a shopping trolley and it should go just fine, with goals of anywhere in the mid to low 9s, hopefully entering into Pro ET providing everything checks out with the tagging of the chassis and all the safety bits and bobs that goes with. It's going to be a year of learning the car and learning how to best drive it, trying to dial it in to some sort of consistency, and have a damn good time doing it. Of course writing this article has put a bit of pressure on to actually get the car done and out on time for the start of the 2022 season, but sometimes you need a bit of that in life to get things done!
This is a very exciting prospect for me, my drag racing dream coming to life, and this wouldn't be possible without Dave and Stu, putting their faith in me and my Dad to bring their car to the track after so many years of ownership, of which I cannot express my thanks enough. I hope we can do the car and you guys proud. See those of you at the Dinner and Dance who are going, otherwise see you all at the track.
Wild Bunch 2021 prize presentation. 1st December:
Many thanks to Wild Bunch co-ordinator Claire Meaddows for sending her account of their 25th Annual Prize Presentation which was held on Saturday, 27th November at Drayton Manor, Tamworth. This was a fantastic night, enjoyed by all, says Claire:
Many thanks to our great MC Paul Wright, who did a wonderful job as always, calling the winners, reading the citations and doing so with great style! Thank you also to our fab DJ Stuart who has given us many years of great discos and really enjoys joining in with celebrating our winners!
All the various Series winners were presented with their awards, with the biggest winners of the night being The Marras Pete and Rob Brown (pictured right with partners and crew Natalie Long and Hayley Fyfe) who, with their awesome Rebel slingshot, WON every Series we run! This was their first time winning any Series! They won the 25th Anniversary Wild Bunch Series, the 6th Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge, the 9th Springbridge MSUK Challenge, (held over the 4 MSA events that the Wild Bunch compete in) and the 23rd Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, as well as the SPRC Championship for Wild Bunch, to be awarded in January. Of note, the twins had both of their cars in the Top 4 of the Wild Bunch Series, with Wrathchild finishing 3rd! This is the first time this has been done! Many Congratulations to Pete and Rob for their wins, and to all those who finished in the Top 4, and the Top 10 in the Wild Bunch Series.
The Wild Bunch would like to thank all their sponsors and those who have provided great services this year! Bob Hawkins of Springbridge Direct Ltd, for his longstanding and ongoing support, and our host of other event trophy and prize money sponsors this season: MJC Property Solutions, Sutton Soda Blasting, Team Ratcatcher Racing, Matt Fuller of Team Oblivion, Ian Wild of WildCat Racing and Steve Cassisi of Piston Rings & Things (awesome bespoke unique trophies!). Thank you also for amazing bespoke trophies at the Hot Rod Drags to Elaine Southworth of Coolengineeredart. Plus a massive thank you to Photog extraordinaire Callum Pudge of Pudgey’s Pictures for the brilliant photos for our Top 10 and other winners!
We would also like to hugely thank each and every one at Santa Pod for all they have done to run such a fantastic season in difficult circumstances this year! What an amazing team! We massively appreciate all they have done to provide excellent events for us to race at! You are all stars!
There were presentations made during the evening, including to Secretary Lynne Coulsell, and Race Co-ordinator, Treasurer and GM Claire Meaddows for all their efforts. Gifts were given to all the lovely ladies attending. Flowers were given to Claire and Angie Woods, kindly donated by Mark Coulsell of Team Limited Funz.
There were more special presentations made including some crystal stars to commemorate our WB Silver Anniversary, to founder and first Chairman Roy Wilding, and longtime 13-year Chairman Chris Hartnell. It was brilliant to have both Roy and Chris there to celebrate the occasion, and also to present their trophies personally!
We also presented commemorative crystal stars to our current highly valued committee members: Mark Coulsell, Dave Williams, Bob Hawkins, Steve Cassisi and Mark Hartnell and to GM Claire Meaddows for that role.
We also have a star to send to Tony Smith in recognition of all of his years of service on the committee (and get well soon Tony from us at Eurodragster.com).
Thank you to all these wonderful people for all they have done for the Wild Bunch over the years and for all they continue to do, it is so much appreciated!
In addition, the winners of all the Wild Bunch Special Merit Awards were announced, and are shown below:
Big Bang Trophy: Bob Hawkins with Time Traveller II Fastest time by a British-engined dragster (Sponsored by Martin Holgate): Tim Roy in Boston Straggler II - 9.121 Fastest MPH: Mark Coulsell in Ballbreaker with 161.94 mph Quickest E.T.: Bob Hawkins in Time Traveller II 7.800 Best Newcomer: Steve Garlant in Sonic Attack Best Dragster/Radical: Phil James in Rampage Best Slingshot: Andy Clifford in Snake Eyes Best Altered: Steve Garlant in Sonic Attack Best Turned Out: Andy Clifford and Team Roll the Dice Racing in Snake Eyes Best Achievers: Pete and Rob Brown of Wrathchild & Rebel Racing Perseverance Award: The Heaven family of Slimline Racing with Tight Fit Derek and Brenda Annable trophy: Chris and Callum Swinchatt of Kings N/W C & C Sportsperson: Jim Tanner of Shindigger Crew of the Year: Hayley Fyfe & Natalie Long, George & Julie Brown and Rob & Pete Brown of Wrathchild & Rebel Racing Scottie Durrant Above & Beyond Award: Team Limited Funz Racing with Ballbreaker Personal Achievement (Daddy Cool Sag Award): Warren Rowlands & Angie Woods & Team Destiny’s Angel Crazy Chris Showmanship Award: Pete & Rob Brown of Wrathchild & Rebel Racing
Plus there was a new award, the Driver Dave Memorial Bell - Kept Calm and Carried on! in loving memory of Dave Rowlands. This was presented to Mark Hartnell.
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.
The 2019 winners, The Marras of Team Wrathchild & Rebel Racing, presented the Shield to the 25th winners: Team Limited Funz - Mark & Lynne, Steve & Anna, Harley & Ada. This is the 2nd time that this outstanding team have won the award, making them the first team to ever win it twice! Very well deserved! Huge Congratulations to the whole team on this achievement, a very popular win!
We also held a raffle to raise funds for the club, so we would like to say many thanks to all who donated prizes.
The night proceeded with champagne for some, dancing, cheers, hugs and laughter all round. It was an honour and a delight to be with such a great Bunch of lovely people!
Many congratulations to all our winners. We can’t wait until 2022 to be back out at the drags for another fantastic season!
Full info can be found on the WB website www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk.
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy, dry, safe and quick New Year to all racers and teams, marshals and officials, track and safety crews, photographers, media, promoters, managers and of course Eurodragster.com staff, who all work so hard (Thanks! - Editor).
Thanks to everyone for all they do for this sport of Drag Racing we all love so much! See you all at the drags next season!
Kelly tapped to write VP Golden History. 1st December:
Eurodragster.com sponsor VP Racing Fuels, Inc., a world leader in fuel technology and product innovation, has commissioned Jim "JK" Kelly to author a book chronicling the company’s first fifty years in business, 1975-2025.
"There probably isn’t one element of VP and its history that Kelly wasn’t here for or was close to until he retired in 2015," stated Bob Merz, Director, Brand Management & Licensing at VP. "With his knowledge of the company’s personnel, suppliers, affiliations, their challenges, and accomplishments, he was the obvious choice to write this book."
Kelly served in various capacities in his thirty-plus years with VP, including Regional Manager and also as Director of Sales & Marketing. While Kelly retired to write novels, six to date, Kelly continued to work with the company as a marketing consultant. His most recent novel, Deadly Driver is a fictional thriller about a Formula 1 driver who’s been forced to work for the CIA. That novel has received excellent reviews from world champion racers and the media.
"My first experience with VP dates back to the mid-’70s in San Antonio when the company was just an upstart going after the big players in the industry like 76, Sunoco, Elf, and the rest," said Kelly. "I told my tale in the novel Fuelin' Around, and now VP’s asked me to recount the whole story. It’s a remarkable one, and I’m honored they’ve chosen me to tell it."
You can buy Jim's books from his web site jkkelly.com.
