European Drag Racing News

2022 SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 3.
30th December: Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster.com are again teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the 2022 SPRC Perpetual Awards, which will be presented at the SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation on 18th February 2023.

For several of the 2022 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.

The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows. Click on a picture to see a large version.

Morrisons Junior Drag Bikes - Leah and Brad
Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike

Vote for Morrisons Junior Drag Bikes

Leo Lester
Suzukiperformancebikeparts.co.uk Comp Bike

Vote for Leo Lester

Craig Wright
JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike

Vote for Craig Wright

Alfie Udall
Blood Cancer UK ET Bike

Vote for Alfie Udall

John McLean Snr
Suzukiperformancebikeparts.co.uk Comp Bike

Vote for John McLean Snr

Shawn Buttigieg
Suzukiperformancebikeparts.co.uk Comp Bike

Vote for Shawn Buttigieg

Grace Pollen
Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike

Vote for Grace Pollen

To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official Perpetual Awards voting page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the SPRC Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If your device doesn't automatically generate an E-Mail then please E-Mail your choice to [email protected].

The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which nominations are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Peter Walters for designing and implementing the online SPRC event entry system and website. Again see the official page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail.

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 21st January 2023.

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.

Hayley Hadfield funeral arrangements.
30th December: Thanks to Andy Hadfield for sharing details of the funeral arrangements for wife Hayley who sadly passed away on 9th December:

Hayley's funeral will take place on 16th January at 1.45pm at St Michael and All Angels Church, Mottram in Longdendale, Hyde SK14 6JL. All are welcome and we expect the ceremony to last around an hour.

Dress code is formal but please, add your own splash of colour. It’s a celebration of life and Hayl would love people to wear a colourful tie or waistcoat. I’m sure the ladies will have some great ideas to brighten things up.

The cremation shall be a private ceremony and an invitation shall be sent.

The funeral reception shall take place at the White Hart Hotel in Lydgate. Again, all are welcome and you should travel straight from the funeral to the White Hart Hotel, approximately a 20 min drive with plenty of parking. If you are travelling a long distance and wish to book a hotel room, please contact the White Hart direct or Google hotels near OL4 4JJ.

Swift snippets.
30th December: Happy Birthday for today to Nostalgia Funny Car crew, and former Dennis Priddle crew, Phil Pead, UK Nostalgia Superstock racer Mick Sharpe and Super Street Bike sister Bianca Mechaell, we hope you all have a wonderful day.

US engine builder Steve Morris has announced he will be coming to Street Week Sweden in 2023. Steve will be shipping his 6 second 4500hp Caprice 'Boostmaster' wagon (pictured) to Sweden to battle with the Swedish champions. So if you were thinking of following Street Week Sweden, 2023 will be a unique opportunity. Registration for the event starts on 28th February (always a quick sellout - Editor) and the event will take place from 8th July to 15th July, starting three weeks after the UK Street Weekend to enable competitors and spectators to attend both.

Fuerza Libre plans 2023.
30th December: Spanish drag racing organisers Fuerza Libre (Free Force) have announced dates for 2023, their 11th season of competition. Here is a guide to the events taking place and notes on some of the classes and key players.

The 2023 season consists of five events at three locations:

18th February, Circuito de Navarra - part of Vol Race Festival 17th-19th February (Also including Drift, Expo in the paddock, concerts and lots of partying)
1st-2nd April, Circuito de Jarama - first championship round and league of PB times
13th-14th May, Aerodromo de Matilla - second championship round and league of PB times
1st-3rd September, Aerodromo de Matilla - European Challenge and third championship round and league of PB times
21st-22nd October, Circuito de Navarra - fourth championship round and bracket racing

Whilst Matilla is an airfield which has been used by Fuerza Libre since 2016, Navarra (used in 2021 and 2022) and Jarama are professional motor racing circuits the latter of which has hosted Formula One events in the past.

The first event of the year at Circuito de Navarra is available for online entry at this link. The drag racing part of what is mainly a show will take place from 18:15 to 23:00 and consist of free practice.

Championship events are competed in four classes:

Street (vehicles with a ITV (MOT equivalent) certificate on street tyres) - 2022 Champion Rafael Amutio (BMW M240i), record 10.059 (Marcelino Murillo, Audi RS3)
Pro - 2022 Champion Pablo Nunez (Croos Kart ZX12R - pictured right), record 8.861 (Angel Romero, Chevrolet Camaro)
4x4 - 2022 Champion Rafael Amutio (BMW M240i) record 9.846 (Luis Rivas, Audi RS3)
4x2 (RWD or FWD) - 2022 Champion Pablo Nunez (Croos Kart ZX12R), record 8.861 (Angel Romero, Chevrolet Camaro)

Vehicles running quicker than 11s are required to have a cage and there are many other competition and safety rules listed in the rulebook (in Spanish).

Competition is essentially a sprint to the quickest aggregate ET and RT over a number of passes over the course of the event. The minimum class entry is 4, and if entry is more than 25 a change to the class structure may be considered. The entry for the Matilla event in May was 110. As well as class competition there are exhibition vehicles present, including jets.

The web site of Fuerza Libre, incorporating entry, results and photo galleries, can be seen at this link and the organisation also has Facebook and Instagram pages.

Custom Car January issue.
30th December: UK drag racing and hot rodding magazine Custom Car has published its January 2023 edition The cover is adorned by a photo taken by our Julian of Supercharged Outlaw racer Keith Freeman at the NSRA Hot Rod Drags. Coverage by Jules (photography) and Dave Biggadyke (words) extends to eight pages.

Other drag racing features included are an interview by Keith Lee with Glen and Tim Read, and a three page photo report on the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame gala held in November, with Jules and Dave once again supplying the material. The magazine also has articles on hot rod builds and shows and a nostalgic Custom Car Years look back incorporating feature cars of yore with contemporaneous, somewhat unrelated, news items...

You can subscribe to Custom Car for £25 for 13 issues by direct debit, with a free inspection lamp, by going to www.assignmentmedia.co.uk/customcar. When the subscription renews a reduced charge of £42 applies. Or visit your local newsagent and pay the cover price of £4.99.

Swift snippets.
30th December: Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET and Super Comp crew chief and dad Pete Kellett, Supercharged Outlaws racer Paul Dale, FWD racer Andy Nicholls and former Comp Altered racer John Tebbutt. We hope you all have a wonderful day.

Hal Far December RWYB.
29th December: During the week following the rained-off Malta Finals, Malta Drag Racing Association decided to have a run what ya brung at Hal Far Raceway on 17th December to end the 2022 season. Media has now been published from the event and we have collected some of the notable times recorded.

You can see videos of 148 runs made during the RWYB event at the Youtube channel of MDRA secretary Konrad D'Anastasi.

Notable runs came from Tyson Debono (pictured left) who recorded 6.330/217.94 to go to the top of the list of Malta's 4 Cylinder Dragsters. Clifton Abdilla recorded a 6.310/202.75 in his 2JZ 6 cylinder engined machine. The V8 engined Rebellious II of Mario Borg ran an outstanding 6.270/219.91 for a new PB for the nitrous assisted machine. In all we counted 10 dragsters making test runs which bodes well for 2023.

In the FWD ranks, Greek racer Taxos Petropoulos (pictured right) of RTMG Performance (based in Athens and Thessaloniki) ran an outstanding 8.435/170.16 new PB which raises him to #8 in the European FWD league. You can see video of their event posted by FWD admin Luke Stevenson at this link, with other PBs noted on the European FWD Facebook page.

Photos from the RWYB have been posted on Facebook by Alex Buttigieg.

Drag Seen #3 - out now.
29th December: Thanks to photographer Paul Martin for sending us details of Drag Seen 3 magazine which is now available in advance to readers of Eurodragster.com: The annual photography fest of the 2022 Nostalgia drag racing season 'seen' through the lenses of Paul Martin and Julian Hunt, Drag Seen 3 is out now. This year we are stoked to have Mr. Dan Podobinski (Hop Up, Kustom Deluxe) dipping into his archives for some outstanding photos from the U.S. Meltdown Drags.

We've have left Northampton too, visiting Melbourne Raceway for the first meet of the season and also attending the inaugural Barnstormer Dirt Drags at Kay's Barn, Dunnington. Plus we have a Gasser Circus featurette by Niamh Smith and a wild monster front cover by ace 'Fink' Eyeball Mike.

Drag Seen #3 is a A5 sized magazine featuring 60 pages of glorious techni-colour photos of smoking' burnouts, wild wheel stands, wilder racers and trackside racing action featuring Hot Rods, Kustoms, American muscle, Gassers, Diggers, Outlaws and outcasts all printed on 130 gram hi-quality paper wrapped in a 300 gsm cover.

Every copy copy comes with a Free Drag Seen 3 sticker! You can also add a Drag Seen Logo Sticker for just £1.50 when purchasing the magazine. The magazine is available on Ebay from this link. For those that missed last years issue 2 there are a very limited number available at this link.

All profits from Drag Seen are donated to Cancer Research UK.

Swift snippets.
29th December: Happy Birthday for today to UK Nostalgia Superstocka and Pro ET racer Gary Carr, Freddie's Revenge crew chief Terry Carter, Wild Bunch racer Elliott Jones Swedish Pro Mod racer Micke Johansson. We hope you all have a great day.

JT's New Year resolutions.
28th December: Many thanks and Season's Greetings to Pro Modified and Super Pro ET racer and site sponsor John Tebenham who wrote to us with his thoughts on the direction in which he will be travelling in 2023:

"With 2023 soon upon us, I am trying to be a man with a plan. We are definitely putting a passenger seat in the mad burnout Pop, bought from Matt Wright. I am so lucky to race my Pop in the brilliant Super Pro ET. With the engine away for a freshen up from I.C.E., I am going to add to the sponsors of the class for next season.

Only burnouts and eight mile runs on test days will be on offer. I’m sure that will be enough fun for one day. We will offer the tickets somehow and give the money to the charities of our two favourite drag racing friends who passed this year. So sad. J and H - enough said.

I really enjoy driving the Pro Mod, it’s fast but not really me, I like mad burnouts with wheels up runs; if anyone has £120k for a 5 second up to date absolutely start line ready car... It will go 5.8 this year and, believe it or not, is reasonably easy to drive. NO OFFERS - let me know. Don’t get me wrong, I have a 3 year plan with the car, but I want too go NPK (No Prep Kings to the uninitiated - Editor) in the US.

I have two great teams with Paul Marston on dial in duties on the Pop, and Dave Cherrett helping out as well, there’s something wrong with that man - amazing at dial ins. I have asked this before and will again, I want to do some road trip and race weekend videos for Youtube. The best one to watch is 187 Customs to get a gist of what I think would be fun. You would get ticket, food, beer, curry, fuel etc paid. It would be a lot of fun being involved in a two car team. It’s always strange as a racer how everyone says "Wow that was an amazing race", and I always say "I don’t know I didn’t get to see it I was in the car."

JT sends "massive thanks to Ian, Dave and all the crew on the start line, Keith without him none of this would be possible. Simon, bloody great Eurodragster.com (thanks! - Editor). And Kath who is incredible in sign-on and scares me."

Pioneer Stories returning.
28th December: Thanks to drag racing historians John Hunt, Nick Pettitt and Mick Gleadow, also to those involved in the early years of our sport, we will be presenting the third series of Pioneer Stories with the first article to be published on 2nd January 2023.

The identity of those telling their stories is a closely guarded secret for now, but will include many household drag racing names. If you think you've heard all there is to know about these drag racing legends, they have provided many stories and memorabilia which is new to us and most entertaining reading along the way. Stories will be published every Monday and Friday in January to March 2023.

In the meantime why not catch up with the stories of series 1 and 2. You'll find some additional photos and links to videos in them placed with the help of John and Nick.

Swift snippets.
28th December: Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Laura Baynton, Supercharged Outlaws racer Mike Couch and German super crew member Kirsten Krause. We hope you all have a fantastic day.

In his latest upload to his Youtube channel, Kieran has made a video of his favourite Mk1 Escorts from Santa Pod Raceway and Hal Far Raceway, Malta. Kieran says the video includes "the 20 quickest Ford Escorts I've captured going down the 1/4 mile this season. These times may not represent the vehicles PB just the quickest run I caught on camera!"

SPRC Christmas message.
23rd December: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Ian Marshall for the traditional Christmas message from SPRC:

The 2022 Race Season is complete, and we are all working towards the 2023 Season, whether in the garage on the net ordering parts or organising Permits for the 2023 events.

2022 as many have already stated was a tougher year than we hoped for, but we got there, we said goodbye to fellow racers, crew members and family and welcomed new members on board to the drag racing family, whom will hopefully be with us for many years to come. We also have seen many firsts, 2022 was the year of the mind bogglingly fast bike, Eric on a rocket bike covering the quarter mile in under 5 seconds, Al Smith on a 3-cylinder Nitro bike running a 5, Daniel on a Super Street Bike running 6.5 seconds and Shawn on a Comp Bike running 6.6 seconds on the quarter all outstanding numbers, we salute you one and all. Our drivers and crew have not stood still, Collin Millar running his first 6 in a Ford Pop (just stop and think about that for a second), Ida Zetterström running a 3.78 in a fuel car and more P.B’s than we can mention, a great year for many reasons.

So, we look forward to the 2023 season with high hopes for fast safe times and lots of sun please. In the meantime we hope that you all have a great Christmas and New Year and Santa is kind to you, We thank all of our Racers Crew members, families and those that make it possible for you to come and race, We thank all of the SPRC Marshal’s for their tireless hard work, Eurodragster and all of the other Media guys for so much work and long days, and of course the Santa Pod Staff who make all of this possible. Merry Christmas one and all from all the Santa Pod Racers Club Committee.

2022 SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 2.
23rd December: Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster.com are again teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the 2022 SPRC Perpetual Awards, which will be presented at the SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation on 18th February 2023.

For several of the 2022 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.

Dan Holloway
Modurstang Pro ET

Vote for Dan Holloway

Sam Young
VW Pro

Vote for Sam Young

Graham Smith
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator

Vote for Graham Smith

Rob Slater
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator

Vote for Rob Slater

Antony Wilkins
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator

Vote for Antony Wilkins

Ron Bartlett
Peter Nee Super Pro ET

Vote for Ron Bartlett

Brett Featherstone
Modurstang Pro ET

Vote for Brett Featherstone

PB Racing (Tom and Harry Peters)
Lucas Oil Junior Dragster

Vote for PB Racing

To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official Perpetual Awards voting page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the SPRC Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If your device doesn't automatically generate an E-Mail then please E-Mail your choice to [email protected].

The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which nominations are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Peter Walters for designing and implementing online SPRC event entry system and website. Again see the official page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail.

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 21st January 2023.

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.

Unusual car sales UK Christmas message .
23rd December: Unusual car sales UK admin Nigel Taylor writes "Merry Christmas Simon and crew, and have a great New year and a superb 2023 ahead (you too - Editor).

"Unusual car sales U.K. would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and an excellent 2023 season ahead. Massive thanks to all of you that have just browsed, sold, purchased, or simply just told your family, friends, colleagues about our Facebook site. There are lots of hot rods, customs, Yanks, classics and drag cars for sale on the site at present and lots that have been sold heading for the 2023 season.

"The site also has a list of car events and useful numbers connected with the hot rod/drag racing scene as well as advice, transportation contacts, a parts and projects page and a community page.

"We would like to say a massive Thankyou to Mike and Stevie Gates and the team at Hayling Garage, Hayling American Automotives, also Dan and Nic Williams of William Bros Racing and Eurodragster.com (you're welcome - Editor) for all the continued support and Thankyou to every single member that makes the site work so well."

You can visit Unusual car sales U.K. at this link.

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). We hope you are having special days.

2022 Champions' Champions.
23rd December: The Champions' Champions tables prepared by honorary Eurodragster.com staff member Andy Marrs and your editor 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.

Andy Marrs writes that in Top Fuel, Antti Horto has moved up the rankings to #6 from #7 and has passed 2000 points.

In Top Methanol (combined), Jonny Lagg is up to #2 from #3, Linn Floysvik up to #5 from #8, Daniel Jedborn up to #7 from #11 and Silvio Strauch up to #10 from #12. In FIA Pro Modified, Freddy Fagerstrom is up to #10 from #11.

In FIM Europe Bike all classes combined Rikard Gustafsson is up in the combined rankings to #2 from #4, Martin Bishop up to #6 from #7 and Steve Venables up to #8 from #10. Martin Bishop passed 2500 points, Mogens Lund passed 2000 points and Martin Newbury passed 1000 points.

In FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike, Rene Van Den Berg is up to #8 from #9 in the rankings. In FIM Europe Super Twin Top Fuel Bike Martijn de Haas is up to #6 from #9, passing 1500 points in the process, and Samu Kemppainen up to #7 from #8. In Pro Stock Bike Martin Newbury up to #10 from #13 and passed 1000 points. In FIM Europe Super Street Bike, Gary Bowe is up to #3 from #4 and Mogens Lund passed 2000 points. In Junior Drag Bike, Hollie King is straight into #4 in the rankings and Wichard Veldman up to #7 from #9.

Andy has given us a couple of landmarks for FIA Pro Stock racer Jimmy Ålund next season. The next time Jimmy is #1 qualifier in PS will be his 50th, and his next round win will be his 200th in FIA combined (he has 159 in PS and 40 in PM).

Finally, a couple of housekeeping points though. Firstly there is my usual caveat that there are some small gaps in my historical data, particularly the early FIM data. Also Top Methanol includes all TM data, both from when TMD and TMFC ran as single classes, and when they ran as a combined class. Hopefully that’s clear enough in the spreadsheets.

Readers can feel free to publish and\or quote this information anywhere, but a credit to Andy Marrs as the source is politely requested. Please remember, you and everyone else who may see this are my proof readers. Beyond help from some Excel tools this is very much a manual process, much as I try to avoid it, mistakes do happen. If anyone spots any please let Marrs know at [email protected].

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 2022 the National SPRC Championship had six events held under Motorsport UK or ACU permit. Five of events were able to be completed, the National Finals suffering poor weather which did allow some racing thanks to the efforts of Santa Pod Racers Club track crew; the extension of this event to three days next year will hopefully allow all racing to be accommodated.

We had first time champions in nine classes, compared with four last year and a record eleven in 2015. Discounting 2020, the number of back to back champions from 2021 was six, compared with eight in 2021 and a record nine in 2017.

The Motorsport UK Pro Modified champion was Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson, who with eight championships has won more than anyone else in the history of the class. Andy won the Summer Nationals and Bug Jam, with Swede Jan Ericsson also winning the two FIA events with Michel Tooren and Bobby Wallace each winning a round at the start and end of the season respectively. Andy Robinson leads the number of event wins (21) and points total scored since 1999.

The Funny Car Cup was the first championship for the class since 2019. In a close contest, Steve Ashdown won the championship despite not winning an event, instead performing consistently. We understand Steve, along with Kevin Chapman and Patrik Pers will be rebuilding or upgrading for 2023 with Kevin Kent and Jason Phelps returning to the fray once more. Looking back, Gordon Smith has won the most championships in the class with John Spuffard the most event wins whilst Kevin Kent has overtaken Gordon to have scored the most points.

In Competition Eliminator, Williams Bros Racing were dominant with Dan Williams winning the championship, scoring two wins with brother Nic Williams and customer Spencer Tramm both taking two wins apiece. Andy Hone has three championships over the period under review, Kev Perkins has the largest number of race wins and Robin Orthodoxou continues to lead the aggregate points.

In Super Pro ET, Billy Gane took the title despite having won one event with Joe Kellett winning two; this with Billy undertaking a significant amount of racing travel and fatherhood into the bargain. Over the years, Barry Giles has won 15 races and leads the points aggregate in the Giles & Hartley dragster, perhaps the winningest car in British Drag Racing since it first appeared some 30 years ago. Scott Hauser has won three championships in the class, the only racer to do so in a fiercely competitive category.

Pro ET had a first time winner with Brett Featherstone taking the championship in only his second year in racing, a win at the Festival of Power followed by good performances over the remainder of the season and congratulations to him. The class has been dominated by the Huxleys, formerly as a team with Brian and Lee sharing driving duties, latterly racing separately in different cars since 2021. Seven championships have been won by the Team Dark Horse (previously known as Top Banana); Rick McCann, now based in Sweden, remains in second place with three. Lee has had 14 wins over the last 24 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 Gary Lake won his first title with one event win to occasional class racer Andy Dibley's two. 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 third championship with a win at the Summer Nationals, Richard Tunstall taking two wins in his first year in the class. 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 Dibley who already had two Sportsman ET titles under his belt, took his first championship in the car formerly raced by the greatly missed and loved Jon Morton who, like Andy, won one race. Pete Creswell took two wins but not enough to secure his first championship. Stuart Doignie, the late Jon and Tim Adam have four championships apiece, with Stuart's four coming in consecutive years 2015-18. Jon had more race wins in the period than anyone else at 13, whereas Frank Mason continues to lead points scored over Jon who regained his second place in aggregate points in his final season.

In Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, congratulations to Andy Bond who won his third title, with three event wins, the most in any car 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 Luke Fulton on his title having won the Covid Cup in 2020, taking two wins over the course of the season. Joe Kellett has the most championships with three, Nick Mugridge continues to have the most wins with nine and Joe Kellett continues to lead aggregate points over Thomas Cook-Abbott.

In a year during which the class expanded greatly with a number of competition debuts, Dan De'ath took the title in his rookie year in 8.50 Bike with a win at the Summer Nationals. Jay Roe, Jake Mechaell and Mick Winyard have each won three championships. Jake and Jay both have 13 wins, and Jay has overtaken Jake to lead the aggregate points.

In 9.50 Bike, Richard Sawatzki scored his tenth title with four wins along the way, the most for any class, and congratulations to Richard who has now recorded more than 1000 competitive passes after 20 years in the class. He has now had seven championships in a row, not counting the Covid Cup year and his 30 wins heads Fred Furlong's eleven, Richard continuing with an overall points lead over Fred that won't be overcome anytime soon.

In ET Bike Phil Pratt won his fifth championship with two event wins; Phil 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 15 compared to Gary's four, and leads Gary also in aggregate points.

ACU Top Fuel Bike had a new champion in Neil Midgley who had previously won five titles in Funny Bike. Neil, getting familiar with the Puma bike during the year won two races to Steve Woollatt's two. Steve leads the way in championships won with 15 in the period under review (19 in total) and unprecedented wins total of 34 and the aggregate points lead.

In ACU Funny Bike, Louis Davies won the title after his 2020 Covid Cup win with two wins on the way, equalled by Dave Peters. 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.

Chris Neary won his first ACU Comp Bike championship after five years of competing in the class, with a win at the Festival of Power. 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 twelfth title, with wins at the Festival of Power and two at the Greenlight Nationals. Ven continues to lead the number of titles with 12 in ACU Competition and has 35 wins leading the points total over Graham Dance who lies second in championships with four, and in wins with nineteen.

Hollie King won her second ACU Junior Drag Bike title back-to-back with 2021, with wins at the Festival of Power and Saturday at the Greenlight Nationals. Liam Holgate and Scott Collier share the lead of titles won with four and wins with ten each. Scott leads the points tally over Louis Davies.

You can check out the UK Champions' Champions by clicking here or by clicking on News, then Champions' Champions in the main menu of any Eurodragster.com page.

Drag Racing Unplugged XXIV.
23rd December: As has become traditional on our last pre-Christmas update, we have posted Drag Racing Unplugged, our selection of top stories of the year from our news pages, including Simon's, Diana's, Kirstie's and Julian's Stories of the Year..

We are pleased to present Drag Racing Unplugged XXIV, the 2022 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 28th December. News updates and postings to our Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap 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: So many little things I need, new fence, catflap in my back door so I can shut the windows, ooo new boots size 7 please, also a new car...

Top of Kirstie's Christmas list: Simpson Hybrid HANS device.

Top of Simon's Christmas list: More Top Fuel in Europe.

Top of Julian's Christmas list: A pair of shorts that don't wear out after six months.

Diana's New Year resolution: Lose weight is top of that list. I did think of giving up lettuce, but then burgers wouldn't be so nice lol.

Kirstie's New Year resolution: Don’t be scared, just do it!

Simon's New Year resolution: Keep everything running without collapsing...

Julian's New Year resolution: To seriously consider wearing proper trousers when it gets cold.

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.

Teboul awarded plaquette.
22nd December:

FIM-E Drag Racing Commission member Job Heezen has announced that Rocket Bike record breaker and former Top Fuel Bike racer Eric Teboul has been awarded a plaquette for his dedication to the sport.

Job said "Although Eric Teboul's rocket bike didn't fit any of our championship's classes, FIM-Europe has decided to award him with a memorial plaquette to honour his outstanding performances over the years and to thank him for his longstanding dedication for the sport. We will look for an appropriate occasion to hand him this reward in style. Wishing you all the best mate."

The inscription on the plaquette says "Eric Teboul, France, the fastest man on the planet on a 2-wheeler. Santa Pod Raceway, England, September 11 2022, the quarter mile in 4.9766 seconds at 467.53 kph / 290.51mph.

In a career spanning over 35 years, Eric competed in Top Fuel Bike (formerly Competition Bike) until 2010 and rode his Rocket Bike over the quarter mile from 2002, culminating in the barrier-breaking run at Santa Pod Raceway at the 2022 FIA/FIM Euro Finals, the first and only time a drag bike has run the quarter mile in under 5 seconds, and Eric's final pass down the track.

Flyin Fyfer 2022 review.
22nd December: Many thanks to Outlaw Anglia co-ordinator Colin Millar for sending us his review of a year that had its highs and lows:

The 2022 Outlaw Anglia season was always going to be a special one as we hit yet another milestone for the class reaching the ripe old age of 30 years young, the Flyin Fyfer was ready, for once early on in the season, so no rushing about like a chicken with its head cut off which always helps the mind to start working on how are we going to go faster.

The new three stage nitrous set up had been in the car for one season and we were starting to get a handle on the tune as the window has now shrunk to such a small opening and just a minute adjustment can see large gains but also large failing if we weren’t careful, track preparation, track temperature as well as air quality all play their part.

We managed five out of the six Outlaw Anglia meetings and also enjoyed fun in Super Pro-ET at The European Finals which for me was just the very best, as we thought after the setbacks after Dragstalgia our season was at an end, however, as most of you are aware we overcame all the odds, we won the Outlaw Anglia Championship, we ran our very first six second quarter mile and the most important element we has so much FUN.

These things don’t just happen and without our crew chief Aaron Springford and BUG Lynn Purvis as well as advice and tuning help from Jedd Guy and, to be honest, all the support we receive from the OA class, the drag racing family, the supporters, the fans, the marshals, the officials and the promoters we couldn’t put on a show for you all, so a massive thanks goes out to everyone who is a key part of this fantastic sport.

Highs

On Friday the 8th of July at 19.07 and 47 seconds, we achieved the dream we had been pushing for over the last four years, the very last car of the day to run as we purposely held it back to the very last minute as the air quality was so good and we still had track temperature being retained, and BOOM 6.9851 @ 194.56mph!
On Sunday the 3rd of July at Summer Nationals seeing Barry Woodfords face light up when being presented with a trophy for reaching the final of Outlaw Anglia at the Summer Nationals and watch his lovely family support him all the way
On Friday the 16th of September at 15.45 at The Hot Rod Drags watching Crew Chief Aaron Springford wee face light up with joy after running the Flyin Fyfer to the fastest the car had ever gone without Nitrous with a storming 7.96 @ 173.06mph
On Saturday the 17th of September at 11.09 and 56 seconds at The Hot Rod Drags running another PB of 6.9480 @ 190.59, BOOM!
Watching the joy of Ben Rushforth and his lovely wee family taking it all in when he won the Outlaw Anglia Final at The Hot Rod Drags was unforgettable.
Winning the OA 2022 Championship
And Rob Stone winning the Outlaw Anglia SPRC Championship, well done that man.

Lows

Lost my dad in April, he encouraged me in everything I did, funny though he came to see me race at Shakey and was way to uncomfortable at the speeds I was reaching
Still miss a very special person, Gerry Treit who in two days’ time will have been gone from us for two full years
We lost Hayley xx
We lost the Queen
We lost Jon
Breaking my crankshaft after Dragstalgia
UPS losing my new crankshaft and we’ve never seen height nor hair of it ever again, having then to buy another crankshaft to get us back out there.
Missing Green Light Nationals because of the crankshaft and missing Hockenheim again because of the crankshaft (this crankshaft has a lot to answer for)

What’s the plan next season then you may ask?

The Flyin Fyfer Headquarters is never silent and standing still is not an option as you actually go backwards, new major components have been procured, some have arrived, some have not, more power for sure, more reliability is essential, lighter components absolutely.

The team are just about to finalise a new battery solution heading into the Lithium arena, present 16v battery is 44lbs, new battery 8.8lbs, that’s pretty spectacular, in fact all areas are getting close scrutiny and YES its getting silly, taking out stainless steel M4 countersunk screws out of the door side and rear windows and replacing with plastic ones, oh and the most important factor is fatty has to lose two stone lol!

The actual plan was all set in place and agreed some time ago, run the six and back it all off so we could just have a laugh and a couple of beers and only set up the car just enough to beat the person in the other lane, no stress, no pressure, no breakages, however it very much looks like there may be some serious competition heading our way next year, so in life if you want to win you’ve got to be prepared, bring it on!

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas break and a Guid New Year with all your loved ones and really looking forward to seeing you all next season, don’t put it off as you never know what’s round the corner, until then enjoy, Colin Lynn and Aaron xxx

Swift snippets.
22nd December: Happy Birthday for today to Competition Eliminator racer Elaine Hancock, ET Bike racer Scott Collier, Super Pro ET team member and dad Chris Swinchatt, Wild Bunch racer James Auld, VW Sportsman racer Jason Anslow and Nostalgia Superstock racer Gary Cork. We hope you all have a wonderful day.

Eurodragster.com's Christmas update will be posted tomorrow, 23rd December following which we will be taking our annual break until 28th December. If you have a news story or review of your year for us to publish, the deadline is midnight tonight.

Jonnie Lindberg interview.
21st December:

Many thanks to Andy Willsheer for supplying an update on 2013 FIA and 2015-16 NHRA Top Methanol Funny Car Champion Jonnie Lindberg from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

Sweden’s loss is America’s gain as far as the talented Funny Car specialist is concerned. Having enjoyed much success in the straight-line sport in Europe – he and older sibling Johan have fielded competitive entries in both the Top Alcohol Funny Car and Pro Mod categories for a number of years, each annexing FIA championship trophies before making a major move across the Atlantic to mix it with the big names in NHRA competition. At one point, Jonnie was racing TAFC in the States as well as flying to and fro in order to help certain European Pro Mod teams with tuning chores, making for a hectic schedule to say the least.

It was when the FIA series began to host dwindling numbers of Alky Funny Cars and realising his capabilities could be better employed in the USA, Jonnie moved across the Atlantic where he quickly gained an enviable reputation in the class, procuring NHRA Lucas Oil Series championship laurels in 2015 and 2016 as well as enjoying a notable three-season stint shoeing a Fuel Funny Car in 2017-2019 for wealthy general contractor/ team owner, Jim Head, following his attaining a crossover licence in Tim Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang. At time of writing, he’s continuing to fulfil orders for methanol-guzzling floppers at the chassis shop in Brownsburg, to say nothing of his tuning and between-race servicing work for Junction City, Oregon’s, Brian Hough, who drives the Cascade Truck Body and Trailer Sales-sponsored Chevy Camaro built last year at the Jonnie Lindberg Motorsports’ facility.

A point of note is that the savvy Swede primarily became involved with the TAFC fabrication business following the retirement of Tacoma, Washington’s, veteran chassis builder, Brad Hadman. West Coast racer Doug Gordon was in the market for a replacement TAFC and would normally have gone along to the Hadman emporium had the renowned metalwork craftsman not called it a day. However, after speaking with Jonnie, who offered to undertake the build, he was duly commissioned. Suffice to say the long-time competitor then went on to procure his first Lucas Oil championship, much credit going to the car constructor who chooses to work as a one-man band at the Indiana workshop, where he’s currently undertaking manufacture of a third car commissioned by Doug.

In between his U.S. commitments, Jonnie mentioned he’d managed to spend a couple of summer months this year with the family back in Sweden, and although he misses racing his own car on our side of the Pond would one day like to get back behind the wheel of a supercharged-nitro machine in his adopted country. That’s in the future, but for now the clean-cut maestro who can build ’em, drive ’em and tune ’em keeps more than busy supporting those members of the drag racing fraternity hoping to follow in his winning wheel tracks.

2023 Panhellenic championship dates confirmed.
21st December: Motor Sports Federation of Greece (OMAE) have announced dates of the six-round 2023 Panhellenic championship. The drag racing events in 2023 in Greece will take place at Agrinio Raceway and Serres Circuit (Lenoe Drag Racing club). Dates are:

18th-19th March, Agrinio
22nd-23rd April, Serres
27th-28th May, Agrinio
16th-17th September, Serres
21st-22nd October, Agrinio
18th-19th November, Serres

We will publish highlights and links to the results for each event when available.

Swift snippets.
21st December: Happy Birthday for today to Maltese Super Street Bike racer Simon Giordmaina and Peggy Beck, wife of announcer Bob Beck. We hope that you both have a wonderful day.

Vegter Pro Modified season review.
20th December: Many thanks to photojournalist Remco Scheelings for an article on the 2022 season of Pro Modified racer David Vegter.

David Vegter and his team Vegter Pro Mod Racing can look back on an excellent season. Claiming the runner-up position in the 2022 FIA European Pro Modified Championship, the Dutchman scored his best ever result. In the most competitive and most international category of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, Vegter finished as the runner-up at The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, claimed the number one qualifying position at the famous NitrOlympX at Hockenheim, and recorded at least one run in the 5.8 or 5.9-second zone at every race.

After the coronavirus pandemic caused a 2-year break, the FIA European Drag Racing Championship was back on the calendar in 2022. To emphasize the new start, Vegter Pro Mod Racing revealed a brand new and fresh design for their ’67 Chevrolet Camaro short before the start of the season. David Vegter and his team Vegter Pro Mod Racing kicked off the season in the best possible way by claiming the runner-up position at The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, round one of the FIA European Championship. Vegter only had to acknowledge his superior in reigning FIA European champion and European recordholder Jan Ericsson. Looking at the recorded elapsed times, Vegter also proved that the adjustments the team made during the winter to the car, engine and set-up, paid off.

A few weeks later Vegter underlined his great form in a non FIA European Championship race at Tierp Arena, Sweden, by claiming the number three qualifying position and recording 5.847 seconds, close to his 5.804 second personal best. In August Vegter Pro Mod Racing were back at Tierp Arena for the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals, round two of the FIA European Championship. From the number eight position in qualifying, the Dutchman had to abort his first round elimination run after the burn out due to a problem with the fuel tank.

But Vegter bounced back two weeks later at the famous NitrOlympX at the HockenheimRing, with over 50,000 spectators the best attended drag race event of the European season. Recording 5.91 seconds, Vegter claimed the number one qualifying position to defeat all European competitors. In the eliminations the Dutchman noticed a problem with his car, but was still able to advance to the semi-finals.

After the race the team detected a cracked tube in the chassis as the reason for the car handling problems. With only two weeks to go to the fourth and final round of the FIA European Championship, The European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway, there was a lot of extra work to be done. But being the number three in the championship and with only a few points between the numbers two up to five, there was plenty to fight for.

Back from Robinson Race Cars, and after a lot of work in the pits at Santa Pod Raceway, the Vegter Pro Mod Racing Camaro was race ready again when qualifying started for The European Finals. All efforts paid off as Vegter recorded 5.89 seconds on his second run, claiming the number two qualifying position. This was even more remarkable because, due to the bad weather conditions, only two qualifying sessions had been completed, giving the team limited time to find the right set-up for the repaired Camaro. After winning his first round of eliminations, Vegter improved to 5.85 seconds in the quarter finals, but he was still defeated.

With his spot in the quarter finals, Vegter gained one position in the FIA European Pro Modified Championship, finishing the title race in second position, his best ever result. In recent years the Dutchman has scored several top five positions in this most competitive category of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, but after finishing third in 2017 and fourth in 2019, this has been his highlight up to now.

Vegter therefore looks back on the season with a good feeling. “It was a great season in which we were still in the title fight until the last race of the season. Highlights of the season were the runner-up position at The Main Event and the number one qualifying position at Hockenheim. It was a pity to lose so many points at Tierp, and besides that we were a bit unlucky sometimes. But it was great that we suffered hardly any damage to the engine, a sign that we worked in the right direction with the set-up. The only serious damage was the cracked chassis tube in Hockenheim, but that is something we couldn’t do much about.”

Nowadays in motorsport the new season starts hardly a week after the last race finished. “We will take the car apart, check everything and replace parts if needed. We will focus on the FIA European Championship again next season, kicking off with The Main Event at Santa Pod. We are happy to announce that Velocity Classics will remain one of our partners. The company based in Rijsenhout and specialized in selling American muscle cars and classic cars, joined us this season and will continue and even expend the existing relationship. Our long time partners HKR Techniek, tomkart (electric karts) and Post & Dros will remain on board again, something we are very grateful for,” said Vegter.

Follow Vegter Pro Mod Racing on Instagram and Facebook.

Swift snippets.
20th December: Happy Birthday for today to Pro ET racer Warren Watts, Supercharged Outlaws racer Luke Watts, Top Doorslammer crew member Pelle Eriksson, retired Pro Stock Bike racer Ulf Ögge and longtime Eurodragster.com supporter Ivar Kolberg. A belated Happy Birthday for yesterday to VW Pro racer Polly Judge. We hope you are all having, or had, a great day.

Photojournalist Steve Moxley has published an article on the ACU web site about the Phil Baimbridge Racing Rocket Top Fuel Bike and how rider and co-constructor Al Smith got the bike to run into the five second zone at the STP National Finals. You can read Steve's article at this link.

Dennis Stormin’ Norman.
18th December:

Keith Lee writes: I am sad to pass on the news that Dennis Stormin’ Norman, one of the legendary characters of British drag bike racing, passed in hospital yesterday. Having suffered a fall, Den unfortunately succumbed to pneumonia in hospital.

On track, Den was the first rider of a twin-engined bike to dip below 10 seconds, on his tyre-smoking blown, single speed 1300cc Triumph, which earned him the name Stormin’ Norman. That was in 1970, and in the same year he went to America, along with the Pegasus Vincent team, and qualified for the first ever Top Fuel Bike eliminator at the NHRA Nationals at Indianapolis. Den followed this bike with a twin Norton entry. Both of these machines have been returned to the track, thanks to the efforts of son Gary and a crew of friends - under the evr watchful eye of their constructor - to perform at Dragstalgia. Well into his 90s, Den still enjoyed talking about the sport he loved, having made his last pass on the Triumph when he was 85!

Many years before, Den would have been found in Europe, training despatch riders at the end of WW2. His methods were interesting, as he got new riders going down a dry bob sleigh run - and through a partially cleared mine field! He first sprinted an Ariel square 4, to which a blower was soon fitted. The bike ran 10.9s back in 1965 - and also suffered one of the biggest ever motor explosions!

It was an honour to be asked to present Den with his Bootsie, when he was inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame, for his contributions to the sport. He one of those who volunteered to help finishing off the Santa Pod track in the far off sixties, as his expert welding skills were put to good use.

When Den ran his original Triumph double at the NSA 50th anniversary sprint in 2008, Santa Pod’s excellent traction led to him breaking the ends off the flywheels. Only Den could turn round to his friend Ray Baskerville, who built them 40 years ago, and say: ‘Here Ray, are these cranks still under guarantee?’ And the cheeky old bugger got his wish!

They do not make them like Den Norman any more, and his humour and stories will be much missed by those who knew and raced with him. Our thoughts are with Den’s wife Pat, and the whole of the Norman family at this sad time.

We at Eurodragster.com send our deepest condolences to Den's family and friends.

Swift snippets.
18th December: Happy Birthday for today to Super Comp racer Martin Curbishley, director of British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Phil Cottingham, former Super Street Bike racer and tuner Rick Stubbins and VW Sportsman racer Jake Fronda. We hope you all have a wonderful day.

2022 SPRC Perpetual Awards vote 1.
17th December: Santa Pod Racers Club and Eurodragster.com are again teaming up to give Eurodragster.com readers the chance of input to the SPRC Perpetual Awards, which will be presented at the SPRC Dinner Dance and Trophy Presentation on 18th February 2023.

For several of the 2022 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 2022.

The SPRC Committee's shortlist, in alphabetical order, is as follows:

Dan De'ath, JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike

Vote for De'ath

Teddy Howe, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster

Vote for Teddy Howe

Leah Morrison, Eurodragster.com Junior Drag Bike

Vote for Leah Morrison

Finley Fagg, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster

Vote for Finley Fagg

Chris Redshaw, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET

Vote for Chris Redshaw

AC Bell, Modurstang Pro ET

Vote for AC Bell

Richard Tunstall, Fast R Super Comp

Vote for Richard Tunstall

Andrew Christophi, JKE Race Works 8.50 Bike

Vote for Andrew Christophi

Anna Sasiak, Blood Cancer UK ET Bike

Vote for Anna Sasiak

To place your vote, either use the links above or go to the official Perpetual Awards voting page which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the SPRC Perpetual Awards vote link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If your device doesn't automatically generate an E-Mail then please E-Mail your choice to [email protected].
©Eurodragster.com
The Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy, for which nominations are also now being taken, was first awarded to Santa Pod Racers Club's late Chief Marshal, Alex Brachtvogel, in 2001 to mark his outstanding contribution to Santa Pod Raceway and the sport as a whole. After Alex's death the trophy was named in his memory and continues to be awarded for contribution to drag racing. There is no shortlist for the Alex Brachtvogel award. Nominations are invited from Eurodragster.com readers for racers, race officials, track and safety crews, club officials, media, or anyone else who has contributed to the sport. Last year the trophy was awarded to Peter Walters for designing and implementing online SPRC event entry system and website. Again see the official page for more details or E-Mail your nomination to [email protected] specifying SPRC Alex Brachtvogel Memorial Trophy nomination as the subject and your nomination in the body of the E-Mail.

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 21st January 2023.

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.

Swift snippets.
17th December: Happy Birthday for today to Nitro FM presenter Pete Franklin, Outlaw Flat Four racer Paul Bate, Santa Pod Raceway operations manager Neale Saunders, and from Malta HexaTech Mk1 Escort racer John Martin and 2JZ dragster racer Alan Zammit. We hope you all have a fantastic day.

You can read on Speedgroup's www.dragracingeurope.eu web site an account by Lena Perés of the 2022 season from Pro Stock team Malmgren Racing, a season which ended with driver Michael Malmgren being championship runner up, nine points away from the title.

Santa Pod Lifestyle and Nostalgia race entries available 6th January.
14th December: Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway events co-ordinator Dan Melrose for letting us know the date from which racer entries can be made for 2023:

Racer entries for all of Santa Pod’s lifestyle and nostalgia events will go on sale at 11am on Friday 6th January. These include Dragstalgia; the highlight of the nostalgia racing season, the big-money heads-up Doorslammers event, and the brand new for 2023 Street Weekend. A full list of events and entry forms can be found at racers.santapodtickets.com.

To see which classes are involved at the respective events listed, go to the Santa Pod calendar page and click on "Full Event Details" for the relevant event.

Midgley wins UK Championship.
14th December: Top Fuel Bike racer Neil Midgley took the next step in his career by winning the ACU UK Top Fuel Bike Championship in his first season riding his Puma Engineering built machine after a record-breaking weekend at the National Finals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Going into the final race of the season with the King Racing & Cannon Motorsports team collaboration, Midgley was in second place in the Championship with multi-time UK Champion Steve Woollatt some way ahead on points. The only way that Midgley could take the crown was to win the event and for Woollatt to have a poor showing in qualifying and eliminations, or to outqualify him, win one more elimination round and to set a new Championship record. To the delight of the fans it went to the wire with Midgley qualifying in number one position with a fine 5.8588 seconds, closely followed by Al Smith with a stout 5.9328 seconds, the first five for the PBR team with their unique 3-cylinder machine. In round one of eliminations Midgley was the beneficiary of a bye run but did not disappoint, setting a new ACU UK ET record of 5.9632 seconds backed up by the quicker but outside of the stipulated 1% qualifying pass to move into the final.

On the other side of the ladder the incumbent champion Woollatt dispatched Smith to set up a nail-biting `winner takes all’ final. The veteran rider did all he could with a better reaction than Midgley, but that deficit was quickly overhauled by the 60ft mark, and it was Midgley in front all the way to his first Top Fuel Bike Championship crown.

Neil Midgley said “I would like to thank my combined team of Ian Carruthers, Mike Vickers, Martin Brookman, Nick Pepper, Marius van der Zijden, Chris Hannam and Ian King for their expert guidance, work and support in my first season on this fabulous machine, and the fantastic class leading products from our great group of technical partners without whom this championship would not have been won. A big shout out also to the staff and officials of Santa Pod Raceway, the awesome safety teams and the superlative media, track announcers and websites who have reported on our progress this season. Thanks to you all!”

Pictures courtesy of Andy Willsheer & Callum Pudge

The team are proud to be supported in their world class performances by their blue-chip partners and their products in winning the 2022 ACU UK Championship:

APE - The world’s most innovative manufacturer of aftermarket parts for race bikes
COMETIC GASKETS - The Premier Manufacturer of racing gaskets
GATES - The world’s most trusted name in drive belts, hoses, and hydraulics
GOODRIDGE - The most innovative and the best in fluid transfer systems
JE PISTONS - The world's premier manufacturer of high-performance forged pistons
KIBBLEWHITE PRECISION MACHINING - The highest quality valve train components available
LUCAS OIL PRODUCTS INC – High performance engine & gear oils second to none in the racing industry
MRE - Leaders in trackside support for drag race components and air shifting systems
MTC ENGINEERING - Manufacturer of clutches for the fastest motorcycles in the world
NGK SPARKPLUGS UK – The world’s number one spark plug manufacturer
PAR WILLEN – Master webmaster and proprietor of HarleyDrags.com
PRO ALLOY MOTORSPORT - The UK’s leading fabricator of alloy tanks, intercoolers, and radiators
VANSON LEATHERS - The most iconic brand in motorsport leather goods
WEB CAMSHAFTS INC - Simply THE company for Top Fuel Bike camshafts
WORLDWIDE BEARINGS - The world’s leading supplier of ceramic bearings for racing
ZODIAC - Europe’s largest supplier of performance and aftermarket HD parts

Spitfire results and 2023 bookings.
14th December: Thanks to promoter Lee Child for publishing results from Spitfire Raceway, Perranporth, Cornwall's RWYB which took place last Saturday:

"Congratulations to Luke Allin taking the number one spot with the quickest time, in his 800 plus bhp Audi, of 11.479 seconds at 121.42mph in the cold and wet conditions.

70 vehicles attended the event. For drag strip results click here for rankings 1-50 and here for rankings 51-70.

Lee commented "We were totally blown away by the effort everyone made to attend the drag and drift event, freezing temperatures, wind, hail and rain showers didn’t stop you. We really appreciate it and we think you are totally hardcore enjoying the day in those conditions. From everyone at Spitfire raceway thank you so much."

All 2023 drag and drift events online bookings are now open at this link and you can book camping on site by clicking here.

Swift snippets.
14th December: Happy Birthday for today to FIA Technical Consultant Frans Steilberg and UK Nostalgia Superstock racer Dave Simcock. We hope you both have a great day.

Position vacant at Hauser Racing.
14th December:

Eurodragster.com sponsor Geof Hauser has a vacancy for a full-time right hand man or woman to work in the office at Hauser Racing:

The position will entail taking and processing sales calls, customer liaison, ordering from suppliers, and be generally involved with many aspects of the company’s function.

Candidates will need to have a good telephone manner, be computer literate, and have an understanding of race car/driveline systems.

We are looking for someone who is organised, motivated and enthusiastic. Salary will be commensurate with ability and experience.

Send CV to [email protected] or call 01933 682500 for more details.

Shiftin’ Ghia Racing update.
14th December: Thanks to VW Sportsman racer Russ Weir for an update on his plans with his VW Karmann Ghia, powered by an Audi 1.8 20 Valve Turbo engine, for 2023:

After being sidelined due to catastrophic engine failure a few years back, the conversion from a 2.1 n/a aircooled flat-4 to a 1.8 20vT has been completed, and leaves me with an increase of 120bhp and double the torque. This should easily allow me to move up from VW Sportsman to VW Pro Class.

The rear suspension has been totally overhauled & uprated, and I’m in the process of doing the same for the front suspension, steering & brakes, returning to a full-width set-up over the existing 3” narrowed and Wilwood calipers.

During the hiatus, some of my safety kit has expired, so that will also need replacing. In order to fund this, I have some Beanies & T-shirts for sale - available from my website (online ordering available).

Street Weekend becomes reality.
14th December:

Santa Pod Raceway and Melbourne Raceway have announced that Street Weekend, a drag and drive event involving both of England's two permanent tracks, will be taking place on 16th-18th June 2023:

Street Weekend is an all-new competition for 2023 to find out who’s really king of the street. In a tip off to the coveted Hot Rod Drag Week in the USA, we’re looking at a similar format where drivers need to set and submit a time at Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire before Driving around 200 miles to Melbourne Raceway in York to set a time on day 2 and then returning again and setting a time on the 3rd day.

Track conditions will be different on each day, starting at Santa Pod on day 1 at the Sportsman Nationals Test Day, an unprepped 1/8-mile challenge at Melbourne on day 2 and finally alongside the Sportsman Nationals at Santa Pod on day 3 on a full championship-prepped track.

In summary, we’re looking at around 400 miles on the road across 3 days whilst also recording a time on track on each one of the days. We all know that Street Eliminator cars are probably the quickest street legal cars on track in the UK right now, but can they really handle that many road miles? This is the competition to find out!

Find out more, and how to enter at this link.

Outlaw Street announces 2023 championship dates.
14th December: Many thanks to Outlaw Street series organiser Mark Wallington for sending us the category's dates for its 15th anniversary 2023 season:

Round 1 1st April, RWYB, and 2nd April, Straightliners, Santa Pod Raceway (all cars)
Round 2 5th-7th May, Nostalgia Nationals, Santa Pod Raceway (pre-1973 only)
Street Weekend, 16th-18th June, Santa Pod Raceway and Melbourne Raceway (all cars entered into Street Weekend) OR
Round 3 17th-18th June, RWYB, Melbourne Raceway (all cars)
Round 4 28th-30th July, 29th Mopar Euro Nationals (all cars)
Round 5 12th August, Best of British, and 13th August RWYB, Santa Pod Raceway (all cars)
Round 6 1st-3rd September, VW Action, Santa Pod Raceway (all cars)
Round 7 15th-17th September, Hot Rod Drags, Santa Pod Raceway (pre-1973 only)
Round 8 21st October, Saturday Night Special RWYB, and 22nd October RWYB, Santa Pod Raceway (all cars)
Round 9 29th October RWYB, Santa Pod Raceway (post-1973 only)

Membership of Outlaw Street is £40 for the season and over 50 have signed up. Catch up with the latest on the series at the Outlaw Street Facebook page.

Swift snippets.
14th December: Happy Birthday for today to Top Fuel crew member Harry Gibson, Old School Stocker racer Mark 'Nipper' Stevens, former Outlaw Anglia racer Cliff Griffin and Shadowfax builder/racer from 1971 Colin Weber. We hope you all have a great day.

The Veedubracing Youtube channel of Simon Letkey has a video of the quickest VW Beetles that he has filmed in 2022. You can see the footage and a list of the cars involved by clicking on this link.

The curiously named Flabob Airport, Riverside, California (established almost a century ago and named after two engineers Flavio and Bob) hosted the TROG Airport Drags for the first time last weekend. Since it was premiered in 2012 the race was held on beaches in New Jersey, so the move to Flabob was a major change in direction, one that was well supported by locals in SoCal. TROG stands for The Race of Gentlemen, seeming appropriate for the vintage-style drag racing that took place. You can read our good friend Tony Thacker's account of the race and see video of it at the Torq Talk website.

Håkan Fridholm.
13th December: We were sorry to hear that Swedish scrutineer and part time slingshot racer Håkan “Fritte” Fridholm passed away on Sunday.

His local club, SHRA Lindesberg, posted "It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce that our dear friend and member Håkan Fridholm has left us in grief. Håkan belongs to one of the few who have been members of SHRA almost from the start. He was a sweet and gentle soul who never turned people down when they needed help. There is so much to write about Håkan but we all know how much he meant to everything and everyone."

Håkan will be missed greatly amongst the wider Drag Racing family as he was a very passionate expert in his function as scrutineer on a national and international level.

We send our deepest condolences to Håkan's family, friends and colleagues.

SPRC Perpetual trophies.
12th December: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Ian Marshall for a request to return SPRC Perpetual trophies in advance.

Ian writes: "Could all current holders of the Perpetual trophies please return them to SPRC HQ, if I could have them back prior to Christmas please it would be a big help."

The address to which you need to send trophies is, for normal post (i.e. not couriers please) Santa Pod Racers Club, P.O.Box 12, Rushden, Northants, NN10 0ZU or, for courier post, Santa Pod Racers Club, 2 Carmichael Close, Rushden, Northants, NN10 0ZB.

Eye Candy t-shirts.
12th December: Pro ET racer Chloe Wilkins has announced a new line in t-shirts for fans to show their support for her dragster team:

"It’s a big dream of mine to have my own dragster and to now have my own t-shirts too is just amazing, everybody that knows me knows how much my racing and Santa Pod means to me. Craig Dixon from Altered Tees Apparel has really brought my dream T-shirts to life for me.

"You can order the T-shirts through this link on his website for now but once the 2023 season comes around we will be selling some at the track. Obviously I've got to give the biggest thanks to my main man and Dad "Butch" for giving me this whole opportunity and showing me drag racing as a whole which is now my life. I can’t wait for the 2023 season to begin, already counting down the days and to hopefully see some of you walking round with the dragster on your t-shirt would be the best thing."

Swift snippets.
12th December: Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET and Wild Bunch racer Callum Swinchatt and to VW Sportsman racers Holly Sanders and Laurence Clark. We hope you all have a wonderful day.

Those wanting to catch up with all of the NHRA interviews from the PRI show can go to the NHRA website for videos and daily schdules for each of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You can see the interview of Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterström by Tony Pedregon at this link. Top Alcohol Dragster racer Julie Nataas with team mate Travis Shumake were interviewed by Brian Lohnes which you can see at this link.

We were impressed by a Youtube channel of restored historic NHRA telecasts including ABC Wide World of Sports as well as some early Diamond P productions. Some of the ABC productions are shown in full for the first time since the original broadcast. You can see these historic broadcasts by going to the @supertubr channel. What makes these videos different from other Youtube channels is the quality of the images, which have been restored to produce significantly better quality than those seen previously. The channel "strives for the best picture and sound quality whenever possible. You won't find "stretched" wide-screening, over enhancing, video lag, or videos with ID's that providers neither own or created. Upscaling and stabilization I support if it's done properly."

Tierp Arena has a new owner.
12th December:

Swedish newspaper Nya Lidköpings-Tidningen has reported that Swedish businessman Svante Andersson, through his company Stenhaga Invest, has signed an agreement to acquire Tierp Arena.

In announcing the transaction, Svante said that as well as continuing existing events management will be able to arrange rock concerts and horse competitions in the future.

With 22,000 seats Tierp Arena is a multi-sport arena covering a total area of 172 hectares. Over the years, around SEK250 million (around £20m) has been invested in the arena, which has a drag racing track, a track racing track, a rallycross track, an off-road track, a hotel, a campsite and an airport. "The idea is that in the future there will be motorsport activities on a large scale, but also training for the police, fire brigade, ambulance, the defense and training for driving school students, similar to what we do today at Kinnekulle Ring" (a circuit in Götene, owned by Stenhaga Invest since 2011), says Svante Andersson.

Editor's comment: This is fantastic news which should ensure a secure future for the premiere drag racing venue in Sweden, with positive benefits for the sport in Europe. Eurodragster.com is planning to attend both FIA rounds to be held at Tierp Arena in 2023.

Straightliners announces new ET bracket car classes.
12th December: Straightliners have announced four new car classes for 2023. Trevor Duckworth said "The new bracket classes will be Sportsman ET (7.90 or slower in the eighth), Pro ET (6.90 to 7.89) and Pro Extreme (5.500 to 6.899). There will also be Pro Comp Cannonball (5.90 or quicker, heads-up, pro tree) and of course Run for Fun RWYB." Bracket classes will have a 0.5s sportsman tree.

More official details will follow, however the championship looks likely to include Melbourne Raceway and Santa Pod Raceway. "There will be 9 rounds starting at Santa Pod on 2nd April with a test day on Saturday 1st April so you can make a weekend of it, then we have 7 rounds at Melbourne and the finals at Santa Pod on 15th October, again with a test day on the Saturday. The final round will be a double points round and the 9 round championship will have 8 rounds to count." The championships will be for both cars and bikes, which will continue with the previous format.

Swift snippets.
12th December: Happy Birthday for today to Super Pro ET racer Ian Brown, Grumpy's Toy racer and tuner Paul Watson, Finnish Super Twin racer Marko Lantto and former Junior Dragster racer Lot Bradford. We hope you all have a great day.

Thrill Ride crew position available.
11th December:

Thrill Ride driver Paul Brown has been in touch about a crew member opportunity for next season:

Santa Pods 2-Seater Thrill Ride Dragster team is looking for a new crew member to join for the 2023 season. We would be looking for someone with previous experience crewing within the Drag racing community.

Your role would include: general vehicle maintenance/repairs if required between rounds, refuelling, packing the parachute, being involved in start-line procedures, unloading and reloading the race equipment before and after the event is complete.

You would also need to have excellent communication skills and enjoy entertaining customers for them to have a superb experience.

The ideal candidate would need to be available for all of the following events: Festival of Power, Spring Speed Nationals, Main Event, Sportsman Nationals, Dragstalgia, Mopar Nationals, Green Light, Euro Finals & National Finals.

If you are interested, please could you send an email to [email protected] with a brief message of what experience you have and your contact details. We will be in contact with the correct candidate at the end of January 2023.

Photo credit: Chris Eyre

Swift snippets.
11th December: Happy Birthday for today to our colleague Kieran, we hope you have a fantastic day from all the Eurodragster.com team. Also Birthday wishes to Santa Pod marshal and new mum Holly Donisthorpe, FWD racer Ahmed Jamshaid, Swedish marshal Thomas Andersson, Austrian Pro ET racer Alex Mahl, former Santa Pod Raceway Events Manager James Forster and belated wishes for yesterday to Top Fuel Racer and Malta Motorsports Association President Duncan Micallef. We hope you all have a great day.

Hayley Hadfield.
9th December:

We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Supercharged Outlaw team member, wife and mother Hayley Hadfield this morning from pancreatic cancer.

Hayley bravely fought the disease that when diagnosed, had already become serious. Through her family with husband Andy 'Fadster' and daughter Purdie, Hayley underwent the various treatments to keep the illness at bay at The Christie Hospital Manchester.

Fadster posted this morning "I’m heartbroken to tell you our brave and beautiful girl passed away this morning. It’s a day Purdie and I and our hugely supportive family and friends have dreaded.

"We brought her into the wonderful Willow Wood hospice on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to control her symptoms but these escalated and it was more than our valiant warrior could fight. Our heartfelt thanks go out to all our friends who supported us, showed us true friendship and sent messages that helped us through what has been an incredibly difficult time."

Following the family's announcement of Hayley's illness in July, the UK drag racing community came together in an unprecedented way to raise over £32,000 towards Pancreatic Cancer UK and The Christie Hospital Manchester with auctions and raffles.

We will post details of funeral arrangements in due course. In the meantime our deepest condolences go to Andy, Purdie and all of Hayley's family and friends. She will be much missed as one of the sunniest presences at the track even after she became ill, and her family supported her tremendously in her final months.

John Dodd.
9th December: We learned this morning of the sad passing at the age of 89 of hot rodder John Dodd, who became identified through one vehicle - his 27 litre Rolls Royce Merlin-powered Beast - and a family presence in the sport.

After visiting Santa Pod in the late sixties, John, who worked on automatic transmissions for a trade, had the inspiration of having a car built with such an engine and making it roadworthy. Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway's supporting company Fibreglass Repairs, John's Beast was produced for 1972 and caused much interest, as you can see from a contemporary BBC archive video. John's son Paul reported on the 50th anniversary of The Beast on 1st March.

John's son Paul and grandson Jason (pictured with John at Dragstalgia in 2014, where John took The Beast for another run down the track) also became avid hot rodders and are members of Surrey Muscle. We send them, other members of John's family and their friends our deepest condolences.

Swift snippets.
9th December: Happy Birthday for today to Tierp Arena announcer and honorary Naughty Swede Christer Abrahamson, former Sportsman ET racer and photojournalist Nigel Holland, Danish Top Fuel crew member and traveller extraordinaire Karsten Andersen, Supercharged Outlaws racer Ian Merryweather, Outlaw Anglia racer "Anxious" Ian Tweddle and Pro ET racer John Bean. We hope you all have a great day.

Although not strictly in Europe, the Bahrain Drag Racing Club's first round of their 2022-23 season is under way and you can see streaming video on Youtube at this link; qualifying took place yesterday and eliminations are happening today as we type.

Julie's U.S. story.
8th December:

Thanks to photojournalist Andy Willsheer for giving us an update on expat Norwegian Julie Nataas who has now been in NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster for five years.

26-year-old Julie Nataas is now the proud possessor of a Green Card in the Land of Joe Biden and has certainly made quite a name for herself since joining the Jr. Dragster class at a tender age and moving onward and upwards through both karting and some open-wheel roundy-round experience before opting to concentrate on Scandinavia’s straight-line racing scene. Prior to her emigrating from Norway some 7½ years ago, the third-generation drag racer – her late grandfather was a Sportsman racer for many years and Eurodragster.com readers will likely need no introduction to her father Thomas, a two-time FIA European Top Fuel Champion at the wheel of Denmark’s Andersen Racing dragster – has of late been an integral part of Kansas-based Randy Meyer Racing for four full seasons after initially attaining her Top Alcohol Dragster licence at Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2017, whilst also earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing, business and entrepreneurship at Santa Barbara, California’s, Antioch University.

Now calling Brownsburg, Indiana, home – a place which can be almost be described as America’s centre of the drag racing world insofar as many top teams are headquartered in the Hoosier State town that, incidentally, is a suburb of the more widely recognised state capital, Indianapolis – the accomplished expat has had mixed results in the injected-nitro ranks this year, during which time she has competed in a packed schedule of NHRA national events as well as half a dozen Lucas Oil divisional races and even an appearance behind the wheel of Randy Meyer’s injected-nitro flopper at the Funny Car Chaos season-opener in Ennis, TX. The highlight of her ’22 season had to be victory in September’s JEGS Allstars event held in conjunction with the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Qualifying #1 at the biggest and most prestigious race in the NHRA Camping World series, the determined driver handily annexed both eliminators along with accompanying bumper pay-outs for the double win.

Although she was obviously disappointed when later failing to qualify at the FallNationals held at Billy Meyer’s Texas Motorplex, (“this was a first in my drag racing career,” Julie said when I spoke with her at the penultimate stop of the Camping World tour,) it is hoped that niggling gremlins which have plagued the OTG/Lucas Oil/Right Trailers A/Fuel entry since winning the biggie at Indy can be sorted during the off-season.

Her future plans have yet to be finalised, but suffice to say the ambitious Ms Nataas will continue working hard toward achieving her ultimate goal of following in her father’s footsteps and procuring a ride in Top Fuel. Watch this space…

Bottom right: Julie in her car in staging lanes alongside Swedish race official Anette Heleander.

Swift snippets.
8th December: Happy Birthday for today to Outlaw Anglia racer Rob Brindle and Swedish former Corvette racer Håkan Andersson, we hope you both have a great day.

ACU license applications.
7th December: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club secretary Ian Marshall for an announcement about a change in procedure for obtaining ACU licenses.

"ACU riders looking to apply for their 2023 licences no longer require a club code to apply; the ACU licence system has been updated to reflect this. Riders simply need to be an SPRC club member to apply. When riders apply, I am then sent an email requesting validation of membership, on reply your licence application is then completed, if you have any questions, please contact me on either 01933 313625 or email [email protected]

Crail Raceway announces 2023 calendar.
7th December: During 2022, Crail Raceway based near Anstruther, less than an hour from Dundee, 1 1/2 hours from Edinburgh and 2 hours from Glasgow, held 15 Sunday events, three of which were circuit, the other 12 drag and drift. As well as quarter mile drag racing and non-stop drifting action, there were club stand displays, trade stands with over trophies for track and show. As well as on-site catering you can get your car washed too.

Entries for drag racing were impressive, with 266 in the March opener and many others over 200. The Crail website includes a database of times scored during the year and records set. The outright track ET record was reset on 17th July when Andy Forrest took his Westfield V8 to a 8.770/148.50.

You can see updates about Crail's events at the track's Facebook page. Events planned for 2023 are in the calendar (click on the image to get a full size version) which shows themed events as well as drag and drift days from February through to November.

Swift snippets.
7th December: Happy Birthday for today to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame supporter Carolyne Beckwith, Nostalgia Superstock racer Jake Cawthorne and Swedish Nitrocalypse Nostalgia Funny Car racer Torbjörn Jansson. We hope you all have a fantastic day.

Thanks to Julian for spotting a Youtube video recently posted by Iain Tyrell about the Heritage Skills Academy at the historic Brooklands Museum. The video features Funny Car and Nostalgia Superstock crew member Grace Roaf introducing the Academy and outlining the skills in repairing and maintaining classic cars that it teaches. To see the video click on this link. Anyone interested in becoming an apprentice or joining the employer scheme should visit the Heritage Skills Academy at this link.

Ida in 30 Under 30 list.
6th December:

Congratulations to Top Fuel racer Ida Zetterström for being included in the 2022 30 Under 30 list of the brightest and most promising young people in drag racing, published by Drag Illustrated magazine. The 2022 DI 30 Under 30 list will be celebrated at a special press conference at the PRI Show on Friday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m. ET (18:00 GMT). You can read the 2022 Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 issue in digital form at this link. In her feature on page 92, Ida reveals her of being in the NHRA racing in Top Fuel. "The big long term dream is to be in NHRA running for a championship one day. Top Fuel and drag racing are what gets my heart racing and the goal is to be around it fulltime."

Will Ida follow other Europeans to race in the NHRA? Well possibly not in 2023 as her calendar on her website declares that she will be racing at the Festival of Power at Santa Pod and all rounds of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. But with ambition and determination on her side as well as a media friendly personality, she could well be given an opportunity by an existing NHRA team to enter competition. Ida has confirmed other appearances at the PRI show on Thursday at the PRI Booth 1:00-2:30p.m. for an autograph signing, at the Redline Ace Booth for autograph signing 3:00-4:00p.m., on Friday at the Edelbrock Group booth (#725) between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and on Saturday for interviews at the Content Creation Stage 1:00-1:30p.m. and at the NHRA Stage 2:00-2:30pm (all these times ET).

The PRI (Performance Racing Industry) Show takes place from 8th-10th December at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis. You can see details at its website performanceracing.com. This reveals an array of drag racing stars dominating the appearance schedule, both from the NHRA Camping World series and No Prep Kings stars too. As well as the announcing their '30 under 30' list and issue and Drag Illustrated will be revealing on Thursday at 1pm more racers that have signed up for its World Series of Pro Mod with its $100,000 prize, to be held at Bradenton Motorsports Park on the weekend of 3rd-5th March 2023.

There are over 1,100 registered exhibitors. From Sweden our good friends Mats Eriksson and LG Eriksson from Sweden are exhibiting a range of chassis building products including Docol R8 tube and sheet metal, chassis jigs and tools. From France SADEV Transmissions Inc include driveshafts suitable for drag racing. The UK has three specialist magazines displaying, Race Engine Technology, Race Tech Magazine and Racecar Engineering and a number of specialist engineering companies.

When videos of events at PRI are published we will post links to them.

New car for Pers.
6th December: After only a handful of test passes and one event, Patrik Pers' Speedghost Motorsport nitro funny car chassis and body is for sale at a price of £23,000 as the team is buying a new car from the US. Team member Michael Mcdonald writes:

"Speedghost Motorsport is selling their fuel funny car chassis and body; the chassis will not have rear end in it or rear wheels. The chassis and body is an ex Bob Bode car raced in NHRA a few years ago, the chassis being certified in August 2021. Simpson belts are in date to June 2024. The car comes with clutch can, all titanium roll cage plates, cockpit panels, reverser tunnel, 4 belly pans, fuel tank and oil tank, complete fire bottle system (bottles are out of date). It will have a titanium computer box mounted but it will not have any racepak or electromotion sensors or cables with the chassis. Body comes with 2 spare front windows and spare burst panel.

"The chassis can come with coils, point boxes, 2 MSD promag boxes plus graphic editor but no ignition system cables. We also have 2 sets of headers to go with car. We also have blocks, cranks, camshafts and many other parts for sale for a top fuel operation that can be put into the deal.

The car has done 10 runs in Europe since leaving USA." For more details or questions contact Michael Mcdonald on +44 7706 616961.

The team later posted "Just to squash any rumours running around the rumour mill Patrik has not quit or retired in any shape or form. The truth is we have just purchased a new car from America. We are not releasing details as yet but hopefully we will have some news for you in January. Patrik and the entire team would like to thank everyone for their support." Thanks for the clarification guys and looking forward to seeing the new car.

Swift snippets.
6th December: Happy Birthday to Swap Meet sponsor and race engine builder Jeff Bull, and to Super Pro ET racer Scott Hauser. We hope you both have a great day.

Avril, we are thinking of you.
5th December: Thanks to Paul Marston for an update on former Santa Pod Racers Club marshal Avril Brown:

I have been asked by the Brown family to let everyone know that former SPRC marshal Avril Brown has been so bravely fighting a battle against cancer. Unfortunately, despite having undergone a full course of chemotherapy, the doctor's report last week said that it has not been successful and they have given Avril about 4 weeks to say all her goodbyes.

Phil Brown, Avril's Husband, and both of their sons, Alan Brown and Simon Brown, have all served as Santa Pod Racers Club marshals over the years, Phil for around 15 years, so they will be known to quite a few of you.

Phil and Avril also helped PMR when we ran UK Top Sportsman with Jeff and Belinda Bull at Santa Pod Raceway, they are kind people and very dear friends who have given so much to this great sport of ours.

This news will come as a shock to a lot of you as the Browns are private people and wanted to keep the treatment confidential in the hope that the chemo was successful, alas unfortunately it was not.

Paul Marston Racing team members new and old were privileged to have visited the Browns last Sunday to see Avril, who still has that cheeky glint in her eyes and a wicked sense of humour.

Please keep Avril and Phil Brown in your thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks.

Spitfire Raceway event this Saturday.
5th December:

With the rest of the UK suffering freezing temperatures over the coming days, Spitfire Raceway in Perranporth is forecast to be a relatively balmy 7C and the event is described by promoter Lee Child as "Petrolhead paradise".

The 2022 Xmas finale drag and drift will take place on Saturday 10th December. Gates are open at 8am and track action is from 11am to 3pm. Drag strip riders and drivers have a meeting at race control 10.45am. There will also be a car and bike show plus the opportunity for the brave to stay over at the track.

. Online bookings are open at this link and you can book the Spitfire Park holiday camping area for a relaxing short or long time stay by clicking on this link.

All vehicles welcome, you can spectate for £10 per person (under 16s go free) or take part drag racing at Spitfire Raceway from £10 after admission. Crash helmet and full driving licence required. All vehicles have a safety check for drag racing and drifting. Show & shine no charge after admission. Please respect the surrounding areas and speed limits when travelling to and from the venue.

We wish Lee all the best with Spitfire Raceway and possible new venues, following an announcement earlier in the week that he will no longer be involved in promoting cash days no prep racing at Melbourne Raceway and Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe. The respective tracks will continue with their announced dates and will announce plans in due course.

Swift snippets.
5th December: Happy Birthday for today to Norwegian Super Comp racer Mari Udtian, former Top Methanol Dragster racer Tony Dönges and VW Pro racer Andy Voce. We hope you are all having a great day.

USAutomotive to join 7707 LSR team.
4th December:

Eurodragster.com sponsor USAutomotive is excited to announce that they will be joining Geoff Stilwell's record-holding, award-winning 7707 Land Speed Racing Team.

Chairman of USAutomotive Stewart Bassett said "USAutomotive has been involved with American autos and racing since our inception in 1997 and we've been friends with Geoff for a number of years now. As the UK's leading importer of American auto parts, it seemed only natural to get on board and help Geoff with shipping logistics and make this more of a British effort."

"The car was built at Brit Mick Jenkins' shop Mick's Paint, Pomona, CA", said Geoff, "and when their schedule permits is operated by Nick Davies, Rob Loaring and Scott Barnes of Buckingham-based I.C.E. Automotive, while on-the-ground US logistics are handled by expat Brit Tony Thacker. So, it's mostly a British crew and having USAutomotive help with shipping logistics is a huge benefit to the programme", concluded Geoff.

"USAutomotive ships all types of American auto parts with weekly or at least bi-weekly air freight shipments from our base in Atlanta, GA" said Bassett, "and with these regular shipments we can help Geoff expedite his on-going race programme as we do for other UK-based enthusiasts."

"This is great news," said Nick Davies of I.C.E. Automotive, "We ship in a lot of components for our engine-building business and having USAutomotive become part of the team can only help build the network and make it easy for UK racers to go racing."

Geoff Stilwell's 7707 land speed racer set a A/Blown Fuel rear engined Modified Roadster record at 258.569mph at Bonneville Speedway in 2019.

Follow latest USAutomotive developments by going to their Facebook page.

Outlaw Street Prize Night.
4th December: The Outlaw Street Prize Night took place on 12th November at the Crown Lodge Hotel, Outwell, Cambridgeshire. It was the usual fun affair of good food, good people, banter, beer, prizes and more. Series organiser Mark Wallingford writes:

In the raffle draw, a free 2023 Outlaw Street membership was won by Howie Wright (Ranchero), a $50 Summit Racing Gift Voucher was won by OS-37 Chris Richards (Barracuda), and a bottle of Gentleman Jack was won by Luke Hersee (Javelin).

Free Membership Certificates to the 2023 season to members who've had 15 years continous membership were awarded to Stephen 'Badger' Moule (Chevelle), Mark Holmes (V8 Chevette), Joe Mills (Hillman), Stuart Ramsay (Camaro), Vic Fisher (Mustang), Team Bebikan (Zephyr), Simon Paul (Nissan GTR), Chris Richards (Barracuda), Nigel Jenkins (Mustang), John F Latham (car tbc), Chris Antell (VW Camper) and Gary Semper (Pontiac Firebird). 10 year membership awards of an engraved hip flask were presented to: Rob Leyman (C10 Pickup) and David Mahoney (Camaro).

Reaction Time engraved tankards and £25 prize money sponsored by Outlaw Street were awarded to:
Round 1 Sally Woolner (Camaro, RT 0.1233)
Round 2 Rod Atkinson (Nova, RT 0.1010)
Round 4 Dave Mahoney (Camaro, RT 0.0822)
Round 5 Abi Bailey-Unsworth (Fiat 500, RT 0.0923)
Round 6 Alan Payne ('34 Ford, RT 0.0195)
Round 7 Sally Woolner (Camaro, RT 0.1285)
Round 8 Pete Lane (Mercury, RT 0.2810)
Round 9 Pete Lane (Mercury, RT 0.2814)

Other special awards were made:

Quickest RT of the year award: Alan Payne
Fastest 4/6cylinder: Simon Paul, 10.3108/138.11mph
Fastest V8 class and new all time fastest V8 in OS history: Sally Woolner, 8.2222/166.06mph
Hard Luck Award (as voted for by Outlaw Street Members): James Griffin (Willys Coupe)
'Spirit of the Outlaw' Award (as nominated by Outlaw Street members): Simon Paul (Nissan GTR)

Improvement awards of £50 prize money & certificate sponsored by designbybinnie were awarded to:
Round 2 Vic Fisher (Mustang, 1.5478s)
Round 3 Pete Lane (Barracuda, 0.9058s)
Round 4 Sally Woolner (Camaro, 1.2316s)
Round 5 Pete Lane (Mercury, 1.8595s)
Round 6 Stephen Cowling (MG Midget, 0.8439s)
Round 7 Chris Richards (Barracuda, 1.6948s)
Round 8 Martin Rawlinson (Dodge Challenger, 0.863s)
Round 9 Simon Paul (Nissan GTR, 0.5792s)

The Top 12 winners of the Outlaw Street 2022 series each received an Outlaw Street 2023 calendar, with each month featuring one of the top 12 cars. The top 6 winners all received a 2023 Outlaw Street calendar featuring their car PLUS a framed photo of their car, with the top 3 all receiving Outlaw Street custom trophies:

Sally Woolner (Camaro)
Simon Paul (Nissan GTR)
Dave Mahoney (Camaro)
Pete Lane (Mercury)
Alan Payne ('32 Ford)
Dez Brown (MG Magnette)
Vic Fisher (Mustang)
Rod Atkinson (Nova)
Matt Southcott ('39 Ford)
Paul KNifton (Mustang)
Chris Richards (Barracuda)
Russ Pursley (Dutton)

After a successful evening it was announced that Prize Night 2023 for the classe's big 15th Anniversary will be on Saturday 11th November 2023 At the Crown Lodge Hotel, Outwell, Cambs.

2023 membership is frozen at £40 for the season & is now open for existing members to renew & retain their race numbers, and for new members.

The full 2023 race calendar for the 15th anniversary year of Outlaw Street is finalised & will be publised shortly, Mark can confirm there will be 8 rounds, 2 of which will be pre 1973 vehicles only, with 6 rounds counting to the series final points.

Swift snippets.
4th December: Happy Birthday for today (Sunday) to Funny Car crew chief Mark "Animal" Bodimeade, Funny Car crew member Malc Short, Sportsman ET racer Holley Walters and Junior Dragster dad Steven Taylor, we hope you all have a great day!

This weekend, the Snowbird Nationals takes place at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, and fingers are crossed for expat Swede Adam Flamholc as he is currently outside the 32 car Outlaw Pro Mod ladder, having run a 3.806/201.37 in his new screw-blown '57 Chevy to go #33 of 42 qualifiers on Friday, and suffering a broken drive shaft in his first burnout on Saturday. You can see highlights of Friday qualifying at the 51st Annual Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at the Youtube channel TheRacingvids or subscribe to FloRacing to watch live and view many independent drag racing events from the US.

VWDRC Prizegiving.
3rd December: Last weekend, the annual VWDRC AGM and prizegiving took place on 26th Novermber. The sold-out event, held at The Campbell Room, Brewhouse & Kitchen, Milton Keynes, started with the club AGM then moved on to beer tasting before dinner.

The trophies presented by VWDRC Chair Luke Stevenson, with congratulations to all racers, crew and others involved in the club for another successful year, were:

VW Pro Championship winner: Graham Fairhead
VW Pro Championship runner-up: James Hodson
VW Sportsman Championship winner: Paul Robinson
VW Sportsman Championship runner-up: Phil Jones
VW Heads Up Championship winner: Dave Henderson
VW Heads Up Championship runner-up: Paul Jordan
Dennis Cox memorial trophy (most consistent qualifier): Graham Fairhead
Brian Burrows Rookie of the Year trophy: Jerry Sadler
Howard Dalton Memorial for Driver of the Year: Graham Fairhead
RNJ Motorsport Car of the Year: Rob Carter, owner of Percy the Passat
Becky Sutton Memorial trophy for services to the club: Abi Tether
Shiftin' Ghia Best Package Award: Jacob Bailey
The Roxanne Red Light award for most red lights in eliminations: Dan Boucher
The Mechanical Sympathy Award: Dave Crowhurst
LuPro ET Award: Rhys Finney

The 36th VW Pro and VW Sportsman championships will take place in 2023 at UK Motorsport governed events as follows:

29th April–1st May: Springspeed Nationals
17th-18th June: Sportsman Nationals
1st-2nd July: Summer Nationals
22nd-23rd July: Bug Jam
19th-20th August: Greenlight Nationals
22nd-24th September: National Finals

The VW Heads Up championship will take place at the following lifestyle events:

23rd April: GTI Spring Festival
1st October: Das GTI Auto Show

Prize monies will be announced in due course.

A pre-season test day has been booked for 31st March (Pre-season testing). Entry is now available at vwdrc.square.site. Those wishing to join the VWDRC can do so by going to vwdrc.square.site.

Thanks go to club sponsors R-Tech Performance, White Label Consulting & Managed Services, GP Turbos, Hangar 30, The Car Kitchen, Pro Race Engineering, Darkside Developments, CG Motorsport Clutch Specialists, European Front Wheel Drive, 32 Speed Shop, Renegade Fuel, BJ Bates Electrical, Track Ready, WRP Paint and Restoration and EST Performance.

Thanks to Abi Tether for providing information and photos.

Swift snippets.
3rd December: Happy Birthday for today to Pro Modified racer (albeit with a for-sale Mustang - see Swap Meet) Paula Atkin, expat Norwegian Top Alcohol Dragster racer Julie Nataas, Super Pro ET racer Steve Saunders, and Outlaw Anglia racer Brian Nixon, we hope you all have a fantastic day.

The NHRA Breakfast is always a highlight at the SEMA Show and this year was no exception. With legends Don Prudhomme, Richard Tharp, Lee Beard and Frank Hawley joining Brian Lohnes for “Bent Rules, Balled Fists and Dragstrip Battles” it was guaranteed to be a good one and did not disappoint. Some great stories and pieces of drag racing folklore dispelled, catch it at this link.

Wild Bunch 26th Annual Prize Presentation.
2nd December: Your editor and Mrs Groves were honoured to be invited to be Special Guests of the Wild Bunch's Annual Prize Presentation Dinner Dance last Saturday and congratulations to all prize winners. Wild Bunch co-ordinator Claire Meaddows writes:

The Wild Bunch held our 26th Annual Prize Presentation on Saturday, 26th November at Drayton Manor near Tamworth, and it was another brilliant evening, enjoyed by all attending! We welcomed Guests of Honour Robin Read and Ella Chapman and special guests Simon and Ros Groves.

Many thanks to our great comperes Barry Bohannon and Paul Wright, who did their usual excellent job, announcing the winners, with their citations and adding their usual aplomb to the celebrations. All the various Series winners were presented with their awards, with the 2022 Wild Bunch Series win going to Pete & Rob Brown with the “Rebel” slingshot, their second win in a row! Many congratulations to them and the whole team! The ‘Marras’ also won the Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series for their second time in a row. Keith Crampton and his “Soultown Shaker” slingshot won the Springbridge MSUK Challenge Series Cup held over the 4 MSA events that the Wild Bunch compete in. This was his 1st win of that Series, which is sponsored by Springbridge Direct Ltd. Many thanks to Bob Hawkins and his company for their Series sponsorship, now in its 10th year! Newcomer Dan Wilson won the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series, a great debut for him and his team in his “Antique Toy” slingshot! Many Congratulations to all those who finished in the Top 4, and Top 10 in Wild Bunch!

The Wild Bunch would like to thank Bob Hawkins of Springbridge Direct Ltd for his decade of support, and our host of other event trophy and prize money sponsors this season: Mark & Lynne Coulsell of Team Limited Funz, Sutton Soda Blasting and Andrew Murphy of Team B-Sting.

Photos by Claire: Wild Bunch Top 10 winners, Robin Read presenting Spirit of Drag Racing award to Bob Hawkins, Crazy Chris showmanship award - Team Econorail, Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Top 4 winners

There were various presentations made just prior to and during the evening, including for Secretary Lynne Coulsell, and Race Co-ordinator, Treasurer &GM Claire Meaddows for all their hard work. Gifts were given to all the lovely ladies attending. Flowers were given to Hayley, Ella and Claire.

There were special presentations made including several to our Guests of Honour Robin and Ella. Robin, who is currently celebrating his 50th year in Drag Racing, gave a wonderful heartfelt speech!

In addition, the winners of all the Wild Bunch Special Merit awards were announced, and are shown below:

Big Bang Trophy: Lee & Mark Hartnell “Metal Mistress”
Fastest time by a British-engined dragster (Sponsored by Martin Holgate): Tim Roy, “Boston Straggler II” 8.357 Dragstalgia (and 8.409 backup at Summer Showdown). (Robin fittingly presented this to Tee!)
Fastest MPH: Bob Hawkins, “Time Traveller II” 193.86 mph Summer Nats
Quickest E.T.: Bob Hawkins, “Time Traveller II” 6.609 Nat Finals
Best Newcomer: Dan Wilson, “Antique Toy”
Best Altered: Bob Morgan, “B-Sting”
Best Slingshot: Keith Crampton, “Soultown Shaker”
Best Radical/Dragster: Phil James, “Rampage”
Best Turnd Out: Keith Crampton, “Soultown Shaker”
Perseverance Award: Bob Hawkins, “Time Traveller II”
Best Achiever: Keith Crampton, “Soultown Shaker”
Derek & Brenda Annable trophy: Colliver King Racing “Misfit” & “From Hell”
‘Crazy Chris’ Showmanship: Team Econorail, “Hammerman II”
Crew of the Year: Alan Grimes, “Team Daddy Cool”
Driver Dave Memorial Bell (Kept Calm and Carried On - on behalf of Angie Woods & Warren Rowlands): presented by Mark Hartnell to Dave Williams
Scottie Durrant ‘Above & Beyond’ Award: Lee & Mark Hartnell “Metal Mistress”
Personal Achievement: Ken ‘Mr Flathead’ Cooper “Back from the Past”
C & C Sportsperson: Team “Happy Daze” “Happy Daze”

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.

Sadly the 2021 winners, Team Limited Funz, were unable to attend for personal reasons. We are all sending our love and thinking of them.

Our Guest of Honour Robin made the presentation of the Don Garlits Shield to Bob Hawkins of “Time Traveller II” fame - from one 6-second driver to another! Bob is a long time Wild Bunch member and supporter, and has once again put in an outstanding effort this season to run his nitro-powered slingshot, once again down into the mid 6’s! This is Bob’s second win of the shield! Very well done and very well deserved! Huge congratulations to Bob and his whole team on this achievement!

We also held a raffle to raise funds for the club, so many thanks to all who donated prizes. The night was rounded out with more celebrations, dancing, chatting and laughs all round.

Many congratulations to all our winners! We can’t wait until 2023 to be back out at the drags for the 27th Anniversary season of the Wild Bunch!

Full info can be found on the Wild Bunch website www.the-wild-bunch.co.uk.

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy, 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 work so hard! 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 for another brilliant year!

To keep up with Robin Read, his Facebook page Robin Read Drag Racing, including many priceless Tales from The Shed, is highly recommended.

Swift snippets.
2nd December: Happy Birthday for today to Robinson Race Cars' Luke Robinson, Outlaw Street racer Dave Mahoney, former Funny Car racer John Spuffard and former Pro Modified racer and Junior Drags Bike grandad Dave Pollen. We wish you all a great day.

Straightliners 2023 dates and championship.
1st December: Thanks to Trevor Duckworth and Helen Greathead for sending us the dates of the 2023 Straightliners car and bike drag racing and speed series:

25th-26th February	Straightliners Elvington Open Day Weekend
18th March	Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe 1
27th March	Top Speed Monday, Elvington
2nd April	Santa Pod Raceway Season Opener (Straightliners round 1)
15th-16th April	Melbourne round 1 (SL round 2)
17th April	Top Speed Monday Elvington
22nd April	Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe 2
13th-14th May	Melbourne Raceway round 2, (SL round 3)
15th May	Top Speed Monday Elvington
20th-26th May	Speed Week, Elvington
5th-8th June	TT Ramsey Sprint
17th-18 June	Melbourne Raceway – Round 3, (SL round 4)
19th June	Top Speed Monday Elvington
24th-25th June	Campbeltown, Scotland
8th July	Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe 3

15th-16th July	Melbourne Raceway – Round 4, (SL round 5)
17th July	Top Speed Monday Elvington
22nd-23rd July	Llanbedr (SL round 6)
29th-30th July	TOTB
5th-6th August	Melbourne Raceway – round 5, (SL round 2)
7th August	Top Speed Monday Elvington
12th August	Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe 4
19th August	JM Racewars
20nd August	Drive Nation
27th August	Ramsey Sprint, IOM Ramsey Sprint
2nd-3rd September	Jurby, IOM
11th September	Top Speed Monday Elvington
16th-17th September	Melbourne Raceway – Round 6, (SL round 8)
23rd-24th September	Elvington ACU /UKITA Records
30th September	Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe 5
7th-8th October	Melbourne Raceway – Round 7, (SL round 9)
9th October	Top Speed Monday Elvington
15th October	Santa Pod Raceway, (SL round 10)

Helen says "Please check before an event to make sure there aren’t any changes. Racers can phone or message me on 07921 712266 or email at [email protected] or check the Straightliners website at www.straightliners.events. Events can be entered online or ring Helen 01724 347801. Entries will be dearer from 2 weeks before the event. 8 rounds from 10 will count for the Straightliners Championship; Melbourne 6 rounds from 7 will count. Events are pre-enter only for Championships, RWYB available on the day at most events.

Trevor added: "We have looked at the car classes for next year and taken note of comments from drivers. We will have new classes, a 9-round championship with two rounds at Santa Pod and 7 rounds at Melbourne, also the Northern Powerfest will again be at Melbourne for our May date after the success of last year's event, plus we are talking to class groups and will make an announcement about their dates in due course. We will make Melbourne work for both cars and bikes and Drag Racing - in general, there are many things going on at the moment to improve the track and its racing."

Pictured top: Campbeltown, Scotland, 3 miles long former emergency Space Shuttle landing site, resurfaced in 2021.

What are PAWOT and MIFUNI?
1st December: We were intrigued with three of awards from the Straightliners trophy evening last Saturday and were pleased to hear that figures in British drag racing provided the inspiration for two of them. Straightliners director Trevor Duckworth provided the details.

PAWOT, as awarded to Jane Pittwood for her work with the UK Timing Association as well as Straightliners on race secretary, signing on and welfare duties, is Put A Woman On Top Award given to a woman that has contributed to our sport.

The MIFUNI award is an award from Pip Higham back in the day when he was running the Village Bike shop and as he was very competitive, he tried to get sponsorship from Suzuki but to no avail, so he decided he would not ride a Suzuki any more and instead called the bike a MIFUI the award reflects that spirit and the trophy has recycled from awards given to us by Pip. This year it was awarded to Straightliners commentator and track worker Paul Cumpstone whose voice can be heard at every event and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the vehicles on track.

Paul added "The trophy was originally for Most spectacular run by a Street Bike but has now been repurposed. As such, it was awarded in 2020 to Mark Taylor, 2021 to Andy Higham and now myself. I've no idea the exact wording that Trevor used before I picked up the award as I'd nipped to the toilet and, coming back to the function room with huge applause going on, was informed it was for me!

The other noteworthy award is the Endeavour award; this award was made by Pip from a turbo housing in memory of Chris Hampson he put this award into the land speed section of Straightliners rather than mainstream Drag Racing many years ago and it has been our major award for many years. Congratulations to Graham and Diane Sykes for winning it this year in connection with Graham's steam driven rocket bike.

Swift snippets.
1st December: Happy Birthday for today to Supercharged Outlaws owner and occasional driver Duncan Beard, FWD racer Calvin Skerritt and 8.50 Bike racer with a penchant for running quicker Steve Howe. We hope you all have a great day.

The group of British Drag Racing Historians mentioned yesterday wishes to contact Nick Anscombe, who raced in the 1980s with a front engined flathead powered dragster called Pig Pen. He raced regularly with the British Flathead Racers Association and was also a fan of Allard sports cars, in particular flathead powered ones. If anyone can help please email Simon at [email protected].

Earlier news