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Summit Internationals coverage.
23rd August: We are in place at Tierp Arena bringing you the news from the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals.

Our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored coverage will consist of the usual real-time reports and results throughout each day, and a photo gallery at the end of each day courtesy of Julian. There will be no pit notes from Tierp this weekend as Simon could not attend.

You can check out our Summit Racing Equipment Internationals Event Index, also includes links to the official entry list and webcast, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Junior Drag Racing Fun Day coverage.
23rd August: Kirstie and Simon attended yesterday's (Thursday's) Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway, which was as ever a sell-out and also as ever was action-packed.

You can check out Simon's report and Kirstie's pictures, which are presented in association with John Woolfe Racing, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Habermanns withdaw from Finals.
23rd August: After long consideration and weighing up all of their options, Werner Habermann Racing have withdrawn Timo Habermann's and Dennis Habermanns' entries from the FIA/FIM European Finals. The decision broke the team's hearts but they say that it was inevitable:

"Although Timo won the NitrOlympX for the fourth time in a row, we had so much damage and problems with new parts and new material we really can't afford more damage at Santa Pod" says team boss Werner Habermann. "First we have to find the problem, then solve it, and then we can come back to the race track."

Dennis adds "Last season I had a new system with new heads, a new intake etc. It worked so well that we made the decision that Timo would have the same system for this season. Last year we didn't have any problems with it. But this year we had problems on every single run which, interestingly, hadn't shown up at all on the warm-ups."

Timo says "The only thing that saved our weekend was the decision on Saturday afternoon that I should drive home and pick up last season's parts because the problems we had didn't occur in 2018. At the end of the day I won the race and there was no single problem with the engine as a whole."

The team are all of the opinion that it will take more than a fortnight to find the root problem and fix it.

"We know that the new system is faster, especially since we went 5.38 seconds and 5.39 seconds on seven and six cylinders respectively", says Werner. "But when it's not reliable it's not a real advantage."

It was a really hard choice for us but in the end canceling for the Finals is the only choice we have. Despite the challenges we are facing at the moment a big Thank You goes to our amazing partners who support us so much: Höfler Fenster, Bergheimer Stahlhallen, Tommy Werbung, Autokrandienst Habermann, Fuchs Lubricants, Exide batteries and Swagelok.

See you back on the track soon - stay tuned!

Swift snippets.
23rd August: Thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the STP UK National Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 21st-22nd September. Standard-rate entry closes on Friday of next week, 30th August after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty. You can download the entry forms from the SPRC web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and you can check out the current entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. If you have any queries about event entry then please contact Ian on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail ir.marshall@btconnect.com.

Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding us updated points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and SPRC Club Championships after the Green Light Nationals. You can check out the UK and SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Ian King tells us that the latest ACU UK Drag Bike Championship points are now showing on the King Racing site at www.kingracing.com.

Kerryanne Frazier asked us to say a big Happy 14th Birthday to reigning FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike Cup Champion Meggie Talbot. Our pleasure, have a lovely day Meggie.

Summit Internationals webcast, alerts.
21st August: All four days of this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena are to be webcast free by Nitrozplay.

Broadcast commences at 09:00 European each morning starting tomorrow (Thursday) and you will be able to tune in at www.nitrozplay.com.

Nitroz are also offering an SMS alert service which will send you a text message when your selected classes run. A weekend's worth of alerts costs 69 SEK per class and you can sign up at web.nitroz.se/notes.

Hall of Fame Gala selling fast.
21st August: British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury says that there has already been tremendous demand for tickets for the 2019 Gala which takes place at the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge on Saturday 23rd November:

We have already reserved over half the allocation of a capacity of 220 seats. This exceeds any August so far. Potential attendees need to get in touch as soon as possible to make sure that they have a seat.

Ticket prices for the 2019 Gala Awards Dinner remain unchanged at £70 per person. Corporate tables of twelve are available at £756. Hotel prices will also remain the same as the last two years: a double room is £115 and a single room £94 both including breakfast, car parking and use of the hotel's facilities.

Many special guests will be traveling from the US to attend, with more exciting announcements waiting in the wings!

To reserve tickets please E-Mail stuart@britishdragracinghof.co.uk or telephone 01933 279102 or mobile 07931 260457. We will then send you a booking form which includes the special discount code for rooms.

Ålund's second double.
21st August: After a six-week break it was time for race number four in the FIA European Pro Modified and Pro Stock Championships, the NitrOlympx at Hockenheimring, Germany. Jimmy Ålund and teams are working hard towards the goal of winning two FIA Championships in the same season and this was a very good weekend in that regard. Pär Willen writes:

The stage all set, the Hockenheimring race surface was very good which made for strong performances and close racing. In Pro Modified Jimmy needed to make up for an early semi final exit at the latest race in Finland. The Old 51 ran quick and fast during qualifying and ended up as the number one qualifier on day one. Included was a new best speed for the car, 400.55 kmh (248.89 mph). Solid running continued on the second day and Jimmy went into Sunday's eliminations as the #2 qualifier with an ET of 5.879 seconds, only 0.003 seconds behind #1 qualifier Jan Ericsson.

On race day, Jimmy was quick and consistent. In his elimination rounds, his best and worst ETs were only 0.048 seconds apart, all in the low 5.9s. The strong performance and consistency proved too tough for the competition as Jimmy went all rounds and won the event. A win is of course always great but this one had a silver lining. "Yessiree, indeed!", said an elated Jimmy. "We picked up some very much needed points here. Our season hasn't been as good as we have needed for getting another Championship but we went from #4 in points up to #2 after this win. The whole team did everything right for getting the victory. Thanks to the Hockenheimring, it's a great track with the biggest crowds on the circuit".

In Pro Stock the Summit Racing Pro Stock Camaro ran quick and fast during qualifying and ended up as the number one qualifier. On race day Jimmy showed why he's the points leader. Consistency and quick elapsed times make for winning events and, as with The Old 51 Pro Mod, Jimmy did well on both counts. The difference between the quickest and slowest runs during eliminations was an astounding 0.009 seconds and 0.62 km/h (0.39 mph). Jimmy had the quickest and fastest car in each round and it paid off with yet another FIA class win this weekend.

Wins in both Pro Mod and Pro Stock has only happened once before, which Jimmy pulled off last year at the FHRA Nitro Nationals.

A perfect weekend? "Yes, definitely", said Jimmy, "It is of course very hectic to race two cars of this calibre but the teams are nothing short of fantastic. The competition is fierce to say the least and with only two races left we need every single point we can gather. Lots of hard work all weekend and we are obviously very happy with the result."

The Jimmy Ålund Pro Stock Racing team leaves Hockenheim at the top of the points table, extending the lead to 125 points over Michael Malmgren in second place. There are two races left in the Championship, the next being this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena in Sweden which makes for a very hectic race schedule. Jimmy arrived home yesterday and the team leaves for Tierp Arena tomorrow. The action starts with qualifying for both Pro Mod and Pro Stock on Friday.

Summit Racing Equipment sponsors both the Old 51 Pro Mod and the Ålund Pro Stock Camaro this year. This is in addition to Funny Garage AB, Viking Industrimålning, Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, All American AB and Stigs Axle and Parts. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.

Anita featured.
20th August: Robin Jackson tells us that there is a rare treat in store on the newsstands for drag racing followers this Thursday:

The treat is rare because Britain's leading weekly motor racing magazine, Autosport, is not renowned for its coverage of the straight-line sport. However, this weeks issue focuses on 'Women in Motorsport' and features a multi-page profile of Top Fuel Champion Anita Mäkelä, written and photographed by our good friend Andy Willsheer. The subject matter's rarity value alone makes this issue something of a collector's item. If the publishers should notice a spike in sales from drag race enthusiasts snapping up copies, perhaps it might herald a greater degree of attention paid to the sport in the future.

Autosport goes on sale at all good newsagents and on supermarket newsstands this Thursday (22nd).

The weekend's numbers.
20th August: Many thanks to Andy Marrs for forwarding us an updated table of European Bests including the records set at the NitrOlympX:

FIM Europe Super Street Bike speed: 212.03 mph/341.33 kmh, Steve Venables
FIM Europe Super Street Bike bump spot (16 bikes): 7.527 seconds

You can check out the table of European Bests by clicking here or by clicking on the European and UK Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Marrs also tells us that over the weekend Jimmy Ålund won his 150th round of Pro Stock, and that Rikard Gustafsson won his 50th round of Top Fuel Bike.

Thanks also to Marrs for the official timing data from the weekend's STP Green Light Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Swift snippets.

20th August: Secret Worx Comp Eliminator racer Jordan Payne will be campaigning his Championship-winning Junior Dragster for one last time at this Thursday's Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway. "I really enjoyed competing with the Junior Dragster from 2015 to 2018", says Jordan, "however after my birthday in January I was old enough to step into the family's Comp Eliminator Corvette, and that was not an opportunity I was going to turn down! As I am no longer competing with the Junior Dragster it is now up for sale on the Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet on Eurodragster.com."

On the subject of the Junior Fun Day, Kirstie and Simon will be attending and their John Woolfe Racing-sponsored report and pictures will be posted immediately after the event. Julian and Tog are headed for Sweden and our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored coverage of the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals will commence on Thursday morning.

Ugly T-Shirt auction update.
20th August: As things stand, Topspeed Eliminator racer Andy Bond is going to raise £471 for Bloodwise with the auction of six team T-Shirts launched here on Eurodragster.com on 25th July. There is however still plenty of time to bid to push up that total... not far to £500 folks.

Current leading bidders are (in alphabetical order) Angie Daly, Steve Matthews, Yvonne Tramm, Amanda Underhill, James Webber and Charlie Wright to whom many thanks; if you would like to outbid any of these guys then you will have to put up at least £51.

The shirts are identical to those worn by Andy's team, and eagle-eyed readers will notice the subtle change to the logo of the original crew shirts, with a 6 replacing the G of Ugly. Only six of these shirts will ever be available outside the team so the winners are not only helping in the fight against all forms of blood cancer but are guaranteed a unique piece of memorabilia. Each shirt will be personalised with the winner's name.

How to bid

To place a bid, simply E-Mail ugly@eurodragster.com with an amount. We will publish the current top six bids on a regular basis and if you have been outbid then you can of course just bid again. The auction will close at 23:59 UK time on Saturday 31st August.

You know what to do folks. Get those bids in, share the link, tell your friends... well, don't tell them how much you have bid but you know what we mean.

NitrOlympX results.
19th August: Congratulations to the winners at the NitrOlympX at Hockenheim:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Anita Mäkelä 3.999/455.37 def. Maja Udtian 4.027/443.20
FIA Pro Modified: Jimmy Ålund 5.957/361.62 def. Jan Ericsson 5.887/392.94 DQ red
FIA Top Methanol: Timo Habermann 5.406/426.33 def. Jürgen Nagel 15.868/91.86 DQ red
FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund 6.651/335.43 def. Robin Norén 6.735/329.88

FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike: Filippos Papafilippou 6.210/366.50 def. Rikard Gustafsson 6.526/354.77
FIM Europe Supertwin: Roman Sixta 6.704/342.08 def. Neil Midgley 23.114/41.72
FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike: Charly Abraham 7.330/288.10 def. Len Paget 7.565/290.06 DQ red
FIM Europe Super Street Bike: Steve Venables 7.138/338.20 def. Garry Bowe 18.622/64.19
FIM Europe Junior Drag Bike Cup: Marie Rosen (10.80) 11.069/96.59 def. Tim Christensen (7.23) 7.384/149.55

Comp Eliminator: Rolf Ammann (7.16) 6.667/350.36 bye, Stefan Winter did not start
Super Pro ET: Alex Halter v Patrick Dubois did not take place
Pro ET: Will Clark v Lorenzo Dolcini did not take place
Super Comp: Leah Kellett 8.954/267.59 def. Gerd Habermann 8.893/221.67 DQ b/o
Super Gas: Rene Kloss 9.905/234.24 def. Oscar Scappocin 9.932/207.54
Junior Dragster: Lara Bartlett (8.13) 8.184/128.01 def. Oskar Norling (8.02) 8.068/128.12

Funny Bike: Thomas Joswig 7.857/292.05 def. Markus Laur 8.413/285.68
Supertwin Top Gas: Cord Albers 7.459/284.93 def. Frederik Schack 8.027/261.79
ET Bike: Hubert Franger (9.78) 10.061/211.96 def. Carsten Hemberger-Frauenkron (9.88) 10.094/225.39

The finals of Super Pro ET and Pro ET did not take place as racing had overrun.

Many thanks to Åsa Kinnemar for letting us know that the post-NitrOlympX points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships ae now available. You can check out the FIA points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

You can check out our NitrOlympX reports, pit notes and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. A big Thank You from Tog to Simon, Julian and Nikki Marshall for their hard work in conditions which went from one incarnation of unpleasant to the other and back again.

Green Light Nationals results.
18th August: Congratulations to the winners at the STP Green Light Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Funny Bike day 1: Kars van den Belt 7.3401/185.13 def. Dave Batcheler 7.3479/169.19
Funny Bike day 2: Kevin Osman 8.2405/179.25 def. Dave Batcheler 10.7433/82.28
Comp Bike day 1: Paul Hambidge 7.5241/179.96 def. Chris Reed 7.9031/175.10
Comp Bike day 2: Louis Davies 7.8895/166.08 def. Phil Leamon 11.6455/111.23
NMCN 8.50 Bike day 1: Jay Roe 8.5142/133.32 def. Ian Chrichlow 8.6506/165.45
NMCN 8.50 Bike day 2: Alan Morrison 8.5294/146.17 def. Ian Chrichlow 8.762/157.43
9.50 Bike day 1: Craig Wright 9.6918/140.35 def. Adam Burns 9.8055/138.97
9.50 Bike day 2: Richard Sawatzki 9/5287/131.41 def. Alan Morrison Jr 9.6272/134.82
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike day 1: Phil Pratt (9.12) 9.1352/142.06 def. Paul Adams (9.00) 9.0838/147.09
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike day 2: Phil Pratt (9.12) 9.2456/130.61 def. Robbie Dobbie (10.44) 10.3710/129.77 DQ b/o
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Supertwin Top Gas day 1: Ian Turburville 11.3469/109.38 def. Mike Nelthorpe 11.3288.126.61
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Supertwin Top Gas day 2: Michael Gooding 12.3377/103.37 bye
In Posterum Junior Drag Bike day 1: Liam Holgate (8.55) 8.5039/75.54 def. Casey Holgate (13.15) 13.0306/48.38 DQ b/o
In Posterum Junior Drag Bike day 2: Liam Holgate (8.53) 8.5039/75.54 def. Ciaran Lucas (9.18) 9.1207/66.37 DQ b/o

Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET: Dan Holloway (16.26) 16.2461/80.50 def. Kirstie Tramm (15.25) 15.2137/85.98 DQ b/o
Outlaw Anglia: Scott Crookston 7.7505/169.18 def. Colin Millar 8.4906/138.97
NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock: Neill Watkins (11.51) 11.5538/112.18 def. James Oliver (9.79) 9.7436/125.09 DQ b/o
VW Pro: Alex Knott (12.25) 11.9109/114/64 def. Carl Goldsmith (11.50) 10.6023/141.22 DQ red
VW Sportsman: Jon Crawford (16.18) 17.4662/65.35 def. Russ Weir (17.86) 19.4907/71.49
Wild Bunch: Callum Swinchatt (9.05) 9.2534/140.70 def. Philippa Turton (13.87) 13.8087/93.46 DQ b/o
Outlaw Flat Four: Ian Clark 11.6771/115.53 def. Danny Pike 11.1768/119.62
Pro Drag: Nick Good 7.0623/182.09 bye

Congratulations also to NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock racer Tom Watkins and Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racer Holley Walters who won the Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team respectively. We will be in touch with Tom and Holley for bank details on our return to the UK. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for the FIA/FIM European Finals.

In association with John Woolfe Racing Saturday and Sunday galleries are available courtesy of Callum Pudge and off-track photographer Diana Macrae to whom many thanks. You can check out the galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

NitrOlympX webcast.
14th August: Hockenheim-Ring GmBH interrupt our normal programming for a special newsflash:

We are pleased to announce live coverage of the 34th NitrOlympX! This year spectators will again be provided with the most enthralling scenes of the weekend "At home on the screen". The well-proven team of Armin Freitag Media Technology will be producing a live TV show which will be displayed on the jumbo screens next to the track.

That won't work for you because you are not visiting the NitrOlympX this year? No problem! Don't miss the exciting internet broadcast - as always live, with on-track action and results and including the Saturday Night Show. Best of all: the live stream is available free of charge and with no need to register. You can receive full digital intoxication at www.nitrolympx.de.

Broadcasts are scheduled from 09:00 until the end of the event on Saturday and Sunday.

And now we return to our scheduled programme...

FIA/FIM European Finals entry.
13th August: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding Version 7 (first final version) of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 5th-8th September and which is the final round of the 2019 FIA European Drag Racing Championships and 2019 FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships as well as a round of some UK National Drag Racing Championships.

You can check out the Finals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

The official closing date has now passed; entry may still be accepted but if so then may be subject to a late entry fee. You can download entry forms via the Information link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Swift snippets.
13th August: With the fiftieth anniversary of the release of The Rutles' Shabby Road fast approaching, Darren Prentice and some of the crew continuing to prepare the Rico Anthes Quarter Mile for this weekend's NitrOlympX took time out for their own tribute to the Prefab Four before taking tea to celebrate a successful Public Race. Thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding the picture.

This weekend's NitrOlympX is the first of a Championship double-header with the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena next week. Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has penned and illustrated a preview of the forthcoming FIA European Championships duet on the Drag Racing Europe Blog, which you can check out by clicking here.

We would like to say a big Happy Birthday with hugs to Charlotte Cook-Abbott, and Happy Birthday with a manly handshake each to Supertwin owner Chris Hannam and 8.50 Bike racer Ian Chrichlow. Have a great day all.

Ugly T-Shirt auction latest.
12th August: As things stand, Topspeed Eliminator racer Andy Bond is going to raise £380 for Bloodwise with the auction of six team T-Shirts launched here on Eurodragster.com on 25th July. There is however still plenty of time to bid to push up that total.

Current leading bidders are (in alphabetical order) Steve Matthews, Ben Newsome, Mick Pusey, Amanda Underhill, Mark Wallington and Charlie Wright to whom many thanks; if you would like to outbid any of these guys then you will have to put up at least £50.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £100 after it went unclaimed at the Mopar EuroNationals. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available in all classes during both qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.

Please note that as most of the core team are at Hockenheim this weekend, should the Award be won then we will contact the winner on our return to arrange a bank transfer.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team has been reset to £50 after it was won by Nostalgia Super Stock racer Mick Ellsworth at the Mopar EuroNationals. The money will be paid to the first racer at the event to run +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available in Sportsman ET, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the Wild Bunch, Nostalgia Super Stock, 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, ET Bike and Junior Drag Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield aka Fadster of the Twister Race Team.

Please note that as most of the core team are at Hockenheim this weekend, should the Award be won then we will contact the winner on our return to arrange a bank transfer.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

NitrOlympX coverage and (many) more.
12th August: What has already been an intensive Event Coverage schedule ramps up still further over the next six weekends, with several events in three countries scheduled to be covered in association with John Woolfe Racing.

We will shortly be heading to Germany to cover the NitrOlympX which takes place from Friday to Sunday. We plan to post the usual real-time reports and results throughout each day, and pit notes throughout each day courtesy of Simon. Julian will as ever be providing photographs but our colleague and Julian's usual NitrOlympX partner-in-crime Kirstie can't go to Hockenheim as she will be contesting Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET at the Green Light Nationals. This was up there amongst the most difficult decisions Kirstie has ever had to make, but a serious run at the Championship is a serious run at the Championship and Kirstie will be at the front of our thoughts and hopes this weekend. We are pleased to announce that Nikki Marshall, whom many of you know as a keen photographer, will be joining us to cover the NitrOlympX alongside Julian.

Meanwhile at Santa Pod Raceway the above-mentioned Green Light Nationals takes place on Saturday and Sunday. SPRC's timing crew will be providing us with final qualifying and elimination results, and regular Contributing Photographer Callum Pudge and Off-Track Photographer Diana Macrae will be providing us with photographs.

Next week we will be covering the Junior Drag Racing Fun Day at Santa Pod Raceway and the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals at Tierp Arena, then VW Action, pre-FIA/FIM European Finals testing, the FIA/FIM European Finals itself, the NSRA Hot Rod Drags, and the STP UK National Finals. You can check out our Event Coverage schedule, with links to the index page for each event, by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Rodman returns.
11th August: Nick Saunders writes that after what feels like an eternity and a real roller coaster of a ride, the first test session of Shawn Rodman's new Supertwin took place at Santa Pod recently:

The new bike has been superbly built by Al Smith using a Hawaya Racing motor from Johnny Vickers. Al and Julie have really excelled themselves with the bike, and their dedication to the cause has been very much appreciated by the team.

The intention for the weekend was simply to get some settings into the bike, try a burnout and launch, then strip everything down to ensure no damage was evident. If we could achieve that over the weekend, we would have been happy. It's a testament to Al and the team that everything was completed by the end of the first day.

Thanks must also go to Neil Midgley whose assistance with the Racepak and set-up proved to be invaluable. The coming months are going to be a very steep learning curve for our team. This bike is a whole different animal to our last, however the challenge is one that Shawn, Craig, Shiner and Danny will relish.

Hopefully updates will come in thick and fast over the next few months. Our aim is to be race ready for the start of the 2020 season. In getting this far, huge thanks must go to Al and Julie Smith, Karen, Neil Midgley, Craig Boulton, Shiner and Danny.

On a separate note, we are looking to purchase an MSD Timing Pro - 8991. If anyone has one available, please can they contact Shawn at shamus2600@gmail.com.

Melbourne's rebirth.
11th August: Melbourne Raceway is a new project by the team at Straightliners, which has risen from the ashes of what used to be known as York Raceway. The first event, a single-lane eighth-mile test, took place last weekend and Ashley Dale got in touch to bring us up to date:

The purpose of this event was to prove that there's still a demand for drag racing in the North and that racing on the site is still viable. Despite clashing with an event at Santa Pod, it was fantastic to see how well-supported the weekend was by both racers and spectators. There were a handful of teams who, while they didn't take part in the track action, brought their vehicles regardless and parked them in the pits for people to come and have a look around. Walking around the pits and looking up into the grandstand, there wasn't a single face which didn't have a massive grin on it and the atmosphere around the site was amazing all weekend long.

Should all go to plan, the current target is to have the new (two lane) track ready to go for spring 2020 initially as an eighth mile, but once it's up and running the business model will generate the income to extend that to a full quarter mile track.

Trevor Duckworth of Straightliners said "This event was not a one-off, we now have some very hard work in front of us, but we will do it and have a new track in 2020."

You can keep up to date with the latest developments on the Melbourne Raceway Facebook page.

Swift snippets.
11th August: Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall got in touch from the Public Race at Hockenheim to let us know that the next update to the official FIA/FIM European Finals entry list will be sent to Eurodragster.com tomorrow evening (Monday).

Just in time for the NitrOlympX, a documentary has been released about Swiss Top Fuel Dragster racer Jndia Erbacher. Jndia: The Fast Life by Insight TV lasts for 47 minutes and you can tune in at watch.insight.tv/videos/jndia-the-fast-life.

Thanks to Andy Marrs for passing us the official timing data from the Mopar Euronationals, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Pro ET racers John and Nicole Parker were delighted to discover that everyone was pleased to see them in their old (sic) Mustang at last weekend's Mopar EuroNationals (below left). John tells us that he will be unable to attend the FIA/FIM European Finals as he will be in dock just before the event; best wishes to you John and we'll do our best for you with the coverage.

Ian King has acquired a batch of the definitive drag bike history DVDs Quarter Milestones: A History Of Motorcycle Drag Racing produced by John Stein. Some very knowledgeable people have been very impressed with this DVD. Copies are £15 or €20 from Ian on Facebook, at ian@kingracing.com, or visit him in the Gulf Oil Top Fuel Bike pit at next weekend's NitrOlympX.

Parkes and team take the Purple.
11th August: In the first of what is planned to be a regular series of spotlight features, Supercharged Outlaws Chair and Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Fadster writes about Team Purple Daze:

Gary Parkes and his crew brought out this 2015 '23 T with the Outlaws this year and with its 555-cube BBC shot straight into the eights with an outstanding 8.8/154. The T runs a two-speed glide with a nine-inch Funny Car axle at the rear. Gary tells us that the car is running a very conservative 800hp at present. I'm certain that we will see mid-sevens from this team as more seat time is gained. The team have turned out for every event in the 2019 season and certainly added to our group with a can-do attitude and positive vibes.

Gary is proud to be sponsored by Vent Klenz Ltd. Thanks for being part of the Supercharged Outlaws UK Gary, hope youre enjoying the ride!

BDRHoF Gala venue refurbished.
11th August: British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Chair Stu Bradbury tells us that the historic Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, venue for the BDRHoF Gala on Saturday 23rd November, has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment of its lobby, reception and bar area. It is also anticipated that all bedrooms which were not refurbished last year will be completed in time for this year's gala.

The BDRHoF are taking reservations for the 2019 Gala Awards Dinner by E-Mail at stuart@britishdragracinghof.co.uk or by telephone on 01933 279102. This year the dinner tickets, which include table wine, remain competitively priced at £70. The BDRHoF have managed to keep the same rates for hotel rooms of £115 for double rooms and £94 for single rooms which includes breakfast and VAT as well as parking. The event always sells out well in advance, so if you would like to join us for the occasion we suggest that you make your reservation sooner rather than later. On receiving your reservation you will be given the procedure to book rooms.

On-going news about the Gala, sponsors and other events in which the BDRHoF is involved is regularly published on the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk, here on Eurodragster.com, and on Facebook and Twitter.

Green Light Nationals racer update.
10th August: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us details of the arrangements for next week's STP Green Light Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Friday 16th August
09:00 Gates open
11:00 Signing On opens
11:00 Car scrutineering opens, no specific order; car sign-on/scrutineering details
12:00 Bike scrutineering opens, no specific order; bike sign-on/scrutineering details
18:00 Signing On closes

Saturday 17th August
07:00 Signing On opens
07:00 Car scrutineering opens; car sign-on/scrutineering details
07:00 Bike scrutineering opens; bike sign-on/scrutineering details
09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations

Sunday 18th August
07:30 Signing On opens
07:30 Car scrutineering opens; car sign-on/scrutineering details
09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations

The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked 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. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event, which in this context includes Friday. Before 09:00 vehicles should be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not driven or ridden. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event.

Junior racers please remember the rule about pushing vehicles back to the pits once through the arch beside Scrutineering.

Only race officials and SPR staff are allowed in Race Control whilst racing is underway. Should racers wish to raise any matter with race officials then please do not visit Race Control; please firstly see the Race Secretary who is based in Signing On.

Colour commentators are requested to come to Commentary only when their class is at the head of the lanes, to vacate Commentary as soon as their class has run, and not to bring guests to Commentary with them.

At the request of SPR management the Eurodragster.com office at the Bankside end of Race Control is similarly out of bounds during racing except to Eurodragster.com staff, Zeon TV crew and racers or crew collecting Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry.
8th August: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding Version 5 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 5th-8th September and which is the final round of the 2019 FIA European Drag Racing Championships and 2019 FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships as well as a round of some UK National Drag Racing Championships.

You can check out the entry list by clicking here.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry closes tomorrow (Friday) after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a late entry fee. You can download entry forms via the Information link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Be there, do that, get the T-Shirt.

8th August: Tha Hanau Auto Racing Association, the oldest and only active registered drag racing clun in Germany, is celebtrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, and to celebrate is putting up two very special Perfect Awards at next week's NitrOlympX at Hockenheim. Benni Voss writes:

The first racer to put a 0.000 Reaction Time on the scoreboards and the first racer to run +0.000 sec on index will receive:

A framed and named certificate to commemorate the performance at the 2019 NitrOlympX
A History of German Drag Racing T-Shirt featuring three iconic cars raced by HARA members in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s,
€50 in cash

The NitrOlympX takes place on Friday-Sunday of next week (16th-18th) and you can find out more and order tickets on the event's web site at www.nitrolympx.de.

Bike benefits Bloodwise.
8th August: Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com sponsor Accelerate Your Marketing tells us that he has sold his Harley Davidson drag bike to Thorsten Appel, aka Scorpion:

Thorsten paid for the bike in full and even donated extra for Bloodwise, thanks Thorsten! He will run the Accelerate For A Cause and A Cure campaign as an associate sponsor. He seems very happy with his purchase and has some very good plans for the bike to make it haul the mail. Good luck to Thorsten from us all.

The sale is bittersweet as I had some plans of my own, but I still did it! Now a door car and a Funny Car to go.

Derek's Accelerate For A Cause and A Cure campaign continues to raise money for Bloodwise and to donate stem cells - several people could be helped with one donation. For more details check out the Bloodwise web site at www.bloodwise.org.

Web site updates.
8th August: Our good friend Steve Moxley has had his FIA/FIM Main Event report posted on the Eat My Ink web site at www.eatmyink.com.

Ida Zetterström made history by claiming the victory in Super Street Bike at Gardermoen Raceway, the first female rider to win a race in the category of EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship. Greger Johansson was the winner in Super Twin Motorcycle, and after a difficult start of the season it was a well-deserved win for the Swedish rider who also recorded the quickest Elapsed Time of the event with a 6.90 second in the semi-finals. For Thomas Pettersson the victory in Top Fuel Motorcycle at the Drag Challenge was also his first win of the season and a major step towards another EDRS Pro Nordic MC title. In Super Comp Bike Peter Svensson took the win, while in Super Gas Bike Jonathan Edwards was a very happy winner. You can read more on the Drag Racing Europe Blog courtesy of our good friend Remco Scheelings by clicking here.

Helmut Hagemann.
7th August: Andrea Kloss tells us that the drag racing community in Germany is mourning a dear friend and great supporter of motorsport:

At the age of 83 Helmut "Mecki" Hagemann passed away on 3rd August. Helmut started his motorsport career in the 1950s. After his active phase he continued to support motorsport as a steward for which he received recognition and numerous awards.

Helmut was known for his great sense of humor, his profound knowledge and his calm and collected manner. Helmut "Mecki" will be dearly missed by the German drag racing community.

Our deepest sympathies to Helmut's family and friends.

Björn Mårtensson.
6th August: We were shocked and very sorry to hear via Anders Envall of the sudden death of Swedish Top Fuel Dragster racer Björn Mårtensson. A statement from his team reads:

It is with tremendous sadness that we must unfortunately announce that Björn 'Nitrobear' Mårtensson is no longer with us by the consequences of a myocardial infarction. We light our candles and give our thoughts to Björn's family! Of course, for the team, this is an incredibly emotional and sorrowful tragedy.

Rest in peace Björn.

Det är med enorm sorg vi måste tyvärr meddela att Björn Nitrobear Mårtensson inte längre finns med oss till följderna utav en hjärtinfarkt. Vi tänder våra ljus & skänker våra tankar till Björns familj! För teamet är detta givetvis en oerhört känslosam & sorgfylld tragedi.

Vila i frid Björn.

Our deepest sympathies to Björn's family and friends.

Mopar EuroNationals results.

5th August: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Mopar EuroNationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Motorsport UK Pro Modified: Marck Harteveld 10.2146/79.53 bye, Kev Slyfield shut off
Nostalgia Super Stock: Dave Billadeau (10.75) 10.7889/121.42 def. Ian Brown (10.88) 10.9035/119.25
Gasser Circus: Martin Hallam (10.80) 10.9471/114.62 def. Brian Gibson (11.19) 11.3564/116.52
Tri Chevy Shootout: Peter Lane 8.6758/155.22 def. Rob Smallworth 8.9652/149.67
Wild Bunch: Phil James 0.0482 average dial-in variance

Congratulations also to Nostalgia Super Stock racer Mick Ellsworth (right) who won the £75 Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team with his #1 qualifier of 13.7303 on 13.73 dial-in. The Perfect ET Award has been reset to £50 for the Greenlight Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway. The Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award was not won and has been increased to £100 for the Greenlight Nationals.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Mopar EuroNationals reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

A big Thank You from Tog to Kirstie, Julian, Diana and off-track photog-for-the-weekend Sam Cunningham for their hard work in energy-sapping conditions.

Linn's banner weekend.
5th August: Norwegian Top Methanol Funny Car racer Linn Engan Fløysvik had a spectacular weekend at Gardermoen courtesy of a new motor from Jonnie Lindberg Motorsport. Bjørn Arild Sjøblom writes:

After a promising start-up in the workshop we decided to test at the Drag Challenge.

We started with a sixty foot of 0.96 seconds. The next run was 300 metres and Linn ran 5.84, then our Crew Chief Pål Henning said that he felt that it would be OK to run a full pass. The first full pass was 5.66, then 5.61/416 kmh. Yesterday Linn ran 5.58/405 with a sixty foot time of 0.93, then the blower belt broke.

We are now going to Tierp Arena with big hopes of putting down some good numbers with our great driver Linn.

Terje Håkensbaken, to whom thanks for the picture, tells us that Linn's 5.58 and 416 were track records at Gardermoen.

Swift snippets.
5th August: Having produced a Volkswagen Drag Racing Club calendar last year, Alice Fairhead is working on 2020 VWDRC and Wild Bunch/Nostalgia Funny Car calendars. "Both calendars will be A3 with four images per month, and will be around £8 each", says Alice. "If you would like a calendar then please let me know at afphotographyalice@gmail.com or message me via my Facebook page."

We would like to say a big Happy Birthday with added hugs to oue dear friend Libby Mottershead. Have a lovely day Lady Lib.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry.
4th August: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding Version 2 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 5th-8th September and which is the final round of the 2019 FIA European Drag Racing Championships and 2019 FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships as well as a round of some UK National Drag Racing Championships.

You can check out the entry list by clicking here.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry closes on Friday of this week, 9th August, after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a late entry fee. You can download entry forms via the Information link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Swift snippets.
2nd August: After a catastrophic transmission failure in testing for the FIA/FIM Main Event, UK Comp Eliminator racer Robin Orthodoxou is booked in for the FIA/FIM European Finals looking to defend his event title. "We have the Liberty five-speed back together with much help from Jani Lindqvist at CRT Prorace Finland, Michael Linley at Liberty's Gears, and Steve Armstrong at Rotor Clip Limited", says Robin. "Thanks to Geof Hauser for inspecting my rear end and preparing it for some more abuse - it was an experience. Your advice on break-in procedure will be followed Geof, lots of lube! Thanks guys."

Many thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for forwarding us updated points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and SPRC Club Championships after Bug Jam. You can check out the UK and SPRC points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

We would like to say a big Happy 19th Birthday for today (Friday) to our good friend, SPRC Timing Crew member and Official T-Shirt Shooterist James Humphreys. Have a great day James.

Felstead checks in.
2nd August: UK Pro ET racer Colin Felstead has been in touch from the other side of the Pond to explain his absence from Pro ET entry lists for the best part of a year:

Rest assured we're still around, albeit I'm now 3848 miles away from Banbury living in Dayton, Ohio. Three years ago I met my American wife in Columbus where I was attending some schooling for my job, since then we've been flying backwards and forwards to see each other and, as of September last year, with my visa in my hand I took a one-way trip.

The last meeting at which we raced was the Summernationals in 2018, where we entered Super Street. We never hit a 10.90 but a 10.83 was the best to which we slowed it. I thoroughly enjoyed racing on a Pro tree and a set index, the throttle stop style racing didn't bother me as I got two launches for the price of one, and the timers gave me something to play with during the weekend. I was a little upset to see the class get axed, hopefully it will make a return one day.

The Escort has been in my friends and family circle since the 1990s. My dad and uncle's friend Cliff Puddle recommissioned and raced it from the mid-to-late 1990s until his untimely passing nearly a decade ago. We had to keep Cliff's racing story going, therefore I purchased the car from his brother Marc, trying to not change anything on the car and racing it as a tribute.

I toyed with the idea of importing the Escort to the USA but ultimately decided against it, instead I decided to buy a car here. Amongst a sea of Camaros and Mustangs I felt I needed to be different, I'm a Ford guy, then along came a 1970 Torino Fastback so I drove to Shelbyville, Indiana to get the deal done. We have a local track near us in Xenia at which I plan on running the car, they test and tune every Thursday night, race most Friday evenings, and hold bigger events at the weekends from April until October. It would be nice to eventually get the car dialled in and set up for Super Street in some NHRA Divisional and National races, I'll never set the world alight but I just want to be a part of it - just running the car is enough fulfillment for me.

I would like to come back and race an event at Santa Pod at least once a year, the Summernationals being my favourite. My Dad is currently looking after the Escort whilst preparing his own Stock-style Firebird and a genuine Suzuki Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike.

I'd like to thank my super-supportive family, both the British side and the American side, especially my dad for keeping me inspired and being my idol.

Please follow my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram pages for updates; I attend a lot of events here in the Mid West as a spectator and enjoy posting videos and pictures.

Smallworth lets Dawg off the lead.
1st August: The Tri Chevy Shootout at this weekend's Mopar EuroNationals will be the first outing for Rob Smallworth's new Dirty Dawg 55. Rob writes:

I brought it over from the US in November. I saw it as a roller on Racing Junk and that night, after one phone call, a deposit was sent thanks to my sister Annette who lives in DC. Dollars were transferred and here we go. The first time we saw it properly was at the docks (left). Oh man what a buzz, and I've been burning the candle at both ends since then to get it out this year.

Everyone who knows me will tell you how much I love the old yellow and white '55 - which incidentally is now for sale as a roller, see Jeff Bull Swap Meet - but in the new year the decision was taken to take the engine and transmission out of the Bel Air and so the project started.

There are still lots of jobs to do on the the Dirty Dawg 55 to get it ready to growl at the competition next year, but this weekend and the Hot Rod Drags in September will give me a feel for the car and any bits and pieces which need to be sorted.

Big thanks go to my superb wife Aby and gorgeous daughter Ellarose for their support, and to all my family especially Annette. Thanks also to Barry at Protech, Bryan, John, Dave and special thanks to Mick at STS for his continued support.

We're getting older but not wiser, so as long as the Dirty Dawg looks after me, here we go!

Precipitation denies potential.
1st August: Alex Leiserach says that Bug Jam weekend started with lots of promise and potential for the Outlaw Flat Four racers:

The Club are determined to field a quality and exciting class of heads-up air-cooled racing for the spectators. Twenty cars were entered which is the largest turn-out in a good while.

Many racers got sunburned setting up on the Thursday, but on Friday a good few racers made the wise choice of getting in a few test passes during RWYB. The forecast didn't look great and as it turned out this was the only real tract action all weekend.

Even with the limited running there are a good few things to report. John Brewster made his first pass in a Beetle since 1993. We are really pleased to see John out in his new car Unfinished Business. Darren Shephard in Social Outcast ran a new PB of 11.40 on his new 2387 cc engine.

Danny Pike in Lightning Lizzy ran a 10.6 with a big wheelie towards the wall, and then a 10.3 on his new 4" bore turbo motor. Danny is currently only running 0.5 Bar of boost, so we look forward to seeing him develop the new set-up and start to push the boost. Ian Clark bought a very familiar car, the red and white Wolfsburg Performance Beetle on whose contruction he advised and assisted Dave Dinning. The car had temporarily been owned in Belgium. Ian swapped in the engine from his White Choptop and on his first pass off the trailer ran a 10.87, bettering the time which the engine ran in the Chop.

The Club really appreciate all the efforts made by the staff and marshals at Santa Pod to try and get us out and racing on the Saturday, it just wasn't meant to be. As always we also really appreciate the efforts of those racers who travelled over from Ireland, France, Belgium and Germany to come to run in the class, and we really feel for them when the weather doesn't play ball.

Roll on the Green Light Nationals, and fingers crossed for better weather.

Swift snippets.
1st August: Former and hopefully returning Sportsman ET racer Ian Turnbull will be back on track at this weekend's Mopar EuroNationals in his 2010 Camaro SS. "This will be the first time I've been on the track since running the Plough Garage '68 Camaro in Sportsman ET in 2003", says Ian. "I'm very much looking forward to catching up with some of my old drag racing family, and to seeing if I can still cut a light. I've still got the '68 Camaro and will be back racing it in the future - it's under restoration at the moment, thirteen years in!"

Thanks to Andy Marrs for passing us the official timing data from Bug Jam, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Mopar Euronationals Perfect Awards.
1st August: £150 is up for grabs at this weekend's Mopar EuroNationals courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Bug Jam. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available from Saturday to Motorsport UK Pro Modified, Nostalgia Super Stock, the Gasser Circus, and to the Wild Bunch when their dial in-based contest commences (currently scheduled for Sunday morning), but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team has also been increased to £75 after it went unclaimed at Bug Jam. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to run +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available from Saturday morning to Nostalgia Super Stock, the Gasser Circus, and to the Wild Bunch when their dial in-based contest commences (currently scheduled for Sunday morning), but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield aka Fadster of the Twister Race Team.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

Web site updates.
1st August: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr gallery with two galleries from the Saturday of Dragstalgia. You can check out Mad's shots at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.

Credit for Bug Jam racers.
31st July: Following a rather damp Bug Jam, Santa Pod Racers Club and Santa Pod Raceway have decided to credit all Sportsman racers who signed on with £50 towards entry at a future event.

SPRC Club Secretary Ian Marshall says that this figure is net of expenses which still have to be met from entry fees such as electricity, insurance etc.

The £50 credit will be good for event entry for twelve months, up to and including Bug Jam 2020. If you double-entered then you will be credited accordingly.

If you have any queries then please contact Ian on 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or E-Mail ir.marshall@btconnect.com.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry.
31st July: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for the FIA/FIM European Finals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 5th-8th September and which is the final round of the 2019 FIA European Drag Racing Championships and 2019 FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships as well as a round of some UK National Drag Racing Championships.

You can check out the entry list by clicking here.

FIA/FIM European Finals entry closes on Friday of next week, 9th August, after which entry, if accepted, may be subject to a late entry fee. You can download entry forms via the Information link of the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

From inside the inferno.
31st July: The UK's Dave Nelson made a well-timed return to the track at Dragstalgia and says that he had a blast:

We had a fairly wild ride in Q1, with the car getting all kinds of out of shape. We think the main cause of this was the wheelie bar being set a little low, along with a reduction in weight over the back axle of around 70 lbs, and me being a little rusty after two years out. After the run we didn't see the amount of oil pressure we had before while spinning the motor on the starter, so decided to give everything a good once over. The oil that came out was a little thin due to a bit more methanol contamination than were used to, and we decided to double down and check the bearings, which all looked great. So we buttoned her back up, with some nice fresh oil, and all was back as expected.

Unfortunately this cost us the opportunity to run in a couple of qualifiers. We got ready and towed down for the final qualifier on Saturday , but James Forster came to us as we towed down and let us know that by the time we ran in the final qualifier things might be a bit tight for doing the fire burnouts, and that it looked like no one else would be doing one! We'd already qualified so decided that we'd hang back and do the fire burnout instead, as Dragstalgia wouldn't be Dragstalgia without at least one!

So we towed back to the pits and got ready. We took off the wheelie bar and parachute, Dad filled his watering can, and for the first time we managed to get my mum to come and watch me get set on fire! I suggested something we'd tried before with our fire burnout technique, and dad poured on plenty of petrol. James lit the fire, opting to light it in the centre, as that helps the fire light evenly, which was a great call. I was watching for my dad's signal that both sides were lit and all was OK when suddenly all but maybe six inches of my vision was fire, literally arching up over the top of my view. As I could no longer see my dad, and there was soo much fire, I should get the hell out of there! The tyres lit, the engine stumbled slightly due to the oxygen being taken by the fire, so I backed out of it briefly so the motor could recover, and then got back on it and she started a drifting burnout; unfortunately I had to back out before I'd have liked as she was moving a bit close to the centre line and the Christmas Tree! Even with that, from my perspective it was my most intense fire burnout yet.

I know some of the photogs had an issue with my dad's positioning, and we're going to work on improving that for next time; it's never been mentioned previously. We'll see if we can get him over on the other side of the car next time, but I guess its unfortunately inevitable that he'll be in the way for some. I do need him to be able to provide guidance though as my vision from inside the car is pretty limited. Thankfully this time Darryl Bradford didn't stick a microphone in front of him!

Up at the top end, Mark Coulsell guided me out of the gate - much appreciated! - and it was great to catch up with the Wild Bunch family up there after a fantastic day during which they got well-deserved recognition. I hope to be back racing with those guys in the future.

Unfortunately our weekend ended early the following day. When we went to refit the wheelie bar, we found a problem with the bracing and decided not to risk having it fail so called it early. But we were glad to go start line to finish line with no problems, qualify, and return home with the motor in one piece! Hopefully we can be back on track before too long. When we arrived home we were gutted to hear of Sam's and Bob's incident, obviously glad to know that they were uninjured and it's great to see that they will be back.

As usual, we captured the fire burnout on-board, with the slow-mo available on YouTube. We were also approached by Jerry Lackey to perform a fire burnout at the NitrOlympx. Were gutted that we can't make it this year, but hopefully we can in 2020? Callum Pudge captured an awesome set of photos, one of which we've turned in to an all over sublimation T-Shirt which is now available on Etsy for £25.

We also had the good fortune of catching up with Dave and Vickie Stone over the weekend. We took ownership of the Stones' trailer thanks to our good friend Andrew Gibb, and it was great to hear all their memories linked with the trailer and racing, and also show them some of the bits and pieces we found in there and still use - some are even on Dorris.

Event updates.
30th July: Many thanks to James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway for forwarding the provisional running orders for this weekend's Mopar EuroNationals. You can check out the Mopars running orders by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us the final official entry list for the Green Light Nationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 17th-18th August. You can check out the entry list by clicking here. Entry for this event is completely closed; no late entries will be accepted.

Swift snippets.
30th July: We have a birthday in the extended family today: a big hyvää syntymäpäivää to longtime Eurodragster.com reader and Event Coverage fan Kai Plathan. Have a great day Kai. Happy Birthday also to our good buddy and author Jim Kelly, and to Jason Yates of the Orange Pop Outlaw Anglia team. Have a great day both.

Bloodwise win Reaction Time Award.
29th July: UK Super Gas and Sportsman ET racer Andy Dibley writes that Bug Jam 33 looked like it was going to be a great weekend, with a substantial prize fund on offer in Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET:

The week leading up to Bug Jam had been fantastic weather-wise but as always you can never rely on it! Bug Jam featured the return of the 50 Shades of Racing/Eurodragster.com Reaction Time Award. With a bumper entry the prize pot for the lowest overall cumulative reaction time would win the money, the only rules being red lights or missing rounds each counted for a 0.5-second penalty.

Sadly this weekend was an almost exact replication of Bug Jam 31 when the rain meant that the class didn't turn a wheel all weekend, unless you count driving down the pairing lanes! When wandering round the pits collecting money for the prize, I had told everyone that if the event was a repeat of 2017 that the money would be going to charity, for which in some ways I'm very pleased to say that the class is making a substantial donation of £200 to Bloodwise.

I'd just like to say Thank You for everyone in the class for supporting the Award. It's a shame we didn't get to see the track but it's only a couple of weeks to the Green Light Nationals!

Swift snippets.
29th July: We would like to say a big grattis på födelsedagen with hugs to our dear friend Lena Perés. Have a lovely day Lena.

Bug Jam rained out.
28th July: Not a wheel turned on-track at Santa Pod Raceway today, with the exception of the tractors and sweepers as the track crew tried very hard to clear standing water even as more came down. In the end, as the rain continued and the promised weather window never opened, race officials were left with no choice but to call it.

In the end the weekend's competitive run log consisted of two rounds of Fuel Funny Car qualifying, one round of VW Sportsman qualifying, and four pairs of VW Pro.

The Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award and the Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team have both been rolled over to next week's Mopar EuroNationals and will increase to £75 apiece.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Bug Jam reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

A big Thank You from Tog to photographers Julian and DD for their hard work and good humour in very unpleasant conditions.

Silverstone Classic gallery.
28th July: We are indebted to longtime Eurodragster.com supporter and Photo Finish Award sponsor Bob Roberts for sending us a gallery of the Street Car Shootout at this weekend's Silverstone Classic.

You can check out Bob's Gallery, which is presented in association with Lucas Oil Products, by clicking here or by clicking on the Features, Interviews, Tributes link on the left hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Swift snippets.
28th July: We have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com team today (Sunday). Please join Kirstie, Tog and Julian in wishing Pit Reporter, Blog Editor, Links Editor and Photographer Simon a very Happy Birthday. Have a great day buddy.

Swift snippets.

27th July: Swedish Pro Stock racer Stefan Ernryd is pleased to announce the return of Dicopay as primary sponsor. "It feels great to have Dicopay on board again", says Stefan. "We had great success with them in 2017. The Dicopay team are true motor enthusiasts and the combination of a fast car and fast payments goes perfectly hand in hand. We are also keeping in with our concept of traditional Dodge colours and its very exciting to switch to Pink Panther". Dicopay CEO Marie Lundberg says "We are very happy to partner with Stefan Ernryd once again and we are excited to be creating new successful stories together."

The EDRS Pro Nordic Motorcycle Championship is at its halfway point, with part two of the title race starting at next week's Drag Challenge at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway. After two races Marcus Christiansen, Filippos Papafilippou, Fredrik Fredlund and Vesa Ruhanen are the leaders in their respective categories. Gardermoen will welcome some new winners and after round three it will be clear who is still in the title race when the EDRS Pro Nordic MC travels to Tierp Arena for the grand finale. You can read a preview by our good buddy Remco Scheelings on the Drag Racing Europe Blog.

It came too late for yesterday's news update so a big Happy Birthday for yesterday (Friday) to UK Top Fuel Bike racer Kev Charman. Hope you had a great day Kev.

Another Swedish invasion.
27th July: After many years of planning and a final decision in January, longtime Eurodragster.com buddy Anders 'Bostic' Envall and Kent Edin shipped their Impalas to race at the ISSCA Nationals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bostic writes:

Friends since our youth, Kent and I were connected again through a mutual interest in powerful heavyweight Impala SS, while chasing each other on the drag strips in Sweden. But it was a long time ago. My last good run was in 2011, Kent can't remember if it was 2007 or 2008.

This trip forced us to fix our cars. Both without engines, they were shipped by container to our friend and engine builder Karl Ellwein in Lusby, Maryland, where we finished them just in time together with our crew Smokey Jonas Alholt and Jan-Åke 'Johnny Okay' Norberg. Yesterday we went to Quaker City Motorsports Park to compete in a four-class drag race organized by Impala SS Clubs of America. Our class was Big Dog, a heads-up class for the quickest B-bodies. We knew that we would have a handful of quicker cars to compete against, even eight-second cars, but it didn't stop us going - drag racing is drag racing!

This week has already been a fantastic experience in Pittsburgh, with nice people with the same interest, and it continues today. Wish us luck!

Event entries closing.
26th July: Today (Friday) is the closing date at standard fee for the NitrOlympX, which takes place at Hockenheim on 16th-18th August. You can enter at www.nitrolympx.de/info/for-racers.

Today is also the absolute closing date for entry to the Green Light Nationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 17th-18th August and which hosts the special Pro Drag class*, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Funny Bike (double-header), Comp Bike (double-header), NMCN 8.50 Bike (double-header), 9.50 Bike (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Super Twin Top Gas (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike (double-header), In Posterum Junior Drag Bike (double-header), NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock, Outlaw Anglia, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the Supercharged Outlaws, Outlaw Flat Four and the Wild Bunch. The current entry list can be checked out by clicking here.

*Pro Drag is open to all vehicles which comply with GSRs and which are capable of and proven to run quicker than 7.50. The class is firmly aimed at any Pro Mods not travelling to the NitrOlympX, Nostalgia Funny Cars, Altereds, slingshots, the selection of Super Pro ET and Comp Eliminator cars at the quick end of the classes, and anything else which meets the criteria. The format is heads up on a Pro tree with qualifying and eliminations. For more details see Saturday's news update.

Late entries will not be accepted for the Green Light Nationals as SPRC Club Secretary Ian Marshall will be away working at Hockenheim.

Green Light Nationals entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Bike racers please note that one entry fee covers both days of the double-header.

If you have any queries about SPRC event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

Tebenham takes up smoking.
26th July: The UK's John Tebenham is taking both his Pro Modified and Super Pro ET race cars to the NitrOlympX and he has every intention of having a good time:

The Pop is all warmed up and ready for Hockenheim. We're going to try some of our mad burnouts, the only problem is that the burnouts are so long that we're running out of fuel at the top end! But anyone who knows Hockenheim will tell you that it's all about mad cars.

The Corvette, with eight new liners and pistons, has been on a diet; we've taken off all the heavy stuff we don't need and it's got new wheelie bars, oil tank and a few other things besides. There are thirteen crew going )it'll never be dull) and we'll have a ball. Marco and Jacob, the previous owner and Crew Chief, are crewing with us on the Corvette. Their help and experience are invaluable, I've never heard of the previous owner of a fast car wanting to help its new owner so much.

I am offering a deal for the European Finals: anyone who wants their name on the Pop for the weekend (nothing too mad - we'll do the graphics) and come and join us for a barbeque, your very generous donation will go to charity. I can also get you in the crew on the start line for one of the runs and give you photos of the car. I am looking at £500ish - come and have a ball and be famous for a weekend!

Swift snippets.
26th July: UK Super Pro ET racer Billy Gane says that his family's seventh annual drag racing summer party will be held in Chelmsford, Essex next Saturday, 3rd August. "The format is as it has been for previous years with live music, disco, BBQ, bar serving a wide selection of drinks, late night kebab van, clay pigeon shooting, win a car raffle and much more", he says. "We start at 19:00 but you are welcome to arrive earlier. Tickets are £10 each and can be purchased on the night. Everyone is welcome and we have plenty of space to bring tents, caravans or motorhomes and stay for the weekend. We look forward to seeing you all soon!"

Thanks to Mike Collins for sending us the usual preview of his column in the latest issue of Street Machine magazine including bonus material exclusively for Eurodragster.com readers. You can check it out by clicking on the images above.

Get Ugly for Bloodwise.
25th July: Six-second Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Andy Bond is putting six team shirts up for auction to benefit Bloodwise.

"People keep asking if we have team T-Shirts for sale", Andy told Eurodragster.com. "We don't, but there is so much interest that we thought that printing a one-off limited run would be a great way to celebrate the six-second pass and to raise money for a cause close to the hearts of the racing community."

25th July: Dragstalgia 2019 turned out to host the biggest entry list in Outlaw Anglia history with no less than thirty one cars cars entered. Jemma Bromley writes that it certainly lived up to expectations of being one of the best events of the year:

The weekend started off with testing throughout Friday followed by the first round of qualifying on Friday evening which certainly had all eyes on the class, not least because of the amazing return of Al's Gasser after a triumphant rebuild led by Ginner. In the first round of qualifying Paul Hensher took top spot with a 7.45 closely followed by Scotty Crookston with a 7.51, however it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as Gary Bird had engine troubles which put him out of play for the rest of the weekend.

Once the first round was out of the way and the track closed twenty eight Outlaw Anglias headed to the shutdown area for what turned out to be a very iconic photoshoot! I think we can probably now say that it was the biggest gathering of sub-sixteen second Pops ever!

After all the hype of Friday evening Saturday morning was no different with twenty eight cars qualified including some new drivers to the class: Andy Cunningham, Peter Jones and Nathan Barlow, as well as the return of Brian Nixon. In round 2 of qualifying on Saturday qualifying completely changed again with Simon Barlow taking the top spot with a 7.27 on a very hairy run with Mat Cooper who decided to see if Simon's lane was faster, followed by a flame and smoke from Simon's motor. Ronnie Mercer ran a new PB of 9.31/141. Paul remained in second place with Scotty now hot on his tail with a PB of 7.48 and a record sixy foot time of 1.073, however a loss of oil pressure for Scotty raised questions and resulted in Jedd and the crew having a last-minute dash to the Hales' unit at the gate to weld up the oil pump pickup.

The final round of qualifying bumped the class up to twenty nine cars with Steve Wells laying down a time and as ever the positions had a shuffle around with Scotty just grazing into the number two spot with a PB of 7.450, just 0.005 quicker than Paul! Mick Taylor also moved up to seventh from a previous twelfth and Shane Bird set a PB with a 12.18.

Round 1 of eliminations was on Saturday evening. Steve Wells had a wild ride and tuning the Flyin' Fyfer started to show as Colin Millar ran a PB speed of 190 mph. Scotty also ran another PB 7.41/179. Sunday started out as a rather glum day but luckily the weather brightened up and the amazing Santa pod track staff had us on the start line by 12.30 for round 2 of eliminations. Round 3 of eliminations narrowed us down to our semi-finalists, Colin defeated Steve and Scotty defeated Ronnie but smoke through the shutdown area betrayed a broken rear track locator for Ronnie - and the smoke was from the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch.

The Outlaw Anglia final closed the show on Sunday evening with what a lot of people are calling the best race of the weekend - but then we're all biased! Videos from the race show just how close it was with both Scott and Colin pulling 0.08 Reaction Times however Colin nearly followed in Matt's footsteps (or tyre tracks) and headed for Scott's lane so had to pedal, resulting in Scotty taking his first ever win in what was an insanely close race with his 7.46 beating Colin's 7.53.

Outlaw Anglia are very proud of Ginner for winning the Spirit of Dragstalgia Trophy for the restoration of Al's Gasser and there was no surprise in Colin winning the Best Burnout award.

We would like to say a massive Thank You to the Santa Pod track crew for giving us a awesome track, as always, even with our untrusty English weather, and Thank You to Santa Pod for making Dragstalgia such an amazing event which is now a historic meeting for Outlaw Anglia!

Swift snippets.
25th July: No news update yesterday due to a fraught day and very late return home so we were unable to say a big Happy Birthday to Lotta Andersson, Mary Roaf and Geoff Stilwell. Hope you had a good day guys.

Ålund visits Kauhava.

25th July: Jimmy Ålund continued his full season of both FIA Pro Mod and Pro Stock at the FHRA Nitro Nationals at the brand new drag strip in Kauhava in Finland. PiPPi writes:

A virgin track can have its challenges. The FHRA track crew worked around the clock to present a good track to all racers. Friday, the first day of qualifying, produced some very solid numbers in both car and motorcycle classes. In Pro Modified Jimmy drove Magnus Petersson's Old 51 Chevrolet Business Coupe to the #2 qualifying spot with a strong run in Q2, 5.92 seconds at 380.82 kmh (236.63 mph). But qualifying wasn't all pretty, The Old 51 only made it once to the finish line under full power. Jimmy said "We had issues with tyre shake and hooking the car up but we got that one 5.9-second run in and it was enough to secure second spot."

In Sunday's eliminations Jimmy won round #1 with the quickest ET of the day, 5.99/378.56 (235.23 mph). The quarter finals were won with a touch and go pedalfest at 6.79 seconds but that was it for the weekend. Jimmy went up against Peter Kunc in the semis but the transmission in the Old 51 did not hold up with a loss as the result. Peter went on to win the whole event. "A weekend with lots of work to figure out the new track surface", said Jimmy. "We'd like to thank the crew for all their hard work and of course congratulate Peter Kunc to his first Pro Mod win in FIA competition. "We went a few rounds on the Sunday which is very important for the Championship battle". Indeed, Jimmy took back two places in the points race and is now in fourth place in the 2019 FIA Pro Modified Championship.

FIA Pro Stock qualifying was hard due to the changing track conditions. The Summit Racing Camaro made it to the finish line only once under full power but that good enough to make low qualifier with the quickest elapsed time and speed of the event. 6.60 seconds at a solid 338.83 km/h (210.54 mph).

In eliminations Jimmy went from the quarter finals to the semis where he met the #5 qualifier Simon Gustafsson. The Summit Racing Camaro left very strong with one of the quickest sixty foot times of the weekend but then ran into tyre shake, with Simon winning the round and later on also the event. "A tough weekend in all", says Jimmy, "but of course it was the same conditions for every racer. We picked up enough points to stay in the number one position for the Pro Stock Championship and are looking forward to the next race at Hockenheimring. The same here as in Pro Mod, congratulations to Simon Gustafsson for winning his first FIA event. Of course well-deserved and good for the sport."

Jimmy also points out that a new sponsor has come on board: Funny Garage, owned and managed by Kristian Kronvall and based in Skouml;vde, Sweden. Jimmy says "This is great, a new sponsor and fan of the sport of drag racing who is dedicated to the sales of classical US muscle cars". Mr Kronvall's focus is on sales and imports of US cars from the 1950s to the 1970s. Please visit the Funny Garage website at www.funnygarage.se for more information.

Jimmy's next event is the NitrOlympX at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany. The first round of qualifying starts on Friday morning, 16th August. Jimmy says "As always, we can't wait to get there and put more rounds in the car in front of the record crowd which is the trademark of the NitrOlympx."

Summit Racing Equipment is sponsoring both the Old 51 Pro Mod car and the Ålund Pro Stock Camaro this year. This is in addition to Funny Garage AB, Viking Industrimålning, Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, All American AB and Stigs Axle and Parts. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.

Web site updates.
25th July: Paul Lister has updated his DragCarAnon photo site with pictures from Dragstalgia. You can take a look at www.paullister.zenfolio.com.

Green Light Nationals entry.
23rd July: Entry closes this Friday (26th) for the Green Light Nationals, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 17th-18th August and which hosts the special Pro Drag class*, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Funny Bike (double-header), Comp Bike (double-header), NMCN 8.50 Bike (double-header), 9.50 Bike (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Super Twin Top Gas (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike (double-header), In Posterum Junior Drag Bike (double-header), NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock, Outlaw Anglia, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the Supercharged Outlaws, Outlaw Flat Four and the Wild Bunch. The current entry list can be checked out by clicking here.

*Pro Drag is open to all vehicles which comply with GSRs and which are capable of and proven to run quicker than 7.50. The class is firmly aimed at any Pro Mods not travelling to the NitrOlympX, Nostalgia Funny Cars, Altereds, slingshots, the selection of Super Pro ET and Comp Eliminator cars at the quick end of the classes, and anything else which meets the criteria. The format is heads up on a Pro tree with qualifying and eliminations. For more details see Saturday's news update.

Late entries will not be accepted for the Green Light Nationals as SPRC Club Secretary Ian Marshall will be away working at Hockenheim.

Green Light Nationals entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Bike racers please note that one entry fee covers both days of the double-header.

If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

Bug Jam Perfect Awards.
23rd July: £100 is up for grabs at this weekend's Bug Jam courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Harley Jay Darby at the STP Summernationals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available from 16:00 on Saturday to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team has also been reset to £50 after it was won by Modurstang Pro ET racer Laura Baynton at the STP Summernationals. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to tun +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend to racers in Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia VW Pro, and VW Sportsman but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect ET Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield aka Fadster of the Twister Race Team, who is represented this weekend by Purdie Hadfield in Lucas Oil Junior Dragster.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

Swift snippets.
23rd July: A big Happy Birthday with hugs to Christine Buckland, all-round good girl and Heaven and Hell team member. Tog would like to say a big Happy Birthday with hugs to his sister Kirsty Rogers (Not to be confused with our own Kirstie - Ed). Have a lovely day both.

Web site updates.
23rd July: Paul Bryan has updated his Flickr gallery with more than 400 pictures from Dragstalgia. You can check out Paul's great pictures, which include something for everyone, at www.flickr.com/photos/paulbryan_photopedia.

Event entry update.
21st July: Kjell Pettersson has been in touch with a reminder to racers that tomorrow (Monday) is the closing date for standard-rate entry to the Summit Racing Equipment Internationals which takes place at Tierp Arena on 22nd-25th August. For more details, or to enter, check out www.dragracing.eu.

This coming Friday, 26th, is the absolute closing date for entry to the Green Light Nationals which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 17th-18th August. No late entries will be accepted. You can download entry forms from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc, and you can check out the current entry list by clicking here.

Swift snippets.
21st July: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to our good buddy, His Worshipful Flatulence The Very Reverend Sir Neville Mottershead ODE. Have a great day Nev.

Enter the Bug.
21st July: Andy Raw, Karl Harrison and the Nitro Bug team got the Beetle Nostalgia Funny Car out on track at Dragstalgia Karl says that after a monumental four-year build all he can say is "Wow!":

Andy, Steve Taylor, Jason and Roy Phelps and I have put countless amounts of hours into creating what we all think is not only a pretty, but also a running and functioning Nostalgia Nitro Funny car. Believe me, it's not easy to achieve. The run up to the event went like this...

A month prior, we had test fired the engine on petrol, methanol and then nitro - thanks to Mark Hawkins and Brett Sheriff for giving up a free Sunday to assist and advise us with the first fire-up on nitro. The car was then taken to Jason's at FGR Motorsport on the Saturday before Dragstalgia and he worked for three days solid to finish off the last fabricating jobs required to make Nitro Bug ready to hit the track.

We all arrived at Santa Pod and Jason's workshop during the day on Thursday. We soon had a brand new pit, team and race car all together for the first time and we cracked on finishing off all the little jobs like building a spare new rack of rods and pistons, organising the clutch parts, tools etc. Thank you, Tony Betts, for the loan of the piston ring grinder - I want one of those now!

Ready to get the first run in on Friday, we had planned to run earlier in the day but simply ran out of time but luckily Santa Pod kindly put a slot in the busy schedule for those cars entered into the Cannonball to have a test session. We warmed up early to ensure that we were ready, just in case there were any last-minute issues - thankfully there weren't).

Nitro Bug was the first car out for the test session. We soon realised, once the body went down, that we had a clutch issue. The car just wasn't driving on its own. Lee and Shane pushed the car into the water box and Andy let it go. It roared into life and did a burnout. He got it stopped and the same again... just too much stall on the clutch. Steve pushed it back and then what seemed like the whole Santa Pod start line crew jumped in and helped get the car back. Thank you to David Warren for directing Andy, I do apologise for not thanking you all at the time. After all that, I pulled Andy into stage, pulled a couple of air bleed plugs out and luckily he had enough extra rpm for the clutch to engage enough for him to drive into the beams. Andy hit the throttle for about half a second and away it went! I don't think I've ever felt so much joy and relief all at the same time as I did when I saw that car launch.

Back to the pits, and the engine was in perfect condition. The clutch was good too, so we kicked back, had some well earned food and a couple of beers. Then off to bed, ready to do it all again Saturday. In the morning the crew got the car ready, we warmed up, refuelled, did the last few checks and off we went again. Towing down with eight other Funny Cars, a nitro dragster and an altered was quite something, and something I'll never forget. We were on a solo again, but this time the clutch was working! We fired up, body down and Andy let his foot off the clutch and it drove without being pushed! Burnout done, back and then into stage. Andy hit the throttle again for about the same time as the first launch - don't worry, he's been told off and also told that if he doesn't keep his foot in it longer next time, I'm going to drive it! Back in the pits and again perfect engine etc. Unfortunately it went downhill from here.

We were ready for the third go, but during the warm-up we sustained a damaged blower. Not through human error though; drag racing is harsh and running blown-injected engines in drag racing is just brutal. The good news is that we will back at Bug Jam for a planned 330-foot hit. If that goes to plan, we will test once more this year in preparation for going racing next season hopefully giving the Apache, Venom and Dirty Deeds teams a Bug to chase.

There has to be a massive thank you to Tash and Lisa, and to our crew of Steve Taylor, Lee Stirling, Shane Bigg, and Jono. The truth is, even with the above people, Andy and I can honestly say that it wouldn't have happened without the following people: Jason and Roy Phelps, Jeff Bull, Post en Dros (Egbert Dros and Dick Koster), Kenny Gomez, Ricky Ruiz, John Dunn, Shaun Hide, along with our sponsors Cool Flo, Fastec Racing, TSR Engine Conversions and Superpower Unlimited, and my dad for machining the con rods.

Please come and say hello to us at Bug Jam. It's going to be busy, as we are also crewing on the Gladiator FC.

Tesco petrol station closed.
20th July: If you are headed to Santa Pod Raceway over the next few weeks then our own Kirstie reports that the petrol station at the Wellingborough Tesco Superstore is closed for refurbishment.

We have spoken to the store and the petrol station is due to reopen on 28th August. There are several other petrol stations within a short drive.

Damn Yankees Car Show tomorrow.
20th July: If you have got this far through the weekend without plans for tomorrow (Sunday) then Gary Hall tells us that the Damn Yankees are holding their annual Car Show at North Weald Airfield in Essex (map).

"We have over 800 American cars, hot rods and custom cars", says Gary. "We also have a drag race display with John Price commentating. Anybody who would like to show a race car is more than welcome."

If you have any queries then you can call Gary on 07740 827288.

Green Light Pro entry still open.
20th July: James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch with a reminder that entry is still open for Green Light Pro, a heads-up class which will run exclusively at the Green Light Nationals on 17th-18th August. Green Light Pro will be open to all vehicles which comply with the GSRs and which are capable of and proven to run quicker than 7.50.

James writes: with the European Championships in Hockenheim that weekend, we're offering an opportunity for some track time to those who aren't travelling abroad. It's also a unique occasion at which we hope to see some unusual match-ups. In the past we've seen some impromptu match racing at other events and it's all been more than a little entertaining. We're hoping for a real battle royal of drag racing with the class firmly aimed at any Pro Mods not travelling abroad, Nostalgia Funny Cars, Altereds, slingshots, the selection of Super Pro ET and Comp Eliminator cars at the quick end of the classes, and anything else which meets the criteria.

The format will be pretty straightforward: heads-up on a Pro tree with qualifying and eliminations.

For further information please contact Darren or myself on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828), james@santapod.com or darren@santapod.com.

Entry closes next Friday, 26th July, and entry forms are available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Bug Jam racer update.
19th July: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us details of the arrangements for next week's Bug Jam at Santa Pod Raceway:

Thursday 25th July
10:00 Gates open
21:00 Gates close

Friday 26th July
09:00 Gates open for the duration of the event
10:00 Signing On opens for Run What You Brung; DVLA licences only for RWYB
12:00 Signing On opens for race competitors; Competition licences required to sign on for racing
12:00 Track opens for Run What You Brung
14:00 Scrutineering opens, no specific order sign-on/scrutineering details
19:00 Track closes

Saturday 27th July
07:00 Signing On opens for competitors; Competition licences required to sign on for racing
07:00 Scrutineering opens, no specific order sign-on/scrutineering details
09:30 Track opens for RWYB
15:00 RWYB ends
16:00 Track opens for qualifying

Sunday 28th July
08:00 Signing On opens for competitors; Competition licences required to sign on for racing
08:00 Scrutineering opens, no specific order sign-on/scrutineering details
09:30 Track opens for qualifying and eliminations

The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked 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. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event, which in this context includes Friday. Before 09:00 vehicles should be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not driven or ridden. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event.

Junior racers please remember the rule about pushing vehicles back to the pits once through the arch beside Scrutineering.

Only race officials and SPR staff are allowed in Race Control whilst racing is underway. Should racers wish to raise any matter with race officials then please do not visit Race Control; please firstly see the Race Secretary who is based in Signing On.

Colour commentators are requested to come to Commentary only when their class is at the head of the lanes, to vacate Commentary as soon as their class has run, and not to bring guests to Commentary with them.

At the request of SPR management the Eurodragster.com office at the Bankside end of Race Control is similarly out of bounds during racing except to Eurodragster.com staff, Zeon TV crew and racers or crew collecting Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards.

Swift snippets.
19th July: Jason Yates and the whole Orange Pop team asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for today (Friday) to Outlaw Anglia racer Simon Barlow. Our pleasure, have a great day Simon.

Polish your RTs, win big.
18th July: With the pivotal Bug Jam 33 just a week away, Andy Dibley is pleased to announce the return of the Reaction Time Award in Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET for next week's event:

The winner will be the racer with the lowest cumulative total time during qualifying. Red lights or missing a session of qualifying count for 0.5 seconds towards your time. All times will be put into a spreadsheet so you will need to bring your timing tickets to the 50 Shades of Racing pit after each session for the totals to be calculated.

Entry for the RT Award is £5 and looking at the current entry list there is potentially £200 up for grabs by one lucky racer! Hutchinson & Dibley together with the very kind Tog at Eurodragster.com (Aww - Ed) are starting the prize fund at £75.

As at all Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET rounds, a Number One Qualifier trophy will also be up for grabs.

With Eurodragster.com putting up £50 for a Perfect Light and £50 for a Perfect ET in association with Bad Habit Racing and the Twister Race Team there is quite the wad of notes waiting to be won.

Wilding wins Spirit Award.
18th July: UK Fuel legend Peter Crane writes that Roy Wilding is a very worthy winner of this year's Pete Crane Spirit of '76 Award:

The Award is presented for outstanding achievement or contribution to Nostalgia drag racing in the UK, and to acknowledge those involved in any aspect of Nostalgia racing from racers to admin staff, crew members and anyone else involved in running or shaping the Nostalgia racing scene of today. The recipent is selected and presented by myself and I would like to congratulate Roy.

A summary of Roy Wilding's thirty five-year drag racing career would make reference to his affable, unyielding and dedicated approach to racing. Roy Wilding has become one of today's established and more well-known drivers from all walks of British drag racing and has been involved with just about anything and everything! Roy began racing thirty five years ago in his V6 Ford Pop Hot Rod which was driven from the back seat and could achieve 98 mph in 14.9 seconds - and that was just the beginning. Approximately thirty years ago, a fourteen-year-old Mark Luton - now Roy's Crew Chief - began helping with Roy's first dragster, a 322ci Nailhead Buick which went on to achieve 131 mph in 11.001 seconds despite running on Kelly Springfield Pie Crust slicks. From there, Roy went on to build and race car after car with the ETs tumbling on each attempt.

One of the more notable cars Roy built and drove was a restoration of the Hemi Hunter dragster, which was originally owned by Gerry Andrews (who ran Pro Fuel in the 1970s). Roy installed a 392ci Chrysler engine and two-speed box snd ran an impressive best of 183 mph at 8.001 seconds on methanol before the car changed hands. Moving on, Roy built his Chariots of Fire slingshot which he still drives today. He has achieved a very respectable 199.1 mph in 7.16 seconds and insists that the car has more to give.

After building race car after race car for friends and customers alike, Roy opened up Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars which is still churning out cars like nobody's business today. Roy actually restored three of the famous British altereds, Paranoia, Helzapoppin', and Thunderbird which we are looking forward to seeing some time soon. Roy's own current project is a Competition Altered with a 426ci Chrysler Hemi and three-speed Lenco, running with a 14:71 blower. This is being built for Roy, Mark and the crew to have the experience of running a blown-alcohol car.

Recently, with the help of drag racer Chris Round, Roy even surprised himself with the speed in which he could work producing a complete rolling dragster chassis from raw materials within twenty eight hours! Throughout all this very productive time Roy also continued with a full-time job, and currently works at Futura Design concept car builders.

In addition to contributing to the Nostalgia drag racing world, for the last six to seven years Roy has been actively involved and driver for the S&K Racing Team, competing in Super Pro ET.

This is just a small glimpse into the commitment Roy has to racing life and a career that has led to him being known as a prolific chassis builder and renovator.

In addition to this, Roy has actually been instrumental in founding several race classes which we were lucky enough to have running at Dragstalgia. Roy started the Supercharged Outlaws along with fellow racer John Guthrie, he also began the Wild Bunch in 1994 and he was even one of those who badgered Santa Pod into starting up the Slingshot Showdown. Even today Roy is still well-known around the pits for being on hand to advise and assist anyone and everyone whom he can help.

Roy always had a soft spot for Shakespeare County Raceway and over the years offered help in the form of materials, manpower and just about anything else he could to support the track and was instrumental, along with Brian Gandy and Jerry Cookson, in building the transit van jet dryer.

Roy is a true stalwart of the sport and from myself and all of us at Santa Pod at the weekend, we'd like to thank him for his contribution to the sport which simply wouldn't be the same without him!

NSRA Dragstalgia Top Five.
18th July: Many thanks to Hannah Thomas for forwarding details of the winners at the National Street Rod Association's Show and Shine at Dragstalgia:

Top Five and Best In Show: 1929 Ford Model A Pick Up, owned by Garry Higgins
Top Five: 1932 Ford Model B Tudor, owned by Marianne Woolfall
Top Five: 1955 Chevrolet, owned by Charlie Gatward
Top Five 1930 Ford Model A, owned by Martin Friend
Top Five: 1953 Ford F100 Pick Up, owned by Kevin Bridges

You can find out more about the NSRA on their web site at www.nsra.org.uk.

Post-Dragstalgia notes.
16th July: Thanks to Andy Marrs for passing us the official timing data from the Dragstalgia, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Slingshot Showdown racer Sam Freeman got in touch to say a big Thank You to Santa Pod Raceway's fire and safety crew for their response to his crash on Sunday. "They did an excellent job and very quickly had the car on its wheels and me out of it", says Sam. "My sincere apologies to Bob who unfortunately got caught up in my crash. Thanks for the many messages and calls wishing me well. The cause of the crash took some while to establish and was traced to the fire bottle on the left hand front of the car; it moved back and set itself off also breaking the pipe which carries the extinguisher fluid to the engine and drivers compartment. The discharge nozzle squirted the fluid out of the right hand side of the chassis and under the right hand slick from there on I was a passenger". Sam's partner Lindsey Walsh adds "The crew at were brilliant, I was somewhat getting hysterical about not being allowed up the track but fully understand the reasons why. However, the staff were brilliant with me whilst waiting to see if Sam was OK. I was relieved that he was and I applaud all those who helped both Bob and Sam."

Mark Bishop of the Grey Vegas team says that whilst last Wednesday's spy picture was not really the biggest secret or the hardest spy picture, it was great to finally get Kim's Willys out alongside the Slingshot at Dragstalgia. "Unfortunately time really beat us in being fully prepared with both cars having new engines that were only completed on Thursday and fired up for the first time on Friday!", he says. "We decided to concentrate on the slingshot for the first two runs on Saturday and after having trouble on the burnout with the idle too high and then an oil leak at the rear of the manifold we took the car back to reseal it. As we lifted off the manifold we found a little bit more metal in the valley than we were willing to continue with on a brand new engine, so decided to take it home to clean it up properly before running it again. This left us time to run the Willys but we decided against it in the end as we were having issues with that as well. Thank you to everyone who came around that said they looked great together. Hopefully at some point we will have them lined up together on the line to race."

Thanks to Neil Marks who as well as sending nice words about our induction to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame sent this great picture of Tim Garlick trying to outdo Santa Pod's resident stunt driver Terry Grant.

Fans of the Knut Söderqvist and Harlan Thompson shows of yore will enjoy Mike Collins' latest work exclusively for Eurodragster.com readers, a brief tale of the legendary duo's various Funny Cars. Click on the picture above right for the PDF.

Swift snippets.

16th July: Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for passing us the final version of the Motorsport UK Pro Modified entry list for the Mopar Euronationals, which takes place on 2nd-4th August (racing 3rd-4th). You can check out the entry list by clicking here.

Comp Eliminator racer Robin Orthodoxou has asked us to say a big Happy Birthday for today (Tuesday) to Chaos Brothers Crew Chief Darren Orthodoxou. Robin tells us that Darren plans to spend today at Silverstone, one knee lower than the other and going round in circles looking for the finish line (right). Have a very Happy Birthday Darren.

Further to the passing mention above, on behalf of the whole Eurodragster.com team, the extended family and Honorary Staff Members Your News Editor would like to thank everyone for the E-Mailed, messaged and verbal congratulations on our induction to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame which are still coming in a few days after the announcement.

Dragstalgia results.
15th July: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway:

Nostalgia Cannonball: Tobba Jansson 6.4370/196.19 def. Robbie Grabham 11.1190/88.74
Slingshot Showdown: did not take place, Joe Bond declared winner
Outlaw Anglia: Scott Crookston 7.4657/178.50 def. Colin Millar 7.5380/182.13
Nostalgia Super Stock: Kiwi (9.87) 9.9925/115.49 def. Neill Watkins (11.31) 11.3454/116.81 DQ red light
Gasser Circus: Nick Barnett (11.46) 11.4299/118.00 def. Sean Milsom (10.02) 10.4632/106.27 DQ red light
Nostalgia Pro Stock Bike: Len Paget 8.5351/154.17 def. Claire Rule 8.7038/149.69
National Sprint Association: Tim Blakemore 9.0401/161.92 def. Justin Newell 9.8857/138.97

Congratulations also to the Showmanship tropy winners:

Spirit of Dragstalgia: Phil Middleton for the return of Al's Gasser (Outlaw Anglia)
Moment of the Weekend: Hayley Fyfe's and Rob Brown's engagement at the cacklefest
Driving Job of the Weekend: Chris Manning (Slingshot Showdown)
Best Back-Up Girl or Guy: Thomas Cook-Abbott (Wild Bunch)
Best Appearing Team: Dave Hinson's Elvis impersonators (Willys Wars)
Best Wheelstand: Jim Usher (Supercharged Outlaws)
Best Burnout: Colin Millar (Outlaw Anglia)
Best Appearing Vehicle: Anthony Wilkins, Butcher's Shop Willys (Willys Wars)
Low ET: Tim Garlick, Apache Nostalgia FC, 6.3873 seconds
Fans' Choice: Tony Betts, Venom Nostalgia FC

Spirit of '76 trophy (presented by Peter Crane): Roy Wilding

Congratulations also to Dave Billadeau who took the bonus Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team with a 10.7504 on 10.75 dial-in during Nostalgia Super Stock qualifying, and to Hayley Fyfe and Rob Brown of the Rebel Wild Bunch team on their engagement during Saturday evening's cacklefest.

The Slingshot Showdown was marred by a two-car crash between Sam Freeman and Bob Hawkins, the latter just returned from repairing damage sustained in a crash earlier this season. Both Sam and Bob walked away, as did Fuel bike legend John Hobbs after he took a spill from Olympus during the penultimate Nostalgia Sprint Association session.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Dragstalgia reports, results, pit notes and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

British Drag Racing Hall of Fame 2019.
12th July: The British Drag Racing Hall Of Fame continues into its fourteenth successful year and is pleased to announce the 2019 intake.

Nominees are eligible by dint of having raced, owned, designed, built, maintained, prepared, promoted, officiated, supported or taken part in British drag racing in any capacity, having been involved for at least twenty years, or having made a significant and recognisable contribution to the sport.

The 2019 inductees are:

IAN LLOYD Profile by Graham Beckwith

lan was always a car enthusiast and superbly turned-out, highly-engineered fast cars were his passion. His first project, which took over ten years to complete, was the restoration and rebuilding of a Mk 1 Ford Zodiac. Sporting a finely-tuned six-cylinder motor, finished in red and running on wire wheels, it was a head-turning street racer in the sixties. The sport of drag racing seemed to fit the bill for a young man who was keen to go faster in safety, and when the owner of the garage where lan worked asked him to work on his Vauxhall Ventora to bring it up to the standard of the one just sold, the opportunity arose for him to produce a race car. He fitted the car with a Rover V8 and went on to win the PDRC Street Racer Championships with it. The car also became an early race car for Dave Warne when it was eventually sold.

The quest for quicker times had begun! It took lan only six weeks to build the Rover V8-powered Dutton that was a real threat in both Super Comp at York Raceway and the Rover V8 Challenge rounds. First outing for the car was at a meet at the old US Air Force base at Burtonwood, organised by the newly formed PDRC, where lan raced the red kit car against all comers, along with Pip Higham on his bikes. Having broken the gearbox, he consoled himself by doing burnouts for the crowd... in reverse!

It was in 1978 that the birth of an idea to build a state-of-the-art Competition Altered led lan and a friend to fly over to Detroit USA armed with a bundle of cash to buy the parts needed. lan's plan was that only the best would be good enough for what he intended would be a quick-turnaround race car so he could achieve the maximum number of runs. Following a discussion with Fred Whittle about building a mid eight-second car on a box chassis, those plans changed. Instead Fred built lan a chrome moly tube-frame chassis to go with the Pat Cuss fibreglass Fiat Topolino body. Powerplant was to be a normally-aspirated small-block Chevrolet engine with the best of everything. Gonzo the Great was débuted in 1981 and continues to be raced today, now by Ian's son Alan. An acknowledged masterpiece of engineering, besides running and competing successfully in England Gonzo also toured Europe, appearing at Hockenheim, the Österreichring and twice at Le Mans.

ln the early 1990s the state of the track at Melbourne, York Raceway, was of great concern if racing were to continue there. lan was the first to back the Mac the Track campaign and commit money to the fund. From that point on, lan took on the role of project foreman at York Raceway, organising the work parties and materials deliveries whilst other campaigners drummed up sponsors and support. Ian was on site each weekend from October through to the following April as work progressed, and became an ambassador and spokesman for the project, working tirelessly over those eight months to ensure the track would be ready for the new season. Effectively Mac the Track gave racers a further twenty years of racing at York.

ln more recent years lan was contracted by Bentley Motors in an engineering role. He is very proud of his achievements with that company, in particular designing a Dyno tester for them to prepare their 6.7-litre V8 engine to meet current-day emissions regulations, thereby enabling them to continue to provide engines for the many restored Bentley cars still on the road today.

As a footnote, in 2018 lan tuned Gonzo to achieve a European best for a normally-aspirated small-block Chevy of 7.879s/154.85mph with Alan at the wheel quite an achievement.

THE McCOY DYNAMICS TEAM Profile by Keith Lee

One of the important areas of drag racing to acknowledge is innovation - and thinking outside the box. In the mid-1970s, three bike racers got together to form a racing team, known as McCoy Dynamics. All three made their mark on the sport, and set world records at Elvington, with spectacular performances on two and sometimes three wheels.

Angus 'Ag' MacPhail is someone definitely able to think laterally. After a spell riding a miniature Ariel two-stroke, he built his version of a three-wheeler, which featured the Triumph engine and gearbox positioned between the rider and passenger. He next built a novel Ford-powered three-wheeler, which featured the rider prone, in front of the engine. When three-wheelers were banned from competition due in no small part to the performance of Ag he remodelled the bike as a two-wheeler, with wide slick, to mutterings that it would never work. It did!

The McCoy machine was effectively a test bed for the unforgettable Jade Warrior, boasting a monocoque chassis, one-off two-litre supercharged motor, torque converter transmission and a very effective exhaust-driven ground effects system. Helped by Mick, this most unusual machine eventually broke into the seven-second zone in 1985, running on straight methanol, which was a brilliant achievement.

Mick Hand was very much at the heart of the group. He and Angus would bounce ideas off each other in the search for ways to advance performance. Mick's own bike of choice was one of the early Japanese-engined entries a diminutive twin-cylinder blown 250 Honda. Small it might have been, but it was the sharpest, noisiest bike on the strip, and set a world record in 1971. With massive boost, the bike eventually got down to 9.08/158 after extensive development work on an enlarged engine. It was a true world-class achievement.

Keith Parnell was the third member of the team. Rouge et Noir, his special short-stroke blown Triumph, is well remembered for winning the race to be the first European bike to run under nine seconds, at Santa Pod in June 1975. His follow-up bike was the first to trial a ground effects system, which was then further developed on Jade Warrior. Keith himself carried on in a distinguished sprinting career until he hung up his leathers at the age of 73. Bert Hopkinson deserves credit for his ongoing machining input to aid the racing efforts of the team.

Times have changed since the McCoy Dynamics runners made their mark on the sport, but it has not stopped the ideas. When Mick gave up riding himself, he continued helping Barry Eastman with his turbo CBX Honda. Mick wanted to pursue the idea of a compound turbo bike, so Barry was up for a partnership in the experiment. After much hard work over the past few years, in 2018 the Storm Funny Bike really proved itself to be another machine to successfully demonstrate that there are alternative ways to go racing. The methanol-fuelled compound turbocharged Puma-engined entry, coupled to sophisticated electronics, has been painstakingly developed and won the 2018 Funny Bike Championship. The machine has recorded best times of 6.56/218, with more performance still to come.

Ag, now in his eighties, made his own notable contribution to the Storm drag project especially with the fairing design. Completing the McCoy involvement, the pilot is none other than Keith Parnell's son Lorcan. Sadly, early in 2019, Mick's partner in the project and his old friend of more than fifty years, Barry Eastman, passed away. On a happier note, it looks like the project will continue, as a fitting tribute.

The innovative McCoy spirit is what marks the team out as special, and deserving of this recognition.

THE WILD BUNCH Profile by Jerry Cookson

The idea for UK drag racing's Wild Bunch first saw the light of day in 1994. After many years competing separately at hot rod events, Nostalgia enthusiasts Roy Wilding and John Guthrie both had visions of forming a class to cater for those slingshot dragster and competition altered owners who were racing for fun on a budget. Towards the end of the season Roy and John presented the idea to then Avon Park Raceway promoters Goodguys UK and the class, with an invited eight-car field, was given a chance at the season-ending Night of Fire.

A partial season of events for the club was run exclusively at Avon Park the following year, which led to more new and historic cars joining the Club. The first full season came in 1996 with an ambitious series of events taking place at the Club's home at Long Marston Airfield. Averaging around fifteen to twenty teams at any one event, the inaugural series win went to Roy Wilding and his Chariot of Fire slingshot.

For the first nine years the club ran its events within the track's Run What You Brung meetings but this then grew, as many wanted also to run at RAC/MSA level and at rounds held at the newly renamed Shakespeare County and Santa Pod Raceways. At these races, instead of running to the Club's traditional time trial format, teams would race in bracket-style eliminations at MSA events.

In the 1990s the nostalgia scene in UK drag racing was evolving with events such as the Hot Rod Drags and the Nostalgia Nationals. The Wild Bunch Committee constantly came up with fresh ideas to make their class more appealing. One such idea arose from a letter written by Roy to the King of the Dragsters, Don Garlits, to have an annual award presented at the season's end in the great man's name. A few days later, Roy received Don's enthusiastic endorsement, and so the Don Garlits Spirit of Drag Racing Shield was born in 1996; a fantastic accolade for any individual or team who gets to be nominated, and especially for the winner. The award recognised the recipient's sporting values and virtues, dedication and achievements, all in the spirit of nostalgia drag racing.

Since those formative years, the Wild Bunch has grown from strength to strength with a fantastic line up of racers and machinery and a huge fan following. In 2001, Roy retired as Chairman to concentrate on developing his chassis-building business while forging a new racing career with the Supercharged Outlaws, but he will always be affectionately known to the Wild Bunch as "Little Daddy Roy".

In 2002 'Crazy' Chris Hartnell, owner and driver of Backdraft, the restored Malibu Express slingshot dragster from the late 1960s, was elected Chairman and, together with partner Claire Meaddows, oversaw the running of the Club until the end of 2014 when he retired. Since then Claire, along with a very supportive Committee, has overseen the day-to-day running of the Club.

The Wild Bunch have come a long way during the last quarter-century and ensured that Nostalgia drag racing continues to thrive in the UK. Everyone who has been involved has a passion for the sport, a burning desire to go fast safely while, most importantly of all, preserving our sport's history. Even now, more vintage dragsters and altereds are being brought back to life, while new recreations are being built. Competition with a fun element is always at the forefront of every Wild Bunch racer's mind, and it is for these reasons we have inducted the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Club into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

EURODRAGSTER.COM Profile by Robin Jackson

Can anyone imagine a drag racing world without the presence of Eurodragster.com? It is in the nature of institutions that they are taken for granted the very word 'institution' implies an immutable foundation built on rock. Yet Eurodragster.com confounds that perception. It is an institution that hangs by a thread, existing solely on the dedication of a handful of fellows who devote time and energy to the revelation of our sport in all its glories across the continent of Europe. Snap that thread and a pillar of the sport crumbles into an institutional-sized sinkhole which no social media outlet could hope to fill.

Eurodragster.com never sleeps. To the casual enthusiast, it provides an almost-daily journal of the comings and goings, happenings and proceedings of the sport "All the news that's fit to print", to borrow the New York Times' motto. To the serious student, perhaps engaged in chronicling the sport for a purpose say, compiling programme notes for a race it is a vital tool, a treasury of facts and data stretching back over two decades. Need to follow the round-by-round developments in a big race in another country? Eurodragster.com takes you there (try following a race which Eurodragster.com is not covering and you'll notice the difference!). Need to double-check a record performance? Eurodragster.com will likely satisfy your quest. Want to discover who qualified low in Pro Stock Bike at Gardermoen in 2002 (Vesa Rautio, to spare you a search)? There's a goldmine of information concealed in the microscopic red print running down the left side of Eurodragster.com's home page, and its value grows more evident the more it is used.

Eurodragster.com was conceived in 1997 and published its first news item in February 1998. Lest we forget, the internet was in its infancy and one had to wait till magazines went on sale to find out race results and other news. Since then, Eurodragster.com has expanded its pioneering scope exponentially, for example listing and analysing Championship points standings; archiving records and timing data; generating live webcam and video streaming; providing a racers' on-line marketplace; disseminating regulations, race details, entry lists and other official information from Clubs, organisers and sanctioning bodies; furnishing a direct line from racers to fans, which never existed before; delivering a focus on European drag racing for enthusiasts and followers around the world; and generally helping to draw together the diverse European racing community.

Today's Eurodragster.com crew is led by founding editor Andy 'Tog' Rogers, joined by Simon Groves, author of the compendious Pit Notes which add so much light to Eurodragster.com's race reports, and photographers Kirstie Tramm and Julian Hunt, with Diana Macrae and Callum Pudge providing auxiliary camera work. It is for the ceaseless devotion of this small team to the portrayal of the European drag racing picture, and for the efforts of the few who preceded them in helping build the wealth of material that populates and underpins the web site, that Eurodragster.com is inducted into membership of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

ANITA MÄKELÄ Profile by Lesley Wright

Anita Mäkelä spent one summer in Ohio State, USA, far from her native Finland, when she was sixteen years old and after that became a huge fan of American cars, her first being a Pontiac Trans Am. That brought American car shows, cruising evenings and drag racing into her life, and at one Street race the fastest lady got a special award, which she won. Anita says that left a competitive spark in her soul which is still there today.

In 1987 a friend was working at an FHRA race office and overheard Rune Grönlund saying his Competition Eliminator dragster was for sale. Anita asked Simo Patoharju to become her Crew Chief and form a team with her. She won the last race of the year at Motopark, Finland, a great start to her career.

Anita then heard there was one more race that year, at Santa Pod Raceway, and made the long journey to compete. On Sunday she ran against Tony Morris and won, but the chutes didn't open immediately after the finish line and she ended up rolling in the field. She emerged safely, but sore, and her new dragster was in pieces. The team built a fresh dragster, and won the Finnish Championship in 1988 and 1989.

Anita decided to step up to Pro Comp and bought a Top Alcohol Dragster from Ken Murray and Brian Hansell in Canada. She went to the USA to make a deal with them and got her licence at Bakersfield. Jarmo Pulkkinen was a huge help to the team. The rivalry between Anita's Sega dragster and Tony Donges' Nintendo dragster was legendary and Anita finished in the top three in the European Championship from 1992 to 1996, gained two Championship titles and held the record for the quickest ET and fastest speed several times over this period.

Returning home on the ferry in 1996, as the FIA European Top Alcohol Champion, Anita got to know Tommi Haapanen, whose car she drove to licence for Top Fuel and who would become her soulmate and husband. After their daughter Hanna was born Anita made a deal to drive Peter Lantz' Top Fuel car, and finished third in the 1998 FIA European Top Fuel Championship. At Alastaro, Tommi and she had a bet the loser would change Hanna's nappies. She won! Heikki was born in 1999 and Anita took a year out, returning in 2000 to take the FIA Top Fuel Championship, becoming the first racer to win FIA titles in two categories. In 2003 she ran the first four-second run in Finland and in 2019 ran the first three-second thousand-foot pass in Finland.

In 2007 Tommi returned to racing and the children were growing, becoming well behaved, and loving pit life, so by 2009 Anita was back in the driving seat. As Anita says "Once a racer, always a racer. Nothing beats Top Fuel racing. Especially if you can do it with your family".

After meeting the Lagana brothers, the team rose to a new level with their racing and Anita reaffirmed her 2000 title by taking the Championship again in 2016 and 2018. The consistency of their car was outstanding at the 2018 European Finals, running a string of three-second runs, culminating in a European ET record of 3.870 seconds. At the time of writing, she has made a great start to defending her title, achieving low qualifier and winning the 2019 Main Event at Santa Pod setting a new European low ET of 3.842 seconds in the final and winning again at Tierp in June with a personal-best speed of 315.66 mph.

Anita's thirteen Top Fuel event wins are an FIA record and her vast achievements over her thirty-year drag racing career make her more than worthy to be inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. But for all the spectators, officials, photographers, journalists, crews and their families, it is the smiling personality which she brings to every race which makes her so deserving.

Members of the Hall of Fame receive a 'Bootsie', a trophy encapsulating an image of the late Allan 'Bootsie' Herridge, a man who put so much into British drag racing, together with an exclusive commemorative pin. They join the élite list of inductees from previous years and will be listed on the official British Drag Racing Hall of Fame web site which you can view by clicking here or by clicking on the British Hall of Fame link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

The 2019 inductees will be presented at the Gala Awards Dinner to be held on 23rd November at the Oatlands Park Hotel, Weybridge, Surrey. The BDRHoF are taking reservations for the 2019 Gala Awards Dinner by E-Mail at stuart@britishdragracinghof.co.uk or by telephone on 01933 279102. This year the dinner tickets, which include table wine, remain competitively priced at £70. The BDRHoF have managed to keep the same rates for hotel rooms of £115 for double rooms and £94 for single rooms which includes breakfast and VAT as well as parking. The event always sells out well in advance, so if you would like to join us for the occasion we suggest that you make your reservation sooner rather than later. On receiving your reservation you will be given the procedure to book rooms.

On-going news about the Gala, sponsors and other events in which the BDRHoF is involved is regularly published on the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame web site at www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk, here on Eurodragster.com, and on Facebook and Twitter.

Dragstalgia on two wheels.
11th July: There is a great buzz about this year's Dragstalgia, as we look forward to a real feast of nostalgia drag racing action at Santa Pod this weekend, and Keith Lee writes that there will be plenty to enjoy if you like your drag racing on two wheels:

There will be twenty six historic bikes taking part in the popular NSA Shootout, in an event which will be somewhat bittersweet, as it will mark the final time that John Hobbs will pilot the renowned 1700cc Hobbit double Weslake down the track before it is given an honourable retirement.

Enjoy the many actual machines of the period, and also their period riders, attacking the equally historic track, as they show off these living legendary machines of the sport. It is the only time that many of these bikes get together, which makes it a weekend to savour. From double-engined bikes, and the unbelievable Drag Waye, through to the little 250 Honda which Mick Hand made famous, enjoy the variety in action at this event.

Adding to the two-wheeled show, the Nostalgia Pro Stock eliminator has rapidly expanded since being added to the programme, and looks set to provide an excellent eliminator race for the seventeen bikes vying for the win.

The historic car and bike marquee will contain both of the Vincents which Brian Chapman rode to so much success, as he shows both Mighty Mouse and Super Mouse over the weekend. He will be joined by the double Triumph of Pete Williams, which dates back to the late sixties. Early drag racer Bernie White will have Endeavour on display. David Taylor is restoring father Paul's machine, while Ian Feltell will have his late father Ray's last bike, which he is working on.

The ex-Bob Webster double Kawasaki of Peter Scott will also be shown, along with his own Rickman turbo Kawasaki. Finally, we are very pleased to feature the new steam rocket bike of Graham Sykes, who will be looking to make his own piece of history when they hit the track in earnest. Do make a point of visiting the marquee during the weekend to see these special machines.

Pop go the Anglias.
11th July: A Dragstalgia field of thirty one is the largest in the twenty seven-year history of Outlaw Anglia. Colin Millar writes:

We're out tomorrow night for a first qualifier, hoping the air is good and the sun has been out all day, with another two qualifiers on Saturday and straight into first round eliminations at round seven on Saturday evening. Sunday will be busy as we have had to squeeze in another elimination round due to the 32 car ladder. The racing as always will be electric and never boring, making Outlaw Anglia what it is.

+ We have a few new faces with Nathan Barlow running the original Orange Pop, Nathan got some seat time last weekend at The Ford Show, Andy Cunningham débuting Lee Taylor's old Pop for the first time and jumps in with both feet, Peter Jones who has been out for three years upgrading his car and who also took the opportunity to get some seat time last weekend will be joining us and tasting what's its like. Barnaby Levy returns to the track after a while away and making the long trip from southern Ireland with all the family, Phil Ginner Middleton returns also after time out with a sick engine, lets see what he has under his belt ?

The class as always has people creeping up on the numbers with Steve Wells running a storming 8.10, Mat Cooper back out this year and back on form with a straight, yes straight 8.2 and feeling confident, Mick Taylor has found the key to go fast, Nitrous hit of the line with a nice 8.27 and certainly more to follow. Jeff Meads chapping on the door of that seven with an 8.0, all these cars have the potential of a seven-second pass so fingers crossed they can do it this weekend.

The gauntlet has been massively thrown down by Simon Barlow with a storming 7.08 last weekend at The Ford Show, absolutely amazing with the magical six-second barrier in his sights, who would have thought these numbers were even possible? He deserves this as there has been a massive effort from Simon and all the crew, this can only mean one thing: "Turn it Up". Paul Hensher is I'm sure planning to come back even stronger after his 7.4 run, Scotty Crookson running yet another PB of 7.49 with more in the tank and being young is rapid on those lights. I will of course be trying to catch Simon as that is the name of the game, the proof will be those numbers on the timing slips and for qualifying and there will be some damn close racing I'm sure.

Time permitting we have in store an Outlaw Anglia ET bracket class which will feature the sixteen cars eliminated in the first round, fingers crossed we can get this done right through to the final as we've even gone out our way and got a trophy this time. This is not easy, far less getting the numbers right, but running ET on a Pro Tree is hard. Good luck to everyone involved.

Whatever happens come and see us. We will be in the pits mucking about as always, misbehaving is a must and the older you get the worse you get, the biggest thing to come out of Outlaw Anglia is the need to enjoy and have fun no matter what. There may be a wee surprise in store so make sure you make a point of catching up and visiting us in the pits with the most entertaining class out there, Outlaw Anglia, however I may be slightly biased!

Swift snippets.

11th July: We have a birthday on the Eurodragster.com team today (Thursday): please join us in wishing a very Happy Birthday to our Photographer and Sportsman ET racer Kirstie. Have a lovely day Kirstie and see you tomorrow. Happy Birthday also to Track Announcer and all-round top bloke Graham Beckwith - is this the right room for an argument Graham? - to Perfect ET Award sponsor Andy Fadster's main spannerist Craig Dixon, and to six-second Super Pro ET racer Mark Todd. Have a great day all.

Best wishes to Dave McKenzie of the Team Thing Supercharged Outlaws team who is poorly in hospital. Fuzzie is a big strong guy and he'll be back before we know it.

Martin Drake aka Drakie has released Issue 3 of his magazine Street and Strip Times with features from the worlds of drag racing and hot rodding, show reports, and everywhere Drakie's excellent photography. You can check out the free PDF-format magazine by clicking here.

Event entry update.
10th July: We have a number of entry list updates for events at Santa Pod Raceway.

The final official entry list for this weekend's Dragstalgia is available on the event's web site at www.dragstalgia.co.uk.

Many thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for the following entry updates:

The final official entry list for Bug Jam, which takes place on 26th-28th July (racing 27th-28th), can be checked 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.

Version 1 of the official entry list for the Mopar Euronationals, which takes place on 2nd-4th August (racing 3rd-4th) and which is a round for Motorsport UK Pro Modified, can be checked out by clicking here.

Version 1 of the official entry list for the Green Light Nationals, which takes place on 17th-18th August and which hosts the special Pro Drag class*, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Funny Bike (double-header), Comp Bike (double-header), NMCN 8.50 Bike (double-header), 9.50 Bike (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Super Twin Top Gas (double-header), Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike (double-header), In Posterum Junior Drag Bike (double-header), NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock, Outlaw Anglia, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the Supercharged Outlaws, Outlaw Flat Four and the Wild Bunch, can be checked out by clicking here.

*Pro Drag is open to all vehicles which comply with GSRs and which are capable of and proven to run quicker than 7.50. The class is firmly aimed at any Pro Mods not travelling to the NitrOlympX, Nostalgia Funny Cars, Altereds, slingshots, the selection of Super Pro ET and Comp Eliminator cars at the quick end of the classes, and anything else which meets the criteria. The format is heads up on a Pro tree with qualifying and eliminations.

Standard-fee entry for the Mopar EuroNationals closes on Friday 12th July, after which date a Late Entry penalty may be applied. Entry for the Green Light Nationals closes completely on Friday 26th July; no late entries can be accepted as Ian will be away working at Hockenheim. Green Light Nationals bike racers please note that one entry fee covers both days of the double-header.

Mopar EuroNationals and Green Light Nationals entry forms can be downloaded from the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

Dragstalgia Perfect ET bonus.
10th July: Further to yesterday's news item we are pleased to announce that Andy Hadfield aka Fadster is joining in the fun and that a bonus Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team will be available at this weekend's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway.

The Perfect ET Award of £50 will be presented to the firsr racer to record an Elapsed Time +0.000 on dial-in, starting from Friday afternoon's qualifying session. The Award will be available in Nostalgia Super Stock, the Gasser Circus and the Wild Bunch (starting with session 4 on Saturday's schedule) but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the event. Other classes may be added dependent upon their qualifying and elimination rules. As this is a bonus event, if the Perfect ET Award is not won at Dragstalgia then it will not roll over but will remain at £50 for Bug Jam.

Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory to collect the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate if it they are carried, although we do of course understand about decals on period-correct cars and bikes. If you would like to carry Eurodragster.com decals then they are available in Signing On or from the Eurodragster.com staff.

Slingshot Showdown preview.
10th July: As the 2019 edition of the Dragstalgia Slingshot Showdown approaches, Mark Bishop has been in touch with a look at some of this year's entries:

This year we have nine entrants vying for the crown, seven from the UK and two from Switzerland. Following an engine blow-up at Easter which resulted in a brush with the wall, the chassis of Bob Hawkins' Time Traveller 2 has now been completely rebuilt and upgraded. A new, shorter stoke, more nitro-friendly engine has also been scratch built. With a win and two runner-up places so far in the Slingshot Showdown, the team is very firmly focused on getting quickly up to speed and will be looking for a second win!

Joe Bond's Nuthin' Fancy 2 has had a motor freshen and a few minor chassis upgrades. Chris Manning's Villain has a new engine from EDA, 538 ci with 15% blower overdrive. The motor made 1324 hp at John Sleath's and Andy Frost built a tough Powerglide after the output shaft sheared at the Nostalgia Nationals. The team are looking forward to going quicker!

Christian Frei's The Linac #2 is a 1968 Woody Gilmore Chassis with an old Tom Hanna body which he has owned since purchase from Wayne Luddington in 2011. The BB Mopar is 500 ci with Hilborn methanol injection and a Powerglide. Last year the team finally achieved their target of a seven-second pass and Christian won Super Pro ET at the Hills Race at Rivanazzano Dragway.

Mark himself says of his Grey Vegas: After snapping the crank on our first qualifying pass last year we have built a brand new engine with thanks to Billly Macdermid at Topspeed Automotive/CM Frosts for helping source our many of our new parts including Jon Kaase's brand new SR71 heads, Oliver Rods and Diamond Pistons. We will once again try to achieve our first seven-second pass!

Dave Nelson of the Dorris Dormouse team says that it is really exciting to see the class so strong: after an unplanned two years off are glad to be back racing. Life got in the way to some degree and I've spent some time working on myself with some weight savings away from the car. We aim primarily to have as trouble-free a weekend as possible, maybe get a bit closer to Dorris' potential and to qualify, although I fear it will be asking a lot for us to get anywhere near to the top half of the qualifying list. If we manage to sneak fifth then maybe we can go a round or two - this is drag racing so anything is possible! Fingers crossed I'll also be in the Hot Seat at the end of Saturday.

Mick Hannah returns in the Haggis Hunter and the Showdown is joined by two new cars, Sam Freeman's Long Time Dead and Christian Zulauf in Silberblitz.

Wild Bunch preview.
10th July: Wild Bunch Race Co-ordinator Claire Meaddows writes that the Nostalgia racers are looking forward to this weekend where with thirty eight teams entered theirs is one of the largest classes:

The entry is made up of long-standing regulars, returning drivers and a few newcomers, including a teenager with a passion for drag racing! We will also have some welcome overseas drivers from Italy, Sweden and France joining the festivities. There will be a large variety of slingshots, altereds, dragsters and Funny Cars, back-up girls galore (Yay - Ed), wheelies, burnouts and the Cacklefest plus a celebration of all things Nostalgia!

Speaking of which, one team celebrating very special anniversaries will be Crazy Chris Hartnell and Claire and family, with Chris racing Backdraft for the first time in five years, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the car's début as Malibu Express at the Big Go at Santa Pod in May 1969, as well as the twenty fifth year of the car running as Backdraft. It will be fantastic to see you back Chris!

This year is the Club's twenty fourth full season and Dragstalgia will be our fourth event for 2019. The competition will include Wild Bunch Series Round 2, Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series Round 4 and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Round 2. The Wild Bunch Series is currently led by Mark Coulsell in the Ballbreaker slingshot (after his win at the Nostalgia Nationals with fantastic runs in the low eights), followed by last year's multi-Series winner Phil James in the Rampage Funny Car. Craig Larman in The Ferret altered (proudly running in tribute to dad Tom) is third and Callum Swinchatt is fourth in the team's period-perfect Topolino altered.

The Roy Wilding Series currently has the same leaders as there has just been one event for each so far. We will be glad to have Roy around in the pits with us this weekend, as his health improves, and hopefully building up to fulfilling his dream next year of running that 200 mph pass. Young Callum is the current leader of the Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge Series by just one point over Phil James, followed by Mark Coulsell in third and Keith Crampton fourth with his Soul Town Shaker slingshot. This is sure to be a developing battle throughout the season with good close racing and friendly rivalry.

At Dragstalgia, the Wild Bunch Spot Prizes are kindly being sponsored by Team East of the Ellie's in Trouble Now slingshot. Many thanks to them! We also have some great two-tier trophies for the winners. With so many teams entered, the competition is bound to be really close, so we're really looking forward to finding out the winners on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

We would like to say a huge Thanks to all the fantastic marshals and officials, track and safety crews, promoters, organisers, media, photographers, and the brilliant Eurodragster.com team (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed). You are all stars! Thanks for helping us all do the racing we love and telling the stories.

See you at the drags!

Swift snippets.

10th July: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (right) came with the words "Back home and and looking like her long sister. Ready for Dragstalgia... #WW1". You probably don't have to be James Burke to make the connection here but if you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com.

Many thanks to stats guru Andy Marrs for letting us know that, although no records were broken at the FHRA Nitro Nationals, congratulations are due to Pro Modified racer Micke Gullqvist who at the weekend became the first FIA European Championship racer to win 150 rounds in a single class. Well done Micke!

Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted two FHRA Nitro Nationals reports on the Autosport.nl web site. There is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and a report of "Other things I saw" which you can check out by clicking here.

We would like to say a big Happy Birthday to Pat Salt; have a great day Pat. Tog would like to say a big Happy Birthday to his non-racing friend Malcolm Pellett; have a great day Malcolm and hope the quarter pounder, egg and chips have gone down now.

Gane takes the Challenge.
10th July: UK Super Pro ET racer Brian Pateman was one of the UK invasion to the Clastres 8 event and got in touch to let us know how things went:

Twenty eight cars qualified in Super Pro ET with two Pontiacs at the top and Billy Gane Racing third (qualifying list).

Pateman Racing got past Eric Mathijs in E1 but we were dispatched by Oliver Petzold in a very close race in E2. Billy Gane went all the way with five straight round wins in The Only Way Is Essex Vauxhall from Chelmsford. Well done Billy and team! You can find a race report on the Challenge web site at www.suproet.de.

Billy is now effectively leading the Super Pro ET Challenge by twenty five points with the best score from two events - only the best four scores are counted (points).

There is already a good entry for Clastres 9 with five UK entries in Super Pro ET and five UK entries in Pro ET.

Dragstalgia Perfect Light bonus.
9th July: We are pleased to confirm that a bonus Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award will again be available at this weekend's Dragstalgia at Santa Pod Raceway.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards are usually posted at UK National Championship events but sponsors Cath and Tig Napier of UK Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing have kindly offered to post £50 for the first 0.000 Reaction Time at Dragstalgia.

The Perfect Light Award will become available at the start of qualifying, currently Willys Wars Q1 which is scheduled for 17:00 on Friday, and from that point will be available to all racers in all classes. As ever, the money will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. As this is a bonus event, if the Perfect Light Award is not won at Dragstalgia then it will not roll over but will remain at £50 for Bug Jam.

Eurodragster.com decals are not mandatory to collect the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate if it they are carried, although we do of course understand about decals on period-correct cars and bikes (The lead time was just too long on vellum with illuminated manuscript - Ed). If you would like to carry Eurodragster.com decals then they are available in Signing On or from the Eurodragster.com staff.

The next Eurodragster.com Perfect Light Award supported by the Twister Race Team will be posted at Bug Jam.

Swift snippets.
9th July: Regular readers will know that US legend Roland Leong is in the UK to work with Tony Betts and the Venom Nostalgia Funny Car team. Both the Venom and Apache teams tested at Sunday's Ford Show at Santa Pod Raceway and our own Simon was there with them. You can check out Simon's John Woolfe Racing-sponsored gallery of Venom's and Apache's day at the track, as well as some of other Ford Show attractions (Congratulations to Simon Barlow on the 7.0 - Ed), by clicking here, clicking on the picture below left, or clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Sandie Gibb asked us to say a big Thank You to longtime family friend John Dewey who chauffeured her daughter Thaliah to last week's school Prom in his 1969 Ford Mustang (above right). Nice one John.

July is a popular month for birthdays both on the core Eurodragster.com team and in our extended family. Our first birthday of the month falls today (Tuesday) and the lucky recipient of that twenty four-hour no-firing guarantee is regular Contributing Photographer and all-round top bloke Callum Pudge. Have a very Happy Birthday Callum. A big Happy Birthday also to UK Funny Bike racer Lorcan Parnell, have a great day Lorcan.

Mister Six goes to Dragstalgia.

8th July: UK legend Dennis Priddle will be making the trip up to Santa Pod this weekend, where he will be taking part in the popular British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Legends' signing sessions during Dragstalgia, on the Saturday and Sunday of the event. Keith Lee tells us that a few copies of his book Mister Six: The story of Drag Racing Legend Dennis Priddle will available on the BDRHoF stand. More details of the legends attending the signing session will be revealed in an upcoming news item here on Eurodragster.com.

Keith comments that Dennis will obviously also be taking a keen interest in one of the Nostalgia Funny Car runners and the latest update on the Paul Harris Racing team is that Paul will be competing with the Omni-bodied Chi-Town Hustler set-up for Dragstalgia. The Mister Six Monza tribute body is not yet in a position to be making an appearance. Talking to Paul, he is very much focused currently on securing his racing licence, which he hopes to do during the course of Dragstalgia. Fuelling issues which hampered the previous outing have been addressed by the team, and they are aiming to make good progress during what promises to be an excellent weekend for flopper fans.

The much-awaited début of the Monza, styled by Darren West at Power Race Graphics and which was unveiled at last November's BDRHoF Gala, will be at a suitable Santa Pod event when Paul and the team are fully satisfied with the current set-up.

Editor's note: As is traditional this year's inductees to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame will be announced here on Eurodragster.com at 12:00 midday UK time on Day 1 of Dragstalgia, this Friday (12th).

FHRA Nitro Nationals winners.
7th July: Congratulations to the Pro class winners at the weekend's FHRA Nitro Nationals at Kauhava, Finland:

Top Fuel Dragster: Timo Lehtimäki
Top Methanol: Sandro Bellio
Pro Modified: Peter Kunc
Pro Stock: Simon Gustafsson

Top Fuel Bike: Filippos Papfilippou
Supertwin: Harri Piensalmi
Pro Stock Bike: Fredrik Fredlund
Super Street Bike: Vesa Ruhanen

Sportsman classes were not finished due to frequent interruptions from the weather.

Many thanks to Åsa Kinnemar and to Job Heezen for sending us the post-event points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships and FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships respectively. You can check out the European points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

You can check out FHRA Nitro Nationals reports and results and pictures at the Drag Racing Europe web site at www.dragracingeurope.eu, a gallery at www.dragracingeurope.eu/edrs/kauhava-finland-4-7-july-2019, and qualifying lists and ladders on the FHRA forum by clicking here. A replay of the entire webcast is available free at www.livestream.com/fhra.

Swift snippets.
7th July: Swedish Top Doorslammer racer Andreas Sjödin fulfilled his plan to set world records with his standard bore space big block Chevrolet with conventional heads whilst running at the Doorslammers and FIA/FIM Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway. "Two weekends in a row and two awesome events with awesome performance with our Swedish self-built bad-ass doorslammer!", says Andreas. "We now have a Personal Best for the quarter mile of 5.8813/242.55 mph or 390.35 kmh! How awesome is that?". You can read all about it at www.abmracing.se.

UK Outlaw Anglia racer Steve Wells has rebranded his Team Orange Ford Pop pick-up to the Hellcat Special to celebrate longtime crew man and fellow drag racer Malk Motler's musical début at Dragstalgia. The Hellcats will appear on the Live Stage on Saturday at 18:00 and again at 22:00.

Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall tells us that the final version of the Bug Jam entry list will be available this Tuesday.

It came too late for yesterday's news update so a slightly belated Happy Birthday for yesterday (Saturday) to Michael Dowdy. Hope you had a great day Michael.

We've done the Time Warp again.
6th July: Paul Stubbings has been in touch to admit responsiblity for last Sunday's spy picture. The chassis on the right in the spy picture was that of the new Time Warp Nostalgia Funny Car which makes its début in Wendy Baker's hands at Dragstalgia next weekend. Paul writes:

Around November last year we decided that it was time to get on with putting together a new car. We were happy with the way the old Buttera chassis handled so it made sense to build a replica. A pile of chrome moly was ordered, which arrived in late November, and the chassis was started. A new torsion bar, steering box and a heap of tabs and sundry bits were ordered from Mark Williams.

In the Christmas break the basic chassis was welded, and in January the original body was dropped off to have a mould taken. It is not possible to get a new body with a 115" wheelbase as all those available in the States are mostly 125" with a very few at 120".

The new body was collected at about the same time as the final welding was done to the chassis. Next came fitting the running gear - recycled from the old car - and tinning out the new body. Sadly time has prevented us from having a proper paint job, instead we have resorted to a "rattle can" finish rather than miss Dragstalgia.

So a few shakedown runs to check out the handling and hopefully we will have a race car again!

SPR seek demo cars, bikes.
5th July: Santa Pod Raceway plays host to the BMW Show on Sunday 21st July and Jake Wray says that eight vehicles, cars or bikes, are sought to make exhibition passes:

If you are in need of some track time and to show your car or bike off to a great crowd, then this is a great show for you! A prime summer date and hopefully the sunny weather to go with it.

Cars running 11.99 or quicker, and bikes quicker than 9.99, are more than welcome to get involved.

If you are interested then please get in touch via E-Mail at jake@santapod.com

The Hawaiian has landed.
5th July: UK Nostalgia Funny Car racer Tony Betts tells us that The Hawaiian has landed in Essex (UK, not NH - Ed):

Roland Leong, his daughter Ralanda and Jerry - ex-Chief of Police in Hawaii - all arrived at Heathrow yesterday afternoon.

Roland will look over the car today and we will head to Santa Pod tomorrow morning. We will be testing at the Ford Show on Sunday with Tim Garlick and then head back to the Pod next weekend for Dragstalgia.

Swift snippets.

5th July: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with the words "Fresh for Dragstalgia". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com.

Dragstalgia racer update.
4th July: Many thanks to James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway for forwarding us details of the arrangements for Dragstalgia, which takes place on Friday-Sunday of next week (12th-14th).

Gates
Gates will be open between 12:00 and 19:00 on Thursday for racers with racer tickets only. The general public will not be admitted on Thursday. Gates re-open to racers and open to the general public at 08:00 on Friday.

Run What You Brung
RWYB will take place from 09:30 to 16:00 on Friday only. Qualifying for the weekend begins at 17:00 on Friday. If you have entered to race in an invited class then your entry includes sign-on for all sessions of qualifying and racing but excludes RWYB on Friday. Racers are welcome to take part in the RWYB on Friday at a price of Ł25 for unlimited runs. The Signing On office will be open from 08:00 on Friday.

Sign-on
Please note that, new for this year, crew will be required to sign on. Racers and crew in invited classes can sign on once for the entire weekend; this can be done from Friday.

Calling out
Each class, including the Custom Car Invitational, will be called out from the pits to run as per a regular race event and at Dragstalgia in previous years. During the racing timetable, please do not join the pairing lanes without being called out.

Pitting
Please follow our marshals' instructions at all times, including when being shown where to pit for the weekend. Pitting will be strict as we have a lot of you to fit in. Anyone who has raced at a permitted event so far this year will be aware that we are having a clampdown on pit access in 2019 this clampdown will be in force at Dragstalgia too. For more information on that please see the news piece of 7th May here on Eurodragster.com.

Noise curfew
Please remember that race engines are not to be started before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event. The only exception to this is if we end up running on track between 20:00 and 21:00.

The full timetable for the weekend can be found at www.dragstalgia.com.

Deadline: Friday.
4th July: Close tomorrow (Friday) is the deadline for:

Standard-price entry to Bug Jam; entry forms are available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc. Entry after tomorrow, if accepted, may be subject to a Late Entry penalty fee. If you have any queries about Bug Jam entry then please get in touch with SPRC Club Secretary Ian Marshall at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).
Entry to Dragstalgia; this is an absolute closing date and late entry will not be accepted. You can enter Dragstalgia via the event's official web page at www.dragstalgia.co.uk. If you have any queries about Dragstalgia entry then please get in touch with Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).
Discounted advance spectator tickets for Dragstalgia; from Saturday onwards ticket sales will be at gate prices. You can purchase your tickets via the event's official web page at www.dragstalgia.co.uk. If you have any queries about Dragstalgia tickets then please get in touch with Santa Pod Raceway on 01234 782828 (outside the UK +44 1234 782828).

Not a bad start...
4th July: UK Top Fuel Dragster racer Tethys' return to the class hasn't been entirely without problems, but he says that on balance it has been positive:

At The Main Event, we struggled to get the car down the track in qualifying for one reason or another and ended up qualifying in seventh. The good news was that it all came together in the first round of eliminations, and I ran the second-quickest ET of the round. The bad news was that I was racing Liam Jones who ran the quickest ET of the round, so that was the end of the weekend. Still, I came away with new Personal Bests for both ET and speed, and was pretty happy with that. Looking at the incrementals, it was probably on course for my first three-second pass until we pushed out the head gasket, which cost us a bit a the top end.

We arrived at Tierp full of optimism, but that was soon dashed in Q1 by a pushrod failure which triggered a chain of events in which we dropped a couple of valves and threw rods out of the side of the block. You can't race a nitro car without breaking parts, but this was more than any of us wanted to see. It made for some spectacular photographs, with Stefan Boman getting the best of them, but there was a lot of damage to repair. We worked through the day, missing Q2 and on into the night. We left the track at 4:00 am to get a brief hour and a bit of sleep before returning the following morning. I can't thank my crew enough for the work they put in to get the car turned around.

We thought we were set for Q3, but in the warm-up the supercharger was getting too hot - we'd bent the rotors in Q1, so we had to swap the blower out which meant skipping the round, and it gave us one shot to qualify in Q4. Fortunately, we got in a reasonable pass to put us fifth, and we faced Stig Neergaard in the first round. That resulted in my first ever round win in Top Fuel, and Stig was enough of a gentleman not protest the win due to my front wing triggering the pre-stage bulb, for which I'm grateful. In the semi-final I lost to Micke Kågered due to two dropped cylinders, which just didn't give me enough power to catch him.

Still, despite troubled weekends at both of the meetings so far, I've come away feeling upbeat about the season. Budgetary and logistical constraints mean I can't do the full season, so I'll wish good luck to team mates Urs and Jndia in Finland, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the hot seat later in the season.

Swift snippets.

4th July: Further to Thursday's news item, Ramon van der Weurf's Wild'r at Heart Nostalgia Funny Car is now for sale on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet. The page is now fully recovered and all ads posted after the recent server malady so take a look at this and all of the other recently-posted bargains.

We have three birthdays today. First up, a Happy Birthday and hugs to Santa Pod Racers Club official Kathy Taylor. Have a lovely day Kathy. Happy Birthday also to 6.0-second street-legal racer Andy Frost, have a great day Frosty, and finally a big Happy 18th Birthday and hugs to Erin Marrs; have a lovely day Erin.

Also on the subject of birthdays we would like to wish all of our friends and readers in the USA a Happy 4th July. Have a great day guys.

Dylan does drag racing.
4th July: Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET and VW Sportsman Racers Jon and Karen McGarrigle want to thank Santa Pod Raceway, all of the racers and everyone else who made Dylan so welcome and gave him a great experience at the STP Summernationals. "Dylan"? Read on...

We were asked to give a talk to Sunday School children at our church, which is Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Blackwood, South Wales. Dylan, who is a cuddly donkey and a biblical animal, decided that he would come to the SummerNationals and would then go back to church to tell all the children what a great time he had.

On Friday morning he went training at the local gym in readiness for his adventure where he jogged on the treadmill and lifted heavy weights.

Having arrived at Santa Pod Dylan wanted to experience everything. He had his photo taken everywhere including with the fabulous paramedics who helped Karen after she took a tumble on Friday - thank you to Bill, Chloe, Jo and Amy. Dylan also went on the Street Eliminator Cruise so a huge thank you to Nigel and Ricky Hale and all the other racers, as he had his photo taken with all the cars. In the photo below left he can be seen in one of the engine bays as assistant mechanic, checking things over.

Dylan was also a crew member/mascot for the Clueless Racing Sportsman ET team, who did so well in getting to the final on the Sunday. Driver Jane Macready is pictured with him with the runner-up trophy. Congratulations also to Dan Holloway who was the winner.

Dylan can't wait to tell the children about his weekend and is looking forward to Bug Jam to see more drag racing and explore more of Santa Pod! He has already been promised a trip up into the Tower and possibly even a ride in a fire truck!

Thank you once again to everyone for their kindness and support, which make our sport and Santa Pod so special. We hope everyone else had as much fun with Dylan as we did!

Web site updates.
4th July: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with a gallery from the STP Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.

Bug Jam entry update.
2nd July: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 4 of the official entry list for Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-28th July (racing 27th-28th) and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four, the European Nitro Funny Car Series (over a quarter mile), Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Outlaw Anglia, and a non-Championship round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster.

You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com. Bug Jam entry closes this Friday (5th) after which a Late Entry penalty may apply. You can download the official entry forms via the Information link on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racers please bear in mind the rule that to enter Bug Jam you must either have contested an event this season, or have pre-entered an event later this season; this does not apply to VW Sportsman racers wishing to double-enter.

If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

Elsom's FC needs a tow.
2nd July: Anais Shepherd has been in touch seeking the help of Eurodragster.com readers to get Rob Elsom's Nostalgia Funny Car to Santa Pod for Dragstalgia. However please note that help is needed this weekend:

We need a fifth wheel pick-up truck to pull the Funny Car trailer, but we would need the owner to come to Mansfield this coming Saturday morning to pull the trailer off the drive so that we can load up and then go to to Santa Pod for Dragstalgia.

If you can help then please call or text me on 07462 886609.

Picture courtesy and copyright Callum Pudge

Picture courtesy and copyright Callum Pudge

Swift snippets.
2nd July: As this week's inaugural FHRA Nitro Nationals at Finland's Kauhauva approaches, our good friend Remco Scheelings has posted previews of the FIA European Championships and EDRS Pro Nordic MC Championships on the Drag Racing Europe Blog. You can check out the FIA preview by clicking here and the EDRS Pro Nordic MC preview by clicking here.

We would like to wish a big Happy Birthday with added hugs for today (Tuesday) to Podington Pea and Eurodragster.com Off-Track Photographer Diana Macrae. Have a lovely day DD.

The server issue having been fixed we have now posted all outstanding classified advertisements on our Jeff Bull Race Engines-sponsored Swap Meet. Those advertisements which were held for the longest are at the top so if after a careful look you can't see an ad which you have submitted in the last couple of weeks then please re-send.

Web site updates.
2nd July: Paul Bryan has updated his Flickr gallery with 380 pictures from the STP Summernationals. You can check out Paul's great pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/paulbryan_photopedia.

Nostalgia FCs welcome.

1st July: Jonny Nilsson says that Sweden's Autoart Motorsport will be at Dragstalgia next week with plenty to check out as well as a special invitation to UK Nostalgia Funny Car racers:

I will be there with my sons Dennis and Teddy. The Autoart Motorsport trailer will support the Tre Kroner and Nitrocalypse Funny Cars. We will also be displaying Peter Lantz Racing's blower rotor cutter and piston rack and organiser, and we will have lots of new and used race parts for sale.

I will also be inviting Nostalgia FCs to the race at Tierp Arena in August, I will try to have at least two UK cars there.

Hit with the Ugly schtick.
1st July: The cheering has only just died down after UK Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Andy Bond ran the class' first six-second pass at last week's STP Summernationals. Andy got in touch to tell us how he and the Ugly team got there ahead of schedule:

After returning to the track mid season last year and kicking off with a couple of wins and a runner-up end-of-season trophy we had learned enough about the Ugly Sister to know that the car was in good shape and ready to move forward in the 2019 season.

The Festival of Power was a decent meeting and, although losing out with a red light in the semis, we gleaned plenty of information and were able to rectify several small problems. We left that meeting with a solid back half performance in the bank - consistently gaining 50+ mph in the second eighth.

We were getting a handle on the MoTec system and the Doorslammers promised an opportunity to look at the short numbers but the weather had other ideas! An improvement mid track netted us a 196 mph and a glimpse at our first target, 200 mph. A few adjustments resulted in a 201 mph/7.68 backed up with a 202 mph/7.66 to take the win and the bonus of a fat cheque from Mr B - fantastic!

The pre-Main Event test day is always a great opportunity to bank data and dial into the track. We concentrated on sixty to one hundred feet and gleaned plenty of information. We dialled back for Q1 to put a good number on the board and then returned to testing. By Q5 we had sufficient data to progress and tuned to beat the 7.24 target, potentially improving our PB by 0.5 seconds. Picking up the 7.13/206 slip and breaking the Street Eliminator ET record by such a huge margin - fantastic!

Rain on Sunday meant that we were bumped. In the afternoon we enjoyed the statutory twenty eight-mile mile cruise around a wet Northamptonshire and on Monday, after waiting all day, we ran three elimination rounds in an hour and a half. The objective was to win the meeting, but the prospect of taking the ET record from Mark Todd (7.24 seconds, 2015) and the speed record from Richard Billings (208 mph, 2012) was just too tempting so a more competitive tune was put in. 7.08/209mph! We took all three - what a moment! The Ugly crew were ecstatic.

The Summernationals appears to have Ugly stamped all over it. 2017 meeting was the scene of that brush with the wall and in 2018 the Ugly Sister returned to the track. In 2019 we arrived with great expectations and made good use of the Test Day, packing in seven runs to continue testing the short numbers.

We played safe and once again dialled in a default tune to get the Q1 slot. Our game plan was to edge closer to the elusive six-second pass with the intention to bring it home at the European Finals. Now maybe it was the team momentum, our growing confidence, or sheer impatience but after an assessment of the track there was a discussion with our Crew Chief and the decision was made. Game on! 6.99/210, the first Street car in full street trim to run a six! I didn't need to see the ticket, the top end crew were going nuts with the time held high on a board - what a feeling! Such an immense achievement for the car and team.

It's been quite a ride so far, ups and downs but throughout it all we have never doubted the capability and potential of this awesome car. Huge congratulations to the Ugly crew led by the genius that is our Crew Chief Martin Kerr (Tubeworks) whose vision, patience and quiet resolve have allowed us to hit so many targets in our first full year - six-second pass, 210 mph - ten back-to-back 200+ mph passes. Full credit to ICE Automotive for the design and build of an incredible engine and for their ongoing support. Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway track staff for consistently providing a top-quality track whatever the weather.

Looking forward to the second half of the season - it seems that Ugly really is the new cool...

Swift snippets.
1st July: We have two spy pictures for you today. The first (below left) came with the words "Out in front"...

...whilst the second (above right) with the words "Skool's out for Bug Jam but The Lady will be back!". If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com.

We have recently experienced a server issue which has prevented postings to the Jeff Bull Race Engines Swap Meet, but we are pleased to say that this has now been sorted out and we will catch up with outstanding submissions this evening (Monday).

Swift snippets.

30th June: The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com came with no words. If you know more, or if you would like to send your own spy picture, then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com.

A quick reminder that this Friday (5th) is the closing date for entry to both Bug Jam and Dragstalgia. Bug Jam entry forms are available on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc and you can enter Dragstalgia on the event's official web page at www.dragstalgia.co.uk.

The new Young Gun.
30th June: UK Comp Eliminator racer Jordan Payne took his first senior win at last weekend's STP Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway and got in touch to tell us about it:

We made two test passes at the All Torque Test Day on the Friday to dial in the set-up of our shocks, serviced courtesy of Adam Lambert at Precision Racing Suspension. The first pass made with the car was a launch to 330 feet. The car ran a season best sixty foot time squatting hard and driving straight off the line. After servicing the car we made another run, this time a full pass running a 7.52/181, my fastest ever quarter mile pass. I was absolutely buzzing and looking forward to the day of qualifying to follow on Saturday. Thanks goes to Martin Moore for allowing us to use his accumulator on the Corvette weekend after we discovered a small issue with the function of our own during testing.

We arrived at the track early on Saturday to fuel the car with VP Racing Fuels Q16 using their all new SureCan fuel jug, before we were called into the pairing lanes for our first qualifying session. After running a new PB for me of 7.51/181 we were placed second running 0.48 seconds under our index. We remained in the number two qualifying position until the end of the day on Saturday after running a 7.52 in our second session and improving with a 7.50 on our third and final qualifying run before eliminations commenced on Sunday. It was great to meet so many first-time spectators over the weekend at Santa Pod Raceway and talk to them about my racing, my sponsors, and to educate them about our sport.

In the first round of eliminations I was paired against number five qualifier Dave Smith in his Powerflow Drag Racing Team A/A Pontiac Firebird. The Corvette drove straight and true through to a 7.49/182 and the round win! This was my first sub 7.5-second pass and my PB ET and MPH too! This race win matched me against Rene Ehrismann in the semi-finals where I won on a massive holeshot running a 7.53 with a 0.04 light. I was now in my first ever Comp Eliminator final!

In the final I was paired up against good friend and number one qualifier Andy 'Fred' Hone in his Ford Scorpio. I left the line first with a 0.07 light against Fred's 0.2. Fred moved across the track close to the left wall however I powered on through to take the event win running a 7.51/181!

Thanks goes to my super crew: Martin Chesterman; Elaine Chesterman; Kyle Chesterman; Rachael Duncan; and of course, Mum, Dad and sister Milly for all of their hard work and support during the lead up to and over the course of the event weekend. I'd also like to thank the Santa Pod crew for providing us racers with a flawless track surface to run on as well as for organising and running yet another great event. Without the gracious support of my sponsors I would not be in the position I am lucky enough to be in, competing in this sport of drag racing which I undoubtedly love! Thank you to all for their support which is greatly appreciated by the Sticky Situation Drag Racing Team: VP Racing Fuels, CTR Developments, CAM Auto Developments Ltd, Nimbus Motorsport, Fuelab, Racetech Seats, Goodridge Ltd, Torco Oil, Dart Machinery, Lifeline Fire and Safety Systems and BUA Motorsport.

Bug Jam entry update.
28th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 3 of the official entry list for Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-28th July (racing 27th-28th) and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four, the European Nitro Funny Car Series (over a quarter mile), Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Outlaw Anglia, and a non-Championship round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster.

You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com. Bug Jam entry closes on Friday 5th July, after which a Late Entry penalty may apply. You can download the official entry forms via the Information link on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racers please bear in mind the rule that to enter Bug Jam you must either have contested an event this season, or have pre-entered an event later this season; this does not apply to VW Sportsman racers wishing to double-enter.

If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

Johnson's back.
28th June: Thanks to Martyn Jones for bringing us an update on the condition of Super Pro ET racer Steve Johnson, who was injured when his slingshot landed from a huge wheelie at last weekend's STP Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Steve has a crush fracture of the L1 vertebra. The fracture is stable and so Steve was released from Bedford Hospital on Sunday evening and is at home. It's expected to be six to eight weeks before he is completely healed. Steve is sore (particularly when the pain killers are wearing off) but able to get up and about when medicated, although he is getting more sore as the bruises are coming out.

His pick-up truck and trailer were taken back to Hampshire by Daniel Giles, and parked at Phil Hartley's. It was moved back to Steve's home on Tuesday. The chassis will have to be stripped and put on a jig to fully investigate what repairs are needed.

Steve would like to thank all of the many people who helped to get everything sorted, but is a little concerned what the bar bill will be. He also thanks everyone who has wished him a quick recovery.

See Nimbus for unleaded Fuse.

28th June: Steve Clark writes that if you need a serious unleaded fuel then Eurodragster.com sponsor Nimbus Motorsport has a range of unleaded race fuels from Fuse:

Fuse have developed a range of unleaded race fuels specifically aimed at drag racers who are used to running high-octane race fuels, but until now have been limited to leaded fuels.

Fuse HF25 unleaded has been designed for big-inch nitrous Pro Mod motors and is already being used by Pro Mod competitors in Europe and the UK. Fuse HF20 OE and HF17 are 120 octane and 117 octane fuels, which are ideal for motorcycle racers in Super Street Bike and Pro Stock Bike. Both these fuels are unleaded, with the HF20 OE being oxygenated and the HF17 non-oxygenated, and are also currently being used very successfully in the UK and Europe.

For Those racers who use E85 fuels, Fuse produce an exceptional E85 with the gasoline part based on their unleaded race fuel. This fuel also contains a corrosion inhibitor package that protects fuel system and engine components.

Nimbus Motorsport also stock Torco leaded race fuels for those racers and engine builders who prefer a leaded fuel.

For additional information take a look at www.nimbusmotorsport.com or contact Nimbus Motorsport at info@nimbusmotorsport.com or 01759 322100.

Nostalgia FCs sought for NitrOlympX.
27th June: NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey has been in touch seeking two Nostalgia Funny Cars to run at the event at Hockenheim in August.

The two FCs will be booked for the Night Show on the Saturday night but may also run in exhibition on the Sunday if time permits.

If you are interested then please get in touch with Jerry at mail@jerry-lackey.de.

Ramon stops a-Rockin'.
27th June: Nostalgia Funny Car racer Ramon van der Weurf has announced his retirement from racing after twenty five years. His low six-second Wild'r At Heart Funny Car is to be put up for sale.

"All good things come to an end and make way for better things", Ramon told Eurodragster.com. "After a decade with the Funny Car, which has been too good to be true, it's time to quit.

"It wasn't an overnight decision. I'll be shifting my gearhead focus towards my ever-growing collection of Mopars - more than fourteen of them - which need time and work and need to be driven too. Some have been collecting dust for more than ten years because racing was the priority. Then you sacrifice other fun stuff and before you know it another year has passed. It takes dedication all year long if you want to do the racing right, and safe, and doing it right is the only way to go. That consumed a lot of time which from now on I'll be spending on my other toys and hobbies. And I'll probably build me a Nostalgia Super Stocker... shit, here we go again!

"I achieved the most possible in the sport, to the best of my ability, with a Nostalgia Funny Car which I built myself. It was a lifetime dream come true, and fulfilled to the max! Being the first European-built Nostalgia FC ten years ago, doing it the Nostalgia way. I'd like to see it from the stands - dry hops, back-up girl, etc. I tried to promote and relive those roaring 1970s, when it was the upcoming class. Mission accomplished!

"I was part of the class, it has come to life now, and that makes me damn proud!

"I also got to spend two days and six runs at Gainesville Raceway with my hero Frank Hawley, to get jump-started with confidence. I match-raced many heroes: Pat Musi (in Curacao), Ron Hope's Rat Trap and Bradfords Topolino to name a few. I was invited to be part of the NitrOlympX night show five times, great times with the Timewarp and team, many wicked times with the Supercharged Outlaws at Shakey. And I do miss Shakey with the best cacklefest! Fantastic side-by-sides with the other AA/FCs and Fuel Altereds, and probably gave them a few scratches behind their ears many times! I have attended all of the Dragstalgia events, where I made it to the final every time, and won most of them! And then some - can't beat those memories, so no complaints here!

"Am I going to miss the racing? Most definitely! A wise decision is not always the easiest one! But I'm getting plenty in return from now on. And being a racer and a fan alike, I can now take one of my rods and visit my favorite Nostalgia events all over Europe, and enjoy the show again. So, see y'all at Dragstalgia, but Bankside this time!

"It'll be for sale as a whole operation, turn-key and race-ready, with trailer and all. Pro Jacks, blower starter, laptop etc, as if I was going to an event, plus all the spares. Just fill it up and go! I'll help the lucky buyer to get sorted, and hopefully get to watch my own car roaring down the track.

"I wish to thank my team, my sponsors, my fellow racers and all my countless fans."

HARA's half-century cackle.

27th June: Half a century ago, a very special German-American friendship began on US Fliegerhorst Erlensee near Hanau when GIs raced their daily drives on the quarter mile and some Germans joined in the fun. Benni Voss writes:

The Hanau Auto Racing Association got into gear in 1969 and the Fliegerhorst was The Home of Drag Racing in Germany. These days are sadly gone since 1984, but HARA is still going strong, with racing members crowned National and FIA Champions, and others doing their best to support the sport and helping in various functions at race tracks.

For their 50th anniversary, HARA has organised a special kind of exhibition in Mainhausen, close to Hanau: a live pit area with static cackles from cars and bikes from Junior Dragster to Top Methanol and Nitro Twin. The smell of motors will mix with Bratwurst in the catering area.

The HARA Dragster Show takes place on Saturday and Sunday and is free of charge. More information can be found at www.hara-dragracing.com.

Swift snippets.
27th June: Thanks to Yvonne Tramm and our own Simon for passing us the post-STP Summernationals points standings in the UK National Drag Racing Championships and SPRC Championships. You can check out the points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Down to the wire.
27th June: The UK's Andy Dibley went into Friday's All Torque Test Day at Santa Pod Raceway with a transbrake issue and left the ensuing STP Summernationals with the event win in the Jon Morton Super Gas Shootout:

A seemingly intermitent fault on the transbrake had cost us qualifying at the Springspeed Nationals, where I left before the Tree on the only qualifier we got that weekend.

The first run of the day on Friday went well: the car seemed to leave spot on, it went nice and straight and gave us a ball park figure on the box running a 10.00. After cooling down and giving the car a once-over, we went back to the lanes and ran just before lunch. The car again seemed to leave on the button, but made a move just after the gear change. I got out of it and idled through. The third run of the day netted the same result just in the other lane, with the car making a move towards the centre line and I got out of it. Back in the pits we serviced the car and put it through scrutineering ready for qualifying on Saturday.

In the first qualifying session the car made a nice run, making a slight move, but still went 9.98 and scoring us third position. Second qualifier and we left the car set the same as the first session, hoping it would go straighter and that the move was costing us ET. Sure enough, a straighter run and we managed a 9.94. While we improved so did many others, we actually moved down to fourth in that session. In the final session at the end of the day our intermittent fault with the transbrake returned, I left before the Tree ran and got no useful data from the run. We finished qualifying in sixth place and a little annoyed that we could still have an issue.

Chatting to Dave Fulton that evening he mentioned that he had had a similar issue with his transbrake and found it to be a loose connection on the box. While going through all the wires he then found that we also had a loose connection on the transbrake circuit. Not enough to be obvious, but enough that the vibration of the two-step would very briefly break the circuit and cause the car to leave.

In next morning's eliminations I paired with Collin Morrice. Not knowing if we'd actually found the problem or not I didn't have high hopes about getting through this round. I was absolutely trounced on the start line by Collin's 0.04 light to my shameful 0.22 - the positive note was that the transbrake button actually worked! I somehow managed to just get around Collin before the line, take the stripe by 0.015 and not break out. Round one sorted, onto round two or the semis against Mark 'Chalkie' White in his Vega. A bit more practice at this Pro Tree got me a 0.11 light and another top end charge to put a wheel on Chalkie at the stripe, again taking the line by 0.032 and getting the win.

In the final I was paired with Dave Fulton, which was kind of fitting after he spent the night before helping us out with what now used to be our issue with the transbrake. The Tree ran and I pulled a 0.067 light to Dave's 0.083, after the stop came out Dave was in front of me all the way down until just before the 1000' where I somehow squeaked round him to take the line by 0.013 and get my first event win in Super Gas.

None of this would have been possible without the help of my dad Dave, Jon Morton, and Chris Ellis for help on crewing. I'd also like to thank all the other Super Gas racers and crew for making me feel welcome in the class, what a great bunch of guys and gals to race with!

Now the long wait to do it all again at the European Finals, but before then I think I might have a little play back in Sportsman ET!

A bloody Perfect weekend.
27th June: It was a suffering and depleted Capricious Modurstang Pro ET team which headed to Santa Pod Raceway for the STP Summernationals as car owner Paul Baynton had a bad back, driver Laura Baynton had a heavy cold, and Team Mum Mandy had to stay home in the absence of a dogsitter. Paul writes:

When we arrived we were grateful for the assistance of Tig and Cath Naiper to get the car off the trailer and move everything into position. They also offered a crew member to assist with pushing duties.

On Saturday morning Laura said that she was feeling a bit better but was clearly still full of cold. The first run was a red light and a 10.44 on a 10.37 dial-in. We got back and prepped the car for the second qualifier then I went into the motorhome to find a bloodbath. Laura unfortunately suffers with nose bleeds when she gets a cold and this one went on for about half an hour, fortunately stopping before we got called for the second run. aura insisted on going for the next run but there was no improvement; we were fourteenth so it all came down to the third run. We agreed on a 10.42 and we ran 10.4208, we were over the moon. Not only number one qualifier but we also took the Perfect ET award, thanks Eurodragster.com and Twister Race Team.

On Sunday Laura's reward was a bye in the first round. No problem, we thought. Pulled round for the burnout and the carb flashed back requiring a squirt of the fire extinguisher. Engine restarted and burnout completed. We dialled in 10.40 and ran a 10.3858 so that gave us a good guide for round two. It warmed up a bit so we pushed the dial in back a bit to 10.42 for the match up against Elaine Hancock in her altered, almost a heads-up race as Elaine dialled in 10.47. Laura cut a 0.04 light and ran 10.4155 and took the win, breaking out by the lesser amount.

Round 3 was another Capri match-up with Neil Hunter and a repeat of the first round burnout with another carb fire. The Capri restarted but that was clearly not ideal to put the driver in a relaxed frame of mind. We dialled in 10.41. Laura was obviously cross with the red she pulled, running a 10.33 which was our quickest run of the weekend.

Considering how we both were feeling at the weekend we were very happy with the result. Thanks go to Tig and Cath, Andrew Roo Hudson and everyone else who assisted over the weekend. Thanks to Eurodragster.com for the £50 Perfect ET award supported by Twister Race Team, which has given Laura some more spending money as she is currently on holiday in Turkey (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed).

We've now got a couple of months to sort out the carb fire issues before the European Finals.

Spinner coming back, again.

27th June: Nigel Taylor says that the legendary Detroit Spinner will be back again in 2020 and that you can get involved:

This Ford Prefect was bought for £20 by Arthur Bonner back in 1974. He fitted her up with a Pontiac 400 engine and in the 1970s raced at Blackbushe, Long Marston and Santa Pod. The Detroit Spinner was built in a shed at the bottom of Arthur's garden and he became a very well-known and -liked figure at drag racing events as well as in his local village . Arthur campaigned the car for many years but unfortunately took a tumble at the top end of Avon Park in the mid-1980s and ended up rebuilding the chassis and many other components before coming back out again.

In the early 1990s Arthur stood the car up then twenty years later I and a staggering fifty five sponsors came back not only with the car but with Arthur back behind the wheel! We campaigned the car at Nostalgia events for another four years before selling it to Steve Summer.

Steve unfortunately cannot complete all the work which he had started and has had to sell the car. Welcome Jordan Kinghorn, the new owner and driver of the Spinner since March of this year. Jordan hopes to carry out a winter rebuild on the Spinner finishing off all of Steve's good work including the 496 Big Block Chevy. The TH400 may get replaced with a two-speed Powerglide with a transbrake if funds allow.

If you or anyone you know, or any company would like to get name on the back of the Spinner, £50 sponsorship will seal that deal and you will be kept up to date with all updates on the car and obviously welcome to be involved closer to the action in the pit etc. Find out more on the new updated Facebook page The return of the Detroit Spinner 2020.

Ålund's ups and downs.
27th June: Jimmy Ålund is staying busy this year, racing the full schedule for two FIA Championship classes, Pro Modified and Pro Stock, most recently at the Tierp Internationals on 6th-9th June.

In Pro Modified, electrical issues and driveline problems led to a less than satisfactory qualifying sessions for The Old 51, including not coming out for Q3. Jimmy was not still not qualified to race in eliminations after Q4 but the team hit it good in the fifth and last qualifying round, ending up as the #5 qualifier in a strong twenty two-car field.

Eliminations started fine with a win in the first round, moving into the quarter finals, but another electrical gremlin put an end to the weekend as The Old 51 could not be repaired in time for E2.

"We've had better weekends", says Jimmy. "This one will be filed under 'F for forget'. The positive thing is that we've cleared some technical hurdles and the whole team is raring to go to Finland and follow up on our win there last year with a victory also this year."

Pro Stock qualifying went very well with five solid rounds. Although Jimmy ended up in the #2 spot, he collected thirteen of the fifteen available qualifying bonus points and had the best speed in every round.

The consistent performance continued into Sunday's eliminations. Jimmy won E1 with the event top speed of 341.34 kmh (212.09 mph), won the semis with a 6.57/340.48 (211.56 mph), and took the event win against #1 qualifier Michael Malmgren.

"This was a very good weekend for the team and the Summit Racing Camaro", says Jimmy. "The guys gave me a good car and it was up to me to do them proud. A tough racing crowd as usual, the competition in Pro Stock this season is as tight as it can be."

Jimmy left Tierp as the leader in FIA Pro Stock and in sixth place in the FIA Pro Modified standings. The next race is the FHRA Nitro Nationals, on the new track in Kauhava, Finland, on 5th-7th July.

Summit Racing Equipment is sponsoring both the Old 51 Pro Mod car and the Ålund Pro Stock Camaro this year. This is in addition to Viking Industrimålning, Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, All American AB and Stigs Axle and Parts. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.

European Top Gas Round 2 review.
27th June: Herman Jolink writes that the second round of the 2019 European Top Gas Series took place over the quarter mile at Gardermoen Raceway in Norway on 14th-15th June:

The track was very, very good - Jorg Lymant set a new record of 7.383 seconds on his 2622 V-Twin - and the best organisation. We had three qualifying runs on Friday and two on Saturday. Qualifying:

Jorg Lymant DE 7.383/284, the clutch burned out after the first qualifing run
Frederik Schack DK on 2622 V-Twin 7.47/280, the Schack team put the engine together on the Thursday before the race and bent some shift forks on a qualifying run
Olaf Menzi CH on 2622 V-Twin 7.57/274 the engine broke after the second qualifier then the team put in the spare engine but that also broke
Anders Jensen DK on 2000 Home made Blower V-Twin 8.121/265, new Personal Best
Martin Buhler CH on 1600 home made turbo V-Twin 8.15/261, new Personal Best, Martin put in a new cylinder head gasket between runs but after the last qualifying run he again had engine problems
Torbjorn Strom Swe on 2600 V/Twin 8.37/237
Janne Malmberg Swe on 2600 V/Twin with one blower 8.52/240, in the last run the blower belt was slipping and Janne did not get the correct blower pressure
Herman Jolink NL on Ducati 1198 RS (1266) 8.584/239, very consistent runs and I had help from seventeen-year-old Jelle Duin
Frank Aaslund DK on V/Twin 8.74/221, damaged a piston
Andreas Herr De on V/Twin 8.88/228, personal best but a rocker broke and the team had no spare rocker
Jaakko Miettinen Fin on 1340 V/Rod Destroyer 9.60/221, Personal Best, on Friday evening Jaakko got some help from Jelle Duin to get the right clutch set-up
Carsten Hormann DE on V/Twin 9.60/221, new Personal Best
Svein Ole Schleichert DE on 1340 V/Rod Destroyer 9.97/217
Jens Peter Hoffmeister DE on V/Twin 10.6/196
Mats Larsson Swe on 2600 Turbo V/Twin 10.8/189
Jorgen Godske DK on V/Twin 10.8/203 kmh
Peter Niklas DE on his new V/Twin from the USA 13.0/143, the engine was not running well

Christian Bruhn De on 1000 Turbo Honda did not make a run, the engine was not running well, and his 2300 Blower V/Twin was not ready after the engine broke at Malmö.

E1: Lymant 7.394/284 bye, Strom 8.443/249 def. Schleichert 10.022/216, Schack 7.517/259 bye run (Niklas broke), Jensen 8.224/223 def. Larsson 12.945/129, Hormann 9.279/218 def. Malmberg 8.866/0232 (new Personal Best for Hormann), Menzi and Godske broke, Jolink 8.508/240 def. Miettinen 9.594/220 (new Personal Best for Jaakko).

E2: Lymant 7.460/281 bye, Strom 8.425/246 bye, Jensen 8.335/256 def. Hormann 9.451/215, Jolink 8.525/241 bye.

E3: Lymant 7.460/280 def. Strom 8.477/242, Schack 7.534/267 def. Jensen 8.500/251, Jolink 8.669/238 bye.

E4: Lymant 7.965/210 bye (trying a different clutch set-up), Schack 7.479/274 def. Jolink 8.495/243.

Final: Fredrik Schack Denmark 7.474/269 def. Jorg Lymant Germany 7.548/283 DQ red light.

European Top Gas Series Championship points:

Jorg Lymant De 1725
Fredrik Schack DK 1235
Herman Jolink NL 990
Torbjorn Strom Swe 920
Olaf Menzi Menzi CH 890
Anders Jensen DK 860
Cord Albers De 720
Carsten Hormann De 690
Sven-Ole Schleichert De 510
Janne Malmberg Swe 500
Andreas Herr De 480
Christian Bruhn De 460
Jaakko Miettinen Fin 440
Martin Buhler CH 420
Peter Niklas De 400
Gerd Caspari De 390
Malte Foit De 330
Bernd Foit De 300
Maik Kruger De 200
Tim Kruger De 200
Jorg Braune De 200
Jens Peter Hoffmeister De 130
Jorgen Godske DK 110

Web site updates.
27th June: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with a gallery from the pre-Retro Show Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.

Drew Irvine's first visit to Santa Pod Raceway since 2009, for the FIA/FIM Main Event, has resulted in a number of great on- and off-track shots. You can take a look at an.drewirvine.photo/Automotive/2019-Santa-Pod-Raceway-The-Main-Event.

Paul Lister's DragCarAnon photo site has a new address and can now be found at www.paullister.zenfolio.com. Paul has updated the site with a gallery from the FIA/FIM European Finals.

Bug Jam entry update.
26th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 2 of the official entry list for Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-28th July (racing 27th-28th) and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four, the European Nitro Funny Car Series (over a quarter mile), Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Outlaw Anglia, and a non-Championship round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster.

You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com. Bug Jam entry closes on Friday 5th July, after which a Late Entry penalty may apply. You can download the official entry forms via the Information link on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racers please bear in mind the rule that to enter Bug Jam you must either have contested an event this season, or have pre-entered an event later this season; this does not apply to VW Sportsman racers wishing to double-enter.

If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

VP Racing Fuels for Kauhava.
26th June: Simo Patoharju writes that Specialty Engineering/VP Racing Fuels Finland will supply VP fuels to the FHRA Nitro Nationals at Kauhava on 4th-7th July:

Motorsport 109 and C85 fuels are available in 5 gallon pails and 15 gallon drums, M1 and M5 methanol in 5 gallon pails. Handy plastic 5 gallon VP fuel jugs, for easy refuelling, are also available. Please be sure to show the VP Racing Fuels decals on your car/bike to be eligible for the contingency pay-outs; decals will be available at our 'little fuel shop' at track.

Please place your orders by E-Mail at race(at)speceng.fi by next Tuesday, 2nd July.

See you at Kauhava!

STP Summernationals timing data.
26th June: Thanks to Andy Marrs for passing us the official timing data from the the STP Summernationals, which you can check out by clicking here or by clicking on the Timing Data link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. As well as the UK records which we detailed on Monday, Marrs tells us that the following track records were set:

Street Eliminator ET: Andy Bond 6.9993 mph
Street Eliminator speed: Andy Bond 210.92 mph
Outlaw Anglia speed: Simon Barlow 194.63 mph
Competition Bike speed: Eric Richard 204.23 mph

You can check out the new records on Marrs' table of UK and European Bests by clicking here or by clicking on the European and UK Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Swift snippets.
26th June: Thanks to Howard Holmes for letting us know that the date of the York Raceway Revival has been changed to 3rd-4th August.

Thanks to Mike Collins for sending us the usual preview of his column in the latest issue of Street Machine magazine including bonus material exclusively for Eurodragster.com readers. You can check it out by clicking on the images above.

STP Summernationals results.
24th June: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's STP Summernationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Motorsport UK Pro Modified: Marck Harteveld 6.0411/238.60 def. Kev Slyfield 6.2243/231.68
Secret Worx Comp Eliminator: Jordan Payne (7.99) 7.5111/182.78 def. Andy Hone (7.99) 10.1498/87.35
Hydrahose/Alders Automatics Super Pro ET: Brad Jackson (7.67) 7.6812/173.67 def. Dave Fulton (8.99) 8.9370/150.05 DQ b/o
Modurstang Pro ET: Neil Hunter (9.82) 9.8678/136.85 def. Lee Huxley (9.62) 9.6225/139.45 DQ red
Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET: Dan Holloway (16.10) 16.2272/77.20 def. Jane McCready (15.80) 15.6026/82.86 DQ b/o
Phoenix Personnel Super Comp: Leah Kellett 8.9043/166.06 def. Paul Hudson 8.8703/167.90 DQ b/o
Jon Morton Super Gas Shootout: Andy Dibley 9.8910/145.30 def. Dave Fulton 9.8875/145.71 DQ b/o
Lucas Oil Junior Dragster: Matthew Dowdy (8.30) 8/2530/78.27 def. Purdie Hadfield (7.93) 7.9480/81.23 DQ red
Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator: Andy Bond 7.0682/208.87 def. Joe Stevens 8.2527/172.40
VW Pro: Graham Fairhead (12.10) 12.2357/101.85 def. Alex Knott (12.10) 12.9598/98.83
VW Sportsman: Paul Saroch (15.75) 16.2070/74.05 def. Jake Belton (14.40) 16.3186/85.21
Wild Bunch: Phil James (9.31) 9.3072/141.62 def. Callum Swinchatt (8.90) 8.8904/146.75 DQ b/o
Outlaw Anglia: Simon Barlow 7.5777/176.41 def. Colin Millar 7.8068/188.21
NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock: Rick Denny (11.10) 11.0925/123.41 def. Nic Williams (9.76) 9.7486/132.94 DQ red

Funny Bike: Eric Richard 6.6637/204.23 def. Kars van den Belt 8.4478/105.79
Taylor's Trophy Super Street Bike: Graham Balchin 7.0125/204.19 def. Rick Stubbins 7.3424/200.78
Comp Bike: Margot Schmidt 7.4009/192.24 def. Louis Davies 7.5015/174.42
NMCN 8.50 Bike: Jay Roe 8.6524/140.25 def. Alan Morrison 8.5686/150.59
9.50 Bike: Richard Sawatzki 9.4906/131.42 def. Martin Hallett 9.4865/135.22 DQ b/o
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Supertwin Top Gas: Les Harris 9.7811/129.79 def. Michael Gooding 10.0500/126.65
Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike: Phil Pratt (9.06) 9.0905/141.13 def. Harrison Brown (9.50) 9.6805/138.59
In Posterum Junior Drag Bike: Liam Holgate (8.29) 8.3386/78.98 def. Meggie Talbot (9.56) 9.7157/68.03

Subject to official ratification the following records were set, including the first six-second pass in Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator. Congratulations to:

Street Eliminator ET: 6.999 seconds, Andy Bond
Street Eliminator speed: 210.92 mph, Andy Bond
Funny Bike ET: 6.651 seconds, Eric Richard
Super Street Bike speed: 212.89 mph, Steve Venables

Congratulations also to Lucas Oil Junior Dragster racer Harley Jay Darby and Modurstang Pro ET Racer Laura Baynton who won the Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award and Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team respectively. Both Awards have been reset to £50 for Bug Jam, although there will be a one-off non roll-over Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award at Dragstalgia.

Best wishes to Hydrahose/Alders Automatics Super Pro ET racer Steve Johnson who suffered an injury to his lower back on touchdown from a huge wheelie.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored STP Summernationals reports, results and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. A big Thank You to photographers Callum Pudge and Diana Macrae for their hard work over the weekend.

Norfolk no-prep.
20th June: John Murray of Street Fighter Productions says that all are welcome to eighth-mile no-prep drag racing at Tibenham Airfield in Norfolk, UK.

"The runway which we use is a mile long and 56 metres wide", John told Eurodragster.com. "We run eighth-mile, flag start, flag finish, untimed racing. There are no noise restrictions! The surface is tarmac, unprepped for now, there are no obstacles on the track and there is grass or corn field either side. Spectators are welcome and we have a licence for trackside betting."

Facilities for racers and spectators include Norfolk's top track marshal and his wife providing fire and first aid cover. Camping is available the night before an event and the facility has a new shower block and toilets, a cafe with inside and outside seating and a licenced bar. High-octane fuel is available for £1.80 a litre. "We sweep the track before and after an event, and the airfield love us for it!", said John.

Tibenham is an active airfield, hosting a gliding club, and tends to be busier at weekends so race events are held on Fridays. Dates so far for this season are Fridays:

28th June
19th July
23rd August
20th September
18th October

Other events may be added over the winter months and given demand it may be possible to arrange weekend dates on future Bank Holidays.

"The pits are very friendly", said John. "We won't have any snobbery or people criticising others."

At the last event Ron Atikson took a prize pot of £160 after participants agreed to put money into a bucket.

"We have had one complaint from neighbours so far", said John, "and that was because we didn't put a sign outside saying it was on. They wanted to come to see it!".

Event entry is £30 for unlimited runs, payable in advance by PayPal to orchardview.honey@hotmail.com. Spectators £10, under-14s free, camping is £5.

Tibenham Airfield is not far off the A140, postcode NR16 1NT (map). You can find out more on the Street Fighter Productions Facebook page.

As one Tour closes...

20th June: After a very challenging and successful series of events in the USA with Nic Williams' '69 Camaro, which included the US Nationals and the 50th Gatornationals, the car has finally arrived back in the UK in time for this weekend's STP Summer Nationals. This is not, however, the end of the end of the US story for the UK's Williams Bros Racing team:

Nic's car may be back, but Dan's '69 Nova has been fully prepared and updated and, after testing at the Main Event, is now on its way over the Pond ready to continue the team's racing endeavours. As part of a lot of forward planning last year the team purchased a second hand trailer which, along with the bargain basement Dually, has enabled the costs to be kept right down. Thanks to family and friends the truck and trailer has been kept safe whilst not in use. As with all racing, plans can change but Dan will definitely be flying the flag for the UK at the US Nationals, the Dutch Classic and next year's Gatornationals with the Tour starting at the Lucas Oils Division 3 event at Indy on 5th-7th July.

We learnt a huge amount racing in the USA last year, made a lot of friends - or should that be rivals - and Dan cannot wait to carry on with the Unfinished Business Tour. Nic will act as Crew Chief for Dan at the first event, then the team will expand as the events get bigger with Lorne Denny, Keith Williams, James Oliver and Guy King all joining in at various races. As with Nic's car, Dan's will be extremely competitive; we are not going out there to make up the numbers.

Once again massive thanks to our new and continuing sponsors. We will of course update you once all are confirmed. We will be updating our Facebook pages regularly and of course sending Eurodragster.com a news story after each event. Wish us luck....

Nigel's gift to Nostalgia fans.
20th June: Longtime fan Nigel Stack has been in touch to point us to his fantastic collection of historical pictures from Santa Pod Raceway, Avon Park as it then was, and York Raceway, the fruit of several hours of scanning.

The spectator- and pitside pictures start in the 1970s and feature every UK big name and every legendary vehicle of which you've ever heard and/or wished was still around.

You can take a look by clicking here or by clicking on the picture at left.

Swift snippets.
20th June: Frans Steilberg asked us to say a big Happy Birthday to UK Tech Crew legend Geoff Martin. Our pleasure, have a great day Geoff.

Accelerate that Bloodwise total.
20th June: Derek Flynn of Eurodragster.com sponsor Accelerate Your Marketing writes that the Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure campaign has and will hopefully continue to accelerate donations for Bloodwise, not just of money but of blood and stem cells:

We have raised over £1500 that we know of so far. Obviously we are encouraging readers, racers, team members and fans to donate directly to Bloodwise by clicking on the logos and links provided by Eurodragster.com, Accelerate Your Marketing Ltd and Gold RV web sites. The funds raised by the drag race community as a whole for Bloodwise have been fantastic, let's keep it going every penny helps them to beat blood cancers.

As if that was not enough Derek decided that he should encourage racers and others that we should give blood and to ensure that our net blood given against blood taken is positive: sometimes us racers break more than just our cars or bikes, and our sport should not just take from the National Blood Bank but contribute to it. We have been asking for one team member from any team to Give Blood for your Team, and while you are giving blood you might like to think about asking about stem cell donation or at least register that you would consider it. If a match can be found with someone then you might get a call which could literally save someone's life... and maybe others, as they will freeze what they do not use. I am so pleased to say that this is also accelerating with dozens of you telling me us you already have or are going to give blood, I even received a picture of the actual event from Andy Flav, thanks Andy!

Thank you everyone who has got behind this campaign, please let's keep it going.

There are now literally far too many people to name them all here but special thanks to all at Eurodragster.com (Thanks, you're welcome - Ed), the Santa Pod marshals, Trakbak Racing, John Clark, Fiona Flynn, Ian Marshall and Santa Pod Racers Club, pit marshals, Signing On crew, Peter Walters of PWRD and all the Walters family, Les and Tara Harris, Benzy, and many many more. Thank you one and all.

We are planning on making this weekend's Summernationals, and we shall be bringing up Tilly the Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure Super Twin Top Gasser ridden by co-owner Les Harris, so you will be able to find us in the bike pits. As class sponsors for both STTG and ET Bike we have been provided with VIP hospitality to watch the qualifying and racing on Saturday. Good luck to all Super Pro ET racers competing for the Accelerate For a Cause and a Cure #1 Qualifier.

To all my racing buddies, be quick be fast but most of all be safe. See you at the Pod.

If you would like to find out more about blood or stem cell donation, or if you would like to donate, then you can find the Bloodwise web site at www.bloodwise.org.uk.

Bug Jam entry update.
19th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 1 of the official entry list for Bug Jam, which takes place at Santa Pod Raceway on 26th-28th July (racing 27th-28th) and which is a Championship round for VW Pro, VW Sportsman, Outlaw Flat Four, the European Nitro Funny Car Series (over a quarter mile), Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Outlaw Anglia, and a non-Championship round for Lucas Oil Junior Dragster.

You can check out the Bug Jam entry list by clicking here. Bug Jam entry closes on Friday 5th July, after which a Late Entry penalty may apply. You can download the official entry forms via the Information link on the Santa Pod Racers Club web site at www.eurodragster.com/sprc.

Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET racers please bear in mind the rule that to enter Bug Jam you must either have contested an event this season, or have pre-entered an event later this season; this does not apply to VW Sportsman racers wishing to double-enter.

If you have any queries about event entry then please get in touch with Ian at ir.marshall@btconnect.com or call 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625).

STP Summernationals snippet.
19th June: Further to yesterday's news item, bike racers please note that this Friday's scrutineering session at Santa Pod commences at 16:30 with no specific order. We have updated the text of yesterday's piece.

Dragstalgia gets Funnier.
19th June: James Forster of Santa Pod Raceway writes that with just under a month left to Dragstalgia the line-up is beginning to take shape:

Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted the addition of a couple of Scandinavian Nostalgia Funny Cars to the Cannonball class, one of which has been here before, some time ago! After a recent outing at Tierp Arena, Tobba Jansson will be making the trip across the North Sea with his Nitrocalypse Corvette Funny Car in the company of Erik Wallinder and the iconic Tre Kronor Plymouth Arrow.

The original Tre Kronor car began life as Ed McCulloch's famous Revellution, which became the American Home Shield flopper. Knut Söderqvist purchased the car and had it re-branded as Tre Kronor before shipping it to Europe with Harlan Thompson as driver. The combination was an immediate winner as Harlan won the 1980 World Finals in the car on only his second appearance at Santa Pod and the rest, as they say, is history.

Johnny Nilsson commissioned the replica car and duly put Harlan in the hot seat once again in 2009. Since then, the car has made a few outings with various drivers such as Leif Helander, Stig Neergard and Johnny's son Dennis. Now, ten years on from the replica's début, we're pleased to report that 2019 is the year that we've finally managed to organise a return trip to the Pod with the Tre Kronor but this time it'll be driven by the current owner Erik Wallinder. We wish Erik all the best at Dragstalgia but we know that the current crop of European Nostalgia Funny Car drivers will be queuing up to show him what the back of their cars look like!

The two Cannonball entries however, are not the only vehicles to be making the trip from Sweden for this year's event. We are very pleased to report that Janne Johansson will once again be bringing his incredible display along to the event, this time with a different car in the line-up. As well as the stunning Pisano & Matsubara Monza and the 240 Gordie Bubble Up Trans Am, amongst others, Janne will be bringing Jungle Jim Liberman's restored Vega Funny Car. A chance to view such a car up close and personal will, for many, be worth the cost of admission alone. We've seen the car in Janne's workshop in Sweden and we can tell you that it really is the real deal.

All of this is without even mentioning the host of race classes with entries from across Europe that are preparing for one of the highlights on the calendar. To anyone that's planning on racing please be aware that entries close on Friday 5th July but please don't leave it until the last minute, get your entries in now!

New for 2019 is the expansion of the Vintage Hub area, located on the bank side of site, which features a proper home for the popular beer festival (hurrah!), an expanded Vintage Fair and a new stage with live music throughout the day and into the evening. Whilst Dragstalgia will always be about the cars, who doesn't like to have a good boogie when they're letting their hair down for the weekend?

Dragstalgia takes place on 12th-14th July. View the full line-up, entry list and get your tickets at www.dragstalgia.co.uk.

We'll see you there!

No Prep and Nomads.
19th June: No Prep, Street Outlaw style, Heads Up, Flashlight start, no time no speed eighth-mile drag racing arrives for the first time at Elvington on 27th July. Paul Marston writes:

No Prep is hosted by Straightliners at the ever popular Ten of the Best event. Elvington reportedly has the best No Prep surface in the country, and we are expecting all the heavy hitters to be there. The entry has been filling up fast, but there are still some spots left, just contact us direct through the No Prep Drag Racing Facebook page, E-Mail pmdragracing@gmail.com, or call me on 07831 650230.

The event will be done in a day. Prize money will be cash as usual £1500 subject to a sixteen-car entry. There will be two test hits then into eliminations, names out of the hat, call-outs allowed first round only.

Once this is won and done then, courtesy of Howard Holmes, we will have the Nomad Street Racer Shootout, so any cars which can make it as street cars are eligible to then compete in the Shootout. Details can be found on the Nomads Facebook page. There will be a small entry fee.

No Prep is no rules, outlaw drag racing, other than safety and in this case a 105 DB noise limit. You can bring as much as you can find. No weight limit, no cubic inch limit, no power adder limit... blown, turbo, Nitrous kits, Procharged, bring it all!

As mentioned earlier this is filling up fast so if you are coming let us know today, don't delay!

STP's return to Santa Pod.

19th June: Santa Pod Raceway are proud to announce a brand-new partnership with STP, the well-known automotive care brand. STP will be the main title sponsor for the 2019 National Championship STP Sportsman Series which includes three events:

STP Summernationals 22nd-23rd June
STP Greenlight Nationals 17th-18th August
STP National Finals 21nd-22nd September 2019

Caroline Holden, Commercial Manager for Santa Pod Raceway, said "We're delighted to welcome STP into the world of drag racing. As an iconic venue, we love to work with iconic brands and STP has a great synergy with our fans and competitors. The STP brand name already has a place in Santa Pod history. Paula Murphy represented the company as Miss STP when she and Don Schumacher brought the first American Funny Cars to race here in 1973."

Paul Hough, UK and Nordic Sales Director for STP, stated "There is a strong alignment between our two brands so it was a logical decision for us to get involved. We are very excited to increase STP's presence in motorsport within the United Kingdom and beyond to build on our rich history in racing."

STP is a trusted brand in the automotive care industry and has long been synonymous with car racing. From the début of the STP Special race car at the Indianapolis 500 in 1969, to NASCAR and the iconic No. 43 Ford, the Petty Blue and Day-Glo Red colours of STP have passed many a chequered flag to forge a strong heritage within motorsports.

STP Summernationals racer update.
18th June: Many thanks to Ian Marshall for forwarding us details of the arrangements for this weekend's Springspeed Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway:

Friday 21st June
08:00 Gates open for the duration of the event
10:00 Signing On office opens
10:00 Car scrutineering commences, no specific order
16:30 Bike scrutineering commances, no specific order
18:45 Signing On office closes

Saturday 22nd June
07:00 Signing On office opens
07:00 Car scrutineering commences: sign-on/scrutineering details
07:00 Bike scrutineering commences: sign-on/scrutineering details
09:30 Track opens for qualifying

Sunday 23rd June
07:30 Signing On office opens
07:30 Car scrutineering opens
07:30 Bike scrutineering opens
09:30 Track opens for eliminations

The provisional running orders are now available and can be checked 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. Please note as ever that running orders are subject to change due to weather or track conditions or for any other reason deemed necessary by race officials.

No race vehicle motors are to be fired up before 09:00 or after 20:00 on any day of the event, which in this context includes Friday. Before 09:00 vehicles should be pushed or towed to Scrutineering, not driven or ridden. Non-observation of curfew will result in exclusion from the event.

Junior Dragster and Junior Drag Bike racers please remember the rule about pushing vehicles back to the pits once through the arch beside Scrutineering.

Only race officials and SPR staff are allowed in Race Control whilst racing is underway. Should racers wish to raise any matter with race officials then please do not visit Race Control; please firstly see the Race Secretary who is based in Signing On.

Colour commentators are requested to come to Commentary only when their class is at the head of the lanes, to vacate Commentary as soon as their class has run, and not to bring guests to Commentary with them.

At the request of SPR management the Eurodragster.com office at the Bankside end of Race Control is similarly out of bounds during racing except to Eurodragster.com staff, Zeon TV crew and racers or crew collecting Eurodragster.com Perfect Awards.

Swift snippets.
18th June: We have a birthday in the extended team today: a big Happy Birthday to Kay, aka Mrs Tog, one of the powers behind the throne... all of whom seem to be female now that we think about it.

NitrOlympX entry update.
17th June: NitrOlympX Race Director Jerry Lackey tells us that entry is open for the race at Hockenheim on 16th-18th August.

Invitation, entry forms and other information are now available at www.tw-sportsoft.de/NitrOlympX_2019, but racers should please note the following:

All NEAFP Open/Sportsman class cars Autos and EU Open Sportsman class Bikes will be limited-entry. As in the past, a minimum of two time slips from 2019 must be submitted with each entry form in all Sportsman classes, both cars and bikes.

Please follow all of the information and instructions in the Racers' Information and submit your entries in a timely manner.

We look forward to greeting all of the familiar and new racers and their families to our event.

STP Summernationals Perfect Awards.
17th June: £100 is up for grabs at this weekend's STP Summernationals courtesy of Eurodragster.com and our sponsors.

This weekend's Eurodragster.com/Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award has been reset to £50 after it was won by Super Pro ET racer Ian Brown at the FIA/FIM Main Event. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to record a Reaction Time of 0.000 seconds. The Perfect Light Award is available to racers in all classes during qualifying and eliminations, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect Light of the event. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Cath and Tig Napier of Modurstang Pro ET team Bad Habit Racing.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect Light Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

The Eurodragster.com Perfect ET Award supported by the Twister Race Team has also been reset to £50 after it was won by Pro ET racer Al Platt at the FIA/FIM Main Event. The money will be paid in cash to the first racer at the event to tun +0.000 on index or dial-in. The Perfect ET Award is available this weekend to racers in Hydrahose/Alders Automatics Super Pro ET, Modurstang Pro ET, Hutchinson & Dibley Sportsman ET, Phoenix Personnel Super Comp, Jon Morton Super Gas Shootout, Lucas Oil Junior Dragster (eliminations only), NEM Plant Ltd Nostalgia Super Stock, VW Pro, VW Sportsman, the WIld Bunch, NMCN 8.50 Bike, 9.50 Bike, Accelerate for a Cause and a Cure ET Bike and In Posterum Junior Drag Bike, but will only be awarded for the first Perfect ET of the weekend. The Perfect Light Award is presented in association with Andy Hadfield of the Twister Race Team.

Decals are not mandatory for the Perfect ET Award but we would appreciate it if Eurodragster.com decals are carried. Eurodragster.com decals are available in Signing On or from Eurodragster.com staff.

Web site updates.
17th May: The Mad Welshman has updated his Flickr site with a gallery from the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals and a gallery of off-track shots from the Doorslammers. You can check out Mad's pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/the_madwelshman.

FAO UK racers: Race car log books.
16th June: Phil Kenyon of the UK's Tech Crew writes that UK race car log books issued prior to 1st January 2000 will expire on 31st December 2020 and will need to be replaced with a Vehicle Passport:

If your car runs on the track in a non road-legal state (including slicks), you need a Vehicle Passport or Log Book; see current Motorsport UK Blue Book section J.

To apply for a Vehicle Passport at a Motorsport UK permit event the owner must bring the car, a completed application form, and payment in cash to the Scrutineering Bay by the finish line at Santa Pod Raceway. The fee is currently Ł44 (see blue book page 4). Forms and guidance can be found on the Motorsport UK web site at www.motorsportuk.org / Resource Centre / Technical: Car. If you are unsure about anything then leave it blank and we can complete it when processing your form.

Photos can be brought on a USB stick or E-Mailed to podcarscrutineers@gmail.com. The title of your email should be PP PHOTOS followed by your surname and competition number, for example PP PHOTOS Bloggs A/A 1234. Please send the email before bringing your car.

For obvious reasons, we are unable to process applications during initial scrutineering; please bring your car at a less busy time such as during eliminations or later rounds of qualifying.

York Raceway's gates reopen.
16th June: Howard Holmes writes that the Nomad Drag Racing Club is thrilled to announce that Straightliners are creating an event at York Raceway on Sunday 30th June:

Straightliners don't stand still, they keep moving forward and making progress. Straightliners have seized the opportunity to help enthusiasts to go drag racing again at non-permanent no-prep venues across the country.

Where hope had all but disappeared for York Raceway, there is now a real opportunity to make a fresh start. This is more than a reunion, this is progress, although it's not ideal - not just yet.

For this first event, there will be a single eighth-mile track, which will start near the old finish line and head towards the old start line. This kind of symbolises the change, and a new and fresh approach. There will be a Christmas Tree and Tag Heuer timing equipment. It will be a proper job, as far as it can be, for now.

Since the Church Fenton event on 29th-30th June had to be cancelled, many were left scratching their heads and rubbing their helmets wondering what to do. So, the York Raceway Revival event is the perfect antidote.

"We really want the event to attract massive support to start a new era for York Raceway, and to prove the viability to resurrect the venue", said a Nomad DRC spokesman. "For now, we make do and repair", added Straightliners' Trevor Duckworth. "The next objective will be side-by-side eighth-mile tracks, and then the quarter mile. Money made will be going back into the track,

"We now have the opportunity to prove that drag racing should re-start at York Raceway, and can progress into becoming a successful and viable venue and a great place to race, participate and spectate" adds the man from Nomad DRC.

Stay in touch, search York Raceway Revival and Nomad DRC on Facebook.

Remembering John Woolfe.
14th June: Dave Riswick writes to ask Eurodragster.com readers to reflect upon the fifieth anniversary of a tragic incident which completely changed sponsor John Woolfe Racing forever:

On 14th June 1969 John fatally crashed his 917 Porsche in the first lap of the 37th Grand Prix of Endurance held at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France and the fate of what would happen next was held in the balance.

When the French flag was dropped indicating the start of the twenty four-hour race John ran across the track, jumped into his new 917 Porsche sports car, and headed out with forty one other drivers in contention.

Near the end of the first lap while negotiating the notorious White House bend esses, John got two wheels on the grass verge and lost control. The Porsche spun and hit the bank on the opposite side of the track. He was thrown from the car and died from his injuries. John's accident caused the traditional Le Mans start to be forever abolished, the following year as most drivers would start the race without fastening their seat belts to save precious time at the start of the event. John was no exception and it was felt that this may have contributed to his death.

He was only 37, a tragic end for so many whom he touched with his gentleman kindness.

To highlight John's career is to write a book about all the things he accomplished. But let's just concentrate on John's keen interest in drag racing. Almost from the start back in the early 60s he was exposed to the elements of acceleration and the sport of drag racing: he drove many high-powered race cars in Sprints, Hill Climbs, and Speed events long before there was such a place to call the home of drag racing.

From the late 50s and up to the middle of the 60s John had competed with C, D and E type Jaguars, Lola Elvas and TVR Granturas, and by 1967 had graduated to the big stuff in the form of the now-legendary AC Cobras. He found the Brighton Speed Trials the ideal setting to exhibit the raw power of these British hybrids by entering not one but two of the famous seven-litre Holman and Moody versions in the annual event which took place along the promenade known as the Madeira Drive on the Brighton sea front. John's Le Mans-prepared Shelby Cobras took Fastest Time of Day and Second Fastest Time of day.

The next stop was Santa Pod's Last Chance Meeting in early October. This was the day when John came across the sport of drag racing and it bit him hard, especially when he was shut down by a Small Block Chevy. That Chevy was Mark Stratton's Hustler altered, driven on the day by Kenneth Blake from Texas, one of the three Americans in Mark's drag racing team who was from Upper Heyford, a nearby American NATO base.

John was hooked, so much so that he offered to sponsor the Hustler team and in doing so he provided the latest Chevrolet 427 L-88 V8 engine to replace the small 283. The intention was to enter the Hustler in the 1968 Brighton Speed Trials, but not before Mark won the 1968 Super Eliminator Trophy at Santa Pod's National Championships a week earlier. However, at Brighton, John experienced clutch problems and retired the car. In spite of the setback he knew the potential was there.

This was a major influence in the sport in the late 60s. While campaigning his V8-powered sports cars around Europe John had engaged Mark to construct a twin-engine V8 Chevrolet Dragster for entry in the ISO's World Speed Records Weekend held at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire in the Fall of '68. With this John established an outright World Record for the Standing Start Quarter Mile for the over 8 litre class.

The results intensified John's passion for drag racing and he encouraged the Hustler team to go to work on one of the very first Funny Cars to be raced in the UK. This took the form of a Reliant Scimitar GTE powered by that famous L-88 V8 and was placed in the hands of Dennis Priddle. But John had passed away before he could see Dennis win his first Championship.

In the weeks following John's untimely death, the late Arnold Burton set the bar for me to follow. It was at this point, along with the support of Arnold, that I took on the responsibility of honouring John's intentions and ambitions with drag racing.

More than fifty years on and John Woolfe Racing continues to fly the flag in John's honour, supporting and encouraging the sport. With this thought many drag racers and fans alike have felt the good John Woolfe placed on the sport. May we take a moment to reflect?

First of the 2020 calendars.
14th June: Artist Paul Whitehouse says that he has often been asked if he has considered producing a calendar of his drag racing paintings and is now soliciting expressions of interest for a 2020 calendar:

The image shows a sample which I have had made so that I can get an idea of overall size and quality. This is A3 and wall hanging and features some of my paintings of Nostalgia Funny Cars, Altereds and Fuellers. Images for each month are the Apache FC, Pure Hell Altered, Thunderbird, Bradford Altered, Chi Town Hustler FC, Olavi Knuutinen FC, Bubblegum Capri FC, Tudor Rose, Venom FC, Mr Revell, The Hawaiian and my latest piece featuring Michael 'Doc Stinger' Mugrauer's '71 Dodge Challenger FC.

If there is enough interest then I'm planning on getting this organised towards the end of this year and release as a calendar for 2020. Please register interest via E-Mail at pwhitehouse3@aol.com or mobile 07432 564110, so that I can get an idea of numbers.

For details of all my drag racing paintings, prints and commission details please visit my web site at www.paulwhitehouseart.com.

Kauhava: All you need to know.

13th June: A big Thank You to Esko Raisvuo for sending us a definitive guide to Kauhava in Finland, the site of the FHRA Nitro Nationals, the next FIA and FIM European Championship rounds:

Kauhava is located on the west side of central Finland. The track is located 2 km from railway station and town services (shops, fuel etc) are available within a mile. Seinäjoki town is 40 km away and Lapua Village is in between. It is easy to find hotels or B&B places if you spend few moments on booking websites.

The picture at www.lskbusinesspark.fi is old so doesn't show the track.

Racers should reckon the following time for driving from ferries, or from the north of Sweden, including breaks:

From closest north Sweden border: 6 hours
Naantali (from Kapellskär Finnlink ferry): 5 hours
Turku (from Stockholm ferry): 5 hours
Hanko: (from German freight ferries): 7 hours
Helsinki area: (from Estonian, German and Swedish ferries): 6 hours
Southern Russian border stations: 7 hours

The most convenient flights to try to find are to Helsinki and Tampere airports.

Car rental is bit expensive due to high taxes, but reasonable if you want do road trips to see other places. Most lakes in Finland have public beaches if you look or ask the wild local natives. I can compile advice and tips on other places, what to see in Finland, if anyone wants to know about holiday activities. One of biggest northern amusement parks, the Power Park, is about 20 km from the track. It's a very good idea to spend extra days in area, especially if you have kids, and the owners are actively helping us.

Trains travel from Helsinki to Kauhava in three to four hours. It's holiday season, so I suggest pre-booking at www.vr.fi.

The Lentohotelli (flight hotel) is probably already fully booked, at least for the better rooms. I believe there is still a chance for B&B.

You can find the invitation at www.dragracing.eu and the entry forms at www.dragracing.eu/event_details.asp?id=481.

The track itself is now fully finished. The first eighth mile has 80 cm barriers and the rest one metre.

The burnout area, start line and out to sixty feet are concrete. The rest is special asphalt created for this project and for the future. Traction has been pretty consistent and great so far.

FHRA and Tierp Arena's track crew will take care of preparation. Good traction and rapid clean-ups.

We have full 24/7 security and first aid in area.

There should be a stable electrical network at the Nitro Nationals. It is an ex-Air Force base so just the local network to expand.

The law now allows adults to drink in separate grandstand area with commercial service. The pit area already has its own bar. At night we offer the Hangar Club, where about 2000 people can easily have good time inside.

The camping area can host an unlimited number of caravans and tents. More or less commercial management, by the site owners. Again, as it is ex-military, there plenty of showers, sauna and catering areas available. Real food at good prices, and teams can pre-order full catering straight to their pits. Teams can also pre-order private portable toilets. The race traveller who has a few extra clothes, tent etc needs no more than an open, happy mind, a pocketful of cash and everything is sorted. The track site has everything. Card payments work fine.

Finland has good 4G wireless throughout, I don't believe there are any big drops in performance.

Please address VIP enquiries to www.lentohotelli.fi; officials, media etc, please contact www.fhra.fi. Media accreditation is available at www.fhra.fi/median-akkreditoituminen-kisoihin.

Advance tickets at a discount are available at www.tiketti.fi/nitro-nationals-2019-lsk-business-park-kauhava-tickets. Gate prices will be higher.

The event will be streamed live at www.livestream.com/fhra.

Swift snippets.
13th June: Donna Finnegan and the Fireforce Jet team asked us to say a big Happy 80th Birthday for today (Thursday) to Roy Webb of the Split Second Jet Dragster team. Our pleasure, have a great day Roy.

Wouldn't it be Wobberly.
12th June: Darren Prentice of Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to announce the winner of the Name the Ale contest which was run at the 2018 UK National Finals with all proceeds going to Bloodwise:

Drum roll please... the winners are the White Noise Drag Racing Team, and introducing to you for your drinking pleasure Wobberly Bob, an IPA 4.0% beer which has three light hops including simcoe, and a generous finish of citra right at the end, leading to a light hoppy taste, and a lovely lingering finish (and it will sometimes go too quick - Ed).

As ever the Potbelly Brewery in Kettering have generously donated the first barrel, with all proceeds going straight into this years fund-raising efforts for Bloodwise.

At Dragstalgia be sure to make your way to Fuelers Bar to taste Wobberly Bob at our very own Beer Festival and support Bloodwise at the same time.

Tierp Internationals stats and more.
12th June: Thanks to our good buddy Andy Marrs for forwarding us some interesting personal stats from the Tierp Internationals:

Tethys was the fiftieth racer to win a round of FIA Top Fuel Dragster
Micke Gullqvist reached 150 round wins in Pro Modified and is the first FIA racer to reach 150 in a single class

Marrs also tells us that the event featured new side-by-side records:

Pro Modified speed: Andreas Arthursson / Freddy Fagerström 412.21 kmh / 382.17 (256.14 mph / 237.47)
Top Fuel Bike ET: Filippos Papafilippou / Rikard Gustafsson 5.8074 / 5.8588
Top Fuel Bike speed: Filippos Papafilippou / Rikard Gustafsson 376.04 / 397.94 (233.66 / 247.27)
Pro Stock Bike ET: Kalle Lyrén / Fredrik Fredlund 7.0050 / 7.0155
Pro Stock Bike speed: Kalle Lyrén / Fredrik Fredlund 311.78 / 309.81 (193.73 / 192.51)

Finally thanks to Marrs for an updated table of European Bests featuring those records set at Tierp. You can check it out by clicking here or by clicking on the European and UK Bests link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Our good buddy Remco Scheelings has posted two Tierp Internationals reports on the Autosport.nl web site. There is a race report which you can check out by clicking here and a report of "Other things I saw" which you can check out by clicking here.

Tierp Internationals results, points.
10th June: Congratulations to the winners at the weekend's Tierp Internationals at Tierp Arena:

FIA Top Fuel Dragster: Anita Mäkelä 4.0344/383.52 def. Micke Kågered 5.9586/188.61
FIA Top Methanol: Jonny Lagg 5.5336/433.04 def. Silvio Strauch 5.4893/414.75
FIA Pro Modified: Jan Ericsson 5.8365/389.05 def. David Vegter 7.0792/234.99
FIA Pro Stock: Jimmy Ålund 6.6075/338.35 def. Michael Malmgren 6.6204/333.75

FIM Europe/EDRS Pro Nordic MC Top Fuel Bike: Filippos Papafilippou 6.6394/369.61 def. Rikard Gustafsson 6.7035/266.80
FIM Europe/EDRS Pro Nordic MC Supertwin: Marcus Christiansen 6.4867/344.17 def. Gert-Jan Laseur 8.0902/187.37
FIM Europe/EDRS Pro Nordic MC Pro Stock Bike: Kalle Lyrén 6.9875/307.34 def. Fredrik Fredlund 8.5066/161.00
EDRS Pro Nordic MC Super Street Bike: Vesa Ruhanen 8.0391/212.77 bye, Anders Blanck broke

Comp Eliminator: Lars-Georg Johansson (7.49) 10.4457/135.88 def. Jens Eklund (7.33) 15.0951/117.31
Super Comp: Micke Nilsson 9.2672/205.87 def. Pontus Garefelt 9.9368/166.20
Super Gas: Christer Uhlin 9.9225/206.89 def. Kenny Åsberg 9.8426/196.08 DQ b/o
Super Street: Uffe Lundgren 11.0646/165.04 def. Christer Gustafsson DQ left before lights ran
Stock/Super Stock: Mathias Munther (11.11) 11.1553/178.87 def. Lars Johansson (12.41) 12.3993/171.21 DQ b/o
Pro Street: Peter Trång 7.6413/288.932 def. Ossi Oikarinen 7.6197/249.31
Street: Sami Holm 8.6074/253.28 def. Maurtiz Rådberg 8.5764/238.41 DQ b/o
Junior Dragster: Eskil Dahls (7.90) 7.9332/130.75 def. Atle Poolsar (7.90) 7.9950/132.00

Super Comp Bike: Rasmus Östlund 8.5462/244.57 def. Peter Svensson 8.6352/250.81
Super Gas Bike: Trygve Kjærstad Helgerud 9.7372/204.70 def. Jenni Pekkarinen 9.4369/223.75 DQ b/o
Junior Drag Bike: John Rolfstad (6.90) 6.9862/145.790 def. Seth Friström (6.90) 6.7507/159.62 DQ b/o

Subject to official ratification the following records were set. Congratulations to:

FIM Europe Top Fuel Bike ET: 5.783 seconds, Filippos Papafilippou
FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike ET record: 6.969 seconds, Kalle Lyrén
FIM Europe Pro Stock Bike speed record: 311.78 kmh/193.73 mph, Kalle Lyrén

Many thanks to Ås Kinnemar and to Ian Marshall for sending us the post-event points standings in the FIA European Drag Racing Championships and FIM Europe Drag Bike Championships respectively. You can check out the European points on our OCS Paint-sponsored Points Standings page by clicking here or by clicking on the OCS Paint Points Standings link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

You can check out our John Woolfe Racing-sponsored Tierp Internationals reports, results, pit notes and galleries by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

A big Thank You from Tog to Simon for his hard work on the pit notes, to Oscar Lindgren, Lotta Ahlgren and Maja Rapp for their help with timing matters, to Lena Perés and Remco Scheelings for the supply of photographs, and to Mike Kraaij for additional pit notes. On the home front a big Thank You to Spencer Tramm, Andy Marrs and Robin Jackson for proof-reading, maths-checking and Personal Bests.

The Hobbit retires.
7th June: Dragstalgia is now only a few short weeks away, and Keith Lee brings us the latest news on the historic bike entry, which is shaping up well for this much-awaited event at Santa Pod Raceway on 12th-14th July:

We are well on course for the best entry ever. It is something special to see these old drag bikes come together to blast down the strip in the NSA Shootout, but the upcoming event will be notable also for marking the end of an era, as we announce the retirement this year of one of the best loved machines in the sport. John Hobbs is one of the legends of drag racing, and the Hobbit, his supercharged double Weslake, notched up many race wins during a spectacular career. After an original retirement in the early eighties, John was persuaded to pull the bike out from under his workbench to enjoy a much extended second lease of life for the 1700cc machine.

From the very first Dragstalgia event in 2011, John and the Hobbit have been the star attraction on two wheels. The bike takes a lot of upkeep, and it has come to the point now, with John in his early seventies, to accept that he is reaching the point that riding and maintaining the bike is becoming too physically demanding for it to continue. Always known for his clear decision making, John has decided that this year's appearance at Dragstalgia will be his last one riding the iconic bike, as 2019 brings down the curtain for the Hobbit. The old race team, who supported John back in the bike's racing years, will all be present at Dragstalgia to join in - including second rider Jonny Munn, who is flying over from Australia to be there.

The good news is that it will not be the last time that we will see John himself in action. He will still be blasting down the quarter on his blown 500 Triumph-powered Olympus, which he faithfully recreated back in 2012. He still enjoys riding the lightweight twin - and we look forward to seeing him over the coming years.

In addition to a fine cross section of machinery we have enjoyed previously, I am very pleased that there will be a number of first time entrants for this year's meet. These include the ex-Chris Richards, Terry Sidebottom, Charlie Butterworth 750 Triumph, which is currently being fettled for a return to the track by new owner Graham Sykes. I am also pleased to announce that Graham will be displaying his fabulous new Force of Nature steam-powered rocket bike in the historic marquee, which is back this year, and which will display more historic bikes. Dragstalgia regular Justin Newell will be making much noise with the much-anticipated return of the rebuilt Mick Hand 250 Honda, which is looking very good. Joining them should be Dave Woodard, who has been working hard on rebuilding the 500 Triumph, which Mick Hand's longtime friend Barry Eastman first raced in the early seventies. Sadly, Barry himself, who was partner with Mick Hand in the Storm Funny Bike, passed away earlier this year, so it will be a fitting tribute to see this bike appear on the strip once more. A new French entry is a recreation of the Nira Johnson Triumph, which competed at the 1965 Dragfest as part of the US team.

While one bike bids a fond farewell at Dragstalgia, the scene looks set fair for a continuing feast of two-wheel Nostalgia racing. Be there to enjoy the sight and sound of the Hobbit one final time.

Arthursson plays home fixture.
6th June: This weekend Sweden's Andreas Arthursson and the PPF Racing Pro Modified team will be racing at their home track, Tierp Arena, ninety minutes from HQ. Ulf Stadig writes:

The team's first Championship round at Santa Pod Raceway ended in the semi-finals with a red light against Micke Gullqvist. The PPF Chevelle performed pretty well with a 5.865 ending up in third qualifying place. The first elimination round bettered the ET to 5.819 against Fast Freddy. Andreas and team wanted to run a 5.7 but came up short and must save it for the Finals in September. The track, the crowd and the show at Santa Pod Raceway are top notch! As of this moment the team are fifth in the FIA Championship.

Qualifying for this weekend's race starts at 13:50 on Friday. The Chevelle has undergone some pretty big changes from Santa Pod as we could see that there was room for improvement. The car has been acting a little bit strange, even if the performance has been pretty good. But as the competition grows with many great blower car runs in the 5.8s at the Pod we needed to look things over and maybe take further steps forward. We have an eager team which wants to go and make hits on what is normally an awesome track at the first-class facility of Tierp Arena.

Thanks to our sponsors PPF Racing, PA-So Produkter (Patrik Björk), FuelTech, MPM Oil, PLR Proline Racing, Precision Turbo and Engine, Allmek and Nuke Performance.

Swift snippets.
6th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us a tweaked final version of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals. You can check out the SPRC Summernationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Thanks to Bianca Booij for passing us an account of the Pro Dutch Racing Pro Modified team's weekend at the FIA/FIM Main Event. You can check out the Dutch-language PDF by clicking here.

Rachel, Duncan and Morgan Wilson asked us to say a big Happy 16th Birthday to reigning UK National Junior Dragster Champion Caitlin Wilson. Our pleasure, have a lovely day Caitlin.

One for the team.

6th June: May turned out to be for the UK's Williams Bros Racing team:

The fun started at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals with the new addition to the team in the shape of Dan Williams' stunning 1962 Impala which was only purchased a week prior to the event. Dan had just sold his '32 Ford hot rod, known as the Williams Bros Special, and it didn't take long to find another car to his liking. A visit from the outstandingly talented Neil Melliard and the stunning hand-painted graphics were applied and the car made its début with totally stock engine and transmission, the only change was the tyres. Could it run close to the lowest dial-in of 15.00 seconds for UK Nostalgia Superstock... the weekend started in the 16s but oh so close in round one with a 15.01 ET. More drama, though, for Guy King who managed to basically destroy his rear axle internals putting his nine-second Chevelle out of action... but not Guy himself. Keith Williams and Guy made the trip back to Norfolk to collect his street-only (where have I heard that before) 1970 Chevelle so that he could still race. Having never driven the car on the strip before it was a best guess for dial in and fair to say we were about half a second off. James Oliver though was flying. His Firebird was going quicker than ever and proving to be super consistent. Ollie qualified second and was on great form. Three team cars into round one, unfortunately none into round two, despite Ollie running 9.5504 on a 9.55 dial-in, but the cherry on the tree ended his weekend.

Next weekend the eagerly-awaited Doorslammers. Again Ollie and Guy in action, especially Guy as it was a mad thrash to get the axle repaired in just four days. This time though the team was joined by Nic Williams in the fearsome blue Chevelle. The last time Nic raced this car was at the 2017 National Finals where he took the event win and also the SPRC Pro ET Championship. Three cars then into the OCS Group sponsored Big Bracket to see if we could win back some of the class sponsorship money. Saturday was a washout so it was all on Sunday with an incredible £10,000 on the line for the winner.

A brilliant perfect light from Guy King in round one proved that the axle repair had been spot on and, despite a breakout, his was the lesser of the breakouts so onto round two where his progress was ended by last year's Sunday Big Bracket winner Lee Huxley. Ollie next and a red light from Pete Youhill aided Ollie progress to round 2 and a match up with last year's finalist Jens Könnecke. Another win light for the Firebird but to be in the money the Cortina estate and Tom Atkinson would have to be beaten. A cracking light from Ollie forced Tom to break out so we were in the quarter finals. A great race with Ronnie Mercer, who is becoming a racer to fear and rightly so, as Ronnie had a 0.00 light and ran one hundredth off his dial-in to end Ollie's day.

So how about the third car, Nic in the WBR Chevelle. A 9.78 on a 9.77 dial-in against the super tough and last year's Saturday winner Collin Morrice set up another tough random draw, this time Ian Brown in the Camaro but a red from Ian sent Nic through to round 3. Rosello Cassar with the Escort from Malta was proving to be quite a package but Nic and the Chevelle were on a mission and wouldn't be stopped. They don't get much tougher than the Professor Brian Pateman and to progress to the semi-finals Nic had to be at his best. An 0.01 light and hundredth off dial-in were too much for Brian so Nic into the semis and Ronnie Mercer who had just beaten Ollie. A 0.007 red from Ronnie and Nic was in the final... against none other than Lee Huxley, one of the most experienced bracket racers out there. Nic dialled 9.77, drove it out the black door to a 9.787 and the win light, the trophy and the Ł10,000, the biggest prize money in Sportsman drag racing in the UK.

No time to rest however, as four days later and back to Santa Pod for the Main Event. No Guy King this weekend but Dan back behind the wheel of his 69 Nova after a major engine rebuild and upgrades and using this event for testing. Thirty three cars going for thirty two places in eliminations and clutch issues meant that Dan ended up in thirty third spot but would come in as an alternate. Ollie ended up eleventh, just a hunredth off dial-in, Nic fourth bang on his number but so were five others so down to the ten thousandth to separate them. All three team cars got through round 1 which set up a round 2 match-up between Dan and Nic. Dan's clutch issues which had plagued him in qualifying were certainly fixed now, but the car reacted so well that Dan went red, so Nic went through with another 0.0 light and one hundredth off dial-in. Ollie also through as Vic Parsons broke out spectacularly. Ollie was right on his dial in for his round 3 race with Neil Hunter who broke out, Nic getting round Ethan Lisle who was one to watch out for. Semi-finals and could we have an all WBR final. Only three cars were in the pairing lanes as Ben Newsome had unfortunately broken, we hate to take a win like that and hope Ben is repaired soon. So Ollie into the final on a solo, could Nic make it two finals in a row. Yes he could as again a 0.01 light was too much for Mike Lacey who went red. The dream final for Williams Bros Racing, both cars hooked up perfectly off the line to perform side-by-side wheelstands but it was one race too far for Ollie's transmission as a second gear issue, which was being nursed throughout the event, finally gave out forcing Ollie to coast up the track and watch the win light shine bright once again for Nic.

Without a doubt the best racing month the team has ever had. There are lots of things happening within the team at the moment, we will do another update next week in which all will become clear, including news of the return of WBR to the USA.

Making maintenance easier.
4th June: Peter Lantz tells us that PLR Manufacturing will be showing two new products of use to their fellow racers at Tierp Arena this weekend:

The first is a rotor cutter with which you can cut or machine the teflon of your blower rotors. This is a unit which you can take with you to races, helping you to step up your game on the blower side, even between rounds if necessary. The rotor cutter is designed and produced in laser-cut steel sheets instead of an earlier billet aluminum version, to reduce costs and make it more affordable.

PLR have also designed a piston rack-cum-organiser. After years building piston racks for Top Fuel teams, we came up with this solution to try improve the product.

The rotor cutter and the piston rack/organiser will be displayed in Jonny and Dennis Nilsson's Autoart Top Fuel Dragster pit at Tierp Arena this weekend and at other events which the team attends. Feel free to come by and take a look, and to get more information.

If North American and Australian customers are interested then Mike Domagala and PMP Premium Motorsport Products have the items in stock in the USA.

Tierp Internationals coverage.
4th June: Simon and Tog are on their way to Tierp Arena to bring you all the news from the Tierp Internationals in association with John Woolfe Racing.

Our coverage, which commences on Thursday, will consist of real-time reports and results throughout each day and pit notes courtesy of Simon throughout each day. We will also post a gallery at the end of the day courtesy of our good friends Lena Perés and Remco Scheelings.

You can check out our Tierp Internationals coverage index, which also includes links to the provisional running order and Web TV (see below), by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Lelle Olsson and Nitroz will be providing Web TV which will be free to view on Thursday and Friday, and chargeable on Saturday and Sunday. The viewing fee includes access to replays. You can find out more or sign up at www.solidsport.com/eu-dragracing-championship or via our Event Index as above.

Swift snippets.
4th June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us the final version of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals. You can check out the SPRC Summernationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

Ålund doubles up.
4th June: Over the last two seasons, Jimmy Ålund has competed in two of the premiere classes in the FIA European Drag Racing championships, Pro Modified and Pro Stock. Par Willén writes that it has been good:

Last year in the Pro Mod class with Jimmy behind the wheel of The Old 51 Chevy Business Coupe, he and the team went all the way and brought home the coveted FIA Pro Mod Championship trophy. Jimmy did not complete a full season in the Summit Racing Pro Stock Camaro but did make history at the Alastaro race in Finland where he was the first driver in FIA history to win both the Pro Stock and Pro Mod classes at the same event.

2019, a new season. Jimmy will be campaigning both cars again, but with a twist. Not only will he run the full season in the Old 51 as usual, but he will also go for gold in FIA Pro Stock by contesting all six races of the Championship in the Summit Racing Camaro. Two FIA Championships in a single season, quite a challenge. "Yes, most definitely", says Jimmy, "it's been in the back of my mind and now after two very solid seasons with The Old 51 team, we feel that we have the kind of strong and close relationship needed to go this extra mile. Of course the whole team behind the Summit Racing Pro Stock Camaro is central in this endeavour. They have tremendous experience and skills, they have of been instrumental in collecting our ten FIA Pro Stock Championships."

The FIA racing season started with the Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway, UK, a classic venue for drag racing. FIA Pro Mod, The Old 51: Qualifying ended up OK, #1 after Q1 and #4 after all four rounds. Two of the runs in the 5.8-second range with solid speeds. Tyre shake in Q2 and Q4 but no technical issues. "Good and bad", says Jimmy, "#1 qualifier at the first hit of the FIA season is good as is running in the 5.8s but we had trouble with tyre shake in two of the rounds. And, whoa, it's a real tough crowd to go up against. Progress, our 5.86 puts us back in fourth place now, last year that would've been #1 here."

Eliminations, round one. The Old 51 pulled another 5.8, a win with a 5.88 at over 241 mph (387 km/h). Quarter finals, consistency, Jimmy ran a stout 5.87 at 240 mph (386 kmh) to move on to the semi-finals where it ended. Tire shake, pedalling and the weekend was over for the Old 51. "We're OK, we did as well as we'd expected", says Jimmy. "I've had the privilege to drive this car for two seasons and during that time we've never have as many changes to the car as for this one race. New rules, the car has been made lighter, blower speed slowed down, new converter, new engine parts, and new suspension set-up. We're right on track, the whole team knows what to do and we're all very much looking forward to the next event in front of a Swedish crowd at Tierp Arena."

FIA Pro Stock, the Summit Racing Camaro: First time at Santa Pod since 2016. Impressive performances throughout qualifying, Jimmy ended up #2 behind veteran Michael Malmgren. Very tight, 6.572 for Michael, 6.575 for Jimmy who ran the quickest elapsed times in three of the four qualifying rounds and the fastest speed in all rounds including the fastest speed of the event in Q4. Jimmy thus picked up eleven of a possible twelve qualifying bonus points.

Eliminations round one, 6.58 made for a win. Sem-finals against 2018 Champion Bengt Ljungdahl and Jimmy dodged a bullet. Bengt redlit while Jimmy fought bad tyre shake but took the win. The final, a tough task, Ĺlund up against the #1 qualifier Michael Malmgren. Jimmy took the event win at the first race of the season with another quick and fast run, 6.59 seconds at 209.95 mph (337.88 kmh).

A good start of the Championship. "Definitely, this came out well", says Jimmy. "I could've done better in the seat but it's like first day on the job getting the cobwebs out, I'm lucky to have such a good team giving me a good car to drive. I hope you've all seen the new livery across the whole side of the Camaro, we now have an even bigger commitment from our main sponsor Summit Racing Equipment. It really sets the standard for us this year, we're in deep and solid to fight for the 2019 FIA Pro Stock Championship."

Jimmy leaves Santa Pod as the leader in FIA Pro Stock and in fourth place in the FIA Pro Mod standings. The next race is this week's Tierp Internationals, Tierp, Sweden.

Summit Racing Equipment is sponsoring both the Old 51 Pro Mod car and the Ĺlund Pro Stock Camaro this year. This is in addition to Viking Industrimålning, Sverigedemokraterna, KB Racing, Camaroskroten, All American AB and Stigs Axle and Parts. Jimmy Ålund Racing is very grateful for the continuing support from such great companies.

Chisholm-Brown 2 for 2.
2nd June: Sam Chisolm-Brown again took the win at the second VWDRC Heads Up race which took place at Das Auto Show at Santa Pod Raceway. Sam and fellow finalist Chris Roylance were forced to hot-lap immediately after the semi-finals due to a long rain delay, but Chris didn't make the call leaving Sam to take a bye.

You can check out our VWDRC Heads Up 2 qualifying and elimination report by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page.

100e Challenge Round 2 report.
2nd June: Nigel Taylor writes that the second round of the 100e Challenge, which took place at the NSRA Nostalgia Nationals at Santa Pod Raceway, featured more car and driver débuts:

Scott Colin has been flat out getting the blue supercharged Chevy-powered 100e ready and progressed to a respectable 12.2/113.18. He will now be flat out tuning it ready for an eleven-second pass as well as getting a car ready for his other half Monika Szili. Mark Haswell's feature car was pulling in the crowds and both Mark and Garth Wong are already well into the nines. Garth pulled an enormous wheelie in his side-by-side pass with Mark so had to back off slightly but still ran a ten!

Jubilee Lorne was driving her dad's Out on Bail 100e and ran its first 13.8-second pass, but dad Paul wasn't having any of that and progressed to a 13.7 - more to come from this one! Sharon Carver was having a great weekend too with her black 100e Jezebel running a 13.4/103.76. Joshua Duncan got his first go in the Squire; he would like to say a massive Thank You to his dad Steve Halls for all his hard work and for getting his car built and ready in just five months!

Congratulations to Lizanne Doyle for her Assassin 100e which won a NSRA Top 6 trophy for Most Entertaining. Her story about her drive to the track with husband Sean Doyle was entertaining just on its own!

The 100e Challenge has certainly brought together a great group of people with lots more interest, and more cars joining in all the time.

When it started, the group decided that racing points should be split into three classes:

Class 1: 1300cc-2100cc
Class 2: 2101cc-3500cc
Class 3: 3501+cc

Karl Reardon and Monika Szili will be grabbing points in Class 1 very soon. I have ended up taking all the points in Class 2 as I'm the only car in that class at the moment, and Class 3 is well into competition status:

Class 3 results

Garth Wong 9.558/139.10
Mark Haswell 9.611/138.97
Tim Bull 10.998/131.38
Troy Bull 11.076/125.96
Robert White 11.697/118.57
Scott Colin 12.254/113.18
Sean Doyle 13.053/104.34
Sharon Carver 13.411/103.76
Paul Lorne 13.706/97.91
Jubilee Lorne 13.864/95.70
Lizanne Doyle 14.097/95.48
Joshua Duncan 15.487/71.29

Class 2 results

Nigel Taylor 15.842/85.87

Thank You to every single person who has got involved or come by and shown interest. Tom Harris, Steve Watson, James Ford and Steve Thacker are all joining us soon plus many more. This weekend five 100es are on display at Brands Hatch ,then Round 3 of the Challenge will take place at The Retro Show at Santa Pod on 15th-16th June.

Thank You to Scott Colin and Sean Doyle for organising such a cool group of cars and people, and for all of their hard work behind the scenes. The Modified Ford 100e page sponsored by Zero 3 Customs can be found on Facebook.

Swift snippets.
2nd June: We would like to say a big Happy Birthday for today (Sunday) to Eurodragster.com Team Nutritionist Syd McDonald. Have a great day Syd and thanks again for the catering last weekend. Diana Macrae and all of the family and crew have asked us to say a big Happy 60th Birthday to Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Nigel Hale. Our pleasure DD, have a great day Nigel.

Web site updates.
2nd June: Liam Lodge has updated his European Drag Racing Blog with a review of the Professional classes at last week's FIA/FIM Main Event. You can take a look at liam66europeandragracing.wordpress.com.

Lightning strikes the Main Event.
1st June: UK Pro Mod and Super Pro ET racer John Tebenham had a great weekend at the FIA/FIM Main Event including a final licence pass of 6/24/230 which he says shocked the life out of him:

The Lightning McQueen Super Crew was run by Crew Chief Luke Robinson. All of our fuel timers either worked, or didn't work, or worked only when they wanted to. But we managed to qualify fifteenth out of twenty five, ahead of great guys such as Kev Slyfield and others - when you achieve something like that you know you haven't done a bad job!

We lost first round, but when you're up against experienced drivers who get great times of 5.8 there's not a lot you can do. It's funny, Luke says it's 150 lbs overweight but man, when you hit third gear, nothing will stop it! Marco and Jacob came to crew and Marco watched four passes between 6.2 and 6.5.

We also ran Ol' Smokey, our Ford Pop with the crazy burnouts, and we managed to go a few rounds. Andy Robinson changed the first gear on our B&J gearbox - I think he really only wanted to see how it worked, as he's got a Lenco. Andy is great and what he doesn't know about driving a Pro Mod is not worth knowing!

Hockenheim is next and I only want to race in front of the big crowds. We're taking both cars, along with new slicks for Ol' Smokey!

The Corvette is sort of up for sale - I only ever wanted to achieve 230 mph and 6.2 and now I've done it. It's easy to drive. If you want it call me, if you don't want it then don't call me. My mobile phone number is 07583 615973.

Swift snippets.
1st June: Thanks to Santa Pod Racers Club Secretary Ian Marshall for forwarding us Version 5 of the official entry list for the SPRC Summernationals. You can check out the SPRC Summernationals entry list by clicking here or by clicking on the John Woolfe Racing Event Coverage link on the left-hand side of any Eurodragster.com page. We are expecting one further version on Monday.

The latest spy picture to arrive at the offices of Eurodragster.com (below left) is not the usual mystery as it came with its own revelation.

Also not exactly a spy picture but Ashley Crane got in touch with a shot from the FIA/FIM Main Event (above right) and asked if any Eurodragster.com reader has a suggestion for a caption. If you have a caption then drop us a line at editor@eurodragster.com.

Thanks to Mike Collins for sending us the usual preview of his column in the latest issue of Street Machine magazine, plus bonus material exclusively for Eurodragster.com readers including a QR code link to a nostalgia video featuring the legendary Allan Herridge.

Web site updates.
1st June: Paul Bryan has updated his Flickr gallery with 296 pictures from the FIA/FIM Main Event. You can check out Paul's great pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/paulbryan_photopedia.

Earlier news