Pro Mod 1 for sale.
30th September: Håkan Nilsson is advertising his record breaking 68 Mustang for sale in our

Thanks, Håkan. We look forward to seeing you at the Pod next year.

Top Fuel from the inside.
22nd September: Peter Lantz has not been sitting idly at home since he cracked a couple of ribs in a wild Top Fuel ride at the Finals (see below). He has now posted on the PLR Motorsports web site a diary of his weekend at Santa Pod. The diary is in both Swedish and English and gives a fascinating insight into a typical race, describing not just the technical details like tuning decisions but also Peter's thoughts and feelings, including a first-hand description of the already-famous Saturday qualifying attempt. Ouch!

You can find Peter's diary in the Results section of the PLR Motorsports web site.

Talbots unveil new dragster.
21st September: UK Super Pro ET team Talbot Racing unveiled their new dragster at last Sunday's Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. Pat and Stephen Talbot invited Eurodragster along to see the new machine put through its paces; click here to see how testing went.

The Canadian Connection.
21st September: The Northern Thunder web site, which is run by a Canadian Top Alcohol racer, is currently carrying the interesting story of the involvement of some Canadian guests in the setting of Eero Kilpelainen's amazing 5.691/248.06 European record at the Finals last week. Click here to read the full story.

Angry Allen at Super Series Finals.
21st September: Junior Dragster driver Paul Allen of L-A Motorsport is pumped up for this weekend's Super Series Finals. "I will be driving in anger!", he says. "We did a poor job of beating those Swedes at the European Finals. We have traced our problems back to the new carburettor, and we have new parts on the way". A new exhaust and even a new paintjob are also on the cards; stay in touch with the L-A Motorsport web site for a first look at the JD's new image.

SPRC address your Y2K problem.
20th September: At least one of the Eurodragster staff is old enough to remember when Christmas didn't commence in UK supermarkets in August, but if you are one of those well-organised types already in the hunt for presents for Christmas, or if the drag racing fan in your life has a birthday approaching, then a gift comes tailor-made in the form of the Santa Pod Racers' Club Official Calendar for the year 2000, launched at the FIA European Finals last weekend and now available via mail order. A generous twelve inches square and printed in full colour, the Calendar features action photographs of both UK and European racers at Santa Pod Raceway.

Of course, it doesn't have to be for someone else: you could treat yourself. You know you want to.

The Calendar costs £10 plus £1.50 postage and packing, and is available from SPRC via the following methods:

Credit Card orders:
Phone 01933 313625 (outside the UK +44 1933 313625) or Fax 01933 355558 (+44 1933 355558)

Mail Order:
Santa Pod Racers Club
PO Box 12
Rushden
Northamptonshire
NN10 0ZU
ENGLAND

Cheques payable to Santa Pod Racers Club

In person:
The Calendar will be available at the final two races of the year at Santa Pod Raceway: the October Meet and the Flame and Thunder Show. It can be purchased from the SPRC trailer which is behind the main grandstand.

Finals pictures and reports.
20th September: Now that everyone is recovering from last week's FIA European Finals, pictures and reports are starting to emerge on various web sites.

First up are our good friends at Svensk Dragracing, with whom we had a lot of fun working at the Finals. They have posted a number of excellent Finals pictures on their Photo Gallery - although we must warn you that this Gallery also contains uncensored pictures of both Eurodragster and Svensk Dragracing staff.

Next is UK1320 which is now featuring a report and the usual great photographs.

Fan site BJ's Drag Racing Pages also contains a report and pictures. It's great to see a fan taking the trouble to put together reports and scan their pictures for everyone's enjoyment, since we at Eurodragster know just how much work is involved. Nice work BJ!

Finally, Eurodragster staffer Sharkman has posted the usual entertaining report and a large number of pictures on his personal web site Sharkman's Top End Tales.

If you have posted a Finals (or other race) report or pictures on your own web site then be sure and tell us at news@eurodragster.com and we'll post it here.

The pain and pleasure of Top Fuel.
17th September: Sweden's Peter Lantz proved at last week's Finals that heartache is not the only affliction caused by Top Fuel drag racing. He is currently nursing two cracked ribs after a wild ride during TF qualifying which saw the car pull a number of wheelies, the heavy landing from one of which did the damage. "I've been in a great deal of pain in the last couple of days; I made the drive home in the bus with the help of painkillers", said Peter. Peter was already on the casualty list having injured his knee in the week leading up to the race.

Peter was not totally satisfied with the weekend's performances even though he ran a personal best of 5.016 during qualifying. "I would like to have seen better numbers on the score board", he said. "I wasn't interested in running 5.1s or 5.0s: we were gunning for 4.80s. But the traction wasn't there, and if you can't tune the car for the traction you lose".

Peter's crew were cheered by the chance to pull a burnout in the car on Monday before the trip home. Crew Chief Morgan Svensson and crew members Magnus Olsson, Johann Gustafsson, Vidar Engh and Arild Bergsland all took a turn and by all accounts were highly successful. "Now I have lots of drivers but no crew", said Peter.

You can keep up to date with the latest from Peter and the team on the PLR Motorsports web site.

Shockwave update...
17th September: The official web site of Shockwave Fuel Funny Car team has had a minor facelift, and has been updated with a report from the Finals. Check it out at http://www.millennium-computer.co.uk/shockwave.

...Nemesis too.
17th September: The Nemesis Racing web site has similarly been updated with the latest news from the team and results from last weekend.

October Time Trials Cancelled.
16th September: Jeremy Cookson of APIRA informs us that the Autumn Speed and Time Trials scheduled for October 30-31 at Avon Park Raceway has been cancelled. The final meeting of the season at Avon Park will now be the Streetfighters on 9-10th October.

European Finals Timing Data.
16th September: The timing data from last weekend's European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway can now be found on TonyB's web site.

BJ record confirmed.
16th September: Santa Pod Raceway timekeeper Andy Marrs of TSI Timers and ACU Championship co-ordinator Ian King have confirmed that Brian Johnson broke Peter Svensson's three-year-old 6.445 European record in Top Fuel Bike at the weekend.

BJ ran as quickly as 6.121 - the second-quickest Top Fuel Bike run on the planet this year and one of the quickest ever, period - at the European Finals at Santa Pod, but was not able to back it up within the required one per cent. He did however record a run of 6.287, which becomes the new record since it is backed up by the 6.121 under the rule whereby a quicker run can back up a slower one.

BJ now holds both ends of the European Top Fuel Bike record, having held the speed record of 212.41 mph since 1997.

This is an excellent time for BJ to be setting the world alight in Top Fuel Bike, since he is shortly to depart for the AMA/Prostar Finals in the USA together with the aforementioned Ian King (currently featuring in a personal profile on US site dragbike.com) and a number of other European participants. Go get 'em, guys!

US racer seeks 1980s FC.
16th September: US racer Earl Davies is searching for a 1980s Funny Car, preferably Mopar-bodied. We figure that there may be a few of these in Europe, so if you can help Earl then why not drop him a line at 105216.1656@compuserve.com.

Anything goes for Custom Car Street.
15th September: Having finished their national championship, Custom Car Street Eliminator competitors will be able to let their hair down at the October Meet at Santa Pod Raceway on October 9th-10th. Instead of the normal strictly regulated eliminator there will be a one off "outlaw" style shootout which is open to anybody, not just existing Custom Car competitors. There will not be a cruise, and as long as a car has a valid tax disc in the windscreen, then anything goes: slicks, no mufflers, etc.

Anyone interested in being part of what should be an exciting heads up shoot out should send entries for Custom Car Street Eliminator to SPRC in the usual way.

Europeans at Atco.
14th September: The UK's Ceri Visick qualified tenth in Pro Stock Bike with a 7.624/176.51 at the Orient Express US Motorcycle Nationals at Atco, New Jersey over the weekend. Ceri was eliminated in the first round by US racer Antron Brown, his 7.461/156.12 too much for Ceri's 7.606/176.10.

Germany's Norbert Kutzera qualified fourth in the Top Fuel Bike field at the same event with a 7.667/148.44; he too was eliminated in round one by Chris Hand, 6.450/211.96 to Norbert's 7.333/184.85. More information can be found on Dragbike.com.

Finals reports a huge hit.
14th September: A big thank you to all of you out there for making Eurodragster's Finals reports our most successful yet. Our updates on Santa Pod Raceway's web site have attracted a whopping six thousand hits since the first posting on Thursday morning. What can we say - you keep coming back, we'll keep on doing 'em.

What a weekend!
13th September: European records, personal bests, a four-second run: you name it, it happened at the FIA European Finals. Eurodragster's updates and pictures from the weekend are still available on Santa Pod's web site.

We collaborated on our updates with our friends from Svensk Dragracing, who were also updating their own web site in two languages. So when you have read our updates why not take the time to check out what they had to say. To Christer Abrahamsson and Erik Zettervall of Svensk Dragracing, Eurodragster says a big thank you, and it was a privilege to work with you.

Fagerstrom and Dance take our money.
13th September: Sweden's Freddy Fagerstrom and the UK's Graham Dance were winner and runner-up respectively of the Eurodragster Moment of the Meeting prize at the FIA European Finals.

At a race understandably dominated by the FIA and FIM classes, the Eurodragster team chose a pair of Sportsman racers for some equally amazing performances. Freddy won the £50 first prize for a whole bunch of mid-to-high sixes in his blown-alcohol pickup, which was running in Super Pro ET at Santa Pod. The absolute clincher was Freddy's final appearance of the weekend in which he match-raced Ove Gottnersson's TMFC and thrashed him soundly with a 6.57. Graham Dance took the £25 runner-up prize for obliterating his own Super Street Bike record of 8.403 (only set a couple of weeks back at Avon Park) with an 8.270.

Congratulations to Freddy and Graham.

Bergström's missed date.
13th September: If you were tuned in over the weekend, you will have seen that Pro Mod racer Ronnie Bergstrom didn't make the race at Santa Pod. Christina Lidström very kindly wrote with an explanation.

"Ronnie (well, more the Corvette) has suffered technical problems with the car since Norway (where he had a huge nitrous burp - Ed). As he is very much involved in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, Ronnie hasn't had the time to fix the Corvette, which he very much regrets. But his team in STCC, Audi, with Mattias Ekström as driver, won the Championship and is now Swedish Champion!

"Unfortunately Ronnie won't race any more this season, but count on him for next year! Ronnie loves the track at Santa Pod, and very much wants to come back and race there next year."

Thanks very much Christina, we look forward to seeing Ronnie in 2000.

Top Methanol Championships.
13th September: A detailed break-down of the points standings in both Top Methanol classes are available on the official web site of the European Top Methanol Racers' Association at http://home.rednet.co.uk/homepages/dave_ale/dave_ale.html.

Finals: It's race day!
12th September: It's race day at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Click here to read the latest.

Rapport på svenska hos Svensk Dragracing.

Photos from Hot Rod Drags.
11th September: Believe it or not there is another drag racing event on in the UK this weekend. TonyB was at Avon Park Raceway for the NSRA Hot Rod Drags and has posted a few (102!) photos to give a taste of the wonderful machinery on display. Click here to view the pix and if you like what you see, whyn not get down to Avon Park tomorrow (Sunday). The fun starts at 11:00.

Finals: Day Two.
11th September: It's day two of qualifying at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. We've already seen records in Pro Mod and Pro Stock, and others are bound to fall. Click here to read the latest.

Rapport på svenska hos Svensk Dragracing.

'Underdog can win' - Lex.
10th September: Lex Joon reckons the underdog could win at Santa Pod this weekend. We don't believe a word of it, because we would never consider Lex the underdog. Read more on Lex's news page.

Finals Preview from Svensk.
10th September: Svensk Dragracing is carrying a preview of this weekend's European Finals at Santa Pod. Svensk will also be bringing you live updates in addition to our own coverage.

It started with a pic.
10th September: Remember the photo of DJB Showtime crew chief Bob Jarrett holding a card saying "Hi Nancy," which we published earlier this season? Nancy certainly remembered it and she and Bob were married in Santa Barbara, California on 17th July. Last Sunday two-thirds of Eurodragster spent a very pleasant afternoon in the company of Bob and Nancy and some of the biggest names in UK drag racing to celebrate their wedding. Inevitably, the conversation turned to drag racing and Bob revealed some of his plans for next season. The Avenger will be put in storage in the UK and the ex-Tom Hoover car, sporting the new Ford Probe body, will be the team's #1 car for next year, the idea being that if the team can obtain sufficient financing to run two cars, they will very quickly be able to get the Avenger back into race trim.

All of us at Eurodragster send Nancy and Bob our best wishes for a very long and very happy life together.

I'm sorry for the delay in posting this article but I was desperately trying (and failing) to find the 'Hi Nancy' photo to accompany it. If anyone still has a copy, we'd really appreciate it if you'd email it to us - TonyB

Sadly, Tog could not join us at the party, but he sent along his fan club.

Roofers Toy moves.
10th September: The web site for Peter Wacker's highly desirable 57 Bel Air, Roofer's Toy, has moved to http://www.roofers-toy.ch/.

Finals: We're on our way!
10th September: The European Finals are underway! Click here to read the latest.

Eurodragster on-site at Santa Pod.
9th September: We are now in place at Santa Pod Raceway and have posted our first of four days of reports from this year's Finals, as racers arrive and set up. Click here to read the latest.

Pictures from Press Day.
9th September: Eurodragster was at the FIA European Finals Press Day at Santa Pod Raceway yesterday, and we took our whizzy new digital camera with us. Click here to see our pictures.

Nemesis visited upon the Web.
7th September: UK Top Methanol Dragster team Nemesis Racing, who have a mathematical chance of winning the FIA TMD Championship at this weekend's Finals, have launched their official web site. It contains all of the features you would expect of a professional racing outfit such as team history, driver biography, news and results, photo gallery, roll-call of sponsors, and a very entertaining introduction to the members of the team. Check it out at http://www.eurodragster.com/nemesisracing.

Super Series 4 Timing Data.
7th September: The timing data from Super Series 4 is now available in the RESULTS section of the Super Series web site.

Super Series 4 reports and pictures.
7th September: Following on from BJ's web site update mentioned a few days back, reports and pictures from Super Series 4 are emerging on other web sites. UK1320 has race results and pictures, with the promise of more pictures to come, whilst Eurodragster staffer Sharkman doesn't disappoint with the usual detailed report and pictures on his site Sharkman's Top End Tales. Finally, Eurodragster staffer Tog has posted pictures of Top Fuel Dragster, MSA Top Alcohol and Pro Mod on Tog's Drag Racing Page, with other classes to be posted when Tog gets his head above the morass of arrangements for this weekend's FIA Finals.

Final NDRS points standings.
6th September: The Semcon Drag Finals at Mantorp Park rounded off a highly-successful Nordic Drag Race Series for 1999. The Svensk Dragracing web site has been updated with a report and pictures from Mantorp Park, and the final standings in the NDRS.

Congratulations to the winners in each class, and to every racer for making the points so close in most classes.

Karling into the 6.7s.
6th September: One of the standout performances of the weekend at Mantorp Park was that of Sweden's Anders "Charley" Karling, who ran into the 6.7s on his Supertwin Top Fuel Bike. An amazing performance, the likes of which we can't wait to see repeated this weekend at Santa Pod Raceway. With a current total of twelve Supertwin Top Fuel Bikes entered, including a number of proven six-second runners, Anders will have to remain at the top of his game to win the race.

Mouths water in Pro Mod.
6th September: A total entry of thirteen in Pro Modified this weekend sets up an absolutely mouth-watering race at Santa Pod. The Scandinavian hitters making the trip are 1999 NDRS Champion Håkan Nilsson, Ronnie Bergstrom, Micke Gullquist, Joran Persaker and Tommy Möller with his blown-alcohol '37 Chevy.

The reception committee of seven UK and one Dutch driver are looking forward to a good, hard race. All are united in their praise of Håkan Nilsson for his NDRS Championship win and last weekend's record of 6.554. A typical comment was that of Nick Davies' Crew Chief Rob Loaring, who said "He's a great racer. You don't win three Pro Mod championships without being a bit special". But all are also united in promising to give of their best this weekend, to every racer and not just the NDRS Champion. "I'll be no shrinking violet!" said Al Cook, whilst Dave Pollen said that "We may have a surprise for them!" and Nick Davies said "You ain't seen nothing yet!".

You can keep abreast of the latest entry list for this weekend's FIA European Finals by clicking on the Next Event button on Santa Pod's web site.

The latest from Bootsoop.
6th September: The web site of the Bootsoop International Drag Racing Team has had a major update, including Zane Llewellyn's account of trips to Sweden, Norway and Germany with his Super Comp dragster, and the latest from the rest of the team, including the unfortunate Aidan Kenny who rolled his Sportsman ET car at Avon Park last weekend - although Zane assures us that "Aidan's only injury was to his wallet!".

Exclusive - Wayne Focuses on Testing.
4th September: Eurodragster was privileged to be at the first testing session for the new Ford Focus race car of Wayne Saunders. The full story, including the first ever publicly available pictures of this stunning new car is at
http://www.eurodragster.free-online.co.uk/news/focus/testsession.htm

Svensk on-line at Mantorp Park.
4th September: Our good buddies at Svensk Dragracing are at the Semcon Drag Finals at Mantorp Park this weekend, posting updates to their web site at http://www.dragracing.se. A report, qualifying standings and pictures from day one of the race have already been posted; keep checking back with the Svensk site to see the latest on the final Nordic Drag Race Series round, and the Scandinavian contingent's last race before the trip to Santa Pod Raceway next weekend.

BJ's Super Series report.
4th September: Drag Racing fan BJ has written to tell us that he has updated his web site BJ's Drag Racing Pages with a report and photographs from last weekend's Super Series round at Avon Park Raceway. Check it out at http://www.jsjhisted.freeserve.co.uk.

Photos of TFT Champion Lantz.
3rd September: Many thanks to Stefan Boman for sending us some superb photos of Top Fuel Tour Champion Peter Lantz. Click here to take a look.

Pro Street News hosts discussion.
3rd September: Our friends at the Swedish Pro Street News Magazine are currently hosting a discussion about the rules as they affect a particular race car. Our Swedish isn't up to much (we get by on Jag talar inte Svenska) but the discussion looks very interesting and could well be worth a visit.

Predator Racing update.
3rd September: The web site of UK Competition Bike team Predator Racing has been updated with the latest race reports. Check it out at http://www.teampredatorracing.freeserve.co.uk.

Predator Racing didn't have the best of luck at Super Series 4, but rider Stu Chamberlain now jointly holds (with Funny Bike racer Ken Thorne) the UK record for heartfelt comments clearly audible through a crash helmet at several yards' distance.

Anyone seen a Chicken?
2nd September: Eurodragster's shameless attempt to take back the "bizarre drag racing headline" award from Dunderklumpen Racing concerns a group in the USA calling themselves "The Mad Brits". They are looking for information on the whereabouts of Pete Millar's old dragster which was known as The Chicken Coupe. It had a Fiat body on a rail chassis (see picture) and was sold to a racer in Sweden many years ago.

If you have any knowledge of the car's whereabouts, please e-mail Pete at madbrit@ctaz.com.

Lindelöw on a mission.
2nd September: Sweden's Pelle Lindelöw will be on a mission at the FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway next week: to expunge the memory of his season so far. He has been competing in the Swedish Top Fuel Tour, but has been suffering severe problems which he thinks are down to the clutch. "We've had the worst of seasons", he said, "we've used up everything we had, but we haven't made one full pass".

Things came to a head after last weekend's race at Malmö. "We decided to park the car after the race. But then the next morning I changed my mind!" said Pelle. A phone call to Gary Burgin in the USA on Monday procured a TFX short block and various other parts in double-quick time. "Gary is a wonderful supplier, said Pelle, "the block arrived here in Stockholm today and brand new parts are piling up!".

Pelle's fellow racers have rushed to his aid. "Peter Lantz very generously offered assistance with putting the engine together", said Pelle, "he will not be seeing his family this weekend! (I hope this isn't the first that Peter's family hears of this - Ed) Peter will be putting the engine together and taking it to England". Monica Öberg's Crew Chief Dan Söderberg will be helping Pelle out at Santa Pod Raceway, and will be bringing along a complete clutch and flywheel set. "We will all meet from different directions!" said Pelle.

The plan is to put the engine and clutch together at Santa Pod on Thursday and Friday, to test during Friday's qualifying session, and to start running in anger on Saturday. "It's like a fresh start after the last race" said Pelle.

Pelle is determined not to be there just to make up the numbers. "We'll be doing well or we wouldn't be bothering to go", he said. "We want to give the fans a good show, we want them to see the car's new paint at the track where it should be, and we want to show the other drivers that our combinations work - Peter has run 5.05 this year on this combination and he will want to prove that he can do it again. It'll be good fun!"

Dont forget that you can keep abreast of the latest entry list for the FIA European Finals by clicking on the Next Event button on Santa Pod's web site.

Photos from Tullinge.
1st September: Our good friend Ivan Sansom, who was kind enough to send us raceday reports from round 2 of the Swedish Top Fuel Tour at Tullinge, has sent us some photos from the event. See them and read Ivan's comments at http://www.eurodragster.free-online.co.uk/news/tullinge99/

Lantz confirms Finals date.
1st September: Peter Lantz, 1999 Swedish Top Fuel Tour Champion and quickest Top Fuel driver in Europe so far this year, has confirmed that he will be attending next week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway.

The full text of Peter's announcement can be found on the PLR Motorsports web site, along with a number of other updates including a report from Malmö and an amazing new Movie Gallery.

Jones and Hewitt win trophies.
1st September: Junior Drag Racers Kane Jones and Jack Hewitt were winners of the Manumit Computers/Talbot Racing-sponsored trophies at Super Series 4 at the weekend.

The Manumit Computers/Talbot Racing competition, which has been running all season, rewards Junior Drag Racers for their reaction times and for running close to their dial-ins, emphasising the bracket racing culture of JD. Kane Jones won the Stock category trophy by running to within 0.069 of his dial-in, whilst Jack Hewitt won the Modified trophy by running to within 0.066 of his dial-in.

"These were two first-class wins for guys who didn't win the race", said Stephen Talbot of Talbot Racing. "It just goes to show that the best ET doesn't always win".

Trophies were not awarded for round three of the Super Series since Talbot Racing received no time slips at the track that weekend. "If any Junior Drag Racer would like to bring their Super Series 3 timing slips to the FIA Finals at Santa Pod Raceway next week, then we will award the trophies there" said Stephen.

German Bike racers flock to Finals.
1st September: Five German Super Street Bike racers will be making the trip to next week's FIA European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway. Peter Calwer of dragsterracing.de writes that Walleit Clemens comes fresh from victory at the Nitro Olympics at Hockenheim and leads the German SSB Championship; Frank Hetscher continues his comeback from heavy engine damage earlier this year, having set a new track record at Alteno last week; Rudi Thurmayr makes his third trip to Santa Pod having been runner-up in Hockenheim and having run the best ET in German SSB this year (and having applied in advance to become the first two-wheeled member of the "Let's Get Tog Club", membership of which is earned by pointing a wayward vehicle at Eurodragster's staff photographer); Klaus Sarembe who has raced more often in England than in Germany; and Super Street Bike rookie Klaus Brinkmann. We look forward to seeing you at Santa Pod, guys.

Louder and Prouder.
1st September: On the subject of German Super Street Bike the Loud and Proud website, German SSB's official site, has been updated with new photographs by Martin Grosse-Geldermann, and pages in English. If like us you're a fan of Super Street Bike then get yourself straight to the Loud and Proud website at http://www.dragsterracing.de/ssb.

Svensk update.
1st September: The Svensk Dragracing web site has been updated with the latest NDRS points standings, photographs from last weekend's race at Alastaro, and a preview of this weekend's Semcon Drag Finals. On the NDRS points front, Håkan Nilsson has won the Pro Mod championship, and Vesa Raiski has all but sewn up the Super Gas class, but the other classes are wide open so it should be a hard-fought race this weekend.

LA Racing update.
1st September: UK TAD racer Lindsay Deuchar has updated his web site with news from last weekend's race at Avon Park. As the man himself says: "At last we get down the track with no drama...". Check it out at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/laracer.

Earlier news