Dragstalgia
Santa Pod Raceway, 11th-13th July 2014

Saturday


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Colin Fallows is riding Super Cyclops which is a double engined Norton originally raced by Mick Butler, formerly of the legendary Pegasus team. The Norton twin engine was an unusual choice during an era when Triumph engines dominated motorcycle drag racing.


Hall of fame members attended a signing session this afternoon. Pictured, from left to right, are Peter Crane, Harold Bull and new inductee for 2014 John Whitmore.


In the display area we found this slammed-to-the-floor rat rod which purports to be from the 'Home of the Vermin's Diner'...


...and a slammed-to-the-floor Beetle.


The Kawasaki Triple club has come in force with around 20 either race or road bikes. The quickest are able to run down into the low nines. Dave Morris said 'The club in the uK has 500 members and most have more than one bike each. The bike was produced between '69 and '79 and they ruled Pro Street and the early days of Pro Stock bike in the late 70s and early 80s. The original H2 engine was rated at 72 hp and this was able to be increased to 139hp by work on porting of the barrels, cylinder heads and exhaust manifold. There is also a much larger clutch to take the extra power. All this work was done experimentally without computer technology.


The Kawasaki Triple club has been in existence for 32 years and Rick Brett is the president. There are affiliations with other clubs in Germany, Norway, Sweden and the US. The bike pictured was originally run by FIM Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop.


Don scott races a Dodge Daytona 500 in Super Stock. He said 'I have had the car for five years and imported it from North Carolina. It came with a 383cu engine but was scruffy so I did a complete rebuild and sold the engine. The new engine is a Hemi stroked to 472ci and it runs mid 10s on gas. However yesterday the time slipped to a 12.7 so I dialled that and then broke out and ran a 12. I also do demo runs at Brands Hatch


Dan Sharp bought the original Stagecoach but found the body had been narrowed so it was barely wider than the chassis. He said ' Our crewman Scott and I spent a year remodelling it to make it proportional with a new front and adding material to it. Then it was too heavy so we took a mould from it and made a new body. We also made a fibreglass copy of the Austin Ruby grille and modified it to lay it back. The chassis is tagged to 6.0. The engine is a 454 BBC from a truck with all new internals and TH400 gearbox. We have done seven runs so far not used full throttle and recorded a couple of 10.9s'.


Dave Nelson was happy with an 8.7 pass this morning. 'The car runs straight and is a dream to drive. We are still working on the motor tune-up. The air is not good and I also shut off because the temperature guage was too high, however we have been given advice by Karl Harrison on tuning. The engine was built by Mark Pacey'.


Arthur Bonner (pictured right) originally bought the Prefect that would become Detroit Spinner in 1974 and found the local American Auto Service company in West Drayton helpful. 'I said I wanted a Hemi but they had a 400ci engine out of a Pontiac Parisienne available and also a Jaguar gearbox and rear axle. I ran it from '74 to '83 when I rolled it after changing from circuit slicks to drag slicks which caused the castor angle to be incorrect. It now has a modern chassis and after several Jag parts broke I now have a 9 inch Ford rear axle and TH400 box which is changed manually as the car launches at 5000rpm and goes to 8000rpm. It also has 1150 Holley carb and Nascar manifold and heads. After Arthur ran 12.8, team member Paul Dale will be driving the car at Hot Rod Drags in September.


Bengt Stafberg from Sweden is here with his altered Gas Rat 2 which was originally built in 1973. Engine is an injected 454 BBC on methanol, trans Powerglide, rear axle Ford. Best times were 8.8.


Wayne Allman (pictured right) drives the Mental Breakdown dragster/funny car based on a VW Type 2 and crewing for him this weekend is Rod Hynes who worked at San Fernando strip in the 1960s and also drove a number of fuel altereds and cackled The Addict which was owned by the late Rocky Childs. Wayne said 'It is great to drive the car here and at other nostalgia events in the UK and it handles well'.


Jeff Byne started with an unblown 650cc Triumph in 1970 and then bought a frame from Ray Feltell and ran a blown 750cc engine to the 1974 ACU Top Bike Championship. After a pools win he built a new bike with a Puma 750 engine which he ran until a top end spill inspired him to campaign for handlebar lanyard shut-off (previously the only shutoff was a valves on the engine). Another bike, with a John Clift frame ran successfully until 1982 with a best of 8.02/181 including trips to Mantorp and Zandvoort. The bike was run on 60-70% nitro and powered two 820cc Triumph engines with two superchargers fed by SU carb bodies and separate fuel pumps. Jeff said 'Since I stopped racing I have been carp fishing and scuba diving and returned to the sport at Dragstalgia 2012'.


'King' Harold Bull's son Simon has built this beautiful replica of Stripduster over the last year with input from Harold himself. The plan is to have the car out on track in the very near future. The records that Harold is proudest of are the three world records for Standing quarter, 500m and kilometre all set at Elvington. To the team's knowledge all three remain unbroken for that class of car.


John Hobbs has rebuilt Olympus, which he orignally built in 1967, on display. It is powered by a supercharged 500cc 1956 Triumph T100 engine and took the standing start kilometre record at an average of 110.4mph in 1968. It was also the first 500cc bike to run under 10s with a 9.68/137.7 back in the day.


Roy Webb (pictured left), father of Split Second jet dragster driver Julian, ran the Spiderman altered between 1979 and 1985. The chassis is ex-Tim Claxton Rifle Jeans and is powered by a 302ci injected SBC with Powerglide. Julian drove this car from 1988 to 2000 including a year in the Wild Bunch. The car was rested for 13 years and, after being driven by Roy once more this weekend, will be passed to its new owner John Hughes who plans a 2015 debut at York. As well as Split Second, Roy owns six historic drag bikes.


Bob Glassup has constructed this Capri Mk1 Nostalgia Funny Car to class specs and to include a British vehicle. He said 'I have come full circle as my first racecar was a Capri Mk1 and I wanted to prove that British bodied funny cars not a dead spieces. The chassis came from my altered and I have a strong engine from Tony Betts' Venom that has been refitted with a 6/71 blower and correct pump and mag'. Special thanks went to Paul and Sara Bland who helped create the fibreglass body. Now a mould has been created further bodies can be created and customer orders will be considered. Bob will bring the car out next year.


Ray Turner races Green Onions with the Gasser Circus and has owned the car for 30 years. He said 'It is powered by a 327ci small block Chevy with TH350 trans and 12 bolt rear axle. The interior is stripped out and two bucket seats installed'. Ray has been racing with the Gasser Circus for the last four years.


Mark Holmes owns this Model A and bought it four months ago from a friend who in turn bought it from original constructor Chris Burrows. It has a replica Ford A chassis and stock Rover 3.5 engine which will be replaced soon with a Chevy. He said 'This is a bit of fun, I raced a Pro Street Escort last year and will be building a new race car for next year or so'. Mark competes in the Outlaw Street series.


This Minor owne by Trudy Slater is also in Outlaw Street. Mark Wallington, series organiser, told us 'We are a race series open to anyone with an MOT and street legal, with an emphasis on hot rods. There are 61 cars entered for the series. The series is run over eight meetings at SPR and SCR and points are split on best performance and best improvement to give the slower cars incentive to run and develop. The scoring is on a day by day basis meaning racers don't have to attend all days of a meeting and there is also a reaction time trophy'. The series is sponsored by American Car Magazine and Joe & Co.


Ian Merryweather, builder of the Banzai Cobra which he ran in Super Gas, built this pearlescent Willys between 2004 and 2009. The engine is a 464ci BBC with stock internals and has air ride suspension, as it was built for Pro street, with four link rear setup and independent front. He said 'I moved to the Isle of Man in 1997 and have done 10,000 miles there'. Ian, with Mac Forbes, runs the Manx Drag Association and a number of cars will be appearing on the historic sea front in Douglas on 30-31 August this year.


Tony Osbourne's '41 Willys Head Hunter has a supercharged BBC from I.C.E. Automotive and is one of 28 cars entered in the first Willys Wars.


Lee Hollis's exceptionally clean '65 Chevy C10 truck has a SBC of 383ci and three speed manual trans. The truck had a body off, bare metal restoration to the cab, bed and chassis and sports Vintage Smooth Classic wheels.


Jeff Hawksworth of Derby has this Wolseley 15/50 with supercharged 350ci Chevy engine, a great example of British cars being a basis for hot rods and capable of 12 second times.


UK pioneer Ken 'Mr Flathead' Cooper and son Bradley are here with a replica chassis of the old 'Blast from the Past' car, named appropriately 'Back from the Past'. Ken said 'I first raced in 1964 with the Dragfest and attended the opening of Santa Pod. I raced until 1981 and in eighteen years missed only four meetings'. The car has a 293ci engine with four Stromberg carbs running on methanol and a C4 Mustang trans converted to manual shift and transbrake. The car has only done four runs on the present motor (a type that can still be sourced through Ebay) and has run a best of 11.4/118 at Avon Park. The car's period correctness extends to Namco wheels and piecrust slicks.


Jamie Hughes' Land Rover body has been made from spare panels that Jamie has at his business of mending Land Rovers. He said 'The body used to be a Ford Consul and I got the Land Rover panels to fit, using stock itms apart from those on the upper side'. The engine is a big block Ford with twin turbo chargers and a Fast Fuel Injection. The quickest pass so far is 9.6. 'I put a different cam in for this meeting and the car doesn't like it and the 60ft times are still at 1.6/1.7'. The car which is street legal can be seen at SCR and York.


Jim Tanner is a new entry to the sport, having built hot rods in the past and now his first dragster called Wavy Gravy. He said 'The name is based on a saying from 60's Philadelphia DJ Mad Daddy Myers and also the title of a favourite compliation album of mine'. The car started three years ago with a chassis kit from Johnny 'Mental' Hall of Stanford Speed Shop. A checkout pass yesterday showed the engine was running too lean. The engine is a 406cu SBC with chromed twin Edelbrock carbs and Powerglide trans. Jim plans to run Wild Bunch events later in the year.


Adrian Sidwell has owned his Opus One altered for forty years. He said 'I was the second or third owner and have blown it up and rebuilt it several times. I drive it on the street for 50% of the time and in 2001 was in the Goodwood Festival of Speed'. Geoff moved the rear axle back by about a foot so he sits ahead of it rather than on it. The supercharger is an Allard Shorrock Dragstar C142 from the Allard Dragon that was run by Colin Pattison in the 1960s having won it in a competition. The engine is a pre-crossflow Ford with crossflow components. Adrian finished 'I have a best of 15.03/86 and want to run a 14 here with larger diameter slicks.'


Andy Jackson is the owner of the Econorail project car featured in Custom Car around 1972. Andy said 'I ran it in 1986-7 and then sold it, and bought it back last year. The car is basically original with just a few mods. The builder Ian Fraser (pictured right) said 'I did the Econorail build through an introduction to Custom Car from my friendship with Clive Skilton. Custom Car wanted a serialisation of a simple dragster build that anyone could do but I got carried away and built a blown Ford V6 sidewinder which was hard to continue to serialise monthly. The main change is to replace the Morse chains with an idler gear'. The Ford V6 runs a Wade blower and home made injection and manifold. The car's best was a 9.42/143 in 1973 on alcohol. Ian was a builder of Clive Skilton's Revolution III and said 'We were learning a lot in those days.'


Mark Fox aka Foxy is the driver of Freddy Cougar. He said 'I have had the car for seven years. The original importer wanted the engine out of it but in the end sold the car turnkey. I modified the brakes and suspension and put in a manual T5 gearbox from Ford Motorsport. I habve run the car at rwybs and Gamblers races for the last 2-3 years, the best time is 13.5/102. The engine is a 302ci with ported heads and hydraulic cam, with aftermarket headers and manifold.



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