Spring Nationals. SPR. In front of a record crowd of 12,000 spectators Freddie Whittle ran "Shutdown" at 11.06 120mph. Dennis Priddle in the Woolfes Whistler  recorded an 11.1 at 116.55 mph. Mike Hutcherson driving Nobby Hills blown Caddy "Houndog II"  ran 11.3/135.14 mph. Bruce Browns Chevy powered "Prospector II" digger recorded a 10.58 and a 10.63 at over 128 mph and Tony Anderson's blown V6 engined Trouble ran 10.62 and 10.69 at over 121 mph. Top Speed of the meet went to John Siggery's fuel injected Oldsmobile "Geronimo" with 135.67.  Santa Pod debuted the 'Gloworm' Capri, (often credited as being the first UK Funny Car) driven by Roy Phelps. The car featured a big block Ford V8 that had been found in a boatyard.

To see class results from this meeting click here. (Bill Dossett)

SPR.The Inaugural Meeting of the NDRC. Bill Weichelt ran an off the trailer 9.52 qualifying pass at 145mph in the Dos Palmos Dragster. Mike Hutcherson in Houndog managed a 9.7 at over 130mph, his first nine second run. In the first round of eliminations Hutcherson found himself playing catch up after a holeshot from Tony Anderson's Trouble. At 1000ft it looked like he was going to make it but a rod let go, locking the rear end and sending the car into the safety barrier. Hutcherson was unhurt. Anderson found himself up against Weichelt for the final but his 10.64/113.32 was no match for a 9.58/143.47. 

For meeting results click here. (Steve Collins)

The NDRC held a one-day meeting on the old aerodrome at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk. Amongst those present were Dennis Priddle, Bill Weichelt, John Siggery, Harold Bull, Phil Elson, Brian Gleadow, Tony Dickson and Brian Chapman. Gate receipts from the 7000 fans at Martlesham were £2319.19s.6d. Bill Weichelt took the Chevy powered Dos Palmos dragster to its second NDRC final win. Each successive smoky run saw him take the car deeper into the nines, culminating in a 9.696s win over a 10.182 from John Siggery in the Top Eliminator final. Traction was proving difficult to find for most classes, not least the Buick powered cars of David Render (Top Street Ginetta G12) and Pete Smith (Hush Too Altered). Both found themselves smoking and sideways for 400ft before getting staright and winning their respective runs. Cliff Jones took Opus One to the Top Comp final win with a 12.37, having run a best of 12.162.  It was at this meeting that Dennis Stone purchased the car from Cliff. There was mixed car and bike match racing also to provide entertainment. One notable encounter was Mick Butler, on the 998cc Vincent Pegasus, taking on the Stripduster rail of Harold Bull. Butler smoked the entire quarter to an 11.41 only to be beaten by a spectacular out of shape wheelstanding blast from Bull, with a slower 11.57.

To see all the final results from this meeting click here. (Steve Collins)

SPR. BDR&HRA Meeting.

For meeting results click here.(Steve Collins)

Blackbushe. NDRC Meeting.The first appearance of the new Priddle-Riswick-Gane Fueler, unfortunately teething troubles kept it out of competition.

For meeting results click here.(Steve Collins)

SPR. NDRC Meeting.

For meeting results click here. (Steve Collins)

SPR held its first RAC sanctioned International meeting but only two international entries arrived from an expected field of eight. These were Lars Nigell & Hazze Fromms "Roaring Viking" Capri Funny and the "Valkyrion" dragster of Bjorn Anderson. The meeting was run as two separate eliminations, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday. It appears that the main event was the Sunday elimination as many cars did not run on the first day. On Saturday Dennis Priddle put in an 8.31/168.07 qualifier, while Clive Skilton clocked an 8.55/154.8 in his newly unveiled Revolution 11. Bjorn Anderson managed a 9.67/143 despite raw fuel pumping onto the slicks. Allan Herridge took Firefly to a 9.44/145 and John Siggery ran a 9.53/133. Harold Bull put in a ten second qualifier while Fromm put in a 9.86/133 instantly making him the fastest full bodied car to ever hit the Santa Pod strip. Middle Dragster eliminations saw John Whitmore in Dragonfly beat the Quarter Horse of Bill Haynes with an 11.83/106 to a 13.77/92.59. Gerry Cookson had an easy 15.83/90.52 win over Doug Harler who lost fire on the start line. Reg Sommers MAB advanced with an 11.7 against a 14.15 from J. Rotherham's Scorpion and Harold Bull pulled a trio of wheelies in his 10.37/131.9 defeat of an ailing 19.63/66.49 from Ken Penfolds kart. In the semi finals "King Harold" beat Sommers before it was Cooksons turn to lose fire letting Whitmore through to the final. The E.T. clocks failed for the final, which was won by Bull at 130.38mph to Whitmore's 112.36. Top Dragster eliminations saw an out of shape run from Priddle beat John Siggery with an 8.9/135 to a 9.51/133. Skilton then defeated Anderson with an 8.75/152 to a 9.7/141. Herridge had a bye and clocked a 9.7/147. In the first semi Priddle and Skilton put on a great show, with Dennis taking the win, 8.28/183 to 8.32/173. In the other Herridge had another bye, but chose to run against Densham at the same time. He then red-lit, running a 10.5 against an 8.83, but advanced to the final anyway. With the Firefly's clutch on the way out Herridge gave it his best shot for the win but a 10.6/137 was no match for an 8.35/174 from Priddle. At the top end though Priddle had his vision impared as oil coated his goggles and he crashed through the 200 yard braking board totally wrecking the front end and putting him out of action for the next days competition. To make matters worse he had earlier borrowed the front wheels from John Siggery after a puncture in a previous round. This meant that John would also have been unable to run on the Sunday until Alan Blount nipped home to Kettering and lent him the wheels from his part built new car. On Sunday Allan Herridge stepped into the driving seat of Alan Blount's Weekend Warrior fueler as Alan didn't have an international race licence. Many cars who were not present, or hadn't run, on the previous day made an appearance, including Bill Weichelt in Dos Palmos machine, Mike Hutcherson in Nobby Hills Cadillac rail, Tony Anderson's Trouble, Dave Render (doing double duty in his Fiat and Ginetta) and the Otis Blue team with their V6 Escort. Also, making a reappearance at Santa Pod, was the Wild Thing Anglia Altered bult in 1965, previously running a Jaguar powerplant but now with a Chevy V8. In qualifying Bill Weichelt made a promising start with a strong 8.85, his best yet, but the diff split open at the top end. John Siggery's Geronimo suffered a wrecked block whilst running an 85% nitro load and Doug Harler lost a blower pipe. Skilton and Densham both ran eights and Roy Phelps put in an 11.4 in the Gloworm. In the Top Dragster eliminations Mike Hutcherson took an easy first round win at 16.14 after Skilton's butterflies stuck open. Reg Sommers pulled a red light on an 11.63 whilst Anderson took the Valkyrion to a 9.5 win. Herridge put in a 10.83/129.53 bye in Weekend Warrior and Harold Bull beat John Whitmore 10.4/128 to 11.15/109. In the semis Hutcherson defeated Herridge with a 10.2/128 to a 12.23/119 while Anderson advanced to the final with a 9.68/143 to a valiant 10.19/132 from Bull. In the final it was Anderson who took the win with a 9.27/144 to a 10.27/129.8 from the Houndog car. Middle Dragster went to Bill Haynes, who had a bye in the semi finals, and had defeated Gerry Cookson in the first round 13.51 to 15.75. His opponent, John Rotherham had defeated Doug Harler in the semis.Top Competition eliminations saw Fromm wipe the floor with the competition. He beat Phil Elson in the semis with a 9.87/143 to a 12.44/97.5, and took the final win with an 11.2/110.5 to a 15.9/88 from Blue Bottle.The Top Eliminator for bikes saw Dennis Norman run his quickest ever with a 9.92 defeat of John Hobbs, who broke a chain. In the final Norman came up against Ian Messenger on Pegasus and won with a 9.93/134.9 to a 10.19/141. Roy Phelps challenged the Nigell-Fromm team to a Capri Funny Car match race, but was soundly beaten by a 9.87/147 to an 11.37/133.

For all class results click here (Supplied by Steve Collins)

Elvington. NDRC Meeting. In front of 1186 adult & 200 child spectators Clive Skilton became the first European racer to run into the sevens with a 7.84. This meeting was originally intended to be held at Martlesham Heath but it was moved to Elvington following complaints about noise from Martlesham residents after the May meeting. At this meeting Bill Haynes, in his 'Quarter Horse' Dragster took part in a head to head match race with a motorcycle. In a best of three match the result stood at one each before fading light prevented the final round being run. (Bill Haynes).

For meeting results click here. (Steve Collins)

Hullavington. BDR&HRA 'On Tour' Meeting. Due to a small entry list only four eliminations were run, each with eight competitors or less. Dennis Priddle and Tony Densham ran some demonstrations, Priddle recording two 8.36s and The Commuter running an 8.5. All the competitors had to battle with gale force winds and the meeting only started after Kevin Pilling had put in a test run and decided everything would be OK.

For results click here (Steve Collins)

SPR. August Bank Holiday Meeting.Clive Skilton dipped into the sevens again after his historic run two weeks earlier at Elvington with a new low E.T. record of 7.56/179mph in his 'Revolution' dragster.

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SPR. NDRC Meeting.

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Elvington. NDRC & Auto 66 Club meeting. Dennis Priddle ran low E.T. of the meeting at 7.30/210 in the Hot Wheels fueler. This was a new low ET mark for the UK. His match race opponent, Clive Skilton in Second Revolution was close behind him with a best of 7.36. 

For all class results click here. (Steve Collins)

Dunkeswell. NDRC Meeting. The largest NDRC crowd of the year so far turned up to watch the action. Dennis Priddle in the Hot Wheels fueler and Bill Weichelt in Asmodeus held a best of three match race. As Asmodeus was a gas burning dragster Bill was given a one second head start but was soundly beaten three nil by Dennis who ran a best time of 7.6. Roy Phelps brought along the FGR Wheelie Stingray to put on a show for the crowds.

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Blackbushe. NDRC. 120 competitors and 12000 spectators attended this NDRC meeting which was sponsored by Radio Luxembourg. The startline had to be painted before any racing could take place. Dennis Priddle in the Hot Wheels fueler and Bill Weichelt in Asmodeus held a best of three match race. As Asmodeus was a gas burning dragster Bill was given a two second head start and won with two out of three. Dennis however ran the quickest ET of the day with a 7.35. This was "Wild Bills" last appearance in the UK. After this meeting Bill packed up and returned to his native USA along with the car. Whatever happened to him after that? If anyone out there knows please contact me. Brian Chapman put in a run of 10.77seconds aboard his 500cc Vincent. This time made him the quickest single cylinder rider in the world. Dennis Stone drove the 'Opus One' altered to a new personal best of 9.95seconds to win the Top Competition final.

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RAF North Luffenham. NDRC Meeting.

For meeting results click here. (Steve Collins)

SPR. Season opener. Making its debut at this meeting was the new Stones altered named Doo-wot. It was the ex Tee Total chassis of Benbow & Fullerton with the 427 Chevy out of Opus One. Dennis Stone put in the first couple of runs in the car which were both high tens. Then Dave took over for a match race with John Siggery in Geronimo. Geronimo took the first race in 9.3 seconds as the altered travelled a lot further than a quarter mile on the pass in 10.2 seconds. The second race was much closer with Siggery once again winning in 9.7 seconds to the 9.8 pass from the altered. Gerald Cookson once again was victorious in Junior Dragster. Middle Dragster was a best of three between Harold Bull and John Whitmore which Bull took 2-1. Tony Anderson was the winner of Senior dragster. In Top Comp bike, Norman Hyde took a 10.64/132.98 walkover as Nigel Dodd's bike died on the line. George Woods was the winner in Senior Comp bike recording 12.46/122.99 to defeat the quicker but losing 12.23/105.04 of Pete Irons. Alan Glide triumphed in Middle Comp bike as Roy Corbett saw red as he went too soon. (Clive Rooms)

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North Luffenham. NDRC Meeting. Rain on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon held up proceedings but all the classes were completed. Clive Skilton put in a single run in his 'Revolution III' fueler. He lost traction as soon as he launched and smoked the tyres before shutting off and seizing the fuel pump. Dave Stone had a wild ride in the wet in the final of Top Competition Altered. He kept his foot in all the way as 'Tee Rat' slid one way and then the other to an 11.43 win over Phil Elsons 15.08 in 'Sneaky'. Harold Bull was present with his twin-engined version of 'Stripduster' but he struggled to get it running well and ended up breaking a crankshaft.  Steve Collins made the Junior Dragster final, where he faced Malcom Locker's 1780cc Volvo rail which had run a 12.23 for the number one qualifing spot. At half track however the Volvo expired leaving Collins with an easy 13.35 win. In Top Street Ivan Fryer, who had won the prize for the racer who travelled furthest to the meeting, went out in the first round to the Barracuda of Thom Marshall who went on to take the final against Dave Rose's Chrysler powered Mk 2 Zodiac. Top Bike was reduced from six to four competitors as Ray Feltell and dave Clee failed to get out of the pits. Tony Weedon won the first semi on his 500cc Triumph with a 12.83 over the 650cc Triumph of Dave Coles. Norman Hyde then took a 12.37 win on his 741cc Triumph Roadrunner over a 13.33 from the twin engined 1300cc Triumph of Stu Bently. Hyde took the honours in the final.

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SPR. Big Go. Dennis Priddle achieved the first six-second run outside the U.S. with a 6.995 /185 he followed it up with a 6.93/208mph  late on the first day. Clive Skilton had a bad back and did not run until the second day, by which time Priddle had run 6.95/208. In the final race Priddle beat Skiltons red-lighting 7.27 with a 6.93.Other results; Mike Hutcherson in Houndog ran a 9.02/164 to beat Bruce Brown in Age Machine in Top Dragster. In Senior Dragster Tony Anderson in his new Daimler powered dragster ran 10.10/128 to beat Ray Hoare in Saxon. In Top Comp Colin Mullens Chevy powered Firenza, Invader, beat the Chrysler powered Bantam Altered of Freddie Whittle, Shutdown.The Top Street title went to Tony Dicksons Money Hungry Camaro, running an 11.90 to beat Thom Marshalls Plymouth Barracuda at 12.40. (Simon Groves) Harold Bull was back after the previous weeks problems with a single engine in 'Stripduster'. In the Altered classes Fred Whittle had problems with 'Shutdown' and could not keep the motor running and the Stones team had trouble with 'Tee Rat' destroying clutch plates. Kevin Pilling found new power in 'Pure Seven' and pulled an eight foot wheelie which resulted in a twisted chassis putting him out of action. In Junior Dragster the Sayers Hillman Imp supercharged rear-engined dragster crossed the centre line at the top end, hit the timing mirrors and left the track flipping end over end. The driver was unhurt. There were some new sights for British fans at this meeting. SPRs fueler 'Firefly' was using a 'portable and detachable' starter for the first time, and John Hobbs and Mick Butler treated spectators to rolling burnouts from their Top Bikes in a series of match races that saw Hobbs come out on top with some sound nine second runs. As well as running into the sixes in his fueler Dennis Priddle took to the controls of the newly imported Stanford/Riswick 'Kielbasi Kid' Camaro in Top Street. Neither Pete Stanford or Dave Riswick had obtained competition licenses and so persuaded Dennis to drive. He lost out to Dickson in Money Hungry who went on to win Top Street on both days with a 12.25/112.87 on Sunday and an 11.99/114.29 on Monday despite fierce competition from Thom Marshalls Barracuda. Marshall was trying everything he could to beat Dixon, including switching between Holley and Carter carbs, but it wasn't enough. Nobby Hills new Houndog rail, driven by Mike Hutcherson and now running a blown 354ci Chrysler, took the Top Dragster win on both days, with a 9.48/135.87 and a 9.32/165.56. John Siggery in Geronimo failed to live up to his predicted nine second capability as the injected Oldsmobile engine repeatedly stalled or bogged off the line. Bruce Brown was now running the ex-Hillbillies 454 Chevrolet engine in his rail and was rewarded with a new personalbest of 9.4 seconds. Ken Cooper took his Flathead V8 powered Bazooka 3 rail to a 12.40/11 win on Sunday, but lost out to Tony Anderson on Monday who ran a sound 10.19 in his Daimler V8 powered More Trouble dragster. Two racers stationed in the UK with the USAF were running in the Street Classes. Bill Marshall took his 351ci Cleveland powered Mustang to a Senior Street win on Monday with a 15.29/91.58, and Jim Soloman won Middle Street on both days with a 16.77/80.19 and a 17.37/78.37 from his 2 litre Opel Manta. One other new attraction opened at this meeting. Santa Pod's new toilets were available on the pit side of the strip, making them subject to a 30p entry fee. 

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SPR. BDR&HRA Fireworks Meeting. Dennis Priddle and Allan Herridge came together for the final of Top Fuel. Priddle took the win with Herridge gaining at the top end before going sideways and striking the barrier of the spectator lane bursting a tyre and damaging the rear of the car. On pulling the chute the car straightened up and Bootsie managed to stop it safely. Later he brought it out to entertain the crowd with some fire burnouts. Phil Elson ran 9.73/148 in 'Sneaky' to defeat Dave Stone in 'Tee Rat'. Keith Harvey ran a seasons best of 11.26/121 in his 440ci Camaro 'Firebrewed' making him the quickest Stocker in the UK. He went on to defeat Tony Dickson in Money Hungry and, in the Top Street final, Gary Goggin in the 'Super Vette' after a two minute burnout.  

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SPR BDRHRA Season Opener. Top Fuel saw Mike Hutcherson and Allan Herridge run identical 8.53s in qualifying. Hutcherson in 'Houndog' was running the old 392 motor from Herridges 'Firefly' and hit 181mph. Dennis Priddle made number one spot with a 7.05. In eliminations Herridge performed a flame burnout before coming to the line alongside 'Houndog'. The car then lost fire and Hutcherson soloed to the final. Priddle soled for his place also. In the final a hard wheel-lifting charge from Hutcherson was never going to be enough to beat Priddle who got back into the sixes with a 6.96/176.99 win. Dave Stone took top spot in Comp Altered with a 9.21/164 in 'Tee Rat'. Phil Elson was running a new slipper clutch in 'Sneaky' but a loss of oil pressure in the semi-final saw Bob Braysher, out for the first time in the Tyresales Teams Ford motored 'Texas T' make it to the final. In the other semi Dave Stone easily defeated Colin Mullans 'Invader'. The final was an easy win for 'Tee Rat' with an 8.81/167.74. This meeting saw the first ever UK Pro Stock eliminator. Only three cars entered, Kevin Pilling in 'Satans Toy' (The ex-Keilbasi Kid), Peter Crane in the ex-Rod Shop Camaro and Tony Dickson in the 'Money Hungry' Camaro, the first US Pro Stock car to be imported to the UK. Dickson took the title on a solo run. In Junior Dragster Gerry Cookson appeared with a Wade blower for the first time and knocked half a second off his previous best to take the win in the final. Brian Ringsells blown 331 Chrysler rail 'Taxi' made a brief re-appearance but had problems. Reports sate that Brian couldn't fit into it! Tony Weedon wrote off his Triumph bike when a cross wind at the top end of the strip caught him unawares and sent him into the opposite lane, just missing opponent Wilf Barry. Tony suffered bruises and a cut to his head. Brian Chapman, on his 'Mighty Mouse' Vincent, ran the quickest bike time of the day with a 10.48 in qualifying. Derek Goodman won the Top Street Bike class with a 14.05 on his Norton. Runner up was P. Butler who put in a slow 20.10 with a duff plug.

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Castrol /RAC NDRC National Championship Round One. Wroughton, Wiltshire. 9000 spectators turned out to witness the start of the 1973 NDRC National Championship. 75 entries was a lower than expected turnout and the infamous NDRC timing equipment was playing up and refused to give out any terminal speeds. Star of the day was Clive Skilton who was debuting his newly imported, ex-Kuhl & Olsen fueler with its 446ci Beadle-built Dodge Hemi. Clive clocked a 7.18 off the trailer on only 60% nitro before lining up for a match race with Roland Pratt. Pratt was driving Clives car from the previous year, with a new paintjob and sponsorship from Accles & Pollock. He put in a smoky familiarisation pass, shutting off at half track before the match. The first leg saw Skilton win with a 7.10 to Pratts early shut off 8.44. The second round saw Pratt into the sevens for the first time with a 7.83 loser to Skiltons 7.11. The final round saw Pratt get his revenge with a 7.71 while Skilton bogged off the line and went every which way but straight in an effort to catch up, eventually losing with an 8.37. Kevin Pilling ran a 12.84 in the new 'Satans Toy'  Camaro Pro Stocker on a trial run. He followed this up with a new personal best of 11.08 but lost the propshaft and damaged his T.10 gearbox, putting him out of action for the rest of the day. In Senior Street Dave Grady took his 302ci Holden (the first seen at an NDRC event) to a 15.07 for #1 qualifying spot, just ahead of Ian Frasers Mustang at 15.30. The anticipated Pro Stock match race between Keith Harvies 'Fire Brewed' and Kevin Pillings 'Satans Toy' never materialised because Harvies £2000 all aluminium motor threw a rod and destroyed itself. The explosion was so severe that the errant rod embedded itself in the front cross member and resisted all attempts to remove it. Brian Bucknall took his twin cam Lotus 7 to #1 qualifier and the Middle Street win at his first ever drag race. Qualifying saw Freddie Whittle go to #1 spot in Top Competition with an off the trailer 8.92 in the 'Shutdown' Altered. Fred went on to win 2/2 in the Top Comp match race with Colin Mullans 'Invader'. Ray Hoare and John Whitmore were the only qualifiers in Senior and Top Dragster and so decided to make a match race of it. The first round went to Hoare in 'Saxon' who clocked his first nine with a 9.97 to Whitmores 10.37. He improved on this in round two with another win and a 9.61 while Whitmore got out of shape on a 10.84. The third round saw a malfunction on the tree causing an uneven start. Whitmore clocked a 10.04, his best of the day, while the bad start saw Hoare follow with a 10.07. Top Bike was won by Peter Miller, on his 500cc 'Mendusa', with a 9.77 second blast to beat Don East who ran 10.88 on 'Quasimodo' after missing a gear. Junior Motorcycle was won by John Clift recording 12.64 on his 350cc B.S.A. 'Earwig', closely followed by Ron Cheeseman with 13.15, whose wife was also runner up in the Street Eliminations for cars. In the Street Motorcycle class victory went to C. Russell on his Triumph 'Reflection'. He was the only entrant! John Lloyd debuted his new creation, a 1600cc VW motored bike called 'Locomotion'. He suffered clutch problems, a regular fault of the larger engined bikes.

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SPR. Custom Car Springnationals. In a bizzare match race John Whitmore, in his new rear engined 1300cc BMC rail, faced up to Dennis Priddles Mr Six. John was away from the line first but by the 1/8th Dennis was ahead to win with a 7.02 to Johns 10.50/139. Dennis also ran a two match race against Allan Herridge in Firefly. Priddle won both races, the first with a 7.80/205 after Bootsie red lit, and the second with a 6.87/208 hole shot to a 7.55/198. Mike Hutcherson ran a best ever 8.07/191 but the chute deployed late and Mike dented the nose of the car on the safety drums at the end of the strip. The fourth Top Fuel entry was the aging Commuter, now driven by John Siggery. His qualifying time of 8.50 put him in fourth place. Also recording a personal best was Ray Hoare in Top Dragster, a 9.64/154. A five car Pro Stock field saw Kevin Pilling take #1 qualifying spot with a 11.28 in Satans Toy. Gary Goggin was out for the first time in his new car and qualified with an 11.86. Peter Crane went out in qualifying when he put a couple of rods through the sump of his Easy Ridin' Camaro. Dave Stone was #1 qualifier in Comp Altered with a storming 8.77/166. John Lloyd was out again on his Locomotion VW powered bike but a smoky 10.90 was not quick enough to qualify. Mick Butler debuted his new twin Norton engined Super Cyclops and put in a couple of easy low eleven second shake down runs. Brian Chapman was out of luck when Mighty Mouse blew its 500cc Vincent motor all over the track after an earlier 10.72. Norman Hyde was top of the pile with a 10.37. The first round of Pro Fuel saw Priddles Mr Six up against John Siggery in the Commuter. A foregone conclusion on paper but as Priddle performed his burnout the blower belt broke and took out an oil pipe. Siggery soloed for an easy win. In the other semi Mike Hutcherson, having patched up the nose of Houndog, put a rod through the sump while Allan Herridge pulled a red light in Firefly. That meant that all Siggery had to do was get the Commuter to the end of the strip. This he did in an easy 10.88/134. Priddle and Herridge decided to run off for second place. After the burnouts Firefly cut out and the crew quickly re-started it. On the run the clutch gave way in Firefly and Herridge coasted through the lights at 8.94 behind Priddles 7.28/193.80 winner.

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Castrol/RAC NDRC National championship Round Two Fulbeck, Nottinghamshire. Despite the intermittent rain 6000 spectators turned up for the days action. Qualifying eventually got underway at 11am and went on until 1pm. Clive Skilton (Revolution IV) and Roland Pratt (Revolution III) were the only two fuelers present. Their first match race saw both cars loose fire on the line before re-starting. Clive ran 7.25/204 but Roland was left on the line with a broken throttle linkage. The second race saw Skilton win with a 7.40/194 to Pratts 8.85/109. Flames were spotted on Skiltons motor after the finish so the safety crew had to use an extinguisher to avoid any more problems. This meant that Clive was unable to make the last race. Pratt soloed to an easy 11.09. Meanwhile Christine Skilton pulled off a surprise victory in Senior Street, driving a Mercedes Benz 350 SLC Automatic. This won her the Sperex/RSD award for 'Best Lady Driver'. In the Street Bike final two Kawasakis met, Alan Davis (750cc) and Phillip Allen (500cc). Allen was keen to get a good start on the smaller machine and put on a little too much power off the line. The front wheel lifted and by 60ft Allen was pulling a huge wheelie. Undeterred he refused to close the throttle and rode through it, but failed to catch up with Davis' bigger bike.

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SPR. G-Max  Grand Fuel Meet. This meeting saw the completion of the rained off eliminations from the Big Go three weeks earlier. Dennis Priddle soloed for the Pro Fuel win after Clive Skilton failed to make the show. His 7.08/186 was the quickest time yet for the new car. John whitmore took the Top Dragster win, Gary Goggin ran 11.25/123.46 to beat Kevin pillings 11.23/125.79 in Pro Stock, Adrian York defeated Bob Oram 13.01 to 13.43 in Top Street while in Senior the win went to Ken Craigen. Junior went to David Vizard. Dave Clee took the Top Bike win with a strong 10.53/140.45 against Norman Hyde. In the meeting proper Priddle match raced the 'Houndog' slingshot. He took the win with a 7.20/203.25 while Mike Hutchinson ran a 7.52/196.08, the first seven second run for the Houndog team, knocking half a second of their previous best. Allan Herridge had a string of problems in 'Firefly'. First the axle gave up giving Bootsie an oil bath. Once that had been replaced the blower belt broke and the fuel tank split. Finally he made a straight 3/4 pass to check that everything was OK. John Siggery was to have run a best of three match race in the 'Commuter' against the Stones 'Tee Rat' but the Ford motor repeatedly lost fire as Dave Stone ran a series of 8.6s at 165-166mph. This was the last on-track appearance of the Commuter. In Top Bike Dave Clee set off on a rolling burnout only to have the motor backfire and spit a large chunk of the rubber inlet hose out at great speed into his throat. No serious damage was done though. Dennis Normans bike threw its clutch plates all over the start line and Norman Hyde came the closest to a nine second run at SPR so far in '73 with a 10.02/143.27 win over Keith Parnells 10.15/126.74 in the semis. Hyde then took the final with a 10.11 over Jeff Byne.

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Castrol NDRC National championship Round Three. Silverstone, (Admission £1, Grandstand seats 50p extra) this was the NDRCs first meeting at Silverstone and it attracted a less-than-expected 8000 spectators. Top Fuel saw an off the trailer 6.77/211 winner from Clive Skilton against the fueler of Swede John Anderson who ran 7.72/180 in the first of a best of three match race. Round two saw a failed fuel pump result in a 9.02 for Skilton while Anderson shut off early for an 8.71/133. The final race saw Skilton clock a best ever 6.61/217 (1mph off Allan Herridges speed record) while Anderson failed to better his 8.71. Top Dragster saw an unusual entry, the latest creation from Mark Stratton, a rear engined Funny Car driven by Ed Shaver. Running without a body on the car Shaver defeated John Whitmore in the semis with a 9.23/148 but lost fire in the final leaving Ray Hoare in his 'Saxon' to take the win. Malcolm Olley took the 'Pink Panther' slingshot to number one qualifying spot in Senior Dragster with an 11.41/123 but lost out to Ken Cooper who in turn was defeated by John Rotherham in the final. Swedens Anders Lantz made the trip over with his injected 427ci 1933 Plymouth and remained a second ahead of the rest of the Top Street field. His winning 10.73/132 in the final was three tenths of a second quicker than the Pro Stock winner. Top Competition saw Dick Sharpe reach the semi finals in his 'Dorset Horn' A35. There he met another visiting Swede, Bjorn Anderson and his 'Second Invention" Opel Manta Funny Car. An 8.78/150 saw off the A35 and in the final against Freddie Whittle in a re-painted 'Shutdown' he clocked an 8.54/174 to take the win over Freddies 9.07/161. Freddie had defeated the popular Rat-motored Topolino 'Maffia Mouse' of Willi Hestermann in the semis, 9.26/156 to 9.61/145. Yet another Swede made it to the final of Pro Stock. Gunne Back took his 'More Frighten' 427 Camaro to  a solo in the semi after Keith Harvey failed to get to the line after the burnout. In the final Kevin Pilling took the win with an 11.09/129 to Backs quicker 10.99/129, the only ten second Pro stock run of the day. Bob Oram took the win in Senior Street and in doing so dropped into the twelves for the first time with a 12.96/108.

For all class results click here.

SPR. Big Street and Motorcycle meet. Mike Hutcherson in Nobby Hills Houndog was the only Fueler present and a couple of easy runs resulted in a best of 7.86/156. Phil Elson took the Top Competition win with a 9.15/146 while opponent Freeman Rogers ran a new personal best of 10.40/138 in the Ford powered 'Aardvark'. In Pro Stock Kevin Pilling won the £25 Queensway Travel award for the quickest E.T. A new personal best of 10.67/130, backed up with a 10.84 in the other lane, put him in the #1 qualifying position in a five car field. He went on to win the elimination with a 10.81/131 to Gary Goggins 11.10/126. Richard Smith made #1 spot in Top Street with a 12.44 in the 'Russos Rat' Chevelle. Pete Andrews was at #2 with a 12.58 in his 'Maxines Toy' Corvette but a later practice run netted a stunning 11.51/118.34, lifting the wheels off the line. This made Andrews favourite for the final win but a red light left Richard Smith to take it with a 12.24/116 to Andrews 11.82/118. Low E.T. in the bike classes went to Duncan Hocking with a 10.01/143.88 on his 750 Triumph in the first round. He made it to the final but couldn't get it together on a 10.94/129 to a winning 10.27/131 from the 500 Triumph of Pete Miller.

For all class results click here.

Blackbushe, Surrey. NDRC Grandnationals. Castrol/RAC NDRC National championship Round Four. The NDRC came in for some criticism after this meeting for the state of its timing equipment and the lack of traction on the strip (the start line had been moved back from previous events). Three fuelers made an appearance, Dennis Priddle was first out but was unable to hook the car up and shut off to a 13 second pass. Clive Skilton managed a 7.52/202 and Roland Pratt took the Accles & Pollock car, now sporting the ex-Skilton 446ci stroker motor, to top spot with a 7.40. Skilton took the first win with a 7.59/202 while Priddle smoked and shut off with a shelled rear end and an 8.28 timeslip. Pratt then wrecked his motor while defeating Skilton, the clocks failing to provide a winning time and speed to Clives losing 7.74/192. With Pratt and Priddle now out of action Skilton was adjudged to be the class winner after a final, unremarkable, solo run. For the first time two British built Funny Cars appeared together. Liam Churchill put in two smokey ten second passes in the Barnet Motor Co. Capri while Ed Shaver drove the still unpainted rear engined Dodge powered Vauxhall machine. Top Dragster went to Tony Anderson with a 9.73 against a 9.92 from Ray Hoare after they had qualified with a 9.85 and a 9.33 respectively. The Pro Stockers had problems on the slippery strip with Gary Goggin making number one spot with an 11.37. His holeshot 11.80 took the final win from Tony Dicksons 11.59 in 'Money Hungry'. The ex-Bruce Brown Dragster 'Age Machine' was now in the hands of new owner Dave Prior. Don East injured his leg when his bike stuck in gear after leaving the rollers causing him to lose control and fall off. Keith Lee also had a spill, this time out on the track, as his Lambretta went into a huge wheelie and threw him off.

For all class results click here (supplied by Steve Collins)

SPR. BDR&HRA Supernationals. This weekend saw Owen Hayward take the controls of the ex-Paula Murphy STP Funny Car, now under the guidance of Nobby Hills and the Houndog team. He soon mastered burnouts and put in some easy passes. On one occasion he had to shut the motor off on the line (at the frantic insistence of Nobby Hills) as a combine harvester crossed the top end of the strip! Roy Phelps twice demolished the timing mirrors with the wheelie Stingray, and the police were called in to search the yellow tower after a hoax bomb alert. It rained a couple of times and DJ Dave Lee Travis turned up and ran a 54.88/17.64 on Cliff Jones pushbike. The rest of the meeting was reasonably normal by comparison. Once again Priddle and Skilton made it to the final of Pro Fuel, Clive by virtue of a 6.99/223.21 (top speed of the meeting) win over a wheelstanding Mike Hutcherson in Houndog, while Priddle defeated Allan Herridges 'Firefly' with a holeshot 6.78/181.82 to a 7.13/206.19. Priddle had qualified at #1 with a 6.70/200 on the Sunday. In a close final Skilton got there first with a 6.72/221 to Priddles 6.68/210. Top Dragster saw the debut of Roz Prior in the ex-Bruce Brown 'Age Machine' slingshot. Dave Prior had driven the car earlier at Blackbushe but had trouble fitting in the drivers seat so wife Roz took his place and clocked 132mph on her first run. She followed this up with a  10.37/141, a 10.21/145 and a 10.12/148. She went out in the semi finals to eventual winner Ray Hoare. In Senior Dragster John Whitmore spent Sunday night installing a new block in his 'Drag'N'Fly' rail. The effort was worthwhile as he won the final with a 10.20/142. Also burning the midnight oil on Sunday was Top Street competitor Pete Andrews. He was replacing the rear axle on his 'Maxines Toy' Stingray after a particularly violent wheelstanding launch. He then carved his way through the field on the Monday, beating Al O'Connor's Zephyr in the first round, 12.06 to 13.55. He then dispensed with Maurice Morley's Corvette withan 11.80 to a 14.60. In the final opponent Dave Rose red lit and Andrews took the win with a 12.10 which culminated in a seized engine. Junior Dragster saw Brian Parkins in good form with his 650cc 'Keele Kart'. He set a new class H record of 116.28mph and won his final. Ed Shaver was running the rear-engined Vauxhall Funny Car, now painted in the colours of sponsors Castrol, in Top Comp. The car revealed some alarming handling characteristics when Shaver pulled the chute after a 9.29/161 run. In the semis he ran an early shut-off 9.94/107 to be defeated by Dave Stones 8.95/159 in 'Tee Rat'. In qualifying Stone had run an 8.54. Phil Elson took the final when Stone pulled a red light. A new Pro Stocker made its debut. Peter Bennett was driving the newly imported, ex-Schwartz Bros Chevy Nova. He ran an easy 11.80/117 on his first pass but went out in Round one to Kevin Pilling. Gary Goggin set a new mph record of 136.24 in 10.70 seconds and took the final win with a best ever 10.67/134.95. John Hobbs had the dubious honour of being number eight qualifier at 10.23 seconds, the lowest ever bump spot in the Top Bike class. Brian Chapman amazed everyone by making number two spot with a 9.92/139 on his single cylinder 500cc Vincent 'Mighty Mouse'. Norman Hyde was at the top with a 9.86/141. The first round saw four nine second runs. Hyde beat Duncan Hocking 9.74/139 to 9.89/143 in the quickest bike race of the year so far but red lit in the semis to allow Pete Miller into the final. There he met Keith Parnell who had run his first nine in the semis, a 9.82/137 win over Brian Chapman. Miller took the win with a 9.94/138 as Parnell shut off with engine trouble.

For all class results click here.

Blackbushe, Surrey. NDRC Championship Finals. Castrol/RAC NDRC National Championship Round Six. Brian Bucknall became the 1973 NDRC Champion with another win in Middle Street in his 'Mellow Yellow' Lotus 7. Part of his prize included a brand new VW Beetle donated by the Skilton Motor Group. Clive Skilton himself had hopes of becoming the first RAC/Castrol series champion but a defeat by Dennis Priddle in the Top Fuel Final meant that Junior Street driver Robin Tallis took the title with a win over Lin Brown. Once again gremlins in the timing system meant that towards the end of proceedings flag starts were used.  In an effort to provide some grip a healthy spray of traction compound was applied, which improved things slightly for the top cars, but smoky runs were still very much in evidence. Top Fuel lost a competitor during qualifying when Roland Pratt, on an 8 second pass, damaged the Skilton Accles & Pollock car after handling problems at the top end caused him to demolish the timing lights, damaging the front end of the car. Top qualifier was Clive Skilton with a 7.5, followed by Dennis Priddle with a smoky 7.95 with an early shut off. Sweden's John Andersson in his Valkrian rail, which was awarded the Revell trophy for the best appearing car, was third with an 8.7 which saw him lose his blower. Round One saw Skilton solo to a 7.58 after earlier returning to the pits with a brake failure.  As he was towed back Priddle and Andersson came to the line, Andersson running with the blower borrowed from Pratt's car. As they prepared to stage a marshall stumbled behind Priddles car and on his way down released the chute. There was a delay while it was re-packed before Dennis took the with an 8.05 to a shut-off 12.78. In the flag started final Skilton had backed off slightly in an effort to improve traction and, despite a good launch, Priddle got there first with a 7.47 to a losing 7.74, both cars disappearing in clouds of tyre smoke in the fading light. Top Comp saw four Funny Cars competing for the honours, Ed Shavers rear-motored Vauxhall, Liam Churchills BaMoCo Dodge Capri and the Swedish entries of Jan Carlsson ('The Saint' a Volvo body over a blown 427ci Rat motor) and Bjorn Andersson (Opel Manta body over a 395ci Chrysler). Churchill beat Shaver with a 9.30 before going on to dispose of Carlsson. Andersson made his way to the final with a solo after Pete Atkins lost fire in his blown Oldsmobile Altered. In the final round the light was fading fast and Churchill was under the impression he had crossed the finish line and won when he shut off. Unfortunately he hadn't and Andersson powered past him to take the win with a 10.34 to Liams 10.56. Senior Comp saw Dick Sharpe's Pontiac powered A35 Dorset Horn continue it's winning streak with a string of mid-eleven second runs. The Page's Panic Topolino looked to be the only one that could stop him but when the two met in the final it was Sharpe that took the honours, 11.44 to 11.55. This win clinched the NDRC Senior Comp title for the year. Top Dragster saw Ray Hoares 'Saxon' run the best time of 9.63 having qualified at number one with a 9.78. Roz Prior and Martin Rowatt were next with 10.3s and Tony Anderson made number four with a 10s pass. In the final it was Hoare who got to the line first with a 9.92 to Andersons 11.79. Earlier Tony had also been into the nines with a 9.87 win over Jim Read. Gary Goggin was the only Pro Stocker to get into the tens in a four car field, with a 10.6 in qualifying. Tony Dickson made second spot with an 11.5, running apparently with a street cam. Swede Gunne Back in the 'More Frighten' Camaro was third with an 11.7 while Mike Aitken was having problems with his Music Machine Capri. In The first round Goggin looked to have victory over Back sewn up only to have the Swede pass him in the final few yards as his shifter failed and he lost top gear. In the other pairing Dickson's view of the flag start was obscured by his roll cage, and he watched helpless as Aitken left ahead of him and took the win. In the final it was Back's turn to suffer gearbox trouble but he still coasted over the line in 13.05 seconds to take the win as Aitken had used two gallons of fuel during the burnouts, and had none left to get him to the end of the track! Top Street saw the controversial inclusion of the 427ci Chevy powered Volvo of Sweden's Nils Rodeblad. In what one publication described as a "fully upholstered altered" he carved his way through the field to the final where he met the Hemi-Cuda of Mustapha Errol. It was Errol who came closest to ending the Swede's winning streak with a lose out 12.86 to a 12.10.

For all available results click here.

SPR. Castrol Championship Finals. Heavy rain on the first day put the qualifying session back by three hours, causing it to run over to the second day. More rain overnight and into the morning meant that the strip was not ready for action until noon on Sunday although the surface was still damp. The meeting was later called to an end before all the finals were run. Those that were unresolved were held over until the October 21st meet. Owen Hayward was getting to grips with the ex-Paula Murphy Funny car. He put in a solo pass and clocked an 8.85/187.97. Pro Fuel saw a three car field after Dennis Priddle failed to make the show. Clive Skilton was on form qualifying with a 7.01 before running a 6.86/224.22 in a solo first round blast followed by  a holeshot 6.75/224.72 against Allan Herridge in Firefly in the final. The speed on that final run secured a new European record for Clive, beating the mark set by Tony Nancy two and a half months earlier. Herridge had run a 7.44/211 in qualifying and had to shut off early in the first round after opponent Mike Hutcherson in Houndog suffered a burst slick and changed lanes in an effort to maintain control. John Whitmore saw his hopes of a season points victory in Top Dragster disappear as the brakes failed on his 'Drag 'n' fly" machine in the fire up road. The car came to rest heavily against a steel post writing off the front end. This left the Championship title to Ray Hoare. Roz Prior was leading the way in the eliminations in the 'Age Machine' Chevy dragster. She ran 9.44/154 in qualifying and beat Tony Anderson with a 9.64/156.25 to a 10.24/100.10 in round one. She had a solo in the semis and was due to meet Ray Hoare in the final before the meeting was curtailed. Dave Stone led the way in Top Comp despite strong challenges from the Funny Cars of Liam Churchill and Ed Shaver. Both the British built floppers made the semis but Shaver was defeated by Phil Elson in 'Sneaky' with a 9.92/114 to Eds 10.26/145 while Churchill went out to 'Tee Rat' with a red-lighting 10.12/132.10 to Stones 9.03/125. In the final it was the Rat all the way with an 8.71/159.74 to Elsons 10.32/102. This win clinched the Championship for the Stones team.  Senior Comp saw the Page team's Panic emerge again as the car to put an end to Dick Sharpe's domination of the class. They ran a 10.7 in practice and a bye run in the first round saw them improve to a 10.4. Sharpe managed a personal best of 11.08 before losing out  to Martin Hall in his Chevy powered Firenza, a winning 11.4 to a hole shot 11.2. In the final it was victory for Panic with a 10.05/132 as Hall missed a gear. Middle Comp saw the two Jaguar powered Altereds of Bob Messent and Pete Skinner meet for thge final. Messent's Stripteaser took the honours with an 11.9/117 over a 12.1/116. In Pro Stock Kevin Pilling led qualifying with a 10.7. Gary Goggin was second with a 10.9 followed by Tony Dickson at 11.38, Peter Bennett at 11.41, Andy Andrews at 12.2 in The Stones Tender Trap, and newcomer Steve Petrie at 13s in the ex-Harvie Camaro. Petrie improved in the first round with a 12.8 but ost to a strong 10.88 from Bennett. Tony Dickson took an easy bye at 12.3 while Goggin took a 10.66/121 win over a red lighting Pilling. Pilling was brought back to run alongside Dickson on his second consecutive bye and clocked a 10.8 while Dickson progressed with an 11.5. Goggin set a new personal best with a 10.55/122 win over Bennett on his way to the final. In the final Dickson, eager to make a good start, red lit and Goggin took the title despite his Camaro jumping out of gear and crossing the finish line over a second behind. Top Street saw Dave Rose run a new personal best of 12.38 on his way to the final. In the semi finals though he lost out to Bob Oram's E Type after one rear tyre was left wet from his burnout, a 12.6 not being enough to beat a 12.9. Ivan Fryer took the other semi final win with 14.1 after opponent Ralph Napolinato had his clutch explode. The final was one of those that got postponed.Mick Butler ran the quickest bike time of the year in qualifying with a 9.66/145 on his twin-engined Norton. Despite this he failed to make it past the first round. In street Bike Dave Rawlins set a new class record of 12.00/114.68 on his 850 Norton He went on to win the final.

To see the completed final results click here.

Santa Pod Raceway. BDR&HRA Drag Racing News Trophy Meeting. Dennis Priddle debuted his latest creation, the Shell sponsored Chrysler Avenger Funny Car. On its first run the car reared up dramatically about 25 yards out and crashed back down to earth heavily. Dennis was unable to compete anymore until the front end could be straightened out. In the morning the rained off finals from the October 7th meeting were run. Roz Prior was driving the 'Age Machine' Chevy dragster and, having taken a solo win in the rained off final from two weeks ago, met John Whitmore in the Top Dragster final for the event. Whitmore had just completed a hasty rebuild of his 'Drag 'n' fly' machine and had gone straight back into the nines on his first time out with a 9.95. In the final he pulled a holeshot on Prior and took the win with a 9.69/142 to a quicker 9.58/158. Bob Oram made a bye run to take the Top Street honours in the held-over final. Opponent Ivan Fryer was unable to make the meeting. Mike Hutcherson took the Drag Racing News award for the car nearest to 230mph with a 163mph run. Roz Prior was the next nearest with 158mph. Top Comp finished with no result as Phil Elson and Dave Stone both red lit. Elson rolled the beams first and Stone followed. Both cars were too hot to stage a re-run and so the final was held over until the November 3rd meeting. In Senior Comp Dave Page took 'Panic' into the nines for the first time with a 9.83/125 in the second round. He won the final with a 10.01 against Dick Sharpe. In Pro Stock all six Camaros made the show. Gary Goggin led the qualifying with a 10.67 followed closely by Kevin Pilling with a 10.69. Tony Dickson was next with a troubled 11.5 while Pete Crane followed with a 12.8 which resulted in a seized engine putting him out of action for the rest of the event. Steve Osmond-Petrie was having fuel starvation problems and recorded a 13.1. The final spot went to newcomer Sylvia Read with a 13.3 in Peter Bennett's Nova. Goggin laid down the UK's first 'resin burnout'. Two tracks of powder were laid out across the start line and Goggin burnt out through it. He was then backed up carefully in the tracks and proceeded to run a new record time of 10.40/134.95. He backed this up after the eliminations with a 10.46. In competition he ran a 10.52/135.69 but red lit in the process against Tony Dickson. Read had a bye run and clocked a 13.6 while Pilling, also on a bye, also ran 13.6 but broke a gearbox selector and had to retire. Read received another bye run in the semis, and found herself up against Dickson in the final at her first meeting. Her 14.7 run though wasn't enough to beat an off-form 12.4. Top Street saw only four cars entered, Dave Rose, Dick Smith, John Ledster and Bob Oram. A 12.1 was good enough for Smith to lead qualifying. Rose was next at 12.6 while Oram and Ledster ran low 13s. The first pairing of Smith and Oram saw a fault in the countdown, giving Oram a six second head start. The race was re-run and this time Smith's Chevelle took the win with a 12.4 to a 12.9 from Oram's E-Type. The second pairing saw Rose take the win with a 12.8 to a 13.5 from Ledster. In the final Rose got the better start, but 100yds out both cars were level and close to the centre line before Smith pulled ahead to take the win with his first 11 second run, an 11.9/116 to a 12.38/115. In Top Bike the usual front runners, Hobbs, Hyde and Butler, were not present leaving Brian Chapman to lead the field with a 9.68/143.  His second qualifier saw the gearbox break putting him out of action. Just behind him was Bob Webster who ran a 9.75/141.44 which he later backed up for a new 750cc class record, previously held by Ray Feltell. This meeting saw the retirement from the commentary box of Brian Taylor, who had been the voice of Santa Pod for the previous three years.

For all class results from both eliminations click here.

Long Marston. Castrol/RAC NDRC National championship Round 5. Clive Skilton and Roland Pratt in Revolution 3 were booked in to run a best of three match race. In the first race, Skilton rolled out of stage and pulled a red handing the win to Pratt who went through in 9.63/81 whilst Skilton idled through in 11.82/65. In the second race, Pratt pulled a huge holeshot and took the win in 8.47/123 as Skilton lost out with 8.28/129. Skilton’s master cylinder failed on the run which sidelined him. Top Dragster winner was Gerry Andrews who defeated Roz Prior 8.66/149 to 9.26/146. Senior Dragster was a best of three between Ian Fraser and Jim Read which Fraser won 2-1. Middle was taken by John Whitmore who beat John Rotherham, while Mick Sayers took the Junior title. There was only one Pro Stock car and one Funny Car in attendance so it was decided to run a best of three with a two second handicap to Colin Mullan in the London Heavy. In the first race, Mullan took the win as the STP FC of Dennis Priddle succumbed with blower problems. The same thing happened in the second race so Mullan took the series 2-0. In Top bike, Jeff Byne took the win over Brian Chapman 10.57/126 to a losing 10.69/125. Mick Warne won Senior bike when Bob Beckwith pulled a cherry. The winner of Middle bike was sprinter Don McMahon running in his first drag race. He beat Paul Eastbury in the final 13.84/86 to a losing 14.28/91.*  (Clive Rooms)

*The Previous entry for this meeting included the following "A disappointing field of only 53 competitors turned up for the 6000 spectators. Bike riders refused to hold a round of their championship at the venue due to the bumpiness of the strip." At a meeting  between riders and officials it was decided that it would be unfair to hold the fourth round of the Castrol Points Championship at this meeting and it was postponed until the Silverstone meeting two weeks later. (Thanks to Jerry Cookson for clearing this up)

Silverstone. Entry List. The NDRC held their second International meeting with the announcement that the strip had the "best adhesion possible for Drag Racing in Europe". In the first half of the year Silverstone Circuits and Clive Lanson Enterprises had spent in the region of £6000 on increased paddock space, double armco barriers the full length of the strip and a graded spectator bank. Four Funny cars were in attendance, but the rear-engined entry of Ed Shaver had been having a chassis rebuild and didn't make it to the track until Sunday for a couple of shakedown runs. The remaining three, Dennis Priddle's Avenger, Leif Dabach's Volvo, The Saint, and Bjorn Anderson's Manta ran a round robin on Sunday. Priddle managed a best of 7.7 on Saturday with the Swedes running low eights. On Sunday he ran 8.05/187 against an 8.8/180 from Dabach. Dabach then beat Anderson with an 8.80/177 to a 9.5/156. In the final round Priddle took the win with a 7.8 to Anderson's 9.9. Dennis had less luck in the Top Fuel ranks, qualifying behind the 7.8 of Roland Pratt, in Revolution III, with an 8.3. Sweden's John Anderson was third with an 8.34 while Clive Skilton broke a shifter cable and coasted to the line. Taking a turn in the Revolution III car also was Roz Prior, putting in some observed runs, under the supervision of Clive Skilton, in preparation for her move up to Pro Fuel with the ex-Priddle Mr Six car which she and husband Dave had purchased earlier in the year. The result of this was that Roz became the first licensed female Pro Fuel driver outside the USA. In the first round Skilton ran 7.04/202 as Anderson shut off early to a 12.3. Then Priddle found himself chasing Pratt who took a massive lead at the start. He managed to hold on until his chute deployed prematurely allowing Dennis to power past and take the win with a 7.3/190 to an 8.0. In the final Skilton took a convincing win with a 6.7/220 to Priddle's 7.5/171. In Top Dragster Gerry Andrews qualified at number one with an 8.4. He made his way to the final with an 8.3s win over Peter Baker, who was making his first runs in Roz Prior's old car. There he met Ray Hoare, who had disposed of Tony Froome with a 9.5 to a 10.3. Andrews took the final win with another 8.3 to Hoare's 9.5. Baker and Froome ran a decider for third and fourth, with Baker taking a 9.5 win over a 10.1. Russ Carpenter took Senior Dragster with a 9.2s win over the Crescent Coupe of Keith Dancy, running for the first time without it's distinctive bodywork. Top Comp saw the Stones Tee Rat out for the first time with an uprated rear axle to cope with the blown injected Chevy engine. It proved a successful combination as Dave Stone put in an 8.1/189 on his first run, a good 20mph faster than the car had run previously. In the first race against Mike Hall's Shutdown Stone clocked a 7.96/194, the first sub-eight second pass for an Altered outside the USA. In the second match a 9.4/165 from Hall was no match for another seven from Tee Rat, this time a 7.98/198. In Senior Comp Dick Sharpe took the win with an 11.1/120 against Us Serviceman Freeman Rodgers. Middle Comp saw mechanic Jim Brett take the driving seat in Stripteaser for the first time, and the final win with a holeshot 11.59 to an 11.44 from John Moreton in Invader. The Pro Stock class saw two Swedish entries, the Camaros of Gunne Backe and Bo Hollstrom, join Colin Mullen, Adrian Yorke and Gary Goggin. But mechanical problems for Goggin and Yorke led to another round robin competition, with Mullen coming out on top with a 9.7 and a 9.8. Dave Lee Travis made number one qualifier and won his first ever Super Street Eliminator in the Stone's 'Tender Trap' Escort against such established racers as Al O'Connor, Mustapha Errol and Dave Rose.

At this meeting 3000 spectators saw Clive Skilton run 4.92/161 over the eighth mile course as Roz Prior in her new fueler, smoked the whole distance. Ed Shaver in the Castrol rear engined FC ran 5.90/139. (Clive Rooms)

Supernationals SPR. In Pro Fuel qualifying, Clive Skilton crossed the finish line at 210 mph as a front tyre blew sending him into the guardrail in the shutdown area. Clive was OK but the car wasn’t. In the eliminations, Mike Hutcherson had a bye due to the non-appearance of Skilton, and the Houndog car ran 6.96/194.53, the first six second pass by any Houndog car. In the other semi, Dennis Priddle ran 6.61/196.46 as Pete Crane in Stormbringer slowed to a 7.23/168 due to a blown head gasket. It was Priddle all the way in the final with a 6.60/209.21 run as Houndog trailed with 7.50/146.84. In Funny Car, Allan Herridge in Stardust soloed to a 7.09/199.2. In the other semi, Dennis Priddle took an easy 8.21/171.82 win as Owen Hayward in Houndog went in to an almost vertical wheelstand off the line and had to click it off. Herridge took the final round win in a new track FC ET record of 6.81/195.69 as Priddle slowed to a losing 8.02/155.72. Top Dragster winner was Gerry Andrews in Hemi Hunter with a solo semi win and a final round victory over Alan Blount. Malcolm Olley in the Pink Panther took the final of Senior Dragster as Martin Rowatt lost fire. John Whitmore took the Middle title defeating Keith Elliott in the final, and Steve Martyn was the Junior winner. Due to breakages, there were just two cars in Top Comp. Tee Rat ran a solo best ever 7.71/187, and in the final, Dave Stone’s sideways 9.38/180 clocking was too strong for Mike Hall’s 9.90/139. Senior Comp winner was Dave Page in Panic, and Pete Skinner in Midas Mist won Middle as Bob Messent fouled in Stripteaser. Pat Hart took the Junior title beating John Annear. Pro Stock was a best of three between Colin Mullan and Gary Goggin, and it was the Heavy car of Mullan that took it 2-1. In Top bike first round, John Hobbs 9.47 beat Bob Webster 9.54, Tony Weedon 9.76 overcame John Clift 9.86, Mick Butler 9.41 downed Keith Parnell 9.65 and Brian Smith lost fire as Jeff Byne sheared a rear wheel spindle at 120 mph locking the wheel completely but coming to a safe halt. In the semis, Byne beat a chain breaking Hobbs, and Butler ran a PB 9.24/151 to down Weedon. Byne pulled a holeshot to take the final with 9.50 to Butler’s quicker but losing 9.47. Pete Smith defeated Mick Warne to take the Senior win. Middle winner was Ray Law and Pete Molloy took the Junior title. Terry Revill ran 11.95/112 to defeat Dave Rawlins in the final of Street bike. (Clive Rooms)

Re. the writing off of Clive Skiltons Castrol sponsored rear engined fuel dragster when he hit the barrier, it emerged that another racer, Ollie Burn, had paid Skilton £3000 for the car just hours before. It was repaired and re-appeared in 1975 as the Liz & Ollie car. SPR published a notice in their programme asking weekend campers not to go into the woods behind the camping area for firewood as this was private property. Strange that they should want to do this as SPR supplied the campers with free wood to burn!

NDRCs first meeting at Snetterton circuit, Norfolk. The final round of the Castrol/RAC National championship, and a round of the STP/Custom Car Championship for Pro Stock and Super Street. Many of the unfinished eliminations from the rained off Silverstone meeting two weeks earlier were completed. Four Top Fuel cars were entered but this was reduced to three when Dennis Priddle broke the rear axle on a qualifier. So, it was decided to run a round robin. Clive Skilton in the newly repaired Castrol GTX car beat Malcolm Quick in the Revolution 3 car, 7.20/192 to 17.38/141. Roz Prior then ran 7.30/200 to inflict a second defeat on Quick. The final race caused confusion as Skilton’s engine died before he had staged, and then Prior red lit on her way to 7.28/208. There was a match race between the floppers of Dennis Priddle and Bootsie Herridge in Stardust. In the first race, Herridge drew the lane with the bad bump in it. Priddle took the race in 7.26/190 as the Stardust car got wildly out of shape. In the second race, unknown to the two drivers as they tried to stage, somebody had tripped over a battery lead to the Christmas tree and the lights never came on. Somebody then ran into the middle with a couple of flags. Priddle went a few yards and cut the motor, but Herridge in the good lane made a full bore run at 202 mph with a highly dubious ET of 6.48. In the Top Comp/Funny Car eliminator, Roland Pratt hit the bump, crossed into the other lane and was disqualified giving the win to Ed Shaver who had already clicked it off. In the other semi, Dave Stone soloed to an 8.53/143. In the final, Tee Rat went up in smoke and fishtailed off the line to an 8.34/180. Shaver in the Castrol FC meanwhile put in one of his very few straight passes to win in a PB 8.12/161. In the held over Silverstone Top bike elimination, T C Christenson blew away Norman Hyde in 9.05/155 and then defeated Keith Parnell in the final with 8.84/146. He continued his winning ways by overcoming Keith Parnell again in 8.81/156, and then he beat Mick Butler in the final 9.02/155 to a losing 9.69/144. (Clive Rooms)

This meeting drew the circuits biggest crowd of the year, larger than all the roundy roundy meetings! Re. Bootsies appearance with the Stardust Funny Car, this was the first and only time Roy Phelps sent one of his major cars to an NDRC event. The disputed 6.48 was far in excess of what any other funny car had run in the UK at this time. The "somebody" who ran into the track with the flags turns out to have been long-time Trakbytes contributor Steve Collins who had been the NDRC starter for two years at that point.

SPR. Fireworks Spectacular. Rain and mist played havoc with the racing and times and speed were affected by the slick track conditions. Many finals were not held and some classes didn't progress beyond the first round. Saturday saw most vehicles get at least one run in, but the track conditions meant that nobody was able to run anywhere near their full potential. Allan Herridge twice reversed Stardust into the startline advertising boards after his burnouts. John Hobbs managed to post a 148mph terminal speed on the Morgo Triumph, and John Clift ran a 9.96/131 on his Co-Respondent Triumph. Racing on the Sunday didn't begin until after lunch due to more rain. Dave Stone put in an early run in Tee Rat, which resulted in crossing from the left lane to the right, and hitting the barrier causing some front end damage. Allan Herridge put down the best Funny Car time of the day with a 7.64/166.39 practise run against Houndog. His next pass, the first round of competition, saw Stardust come to the line for a solo pass as the Hillbillies team failed to show. The car launched violently sideways before Bootsie wrestled it straight to clock an 8.27/159.49. In the other pairing, Owen Hayward's Houndog got out of shape at the hit leaving Dennis Priddle's STP Avenger to take the win with an 8.64/169.49. Hayward tried hard to catch him though, recording an 8.47/200. In the first round of Pro Fuel Mike Hutchinson ran a solo 8.18/160.77. The remaining two cars of Dennis Priddle and Peter Crane lined up for the next race. Priddle pulled a red light and then had to wrestle an out of shape Mr Revell to a 9.99/150.83 as Crane blasted through to win with a 7.46/196. The final took place in darkness. Both cars left hard but Hutchinson shut off early while Crane drove to half track before lifting and taking the win. Classes that did make it to the final round were, D & G Production - Steve Stevens 2 litre Cortina taking the win, P. Evans won the H-I Production final in his Singer Vogue, Junior Street - D. Edwards Lil Streaker Austin, Middle Street - D. Ward's Blue Max and in Super Street Al O'Connor took a win in Al's Gasser with a personal best 12.49/116.55 win over Gerry Andrews in Tender Trap. Top Street was a best out of three between M. Morice's Orange E Type and Ivan Fryers Mustang. Fryer won 2/3 with a best time of 14.48/93.63. Senior Street went to S. Winterberg with a 15.36/83.26 to a 15.35/81.83 from Bill Marshall. A planned best of three between Phil Elson and Keith Harvie's Altereds saw only one round take place. Both cars struggled for grip before Harvie took the win with an 11.04/126.58 to a quicker 10.84/150 from Elson. The only Altered class to make it to a final pairing was Junior where Barry Sheavills' Stagecoach would have met  Jim Spencer's 2-Ton Carmen. No other classes made it past Round One. In Top Bike the field was depleted due to breakages with Jeff Byne suffering a major engine failure on the Saturday. John Hobbs fouled on a bye run, and Mick Butler red lit on a solo. Brian Chapman ran the quickest two wheel time of the day with a 9.91/139.08.

SPR. Winternationals. Billed as The Race Of The Champions entries for this meeting were restricted to the 1974 seasons winners and runners up, making a field of entries about half the size of a regular meeting. The theory was that it would be easier to fit in a days racing in the reduced daylight hours available with a smaller field. The reality was that most classes had as few as three entries and there were large gaps in the racing as crews got the vehicles turned around in time to run again. Many classes were amalgamated to provide competiton. Rain on Saturday limited the racing, and spectator count, and there were a couple of noteable early losses. John Ledster's Mustang suffered a breakage in his newly fitted gearbox, and the Pro Stock Camaro of Gary Goggin was enveloped in smoke of the wrong kind during a burnout and had to be towed off the track with at least one of the eight cylinders full of oil. Gary had run a 10.5second pass earlier in the day. The evening was given over to demos and fire burnouts from the fuel cars in front of the few brave spectators that remained in the darkness. Sunday was more promising, but the track was damp. A novel solution was employed to dry out the startline area. Twenty gallons of methanol were emptied over the track and set alight. This appears to have had some success and traction in that area at least was improved. Dennis Priddle was the first to put in a full-bore run in the STP Avenger Funny Car. An 8.2/186 pass was followed by a parachute failure with Dennis only just managing to stop the car before running out of track. Owen Hayward followed in Houndog and put in one of the most remarkable driving jobs, keeping the slicks boiling all the way as the car snaked wildly left and right from lock to lock. An 8.3/202 timing ticket was the impressive result of what was recorded as the most entertaining run of the weekend. Allan Herridge was doing double duties, taking the driving seat in Stardust and Firefly. The dragster was withdrawn after an out of shape pass and subsequent inspection which revealed some bearings beginning to break up. The decision was made to run Stardust in the Top Fuel class, leaving just Priddle and Hayward to battle it out in the floppers. Herridge then put in a 7.26/198 qualifying pass which was the quickest run of the weekend. Peter Crane ran the fastest speed (a personal best) with a 7.4/207 in Stormbringer against Mike Hutcherson in Houndog in the first round. This wasn't without it's drama either as the car grounded in a shower of sparks in the shutdown area necessitating a change of sump before the final against Stardust. Priddle and Hayward ran their match first, but, with fading light, and limited track illumination, this was limited to multiple burnouts before the cars returned to the paddock. This format was repeated by Crane and Herridge with Stormbringer putting in a fire burnout for good measure. Cranes final burnout took him over the finish line much to the appreciation of the crowd. Tony Anderson managed a 9.3/147 win over a 10.3/134 from Dave Page in Panic, and Rob Messent won his group with an 11.57 against John Williamson's Jag-Falcon. In the bike ranks on Saturday Mick Warne took the Senior Bike final win with a 10.37/132.3 in the darkness, with a bicycle light on his back, against Ted Dunmow's 18.26 on the Paper Tiger Triumph. Top Bike went to John Clift, finding traction whilst John Hobbs struggled to acheive the same, his 10.78/155.5 not being enough to overcome a 10.46/130.6 from Clift. In Middle Bike Terry Revill took his Honda to a 12.61/110.5 win over a 14.61/91.3 from the Fourunner Honda of B. Sewell. On Sunday,  Mick Butler on his 1000cc double Norton Super Cyclops ran a new personal best of 9.23/147.3. He beat Brian Chapman and John Clift to reach the final of Top Bike, where he was due to meet John Hobbs. Hobbs Olympus Two had problems and couldn't make the call so Tony Weedon took his place but was unable to match a 9.82/147.8 from Butler. Terry Revill made his second final appearance of the weekend in a depleted Middle Bike class, but lost out to an 11.64/115.6 from Chris Russell with a 12.06/114.6.