SPR. Easter Meet. Originally scheduled as two meetings in two days, rain and snow showers meant a change of plan, and Sunday was used as qualifying for eliminations on Monday. The weather improved slightly but not enough to prevent several of the final rounds being abandoned. The Top fuel cars of Dennis Priddle, Mike Hutcherson (making his last appearance driving Nobby Hill's Houndog), Peter Crane, Allan Herridge, Roz Prior and Liz Burn were present. There were three Funny Cars too, Stardust, Houndog and the Reliant of the Hillbillies team. Priddle put in a 7.21/182.15 on a difficult track surface, but the engine let go in a big way at the top end, putting him out for the rest of the proceedings. Crane's Stormbringer had a flashback on his first launch and Prior's Fast Lady, having refused to start initially, threw its blower belt on it's first run. Her second pass saw the car get out of shape, forcing Roz to shut off early, and resulted in bent pushrods and a broken rocker shaft. Hutcherson managed an 8.84/130.72 but Liz Burn was having brake problems and didn't make it out on Sunday. Herridge in Firefly ran an uncharacteristically straight 7.37/202.02, the fastest speed of the day. He had less luck in the Funny Car though. Stardust, having apparently been on a diet over the winter, pulled huge wheelies on both Sundays passes. On Monday the car's chassis was seen to have aquired a lead weight to try and tame it down. Owen Hayward in Houndog managed a 10.06 half pass and Roland Pratt in the Hillbillies car ran a 12.49/83.47 on a track damp from a recent shower. In the dragster ranks Gerry Andrews fared the best, qualifying with an 8.31/170. John Siggery returned with Geronimo but was unable to run, and Tony Froome windowed his Pontiac block on a 10.65/129 pass. In the Altered classes Phil Elson ran an 11.60/108.93 in Sneaky and Mike Hall's Shutdown managed a 10.29/160. Dave Page in Panic clocked a best of 9.98/146.41. Bob Messant's Stripteaser headed the Middle Comp field with an 11.11/123.15, and in Junior Comp Brian Mondey showed the way with a 13.00/108.46. The new Junior Altered of Nick Newton "De Judge" died whilst warming up. Other top qualifiers in the car classes were, Senior Dragster - Tony Anderson, 9.94/139.66, Middle - John Whitmore, 11.98/110.62, Junior - Gerry Cookson 11.93/125.47. John Ledster was at the top of the Street Altered table with a 13.23/102.88. In the motorcycle ranks Tony Weedon's Triumph ran 9.84/121.07 to take number one spot, but before long he was joined by the Mighty Mouse of Brian Chapman, who also ran 9.84 at a faster 143.88. Keith Parnell recorded an impressive 153.85mph on a 9.98 charge and Pete Smith ran a best ever 10.28/141.61 on his Hadleigh Custom 750 Triumph. In the Street Classes Alex Heal, competing in his first ever full event took number one spot with an 11.80. Monday morning began with more qualifying, and a practice session, but more mechanical problems for Liz Burn meant she failed to get a full run in. Pete Crane came out again but his chute came out during the burnout. With the car still running the track crew re-packed it and he set off on a full pass of 7.07/199.60, only to have the chute fail to open. He just about managed to get the car stopped safely before it went into the field. As the time for eliminations arrived the bad weather was closing in and the decision was made to run the Funny Cars first. Houndog soloed to a 7.33/184.90 and then Roland Pratt made Bootsie work hard for the win with a 7.74/196.08 charge almost beating Stardust's 7.29/182.48. The Hillbillies car crossed lanes in front of Herridge, and ended up in the grass at the bottom of the shutdown area. Damage was limited to the front of the body only. In Pro Fuel Hondog had reverser problems leaving Firefly to solo to a 7.55/190.11, and Roz Prior got very out of shape, shutting off to a 14.75. In the other lane though Pete Crane ran the quickest ever seen in Europe, a 6.37/204.08. Again his chute failed to open, and again he got the car stopped safely. In a third/fourth place run off Roz Prior took the win with an 8.37/187.62 as Hutcherson bowed out with an 8.21/181.82. Gerry Andrews and John Wright held a best of three match with Andrews Hemi Hunter taking the first win with an 8.14/174.83 to Wright's 9.07//142.86. The weather ensured that no more rounds took place. Dave Page took the Panic Altered into the three car Senior Dragster Class to make up the numbers. He disposed of Alan Sharpe with a 9.59/140.45 to a 10.68/129.03. Tony Anderson ran 9.41/149.03 to beat a 13.24/96.25 from Malcom Olley. The interesting prospect of a Panic/Trouble final was another victim of the weather. The Junior Dragster best of three between Gerry Cookson and Bob Harmon did run to all three rounds. Cookson won the first two with an 11.05/124 solo in the first, after Harmon broke, and an 11.44/124.53 to a 13.79/106.16 in the second. The third round was run in damp conditions, resulting in another win for Cookson's Joker, a 14.77 to an 18.46. A best of three was also run for Top Comp, with Mike Hall's Shutdown taking the first with a 9.07/168.92 to an 11.38/99.90 from Phil Elson. The second and, as it turned out, final round saw the two drivers take it easy with a 13.82 for Hall and a losing 16.47 for Elson. Middle Comp was reduced to three cars by the semi finals due to breakages. Dave Johnson's Trackshun Akshun disposed of sue Cole's Helzapoppin, 13.07/102.15 to 13.80/68.30, while Dave Young soloed to the final with a 15.28/63.61 in Red Rampage. The final wasn't run. The Junior Comp elimination did make it to the final, albeit a very damp one. Brian Mondey's Optimist took the honours with a 14.81/110.25 to a 16.26 from the Uncle Scrumble car of John Annear. Other winners were Al O'Connor in Super Street, Steve Johnson's Motor Mouse in Senior Street and D. Wheatley in Top Street, all best of three matches. Hazel Wloszek was competing in her first meeting in the Meanie Minor, and made runner up in Middle Street, with the Blue Max of D. Ward taking the honours. The only bike class to complete it's eliminations was Street, with newcomer Alex Heal taking the win over Chris Russell, 11.87/116.14 to 12.14/104.06. Top Bike saw Brian Chapman's 500cc single Vincent Mighty Mouse share the number one qualifing spot with the 500cc Triumph of Tony Weedon. Both riders recorded 9.84s. Keith Parnell's 750cc Triumph was close behind with a 9.97. Parnell make it to the final with a solo 9.69/138.31 and a 9.81/131.58 win over a troubled Chapman. He would have met Brian Smith in the final but rain prevented this. Smith had made his way to the final with a 9.97/130 win over the 750 Hadleigh Triumph of Pete Smith. The senior bike final between Ivan Wileman's Norton and Clive Bailey's Triumph nearly happened, with both riders ready in the fire up road, with Middle Bike finalists B. Belson and R. Forsythe befalling the same fate.

(Original entry supplied by Bill Dossett updates by Trakbytes)

SPR. In Pro Fuel Dennis Priddle delayed the debut of his new Chrysler Avenger Funny Car and instead brought the Mr Revell slingshot. He put in a single late qualifing run of 6.49/217.39, equalling his personal best set in September the previous year. After the retirement of Mike Hutcherson Owen Hayward was in the driving seat of the Houndog 8 rear engined fueler. on his second qualifier he ran a 7.76/165.84 but the engine gave up near the finish. Liz Burn coughed the blower on The Lizard and Peter Crane put in a half-pass 10.30 in the Stormbringer. Ronnie Picardo was putting in observed runs in Firefly as well as driving the Pod's Wheelie Pick-Up. He ran a best of 8.6s. With only two cars left running a match race was held for the Pro Fuel title. In the first round the christmas tree failed, both cars waited before deciding to leave but no times were recorded. In the final Crane ran 6.79/204 while Priddle won with a 6.04/218mph. This world  record for a front engined fueler stood until the 1990s. In Funny Car Allan Herridge in Stardust beat Hayward in Houndog 7 with a 7.08/190 to a 7.07/198, the quickest race so far between the two cars. In their second match up it was Hayward who took the win as Stardust launched sideways causing Herridge to shut off. Haywards winning 6.76/185.87 was a new track record. Top Dragster saw the return of John Siggery's Geronimo, but he didn't make the eliminations. The final went to the D B Motors Malibu Express slingshot of Jeff Morris with an 8.22/173. Senior was won by the V12 Jaguar powered Methsdrinker of Alan Sharpe with a 10.57/128 peronal best after opponent Malcolm Olley broke a halfshaft. In Middle Dragster Robin Acock ran 12.47/112 to defeat George Davie and Junior went to Roy Bottoms. In the altered classes the entries for the two top classes were thin on the ground so Dave Page in the Senior Comp Panic and Phil Elson in the Top Comp Sneaky T ran a best of three. Page ran a 9.40/138 early in the day for a new personal best, and then went on to win all three matches after Elson destroyed his clutch in the second. Page's times were 9.50, 9.43 and 9.44. Bob Messent won Middle Comp in Stripteaser with a 10.92/ 118 against Kevin Harvey's small block powered Vauxhall. Junior Comp winner was Brian Mondey after the Uncle Scrumble car of John Annear and Cliff Watts pulled a huge wheelie in qualifying and suffered a bent front axle. In Super Street Steve Osmond-Petrie won two out of two against Alan o'Connors Al's Gasser. He took the ex-Peter Crane Easy Ridin' Camaro to a 12.21/115 to 12.93/102 win in the seond round after o'Connor red lit in the first. In a five car Top Street field it was Dennis Wheatley who came out on top with a 13.66/97 defeat of John Ledster in the final. Senior Street went to the Mini of Steve Johnson while Keith Potter took the win in Middle. John Whiting won Junior with a winning 17.03/77 to a 20.05/66 from Phil Herrick. John Bailey won the handicapped Production class with a 18.01/71 defeat of Paul Rees. On two wheels Tony Weedon took his 500cc blown Triumph Blue Rondo to a first round victory over Mick Butler when the latter missed a gear change. Weedon had gearbox problems which left him with no top gear. He then defeated the Hadleigh Triumph of Pete Smith in the semis. Keith Parnell on his Rouge et Noir 750 Triumph met the rapid 250cc Honda of Mick Hand in the semis and, despite pulling a huge wheelie off the start line, took the win. In the final Parnell suffered a slipping clutch allowing Weedon to take the win with a 9.89/139 to a 10.22/144.8. The Senior Bike final saw the VW powered Locomotion of John Lloyd run into the nines for the first time with a 9.76/134.9 win over a 10.25/134 from the Flying Baron Vincent twin of Clive Liddiard. Middle Bike went to Phil Drake's Phantom 750 Triumph with a 10.94/125.3 win over a red lighting 16.95/64.4 from the Black Mamba 750cc Triumph of Brian Elson. Junior was won by the Outcast 250 Yamaha of Pat Agar with a 16.49/78.1 defeat of Ron Cheeseman's 250 Montessa at 16.78/62.2. In Street Terry Revill had a late night replacing the top half of his 812cc Honda before the meeting, but despite making his way to the final he lost out with a 12.38/112 to a winning 12.14/106 from Chris Russell.

(Original entry by Bill Dossett, updates by Trakbytes)

Snetterton.RAC National Drag Racing Championship Round Four, round one of the Wolfrace Street Championship and a round of the 208 Pro Comp Championship. Dennis Priddle led the qualifying in Pro Fuel with a 7.5s run from his Mr Revell slingshot on Saturday. On Sunday Roz Prior in Miss Revell bettered this with a 7.3/198. Liz Burn put in an 8.7/165 and Trevor Young in the ex-Skilton car managed a troubled 9..3/162. The first round was Priddle versus Burn. Priddle took the win with a 6.72/200, the first six at Snetterton, whilst Burn crossed the line with an 8.64 at 204mph, her first 200mph run, and missed her chute release due to the vibrations blurring her vision. While trying to find it she crossed the centre line and hit Priddle's car from behind before running off the end of the track and ending up in the field. Both Liz and Dennis were OK, Mr Revell suffered a broken rear wheel and required some rear axle and chassis work when it was rebuilt, but the Liz & Ollie car was a write off. Prior and Young came to the line for the other semi but Young lost fire. Prior soloed to a new personal best of 7.14/196 and came out again for another solo run for the final. Another new personal best followed with a 6.98/213, the lowest ET and top speed of the weekend. Funny Car saw Clive Skilton's new Vauxhall suffering with distortion of the body on a 7.8s pass on Sunday. For the sake of safety he decided not to push the car to its full potential. With three cars in the class a round robin was arranged. In the first round the 392 Capri of Liam Churchill beat Roland Pratt's 392 Scimitar GTE 9.2s to 11.2s. Pratt came back to the line in the second round and improved to an 8.2/149 which was no match for a 7.5/171 from Skilton's Vauxhall which suffered a couple of burnt valves. This left Churchill to solo for the final round. After two storming burnouts and a strong launch the car went violently out of shape. After a dramatic slide which looked like the car might roll it went off the track onto the grass before a heroic driving effort from Churchill got the vehicle back on the track and stopped safely. A broken front chassis member was later found to have been the cause. The 208 Pro Comp class saw the addition of Clive Page in the Panic Altered as he had no opposition in Senior Comp. Despite being the only car to be running on petrol he won his first round against the Vauxhall Funny Car of Pete Barnett before facing the blown 392 Altered of Mike Hall. A lightning start reaction from Page looked promising for another victory but a worn band in Panic's Clutchflite transmission caused a slow shift and Hall came past to take the win and a place in the final with a 9.2/171 to a 9.7/139.  Meanwhile Bob Spence in the D.B. Motors rear engined Chevy rail beat the Ratcatcher 354 Hemi slingshot of Pat Cuss with an 8.5 to a 9.5. In the final it was Spence who took the honours with a best ever 8.12/179 to a 9.3/168 from Hall. No other car results have been found yet but Bob messent in Stripteaser ran a 10.63/127 followed by a 10.55/124 their fastest time to date. In Senior Dragster Alan Sharpe ran a new personal best of 10.3/154 while Russ Carpenter put down an 8.9/154 in his blown 2.5l Daimler rail. On two wheels Brian Chapman led the Top Bike qualifying with a 10.19 from his 500cc Mighty Mouse Vincent. The Triumphs of Keith Parnell and Tony Weedon followed with a 10.20 and a 10.22 respectively, followed closely by Pete Miller with a 10.23. Chapman took a first round win against Ted Dunmow. Weedon ran a 10.08/149 to beat a 10.81/138 from the rapid 250cc Honda of Mick Hand. Parnell put down a 9.45/138 to defeat a 9.83/147 from Pete Smith. Smith had earlier run a 9.89/142, his first nine second run. Finally Miller beat the turbocharged Imp engined machine of Eamon Hurley with a 10.32/138 to a 10.72/124. In the semis Weedon defeated Chapman with a 9.43/153 to a 10.11 and Parnell ran a 9.80/152 to a 10.34/116 from Miller. In a close final it was Parnell who took the win with a 9.29/152. Senior Bike went to the VW powered machine of John Lloyd with a 10.34/134 over an 11.89/120 from the Penny Machine 350 Yamaha of Paul Rose. The Artemis 750cc Morgo-Triumph of Mick Buttars won Middle Bike with an 11.58/109 victory over a 13.15/102 from the Blood Sweat & Tears 750cc Triumph of Alan Hughes. In Street bike Alex Heal continued his run of good form by leading qualifying with an 11.61/120 from his 900cc Honda. Second was the 750cc Kawasaki of Mike Cazalet with a 12.73/108. Heal demolished the opposition and reached the final where he faced Chris Russell's 1000cc Hadleigh Custom Honda where he took another victory with an 11.92/120 to a 12.07/111.

(Original entry by Bill Dossett, updates by Trakbytes)

SPR. Pete Crane was making demo runs in Stormbringer. His first pass was a 6.46/213.68 followed by a 6.40/219.78. Also making demo runs was Trevor Young in Revolution 3. His first run was a half pass 8.39/93 deploying the chute whilst still under power, and his second run was a 7.34/141.64. Allan Herridge put in an appearance in Stardust and laid down a 6.93/207 clocking. The debut of Dennis Priddle's new Funny Car was once again delayed. The Stones had replaced the engine in Hemi Hunter that expired in April with the blown 427 from Tee Rat to join the Pro Fuel ranks. Unfortunately the Lenco transmission gave up when the car was on the starting rollers. Pat Cuss won Top Dragster in Ratcatcher with a solo 9.71/161.55 as the throttle mechanism on Kevin Burrow's D. B. Motors Malibu Express froze. Burrows had earlier run an 8.07/180, the fastest UK run by an unsupercharged car. Senior Dragster winner was Bill Haynes in Quarter Horse II.  John Whitmore was once again the winner in Middle beating Glen Read 10.93/123 to a losing 11.97/110. Senior Comp altered was a best of three between the Pages Panic and Bob Deichen in his Majesty 4.6 Daimler Altered. Dave Page won all three with a best time of 9.3s. Bob Messent in Stripteaser lined up against Pete Skinner in the Middle Comp final, and it was the mini-van which emerged victorious, 10.8s to 11.8s. Brian Mondey's Jaguar powered T Altered was the winner in Junior Comp with an 11.8/118. Super Street was a best of three between Al O’Connor in Al’s Gasser and Jim Kirk's 340ci TVR. The Gasser lost after pulling a couple of giant wheelies off the line. In Top bike saw another rider break into the nine second bracket when Phil Drake clocked a 9.89 on his blown 750cc Triumph to take the number two qualifying spot. In the first round he faced Ted Dunmow's unsupercharged 750 Triumph. Drake's front wheel began to rise at the halfway mark but he kept the throttle open and despite a superb riding job he just lost out with a 10.16/142 to Dunmow's 10.15/136. Dunmow then went on to be beaten in the semis by Mick Butler. In the final number one qualifier Brian Chapman (9.83s) shut down Butler with a winning 9.56 to a losing 9.76. Butler had earlier run a 9.38 and a 9.39 to reach the final. Barry Beaumont won Senior bike beating Derrick Penfold in the final with an 11.91/117. Chris Russell beat Phil Prister in the Top Street bike final.

(Original entry by Clive Rooms, updates by Trakbytes)

Mantorp Park, Sweden. Dennis Priddle had been booked to run the Mr Revell car, but this was still being repaired after the accident at Snetterton two weeks earlier. He did take his Avenger Funny Car, as this was the first round of the newly introduced Tor Line Funny Car championship. The meeting was rained out but not before Dennis had run a best of 7.6s. (Thanks to Jerry Cookson and Jan Suhr for confirming this event.)

SPR. May Day Holiday Weekend Big Go. The meeting being run as two seperate events over Sunday and Monday, with qualifying on Saturday. Qualifying saw Peter Crane in Stormbringer put in a an 8.19/80.97 check out pass before blasting out a 6.18 which was the low ET of the meeting. Owen Hayward took Houndog 8 to a 7.47/188.32 and Ronnie Picardo clocked a 7.96/178.57 in Firefly. Dave Stone ran a troubled 16.44 in Hemi Hunter. In Funny Car Allan Herridge pulled a huge wheelie in Stardust which took him over the centre line.resulting in an early shut off 11.23/70.62. Dennis Priddle then made the long awaited UK debut of his new Avenger with a promising looking 188.68mph pass with no time recorded. Another debut was the Kerbdozer Altered of Mike Kason. Mike christened the car with a champagne burnout. Rick Feilding debuted his Imagination Altered with Daimler Hemi power. John Whitmore set a new Middle Dragster class record with a 10.53 from his 1293cc BLMC rail. Keith Parnell led the way amongst the Top Bikes with a 9.25/149.48 from his 750cc Triumph. He was followed by Brian Chapman (9.45), Tony Weedon (9.48), Pete Smith (9.65/146.61) and Clive Liddiard (9.80/141.44) Mick Warne debuted his new twin-engined Triumph Big Blue. Alex Heal ran a new personal best of 11.37/123 on his Street Honda, resetting the class record. Sunday's eliminations were organised into Pro Fuel, Funny Car and thirteen supporting groups decided by qualifying times. In Pro Fuel the four entries were reduced to three as the Houndog 8 car had spun a bearing the previous day. This left Peter Crane to solo to a 6.39/201.21,  Ronnie Picardo then took Firefly to a 7.32/203.67 win over Dave Stone in Hemi Hunter, who lost traction on the launch, sending the car towards the barrier on its rear wheels. In the final it was Crane that took the honours with a 7.27/198.91 win over Picardo who struggled to a mechanically troubled 14.45/61.12. Funny Car also had four entries. Allan Herridge took a first round win with a strong 6.90/198.81 against the rear-engined Vauxhall entry of Pete Barnett who put in a 10.27. The second pairing of Owen Hayward in  Houndog 8 and Dennis Priddle in his new Avenger quickly became a solo for Pridddle when fuel was spotted leaking from Hondog's tank after the burnout. Dennis ran a 7.03/196.85 to advance to the final. His luck ran out there though as his blower belt broke during the burnout leaving Herridge to solo to a 6.80/200 for the win. Hayward and Barnett raced for third and fourth with Houndog leaving the line totally out of shape, before straightening up and then losing the blower belt at the finish, taking the win with a 7.07/168.83 to Barnett's 10.46/133.33. Group A was won by Tony Anderson, who improved on his 8.88/152..91 qualifying time with a holeshot 8.78/145.35 to beat an 8.62/161.81 from Mike Hall's Shutdown Altered. Anderson had taken a bye to the final while a personal best of 9.31/167.81 from Pat Cuss in Ratcatcher wasn't enough to beat an 8.77/165 from Hall. Dave Page in Panic and Phil Elson in Sneaky ran a best of three for the Group B honours. Page ran a personal best and new class records of 9.27s and 147.06mph to a 9.29/129.03 to take the first round. Elson retaliated in the second with a winning 9.48/146.20 and took another win in the final with an 8.73/131.58 to a 9.48/146.20. Group C saw Bob Messent in the Jaguar powered Stripteaser make his way to the final with a 10.40/127.88 defeat of a 10.86/120.48 from Keith Stacey's V6 rail. Gerry Andrews was in the driving seat of the Stones Tender trap and soloed to new class records of 10.56s and 129.20mph. In the final it was Messent again with a new personal best of 10.21/129.21 to Andrews 10.81/128.04. In Group D John Whitmore took his Drag-n-Fly BLMC rail to a 10.81/117.65 win over an 11.87/118.34 from Brian Mondey.  Al O'Connor took Group E with an 11.54/120.48 final win over a 12.18/111.48 from Bob Oram. John Ledster took his Big John Mustang to the Group F win after opponent and favorite Alan Sharpe's Methdrinker rail lost fire in the semi. Ledster ran 12.50/104 in the final to down a 12.71/107.87 from the Quo Vadis Altered of Mick Cardy. Steve Martyn's 1.6L Ford rail took the Group G win with a 12.80/90.99 against a 13.69/100.30 from the Street Class Dodge Charger of Dennis Wheatley. Nick Newton took his De Judge Jaguar powered Altered to the Group H win with a 13.38/99.11 over a 13.45/118.62 from Steve Osmond-Petrie's Camaro. The other group winners were I - Colin Fisher, J - K. Jackson, K - Steve Stevens (who set a new Production class record of 16.29/82.64 in his 2L Cortina), L - JCA 17 and M - Michael Wiand. There were five bike groups and Group One was populated entirely by nine second runners. The first round saw wins for Keith Parnell, Brian Chapman, Tony Weedon and Pete Smith. In the semis a close match up between Parnell and Chapman resulted in a win for Parnell with a 9.63/153.61 to a 9.32/148.15. Pete Smith made his way to the final with  a 9.61/142.45 after opponent Weedon wheelied and shut off. In the final Smith ran quicker with a new personal best of 9.42/144.72 but it was not enough to beat a storming 9.05/152.21 from Parnell, a new UK best from a British rider. Group 2 went to Barry Beaumont with a 10.40/134.77 over George Woods 10.71/128. Group 3 was won by the 800cc Triumph of John Clift with a 9.57/147.93 win over a 12.47/114 from Paul Rose. Ivan Wileman took Group 4 with an 11.27/117 and John Mitchell ran 11.52/116 to take Group 5. Monday was run to the usual class elimination format. In Pro Fuel the first round was reduced to two solo runs for a place in the final. Dave Stone suffered a stuck throttle as he brought Hemi Hunter down the fire up road, resulting in an encounter with the barrier that damaged the front axle. Peter Crane took a 6.79/203.25 bye. Ronnie Picardo then went through in Firefly despite a broken throttle linkage after Owen Hayward overstaged in Houndog 8. It was Crane who took the final with a 6.66/210.53 as Picardo got out of shape, lost a blower belt and came close to the barrier, shutting off to an 8.78/128.21. Houndog 7 and Stardust met in the first round of Funny Car. Herridge took the win with a 7.06/200  with no time recorded for Hayward. Dennis Priddle then ran his first Funny car six in the Avenger, a 6.96/187.62, as opponent Pete Barnett put in a 10.19/148.15. Priddle's luck ran out in the final as the car headed for the barrier before shutting off, leaving Herridge to take a 7.02/20 4.08 win. Hayward and Barnett had a run-off for third and fourth place, with the Houndog car getting out of shape before Hayward got back on it and clocked a 6.97/198.41 to a 10.19/148. Top Dragster saw Pat Cuss make his way to the final with an 8.9 6/170.65 from the injected Chrysler Rat Catcher. In the other semi Andy Morris in the D B Motors Malibu Express advanced with an 8.29/170.36. Unfortunately for Cuss he pulled a red light in the final, leaving Morris to take the win with an 8.63/173.31 to a 9.00/162.34. Senior Dragster went to the Even More Trouble Daimler powered entry of Tony Anderson with a new class record 8.71/149.70 win over a 10.49/135.50 from Alan Sharpe's Methdrinker. John Whitmore took the Middle Dragster win with a 10.69/124.38 to an 11.93/113.12 from B. Cooke's V6 Ford powered rail. Junior Dragster saw Bob Harman solo to a 14.61s win in Mother's Ruin after opponent M. Lennon lost fire. Top Comp was again a best of three between Phil Elson and Mike Hall. Elson took the first two rounds with a best of 8.69/159.74. In the third Hall retaliated with an 8.71/165.84 win over a 9.15/126.63. Senior Comp saw Dave Page run 9.48/146 in the semis, followed by a 9.46/147 win over Mike Kason's Kerbdozer III in the final. Middle Comp saw Bob Messent withdraw the popular Stripteaser after the previous days runs caused mechanical issues. The final was won by Pete Smith's Poison Ivy, his 11.27/113.51 beating an 11.71/105.60 from Alan Sherwin's Travel Agent. Brian Mondey took his Optimist Altered to the Junior Comp win, defeating Craig Lowes Jag powered entry with an 11.99/120.77 to a 13.07. Mondey had earlier run new class records of 11.66s and 121.07mph. In Super Street Dave Lee Travis had arrived to take the driving seat in the Stones Tender Trap Chevy escort. He ran 10.67/128 in round one, byt came up against Alan O'Connor in Al's Gasser in the final. A slowing 11.11/111.48 with blue smoke coming from a dying engine in the Escort saw the gasser take the win with an 11.32/126.26. In Top Street both finalists ran under the class record of 12.40/110.13. John Ledster lost with a 12.29/108.11 while Bob Oram took the win at 12.03/113.51. Keith Potter took the Senior Street win with a 12.53/106.38 from his Hay Jude Elan. The speed being more than 10mph faster than the class record. A best of three between the Jaffa Cake Mini of Ted Gilbert and the 1760cc Ford powered Morris Minor of Hazel Wloszek decided the Middle Street title. Gilbert took three out of three despite new class records of 14.92s and 9.33mph from Wloszek. W. Edwards wrapped up the Junior Street class with new records of 15.54s and 86.36mph from his 'Lil Streaker Mini. The handicap format in Production saw a final win for the Passion Wagon bug of Mick Hillier with a 19.57/65.27 to a 17.33/77.52 from J. Luckman's Vauxhall Cresta. In the bike ranks Keith Parnell's luck ran out in the first round of Top Bike, his engine stalling when the bike jumped into gear after starting. Tony Weedon made his way to the final with a string of 9.3s, culminating in a 9.38/153 win over a 10.61/147.93 from John Clift.  The Senior Bike final was between Eddie Lloyds Locomotion and the 750cc Triumph of Channel Islander Richard Le Page. Lloyd couldn't get the bike to fire up and Le Page soloed to a new personal best of 9.71/127.71. Middle and Junior Bike went to George Woods and Paul Eastbury respectively. Alex Heal continued his run of good form in Top Street Bike. An 11.05/127.38 first round win against Phil Brister was followed by a 10.98/128.70 final win over Dave Rawlins. This made Heal the first UK Street Bike rider to run a 10s pass. Jon Sharpe took the Senior Street Bike win with a 13.78/99 win over a red-lighting Terry Revill. Roger Forsythe took Junior Bike with a 12.09/107.18. A total of 29 new ET and Speed records were broken at this meeting. Some which have not been mentioned in the above report were; Top Street - 13.08/106.95 from Bob Swansborough in Mr Torquer, Senior Street - 12.85s from Steve Johnson's Motor Mouse 2 Lotus, and 104.60mph from Steve Winterberg's Lotus, Junior Street - 13.05s and 82.85mph from John Whiting's MG, B Production - 13.67s and 101.42mph from Bob Byrne's Chevy, H Production - 17.22s and 79.68mph from M. Cowell's Soozy BLMC, J Production - 62.93mph from S. Proyer's Daf 66. The Competition Motorcycle ranks produced E Class records of 9.33s and 154.56mph from Tony Weedon and an F Class speed record of 142.25mph for Jim Balchin's BSA.

 (Original entry by Bill Dossett. Updates by Trakbytes)

SPR. BDR&HRA One Day Meeting. The highlight of the day was Keith Parnell becoming the first bike rider into the eight second bracket at 8.93/151mph. he also won the Top Bike elimination. Two Top Fuellers turned up for this meet, Peter Crane with the Stormbringer and Ronnie Picardo with the Firefly. They ran two match races. Crane won both with no recorded time or speed to Picardos 8.05/189 in the first race, and took the second with a 6.70/205 after Picardos car broke on the line. Top Dragster saw the Ratcatcher slingshot of Pat Cuss make his way to the final with an 8.6s defeat of Paul Jones in the ex-Brian Ringsell Taxi. His opponent was John Siggery who took the win trundling across the finish line with a dead engine after Cuss pulled a red light. Top and Senior Comp saw a combined two entries, resulting in a best of three between Dave Page in Panic, with a half-second head start, and Phil Elson in Sneaky. Page red lit in the first and took the win in the second after Elson shut off with steering problems. In the third an 8.7s blast from Elson wasn't enough to catch Page who made it 3/3. Middle Comp produced ten entries and it was once again Bob Messent in Stripteaser who dominated the class. A string of 10.8s led him to the final where he met the Chevy/Vauxhall of Kevin Harvey. After some low eleven second runs Harvey's luck ran out as he broke on the line, leaving Messent to take the win with a 10.5s run. Junior Comp was won by Barry Sheavills in the Jaguar-powered Austin 7 Stagecoach. Pro Stock saw a best of three between the Camaros of Gary Goggin and Steve Osmond-Petrie. Goggin won the first two with times of 10.8 and 10.1s. Osmond-Petrie ran a best of 11.6, which he repeated in the final round, Goggin making it 3/3 with a 10.3. Super Street went to Alan O'Connor with an 11.00s pass from Al's Gasser. Top Street was won by the 389ci Mustang of John Ledster. Mick Hand had a hairy moment on his rapid 250cc Honda. The primary chain snapped at around 150mph, causing the revs to instantly increase dramatically and explode the blower, located between Mick's legs. The pressure lifted Mick from the bike but he held on and managed to get it stopped safely.

Wroughton. NDRC International meeting including 2nd round of the TOR LINE European funny Car Championship, (1st round was held in Sweden and rained off), 3rd round of Motor Cycle News Top Bike Championship, a round of the Wolfrace Street Championship and the 208 Pro Comp Championship. Seven Funny Cars turned up for this event making it the largest FC race so far in Europe. They were Clive Skilton (Vauxhall), Liam Churchill (The Sting, Capri), Dennis Priddle (Avenger), Roland Pratt (Hillbillies), Hazze Fromm (Capri) and the Swedish entries of Bjorn Andersson (Opel) and Leif Darback (Volvo).  Skilton was the number one qualifier but Priddle and Pratt made it through to the final. Pratts car blew a blower gasket on firing up, a direct result of upping the nitro percentage, allowing Skilton to come back in and run the final, the first time the two drivers had faced each other in Funny Cars. Priddle won with a 6.95/204 to Skiltons 8.03. To see the elimination ladder for the Funny Cars click here. Top Fuel should have been a best of three between Roz Prior's Miss Revell's Fast Lady and Trevor Young in Revolution 3. In the first round Prior broke her rear axle leaving Young to solo to a 7.22/202. He came out again to put in another solo run, this time a 7.12/208. Jim Rowatt qualified at number one, with a 9.1, and took the win in Pro Comp in his "Double Or Quits" 354 Chevy-powered dragster. He defeated Pat Cuss in the semis, 8.65/164 to 9.2/167. His opponent in the final was Mike Hall in the "Shutdown" Altered which suffered a loss of transmission oil pressure and didn't make the start. Rowatt had a half shaft fail on the run and coasted to a 24.99s win. John Whitmore took Middle Dragster with an 11.25/120 over an 11.97/110 from Glen Read. In Senior Comp Altered Dave Page beat Anders Lantz with a 9.68/141 to a 11.08/121. In the Middle Comp Svente Eriksson's Jeep disposed of Bob Messent's Stripteaser in the semis with a 10.3/140 to a 10.7. In the final he ran a 10.37/140 to defeat a 10.51/129 from the Chevy-powered '33 Plymouth of Bo Jonsson. Dave Rose won the Top Street final with a 12.95/107 in his Barracuda "Cracklin Rose" over a 13.61/104 from the TVR of Jim Kirk. In the motorcycle ranks the big news was the debut of The Hobbit, John Hobbs new twin-Weslake powered machine. He put in a couple of test runs. Keith Parnell took the Top Bike honours with a 9.39/141 defeat of Phil Drake's 10.01/140 from his 750 Triumph. Brian Chapman took Mighty Mouse to the Senior Bike win with an 11.01/123 over a 16.17/72 from Jim Balchin's BSA.

(Original entry by Bill Dossett. Updates by Trakbytes)

Eurodragster Feature including all class results, photos and links to programme scans and video clips.

SPR. European Grand Prix incorporating the first British funny Car Grand Prix.  A total of seven Funny Cars and one Fuel Altered were entered for this meeting including Dale Emery (former driver of the famous Pure Hell Fuel Altered) driving Leroy Chaddertons Chadderton & Okazaki Chevy Vega FC from the US. The car had been purchased by Santa Pod. The other contenders were, Allan Herridge in Stardust, Owen Hayward in Houndog 7, Dennis Priddle's Avenger, Roland Pratt's Hillbillies Avenger, Pete Barnett in the re-painted rear-engined Vauxhall, and Phil Elson, who had fitted the FGR Capri body to his Sneaky Altered. Making the numbers up to eight was the Tee-Rat Altered of the Stones team. FC action on Saturday began with Dale Emery putting in a 7.41/149 half pass before Owen Hayward set a new terminal speed record of 213mph on a 6.87s blast. Allan Herridge followed with a 6.77/207. Dennis Priddle and Roland Pratt both suffered clutch problems, Priddle managing a 7.97/124. Phil Elson's first outing with the Capri body resulted in a front wheel flipping back on the camber as he reversed and bending a track rod. On Sunday Emery put in an every-which-way-but-straight 7.22/172 and Elson managed an 8.9/160. In eliminations Hayward took an easy 7.6s win over a 9.5 from Barnett. Emery then took a 6.88/201 win against a 7.99 from Pratt. The next match up was Priddle and Dave Stone in Tee-Rat. Priddle looked like he was on to an easy win until he tried to shift gear and the car refused to play along. Stone, having backed off thinking he had lost found himself crossing the line first in 8 seconds dead as the Avenger slowed rapidly to an 8.2. Herridge then defeated Elson, 7.3 to 8.5. The semi finals saw Hayward take a solo win at 7.3/140 after the Stones fdailed to get the Altered fired up, a damaged blower drive idler bracket being the source of the troubles. The other semi was also an anti climax as the Vega blew a rocker gasket before coming to the line, the escaping oil igniting on the headers and forcing Emery to shut off. Herridge then soloed to a 6.9/210. In the final Hayward gave it his best shot, but the tyres struggled to grip and he smoked the whole quarter as Herridge stormed to a winning 6.66/214, resetting both ends of the European record for the class. Spectators on the opposite side of the strip apparently missed this due to the smoke trail produced by Houndog. For the Funny Car elimination ladder click here. Hayward was also in action in the Houndog 8 Top Fueller. On Saturday he hit a bump which was severe enough to bend the cars chassis. Having repaired it a later check out pass resulted in a popped blower. Peter Crane took Stormbringer to a best of 6.44/210.53 and Ronnie Picardo made up the three car field with Firefly. On Sunday Crane had an easy bye to the final with an 8.54/102. Hayward then disposed of Picardo with a 7.41/204 to an 8.0/166. In the final it was Crane who took the win with a 6.81/203 to a 7.07/205 from Hayward. Pro Comp was run for the first time at Santa Pod. Qualifying saw Mike Hall in Shutdown, complete with a brand new set of M&H slicks, lead qualifying with an 8.07 up until the final pass from The Stones Hemi Hunter. Now running the ex-Keith Harvie American built blown Chevy engine Gerry Andrews made the number one spot with an 8.00. Geoff Morris made number three in the rear-engined Chevy Malibu Express with an 8.2, Pat Cuss took Ratcatcher to the number four spot at 8.7/177 followed by Martin Rowatt with 8.9. In eliminations there were bye runs for Andrews and Hall. Rowatt made his way to the semis when he defeated Morris, 8.66/162 to 8.77/169. To gain his place in the final Hall then ran a new personal best of 7.99/170 to beat a 10.33/83 from Cuss, who shut off early realising that he was not going to catch the Altered. Then Andrews unleashed a storming 7.34/192.68 to beat an 8.39/157 from Rowatt. The final looked to be a foregone conclusion for Andrews, but Hemi Hunters Lenco transmission failed at the start line, leaving Hall to take the first Santa Pod Pro Comp eliminator win with another 7.99 Senior Dragster was a best of three between Tony Anderson and Keith Stacey. Stacey had a 1.4 second start and took two wins, with a best of 10.00/136, and 8.66/155 for Anderson. Glen Read took the Middle Dragster win, despite having to replace his gearbox overnight in his Volvo powered rail. He ran 11.09/117 in the final. Rob George took the Junior Dragster win. Senior Comp saw the unusual addition of the Pro Stock Camaro of Gary Goggin. In the semis against the Altered of Mike Kason he managed a 10.05, but failed to advance due to having pulled a red light. Kason met Dave Page in the Panic Altered for the final, but was unable to select a forward gear and reverswed into his own push car, leaving Page to take the victory with a 9.46/145. The other Pro Stock car present was the Mean Machine Camaro of Mike Churchill. He was paired up in a best of three against Al's Gasser for. Alan O'Connor took two out of three, with times of 10.83/124 and 10.93/126, Churchill winning the other with a new personal best of 11.3s. Middle Comp saw Bob Messant break Stripteasers differential on Saturday. It was repaired and he made his way to the final on Sunday where he took the win with a 10.37/118 to an 11.4 from Alan Sherwin's Travel Agent Jag/T. Bob Oram took his E Type Jag to another Top Street win with a 12.15 win over a 12.20 from Richard East's Capri in the final. Senior Street went to Steve Winterberg, who defeated Jon Wood in the final, and Keith Potter and Don Edwards won Midlde and Junior. Chris Wicks took his Sunbeam Tiger to the Production win with a 16.37 over a 17.50 from the Honda of David Waringe. The motorcycle ranks also featured a competitor over from the States, Danny Johnson returned to the UK, this time with his Goliath 3.5 litre twin-engined Harley Davidson. His first run produced an 8.62/165, the quickest motorcycle run ever in Europe. John Hobbs was making his Santa Pod debut with The Hobbit and he began by running the fastest speed from a European rider, 162.60mph in 9.22s. The pair were scheduled to run a series of match races on the Sunday, but the ACU decreed that Johnson would not be allowed to start at the same time as any other bike, due to the twin Harley being above the 2000cc limit. This was over come by giving Hobbs a tenth of a second "head start" on the tree. The first round saw Hobbs tear up some pieces of the track surface as he peformed his burnout with the front wheel up against the fence. Johnson then took the first win with an 8.65/166 as Hobbs trailed with a 9.11/157. In the second round Hobbs made a better start and looked like he might be in with a chance, but Johnson reeled him in and took the win with an 8.48/167, a new strip record and the quickest ever in Europe. But Hobbs was a happy man because, despite bending a rocker shaft that put him out of action for the rest of the day, he ran his first eig ht, an 8.86/158, and Europes first side-by-side eight second race. For the third match up Brian Chapman was brought in with Mighty Mouse. In his eagerness to take advantage of a one second head start though Chapman red lit and Johnson took another win with an 8.58/167. Top Bike qualifying was a hard fought affair, with thirteen bikes qualifying in the nines, and Keith Parnell repeating his eight second performance to lead the field with an 8.94/152.91. Derek Chinn ran a 9.33/153 on Pegasus, and there were personal bests from John Clift (9.37/141), Pete Smith (9.39) and Clive Liddiard (9.46). Ted Dunmow managed an impressive 9.69 on his unblown 750 Triumph and Brian Chapman held the bump spot at 9.77. Two riders recorded their first nine second runs in unsucessful efforts to make the Top Bike field. Mick Warne ran 9.96 on his twin-engined Triumph, and Derek Penfold took his 750 Triumph to a 9.93. In eliminations Parnell defeated Liddiard and Chapman defeated Smith. Chinn ran a strong 9.16/152 but narrowly avoided disaster when the rear brake caliper broke away and chopped off the tyre valve, the bike coming to a stop with the gearbox dragging on the track. This brought Smith back in for the semi finals to face Chapman again. This time he took the win with a 9.56 to a 9.75. Parnell shut off in the other semi as his front forks had too much play in them, leaving Clift to advance to the final. It looked as if Clift would take the final win, but he lost power at the top end with a burnt exhaust valve and Smith came by to take the win with a 9.54/146 to a quicker 9.43/141. Senior Bike saw Dennis Norman and his double Norton advance to the final with runs of 9.90 and 9.94/136. His luck then ran out as his torque converter sprang a leak, leaving Ivan Wileman to take the win with a 9.76/140.06 personal best from his 830cc Norton. Middle Bike saw four Dutch riders arrive on Sunday morning, having been at a meeting in Holland the previous day. They were Jos Smitt, Ton Pels, Anton DeVos and Rob Janssen. Janssen took the final win against John Healey's Stampede 650 Triumph with a 10.16/130 from his Double Spaghetti 1300cc twin-engined Benelli to a 13.31/108.81. Junior Bike went to the 350 Yamaha of Paul Rose with an 11.35/121.36 over a 12.52/107.18 from Roger Forsythe's Alter Ego 500cc Triumph. Terry Revill debuted his 1000cc Yoshimura Kawasaki in the Street Bike class with an 11.71 on his third qualifying run, which put him at the top of the pack. He went on to win the final with an 11.71/115.34 over a 12.16/111.23 from Phil Brister's Norton.

Long Marston. Castrol Dragster Challenge. Just weeks prior to this special afternoon taking place at Long Marston Airfield, the Midland Drag Racing Association, formed in 1974 by Ron Clark, became the first and only sub-centre (or division) of the National Drag Racing Club. To be known as NDRC (Midlands), it wasn't officially recognised by the RAC until August 1st. The purpose behind the sub-centre was to organise and promote local area club style drag racing, run under an official set of national rules and conditions. However, before a fully sanctioned race was organised a special televised race had been set up with officials from the NDRC, the venue's Rallycross organisers MotorStage & Owen Motor Club, European Dragways and Associated Television (ATV), to be featured in one of the channels 53-minute 'Sunday Sport' programmes, a summer inspired show which had already featured Midland's-based grassroots motorsports including Rallypoint, Rallycross and Hot Rod Racing. With backing from long time drag racing sponsors Castrol, the Dragster Challenge ran over an unused piece of 1/8th mile runway which in today's world was used previously as the shutdown since 1980 but in the opposite direction. The basic idea of the programme was to show viewers to the sport a series of match races between Top Fuel and Pro Comp, a round robin between four Funny Cars, a full eliminator of 8 for the country's fastest drag bikes, and further match races between Senior/Middle & Junior Dragsters and Altereds, Pro Stock/Top Street and Street Bike. NDRC held the permit. To make it interesting for the viewers some classes were mixed up to make the racing close and entertaining, backed up by an informative commentary from NDRC commentator Alan Wigmore. The programme was screened two weeks later on Sunday July 27th but only in the Midlands transmission area. The day was also shared with a round of the Philips Electrical Rally Points series which took place from 10 am until 3.00pm, before 32 of the countries quickest drag racers moved on to the site from 3.30 till 6.00pm with a 30 minute clean up between both disciplines, due to the Rallypoint course using a section of the drag strip layout. From the results we have Trevor Young setting low ET at the wheel of Revolution III. His 5.00s from two races against Roz Prior's Miss Revell slingshot dragster took Top Fuel, while in Funny Car Clive Skilton's Vauxhall/Castrol VX4/90 entry beat Liam Churchill's Capri 'The Sting', despite a spectacular oil fire at the end of, what was, a very bumpy run. By the second race Dennis Priddle got the better of his rival Skilton with a top time of 5.29/139 mph. Pro Comp went to Mike Hall's Shutdown Bantam Fuel Altered with a 5.93/128 mph against Pat Cuss at the wheel of the Team Castrol Ratcatcher slingshot. John Clift's Puma Co-Respondent II took the special 8 bike eliminator in 6.25s at 126 mph over Phil Drake's Gitanes Phantom ARE Triumph, while in a special TV match race for the bikes 'Mighty Mick' Warne out dragged Ian Messenger's Norton Pegasus in 6.69s at 116 mph. Also, on hand to entertain the viewing public and spectators who had hung around from the Rallypoint were the wheelie kings Brian Richards with the Second Invention Jag powered VX4/90 Estate wheelie car and Dave Taylor's professional high speed motorcycle touring show. Then, after a long day, the camera crew went home before some of the racing had been completed! All in all, the programme gained quite a considerable amount of attention which increased with LWT's World of Sport showing segments of the programme in their winter schedules. When Central TV took over the franchise from ATV, most of the Sunday Sport programmes (except football) were wiped but an audio recording does exist and can be downloaded from the audio page of the UKDRN web site: www.ukdrn.co.uk - Audio Section. Nick Pettitt's British Drag Racing & Hot Rodding Archive features archive footage from this event filmed by midlands enthusiast Les Sanderson and can be viewed from this link; https://youtu.be/wODWLdIvcdE?si=PMGfZYaOqsh62ZO5. Other Results include: Dragsters (A): John Whitmore def Gerry Cookson - 6.79/110 Dragsters (B): Russ Carpenter def Alan Sharpe - 5.92/116 Competition Altered (B): Dave Page def Rob Messent - 6.28/118 Competition Altered (B): Brian Mondey def Barry Sheavills - 7.73/96 Pro Stock/Modified Street: Gary Goggin def John Ledster - 6.76/109 Street Bike: Terry Revill def Ray Elgar - 7.77/94 (Jerry Cookson)

Entry List

Results sheet

Fireworks Spectacular. SPR. There was no qualifying at all on the Saturday due to the strip being too damp. However, one car did run and that was Barry Bowles in the Blonde Bombshell rocket car which made its first ever pass at 12.07/116. On the Sunday, the eliminations were run except for most of the finals as the strip was again too damp by then. In the Senior Altered semis, Gary Page ran 9.76/132 to defeat Barry Sheavills in Stagecoach, and Tony Preston was too quick for Pete Jeffries in the Chiltern Valley Charger. In the first round of Middle Altered, John Morton in Invader snapped a half shaft and came to a halt with only three wheels left on the car! In Junior Altered, both Brian Mondey in Optimist and Norm Wheeldon reached the final. The Junior Dragster final would have been between Bob Harman and Del Haggerty, whilst Middle saw Ken Penfold’s Triumph engine in his kart destroyed in a spectacular explosion. The final was to have been between Dick Jarman and Glen Read. Both John Gibbons and Roy Green had solo bye runs to make it through to the final of Senior Dragster. A new name in Pro Comp was John Whitmore who ran an 8.9 in practice and was allowed to run in the class. In the semi-final, he met Jim Read who went through with a 9.05/161 as Whitmore went up in smoke with an 11.69/83. Gerry Andrews in Hemi Hunter took an easy 11.78 solo run through. There were three cars in Pro Fuel with Ronnie Picardo soloing through in Highway Patrol. In the other semi, Roz Prior left before she had even staged handing the win to Tony Froome. The final was run, but both cars spun too much on the slick surface, but Froome had less wheelspin and took the win in 9.33. In Funny Car, Dave Stone took a 7.97/138 win over Allan Herridge in Gladiator which smoked to a 9.83/110. Dennis Priddle then put down low ET and top speed of the meeting with a great 6.93/216 winner over Phil Elson. The track really was slick for the final with Priddle taking the win in just 11.31/90. In Top bike, John Clift defeated Jeff Byne 9.39/149 to 9.90/154, John Hobbs misfired to a 11.18/116 winner as Mick Hand lost oil pressure, Henk Vink holeshot Jos Smit to take the win with a slower 9.50/104 to a losing 9.43/158, and Brian Chapman ran 9.38/149 to defeat John Lloyd. In the semis, Hobbs went through with 9.27/163 to Clift’s losing 10.25/111, and Vink edged out Chapman 9.50/150 to 9.76/147. In Senior bike, Pete Smith beat Dave Branch and John Lewis and should have lined up against Ted Dunmow in the final. Junior bike was a 16 bike field which ended with Pete Wood and Phil Whiteley making it through to the final. (Clive Rooms)

The three entries in pro Stock, Ted Gilbert in the Amber Gambler, Graham Hawes in Black Magic and Tony Dickson in Money Hungry were the last ever British Pro Stockers to run in the UK before the class was abandoned.

SPR. July Internationals. Entry List 1. Entry List 2.  This meeting saw the return of Don Garlits who came back to avenge his previous years defeat and re-purchase the Swamp Rat 21 car for display at his newly formed Museum Of Drag Racing.  Dennis Priddle had been driving the car very successfully with his own motor. This meeting saw 8 car fields in Pro Fuel and Funny Car for the first time. In Pro Fuel Ronnie Picardo took the number one qualifying spot with a 6.55/214 in Highway Patrol. Garlits made two qualifiers, a 6.76/207, and a 6.68/217 which put him in second spot. Third was Peter Crane with a 6.86/200. They were followed by Roz Prior (7.02/200), Trevor Young, in the ex-Skilton Revolution III, now with a Donovan replacing the Chrysler (7.25/200), Tony Froome (8.07/188) and Gerry Andrews (8.23/130). Picardo got a bye in Round One, a 6.68/215, but damaged his crankshaft, putting him out of the running, and then Crane ran a 7.04/190 against an ailing Froome. Crane was given the win after much discussion and consultation of rule books, although the win light came on in Froome's lane suggesting Stormbringer had pulled a red. Next was Garlits v Young. Young improved with a valiant 7.06/206 but Garlits took the win with a 6.4/229. Despite a holeshot Andrews 8.3/119 in Hemi Hunter was no match for a 6.92/207 from Prior. Round two saw Trevor Young brought back to replace Picardo but a 7.51/149 wasn't enough to stop Crane who went 6.68/199. Roz Prior then came out against Garlits and put in a 6.96/205 but the Swamp Rat took the win with a 6.22/228. Before the final it was discovered that the diff on Stormbringer had been devoid of oil and was trashed, thus denying Crane the opportunity of facing Garlits in the final. Prior was brought back in but Garlits was determined to take the victory. Running a reported 88% nitro load (despite a 'gentlemans agreement' 75% limit) he took a 6.17 win with a new UK terminal speed record of 232mph. Prior's Maneater clocked a 7.30/200 runner up. In Funny Car Allan Herridge took the Gladiator to number one qualifier with a 6.78/220, a new terminal speed record. He had earlier run a 7.01/203. Sweden's John Anderson with his Rodeck powered Manta was at number two with a 7.01/194 followed by Dennis Priddle in the black Monza with a 7.08/161. Dave Stone ran a 7.24/182 personal best in Stardust for fourth and Owen Hayward took Houndog to a 9.11 on a half pass for fifth. Phil Elson followed with a troubled high nine second pass. After a 6.78/203 bye from Herridge, and a 7.82/116 bye from Andersson in Round One Priddle saw off Hayward with a 6.86/202 to an 8.56/165, Hayward reportedly saving the Houndog's engine for imminent installation in the new Vega-bodied car being built by Nobby Hills. Dave Stone ran a piston burning 7.68/136 win against Elson whose engine died. The Semi's began with a great race between Priddle and Herridge, Dennis taking the win with a 6.95/198 to a 6.96/213. Dave Stone then ran a holeshot 7.30/169 win against a 6.98/211 from Anderson, but at the expense of six pistons and no chance of making the final. Herridge returned to face Priddle for the final round and another great race resulted in him taking a holeshot win with a 6.72/208 to a 6.71/207 from Priddle. In Pro Comp Liz Burn took the top qualifier spot with an 8.12/169. Steve Read was second at 8.64/180, followed by Mickey Naylor (8.66/112), Pat Cuss (9.11) and Baz Young (9.12). Burn ran a bye 7.93/167 while Mickey Naylor's bye run resulted in an 8.44/125 and a broken crankshaft. Burn hen disposed of Cuss with a 7.55 to a 10.25. Meanwhile Read ran an 8.34/136 against Baz Young and then beat Pat Cuss to meet Liz in the final. Vicory was denied however as Read pulled a huge wheelie, which trashed the frame of his Juara slingshot, leaving Burn to take the final win with a 7.58/153. A new class was introduced for bikes, John Cheadle won the first ever Gas Bike eliminator, his 350 Kawasaki ran 10.36/132 to John Lloyds 750 Kawasaki which clocked 10.67/126. In Top Bike sixteen bikes ran in the nines, or lower, for an eight bike elimination. Jeff Byne made number one qualifier with an 8.92/166 from his  double-engined Morgo Triumph, followed by John Clift (9.02), Brian Chapman (9.04) and Derek Chinn (9.05). Henk Vink had problems early on but managed to qualify with a 9.54/163 with the bump spot being 9.60. A later practice run saw him reel off a stunning 8.86/173. Round one saw Byne beat Mick Butler, 8.65/166 to 9.49/152. Jonny Munn beat Chapman, 9.24/142 to 9.21/151. Vink ran 8.92/164 to dispose of Clift and Eddy Lloyd went through as Chinn red lit. In the semis Byne beat Munn, 8.78/162 to 9.40/140 and Vink knocked out Lloyd with an 8.99/165 to a 10.33/135. In the final Vink took a holeshot win at 9.03/166 as Byne smoked the slick and shed his primary chain at the top end, recording a 9.16/152.  Les Armes clocked a 9.84/146 on his Pro Stock Kawasaki to set a new class record. The toilet apology notice was now a permanent fixture in the programmes. For all car class results from this meeting click here. For bike results click here

SPR. Holiday Weekend Supernationals Including fourth round of the Motorcraft Pro Fuel Masters Championship. A number of racers, including Dennis Priddle and Trevor Young, were out of the country, and Allan Herridge was still recovering from his accident at Drachten. This left the entry list a little thinner than was normal for this meeting. The engine from Alleygator had survived the Dutch crash and had been installed in Ronnie Picardo's Highway Patrol. It threw a rod in Pro Fuel qualifying. Peter Crane was number one qualifier with a 6.75 from Stormbringer. Close behind, at 6.81, was Roz Prior, followed by Dave Stone in Stardust (7.42), Owen Hayward in Houndog, the Sundance dragster of Tony Froome at 7.64, and Gerry Andrews with a 7.69 in Hemi Hunter. Tony Froome was also doing the driving duties in the rear engined Sundance Funny Car. In the first round of eliminations Dave Stone ran a best ever 7.15/189, but lost out to Roz Prior's 6.92. Picardo won with a 6.70 as the Sundance dragster blew a head gasket. Crane disposed of Hemi Hunter with a 7.05 Houndog ran a 7.46 to beat Froome's 9.05. The semi finals saw Crane march on with a win over Picardo, the latter suffering a small fire as oil leaked onto the headers. In the other pairing, Hayward and Prior, the Houndog car was destroyed after a halfshaft broke as the car launched off the line, sending it across the track, narrowly missing Prior's Maneater, and into the crash barrier. Hayward spent a couple of days in hospital under observation but was ok. This marked the end of the line for the much loved Plymouth Duster that Paula Murphy had brought to the UK in 1973.  It is likely though that this would have been the last meeting for this car anyway, as the team were nearing completion of its replacement, the Houndog 9 Vega. In the final Prior red lit as Crane took the win with a 6.95/209, but she maintained her lead in the Championship points. Pro Comp qualifying saw Liz Burn at the top with a 7.33, followed by Micky Naylor's Medicine Man at 7.52. They were followed by Steve Read (7.9), Baz Young (8.25), Pat Cuss (8.37), John Sutton (9.33) and Ray Hoare, with a 9.35 from his Turbo Saxon on it's first Santa Pod outing. Naylor took the final win, having beaten Young in the semis, with a 7.78 over a blower belt shedding Cuss. Dave Page won Senior Comp in Panic with a 9.05/153 against a 13.54 from Norm Wheeldon, who had earlier run in the nine second bracket. Middle Comp went to Colin Fisher with a 10.10/135 against a 10.83/120 from Jason Smith's Fire Injun. Senior Dragster saw a win for Russ Carpenter with a 8.99 to a 9.60 from Dave Gibbons. Middle Dragster went to Dick Jarman with an 11.14 win over Dick Knight. John Hobbs on his double Weslake 'The Hobbit' set a new bike record and came the closest yet to a seven second run with an 8.15/175 backed up with an 8.44/170. Brian Chapman won Top Bike on the first day, beating Johnny Munns Norton in the final. In the second days competition Munn turned the tables on Chapman by dumping him in the first round and going on to run his best ever time in the final, 9.08/151 against a 10.00 from Ted Dunmow.

Blackbushe. NDRC Meeting.Three fuel cars were entered, Dennis Priddle in his JWR funny, Trevor Young and Mickey Naylor in their dragsters. Unfortunately, Young’s car was sidelined with a cracked liner. Priddle won with a time of 7.56/211. There were just a couple of entries in Pro Comp which Liz Burn took with an easy 8.95/155 as the Page brothers and Panic had blower problems. Senior Dragster winner was Tony Beadle beating Roy Green in the final. Robin Wilby was the Middle winner defeating Steve Collins in the final. Junior Dragster had just two entries with Neil Roberts beating Graham Peake. Senior Comp Altered winner was Keith Potter with a 10.54/137 winning time over Tony Merry. Robert Hunt won Middle in Drag Addict with 11.89/117 ahead of John Tebbutt. Junior winner was Alan Loten in Paranoia taking it over Bob Jarrett in 11.56/116. Bonnie Lambert took the honours in Middle Modified and Jim Whiting won Senior Modified. Sylvia Hauser defeated Jack Reay in the Production final and the Street final was a battle of the Dave’s with Dibley crossing the stripe ahead of Webb. In Top Comp Bike, first round losers were John Healy, Dick Talbot, R Baimbridge and Pete Wood. Steve Tidy and John Charlton lost out in the semis which left John Clift to line up against Brian Chapman in the final. A 10.02/135 from Clift got the job done. Senior was won by Tony Steel beating Joe Upton in the final. Chris Stevens defeated J Challenger in the Top Gas final and Nigel Patrick took the Pro Street honours. In the Street Bike final, Tony Huck bested Steve Woollat. New NDRC class records were established by; JD17 Neil Roberts 10.63s, DM7 Jim Whiting 12.41s, CP45 Sylvia Hauser 13.53s, DP23 Jack Reay 101mph, CS101 Tony Huck 11.62/122, AAG21 Chris Stevens 11.12/126, AS276 Stafford Hogg 15.17/83, AG110 Eddie Lloyd 12.64/102 and BG111 Terry Revill 14.65/50. The last three were previously unestablished divisions.

 For full results click here. (Dave Dibley)

Blackbushe. NDRC Meeting.Three Fuel cars were in attendance with Dennis Priddle’s FC taking the win in the final over the TF car of Trevor Young. The third car competing was Mickey Naylor. In the Pro Comp elimination, first round losers were Vic Hammond, Shellie Billington and the Pages. Semi-final losers were Pat Cuss and Liz Burn which left Jim Read and Reg Hazelton to fight out the final. It resulted in a win for Le Patron of Jim Read. Senior Dragster winner was Rich Fielding who defeated Ian Fraser in the final. Middle had a full eight car field and ended with Ken Penfold beating Martin Jarman in the final round. Rod George took the win in Junior over Robin Read. There were just two competitors in Senior Comp Altered with Tony Merry lucking out over Keith Potter. Middle also had a full field of eight and ended with Reg Clark taking the final round win over Bob Hunt. Junior winner was Alan Loten with Bob Jarrett taking the runner-up spot. The only competitor in Top Modified was Dave Collis, and Senior Modified winner was Roger D/Harding who beat Jim Whiting. Junior winner was once again Hazel Wloszek beating Bonnie Lambert. Sylvia Hauser took the win in Production while David Dibley took the title in Street. In Top Competition Bike, the four first round losers were Bob Beckwith, John Lewis, Tony Steel and John Hobbs. The beaten semi-finalists were John Charlton and Peter Wood which left Jonny Munn to face off against Brian Chapman in the final. Munn took it. Top Gas winner was John Lloyd over Paul Rose and Senior Comp winner was Joe Upton over A.N.Porter. Nigel Patrick took the Pro Street crown beating Mick Carter in the final. In Street Bike, Steve Woollatt won the final ahead of Steve Gaudion. One of the first round losers was Brian Johnson.

For full results and new class records click here (Part One) and here (Part Two) (Dave Dibley)

Snetterton. NDRC Championships Round Four, RAC British Drag Race Championship Round Four, Gauloises/NDRC Pro Comp Championship Round Three and Round Five of the ACU British Drag Race Championship. In the Fuel elimination, the FC of Dennis Priddle beat Trevor Young’s TF car. Pro Comp winner was Liz Burn defeating the Pages Panic in the final. There were three other PC entrants; Vic Hammond, Reg Hazelton and Dave Bavington. In Senior Dragster, Bob Harman crossed the stripe ahead of Roy Cockerill in the final. Steve Collins took the win in Middle over Martin Jarman. Junior winner was yet again Steve Johnson over Neil Roberts. Keith Potter took the Senior Comp Altered win over Tony Merry. Sue Coles triumphed in Middle beating John Tebbutt in the final. Junior had eleven cars entered and the elimination ended with Alan Loten beating Dave Tucker in the final. In the Modified classes, Jim Whiting took the win in Senior, Pete Hodgetts in Middle and Hazel Wloszek in Junior. In Production, Phil Gibson lined up with Dave Mingay in the final with Gibson winning. In the bike classes, the feature event was a match race between John Hobbs and Henk Vink with both riders setting new personal marks. Vink reset the Snetterton ET record with a blistering 8.37, and Hobbs upped his personal mph best to 176. In Top Comp Bike, the first round losers were Dave Emmerson, Pete Smith, Brian Simpson and Nigel Patrick. Pete Wood and Derrick Penfold lost out in the semis leaving Brian Chapman and Ted Dunmow to face-off in the final. Chapman won it. Top Gas winner was Chris Stevens over John Lloyd. Senior winner was Joe Upton over Sean Cormac-Walshe. Middle winner was Dick Talbot ahead of Grant Hounsome. Steve Woollatt once again took the win in Street. (Clive Rooms)

 For full car results click here, and here. (Dave Dibley)

Blackbushe. Entry List. 6th Round of Gauloises-NDRC Pro Comp Champioship, 8th Round of NDRC Championship, 8th Round of ACU British Motorcycle Championship. There were just two entrants in TF with Mickey Naylor taking the win over Trevor Young. Pro Comp had a five car field which Jim Read won, beating Pat Cuss in the final. The other three entrants were the Pages Panic, Liz Burn and the Hazelton team. In Senior Dragster, Russ Carpenter took a final round win over Roger Guzowski. John Whitmore was once again the winner in Middle, beating Martin Jarman in the final. Junior was another Steve Johnson benefit as he overcame Neil Roberts in the final. Senior Comp Altered had just two contestants with Tony Merry beating Keith McKee. Middle Comp Altered had a 10 car field and ended with Sue Coles overcoming Bob Hunt in the final. Junior winner was Team Paranoia beating Team Vandal in the final. In the Modified classes, Rod Arkinstall won Top, Jim Whiting took the honours in Senior, and Hazel Wloszek took the win in Middle. Top Comp Bike had a full field of eight. First round losers were Nigel Chapman, Barry Eastman, John Lewis and Ray Simpson. Beaten in the semis were John Charlton and Keith Porter leaving Johnny Munn and John Cheadle to battle out the final which Munn won. Senior was won by Dave Emmerson beating Olly Thatcher in the final. Jim Challenger took the win in Middle overcoming Vic Strugnell in the final round. In Top Gas Bike, Chris Stevens beat Paul Rose in the final. Nigel Patrick took the honours in Pro Street, and Chris Hatherly in Street. (Clive Rooms)

 Thanks to Victor Strugnell for pointing out that in fact, in the final of Middle Bike, Jim Challenger was disqualified and Victor was awarded the win. This was because Victor was running on Nitromethane and Jim failed to stage within the specified 20 seconds of Victor staging his bike.

In the Production classes the two finalists Mason Hogg and Phil Gibson both set new class records. Gibson with a 13.22 in P/D and Hogg with a 13.55/113 in B/P. Gibson took the final win. For full results click here (Dave Dibley)

Snetterton. Round nine of the NDRC Points Championship. This was the last event organised by the NDRC at the Norfolk Circuit. There were just two competitors once again in TF, and in a reversal of the August Blackbushe meeting, Trevor Young took the win over Mickey Naylor. Pro Comp had seven entrants with Ollie Burn, Liz Burn and Jim Read going out in the first round. Losing semi-finalists were Team Hazelton and Team Stinker. In the final, the Pages Panic beat Graham Hawes. Senior Dragster winner was Rich Fielding beating Andy Swaffield. Middle was won by Martin Jarman taking it over Ken Penfold. Tony Merry took the honours in Senior Comp Altered ahead of Keith McKee. Sue Coles was the winner in Middle defeating Bob Hunt in the final. The Junior final was won by Chris Petty crossing the stripe ahead of Barry Giles. Top Modified was a two-horse race with Ted Gilbert getting the edge ahead of Dave Collis. Jim Whiting won Senior beating Sam Connell in the final. Peter Hodgetts won Middle ahead of Team Haggas, and in a battle of the ladies, Hazel Wlozek took the honours in Junior ahead of Bonnie Lambert. The Production class winner was Team Hauser, and Tim Cook took the win in Street. Top Bike first round losers were Peter Ager, Dick Talbot, Rob Beckwith and Dave Emmerson. In the semis, both Sean Cormac-Walshe and Ken Gee lost out leaving John Charlton and Nigel Patrick to battle it out in the final. Charlton won with his superior power. Jim Challenger was the Senior Bike winner beating Martin Dudley in the final. Chris Stevens was the winner in Top Gas Bike ahead of John Cheadle. The Street final was between Steve Woollatt and Tony Huck, and the luck went Woollatt’s way. (Clive Rooms). Racing here for the NDRC was abandoned after this meeting as a financial loss. (Ron Clark)

 For full results click here. (Dave Dibley)

NDRC Finals, Blackbushe. Again, there were just two entries in TF which ended with Dennis Priddle in his FC beating the TFD of Trevor Young. Pro Comp had a four car field and the losing semi-finalists were Team Panic and Ollie Burn’s Komodo Dragon FC, which left Liz Burn and Reg Hazelton to contest the final. Liz took it. Senior Dragster was a two car field with Rich Fielding overcoming Bob Harmon. Middle was another win for John Whitmore as he finished ahead of Martin Jarman in the final. Junior was another Steve Johnson benefit, beating Neil Roberts in the final. Senior Comp Altered was a three car field with Mike Kason the unlucky competitor to be eliminated in the semis. This left Tony Merry to take the final round win over Keith McKee. Middle Comp Altered was a full eight car field and ended with Sue Coles and Bob Hunt lining up to contest the final which the lady took. Junior also had a full field which Mick Hillier won beating Team Paranoia in the final. As Top Modified only had Ted Gilbert entered, he took an unopposed win. In the final of Senior Modified, Jim Whiting took the win over Sam O’Connell. Middle winner was Jack Reay who beat Team Haggas in the final. The final of Junior had the two ladies lining up again and it ended with Hazel Wloszek taking the win over Bonnie Lambert. The Production class winner was Simon Paul, and Mike Reynolds took the win in Street. In Top Comp Bike, the unlucky four who went out in the first round were Keith Porter, Dick Talbot, Dave Houghton and Barry Eastman. The two to go out in the semis were Dave Emmerson and Tony Steel leaving Jonny Munn and Eddy Lloyd to contest the final which ended in a win for Munn. Top Gas Bike winner was Chris Stevens with John Lloyd the beaten finalist. Rod Pallant took the honours in Senior Comp Bike beating Martin Dudley in the final. Middle winner was Olly Thatcher with Earl Longley runner-up. Pro Street was another Nigel Patrick benefit with Philip Joy taking the runner-up spot. Steve Woollatt took yet another win in Street, beating Peter Foulsham in the final. (Clive Rooms)

 For full results click here (Dave Dibley)

SPR May Day Internationals,"Festival Of Speed".

Also at May Day meet, Al O'Connor in the all new Al's Gasser won Street Bracket, and Roz Prior launched two blowers skywards on the same day! Trevor Young was quickest Top Fuel driver of the season so far with a 6.4second run. Camp fires were banned at Santa Pod! Click here to see all the class results and further notes from this meeting.