Hi everyone! Here are the very brief results from the amazing 12^th Annual ‘Dragstalgia’ event at Santa Pod last weekend, 7^th - 9^th July. The event field was the biggest ever, with 284 amazing entries! Wow!

The Wild Bunch had a brilliant field of 35 teams taking part in this fabulous event. Great to see such a large field again and a real range of cars, with so many regular members, returning teams and a newcomer all joining in for this incredible event! There were some great matchups, excellent performances and a fantastic show from the whole Bunch as always!

The weather was very mixed this weekend to say the least!! Around 10 Wild Bunch teams took place in the RWYB day on Friday. In the extra class session on Friday evening, the Wild Bunch round was around 5:30pm and 18 drivers took part.

On Saturday we were scheduled for 3 rounds of practice. The track opened on time, but only one class got some passes in before there was a torrential storm with thunder and lightning shortly before 10am!!  After that subsided the track crew worked for a couple of hours to dry the track and were on the point of gluing the track and assembling the next class at about 12:45pm when the heavens opened again, with an equally powerful storm!! The crew worked even longer on the track, and after a mammoth effort, racing resumed at about 4pm!!! Huge well done and massive thanks to them for all of their efforts! They also had a couple of track clean-ups to do during the racing, which then carried on until about 8:45pm! Incredible efforts by the whole Santa Pod team enabled every single class to get one run in! Brilliant! And again, thank you all so much!!  Because of all the down time, and the need to reorganise the running order, the Wild Bunch practice round did not take place until around 8pm!! This was indeed some time after the original plan for 10:35am!  18 drivers took part in this session which finished around 8:15pm! Unfortunately the weather had other ideas Saturday, but thanks to the heroic never-give-up efforts of the track crew and officials, everyone at least had a chance to make one run!

The ‘Cracklefest’ had to be cancelled due to the rain delays and the need to get some racing in! But 3 cars from the historic marquee display cackled up by the fence to give the crowd a show!

On Sunday, the Wild Bunch were scheduled for 3 runs. Unexpectedly there was a bit more rain in the morning, but thankfully this was only light and did not last long and only caused about 20 minutes delay! Because of the delays on Saturday, there was some change to the running order, and the Dragstalgia Cannonball and a round of Nostalgia Superstock needed to be brought forward. There was some down time due to fluid on the track, so our first run which had been scheduled for around 10:35, ended up taking place at about 1:30pm! But we were glad to get this completed before the half hour lunch break (much needed by the crews and also delayed!). The schedule then proceeded, and with a huge volume of cars to run, we later had our second round at about 5pm, and the third at around 6pm, so were all happy to get all 3 round in! In fact, the Santa Pod crew managed to get the whole event completed by 6:30pm! An amazing achievement, given all the bad weather Saturday and other delays!

Here are the Top 6 at the event after the 3 rounds of competition, with average difference to Dial-in shown. Many Congratulations to all! :

1^st Place: Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’ .0151 (many congratulations on another great win Dan!)

2^nd Place: James Auld in ‘Little Fauss’ .0389  (good to see James firmly back in the Top 4!)

3^rd Place: Rob & Pete Brown in ‘Rebel’ .0433 (fantastic effort after literally just getting the car fixed!!)
4^th Place: Liz Malcolm in ‘Jus’ 4 Fun’ .0848 (welcome again Liz & Iain!)

5^th Place: Greg Tait in ‘TimeLock 2’ .1193 (another good result for Greg, and oh so near the 8’s!!)

6^th Place: Chris Hartnell in ‘Backdraft’  .1398 (great to see Chris back amongst the trophies!)

Plus the other 6 other finishers to complete all 3 rounds without redlights were the following, who all deserve an honourable mention: 7^th – Ruaridh Hart, 8^th – Ford Skipp, 9^th - Team Wrathchild,10^th  – Alan Loten, 11^th – Jim Tanner, 12^th – Keith Crampton.

Here are the Spot Prizes that were won. Many Congratulations to all! :

Closest to Dial-in (in the rounds): Dan Wilson in ‘Antique Toy’ with .0005 off in Round 1!! (excellent!!)

Best Reaction (in the rounds): James Auld in ‘Little Fauss’ .048

Quickest E.T. of the event:  Alan Lloyd in ‘Gonzo the Great’ 7.664 (also fastest with 169.81mph!)

Best Burnout:  ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell in ‘Backdraft’

Best Appearing Car:  Danny & Elliott Jones in ‘Ragin’ Cajun’

Best Appearing Team: Team ‘BraveHart’

Best Backup Girl: Mel from Team ‘Paranoia’

Best Showmanship: Bobby Wright in ‘Alturd’ (fantastic wheelie in first round!)

Spirit of Nostalgia: Team ‘Rebel’ & ‘Wrathchild’ (fixed race cars, fab backup girls and great pit display!)

 

Many Commiserations to all those who had breakages or issues. Hope you can get them fixed real soon and be back out having fun!!

And a massive Get Well Soon to our lovely Italian friend Simona Mazzali, wife and main crew for Luca Govoni. Luca and Simona had travelled over from Italy in the week, and were out testing the car on Friday, with Luca running his best ever time at Santa Pod. Sadly, just after the run, Simona had an accident and had to be taken to hospital where it was discovered she had broken a bone in her shoulder, and the pair had to leave to go home the next morning. We are so sorry Simona and hope you will heal soon and have no pain! We really missed you both for the weekend, and hope to see you next year for Dragstalgia. Sending you both our very Best Wishes!!

Here is the full field of fantastic Wild Bunch participants!!!! Plus PB’s included. Please please do let me know if I have missed any!!! Apologies if I have!!

 

WB 1	Rob & Pete Brown	Rebel	Rob: 8.356
WB 2	Phil James	Rampage
WB 3	Dan Wilson	Antique Toy
WB 6	Chris Hartnell	Backdraft
WB 19	Wayne Colliver	Misfit
WB 20	Pete & Rob Brown	Wrathchild
WB 22	Bradley Cooper	Back From The Past
WB 34	Greg Tait	Time Lock 2	9.021
WB 42	Bobby Wright	Alturd
WB 48	Leo Knight	Knightrider
WB 55	Alan Lloyd	Gonzo The Great
WB 59	Callum Swinchatt	Kings N/W
WB 65	Ford Skipp	Chasin’ Time	9.389 / 140.82
WB 66	Alan Skipp	Cheap Thrills
WB 68	Mick Gleadow	Jurassic Parts 2
WB 69	Alan Loten	Paranoia
WB 75	Andy Jackson	Econorail
WB 76	Steve Field	Black Pig Too
WB 78	Keith Crampton	Soul Town Shaker
WB 85	Andy Clifford	Snake Eyes	8.761
WB 86	Jim Tanner	Shindigger
WB 89	Andy & Gordon Roy	Shawcrank Redemption	A: 11.096 / 123.89 G: 15.197 / 46.12
WB 98	Rob White	Happy Daze
WB 104	Dave Shoemark	The Crewman
WB 113	Paul Tarry	Trigger’s Broom
WB 116	Ian Wild	WildScat
WB 132	Dan & Elliott Jones	Ragin’ Cajun
WB 245	John Sharod	Never Say Never	8.898 / 154.26
WB 316	James Auld	Little Fauss
WB 358	Pete Whitfield	Rowell Rail	11.192 / 129.04
WB 450	Rich Butcher	Forth Dimension
WB 601	Luca Govoni	Earthquake	10.182 / 130.68
WB 626	Liz Malcolm	Jus’ 4 Fun
WB1066	Steve Garlant	Sonic Attack 2	123.40
WB1969	Ruaridh Hart	Bravehart	11.601 / 107.57

 

 

Highlights of this weekend included: The really large field of amazing Wild Bunch cars and great people, fantastic backup girls, a brilliant show all round, getting a round on Friday and one on a very rainy Saturday and then completing 3 full rounds of racing overall.

Just a few of the many star highlights were:

 

• The Marras Pete and Rob Brown getting both slingshots fixed and back out running well, with ‘Rebel’ straight back in into the Top 4 and Rob hitting his PB of 8.356
• Dan Wilson hitting his Dial with .0005 off in the first round!!
• ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell overcoming a couple of issues including an MSD failure, and returning to his entertaining wheelying form with three 8.7-second passes at nearly 150mph! Great to see Chris displaying his new historic dragbike ‘Backdraft Two’ in the Hall of Fame marquee!!
• ‘Back from the Past’ crew chief and British Drag Racing Hall of Famer Ken ‘Mr Flathead’ Cooper tuning his and Bradley’s car, and receiving visits in the pits from famed former ‘Houndog’ slingshot driver ‘Movin’ Mike Hutcherson and his brother, plus a trip down memory lane with Antony Billington, owner of the beautiful ‘Commuter’ slingshot, on display in the marquee
• Another British Drag Racing Hall of Famer, Ian Lloyd, crew chiefing and tuning ‘Gonzo the Great’ to son Alan’s excellent quickest run of the Wild Bunch at 7.664/169.81
• Skippy’s son, 18-year old Ford, really getting a handle on the family slingshot and recording an incredible 9.389/140.82 pass in the ‘Chasin’ Time’ car! Huge well done Ford! An extremely competent driving job all weekend!
• So fantastic to see Alan Loten & Steve Williams firmly back in the 9’s with the iconic ‘Paranoia’ altered, with a best for the weekend of 9.883 in only their second event back! Many Congratulations to them both on this return to form after so much hard work, waiting for parts, revamping the nitrous system and going right through the car! Very well-deserved ETs!! Nice to hear the cat truly roaring again!!
• Well done to Andy Clifford getting deeper into the 8’s in the ‘Snake Eyes’ slingshot with a great 8.761; also great to see Andy’s young nephew Leo enjoying his first ever drag race!
• Tee & Andy’s Dad Gordon Roy returning to slingshot driving after a gap of 48 years and enjoying his first ever pass in the ‘Shawcrank Redemption’ car at 15-seconds! Welcome back Gordon!! Plus Andy improved on his checkout pass from the last event to an excellent couple of 11-second passes! Well done to all of family Roy and team!
• John Sharod really getting to grips with the ‘Never Say Never’ altered and running his first 8, with an 8.898 at 154.26mph – Congratulations John!
• Welcome to Wild Bunch newcomer Pete Whitfield and team – Pete piloted his slingshot down to the low 11’s and thoroughly enjoyed his first outing with the Bunch!
• A big welcome back to Steve Garlant, recovering from illness and enjoying driving the slingshot again at his fastest speed with the car
• Well done to Ruaridh Hart taking seven tenths off his PB in the awesome-looking ‘BraveHart’ funny car and getting over the Ton! 

So many more great stories amongst the teams and great individual and team performances!!

And the most wonderful highlight of the weekend was to hear about the announcement that our very own beloved Wild Bunch co-founder Roy Wilding has been inducted in to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame this year! Huge Congratulations Roy on this very well-deserved recognition and accolade!! We are all so thrilled for you!!

Everyone in the Bunch really did themselves proud as always at this great event!!  What a weekend!!

Congratulations to everyone who took part!! Many thanks to all the organisers, starters, track and fire and safety crews, marshals and officials, timing crew, Simon and the whole eurodragster.com team, commentators Colin Theobald and Darryl Bradford and John Price for brilliant and informative commentary as always, and for their support of the Wild Bunch!! Thanks to all the photographers and media, Max Frost and Dan Melrose and team and absolutely, and especially again to all the hardworking track crew who did so much to get as many runs as possible!!

Special mention and thanks to Darren Prentice for his hard work on the water tanker removing the puddles all whilst fully attired in American airman uniform, including cap. Another great tribute amongst many this weekend, including the flypast of the ‘Sally B’, a Spitfire and Hurricane and Lancaster, and the Satan’s Lady team’s historic display to remember the 80^th anniversary of the 92^nd Bombardment Group’s arrival at ‘Station 109’ Podington Airfield in World War II. We will always remember them and thank them for their sacrifice so that we may live in peace and freedom.  Rest in Peace, Godspeed.

Huge thanks to everyone at Santa Pod, for all their hard work this weekend, to run this brilliant event!! Their amazing efforts are so much appreciated!! We had a fantastic time!!

All the best

Claire JJJ

 

PS. Points will be updated asap!! J