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Series Results for 2004

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Wild Bunch Series
Pos WB Driver/Team Car Points
1 4 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan 39
2 3 Joe Stevens Back in Black 38
3 142 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 32
4 109 Andy Murphy B-Sting 30
5 38 Helen Smythe Hell’s Belle 29
6 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 21
7 34 Alec Coe Shy Torque 21
8 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 20
9 29 Tony Wynne-Jones Welsh Raider 2 19
10 28 Pete & Gav Loveridge Herr X 15
11 131 Paul Harvey Mailkey Dragster 10
12 147 Sid Slattery Destiny 8
13 2 Gareth Kent Hot Dog 8
14 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 7
- 67 Darryl Howells Chemical Reaction 7
16 20 Mark Coulsell Limited Funz 7
17 72 Dave Southworth Daddy Cool 6
18 40 Darren Law Wicked Lady 5
- 101 Matt Lee Worth the Wait 5
20 36 Russ Dean Fury 5
- 87 Julian Meakins Claustrophobic 5
22 60 Andrew Gibb Witchcraft/Little Old Opel 3
23 5 Lee Hartnell Dazed & Confused 3
- 50 Clayton Round Rebel 3
- 80 Mike Davis Traspasser 3
26 42 Colin Stevens Golddigger 2
27 (40) Dennis Hawkins Wicked Lady 1
- 89 Terry Meakins Luvly Jubly 0
Real Steel Series
Pos WB Driver/Team Car Points
1 4 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan 43
2 3 Joe Stevens Back in Black 42
3 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 35
4 109 Andy Murphy B-Sting 34
5 142 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 30
6 38 Helen Smythe Hell’s Belle 25
7 34 Alec Coe Shy Torque 23
8 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 22
9 29 Tony Wynne-Jones Welsh Raider 2 18
10 20 Mark Coulsell Limited Funz 18
11 28 Pete & Gav Loveridge Herr X 15
12 131 Paul Harvey Mailkey Dragster 10
13 147 Sid Slattery Destiny 8
14 2 Gareth Kent Hot Dog 8
15 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 7
- 67 Darryl Howells Chemical Reaction 7
17 72 Dave Southworth Daddy Cool 6
18 85 John Munday Hot Dog 6
19 40 Darren Law Wicked Lady 5
- 101 Matt Lee Worth the Wait 5
21 36 Russ Dean Fury 5
- 87 Julian Meakins Claustrophobic 5
23 60 Andrew Gibb Witchcraft/Little Old Opel 4
24 5 Lee Hartnell Dazed & Confused 3
- 50 Clayton Round Rebel 3
- 80 Mike Davis Traspasser 3
27 42 Colin Stevens Golddigger 2
- 44 Chev Charman-Osbourne Odditee 2
29 (40) Dennis Hawkins Wicked Lady 1
- 89 Terry Meakins Luvly Jubly 1
Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series
Pos WB Driver/Team Car Points
1 3 Joe Stevens Back in Black 30
2 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 24
3 38 Helen Smythe Hell’s Belle 21
4 142 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 20
- 109 Andy Murphy B-Sting 20
6 34 Alec Coe Shy Torque 17
7 4 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan 16
- 28 Pete & Gav Loveridge Herr X 16
9 29 Tony Wynne-Jones Welsh Raider 2 13
10 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 10
11 71 Andy Solley Repeat Offender 7
12 72 Dave Southworth Daddy Cool 6
- 80 Mike Davis Traspasser 6
- 147 Sid Slattery Destiny 6
15 36 Russ Dean Fury 5
- 39 Roland Willats Dragin Time 5
- 43 Martin Holgate Paranoia 5
- 87 Julian Meakins Claustrophobic 5
19 42 Colin Stevens Golddigger 4
- 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 4
21 5 Lee Hartnell Dazed & Confused 3
- 20 Mark Coulsell Limited Funz 3
- 50 Clayton Round Rebel 3
24 101 Matt Lee Worth the Wait 2
25 60 Andrew Gibb Witchcraft/Little Old Opel 1
- 67 Darryl Howells Chemical Reaction 1
- 89 Terry Meakins Luvly Jubly 1
- 131 Paul Harvey Mailkey Dragster 1
Ultimate Power Series
Pos WB Driver/Team Car Points
1 4 Tony Smith The Cunning Plan 1220
2 3 Joe Stevens Back in Black 1170
3 20 Mark Coulsell Limited Funz 1120
4 142 Mike Cresswell Living the Dream 620
5 109 Andy Murphy B-Sting 530
6 34 Alec Coe Shy Torque 450
7 85 John Munday Hot Dog 440
8 6 Chris Hartnell Backdraft 350
9 38 Helen Smythe Hell’s Belle 310
10 57 Neil Ward Andromeda 290
11 76 Steven Field The Black Pig 270
12 29 Tony Wynne-Jones Welsh Raider 2 230
13 44 Chev Charman-Osbourne Odditee 180
14 60 Andrew Gibb Witchcraft/Little Old Opel 140
15 67 Darryl Howells Chemical Reaction 130
WILD BUNCH TROPHIES 2004
Flowers
Flowers were presented to
Janet Brown of Shakespeare County Raceway
Wendy Talbot of Shakespeare County Raceway,
Sarah Howells (WB Secretary)
Angi Wilding (SCO)
Claire Meaddows (WB Treasurer/Race Co-ordinator)
(Sponsored by Mark Coulsell)
Wild Bunch Ladies 2004
There were 21 WB ladies that received gifts for ladies supporting their teams at the track throughout the year.
Commemoratives
Ed Yates received a presentation for sterling services to the Wild Bunch Website!
Sarah Howells received a presentation for her hard work and services to the Wild Bunch Newsletter!
Claire Meaddows received a presentation for her services and dedication to the Wild Bunch.
Special Presentations
Tog & Sharkman
were presented with awards. This was to recognise their “Services to Drag Racing” for all their hard work with the eurodragster.com website. Many people treat the site as the first port of call for all information relating to current Drag Racing topics and news, and the guys work hard to keep the news fair and unbiased, and both personal and professional, and always informative. This award also recognised that they tirelessly promote the sport of Drag Racing and foster a community spirit of sportsmanship and recognition for the achievements of racers throughout European Drag Racing and beyond. Thanks for all your hard work, guys!
Fastest MPH
Paul Harvey, WB 131, “Goin’ Loco” Rear-engine dragster
Paul ran a 147.61 mph at the American Car World Nationals in May. (The winner has to back up the speed during the year within 5%, which he did with a 146.89 mph, at the same event!). (Paul later went on to break the 150 mph mark during the year at another non-WB event!)
Quickest E.T.
Paul Harvey, WB 131, “Goin’ Loco” Rear-engine dragster
Paul ran an impressive 8.853 at the American Car World Nationals in May. (The winner has to back up the time during the year within 5%, which Paul did with an 8.996 at the same event!). (Later in the year, he took another two tenths off this time at a non-WB event!)
Fastest time by a British-engined dragster
Dave ‘Sag’ Southworth, WB 72, “Daddy Cool”
This is a new trophy awarded by Team “Paranoia”. The criteria is that the winner must have participated in at least 2 Wild Bunch banner events, must run a British engine, and must back their time up within 5%. This year’s winner is Dave ‘Sag’ Southworth, who ran a 10.371 at the York Summer Showdown in August, which was backed up by the 10.404 he ran at the York Spring Shootout in May.
Big Bang Trophy
Sid Slattery, WB 147, “Destiny” Slingshot
Sid has been running his beautiful slingshot with great success early in the year, reaching a Personal Best E.T. of 10.753 at 125 mph back at the Spring Nationals in April. He ran another strong 10.8 pass at the Classic American Nationals in May, but on the second pass at that event, the engine let go big time, covering the driver in oil and leaving 4 large holes in the sump, not to mention the comprehensive damage to the block! But ‘Sizzling’ Sid Slattery came back with a new engine at the very next event at York!! Fair play!
Best Newcomer
Helen Smythe, WB 38, “Hell's Belle”
Helen is very keen and enthusiastic and together with her husband and crew chief debuted a really well-turned out purple altered this year, the aptly named “Hell's Belle”. She participated in 10 events this year, in her rookie season, and has really got to grips with driving the altered and learning her racecraft. She ran a Personal Best E.T. of 12.753 seconds at her very first event, the Season Opener, and throughout the season has really enjoyed her racing, reflecting her friendly, bubbly personality! She also overcame some hairy moments learning the York track, and bounced back with gritty determination. She has proven herself quick off the mark, winning three “Best Reaction” Spot Prizes. She also won two “Closest to Dial-in” Spot Prizes, and finished 2nd and 3rd at a couple of events. She finished in 3rd place in the Roy Wilding Series and 5th place in the Wild Bunch Series in her very first year of competition, and shows even greater promise for next season! Helen Smythe is sportsmanlike, enthusiastic and a great asset to the Wild Bunch!
Best Slingshot
Chris Hartnell, WB 3, “Backdraft”
Chris's slingshot is always well-turned out and conforms to all the up-to-date safety specs. This year it has had a stunning new paint job, and a new engine! The car runs low to mid 9’s, pulling regular wheelies on launch, and the driver is always trying to improve performance, running a new PB this season of 9.126 @ 146 mph. The driver has won well over a dozen Spot Prizes including two “Best Slingshot” Spot Prizes, six E.T. and MPH Spot Prizes, and a “Best Engineered” Spot Prize, all in ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell’s 10th season of racing! (Selected by Glenn Stockton)
Best Altered
Tony Smith, WB 4, “The Cunning Plan”
The Cunning Plan altered is a very well-presented car. It ran consistent mid 11’s at over 110 mph all season, and the team were lowering the E.T.’s further all the time and developing the car’s potential, resulting in an 11.360 PB. The team also won several “Best Burnout” Spot Prizes and a “Best Altered” Spot Prize during the season, and Tony Smith is our Wild Bunch Champion for 2004. (Selected by Glenn Stockton)
Best Radical/Rear-engine dragster
Tony Wynne-Jones, WB 29, “Welsh Raider II”
Tony's radical has really improved on performance this year, running consistent mid-11’s and, through perseverance of the driver ran a PB of 11.251 @ 125 mph. The car is always immaculate, winning no less than seven “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prizes and its appearance and presentation are always spotless. (Selected by Glenn Stockton)
Best Turned Out
DASH Racing, WB 67, “Chemical Reaction”
Dash racing were unable to debut their car until mid season at the Mini Nationals in July, as they had spent a lot of time and effort rebuilding the slingshot, and despite many setbacks they overcame obstacles to prepare it to a very high standard, actually appearing at a show before they arrived at the track in a blaze of purple and green! The car is immaculately painted and really stands out from the crowd and the team are very smart in their new purple and green team shirts, to match. They have made a real effort this season to improve the car and its appearance each race, adding a fantastic cockpit logo between events. The team have raced at 5 events this season, at Shakespeare County and Santa Pod, and won several Spot Prizes, including two “Best Slingshot” trophies and a “Best Appearing Team” award. They finished the season off by appearing at the prestigious International Classic Car Show at the NEC in Birmingham. Darryl and Sarah have shown a real commitment to the appearance of the car and team as a package and are a great example for others to follow.
Best Achiever
Joe Stevens, WB 3, “Back in Black”
Joe has attended all 14 Wild Bunch banner events this season and has worked hard all year to try to achieve Personal Bests and win events. This he did, running down to a 10.063 mid June and over 137 mph in September, winning three events during the season (and winning over a dozen Spot Prizes, including four “Closest to Dial-in”, four “Best Burnout” and two “#1 Qualifier” trophies) and finally finishing with a 10.007 PB at the very last event. He succeeded in finishing in 2nd place in the Wild Bunch Series, 2nd place in the Real Steel Series, 2nd place in the Ultimate Power Series, and to top it all off, won the Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series for the third year in a row! Great achievements for “Smokin” Joe Stevens!
Perseverance Award
Sid Slattery, WB 147, “Destiny”
Sid faced many problems throughout the whole season, including the complete destruction of an engine but came back time after time, remaining philosophical and still trying! He even returned to the track the very next event after major engine damage, and had to overcome the experience of having an engine let go at speed, which took a lot of guts. Although he had more teething problems, he kept trying until his car’s performance was once again improving. He suffered a further setback in August with more broken parts, but came back yet again and overall managed to participate in a total of 7 events, despite the problems, which is a great achievement. Throughout the season he has still managed to maintain a beautifully turned-out car, which won several Spot Prizes including “Best Slingshot”, and he himself won the “Driver’s Choice” Spot Prize for his efforts and easy going nature. Sid Slattery truly typifies perserverance. Well done, Sid!
Daddy Cool (Sags) Personal Achievement
Jenny & Tom Coe, WB 1, “Psycho”
This Wild Bunch award for 2004 goes to Jenny Archer & Tom Coe.
To say that Tom & Jenny have had ‘a rough year’ is a bit of an understatement. Jenny’s suffered from poor health for a while but until this year you’d never have guessed if you didn’t know it.
Last year Tom won the Wild Bunch championship (among other things) but at the beginning of 2004 he made the decision to put the Psycho slingshot up for sale – reasons for this included their wedding booked for August 2005 & the realization that they wanted their own home which meant that something had to go, temporarily. The car didn’t sell, they did buy their own home but Jenny suffered serious health problems early on in the year.
Hospitalized for sometime, originally caused by a swelling on her brain, Jenny had a stroke at the age of 25. She’s had to come to terms with just how close she came to death – something that at the time when she was in & out of consciousness she didn’t realize or comprehend exactly what was going on & can’t remember everything during the time she was in hospital so has relied on others to fill in the blanks which has been difficult for them & Jenny alike. She doesn’t see herself as being anybody special – other people do.
Tom, at the age of 22, has had to deal with the trauma of watching someone you love so dearly be in so much pain & suffering the bewilderment of them not knowing what was really going on & then helping that person through the various recovery stages.
Jenny is getting better, taking it slowly but she’s back doing the job she loves as an embalmer although even that has been hard to cope with looking back over the ordeal that she’s been through & is still coming to terms with the after-effects.
Tom has been back in the seat of a drag car this season – that was a big goal that they should both return to ‘normality’ as soon as possible. He drove the Shy Torque slingshot at York to a Personal Best ET & Mile an Hour – faster than anyone else had driven the car. He then drove at the Hot Rod Drags coming close to a 9 second run with a 10.006.
For a couple that’s so young, Jenny & Tom have a remarkable outlook on life which they perceive as being completely normal & not at all anything special. We know that they are extremely special people & have faced 2004 with dignity, courage & dedication to each other to achieve against the odds ... and Jen, in the words of your favourite 80’s hit, you truly are ’the one and only!’.
C & C Sportsperson
Darryl & Sarah Howells, WB 67, “Chemical Reaction”
This pair have epitomised the spirit of sportsmanship and have been around all season eager to help and support the rest of the Wild Bunch, even when their own car was still needing work to make its debut. They even travelled to both York and Santa Pod, without their car, to help all the other racers. They are always friendly, and great ambassadors for the Wild Bunch, promoting Drag Racing in general wherever they go, including shows. They always show fair play and sportsmanlike conduct to fellow racers, all the time encouraging everyone around them and congratulating others’ achievements. Darryl & Sarah Howells show true dedication and commitment to the Wild Bunch, and are a great team!
Derek & Brenda Annable Trophy
Wayne & Janet Schrier
This is award was initiated last year by Derek and Brenda to be awarded to a ‘couple’ or partnership who are committed to Drag Racing. It can go to various different types of people, from racers, to commentators, to photographers, to crewmembers, to marshals and officials, to spectators and fans, to Wild Bunch associate members, to parent/child partnerships, or any pair who demonstrate the family spirit of the Wild Bunch. Derek and Brenda chose the first recipients in 2003, and thereafter the winners in turn chose the following recipients. This year the 2003 winners Roy & Angi Wilding have chosen: Wayne & Janet Schrier for their tireless efforts behind the scenes, which help to keep racers racing! They are truly special people!
Don Garlits ‘Spirit of Drag Racing’ Shield 2004
Andy, Alan, Bob, Barry and Paul ........ Team B-Sting
This year’s winners have been active members of the Wild Bunch this season, reappearing after a short absence. They travelled to all 3 tracks and ran both MSA and RWYB events, and consistently fielded a well-presented car, very much in the spirit of the Wild Bunch nostalgia theme, and are themselves a well-turned-out professional-looking team. They are sportsmanlike and demonstrate fair play to other racers, whilst at the same time showing a real competitive streak. They are beginning to develop the full potential of the car, and all of the members of the team ran Personal Best E.T.’s this season, with one reaching the goal of an 11-second pass! The car and team have won the “Best Appearing Team” award six times this year, showing the high standard of presentation that has gone into the running of the altered, which is reflected in their smart teamwear. They have a great team bond no matter which of them is driving, and are always keen to put on a good showing. They had a few minor breakages during the season, but showed determination by still attending every event, no matter what the circumstances, be they mechanical or personal. The team have shown their commitment to the Wild Bunch and competed in a total of 13 events this year, with a grand total of 5 drivers, and have achieved success, together finishing in the Top 4 of the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series. They are enthusiastic all-rounders, always amiable and easy-going, and are popular members of the Wild Bunch!!