Dragstalgia
Santa Pod Raceway 11th - 13th July 2014
By Steve Weston
And so, after the superb 2014 Nostalgia Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway in June, the much anticipated fourth staging of the Dragstalgia event staged at SantaPod finally arrived.
Much of the pre event anticipation and excitement was centred on the appearance of a number of US entries,Ron and Brian Hope running a series of match races in the Pure Hell and RatTrap fuel altereds, which for once avoided a clash of dates with the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Dale Snoke in the B/FX tribute car, which,incidentally had left the states several weeks earlier and according to Dale involved a lengthy familiarisation exercise once car and driver had been reunited!
Without a doubt, none of the visiting drivers disappointed, the sight, sound and smell of Rat Trap and Pure Hell running consistent mid 6 second passes throughout the event was worth the entrance fee alone, although with Rat Trap pushing a rod through the block on Sunday, the final match up of the day with the UK's Havoc altered taking on Pure Hell produced a spectacular and fitting finale to the event, with Pure Hell just edging the win, but, oh so close.
Ron and Brian Hope running hard and close on Saturday, just before the centre line blocks paid the price!
But, did they back off, oh no.
After 'several' weeks at sea, Dale Snoke was a welcome addition to the Gasser Circus entry.
Staged for the first time at this years Dragstalgia event, was, what is hoped to be an annual event, the 'Willy's Wars'. Anything Willy's, anything goes and with a 20+ entry, we had the unusual and novel sight of Pro Mods, Gassers, Race Cars, Street Cars and Show Cars paired together on the strip. As said, this will hopefully become the 'Annual Willy's Wars.
Anything Willy's, anything goes.
Smoking burn outs from the European Nostalgia Funny Cars.
As you would expect at a major nostalgia event, Supercharged Outlaws, Gasser Circus, Outlaw Anglia and The Wildbunch had a strong presence over the weekend, several European competitors adding to the numbers, add in a strong Run What You Brung entry and you were guaranteed to see something that brought back memories of UK drag racings earliest days. Highlight of the weekend for many was the reappearance after many years absence of the monstrous 27 litre Rolls Royce Meteor engined stretched Reliant Scimitar, which ran a very sedate 91mph, but at 2mpg you can only assume it was not driven all the way from Spain!
Elsewhere on the site, there were the usual displays, exhibitions, car shows and other activities including a 'drive in' cinema with continuous showings of Snake and Mongoose,Two Lane Black Top, American Graffiti and Bullet amongst others. Unfortunately, from my point of view, the usual demonstration of the Historic Stock Cars was not included this year, maybe next time?
So, was Dragstalgia 4 a huge success, in parts yes, but, as the event grows, will it eventually become a victim of that success. For sure this years event had lost an element of the 'grass roots' feel of previous years and the attempts at a more formal timetabling of classes only met with limited success especially on the Saturday, but, as more 'higher' profile names are included in the entry list I'm sure interest in the event will continue to grow.
Continued on next page...
Nostalgia Drag World - text and photos by Steve Weston - UK Editor www.spw-pics.co.uk
