Hi everybody!

Here are the results from the fantastic 14^th Annual ‘Dragstalgia’ event at Santa Pod last weekend on 27^th - 29^th June. This event was Round 2 for the Wild Bunch, Spirit of Nostalgia Challenge and Roy Wilding Nostalgia Race Cars Series. The Wild Bunch had 29 entrants with some teams having multiple drivers. Disappointingly 5 teams who had entered could not make it for one reason and another, so the field this weekend was 24 teams! Unfortunately, Bobby Wright was out with gearbox problems in his altered “Alturd” and parts had only just arrived! And Bob Main had a breakage in his “Spiderman” altered. Another driver missing in action was ‘Crazy’ Chris Hartnell after the unfortunate engine blowup in “Backdraft” at the Nostalgias! But he had a Plan B and got to run his 1976-framed dragbike “Backdraft Two” with the NSA bike shootout for a couple of passes on Saturday!!  Hope all of those teams and the others will be out soon to join back in! Two new cars made their debut, the “Charlie Banger” of “The Proper Charlies” team and the “Big Bro” altered of Kyle Southworth of Team Daddy Cool. We welcomed back Luca & Simona from Italy on their annual pilgrimage to Dragstalgia for their 7^th time running with the Wild Bunch!! Sending very Best Wishes to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Ian Lloyd, crew chief of the amazing “Gonzo the Great” altered, who was very much missed at the weekend, though nice to see son Alan in the pits supporting the Bunch!

The weather was pretty hot most of the weekend, though a breeze really helped on Friday and Saturday! Sunday started cooler with some cloud cover and hardly any wind but it warmed up a lot later on in the day! 8 Wild Bunch teams took part in the RWYB day on Friday. In the extra class session on Friday evening, the Wild Bunch round was at about 5:15pm and 20 teams took part in that round. 

On Saturday we were scheduled for 4 rounds of practice. There had been some overnight rain but this did not delay racing, and we had our first round about 5 minutes earlier than scheduled at 10:20am. Again, 20 teams participated in this practice round.  Our second round was at about 2:30pm and 21 teams ran in this. Then our third round was at 5:50pm and again there were 21 teams running.

There was due to be another round for Wild Bunch, but with various delays during the day, including the top end generator going down just before one of our rounds (maybe due to heat!), most classes did not get their fourth run in, before the planned ‘Cracklefest’ took place at around 7:40pm. This was a fairly small, but entertaining show.  There was one nitro slingshot and this was amazing as always, running seemingly ‘forever’!! About 5 Gassers took part plus Ian Turboville doing a push start fireup with his slingshot and there were 5 Wild Bunch cars enjoying the occasion! These were one altered, one funny car and three slingshots: our great Italian friends Luca & Simona with their beautiful Topolino “Fast Forward”, then Ruaridh Hart with his well turned out “BraveHart” Opel-bodied funny car, then Mark Houghton & Terry Robbins with their newly orange metalflake painted slingshot “Soul Town Shaker” and the Brown brothers, Pete & Rob with both their stack injected “Rebel” and “Wrathchild” slingshots, stalwarts of the Cracklefest! Very well done to all 5 Wild Bunch teams who put on a great show as usual in the fun Cracklefest!! 

On Sunday, the Wild Bunch were scheduled for 3 competition runs. The cloud cover early on was welcome as it was a fair bit cooler than Saturday to start with. The organisers had to fit in an extra round of Nostalgia Superstock, so we were just a little behind on schedule, but got our first round in at about 10:45am with 19 drivers making passes but with 2 unfortunate red lights, and unfortunately one other being shut down on the line! At this point, Rob Brown in the “Rebel” slingshot was leading the Bunch with a great .0003 off Dial-in and Pete not far behind in “Wrathchild”! Brilliant!! The second round took place from 2:05pm onwards as there had been some downtime. In this round 19 teams took part.  As usual, the rounds got closer as the afternoon wore on and our third and final round was at 4pm with 13 teams participating with three more unfortunate red lights amongst them. We were happy to get all 3 rounds in! 

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: Rob Brown in ‘Rebel’ .0301 (So close to Dial-in all day! Great win Rob!)

2^nd Place: Ruaridh Hart in ‘BraveHart’ .0414 (Brilliant to see a great Top 4 result for Ruaridh!)

3^rd Place: The Proper Charlies in ‘Charles Bang Special’ .0834 (Their first ever Top 4 place! Well done team!)
4^th Place: Andy Roy in ‘Shawcrank Redemption’ .1145 (A solid back-to-back 4^th place for Andy!)

5^th Place: Ian Wild in ‘Wild'sCat’ .1157 (Great to see Ian earning another Top 6 trophy & having fun!)

6^th Place: Pete Brown in ‘Wrathchild” .2059 (Pete was 2^nd after first 2 rounds but a rocker broke in Round 3!)

Plus the other finisher to complete all 3 rounds without redlights: 7^th – Alan Skipp in ‘Chasin’ Time’  .5077

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

Closest to Dial-in (in the rounds): Rob Brown in “Rebel” with .0003 off in Round 1!! (Fantastic!!)

Best Reaction (in the rounds): Ruaridh Hart in “Bravehart”  .0587 (Great stuff!)

Quickest E.T. of the event:  Alan Skipp in “Chasin’ Time” 8.270 PB (Also fastest with 164.85 mph!)

Best Appearing Car: Loz Butcher in “Mean Streak” (Absolutely gorgeous and period correct!)

Best Appearing Team: Philippa Turton and team with “Bitchcraft” (Several PBs and very pink!)

Best Backup Girl: Alison Irons from Team “Rampage” (Great show with several different 60’s style dresses!)

Best Showmanship: the whole “Proper Charlies” team with the “Charles Bang Special” and “Charlie Banger” (great wheelie by Pete which won the overall event “Best Wheelie” trophy, and a proper nostalgic show!!)

Spirit of Nostalgia: the whole “Soul Town Shaker” team (a stunning new paint job, great backup girl with orange flake boots, loads of attention to new details plus a string of PBs with both Terry & Mark! Awesome!)

Many Commiserations to all those who had breakages or issues, especially Paul Tarry who blew his engine in the second round (thankfully all of the oil and some parts were fully contained in the full diaper that Paul now runs, as per the WB rules; once again saving driver and car from any worse problems!). Commiserations also to Kyle Southworth who dropped valves and blew a gasket in his lovely new altered and Wayne Colliver who had ignition issues. Wishing Joey and Colin and team very best of luck in sorting out the gearbox woes that prevented Joey from making more runs on Sunday! Many commiserations also to Bob Hawkins, who had been running in the Cannonball Shootout with his Nitro-powered “Time Traveller II” slingshot. Bob holed a piston after a stellar run of 6.51 on the Saturday, and after the team worked hard to rebuild the motor overnight, the car suffered more issues Sunday though Bob ran a 6.9!! Hope you can all get the cars fixed really soon and be back out having fun!!

Here is the full 24-car field of fantastic Wild Bunch participants!!!! Plus their PBs included! There were loads of PBs including some first 9’s!! Please please do let me know if I have missed any!!! There were so many!! Apologies if I have missed yours!!

 

	WB 1	JAMES AULD	LITTLE FAUSS
	WB 2	ROB BROWN	REBEL	R: 8.349
	WB 4	DAN WILSON	ANTIQUE TOY
	WB 12	PHILIPPA TURTON	BITCHCRAFT	10.604 / 127.38
	WB 19	WAYNE COLLIVER	FUNKY DIGIT
	WB 20	PETE BROWN	WRATHCHILD
	WB 22	BRADLEY COOPER	BACK FROM THE PAST
	WB 23	LOZ BUTCHER	MEAN STREAK	9.550
	WB 45	PHIL JAMES	RAMPAGE
	WB 53	GAVIN, PETE & DAMON THE PROPER CHARLIES	CHARLES BANG SPECIAL
	WB 65	ALAN SKIPP	CHASIN’ TIME	8.270 / 164.85
	WB 78	MARK HOUGHTON & TERRY ROBBINS	SOUL TOWN SHAKER	M: 9.778 / 133.96 T: 9.443 / 142.18
	WB 89	ANDY ROY	SHAWCRANK REDEMPTION
	WB 104	DAVE SHOEMARK	THE CREWMAN
	WB 113	PAUL TARRY	TRIGGER’S BROOM	10.576
	WB 116	IAN WILD	WILD'SCAT
	WB 130	JOEY CHILDS	BOXO BOMB
	WB 245	JOHN SHAROD	NEVER SAY NEVER	8.535 / 155.75
	WB 297	PETE AYRES & DAMON	CHARLIE BANG’ER	20.809 / 49.85
	WB 358	PETE WHITFIELD	ROWELL RAIL	10.209 / 143.39
	WB 383	IAN ARMITAGE	OLD GUYS RAIL	8.836 / 146.65
	WB 546	KYLE SOUTHWORTH	BIG BRO	11.686 / 89.25
	WB 768	LUCA GOVONI	FAST FORWARD
	WB1969	RUARIDH HART	BRAVEHART	9.393

 

Highlights of this weekend included: a great field of fab Wild Bunch cars and fantastic people including a couple of new cars, great backup girls, several crews with smart new team wear, a fantastic show all round, getting all 3 rounds in and a really fun weekend!! Excellent!!

Just a few of the very many highlights were: 

 

• James Auld fixing an issue after a non-finish in Round 2 & running right back on Dial in “Little Fauss”
• Rob Brown hitting his Dial with .0003 off in the 1^st round in ‘Rebel’!! And a fantastic Win!
• Pete Brown getting in the Top 6 in ‘Wrathchild’ despite a broken rocker in the last round!
• A fantastic pit display of old fuel masks and some new nostalgic white crew shirts for the Marras
• Dan Wilson and team back out with “Antique Toy” after breakage at the Nostalgia Nationals
• Philippa & Mark Turton bouncing back after issues at their last event and Philippa running several PBs
• British Drag Racing Hall of Famer Ken ‘Mr Flathead’ Cooper crew chiefing & tuning the “Back from the Past” slingshot with son Bradley driving, with a weekend best pass of 10.925, which gave Ken & Denise a lot to cheer for! Welcome back folks! It was so great to see you all!!
• Many Congratulations from the whole of the Wild Bunch to Loz & Holly Butcher who were married recently! A nice start to their honeymoon to run the beautiful “Mean Streak” with all the family!
• Well done to Phil James and team on fixing an issue in the “Rampage” funny car and getting back out for the following two rounds
• The newly named “Proper Charlies” having fun and going from strength to strength with Dean’s “Charles Bang Special” and getting a cool Top 4 placing! As well as “Wheelie of the event”! Well done to the whole team!
• Skippy running 4 passes over 164mph in the “Chasin’ Time” slingshot and a PB ET of 8.270, Low ET and high speed of the Bunch! Huge well done to him & the team! Love the smart new crew shirts too!
• Terry Robbins & Mark Houghton with the “Soul Town Shaker” slingshot both running PBs in the 9’s with Mark’s 9 coming on only his 4^th run in the car! Plus Terry getting into the 140 mph range! And a fab new orange metal flake paint job, new panels, new headers (shout out to another great job by Wayne Colliver!), fab sparkly boots worn by Shannon, and a brilliant weekend for the whole team!
• Andy Roy getting a consistent back-to-back 4^th place with the beautifully turned out “Shawcrank Redemption” slingshot! Great stuff Andy and team!
• Great to see Dave Shoemark out for his first event of the year in “The Crewman” slingshot enjoying the event and making all 3 rounds; cool to see the front wing from Jim Seward’s “Harry the Spider”!
• Fantastic to see the Proper Charlies earning a 3^rd place at the event with Dean Butler’s “Charles Bang Special” and using the new “Charlie Bang’er” car as an awesome tow car!
• Paul Tarry had several PBs in the ‘Trigger’s Broom’ altered before the engine let go! Best of luck Paul!
• Fab to see Ian Wild getting another Top 6 placing with his Jag-powered "Wild'sCat" altered!
• Great to see John Sharod having his “Best weekend ever” with his “Panic/Never Say Never” altered and running several strong 8’s including the PB 8.535! He was only .001 off Dial-in on the second round! Congratulations John!
• Fab to see Pete and the Proper Charlies’ new build old style slingshot, a 6-week project that is nearly finished; some amazing little period touches including the 97 Strombergs and many old features!
• Ian Armitage running well into the 8’s and getting 3 PBs on one run in the “Old Guys Rail” slingshot
• We welcomed Kyle Southworth on his debut with his well turned out altered “Big Bro”, part of the family “Daddy Cool” team stable; Kyle was cheered on by wife Becky and young sons Owen & Freddie as well as Mum Elaine and family and overseen by team Crew Chief Alan Grimes. Hooray!  
• Wonderful as always to have Luca & Simona come all the way from Italy to race with us! Benvenuto!
• Great to see Ruaridh Hart getting deeper into the 9’s, with strong burnouts, great reactions and a fantastic kilt wearing crew chief! Brilliant 2^nd place as well!
• Happy Wild Bunch 1^st Anniversary to: Terry & Mark and the “Soul Town Shaker” team, Joey & Colin Childs and team with the “Boxo Bomb” and Ian Armitage with the “Old Guys Rail”!! Great teams that are a real credit to the Wild Bunch!

These are just some of the many highlights of an amazing weekend! Please do let me know if you had some amazing personal highlights, and I will add them in to the story! 

Everyone in the Bunch really did themselves proud as always!!  What a great weekend!!  Congratulations to everyone who took part!! 

Also sending Many Congratulations to all of the new Inductees into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame: Keith Lee, Jon Webster, Kathy Taylor, Kenny Coleman and Nigel Patrick! And a Big Congratulations and Lots of Love to Bev Bradbury who was awarded the Pete Crane ‘Spirit of 76’ shield! All very well deserved! 

Many thanks to our Trophy Sponsors for Dragstalgia:

   1^st Place - Boxo UK - Tool Supplier     https://www.boxo.co.uk/

   3^rd Place - Field of Dreams CL - Caravan Site, Suffolk   https://www.fieldofdreamscl.co.uk/

Many thanks to our Spot Prize Sponsor for Dragstalgia:

Colliver King Racing for sponsoring ‘Closest to Dial-in’ & ‘Spirit of Nostalgia’ Spot Prizes

Many thanks to:    

Team ‘Antique Toy’ for sponsoring Prize Money for 1^st place

Team ‘B-Sting’ for sponsoring Prize Money for 2^nd place

 

Many thanks to all the organisers, starters including new Chief Starter David Warren, track and fire and safety crews, marshals and officials, timing crew including the amazing tech guru David Anniwell, the signing on team, Graham, Chris, Julian and Kirstie and the whole eurodragster.com team, commentators Colin Theobald and Darryl Bradford for brilliant commentary as always! Thanks to all the photographers including the cool-dancing Ian Blackett, all the media, the hard-working Max Frost and team at Santa Pod, and Keith Bartlett for all he does and all of his support, and especially again to all the hardworking track crew who did so much to get as many runs as possible on a hot weekend!! 

Massive thanks to everyone at Santa Pod for all their hard work this weekend to run this amazing event!! Their huge efforts despite such hot weather are so much appreciated!! We had a fantastic time!!

All the best

Claire JJJ