Drag Racing News...
18/10/2007
Huge crowds, a great group of Honorees and excellent racing marked the 16th annual Automobile Club of Southern California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Holley. The three-day festival of speed, at historic Auto Club Famoso Raceway just outside Bakersfield, brought together thousands of hot rod fans and hundreds of racers.
11/10/2007
To drag racing enthusiasts, Cacklefest is the sweetest sight and sound in the world: 40 or more vintage dragsters fire up and "cackle" 10 gallons of nitromethane fuel in less than five minutes. The sound of that exploding
04/10/2007
Forty-three years ago, a U.S. team of drag racers travelled across the Atlantic to show the British what Americans could do in the quarter mile. Now those racers will be honored with the Justice Brothers Spotlight Award at the Automobile Club of Southern California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Holley, Oct. 12-14, at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield.
19/09/2007
As regular readers may be aware, DRC Review has been following the rebuild of the famed Mondello Matsubara Fiat Fuel Altered of 1969, which has been made possible through the efforts of three individuals – Karpo Murkijanian, Pete Eastwood and Derek Bower.
30/08/2007
The Mooneyes Dragster model, released by Revell in 1962, was one of the first kits I ever put glue to. No doubt a million others kids and fans did just the same, promoting the Mooneyes brand into millions of American homes. Dean Moon was, like many pioneers of the early hot rod industry, a self-styled promoter.
15/08/2007
During the years 1957-63, the fuel ban was enforced at most Southern California drag strips. “T.V. Tommy” Ivo elected to build a twin-Buick gas dragster to make up for the lack of liquid horsepower.
26/07/2007
The Automobile Club of Southern California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Holley is all about reuniting attendees with the heroes and race cars of our past--the cars that turned us on as young and impressionable men.
12/07/2007
Chassis builders, a promoter and some of the most famous names in drag racing have been selected as Honorees for the 16th Annual Automobile Club of Southern California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Holley, Oct. 12-14, 2007 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway just outside Bakersfield, California.
12/07/2007
Last month in DRCReview you may remember reading about the restoration of one of the top US Fuel Altereds of the 1960s - the legendary Mondello/Matsubara Fiat Topolino. This has been possible through the efforts of three key individuals – Karpo Murkijanian, Pete Eastwood and Derek Bower. Well, Karpo has sent through the latest batch of photos covering the
05/07/2007
Two British drag racing teams will be flying the flag at this year’s California Hot Rod Reunion, October 12-14, 2007 Jerry Denning and Lee Pike, two hot rodders who got a taste for drag racing several years ago will be taking their fabulous altered wheelbase, ‘57 Chevy gasser out for exhibition runs. Likewise, Bob Glassup and his team will shortly begin preparations to export his immaculate ‘blown’ Chevy-powered Fiat Topolino–bodied altered to the US.
29/06/2007
Thousands of fans, racers, hot rodders and teams enjoyed a great weekend as the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion came to Columbus, June 15-17. The Reunion was the fifth event of its kind in the eastern U.S.
06/06/2007
One of the legendary Fuel Altereds of the ’60s, the 1969 Mondello/Matsubara Fiat Topolino, is slowly coming back to life in California, thanks largely to the efforts of three individuals – Karpo Murkijanian, Pete Eastwood and Derek Bower.
06/06/2007
Moving up in drag racing to the more potent classes tends to occur in stages for most drivers. Cutting his teeth in Sportsman racing, and then moving up through the ranks, is how Verwood-based Kev Slyfield anticipated his involvement in drag racing might progress. After a couple of years in Sportman ET he then switched to Pro ET for a three year spell, but has now taken the giant step up to Pro-Modified – one mighty leap from 625hp to 2000hp!
05/06/2007
Mother Nature dealt a cruel blow to racers and fans alike at this year’s Main Event, with Sunday and Monday racing programmes completely washed out. Indeed, the meeting was cancelled early Monday afternoon, with no let up in sight to the dank and dismal conditions.
01/03/2007
Ron Capps drives a Fuel Funny Car in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 23 weekends a year. What does he do on his off weekend? Like many
22/01/2007
On the European drag racing front, one of the most exciting bits of news was the recent announcement, at Autosport International, that Andy Carter will be sponsored throughout the 2007/2008 FIA European Top Fuel Championship by Lucas Oil. As most who follow the sport will know, Lucas Oil is a major name in
21/12/2006
We’ve been meaning to publish some of our early photos of British drag racing for some months now, but the lack of a suitable scanner to take transparencies has prevented this. However that situation has now changed – thanks to an early Christmas present – and we’ve been busy looking through the files for anything we thought would be of interest.
14/12/2006
If you thought the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, was a beehive of activity and events in 2006, just wait 'til 2007. That's the word from Tony Thacker, the Parks
28/10/2006
Anytime a group of greybeards sits around chatting about “the good old days” of drag racing, one subject is almost guaranteed to come up in conversation – Fuel Altereds. When one thinks of those hard-charging, inherently unstable cars that were undoubted stars of the 1960s’ drag racing scene, one also cannot help but think of the heroic men who drove them.
11/10/2006
Three days of family fun, exciting racing action and a festival of American car culture have come to a conclusion as the 15th Annual NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California enters the history books.
05/10/2006
Graphic designer, Paul Bambrick, went against the grain when he recently morphed his rear-engined, Chevy-powered junior dragster into a front-engined, nostalgia rail. Drivers looking to run big numbers will no doubt disapprove of Paul’s decision, but then they’d be missing the point.
28/09/2006
With just a week to go before the running of the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, California (Oct 6-8 ) Tony Thacker, executive director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum explains more about the annual event and what's in store for fans this year.
14/09/2006
Last weekend’s FIA Finals at Santa Pod Raceway were attended by a record crowd of around 30,000 over the four days, with Sunday, September 10, being the busiest Finals day since Keith Bartlett’s team took over at the facility. It was undoubtedly one of the best weekends of European drag racing ever seen. Tragically, though, the event is most likely to be remembered for a
07/09/2006
For over four decades, Chris Karamesines, nicknamed the “Crazy Greek”, the “Golden Greek” or simply “The Greek”, symbolized one of the most colourful and popular characters in drag racing history.
17/08/2006
At long last, and after scrutinising over 50 photos (including two great late additions by Chris Parker), the DRC Review amateur drag racing photo competition has come to a close and our judges, professional photographer, Ian Messenger, and ace lensman, Sharkman, from Eurodragster.com, have
10/08/2006
It seems there’s nothing like a looming deadline to get people into action and the close of our amateur photographic competition today, Thursday, August 10, has prompted a bumper crop of entries. Once again, there are some truly
02/08/2006
With our amateur photographic competition coming to a close on August 10 (next Thursday) time is getting short if you want to enter. It’s been very interesting to see all of the photos that have been e-mailed over and as we suspected, there seem to be many talented photographers out there.
28/07/2006
The second batch of photographs entered in our amateur drag racing photographic competition are now on-line. I’d like to say a big thank-you to all of those individuals who have taken the trouble to send in their entries from
29/06/2006
We’ve had a very encouraging start to our photographic competition announced a week or so ago in DRCReview.com and all of the entries received to date are now on line for you to see. Because we publish photos at low
22/06/2006
The 4th Annual Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, a three day festival of speed, hot rods and American automotive enthusiasm, finished with a bang at Beech Bend Raceway Park on Sunday, June 18.
21/06/2006
Back in the early 1990s, Matt Eley developed a real interest in the nostalgic gassers, altereds and funny cars that made such a strong impact on US drag strips in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Closer to home, he also loved the outlaw Anglia racing scene in the UK, and regularly attended those wild, and frequently
15/06/2006
This week we are launching our amateur photographic competition in DRCReview. There must be many photographers out there who have some great images from their visits to Santa Pod Raceway this year, and we’d like
01/06/2006
European drag racing continues to develop and grow, as witnessed by the fabulous turnout of cars and competitors for the “Main Event” at Santa Pod Raceway last weekend. Britain’s premier drag strip has also seen some improvements for 2006, with a massive expanse of new tarmac for competitors, plus other useful additions. Traditionalists, however, will be pleased to know that the “barn”, which overlooks the pre-stage area, remains
21/04/2006
Amazingly, it’s 40 years since Santa Pod Raceway opened its doors to the UK’s drag racing fraternity, and last weekend’s Easter Thunderball marked the official anniversary of that auspicious occasion.
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17/03/2006
17.3.06. Drag racing fans can look forward to some serious track action on Saturday, July 8, when Santa Pod Raceway hosts its brand new European ‘Doorslammer’ Shootout.
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22/02/2006
If you are into American car culture, and I’m assuming you are since you are reading this, then you’ll know how difficult it is to kick the bug. Like me, you probably scour the ads in magazines first before reading the editorial and easily get carried along on the crest of a wave.
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18/02/2006
To talk about the history of British drag racing and to miss out Stuart Bradbury; Chief Starter at Santa Pod Raceway for over 22 years, is like Murray Walker and F1 – the two are inseparable. Stu, a showman who has lived and breathed American culture for most of his life was never happier than when wearing his customary American stars and stripes outfit on the start line and having his senses blurred by two nitro guzzling top fuel dragsters.
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01/02/2006
Last year saw the 75th anniversary of a pioneering British woman, Amy Johnson, whose solo flight from Britain to Australia in 1930 was a major achievement then, and continues to be to this day. Last year also saw another British woman make history.
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25/01/2006
It’s one of the most fundamental equations of physics, and in its various forms, allows you to calculate any one of the variables – time, speed, distance or acceleration – as long as the other two are known. It is also the basis of every form of motorsport devised by mankind, as the essence of competition, whether on land, sea or
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22/09/2005
It came close to the FIA European Finals of championship drag racing being washed out over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, September 10/11. A murky greyness and incessant drizzle descended on the track on Saturday afternoon and It did not look good for
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02/08/2005
Steve Banks’ "NITRO," exhibition at the MB FINE ART gallery in California (Sept 10 to Oct 19) examines a head-on collision between two technologies that have shaped Southern California culture: cameras and cars.
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26/07/2005
E-bay has a lot to answer for. We’ve all heard stories about buyers ending up with purchases not quite as described, but on the other hand, there are undoubtedly far more satisfied customers out there with only good things
06/06/2005
The 2005 FIA European Drag Racing Championship was launched at Santa Pod over the end of May (27-30) Bank Holiday in a mixture of weathers starting with a sultry Mediterranean heat
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14/04/2005
“Tyre fryers” have always been crowd favourites in the sport of drag racing, and Frank Pedregon, or “Flaming Frank”, as he was later christened, became a quarter-mile legend for his spectacular driving style as he smoked the drag
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30/03/2005
Jet power brought an explosive start to the new drag racing season at Santa Pod’s Easter Thunderball over March 26-28 with a new world record top speed for jet funny car driver Martin Hill,
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16/03/2005
Wet weather may have interrupted the NHRA’s season-opening CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona, Feb 10-13 – the whole of Friday’s action was rained out – but the abbreviated action was nonetheless
03/03/2005
Brothers Roger and Dave Moore had their first taste of life in the fast lane when visiting Santa Pod Raceway in their late teens during the ‘80s. “At that time it was a bit of a wild place, the racing was enjoyable and it made a good trip out,” recalls Roger.
01/03/2005
Drag racing has its stalwarts and Colin Lazenby has been around the scene more years than he’d car to remember. Colin may have started out with a Mini running 16-second quarter mile times at York Raceway in the 1980s, but soon the yearning for V8 power saw him the proud owner of a 12-second Dodge Charger previously owned by the
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02/02/2005
The second and concluding part of the PEGASUS story looks at the change to double Norton power and the highlights of one of the most successful partnerships in British drag bike history.
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01/02/2005
Part 2 of our epic interview with TV Tommy Ivo looks at the remarkable automotive innovation of the actor turned drag racer and at some of the significant cars he created from a racing stable of 36 cars!
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21/01/2005
German automotive engineer Jan Hardekopf has Top Fuel driver/race promoter Rico Anthes to thank for introducing him to the delights of drag racing. Jan was a spectator at the inaugural 1/8-mile event held at the Hockenheimring in 1986 and after watching the weekend meeting, returned
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16/01/2005
Tommy Ivo has probably spent more time on the world’s drag strips than any other racer you may care to mention, his on-track achievements having made him indisputably a living legend. Ivo was the first driver to run in the 8s on gas (petrol),
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11/01/2005
Here at DRC Review, one area that has been neglected in our coverage of Drag Racing has been the contribution of Motor Cycles to the UK scene. In an effort to correct this we are featuring in our nostalgic section, one of the best known drag bikes of the Sixties and Seventies - PEGASUS!
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22/12/2004
Ray Eldred’s, Super Pro ET, Sanity Assassin Celica is a familiar sight in British drag racing and has been on the scene for around a decade. Amazingly though, the car came about
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17/12/2004
Tom Hanna has been rightly credited as a true craftsman responsible for some of the most beautiful tin work on front-engined dragsters of the 1960/70s. His ability to fashion aluminium into sclulptured art forms for some of the most revered early dragsters is unsurpassed.
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19/11/2004
I read about Tony Nancy while delivering HOT ROD Magazine on my paper round-but I never actually encountered him until 1964 at the British Drag Festival.
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15/11/2004
For those who remember the 1973 US drag racing invasion at Santa Pod, Paula Murphy, or Miss STP as she was dubbed, and her STP-backed Plymouth funny car will be familiar to you. Alongside Don Schumacher, the pair (and the late Tony Nancy) left an indelible impression on all who attended the 4th
29/10/2004
The first land speed record runs by Commuter were recorded at Elvington, North Yorkshire, in 1967, as part of the International Sprint Organisation Records Weekend.
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08/10/2004
The 13th annual California Hot Rod Reunion had it all – great track action, a fantastic line-up of cars old and new, ideal weather (in the 80’s all weekend) and terrific off-track attractions to keep fans occupied.
07/10/2004
Disappointed racers and dedicated fans were left to dry out and go home after
06/10/2004
The superstitious needn't have worried at the 13th annual California Hot Rod Reunion at Fomoso Raceway, Bakersfield, October 1-3, as true to form the event more than lived up to expectation.
20/09/2004
The European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway over the weekend of September 9-12 brought together a multi-European blend of teams and racers,
18/09/2004
Coming into the final round of the FIA European Championship six-race series, Andy Carter was in third place in the points. Sweden’s Micke Kågered
17/09/2004
Andy Carter, freshly crowned 2004 FIA European Top Fuel Champion talks to Drag Rod & Classic Review about the advances made in top fuel drag racing over the last decade and how they have helped him to secure
08/09/2004
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon in 1969, it was (and still is) the most amazing thing anyone could have imagined happening in their lifetime, especially when we now look back at the paper-and-string
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