EVENT REPORT

Santa Pod, Northants July 8-10

If there’s a heaven for drag racers (and we expect there is), it probably looks like Santa Pod Raceway did over the weekend of July 8-10. Blue skies, a hot sticky track and a generous dose of California-style sunshine made for perfect conditions and great racing at this year’s Dragstalgia. As usual the campsites were packed with cool cars, tents and motorhomes, full of race fans trying to keep cool in the 80-degree heat (yes, Fahrenheit, it’s a nostalgia event, okay?).

Friday at Dragstalgia is the busy, Run-What-YaBrung day for street cars these days, the success of the event with the ever-growing race classes meaning that track time on Saturday and Sunday is taken up by all the competition race series and competition classes. While the big boys in the dragsters and funny cars duelled it out with blistering six-second passes all weekend, the Supercharged Outlaws and Anglias weren’t far behind, with Colin Millar’s Flyin’ Fifer closing the show on Friday night, qualifying with a 6.95 himself.

Probably of most interest to Classic American readers, the Nostalgia Superstock class has grown immeasurably since this writer was last at Santa Pod, with a massive field of awesome American iron from the Sixties and Seventies, straight out of the pages of Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines of the same era. The ‘Willys Wars’ contingent grows larger every year too for those who like the pre-war body styled cars. Couple the strip action with plenty of entertainment and things to see and do in the evening, and Dragstalgia 2022 will this year go down as a highlight of the summer for many people, race teams and fans included. Anyone who wants a more detailed breakdown of the weekend’s racing should head over to www. eurodragster.com ❯❯

Just a few of the Nostalgia Superstock cars.

Brian Gibson’s altered wheelbase Dodge Dart.

Dave Billadeau’s NSS Dodge Challenger.

Don Scott’s Monte Carlo runs in the NSS ranks.

Steve Johnson’s gorgeous Motor Mouse slingshot.

Immaculate ‘Banzai’ Topolino altered.

The ‘Fugly’ Pacer before its scary crash.

Cruisin’ in a Camaro.

Keith Bartlett’s crowd-pleasing ’57 gasser, Roaring Rat.

Billy Jones’ classic Willys gasser.

Guy King’s sweet ’66 Chevelle.

Chevelle reaches for the sky!

One of the many Willys Wars entries for 2022.

Donna Sayce-Allen, on Honky Tonkin II startline duties.

Tonkin’ gassers duel it out.

The Bootlegger Camaro.

’Sinister’ ’38 Chevy Coupe gasser.

Brian Gibson gets a little sideways.

SPR regular, Ray Turner’s ’55.