Santa Pod News - 22/04/2009

Monster Invasion as Big Beasts roar into Santa Pod Raceway!

Looking for something to amuse the family on Bank Holiday Monday 4th May? How about a day of thrills, spills, monsters and music at Europe’s greatest drag-strip.

The ‘Monster Monday’ show at Santa Pod Raceway features a whole host of fantastic family fun for all ages, including:

● Racing and freestyle car-crushing with some of Europe’s greatest monster trucks ‘Podzilla’, ‘Red Dragon’, ‘Swamp Thing’, ‘Grim Reaper’ and heavyweight contender ‘Big Pete’ ● West End performers ‘Class Of 09’ with their high-octane musical show featuring the greatest hits from ‘High School Musical’, ‘Grease’, ‘Dirty Dancing’ and even ‘Hannah Montana’ ● Multiple world record stunt driver ‘Terry Grant’ performing incredible rubber-burning feats including donuts galore and even changing the wheel of a moving car! ● Motorcycle stunt rider ‘Flyin Ryan’ performing spectacular jumps ● World record jet ‘Fireforce’ in action on the famous Santa Pod drag-strip - this car has achieved incredible speeds over 300mph on the ¼ mile strip! ● The chance to ride in monster truck ‘Kickin N Screamin’

This USA-styled show also features American vehicle displays and more track action.

Gates open at 9am and car parking is free. The action starts before midday and lasts until around 4pm. Admission is £15 for adults and just £5 for children (ages 5 to 15). A family ticket is also available for £35 (2 adults & 2 children). Discounted tickets are available in advance – call 01234 782828, or book online at www.monstermonday.co.uk.

Visitors can also meet the monster truck drivers, collect their autographs and take photos with the trucks in the pre-show ‘Family Pit Party’ hosted by Santa Pod mascot ‘Nitro The Dragon’ (additional £10 fee per family).

See the website www.monstermonday.co.uk for more information.

Crazy Horses - The History of British

Well, the time has at last arrived. Brian Taylor’s book Crazy Horses – the history of British drag racing, will be launched at Santa Pod during the Spring Bank Holiday Main Event over May 23rd to 25th. Published by Haynes, Crazy Horses has taken nearly three years to write and research. Brian, who many will remember as commentator at Santa Pod during the 1970s, carried out 37 face-to-face or telephone interviews with racers and organisers from the past, plus many more by e-mail correspondence. He drew together information from four key motor sport archives, 34 different magazine titles, 12 books on the sport and, of course, his own experience. Six different websites were used, including eurodragster.com, theaccelerationarchive.co.uk, timetraveldvds.co.uk, trakbytes.com and ukdrn.co.uk.

Crazy Horses is a detailed history of British drag racing, the foreword is written by and the 224 pages include more than 280 dramatic photographs, 239 of them in colour with many of the images being published for the first time. Itis a tribute to the pioneers, a reference for all petrol heads and a darn good motor sport story for those just wanting to read about the people, the machines and the sport’s struggle with the British motor sport establishment and the many internal factions.

Starting with the British sprinters of the early 1900s and the American lakesters that followed from 1912 onwards, it then looks at the early American hot rodders before the Second World War and the explosion in street racing that took place afterwards along with the eventual development of drag racing in the USA during the late 1940s. It explains how this American automotive culture crossed the Atlantic and clashed with the British sprinters in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when those Brits wearing tweed jackets and ties were at first outraged, and then bemused and intrigued by the new young upstarts in their T-shirts and colourful racing jackets. To the new-comers it was rock ‘n’ roll on wheels.

The new breed of straight-lining Brits created the British Association (BHRA) while, led by Sydney Allard who had built Europe’s first dragster in 1961, the UK’s top sprinter created the British Drag Racing Association (BDRA). After some demonstration runs in 1963 by visiting Americans Dante Duce and Mickey Thompson, the BDRA (helped by members of the BHRA) organised the ground breaking Drag Festivals of 1964 and 1965 when the top American drag racers like Don Garlits and Tommy Ivo visited the UK. It was these events that really launched drag racing into the UK. Santa Pod opened in 1966 and this stake in the ground became the foundation for the sport’s growth right throughout Europe.

Crazy Horses documents all this and tracks the sport’s fantastic development through the 1970s, the opening of new venues, the tricky times during the 1980s recession and the early 1990s when the IHRA and the NHRA battled for influence in Europe. Things settled down in the mid 1990s and the story culminates with the first four second top fuel dragster blast in the UK and those amazing side-by-side four second at 300 mph runs in 2002 between Andy Carter and Barry Sheavills. So it is a very special document and a must for all drag racing enthusiasts. Hence, Sunday May 24th will be a very special day with many stars and personalities of the past and present joining the author to sign copies of the new book that will be available via the Pod Shop.

One of them has flown over from the USA especially for this occasion. It is Bob Keith who brought his blown Chevy Dos Palmos dragster to the UK as part of the American Team visiting in 1964. This car was eventually bought and raced by a UK team and then handed on to Bill Weichelt who took it back to the USA in the early 1970s. Bob returned to captain the 1965 American team, this time with a Chrysler engined dragster.

Others planning to be there are: John Bennett, Alan Allard, Brian Sparrow, Dennis Priddle, Dave Stone, Gerry Andrews, Dave Lee Travis, Peter Crane, Roz Prior, Sylvia Hauser, Barry Sheavills and John Hobbs.

The book is available to pre-order from the Santa Pod Website at www. SantaPod.com.

Tel: 01234 782828 | Web:www.SantaPod.com Track Office: Santa Pod Raceway, Airfield Road, Podington, Wellingborough, Northants. NN29 7XA.