All of the pictures on these pages were taken by readers of
The Acceleration Archive who have kindly agreed to share them with us.
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Click on any image to get the bigger picture |
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The first ten pictures on this page are
part of a collection kindly loaned to me for scanning by Clive Rooms. We will
start Clive's pictures with some taken at the now defunct Ontario Motor Speedway
in 1972 (see the Geof Hauser Collection for more such pictures, Geof was on the
same trip with Clive). |
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I particularly like this
shot because it shows the old and the new together and it is unlikely that such
sights were seen in the US for very long after this shot was taken. |
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Andy has identified the streamliner as
Larry Bowers' car with Gary Ormsby driving the Wulf & Ormsby Top Fueller in
the background. It is a great shot of a fairly close race and those rear tyres
show they are at full chat. |
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Clive believes that 1972 was the first year that the NHRA sprayed the track but it was only for the first 1,000 feet. This may explain why the streamliner is hazing its slicks. |
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I have included this rather distant shot
of two funny cars burning out in real 1970s style to give some idea of what a
vast facility this was with the dragstrip contained within the oval speedway.
And they knocked it all down . . . words fail me! |
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Back across the pond quicker than Concorde and we see Clive Slikton in his Revolution III Top Fuel Dragster resplendent in Castrol sponsorship colours. This car had quite a few paint jobs over the years but this was definitely the best in my opinion. |
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The late Tony Dickson's Money Hungry as imported from the USA. |
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This is the incredible 4 cylinder
Drag'n'Fly of John Whitmore. The car was developed over the years (including
lengthening its wheelbase) and eventually ran 8 second times from only 1300cc.
A truly great car. |
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Another excellent top end shot from Clive. Dennis Priddle hangs the laundry out, no doubt after another 6 second 200 mph pass, in the John Woolfe Racing Mr Six Top Fuel Dragster. As the name suggests this car was the first to dip into the six second zone outside of the USA. Times like that are commonplace these days but it was cutting edge performance back in 1972. |
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'Flying' Phil Elson's AA fuel altered Sneaky T at rest in the Santa Pod pits. This car never really performed at the top level but I love all Fuel Altereds and I bet Phil had an absolute blast driving it. |
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Clive's last picture on this page is of
the Hillbillies' Transcontinental funny car. This was one of the earliest
funny cars in the UK and was unfortunately destroyed in an alarming looking
crash before it had been fully developed. Fortunately driver Roland Pratt was uninjured.
The engrossed spectator on the extreme left of shot is none other than Clive
Skilton. |
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The next five pictures were kindly contributed by Chris Pretty. This great leaving shot shows Brian Mondey launching his Jaguar-powered Optimist junior campetition altered off the line at Santa Pod. The reason I have selected this picture first is . . . |
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. . . Chris liked the car so much he bought it as someone once almost said. Enter the entirely appropriately named Pretty Thing with Chris at the wheel. |
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Pretty Thing has had a blow over but still looks the absolute business. The car was fitted with a 3.8 litre Jag straight six and a B&M trans. Chris' first run was an 11.2 second effort which was none too shabby for the time, Pretty Thing was the first junior competition altered to run in the 10's. |
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The Blue Max funny car was driven by Raymond Beadle who became a frequent visitor to Santa Pod. Click here to read a true story in Chris' own words concerning Raymond Beadle. |
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The final five pictures on this page were
submitted by Mike Daddow who is obviously as in to drag bikes as I am. |
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Angus McPhail's Jade Warrior looks scary close up, but not as scary as actually riding the thing! A 1200 cc Ford engine provided the power. |
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The late Henk Vink always travelled with at least two machines, here is a peek inside his trailer. |
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These next two pictures could be the
subject of a 'Name this bike' competition except : 1) I haven't got any prizes,
and 2) I think I can ID them anyway. |
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Paul Grosvenor has confirmed that this bike is definitely Paul Rose's 2250cc triple 3 cylinder Suzuki bike. I remember hearing this bike (and John Lloyd's triple Kwacker) run and it made some din believe me |
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All material on this site is copyright and should not be reproduced without permission |
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