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 twelve pictures on this page were submitted by well-known racer Ian Turboville. |
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For those of us with long memories (and even longer teeth) this man is instantly recognisable. The late Danny Johnson was a top US rider who visited Santa Pod with his injected Harley Davidson machines on more than one occasion. |
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I am reliably informed that Dave Stone is lurking under all that protective clothing.. |
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Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis (aka the Hairy Monster) became associated with the Stones' drag racing team when he began driving their small block Chevy-powered Mark I Escort. He later drove a Santa Pod supported Top Fuel Dragster called The Needle which he got in to the sixes at over 200mph. |
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Drag racing was turned on its head in 1973 when Don Schumacher and Paula Murphy brought their Funny Cars over to Santa Pod and blew everyone away with wild burn outs and six second passes. This is Don Schumacher's Stardust flopper but I am not sure whether Don was driving because the driving was taken over by Allan Herridge. |
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In addition to running Santa Pod Raceway the Phelps family were responsible for the construction of quite a lot of cars. This is an early example - the first Funny Car in Europe which they named Gloworm. |
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There is a replica of Dean Moon's Mooneyes rail knocking about (see Readers' Gallery 31) but this is definitely the real deal. |
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This bike was originally built by Pete Gray. It was eventually sold to Jerry Mitchell who re-worked it and the bike was then sold on to Top Fuel Bike legend Rod Pallant. |
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Back in the day Santa Pod installed a set |
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Another of Santa Pod's early forays into car building (possibly the first) was the legendary wheelie Stingray. |
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Stu Bradbury was the Chief Start Line Marshall at Santa Pod for many years. |
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Tony 'The Loner' Nancy was another of the US stars who came over in 1973. This car was used as the model for the Houndog 8 fueller built by Nobby Hills. |
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Dave Gibbons sent in the next five shots. Dave still drives his Rough Diamond Fiat Topolino bodied altered today. This sharp looking Model T was an earlier incarnation. |
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This is Dennis Acock's Helkat dragster which was originally built in 1965 by Nobby Hills. This picture was taken in March 1972. |
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Drag Addict was originally camaigned by Pete Hollingsworth but I believe it was painted red when new owner Robert Hunt bought the car. |
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Two shots taken at the top of the fire up road in happier times showing the first rear engined Top Fuel Dragster built by Dennis. |
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On now to a selection of pictures submitted by Dave Ingall. First up is a pit shot of the Stardust Funny Car. |
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The Elite Force Dodge Avenger Funny Car was Knut Soderquist's last hurrah for a nitro flopper in the mid 1990s. You can read more about this car courtesy of Mark Gredzinski by clicking here. |
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A bit of a distant shot but this is the Over the Hill Mob Fuel Altered of Mickey Moore and Ollie Burn. |
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John Menetrier's Altered Ego which |
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Jet cars are always a favourite with the fans and the Fireforce funny car shows you why. |
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Two shots of Pat Cuss' Ratcatcher slingshot with different paint jobs, and also his later rear engined Pro Comp rail.
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Torque of the Devil was Tony Baker's brief foray into Top Methanol Funny Car and had previously been campaigned by Jim Whelan. |
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This is Andy Carter's first Top Fuel Dragster. |
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Well Southern Belle is certainly a Morris 1000 but I would put more on there being a lot more than a 1000cc under that bonnet. |
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Outlaw Anglia celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016 and Paul Hensher is still driving in the class albeit in a very different looking car, |
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Pete Ashworth is another man still going strong in |
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All material on this site is copyright and |
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My thanks to Mark Gredzinski, Keith Lee and Nick Pettitt for providing information for the captions. |
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Wait for it! |
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(First posted on 20 January 2017) |
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