All of the pictures on this page were taken by Roger
Phillips,
I am very grateful to him
for the opportunity of reproducing them
here.
(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION)
|
(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION)
|
|
THE BDR & HRA INTERNATIONALS
Six international Top Fuel cars, a bunch of wild Swedish doorslammers, a jet car and three days of racing? You would be forgiven for thinking we’re talking about 2001 not 1971 but no we’re here to look back to the BDR &HRA Internationals held at Santa Pod Raceway nearly 4 decades ago. Edward Heath was Prime Minister, Nixon was in the White House, Britain had recently converted to decimal from pounds, shillings and pence, the price of a loaf of bread was 9 ½ p (or 1/11d if you hadn’t got the hang of the new money) and Switzerland had just given women the right to vote – and The Pod, only in its fifth year, was about to stage the biggest event then seen at the track. Although the subsequent 1973 Internationals are rightly cited by many as a defining moment for drag racing in England, in retrospect it is interesting to look back to this ’71 event and wonder how European drag racing might have developed on its own. The import of American racers and their machinery became an annual tradition following the success of the ’73 International series. It brought in ever increasing crowds but also raised the bar in terms of expected performance – and spelt the beginning of the end for some of the home-grown elements of our sport. Now in the 21st century we are once again experiencing European drag racing without the stars from over the Pond, so it is with the blessing of hindsight we can revisit that July weekend all those years ago and muse over where we’ve come from, where we’ve been and where we are going - or just wallow in the nostalgia!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Garnering the Long Distance award by a mile - or more accurately five and a half thousand miles - South Africa’s Arthur Christy managed the momentous journey thanks to the money-raising efforts of the Drag Racing South Africa Club. Although classed as a two day event, Friday was used as practice day and DRSAC Chairman Jimmy Hadiaris can be seen near side of the 'Hawaian (sic) III' helping push the 354 rail up to the line to make a familiarisation run. A shirtless Stu Bradbury gives some indication as to how hot the weather was and keen-eyed readers might notice that the SA dragster was running on treaded Firestone tyres. This would seem preposterous today but one has to remember wrinkle wall slicks were a luxury that few European teams, let alone South Africans, could afford back at the beginning of the '70s.
|
|
|
|
The British contingent included the recently debuted 'Firefly' in the capable hands of Tony Densham. But getting the 392 to run was proving a real headache for crew chief Roy Phelps. |
|
|
|
So if Tony Densham was in 'Firefly' who was driving 'Commuter'? Allan Herridge of course. Bootsie was enjoying his debut drive in a Top Fuel dragster (or Top Dragster as they were then called) and racked up an impressive 8.6 at 184 mph on his first full pass. Alas that stood as his best effort as the 427 Ford Wedge suffered various ills over the rest of the weekend and was not a serious contender in the top eliminator. |
|
|
|
Last but not least, the two big hitters of Top Fuel in the early '70s, Dennis Priddle in his Priddle, Riswick, Gane and Stanford Hot Wheels-sponsored slingshot . . . |
|
|
|
And Clive Skilton in his Skilton, Clark and Beadle Castrol-sponsored, Harold Bull-built 'Revolution 2'. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The arrival of Arnold Sundqvist’s jet car was another first at Santa Pod and drew the attention of several familiar faces. BDR&HRA marshal Dave Davis (without shirt) and Bob Phelps (stood below) are seen helping Arnold unload the jet dragster. |
|
|
|
|
|
As for the performance of the J46 Westinghouse four wheeled blowtorch, well it had been built more for land speed records than drag racing but ran some impressive 8 second times between 150 and 200mph. As was the routine for special occasions in the '70s, after this particular run Arnold drove back down the strip to the applause of the crowd (also note how the Barn had been cleared during the demo run). “Silver Streak” would later run over 250 mph at Elvington before crashing at the North Yorkshire site. Arnold built a second jet car - and crashed that in Finland. The third one had a better safety record - due in no small part to the fact it never turned a wheel in anger. |
|
|
|
|
|
As for those other Swedes appearing at Santa Pod, these included Gunne Back’s killer Corvette 'Frighten Chicken', Benjamin Wahlstrom’s 327 Chevy powered ’32 street rod, and Lars Torngren’s 'Wild Honey' injected altered. |
|
|
|
|
|
So preamble over, what about the racing? Well aside from the |
|
|
|
|
|
Due to a racers' meeting deciding that eliminations should be held on each day, it was possible to be a winner on Saturday but a loser on Sunday. Colin Mullan in 'Invader' was one such winner then runner-up, beating Ian Garbutt’s Topolino with an 11.7/119 for Senior Competition Altered honours on the Saturday, but throwing away the Sunday final to Alan Wigmore’s 'Itzaviva' with a red light – so giving Wiggy his first class win. |
|
|
|
|
|
Other entries in Senior Comp included Steve Warner in 'Motor Psycho, Roger Bishop in 'Stripteaser', Steve Cryer in 'Metronome', Roger Marshall in 'Good Vibrations', Mike Derry in the Hillbillies' Topolino and Dave Page in 'Panic'. |
|
|
|
|
|
Observant readers might spot that some of these cars were racing in a class higher or lower than their designation and indeed on the Sunday 'Stripteaser' was back in its more familiar Middle Competition Altered class while 'Metronome' tried its hand in Top Comp. We don’t pretend to be experts on how such anomalies were allowed so if anyone out there can explain we’ll be pleased to hear from you. |
|
Moving up a notch Top Competition Altered included Kevin Pilling in his wild handling 'Pure Seven', Dennis Stone in 'Opus One', and the afore mentioned Fred Whittle and Lars Torngren. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
We have been able to track down Sture Torngren, Lars’s brother and fellow 'Wild Honey' member and he has been kind enough to identify the crew as they prepare the altered at the top of the fire up road . . . |
|
|
|
|
|
The entries for Middle Competition Altered were actually smaller than anticipated (surprisingly considering the class regularly bore the largest number of entries at races during the first half of the 1970s) and Rick Fielding in his little 4 cylinder 'Imagination 4' had no trouble seeing off first one Jaguar-powered altered - the English 'Wild Honey' of the Ison brothers - and then another - 'Stripteaser' - on Saturday and Sunday respectively. |
|
|
Over from America to take in the action at the Internationals was Car Craft Editor Terry Cook (wearing the tam o’shanter). Later as editor of Hot Rod Magazine, Terry would be an integral part of the US visitors in 1973 and Roger Phillips recalls the hilarity Terry found in reading off all the road signs as they drove to Santa Pod together; the likes of Whipsade, Cockernhoe and Stagsden apparently tickling Mr Cook’s fancy no end. |
|
|
|
Speaking of Roger, it is clear his camera rarely strayed from the drag racing but evidently this mystery blonde was one exception. We’ve had several aging lotharios suggest the lady was their erstwhile girlfriend but if you can remember hot pants and go-go boots likelihood is you are also prone to bouts of wistful thinking and other senior moments. So for once we shall leave this picture a mystery and move on . . . |
|
|
|
Also seen at the Internationals was 'The Supervan' commissioned by Ford Trucks and built and driven by Terry Drury, which was doing the publicity rounds in ’71. Powered by a 302 Gurney Weslake V8, similar to those used in the Le Mans winning Ford GT40, Drury put in some mid 14 runs whilst at the track. |
|
|
Moving over to two wheels . . . |
|
|
It is interesting to note how the Kool Kams bike report reveals the cusp of the transition from the smokey wheel-spinning '60s to the smokeless wrinkle-wall '70s. Reporter Pete Miller wrote that the bikers’ difficulty at the ’71 Internationals had been a “sticky strip” – a situation we hardly equate with being a problem today. But as John Hobbs explains “At the beginning of the seventies traction was not uppermost in our minds, the quest for more power had been the priority as we believed that was the route to quicker times. I had always known that quick starts were important for a low ET and that top end power would rarely compensate for a poor start. However it wasn’t until I ran that first 9 (three weeks after the Internationals) that the true significance of the first 60 ft hit home. From here on the quest for me became how to effectively get the horse power down onto the track.” |
|
|
Back on four wheels the doorslammers did not have Pro Stock let alone Pro Modified back in 1971, but the street classes still provided plenty of excitement, especially from those darned Swedes. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
'Otis Blue' of course went onto become 'Tender Trap' and provide Dave Lee Travis with his first ride, Alan O’Connor is still racing with his 'Al’s Gasser' and Steve Stringer, well you could write a book about his accomplishments since the days of 'Tune Twister' but today Steve lives in Texas and runs the design company AAD which includes modelling and designing Funny Car bodies
for NHRA
racers. Incidentally Steve had the misfortune to be the only casualty of an otherwise accident-free event - but he’d be forgiven for not remembering it as he was knocked out cold when a fire extinguisher went off in his face whilst tackling a fire in John Rotherham’s push car. |
|
|
|
In the class it was all close racing with ET’s in the low 14s to high 13s and Wahlstrom and his ’32 street rod got as far as the semi’s on both days - beaten by Tony Dickson on
the
Saturday, who was subsequently beaten by Ed Shaver’s AMX in the final and then Tony’s team mate Chris White on the Sunday, who then beat Ed in the final. |
|
|
|
|
|
Top Street saw Priddle team member Pete Stanford in his Hot Wheels TVR, Tony Preston in his Ginetta Ford, Dave Render and Chris White (again) all fall prey to Sweden’s Gunne Back’s 'Frighten Chicken' and Nils Rodeblad’s 454 Malibu SS. |
|
Moving back to the dragsters, like all the classes it was heads-up racing back in the '70s with bracket or handicap racing yet to be introduced. As with their altered counterparts the rails were divided into three divisions which basically translated as four cylinder engines in Junior, blown four cylinders or Jaguar engines in Middle, and injected V8s or blown V8s on methanol or petrol in Senior. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Onwards and upwards, and he didn’t get the name ‘King’ Harold for nothing. Harold Bull swept through both days of Middle Dragster to keep his crown, on the Saturday defeating John Whitmore’s green 'Drag’n’Fly' with a 10.7, before beating Malcolm Lockyer’s Volvo powered 'Midi Witch' with a 11.66 to 13.94. On the Sunday Whitmore beat Lockyer in round one and then Doug Harler in 'Chicken Little' in the semis. But 'Drag’n’Fly' had problems in the final and would’ve struggled to beat King Harold’s 10.5 anyway. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Senior Dragster John Siggery’s Oldsmobile-powered 'Geronimo' set a record for the quickest unblown ET outside the USA with a 9.38 but it was Tony Anderson in 'Trouble' who won the class on Saturday. On the Sunday Bill Weichelt had problems with 'Asmodeus' but still beat Brian Ringsell’s supercharged 'Taxi', 10.38 to 10.59. 'Geronimo' then beat Weichelt with a 9.49 while on
the other
side of the ladder Tony Anderson beat Bruce Brown. And then Siggery beat Anderson 9.41 to 10.52. |
|
|
So to Top Fuel née Top Dragster . . . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
As with the other classes Saturday was a free for all with both John Siggery and Alan Blount mixing it up with the big boys in eliminations, while Clive Skilton put in a practice run which resulted in a spectacular wheelie and equally impressive 7.39/196mph timing slip. |
|
|
Saving the big one till last, Sunday saw all six blown cars competing even though 'Firefly' and 'Commuter' were still having problems. Arthur Christy had bolted on some Kelly Springfield slicks and upped his nitro to 35% but it was to no avail as Skilton laid a 7.81/180 on the South African. Björn Andersson red-lit allowing Priddle an easy 8.67 win. (Tage Hammerman explains their rash of cherries as they weren’t running nitro at all (“we didn’t have the money”) and Björn tried too hard to reduce
their disadvantage. All of which inevitably meant another classic Skilton vs Priddle final. |
|
|
So after a suitable historical digression while Priddle and Skilton prepared themselves for the final, the signal was given and the two fuelers came thundering down the fire up road, bursting into life in front of the expectant crowd before swinging round in front of the barn and into their lanes - Clive on the pit side, Dennis bankside. Rituals completed, the two
cars edged
into stage and at the green the Hot Wheels slingshot was away by two car lengths, but Clive was hungry for victory and reeled Dennis in at the eighth, flying through the lights 7.35/201 to a losing 7.57/199.5. |
|
|
|
|
|
Above left to right: Pete Atkins of Watford Motor Accessories and Slo-Mo-Shun fame presents Gunne Back with the Duckhams Trophy for Top Street, runner up Nils Rodeblad gets a share of the champagne. Clive Skilton also enjoying the sweet taste of victory. (Clive moved to the USA in 1977 where he raced full-time in Top Fuel before leaving drag racing to concentrate on his American business ventures. Gunne Back had to retire from racing in the late '70s, but he is still active in Sweden’s American car scene. Nils Rodeblad emigrated to Canada in the 1980’s. His brother Lars Rodeblad (who raced Pro Stock in the '70s and '80s) is President of Exclusive Cars AB, one of the sponsors of 2009 European Pro Stock Champion, Jimmy Ålund. Left: Lars Torngren (with trophy), Björn Jonsson (with bottle) and Peder Landberg collect their winnings for Top Competition Altered. |
|
|
|
Clive Skilton makes sure the SEMA Trohpy is one prize not going back to Sweden. As readers of Brian Taylor’s Crazy Horses Blog will know, the SEMA Trophy was rediscovered in 2009 languishing at the Brighton and Hove Motor Club. This historic trophy has since been restored and is on display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.
|
|
Race details were cribbed from Mike Lintern’s original Custom Car article, John Dickson and Peter Miller’s Kool Kams reports and Nick Pettit’s Time Travel DVDs. Thank you all. Andy Barrack |
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
