All of the pictures on this page were taken by ex-Pro Comp funny car pilot
Timo Aartomaa who has very kindly allowed me to reproduce them here.

Click on any image to get the bigger picture

A couple of shots of Owen Hayward who drove Nobby Hills' Houndogs 7 to 11 inclusive during the 1970s and '80s.

The familiar figure of team owner Nobby Hills is in the foreground as Owen Hayward brings Houndog 10 into stage.

Houndog 10 up against Dave Stone in his Stardust entry which was previously raced by World Champion Raymond Beadle as The Blue Max.

Owen heats up the slicks a little.

Nobby Hills hangs on to his hat as Owen lets rip again.

Still smoking!

Although this picture is a bit blurred I think it conveys very well the atmosphere of a top fuel car leaving the line hard.

Obviously some sort of parade on the track.  There were quite a few competitors in fuel funny cars back then - happy days!

Still a funny car but in the Pro Comp class this time.  Björn Ardin burns out in his Volvo-bodied entry at Santa Pod.

A great leaving shot with the front left wheel of Björn's car pawing the air and the wrinkle wall slicks doing their thing.

The title of this picture says it all - 'Harlan in trouble'.  Harlan Thompson seems to be bouncing around some in his fuel funny car.

Back to Pro Comp and John Grosland burns out his Seaport Automotive-sponsored car in front of a packed Santa Pod banking.

I had no information on this bike until Harry Räikkönen e-mailed me from Finland.  Harry raced this bike between 1993 and 1997 and visited Avon Park twice in FIM rounds.  It is being ridden in these pictures by Pekka Parikka from Vaasa, Finland.

A couple of shots of Japa Kuutniemi's funny car.

This funny car was unanimously identifed as Chris Filsell's Satan's Sledge by Harry Räikkönen, Tog from Eurodragster and Acceleration Archive contributor Mark Gredzinski.
Mark provided some background information on the car which started life as Gene Snow's Plymouth Arrow.  It then had a Dodge Omni nosepiece grafted on presumably to differentiate it from Don Prudhomme's Arrow which became the Cannonball.  The car originally appeared in a blue, orange and white paint scheme which was later changed to blue with black side panels and red trim with the Satan's Sledge logo.
The name of the car was then changed to Grasscutter before it was taken over by Andy Craddock and Steve Clark and called Frontline.  Mark designed the paint scheme on Frontline and also did the lettering, grille and headlights.

In case you were wondering where Timo hangs out these days - well here's your answer!
Timo is busy shooting with a high speed Arri Super 16 camera mounted on a GF-16 crane both of which were kindly made available to him on a no-cost basis by Angel Films and Filmfotograferna respectively.
Torsti Hyvönen was Timo's camera assistant in this shot and the crane operators were Petri Anttonen and Antti Kotkavuori, all of them work for Angel Films.

Hanna Konttori, who took these three pictures helps Simo Patoharju and his top alcohol dragster team, Simo's car is pictured on the left.
Veteran bike competitor Ton 'The Godfather' Pels comes under Timo's scrutiny in the shot below.
 

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