The organisers asked me to pass on their thanks to all the officials and marshalls and the safety and medical crews who all gave their time voluntarily to make the event such a success. Thanks are also due to John and Maureen for feeding and watering dozens of hungry drag racers, mums & dads, marshalls and emergency crews and even the odd webmaster (and they don't come much odder than this one).

What a Hero!
9th July: Take a look at the Summer Nat's preview on the Svensk Dragracing web site for the story of a true drag racing hero.

Cannonball Timing Data.
9th July: The timing data (& a few pics) from The Cannonball is now available at TonyB's web site.

Party at the Park.
9th July: Just a reminder that the Junior Dragster Party at the Park is being held tomorrow at Avon Park Raceway. See our July 6th news item for more details.

Junior Dragster Shootout.
7th July: Thanks to Paul Allen of L-A Motorsport for sending us news of an exciting Anglo-Scandinavian Junior Dragster Shootout to be held at the European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in September. Read all about it HERE.

Norrt�lje Folkvagnsdag.
7th July: En hel dag med Folkvagnar. B�de "Show and Shine" och Dragracing. Nytt f�r i �r: K�r vilket bilm�rke du vill p� Strippen. (Max 6 cyl).

A day filled with Volkswagen. Both "Show and Shine" and Dragracing. New this year: Any make of car is welcome at the Strip (Max 6 cylinders).

Se mer p� (see more at): http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-44114/index.htm

Shockwave Cannonball Report.
7th July: The Shockwave Fuel Funny Car Team web site has just been updated with a fascinating behind-the-scenes report on the Cannonball. Catch it at http://www.millennium-computer.co.uk/shockwave/.

Drive a Junior Dragster.
6th July: OK, kids, you've seen them at the drag strip - now's your chance to drive one yourself at the Junior Dragster Party at the Park this Saturday (July 10th) at Avon Park Raceway. Signing-in is from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. (you MUST sign in if you want to drive one of the cars). First the licensed drivers will show you how it's done, then you'll be given comprehensive instruction, familiarisation with the controls and a safety briefing, followed by a practice stage and a practice launch. Finally, when you're ready, you'll be able to do a full 1/8 mile run (maybe more if time permits).
If Mom and Dad won't let you have a drive, don't worry - there'll be lots more to see and do. British Land Speed Record holder Colin Fallows will be there with his jet dragster and Doug Bond with his 240mph Top Alcohol dragster. Jon Webster hopes to be there with that gorgeous yellow roadster and we're expecting the odd Super Gasser (and some of them are very odd) to drop by, too. It's strictly Juniors only on the strip, so the adults won't be taking up valuable track time.
There'll be a small admission charge, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Downs Syndrome Society, so you'll be helping a very worthy cause as well as having buckets of fun.
Parents won't let you come? Follow this simple two-step plan:

1. Say "Dad, can we go to Avon Park?"
   
2. Repeat step 1 until Dad says "Yes, OK. Now shut up!"

TonyB adds:
We can't let Bad Nova down can we? I've been to Drachten the last two years and it's a great weekend. It promises to be even better this year, with Lex there demonstrating his famous burnouts. I've got 3 spare seats in the car if anyone wants a lift. It'll cost about �19 plus admission. I plan on getting the Friday morning HSS ferry from Harwich and the Monday afternoon ferry back from Hoek van Holland. Bring your own tent and earplugs (not for the racing but because I snore louder than a top fueller). If you're still interested, mail me at webmaster@eurodragster.com.

German web site launches.
2nd July: A new German-language drag racing web site has been launched, "Specially created to inform German drivers and fans about drag racing in Germany, Europe and all over the world" says webmaster Peter Calwer. The new web site at http://www.dragsterracing.de is one of the best-looking sites you'll see and although not yet completed has made a very promising start: particularly noticeable amongst the current content is a history of drag racing. "It is at the moment a little page, but one day maybe we will be a splendid web site like eurodragster.com" says Peter. Thank you very much for the compliment, Peter.

Santa Pod 1945.
2nd July: The latest update on Trakbyte's UK Drag Race History includes an aerial photo of RAF Podington (as it then was) in 1945. You can find it in the Pre 1960 section of the archives. The picture was supplied by Showtime Racing UK Crew Chief Bob Jarrett who has been looking into the history of the airfield and the 92nd Bomber Group.

The webmaster of the Trakbyte site is now starting work on a historical photo gallery of drivers and vehicles, but he has a very limited amount of pictures so far. If you have any historical pictures of UK Drag Racing then please contact Chris at trakbyte@aol.com.

Win a T-Shirt.
2nd July: An Autoshops Racing T-Shirt is up for grabs in a competition on the Swedish Pro Street News magazine. You've got until July 10th to get your entry in!

Ten Funny Cars headline Cannonball weekend.
1st July: This weekend sees the return of the Cannonball at Santa Pod Raceway. A total of ten Funny Cars have entered this unique event: the Fuel FCs of John Spuffard, Gordon Smith and Tony Betts, and the Alcohol FCs of Leif Andreasson, Micke Kågered, Leif Helander, Lex Joon, Deszoe Krivan, Urs Erbacher and Urs Embacher.

The format of the Cannonball remains the very popular race over a mile: each FC makes three runs and the two with the quickest aggregate ETs race in the Final.

This weekend also sees the third round of the MSA British Top Alcohol Championship. Cannonball qualifying runs will not count in the MSA Championship and vice versa, so Race Director Darren Prentice has scheduled Two Cannonball and three Top Alcohol qualifying sessions on Saturday in such a way as to provide sufficient turn-round time for any Alcohol FC teams wishing to participate in both events. Only one of the seven Alcohol FCs entered this weekend (that of Leif Helander) is sitting out the MSA Championship, so Funny Car fans are in for a rare treat!

Sunday will see the third round and final of the Cannonball, plus the MSA Championship eliminations. Special arrangements have been made in the schedule to allow for the possibility of any of the FCs to be in both Finals.

Joining the FCs in the MSA Championship are the dragsters of Dave Wilson, Rob Turner and Doug Bond.

Dutch racer Henri Joosten makes a welcome return in the six-car Pro Mod field, joining Nick Davies, Al Cook, Dave Pollen, Bert Englefield and rookie John Ellis.

The Sportsman classes are well-subscribed, following the welcome trend of large entries so far this year. The only exception is Super Street car, where there have not been enough entries to run the class, so Brian Huxley has moved to Pro ET for this weekend. There is a straight swap in Super Gas and Super Comp: Richard Fulton is to attempt to slow down his rapid Super Comp pick-up to run in Super Gas, whilst new boy Andy Kirk moves to Super Comp having run in Super Gas in his debut at Avon Park a couple of weeks ago. Chris Bradley takes a turn at driving the S & K Racing Super Pro ET dragster; also in Super Pro John Menetrier makes a rare visit to Santa Pod. David Dony visits from Belgium to run in Sportsman ET.

Six Top Fuel Bikes are entered including those of Holland's Roel Koedam and France's Eric Teboul. Peter Bossert makes the trip from Switzerland to run in Funny Bike, and the ten-bike Pro Stock Bike field sees the return of Ceri Visick.

The entry in each class is as follows. Cannonball: 10; MSA Top Alcohol 9; Pro Mod: 6; Super Comp: 9; Super Gas: 20; Super Pro ET: 7; Pro ET: 15; Sportsman ET: 17; Custom Car Street Eliminator: 8; Junior Dragster: 3; Jet Funny Car: 1; Top Fuel Bike: 6; Funny Bike: 10; Pro Stock Bike: 10; Competition Bike: 6; Super Street Bike: 16; 9.90 Bike: 16; 10.90 Bike: 12.

Action starts at 9:00 on both Saturday and Sunday. Qualifying is scheduled to run to 8:30 pm on Saturday, although there will be a twenty-minute break at 4:25 whilst a minute's silence and other activities take place at the nearby Memorial Reunion of the 92nd Podington Bomber Group, who were based at RAF Podington - which is now, of course, Santa Pod Raceway.

Ticket prices and other information are available by clicking on the Next Event button on Santa Pod's web site, which will also be the site to visit for live updates if you cannot make the race.

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