Drag racing establishes its home F ired up by the dragfests of 1964-65, the sport needed a permanent home if it was to move forward. A consortium headed by John Bennett and Bob Phelps formed National Dragways in association with Podington airfield owner and farmer Ernie Braddick, and set about converting the Bedfordshire WW2 airfield into a proper drag strip. It had already been used by the National Sprint Association (NSA) for sprints, and by Easter 1966 after much hard work it was unveiled as the Santa Pod Raceway. The main events were organised by the British Hot Rod Association, which later absorbed the British Drag Racing Association, organiser of the dragfests, becoming the BDR&HRA. Eventually, this mouthful was simplified in 1982 to the BDRA. The track was basic in those early days, as racer Dennis Norman recalled. We turned up for our first meeting, and Bob Phelps shoved a broom at me and said to start sweeping the track! From simple beginnings, the venue has evolved with much hard work over the years into a first class facility. Major development for 1968 at Santa Pod saw the start line moved back some 400 yards. A new, smoother strip surface was laid, and spectator banking was added Alf Hagon charges after Pete Allen, who rode Moonraker in 1967, at Santa Pod in a handicap start race..
Les Armes was the class leader when Pro Street was first introduced.. Night racing was an occasional feature and fire burnouts were popular, until they were banned! Charting the significant events his new double Triumph in May, and he hit 8.70s/156mph in October just ahead of the 8.76 of Hobbs. The performance of the year had to be Brian Chapman s incredible 9.08s in August his little Vincent was so close to an eight. Terry Revill clocked the first 9-second run by a gasser (petrol-burner) when he rode his carburetted Z1 Kawasaki to a 9.89s clocking at Easter, after moving from the street ranks. Interestingly, this bike was later raced by Jay Upton, who then emigrated to Australia, where he is currently a leading rider. It then became Phil Brachtvogel s first bike. He also became a frontrunner in later years. The quickest car-engined bike in 1976 was the MGB 1800cc of Dave Branch, with a very respectable 9.16s. Terry Revill s striking Kawasaki gasser, later raced by Jay Upton and Phil Brachtvogel.. Terry then raced a double-engined version before switching to cars..
American influence Marion Owens, from Oklahoma City, astride his huge twinengined Harley Davidson on the Santa Pod start rollers. Oklahoma machine, owned by brother-in-law Carl Ahlfeldt, boss of Motorcycles Unlimited. Ridden by Kenny Annesley, the bright orange twin-engined unblown Kawasaki was then the quickest bike around, and expected to easily dip into the sevens at Santa Pod. A blown rear motor on the first burnout tempered plans a little, but it still ran 8.02s/171mph on route to beat Owens in the eliminator finals. Two years later, in 1981, fans had the chance to see two more top Americans racing. Henk Vink brought over Sam Wills to race him Kenny Annesley seen from ground level starting a burnout on the Orange Crush double-kawasaki, later bought by Henk Vink as his ride to the sevens.
Drag Bike Racing in Britain from the mid '60s to the mid '80s The neat 1000 Weslake vee-twin power plant of Mick Butler was one of the quickest British engines of the era, producing low 8-second times. competed at the dragfests. The Bartrum brothers, Tony and Chris, campaigned with a pair of smart blown Harley racers in the early seventies. Alf Hagon made the JAP engine very successful, and a few others campaigned with the very functional power plant, including Jim Brown and Peter Smith who each produced copies of the Hagon machine. The most successful of the vee-twins in later years was the impressive blown Weslake of ex-pegasus team member Mick Butler, which first appeared at the end of 1979. After two seasons out of competition, he raced the lightweight blown 1000cc bike to a Superbike eliminator win after only three races. Times progressed impressively to a best of 8.2s before Mick retired in 1983. Twin engines proved very competitive for many years. The often quoted Hobbs law states that the number of problems encountered is the square of the number of engines used. John is well qualified to put forward the theory. The machines produced large amounts of power, but reliability was a real issue. Again the Triumph, along with the more fragile Norton, was a popular choice for twin engines. Many others have been tried though from Ariel Arrow through Benelli and Kawasaki to Hillman Imp. They produced a real spectacle, and many mourned their passing from prominence as the new era of blown four-cylinder bikes was ushered in. Ever increasing power demands caused yet more catastrophic engine failure. Stronger crankcases, external cylinder-head hold-down gear, and billet heads 74