11th March:
Today's Pioneer Story is the story and history of UK hot rodding and drag racing pioneer Maurice Takoor, told in his own words, which you can see at this link.
Maurice Takoor met John Bennett in 1963 and became a member of the BHRA. He also became photographic editor on Drag Racing & Hot Rod magazine and later worked with John at Spa Engineering.
From 1968 to 1978 Maurice along with John Hill worked as the tech crew at Santa Pod alongside the RAC Scrutineering Bay.
In the early ‘90s Maurice organised a 30th anniversary BHRA Meet which was well attended and led to the forming of the BHRA Pioneers Club open to anyone who was involved in drag racing in the 1960s.
Maurice is still very much involved in drag racing and recently ran the ex-Dave Miller BMC powered Spirit slingshot from the 70s with help from Dave Gibbons and Dick Hogben.
Maurice's story was produced by John Hunt and Nick Pettitt, and published by Eurodragster.com editor Simon Groves.
You can read many more stories of pioneers of UK drag racing at our Pioneer Stories page.
Supercharged Outlaws season and stats from last year.
11th March:
Supercharged Outlaws chairman Andy Hadfield has announced the dates for the popular and spectacular class for 2024. They are:
GTI Show: 20th-21st April (racing Saturday and Sunday)
Nostalgia Nationals: May 4th-6th (racing Saturday-Monday)
No points round: Retro Show/Sportsman Nationals: June 8th - 9th (racing Saturday & Sunday, Test Day Monday)
Dragstalgia: July 5th-7th (racing Friday evening-Sunday, RWYB Friday morning/afternoon)
Mopar Nationals: August 9th-11th (racing Saturday & Sunday, RWYB Friday)
VW Action: August 30th-September 1st (racing Saturday & Sunday)
Hot Rod Drags: September 13th-15th (racing Saturday & Sunday, RWYB Friday)
Simon has assembled a table analysing the stats for all supercharged racers who ran with the Outlaws last year. Shown are the number of events attended, number of runs in class (excluding test passes), best in 2023 and overall personal best for times and speed. The class goes from strength to strength and will be a major attraction at lifestyle events during 2024. Any queries should go to simon@eurodragster.com.
The Supercharged Outlaws are sponsored by Good Vibrations Motorsports.
Leanders wins Gatornationals.
11th March:
Congratulations to Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Ulf Leanders for winning the class at the NHRA Amalie Oil Gatornationals held last weekend.
Ulf's third National Event win came after defeats of a broken Wayne Morris in round 1, Sean Bellameur in the semi final and a holeshot over Phil Esz in the final. Ulf's times were ultra consistent 5.494/261.67, 5.439/265.12 (class low ET of the event) and 5.454/263.67.
As ever, Ulf was supported by crew chief and brother Jörgen as well as his crew. You can see video of Ulf's championship round, posted by Trond Høst, by clicking here.