July 2023 • By Tony Thacker • Havoc videos by Scott Barnes
Presented by MicksPaint.com, RatTrapracing.com & USAutomotive.co.uk

It’s hard to believe but I was at the very first race at Santa Pod, Britain’s foremost drag strip, on Easter 1966. It was cold, foggy, wet and miserable but I was at the drags and that’s what mattered. For the next 20 years I regularly attended events there before emigrating to the U.S. I didn’t go back to ‘The Pod’ for 30 years and the difference was astounding.

I remember a muddy abandoned airfield built in 1940 that became USAAF station 109 for the 8th Airforce from 1942. It was eventually home to the 92nd Bomb Group and remains a great memorial to those brave combatants. Also memorializing ‘Station 109’ and the 92nd are bike racer Phil Pratt and partner Sue who have compiled a fantastic display honoring the WWII service personnel stationed at Poddington.

Over the years, Santa Pod has been constantly improved to become Europe's premier drag strip and home to a number of top-flight events including Dragstalgia. Usually held in the middle of July, and now in its 12th year, Dragstalgia is Europe’s number one nostalgia drag racing event attracting more than 300 racecars, motorcycles and attractions.

This year, I tagged along with Nick Davies and the AA/FA Havoc team of Scott Barnes, Callum and Eva Davies, Rob Loaring and Tom Rayner. Sadly, Havoc has been mothballed since 2017 when they won the California Hot Rod Reunion Fuel Altered Championship as they really have no other Fuel Altered to race in the UK. Consequently, they run in the headlining Cannonball which is at catchall class open to dragsters, Funny Cars and Altereds. This year’s Cannonball was won by Tim Garlic in his Apache Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car while Nick was Runner-up. Incidentally, both cars have engines built by Nick and Rob’s company I.C.E. Automotive.

One of the hotly contested classes in the UK is ‘Outlaw Anglia’ that this year boasted some 30 entries including John Willard’s ‘Aussie Outlaw’ all the way from Australia. John had some problems but in a check-out pass managed 6.737/206.05 and with a 6.71 set the quickest run for an OA in the UK. Class winner was Dalton Scarlett with a 7.759/184.30.

The other dominant group at Dragstalgia is Nostalgia Super Stock with more than 60 entries, however, other groups including ‘The Wild Bunch,’ ‘Old School Stockers,’ ‘Supercharged Outlaws,’  ‘Gasser Circus’ and ‘Willys Wars’ and even the ‘National Sprint Association Bike Shootout’ all put on a fantastic show despite the British weather slowing the pace.

Sadly, I didn’t get to see everything Dragstalgia had to offer—jet cars, wheel standers, a cacklefest and a wall of a death, to memorial fly-past’s by Battle of Britain aircraft and even a vintage fair with rides, stalls and a vintage marketplace. It’s a weekend of fun for all the family with three days of cool, vintage style quarter-mile drag racing thrown in for good measure.

For more information about future events visit www.dragstalgia.co.uk