Hot Rod Drags ’24

Oct 26

Oct 2024 • By Tony Thacker
Presented by HandhFlatheads.com & USAutomotive.co.uk

The Original NSRA Hot Rod Drags (HRD) held at Santa Pod Raceway in the UK, has been on our bucket list for years. Now in its 36th year, the HRD is the longest running nostalgia race meeting in Europe.

Santa Pod Raceway shipped over the historic Dos Palmas Machine Spl. that raced in England between 1964 and 1971, as well as the Mooneyes dragster that initiated European drag racing with a visit in 1963. We managed to put plenty of people in the seats.

It was an honor for myself and TorqTalk to be involved in the special appearance of the historic Dos Palmas Machine Spl. that raced in England at the 1st International British Drag Festival in 1964 and continued to race through 1971. Thanks to Santa Pod Raceway for making it happen along with Stewart Bassett of USAutomotive, Scott Campbell, Nick Davies of I.C.E. Automotive, Mick Jenkins of Mick’s Paint and Geoff Stilwell for help getting the car sorted.

Joining Dos Palmas was the Mooneyes dragster that raced in England in 1963 and helped initiate the whole European drag scene. Unfortunately, mechanical problems prevented both cars from running but we did manage to put a lot of people, especially young people, in the seat of a vintage dragster and show them what it feels like.

The racing action featured four crowd-pleasing classes: Gasser Circus, Outlaw Anglias, Wild Bunch and Supercharged Outlaws that can always be guaranteed to put on a show and they did not disappoint as the images show. There’s also a pre-’73 Run What Ya Brung that brings out some wild and wonderful race cars that are rarely seen including Wayne Allman’s “Mental Breakdown” VW drag bus.

Big news this year was the return of the “Flathead Meltdown” which used to be a big part of the early events that has been revived for flathead-powered hot rods, belly tanks and dragsters.