Santa Pod (1 Viewer)

Cliff

Nitro Member
Read on www.eurodragster.com that Santa Pod Raceway in England is finally going to an all concrete track surface. They have the records for best runs on an all asphalt track. Article said the asphalt is on top of a 1943 WWII runway and that all of that will be taken out before the concrete is laid. Trying to think of tracks still in existence that were runways. Bakersfield comes to mind. Probably others still out there.
 
Interlake Dragway, west of Gimli, Manitoba, started life as a runway. From Wikipedia: Opened as RCAF Station Gimli, the airfield served during World War II as the home of Service Flying Training School #18 under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The station closed in September 1971.

The site is famous for the "Gimli Glider" incident in 1983, in which an Air Canada flight ran out of fuel and glided to safety on the drag strip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Gimli_glider.JPG
 
Read on www.eurodragster.com that Santa Pod Raceway in England is finally going to an all concrete track surface. They have the records for best runs on an all asphalt track. Article said the asphalt is on top of a 1943 WWII runway and that all of that will be taken out before the concrete is laid. Trying to think of tracks still in existence that were runways. Bakersfield comes to mind. Probably others still out there.
Arlington, WA was a B-17 capable airport. Not surprising since Boeing isn't far away.
The surface is 3' thick and so it is very stable, flat and cooler in temperature.
It is said that teams would go there if they were close to breaking a record.
Last race was in '65 or so.
There is a yearly display of old race cars the weekend closest to 9/11.
The event includes random cackles, a car show, which grew unexpectedly, and various vendors with some folks selling their own memorabilia collections.
There used to be a main drag, city cruise, the night before but not sure that will still go on as, apparently, clownfarts had to go and screw it up for all. :p
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The event is a fund raiser for the local Boy's and Girl's Club.
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Some of the race and show cars belong to folks in my car club; The Thursday Night Garage Association based in Everett, WA..
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http://arlingtondragstripreunion.com/
 
I think Bremerton, WA, across the Puget Sound from Seattle, is one.
Drags are still run up on the Blackrock plateau above St. George, Utah.
 
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Don't remember the year but it was at Amarillo in the middle to late 60s. Larry Brown was driving our fuel dragster and as he staged a single engine plane landed on the drag strip coming towards the tree. We almost didn't get the tree stopped and the cars shut down in time. Brown was so intense on the tree and staging he didn't see us motion to shut down. Pilot just decided to land and watch the races. Don't remember the details but he tried to takeoff before the races were over and did a ground loop injuring several spectators. It was a really bad incident.
 
Don't remember the year but it was at Amarillo in the middle to late 60s. Larry Brown was driving our fuel dragster and as he staged a single engine plane landed on the drag strip coming towards the tree. We almost didn't get the tree stopped and the cars shut down in time. Brown was so intense on the tree and staging he didn't see us motion to shut down. Pilot just decided to land and watch the races. Don't remember the details but he tried to takeoff before the races were over and did a ground loop injuring several spectators. It was a really bad incident.
John, you have the BEST stories..............I would like to hear the "not for public" stories lol
 
Isn’t there an active drag strip on Maui that used to be an airfield in WWII?
 
i was really little (maybe 7-9 years old) and was at byron drag strip. shirley and big were booked in there, and i think a couple
others (maybe greek? jack revel? luigi?) and the usual upper midwest FC's....chi town, bear town shaker, chicago patrol, tom hoover, etc..........i could be wrong, but almost sure she flew in and landed on strip in small prop plane.

thanks brent for that 'gimli glider' reference.....never knew that.....could you imagine being at a race and a wide body drops in!?
that wikipedia article on the incident and plane is a really good read....especially the part where other crews flew the same scenario
in a simulator and crashed. i believe the same thing happened when determining if the captain of the hudson river, ny flight made
the right decisions or not.
 
John, you have the BEST stories..............I would like to hear the "not for public" stories lol

You think I have stories, you should listen to the stories your dad and uncle could tell. Now as I remember your Charlie's son and Todd is your brother. A bunch of us old nitro geezers meet for lunch once a month. You need to join us. I'll catch you after the holidays and get you to join us..
 
Cut to about 0:37 The one, the only Bonzo at Santa Pod


The dragster belonged to Clive Skilton from England. It was an ex Kuhl & Olson car. Clive bought it & he raced at Pomona with it in 1972. Dennis Priddle, Mr 6, also was at Pomona in a front motor car that he bought from Norm Wilcox. Priddle ran a 6.06 ET with that car a few years later at Santa Pod, and that stood as the all time quickest run for a front engined AA/FD, until the modern day nostalgia dragsters started running. Paul Romine ran the first 5 second run for a front engined AA/FD in the 1990's. i remember seeing Skilton & Priddle that year at Pomona & both were surprised that American racers thought they had a good chance to win. Pomona wasn't exactly a good track then & Skilton & Priddle ran tracks that were like Pomona. Race got rained out & they both had to go back to England. Too bad, it would have been cool to see them race.
 
Any of you Santa Pod fans ever see Slammin' Sammy Miller run there most likely in his Vanishing Point rocket funny car?
Ever meet him?
 
How about that VW truck with the blown Chrysler on alky. Watch that thing run on U Tube. Wow! Not real fast but just looks soooo cool!
 
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