and recreate the early days of
drag racing in the UK. Amongst
the headlined events was the
inclusion of an 'oval'
demonstration area on which
the THORA F1 stock cars were
performing demonstration races.
Unfortunately, the initial event
was rain affected, but sufficient
interest was generated to add
the fixture to the 2012 calendar.
The 2012 Dragstalgia event
fortunately almost escaped the
summer weather with just the
Saturday morning bringing rain.
With the temporary oval marked
out on a large piece of tarmac at
the bottom of the pit area - nice
touch using chequered oil drums
as markers - the 10 cars in
attendance looked an
impressive sight.
The monstrous pink Plymouth
Coupe of Dick Gladden, the
replica Picture Post Ford Tudor,
Ford Pilots, Model Y's, Austin's,
www.insidestockcarworld.co.uk
a rare mix including a number of
'beast' cars as featured in that
advert. The Clarke family, who
almost made up half of the field
on their own, were very much in
evidence along with Jack
Crawley and other regulars from
the series.
The demonstrations were
timetabled to take place 3 times
on each day and after a wet
circuit on the Saturday morning,
the remaining tyre squealing
sessions were run in dry
conditions.
The spectacle of historic F1 cars
running side by side, tail sliding,
tyre smoking certainly drew and
impressed the many spectators,
who thoroughly enjoyed the
shows.
Talking to a number of die hard
drag racing colleagues and
friends, certainly the spectacle
was much enjoyed and one
many of them would like to
repeat.
At the end of the day, will it put
more spectators through the
stadium turnstiles. Difficult to
say, although interest in the
upcoming Heritage Day at
Coventry Stadium in September.
was extremely high. As an
exercise in raising awareness of
oval track action it was a huge
success.
Other crossover events are
planned for 2012, with the
MASCAR/JASCAR due to make
a return visit to Shakespeare
County Raceway, StratfordUpon-Avon and at the same
venue the Brisca Heritage cars
will be included in the Hot Rod
Drags in September.
Steve Weston
35