The first major event of the European Drag Racing season is the Easter Thunderball held at Santa Pod Raceway, England.

Although the event is not on the same scale as the FIA Championship races it still gives the fans their first real drag racing of the year and, in particular, a first sight, smell and feel of nitro racing! It also gives the gives teams a chance for valuable track time to get the cars sorted ready for the start of the FIA Championships in May.

The main attraction is the Pro Fuel shootout, which features Top Fuel Cars against Nitro Funny Cars. This year’s event had four top fuel cars but disappointingly only one Funny car.

The Top Fuel drivers were:

2004 FIA European Champion and European ET/TS record holder (4.832/306.36mph) Andy Carter has signed a new and prestigious sponsor for this year in B&Q who are a major DIY retailer in the UK. The car and trailer look very smart in their new sponsor’s colours of orange and black. The Rune Fjeld owned car has received a lot of attention over the winter with bigger pumps, new mags, new clutch and a new digital ignition system. The team has a new crew chief in Ben Allum but despite the changes the team were, as always, looking for a win to start the season on a high.

Andy Carter - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com

Lex Joon from Holland rented a car last year but over the winter he has purchased a car from US driver David Baca. The car features all the latest parts and has run 4.5 seconds in the USA. With the signing of Carter’s 2004 championship winning crew chief, Eddie Corr, it should make the team one of the front-runners in 2005

Thomas Nataas from Norway was in another Rune Fjeld owned car, which was basically the same car that had run a best of 4.88 seconds last year.

Jon Webster was driving the Canto Consultancy sponsored car tuned by Peter Knight. After running a 5.057 at last years final, they were looking for their first four-second pass.

The lone Funny Car was the Shockwave Trans Am driven by Gordon Smith and tuned by Dave Bryant. The 2004 Funny Car Championship winning car has run a best of 5.493 seconds.

The shootout is run to an index system, 5.00 for the Top Fuel cars and 5.35 for the Funny Car, each car has 3 runs after each run the performance to index is calculated. After the 3 runs the 2 cars with the best performance to index meet in the final to race for the shootout title!

The first round was run on Saturday, the weather was cloudy and chilly which meant the track was cold.

First pair were Andy Carter vs. Gordon Smith. Carter ran a 5.583 @ 173.77mph, peddling the car once and shutting off around 1000 feet, a good run for the first of the season. The cool track did not suit the Funny Car and Gordon lost traction around 300 feet and shut off to an 11.335 @ 74.66mph

Next pair up was Thomas Nataas vs. Jon Webster. Jon Webster was shut down shortly after firing due to a lack of oil pressure leaving Thomas to solo to a 7.468 @ 106 mph. The car launched hard and looked to be on a good run until the tyres smoked at the eighth mile and Thomas shut off. Webster returned in the evening for a test pass resulting in a 8.499 @ 88.59mph early shut off. The car ran a 0.907 60-foot time, not bad considering how cold the track was by then.

Thomas Nataas - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com

The final run was a solo for Lex Joon in the ex David Baca car. The car sounded really strong on the burnout but Lex could not get reverse and idled down the track.

Sunday was another damp and cold day, not the ideal conditions to run fuel cars in!

The first pair in the second session of the shootout saw Andy Carter suffer tyre shake and he shut off to a 7.648 @ 107.41mph. Jon Webster in the other lane ran his first four with a superb 4.974 @ 290.41mph, to say the team were ecstatic would be an understatement.

The next pair saw Thomas Nataas shut off at 1000 feet to record a 5.316@198.22mph. Meanwhile Gordon Smith in the Funny Car suffered an explosion and small fire about 200 feet out. The damage was extensive, rods out the block, the blower was split in half and the body was also damaged meaning a late night for the team to be ready for the final round on Monday.

Gordon Smith - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com

Lex Joon shut off after his launch and coasted through to an 8.179 @ 103.96mph.

Monday was a slightly warmer and brighter day and the final qualifying session of the shootout was held around noon.

Andy Carter soloed to a 5.642 @ 180.74mph the car suffered tyre shake and was weaving about on the track but it was good enough to put him in the final.

Thomas Nataas then secured the other place in the final with a 5.040 @ 257.70mph over Jon Webster’s 5.396 @ 197mph.

Lex Joon suffered tyre shake and shut off to a 12.395 @ 71.97mph and Gordon Smith shut off after a good launch to a 10.286 @ 81.98mph.

Lex Joon - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com

This meant that the final would be between Andy Carter and Thomas Nataas, and what a great drag race it was! Thomas Nataas left first 0.119 to Andy Carter’s 0.130. Both cars thundered down the track and at the eighth mark there was little in it 3.410 @ 243.20mph to Nataas and 3.413 @ 243.03mph to Carter. By a 1000 foot Carter had taken the lead but the blower belt let go and Nataas took the win 5.054 @ 283.14mph to Carter’s losing 5.047 @ 274.62mph. The wining margin was four thousandths of a second or about 19 inches!

The race for third and fourth place was won by Jon Webster who nearly ran another 4 with a 5.062 @ 246.63mph; Lex Joon ran a 8.606 @ 94.74mph.

Whilst the Pro Fuel Shootout was the main attraction, there was lots of great racing in the other classes. We had everything from Pro Mod to Fuel Altered and Top Fuel Bike to Junior Dragsters.

Top Methanol was a mix of Dragsters and Funny Cars racing together unlike at the FIA rounds where they race in separate eliminations. Seven cars contested this round and the final was between the dragsters of Dave Wilson and Rob Turner. Wilson took the win in a very close race 5.500 @ 248.48mph to Turner's losing 5.541 @ 251.43mph.

Nineteen Super Gassers battled it out for the honour of winning the 20^th anniversary of UK Super Gas race. Spencer Tramm took the win with a 9.947 @ 118mph over Conrad Stanley who broke out with a 9.891.

Spencer Tramm - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com

Super Street bike saw no less then three bikes break into the 7-second zone at this event. Jamie Sneddon had purchased a bike from the USA and had previous owner Kent Stotz in attendance to advise the team. Jamie ran a superb 7.898 @ 180.92mph in the semi finals but lost out in the final to Steve Venables also on an ex US bike. Venables won with a fantastic 7.742 @ 193mph to Sneddon’s losing 8.617 @ 141.94mph.

The event also saw Martin Hill in the Fireforce Jet Funny Car set a new world record speed of 336 mph with an ET of 5.79. [Editor's note: Many jet car racers and timing experts from around the world are disputing Martin's speed clocking. If legitimate, the incremental times from this run and an earlier 288 mph 1000 foot shutoff would suggest nothing less than a completely new paradigm in drag racing acceleration. In thousands of recorded runs, no other car in drag racing history has picked up as much speed from the eighth mile to the quarter. Two things are certain: One, Martin Hill's two runs will continue to be analyzed and discussed on three continents for quite some time, and two, the entire Jet Drag Racing world will be watching Martin's next outing with extreme interest. bp]

The Thunderball was a very good first event of the season despite the cold weather and everyone is now looking forward to the First round of the FIA Championships at the end of May. With 8 or 9 Top Fuel cars, at least 20 Pro Mods, Top Methanol Dragsters and Funny cars, Pro Stock cars, the UEM bike Championship and over 200 other racers from all over Europe, it should be a fantastic event.