Thousands of European Drag Racing fans will be heading for Santa Pod Raceway in England from the 27th to the 30th May for the first round of the prestigious 2005 FIA/UEM European Championship.
This is the first round of the five-race championship that moves on to Finland, Sweden, Norway, and then back to Santa Pod. Unfortunately, there is no German round this year for the FIA car classes but, hopefully, it will be back in 2006. A sixth round in Bahrain is yet to be confirmed. There is a possibility of more countries holding rounds in the future, Italy, and France being the most likely places.
Over 250 cars and bikes from thirteen different countries will be racing over the four-day event and the premier class Top Fuel has attracted the biggest field ever in Europe with 10 cars entered. Qualifying will be very exciting this year with two cars on the trailer come Monday’s eliminations.
So lets look at the ten drivers fighting for an early points lead at this event and ultimately, come September, the title of FIA European Top Fuel Champion.
Andy Carter (UK)
As the reigning FIA European Champion and European ET/TS record holder (4.832/306.36) Andy has signed a prestigious new sponsor for this year in B&Q. The car and trailer look very smart in the DIY retail giant’s orange and black corporate colours. The Rune Fjeld owned car has received a lot of attention over the winter with bigger pumps, new magnetos, and a new clutch. Ben Allum has stepped up to become the team’s new crew chief. Carter finished runner up at the Easter Thunderball, a non-championship event held in March. The team will be looking for a good start to their quest for a third championship.
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| Andy Carter - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com |
Lex Joon (Netherlands)
Lex rented a car last year from Knut Soderquist 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. The team tested at the Easter Thunderball and after all the investment will be looking for a good result.
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| Lex Joon - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com |
Thomas Nataas (Norway)
Thomas will be in another Rune Fjeld owned car and having run a best of 4.88 last year and taking the win at the Easter Thunderball he will be very confident of doing well at this event and is one of the favourites for many.
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| Thomas Nataas - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com |
Jon Webster (UK)
Race car builder Jon will be only racing in the two UK events but having run his first ever four (4.979 @ 290 mph) at the Easter Thunderball he and crew chief Peter Knight will be looking to win some rounds on Monday in the Canto Consultancy backed car.
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| Jon Webster - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com |
Tommy Moller (Sweden)
Tommy and his team are always a threat at any Top Fuel race and having purchased a 2003 chassis car from the NHRA’s Doug Herbert during the off season they have all the necessary hardware to make an assault on the 2005 championship.
Smax Smith (Canada/UK)
Smax looked to be sitting out this season but the 2003 champion has secured backing from a motorcycle event called the Bulldog Bash, which is held annually at Shakespeare County Raceway in the UK, to allow him to compete in an ex Peter Lantz car owned and run by the McDonald brothers who were members of the Soderquist crew last year.
The following four cars are all owned by Knut Soderquist, the man behind the CBD carbon fibre injectors used by many US fuel cars. Alan Jackson is the overall crew chief for the four cars and will be assisted at this race by Bill Shultz.
Micke Kagered (Sweden)
Micke has been runner up in the championship for the last two years and will be looking to move to the top spot this year. Sponsored by Bahco tools the car is sure be a serious contender again this year.
Joran Persaker (Sweden)
Joran was runner up in three events last year and so is due a win this season. Having updated many parts on the car, they are another team that should be serious contenders this year.
Gary Page (UK)
Gary Page secured a last minute deal to drive in this event and will not only be racing, he is also Joran Persaker’s crew chief. Gary’s double duties mean he will very busy and an interesting situation may occur if the cars meet in eliminations, but with Gary’s vast experience of driving nitro cars he is a good outside bet for glory at this event.
Chris Andrews (UK)
Chris will be driving the forth Soderquist car and having secured backing from Prolong will be looking for a good performance at this race. Chris’ outings in Top Fuel have been limited in the past but when he has raced, he has performed very well.
These ten drivers will be battling it out just to qualify for the eliminations. Potentially we could see an all four-second field but most fans will just be happy to see ten cars fighting to get into the field. The track will as usual be in perfect condition and given the right weather, the European ET and TS records could fall. It could just be the best Top Fuel race ever seen outside of the USA!
Top Fuel may be the headline class but there will be superb racing happening in many other classes.
Gordon Smith and John Spuffard will be match racing in their Nitro Funny cars, John’s crew chief, as always, will be Bob Jarrett who, although English, lives in the USA and has crewed for NHRA funny car driver Terry Haddock in the past. Both cars will be looking to run in the low 5’s.
Both Top Methanol Funny Car and Top Methanol Dragster (Top Alcohol in the USA) will feature some great racing with the funny cars running around the 5.7 second zone and the three fastest dragsters are all capable of 5.4 second passes.
Pro Stock will be very close as always and has several cars able to dip into the six’s. New for this year will be the ex Greg Anderson Grand Am imported into Europe by Magnus Hansson.
Although not an FIA class Pro Mod will be a lot of fan’s favourite class, 24 cars have entered and will be trying to get into the 16-car field so qualifying will be awesome. There will some new cars this year. Danny Cockerill’s superb blown Chevy Bel Air being one of them. There will also be a return of the burnout king and crowd favourite, Freddy Fagerstrom in his wild Chevy Pick Up. Many teams have spent a lot of money over the winter with several switching from nitrous to blown engines. Long, smoky burnouts and wild, side-by-side racing will be guaranteed.
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| Danny Cockerill - Photo By Gary Cottingham, DragsterWorld.com |
Also racing will be the Top Fuel Bikes, Pro Stock Bikes, and the Nitro Super Twins, all aiming to be the UEM European Champions for 2005. The UEM classes will unlike the cars be racing at Hockenheim in Germany this year.
The pro classes will be supported by the backbone of any drag race, the sportsman classes, and big fields have entered in all classes from Super Gas to Super Pro ET and from Super Comp to Junior Dragster.
This event will probably be the biggest drag race outside of the USA and definitely the biggest truly international event.
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