With most Drag Racing competitors in this country being passionate amateurs, it is perhaps the most relevant and accessible of all British motorsport scenes. At the end of May we sent award winning young photographer Dom Romney to meet a diverse cast of English sporting heroes at Santa Pod’s main event.
Brothers Sam and Ollie Young are not your typical petrol heads. In fact when they are rac-ing their Electric Beetle, there is no petrol in sight. ‘Blackcurrant 3’ is the result of 7 years hard workshop graft and now stands as the only electric car in European drag competition. Producing in excess of 680,000 watts of power (that’s 500 times more than a 13a plug), the car accelerates to over 100 mph during the quarter mile. Electrical motor engineers by trade, the project was a step away from the normal three phase, high torque, low RPM set ups they normally work with. Powered by 60 Led Acid Batteries, this type of car is certainly is one to watch for the future.
Johnny ‘the Jeweler’ Everitt is the golden boy of Drag Racing. A jeweler by trade, John first got hooked when his brother took him to watch an event in 1972. Having driven most types of dragster over the years from door-slammers to railers, John currently drives ‘the Alien’, which is a 8.7 second Altered. The short wheel based nature of altered means that john regularly takes a wild ride. Current National Champion, John goes racing for more than just the winning, after 38 years involved going racing means spending time with close family and friends — as well as scoring an addictive adrenalin hit.
For the last 15 years Colin Lazenby’s street legal, all steel 56 Chevrolet has not only run the quarter mile in record breaking times, but has also gone to the shops and back again. What drives Colin forward is the constantly evolving challenge of breaking the 7.70 barrier whilst still keeping the car street legal. This, combined with the social aspects of Drag Rac-ing keeps Colin inspired.
59 year old Pharmaceutical Commissioning Engineer Steve Johnson, from Southampton has been involved with drag racing since pretty much the beginning. Coming from a back-ground in Formula Ford, the challenge of innovating a new way to go quicker than every-one else drew him in and the exhilaration of going fast kept him involved for the best part of 40 years. During this time he has amassed in excess of 30 championships across nearly every class of Drag Racing. He is currently running Super Pro ET in the Might Mouse dragster, which will cover the quarter-mile in around 7 seconds in excess of 180 MPH.
12 years ago Daventry based Air Conditioning Engineer Kevin Chairman put nitrous on his street bike. That was the start with his obsession with extremely fast two wheeled ma-chines. But, after 12 years racing Kevin decided enough was enough and hung up his leathers for what he thought was the last time. Team White Race, however knocked on his door three days later, looking for someone to develop a tune for their funny bike. The beast is capable of passes in the high 6 second range and sets world records in the process. The challenge proved too enticing to ignore, and after the world’s shortest retirement, the Turbo Funny bike was rolled into Kevin’s workshop.
