{"id":104284,"date":"2026-07-10T16:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/photo-gallery-dragstalgia-returns-to-santa-pod\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:44:08","slug":"photo-gallery-dragstalgia-returns-to-santa-pod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/photo-gallery-dragstalgia-returns-to-santa-pod\/","title":{"rendered":"PHOTO GALLERY: Dragstalgia Returns to Santa Pod"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa Pod Raceway once again turned back the clock as the 15th Dragstalgia, held June 26\u201328, 2026, celebrated the very best of British drag racing\u2019s heritage. The three-day event brought the golden era roaring back to life, with the quarter mile filled with the unmistakable sights, sounds, and smells of vintage drag racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 220 entries from across the UK and Europe made for an outstanding mix of Slingshots, Gassers, Altereds, and other period-correct machinery. Despite scorching temperatures that made the racing surface tricky to manage, the cars treated spectators to smoky burnouts, dramatic wheelstands, and the kind of old-school showmanship that has made Dragstalgia one of the highlights of the British drag racing calendar. A particularly welcome sight was the return of several Swedish teams, adding an international flavor to this year\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n

But Dragstalgia is about far more than what happens on track. Numerous live bands, a classic car show, a vintage fair, a beer and cider festival, and the legendary British Drag Racing Hall of Fame display and charity auction all combined to complete a weekend that truly celebrates the spirit of drag racing\u2019s golden era.<\/p>\n

One of the weekend\u2019s main attractions was the \u201cDragstalgia Cannonball,\u201d which pits Nitro and Methanol Nostalgia Funny Cars, Slingshots, and Altereds against each other in a Cannonball format. Additional classes included the \u201cGasser Circus,\u201d \u201cOutlaw Anglia,\u201d \u201cWild Bunch,\u201d \u201cWillys Wars,\u201d \u201cSupercharged Outlaws,\u201d \u201cNostalgia Super Stock,\u201d and not forgetting the two-wheeled machines represented by the \u201cOld School Stockers\u201d and the \u201cNSA Bike Shootout.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dragstalgia Cannonball has no traditional qualifying as such \u2013 instead, three qualifying runs are made with the ETs summed together. The competitor with the lowest total time qualifies 1st, the second lowest 2nd, the third lowest 3rd, and so on. Then, on the fourth and final run, the No. 1 qualifier faces off against No. 2 for the event win. Third vs. fourth qualify for 3rd place, fifth vs. sixth, and so on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

In the Cannonball A-Finals, Swedish guest Erik Wallinder in the \u201cTre Kronor\u201d Arrow Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car beat his opponent, Robin Read, with a 6.4784 at 212.89 mph. Read showed some nerves and left before the tree was activated. In the B-Finals, Robbie Grabham posted a 7.0268 at 192.97 mph to defeat Mark Flavell, who ran a 6.9089 at 196.28 mph on a holeshot. The C-Finals put Tony Betts against Mark Luton. In a rather close race, Betts\u2019 6.9022 at 238.92 mph was good enough to take the win over Luton\u2019s 6.9376 at 198.90 mph run. In the D-Finals, Bob Hawkins ran an 8.1949 at 112.50 mph to defeat Fredrik Larsson, who suffered massive tire shaking and had to lift halfway through his run. The E-Finals saw Paul Harris take the win over Andy Raw, who ran his first-ever 5-second pass \u2014 5.9864 at 222.19 mph. The crew and the crowd went bananas.<\/p>\n

Supercharged Outlaws A-Final saw Luke Watts take the win over Jim Tucker. Watts ran 8.0605 at 164.88 mph to defeat Tucker, who posted an 8.3677 at 162.47 mph. In the B-Final, Kane Bodian ran 9.1227 at 146.17 mph over Mark Fairhurst\u2019s 11.5211 at 121.88 mph. Keith Freeman was the winner of the C-Final, posting a 9.3278 at 145.79 mph to defeat Ian Merryweather, who left too early.<\/p>\n

Jason Pickett won the Gasser Circus category over Nick Hewison. Pickett went quicker than his index (10.02) with a 9.9939, while Hewison red-lit and handed the win to Pickett. Pickett: (10.02) 9.9939 at 128.76 mph. Hewison: (7.35) 10.4984 at 124.10 mph.<\/p>\n

The \u201cWildbunch\u201d category was contested in a time trial format, where the winner is the one with the lowest average difference between recorded ET and declared dial-in over all completed rounds. In other words, the most consistent car wins. This year\u2019s winner was Harley Coulsell in the \u201cBall Breaker\u201d Slingshot.<\/p>\n

In Willys Wars, it was d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu from last year as Alan Rimell defended his title with a 13.841 at 97.34 mph over Guy Davenport\u2019s 14.5203 at 95.61 mph. Both broke out, but Rimell was closer to his index.<\/p>\n

In the final of Outlaw, Colin Millar met Albert Carter. Millar ran an 8.1028 at 173.04 mph to Carter\u2019s coasting 17.0987 at 42.17 mph. Carter left too early and was disqualified.<\/p>\n

Out of the 62 cars entered for the Nostalgia Super Stock class, it was once again John Sleath who reached the final. Sleath (9.83 index) ran a 9.8477 at 133.71 mph and was closer to his index compared to Stuart Thomson (9.71), who posted a 9.781 at 137.69 mph.<\/p>\n

Steve Howe ran an 8.442 at 156.89 mph against Dean Stevens\u2019 8.857 at 142.48 mph to take the win in the Old School Stockers Bike category.<\/p>\n

The NSA Shootout win went to Graham Sykes, who recorded a 10.2907 at 113.35 mph, while Justin Newell broke and was unable to complete the run.<\/p>\n

Besides the winners\u2019 trophies, Dragstalgia also rewards special showmanship trophies in various categories. \u201cLow ET of the Meeting\u201d went to Tony Betts\u2019 5.7778-second run in his Camaro Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car. The \u201cBest Appearing Vehicle\u201d prize was presented to Stephen Pickett and his \u201cHemi Head Hunter\u201d Willys. The \u201cBest Appearing Team\u201d award went to Mick Sharpe\u2019s \u201cRidin\u2019 Dirty\u201d Ford Model T Altered. The \u201cBurnout of the Weekend\u201d trophy went to Frederick Larsson from Sweden. \u201cDriving Job of the Weekend\u201d went to Adam Clayton and his great, safe run in the \u201cFirecracker\u201d Fiat Topolino Altered. Andy Bloomfield was awarded the \u201cWheelie of the Weekend\u201d trophy after putting his Anglia on the rear bumper on Friday and carrying it like nothing had happened. The \u201cBackup Girl of the Weekend\u201d award went to Shannon Cummins. The \u201cMoment of Dragstalgia\u201d went to Paul Harris, who recorded his first 5-second run after a complete engine rebuild over the off-season. The \u201cSpirit of Dragstalgia\u201d award went to the Coulsell family and team.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

This story was originally published on July 10, 2026. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post PHOTO GALLERY: Dragstalgia Returns to Santa Pod<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santa Pod Raceway once again turned back the clock as the 15th Dragstalgia, held June 26\u201328, 2026, celebrated the very best of British drag racing\u2019s heritage. The three-day event brought the golden era roaring back to life, with the quarter mile filled with the unmistakable sights, sounds, and smells of vintage drag racing.\u00a0 More than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}