“ STANDING ON THE BANK OVERLOOKING THE TWO PARALLEL CONCRETE STRIPS,
THE LIGHTS GO OUT AND THE ROAR HITS YOU BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK”
Santa Pod at 60
A visit to Santa Pod offers an experience like no other in the UK – especially when the Top Fuel dragsters come to town. Standing on the bank overlooking the two parallel concrete strips, the lights go out and the roar hits you before you can blink. Two cars, head-to-head, accelerating at mind-blowing pace. In less than four seconds, the action is over. Parachutes pop, the air goes silent and everyone takes a sharp intake of breath.
When the first event ran at Santa Pod Raceway on Easter Monday sixty years ago, it didn’ t just mark the opening of the UK’ s first permanent drag racing venue, it heralded the arrival of a whole new motorsport culture. Tucked away in a peaceful corner near the Bedfordshire- Northamptonshire border, where thousands of Americans had lived in US air bases during the war, it was launched with one premise: to bring the buzz of US drag racing to UK soil.
Sammy Miller and his rocket car‘ Vanishing Point’ running at Santa Pod in 1979
ROGER GORRINGE
“ STANDING ON THE BANK OVERLOOKING THE TWO PARALLEL CONCRETE STRIPS,
THE LIGHTS GO OUT AND THE ROAR HITS YOU BEFORE YOU CAN BLINK”
Don Garlits and Peter Crane line up to race in 1976
The venue was formed at the former US air base of Podington and its chosen name echoed California’ s original Santa Ana venue. On the opening weekend, visiting pros mixed with enthusiastic locals who brought home-built specials to test out along the run – and it has built a distinctly British drag scene, shaped by homebuilt ingenuity and enthusiasm.
The current owner, Keith Bartlett, attended his first event at Santa Pod just two years after it opened and got involved as a hobbyist participant in 1972. In 1996, he bought the venue on its 30-year anniversary and has turned it into a globally recognised brand, regarded as the largest and most successful drag racing venue outside the USA.
Revolution Magazine 11