Recently my wife and I had the chance to visit Europe’s premier track, Santa Pod Raceway for the opening round of the six round FIA European Championship. The Main Event is probably the second biggest event in the UK, second only to the season ending European Finals. Racers from all over Europe make the pilgrimage to “The Pod” to contest the first major event of the year for both cars and motorcycles. The event ran from the Friday to Monday and we made the mistake of booking our flight home on the Monday as we are used to events concluding on the Sunday. Never the less we saw some great drag racing with plenty of cars not usually seen in North America.

Having attended both NHRA and IHRA events in North America we were not sure what was facing us at the FIA and UEM sanctioned event. It was a pleasant surprise that faced us when we rolled into the former U.S. airforce base located about an hour and a half from London. There was only one grandstand available to the fans but the north side of the track had a grass bank that ran from the burnout box to the shutdown area and it was full on both Saturday and Sunday. Check out the photo, both North American sanctioning bodies would do well with a crowd like this on their qualifying days. Another bonus for the fans was “the Shed”, located behind the burnout box. The Shed is a covered and tiered viewing area that allows the fans to see downtrack and watch how wild a Pro Modified pass really can be. It was also crowded on the final two days of our visit. For those fans that could only take so much drag racing, there was a funfair, hovercraft and helicopter rides and a Pitts Special acrobatic display. The midway had more than a racing flavor to it, with all sorts of sunglasses and fluffy toys were available for purchase. As they say, something for everyone.

It was on the track where we were most impressed. Although there was not a concrete launching pad the grip afforded by the asphalt was unbelievable. Former European Pro Mod Champion Haken Nilsson told me “The traction is so good I can’t throw enough clutch at it”. The concrete barriers extended the full length of the track, as are the best tracks in North America. In addition to the regular fire personnel and equipment there were two fire marshals on the startline fully equipped in Nomex uniforms complete with head socks during Professional qualifying. The fire extinguishers seemed a little on the small side but I am sure they would make all the difference if a racer had to be quickly pulled from his car with it on fire. The Santa Pod personnel tried their best to run a smooth operation. If there was oil down on one starting line and they could safely run singles in the other, they would do so to keep the fans interested. Just as in North America downtrack oil downs took just as long to clean up. It was not for lack of equipment as Santa Pod had all the necessary manpower and equipment to do a National event proud.

Sportsman racers really had it good at The Main Event. As long as there was no conflict with Pro qualifying Santa Pod ran the sportsmen classes. Most racers had seven rounds of qualifying before heading into eliminations. Six classes of professional racers then rolled to the line from Saturday onwards. The cars and teams were every bit as professional as ones running in either IHRA or NHRA. Pro Mod event had there own John Force burnout specialist in Fast Freddy Fagerstrom in a blown Chevy pickup. An interesting tidbit on this racecar is the fact it originated as Liz Musi’s tow vehicle when she raced in Scandinavia. Fagerstrom had the fans on their feet Sunday when he blew the driver’s door off the car at 330 feet and still ran a 7.0 pass. The nitrous blower war was almost split 50/50 with Patrick Wikström taking his blown Camaro to a 6.382/215.63. Håkan Nilsson held up the nitrous side by qualifying number 2 with a 6.428/215.34 pass. However it was Peter Wacker and his nitrous Chevy Bel Air that took the event win over Wikström running a 6.900/197.15 to Wikström’s 7.561/128.61. Pro Stock was all about one racer, Michael Malmgren the current FIA Champion. Malmgren came armed with a new Grand Am ready to retain his title in 2004 and sat on pole with a 6.910/198.03 to Jimmy Ålund’s 6.938/199.19 followed by Magnus Hansson with a 7.029/195.77. The two top qualifiers made it all the way to the final and Malmgren was not to be denied when he put Ålund on the trailer with a 6.938/198.27 to 6.989/199.17.

For a drag racing fan taking a holiday in Europe, I would strongly advise you to check out the racing scene over there if at all possible. Our visit to Santa Pod was just what the doctor had ordered at the end of a busy vacation. We got to meet some real nice people, saw some very different racecars and most importantly were not disappointed with visit to the home of drag racing in Europe. We will be running a few articles in future magazines focusing on some of the cars we were lucky to see. In the meantime you can check them out on the Competition Plus photo gallery at Santa Pod Main Event 2004.