Dragstalgia 2019 turned out to be the biggest entry list in Outlaw Anglia history with 31 cars entered and it certainly lived up to expectations of being one of the best events this year! The weekend started off with testing throughout Friday followed by the first round of qualifying Friday evening which certainly had all eyes on the class with the amazing return of Al's Gasser after a triumphant rebuild lead by Ginner. First round of qualifying saw Paul Hensher take the top spot with a 7.45 closely followed by Scotty with a 7.51, however it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as Gary Bird had engine troubles and put him out of play for the rest of the weekend. Once the 1st round was out of the way and the track had closed 28 Outlaw Anglias headed up to the shut down area for what turned out to be a very iconic photoshoot! I think we can probably now say that it was the biggest gathering of sub 16 second pops ever! After all the hype of Friday evening Saturday morning was no different with 28 cars all qualified including some new drivers to the class; Andy Cunningham, Peter Jones and Nathan Barlow as well as the return of Brian Nixon. Round 2 of qualifying on Saturday saw the qualifying positions completely change again with Simon Barlow taking the top spot with a 7.27 in a very hairy run with Mat Cooper who decided to see if Simon's lane was faster, followed by a flame and smoke from Simon's motor. A new PB for Ronnie running a 9.31 at 141mph. Paul Hensher remained in second place with Scotty now hot on his tail with a PB of 7.48 and a record 60ft of 1.073 however a loss of oil pressure for Scotty raised questions and resulted in Jedd and the crew having a last minute dash to Hales unit at the gate to weld up the oil pump pickup. The 3rd and Final round of qualifying bumped the class up to 29 cars with Steve Wells laying a time and as always the positions had another shuffle around with Scotty just grazing into the number 2 spot with a PB of 7.450, just .005 quicker than Paul Hensher! Mick Taylor also moved up to 7th from a previous 12th and a PB for Shane Bird running a 12.18. Eliminations round 1 was on Saturday evening where Steve Wells had a wild ride and tuning the Flyin Fyfer started to show as Colin ran a PB speed of 190mph. PB also for Scotty running a 7.41 at 179mph. Sunday started out as a rather glum day but luckily the weather lightened up and the amazing Santa pod track staff had us on the start line by 12.30 for round 2 of eliminations. Round 3 of eliminations narrowed us down to our semi-finalists where Colin def. Steve Wells and Scotty def. Ronnie but smoke through the shut down area revealed that Ronnie had Broken the rear track locator and the smoke was from the tyre rubbing on the wheel arch. The Outlaw Anglia final closed the show on Sunday evening with what a lot of people are calling the best race of the weekend but then we're all biased! Videos from the race show just how close it was with both Scott and Colin pulling 0.08 reaction times however Colin nearly followed in Matt's footsteps (or tyre tracks) and headed for Scott's lane so had to pedal resulting in Scotty taking his first ever win in what was an insanely close race with his 7.46 beating Collins 7.53. Outlaw Anglia are very proud of Ginner for winning the Spirit of Dragstalgia Trophy for the restoration of Al's Gasser and there was no surprise in Colin winning the best burnout award for the weekend. We would like to say a massive thank you to the Santa Pod track crew for giving us a awesome track as always even with our untrusty English weather and thank you to Santa Pod for making Dragstalgia such an amazing event which is now a historic meeting for Outlaw Anglia!
Write up by Jemma Bromley – Outlaw Anglia Marketing and Media Executive
