The Nostalgia Nationals have previously been held at Shakespeare County Raceway. But with that facility’s future in doubt, the 25th NSRA Nostalgia Nationals were moved to Santa Pod Raceway. The day before the event, an official statement was released that Shakespeare County Raceway had closed for good.
Three qualifying sessions had been planned at Santa Pod but rain in the afternoon ended the day’s proceedings. There were many personal bests set in many classes over the weekend.
Outlaw Anglia
Jed Guy was the number one Outlaw Anglia qualifier with an 8.010 at 166.69 miles per hour.
Scott Crookston debuted his new car and ran 8.541 at 155.23 mph for number two spot.
Steve Wells in his pick-up was next with 8.666-132.08. Paul Hensher’s universal joint broke on his prop shaft and he was out of the show.
Guy beat Gary Bird and Mick Taylor to reach the final. Wells ran 8.4s to beat Gary Hill and Mark Bracking and had a close race to beat Crookston in the semifinals on the other side of the ladder.
Wells pulled a redlight in the final and Guy won the opening round of the season.
Gasser Circus
Nervous Nick qualified in the Gasser Circus number one spot with an 11.505 on a dial-in of 11.50. Tim Holmes was next with a 10.718 (10.70) followed by Brian Gibson’s 11.244 (11.20).
Ten cars came into the eliminator and there was some close racing that was being decided by inches. Martyn Hallam’s Willys made it to the final and faced Tim Holmes. Hallam had a better reaction time but Holmes took the winlight 10.796 to Hallam’s 11.037.
Nostalgia Super Stock
Mike Lacey ran a personal best of 9.051 (9.05) to lead the Nostalgia Super Stock field just ahead of Don Scott 10.353 (10.350). Sixteen cars qualified for the eliminations.
Lacey ran another p/b 9.001 in round one of eliminations and then in the next round redlit and recorded his first 8 second pass with an 8.976.
The final was between James Oliver and Lee Chiles and was decided when Oliver pulled a redlight on the start line.
Super Charged Outlaws
Super Charged Outlaws didn’t run eliminations over the weekend, but there were some stout numbers run anyway. Joel Kerr ran 7.656 at 176 and 7.666-177. Kirsten Van Croonborgh ran 8.316-169 and Neil Townson ran 8.386.
Jim Usher—driving the restored “Hemi Hunter” slingshot of the seventies—ran 8.288-160 when he raced against Roy Wilding’s slingshot (7.89-176.)
There were a lot of personal bests set in the Wild Bunch class. For example, Bob Hawkins had tyre spin off the start line and ran 211mph in his slingshot at the expense of some bent valves. Chris Manning’s stunning slingshot ran 7.99.
photos and story by Steven Moxley
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