Autosport International 2002
Saturday

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The first public day of Autosport International was well-attended and the additional drag racing exhibits were attracting a lot of attention. A minor problem arose when the Carbon By Design Top Fueller would not fit onto the Motorsport News Live stand but luckily there was room within Santa Pod Raceway's display area to accommodate the dragster, which was attracting a lot of admirers. "We have fostered the dragster for the weekend!", said Caroline Day of Santa Pod.

On Santa Pod's display were the CBD Top Fueller, the Showtime Fuel Funny Car, the Shell Racing Top Methanol Dragster, the Jackson family's Proteus III VW-powered dragster, a Hauser Race Cars Junior Dragster, Martin Bishop's Pro Stock Bike, and the Team TIL Funny Bike. Santa Pod's mobile merchandise shop was also present and seemed to be doing steady trade.

Andy Carter was pleased to have made it to the NEC and was talking to visitors along with wife Sarah, Crew Chief Eddie, crew member John and PR guy Dan. You may remember that Andy put out a call on Eurodragster News for a trailer to take the CBD Top Fueller to Birmingham. "Ronnie Picardo brought us up", he said. Andy is not yet sure about his plans for 2002. "I've really got to get some sponsorship", he said. "I know I always say that but I mean it this year! This is a good show for product sponsors, though". Andy told us that he is likely to be driving Rune Fjeld's car again this season. "I'm very happy with the way that Rune does things", he said. "I hope to be at the Pro Fuel Shoot-out at the Thunderball and then at the Main Event. I don't know about the rest of the season."

Andy and his wife Sarah had a great time at the FIA Banquet in Monaco. "We went with Rob and Carmel Turner", said Andy. "They sent a Mercedes to our hotel to pick us up and take us to the ceremony. As we got there, Eurosport were filming, and we were announced as we walked in. When the time came for the drag racing Champions to be presented, they stood us on the stage in the dark for ten minutes whilst they showed drag racing action on huge screens around the hall. Then we were announced and the spotlights came on. The trophy is like a big fruit bowl! In fact we have fruit in it at home."

Chris Dossett of the Showtime Fuel FC team told us that driver John Spuffard finished putting the FC back together on Tuesday. "When it arrived here last night the body was covered in dust so Lee and I polished it all. Even the slicks have Mr Sheen on!", he said.

Pro Stock Bike racer Martin Bishop has a new engine for the 2002 season. "It's a 1570 engine by Roger Upperton", he said. "We're gonna kick arse - you have been warned!" said his Crew Chief Pete. Martin hopes to take in the UEM rounds in Sweden and Norway this season. We asked Martin for his take on the changes to the PSB rules this year. "It's all to do with weight breaks", he said, "but these bikes have so much power now that I really don't think it will make a lot of difference."

Pro Stock racer Michael Malmgren was being kept busy on the AC Delco stand signing autographs for hundreds of visitors. We managed to snatch a word with him between posters. "I've had a good winter", he said. "We've been working on the bus and I have been working very hard on my business. I have also been to the gym to work out. That is how I keep in shape out of season - hard work and exercise". We asked Michael how long it took after the European Finals to miss racing. "About two weeks!", he said.

Michael is looking forward to the team's racing trip to the USA. "It's a nice vacation for the guys", he said. "Whilst we are out there we get help from Jerry Bickel and Jim Yates - Bob Ingles builds engines for Jim Yates of course. We learn a lot although the tune-ups are very different in the USA".

This will be Malmgren Racing's third season with AC Delco. "They work very professionally", said Michael. "It's a two-way relationship - they know how to use as as much as we know how to use them. AC Delco are always long-term sponsors and they want to work with the right people."

Whilst at the Show we managed to bump into a number of racers and others involved in the sport.

At the Santa Pod stand we met Swedish racer Susanne Callin and her father Gordon. They were visiting for "meetings with people" and were both very coy about Susanne's plans for 2002. Susanne did however confirm that she would be piloting Johan Hassler's two-seater dragster again this year. "It's going to be a busy year", said Gordon. "We will be running the two-seater car in the UK, on the Nordic Drag Racing Series, in Holland and Greece, and maybe even in Malta."

We were very pleased to be given the scoop on another British Top Fuel Dragster team whilst at the Show. The Wildside Inc team is a new joint effort between renowned Fuel tuner John Wright and his wife Lesley, and former Top Methanol Dragster racer Darryl Bradford. "John and I were looking at the remains of a shattered Lenco at Shakespeare County Raceway last year, and we agreed that if we saw another one of those things it would be too soon", said Darryl. "There was only one answer! Everyone gets into drag racing for one reason, to drive a blown Fuel car. Our original plan was to run A/Fuel in Top Methanol, but after a lot of careful consideration we decided that life's too short!"

The team already have a chassis, last raced by Jens Nybo in 1998, which is already at Hauser Race Cars having the roll cage lowered and various other modifications made to bring it up to 2002 spec. "And when it rolls out with its new paint, no-one's going to miss it!", said Darryl. "Thanks to John and Lesley for allowing me to pilot what amounts to a semi-detached house! It's my second rookie season in two years and I am really looking forward to racing all of those people I used to take pictures of."

"We're really excited about this!", said Lesley Wright. "Top Fuel is where John should be. We're out to enjoy ourselves, and we'll have the most fun in Top Fuel although not as often! We're very pleased with the car and its pedigree, and Darryl has impressed John as a driver. He has done so well to go straight into Top Methanol and do it the way he has, and I think he will get even better". Lesley thinks that the Wildside team will have strength in its diversity. "John is an engineer, so he has his own role. Darryl will fulfil the role of a pure driver, connecting with the sponsors and fans. We've all got skills in different areas. For myself I hope that I'll be able to bring the elements together and make it a team to be proud of". The team should be at the Easter Thunderball to upgrade Darryl's licence, but also to allow the team to share their germs. "It should bring the team together, and we'll even be able to check things such as whether the trailer works!", said Lesley.

Ian Jackson is looking forward to the year in Custom Car Street Eliminator even though he is no longer Championship co-ordinator. "I can't wait to crew for my wife Sue", he said. "I'm proud of what I've achieved with the championship but now I want to be alongside Sue helping her. She ran a 9.24 at 156 towards the end of the season with only a small sniff of gas, so you wouldn't bet against at eight". Ian and Sue's 'Vette has had some finishing touches applied recently. "Neil Milliard of Pro Sign Custom Paint got rid of the road rash", said Ian. "He also finished the pinstriping around the filler cap, and a silver fox has appeared out of nowhere under the rear wing".

The new CCSE Championship co-ordinator, Lee Child, already has both hands on the reins and is enjoying it very much. "I've been working on it since November", he said. "I've been talking to sponsors, sorting out rule changes and so on and I am enjoying it! It all kicks off at Easter and we're looking at sixteen-car fields."

Caroline Day was able to give us some good news about the 2002 season at Santa Pod. "Halfords have just renewed their lane sponsorship for 2002", she said. Caroline also mentioned that the simulator featured on the AC Delco stand will be in the Santa Pod Shop all season. Santa Pod CEO and FIA promoter Keith Bartlett was also upbeat. "I'm quite pleased with the show", he said. "I'm glad we did the deal with AC Delco, and this display of ours shows the basic core of the sport. I'm glad that we have such a good cross-section of classes represented here."

Keith was also optimistic about both the FIA European Championship and the British Fuel FC Championship. "We had a very good meeting yesterday", he said. "We have five Championship rounds confirmed in 2002 and maybe a sixth in Hockenheim in August. Hockenheim have applied for a round and even though they have applied a little late I sincerely hope that they get it. Keith says that he is to start another company just to look after the FIA Championships. "We have the infrastructure for sponsorship, marketing, PR and the development of new rounds", he said. "We have the agreement of all of the existing tracks to take our organisation - for example Kjell Petterson to prepare the track and Ian Marshall as Chief Starter. We are already developing races in Malta - that's a long way towards being agreed - together with Greece and France. We also have serious interest from a promoter in Italy and enquiries from Holland."

Keith confirmed that for financial reasons there would be four-car Top Fuel Dragster fields in Finland and Norway in 2002. "We expect five or six cars to attempt to qualify at those races, but there will be four-car fields. We won't allow this at Santa Pod, Mantorp Park and Hockenheim, they will retain the bigger fields". The future of Top Methanol Dragster is also secure for the next three years. "TMD stays as it is", said Keith. "I would only stop it as an FIA class if there were strong enough National Championships". Top Methanol FC in contrast appears to be getting stronger and Keith feels vindicated about the choice he made a few years ago. "I'm pleased I split up the dragsters and Funny Cars", he said. "There were those who thought that it might kill the class but I said give it three years and there will be more cars."

We also asked Keith about the 2002 British Fuel FC Championship. "I saw the 2001 Championship as a testing ground to reverse the match racing trend which has grown over the years", he said. "The question was, could three or four cars turn up and get down the track each time? And the answer was yes. We could see five cars vying for four spots this year."

It certainly seemed from the amount of leaflets picked up and the crowds around all of the race vehicles at Autosport International that there is strong interest in drag racing. Hopefully every one of those people will come along to races this season and bring others with them. With the amount of hard work which everyone involved had obviously put into their displays then it won't be for the want of effort.

Thanks again to Nigel Cole of AC Delco for help and facilities at the Show, and to Christine Warren and everyone in the Media Centre for their help. Thanks also to Ivan Sansom and Jon Crawford, and apologies to those racers whom we met, promised to interview later, and then couldn't find again. On a personal note we would like to thank everyone who took the effort to introduce themselves and say nice things about Eurodragster, and to those who asked for Tog's autograph at the AC Delco stand on Saturday, we can only assume that you knew what you were doing...