Dragstalgia is a great chance to catch up with old mates. Here are Phil Steele, NSA Southern Section Chair, Jerry Cookson, Shakespeare County Raceway General Manager and Syd McDonald, Eurodragster.com's team nutritionist and member of the Allard Chrysler Action Group.

Wild Bunch racers Limited Funz Racing won Best Appearing Crew with their matching race car, tow vehicle and team uniforms. The car ran its usual consistent low nines.

Wild Bunch racer Mick Gleadow, uncle of NFAA racer Adam Gleadow, runs this slingshot called Jurassic Parts with his wife Cath and son Stewart.

The Money Hungry Camaro was one of the historic cars on display. In its original form it was owned and raced in Pro Stock by Tony Dickson and won the first eliminator in the class in 1973, running high 11s.

The static display had a large number of classic American cars including this row of '57 Chevys.

Outlaw Street racer Rob Slater runs a '57 Chevy but with a 540cu in engine on nitrous.

This Dodge Coronet of Jim Chandler was running in Superstreet.

The Williams brothers own this cool '34 five window coupe as well as their wheelstanding gold painted Pro ET machines.

Supercharged Outlaw racer Brian Gandy runs this beautiful T Altered called Skullduggery. A supercharged hemi on methanol powers the car to seven second passes.

Nostalgia Fuel Altered racer Nick Davies ran two 6.4s for best times of the event for a wheel-driven car. He said "The team have been fantastic and thanks to FGR Motorsport for Jason's work on the car and to Terry, Roy and Bill Sherratt who celebrated his sixtieth birthday here this weekend. Thanks to Terri-Ann White and Olley Burn for the loan of a blower belt." Car owner and NFAA founder Lawrie Gatehouse said "The new Chaos paint job by Dave May is superb and we are looking to have more cars in next year's championship."

Fuel Altered racer Clive Mechaell is running his California Kid in the historic race cars section. He said "I have run the car since 1988. After every meeting, we pull the car to bits and check everything." Clive built the chassis and body himself. For the first time in 22 years he is unable to attend the Bulldog Bash as son Jake's wife Donna is expecting a baby on the same weekend. In warming up in the pits a piece of teflon from the blower got caught under an inlet valve leading to an engine explosion and the car being out for the rest of the weekend.

The Allard Chrysler dragster is on display and was fired up on 40% nitro. Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson was on hand with a supply of fuel to make the car live once again. The car will be appearing at the Chelsea Autolegends show on 2nd September.

Top Fuel Bike racer Steve Carey suffered engine damage on a checkout pass, his first time out this year. He said "I am planning on racing at the Euro Finals and had some plug problems on my pass. The porcelain from a plug came off and got stuck underneath a valve and has damaged the valve and head gasket." The run, a 7.4/180 was to test a new carbon fibre primary belt.

hil Steele who is organising the NSA's historic bike entry for the event, suffered a broken rod end on the burnout on Keith Parnell's Rouge et Noir 2, leading to a momentary fire and holed crank case. He said "It was only on a 20% nitro load but all the parts are original and the explosion separated the aluminium crank case. It is a 1954 Thunderbird case. I have loads of offers of help but will have to get a replacement and the bike will be back next year."

Phil Steele said that Rouge et Noir was built by Keith Parnell to supersede the original Rouge et Noir, which was the first bike into the eights. Keith crashed the bike in 1976 and Mick Hand then rode it for a time. The bike ran a best of 9.35 and during its development had ground effects later used on the Jade Warrior." Phil's first race was Easter 1974.

Simon Rees has two historic bikes here 'The Grenade' comes from an unfinished project that Simon bought and mounted a cabin blower which soon went bang, to be replaced by a Shorrocks item. Simon also had to replace a gearbox. He said "I want to run the bike in the tens; the engine has Morgo pistons, barrels and rods and it runs on methanol from a tank which used to be a fire extinguisher."

Simon Rees also runs Danger Mouse, a bike originally built by John Clift but found by Simon in a barn in 2000. "It had a supercharged 500cc engine but now runs a T140 Bonneville engine on methanol. I was running it at SCR when the frame broke at the front and I just managed to keep it together and grind my way to a halt."

Nostalgia Funny car racer Ramon van der Weurf built the beautiful '71 Charger bodied Wild'r At Heart. He said "The chassis was run by Bucky Austin in the late 90s but I had to shorten it at the front. The body came from the Funny Factory in North Carolina and the engine is a 526cu in ex Pro Mod engine from the Texas Big Bird. I tested the car last year and ran an off-the throttle 8.2 yesterday. I hope to run a seven soon as I am getting used to driving the car." Ramon will also attend the Mopar Euronats, Hot Rod Drags and Drachten.

Norm Wheeldon, who raced small block Chevys very successfully in Pro Comp in the 70s and 80s is developing his twin engined slingshot and ran a 7.43/150 earlier, getting off the throttle very early into the run. He said "My original Plan X car was front engined and then we went the rear engine route. I stopped racing in 1994 when the rules banned SBCs in Pro Comp. But I never sold anything. I built the car after a stopped work eight years ago and moved to Mid Wales. The idea for a twin engined car came after Herb Andrews and I went to Bakersfield and talked to John Peters, who owned and drove Freight Train and Walt Stevens who had the Odd Couple. I believe it is the only modern twin engined nostalgia car in the world." The car's chassis is tagged to 2.2c, which means it could run Nostalgia Top Fuel. The front block is #147 from Donovan in 1981 which ran in both Plan X cars and the rear is a Brodix block. Both have 6/71 Mike Kuhl blowers and sprint car heads and transmission is a two speed Lenco."

Karolinka Tokarski-Grasby drives this Anglia acquired by partner Sooty (aka Ian Reynolds) from Phil Toppin. She said "We repainted it and altered a few parts such as moving the coolers. We re-engineered the pulleys and tidied up the '68 Mustang engine which has a 4/71 blower. There are twin Holleys and we changed the ram air unit as the car was difficult to steer." The car has run a best of 11.3. The team is local, from Emberton, near Newport Pagnell, and runs in rwybs.

Wild Bunch racer Wayne Colliver has a historic 1600cc cross flow engine, with Cosworth pistons and billet crank, that was in a few cars in the mid 70s. "The engine has a Wade R020 blower on methanols and fuel injection system which has had a leaking shut-off valve leading to gremlins", he said. The chassis was originally built by Roy Wilding with a few alterations from Shorty's Speed Shop.

Kim Bishop has added a BDS 8/71 blower to his Willys coupe and is running in rwyb alongside Chris Bishop's newly built '33 Willys. With the blower, Kim ran a new PB of 9.25. Kim is looking to run mid to low nines and Chris has run a best of 9.92 in Super Gas. Mark Bishop's altered is now sold to a Wellingborough team and will be out this year, leaving Mark to share the driving wide dad Kim.

Wild Bunch racer Tom Maunders is running this SBC slingshot. He said "I ran the Oddball and then bought this car with a Rover two litre, moving up to a SBC after modifying the roll cage to get a suitable tag. The 350cu in engine has twin carbs and a tunnel ram, with two speed 'Glide and transbrake. The car has run a best of 11.6 at this event and a PB of 11.3." The car was run by John Byng in the Wild Bunch in the early 2000s as Oddball.

Pete Walton is the man behind Superstock, aided and abetted by Jim Chandler. Pete said "We have taken time off from being Dave 'Grumpy' Wilson's crew and have been hatching this plan for the last three years of FIA events. Grumpy - note the tee-shirts we are wearing! This is proper old school doorslammer racing with wheelstands and no breakouts." Pete is racing a '68 Plymouth Barracuda which is marked for sale and times are in the 10-11s region.

Superstock racer Gawain Simons's wife Suzie bought Dan Page's '68 Firebird as a 40th birthday present for him. "We met when Gawain was racing bikes and it was his dream to have an American Car. We painted it as soon as we got it and qualified well at the Summernationals. So we will run Pro ET for the rest of the season.

Ian Turboville is racing the rear engined V-Twin dragster with daughter Laura not yet possessing a road license which is required for non-permit events. Despite the presence of Crunch on the crew, the car suffered fuel delivery and flooding problems on every run.

Bob Oram ran his Red E during the 1970s and has kept in since to run very occasionally at SPR as well as at circuits, sprints and hill climbs. In recent years, he has run it at the Brighton Speed Trials. He said "I stopped drag racing when the others started getting nitrous, it wasn't the same racing them when they had it. I then lived in San Diego running a business exporting and importing Jaguar parts and also visiting Carlsbad raceway from time to time." Bob also runs a Nissan Z raced by Shaun Saunders and a Ferrari F40.

Jason Blott runs this immaculate Australian Ford Zephyr Ute, an Australian version which is like a cross between a pick-up and a five window coupe. He said "The car came to Britain in 1995 and I ran it for ten years with the standard six cylinder engine and then had a 302cu in engine which progressed to a 347cu in motor on nitrous with 461hp on the dyno and potential to run 10.3s; the transmission is a C4 box with transbrake. Most of the work was done by Retro Ford at Corby and the car appears at NSRA shows and Silverstone's 0-60 challenge in 2011.

The Green Onions '55 Chevy is raced in the Gasser Circus by Ray Turner and he was the 2011 series Champion. For more details on the 2012 Gasser Circus line-up and background, see our recent feature.

John Gibson's Crowd Pleaser '55 Chevy is now running Hilborn injectors and into the 11s.

Lou's Cannon is the 1957 Chevy Handyman raced by Louise Noble. The tall profile harks back to the original gassers in the US, when it was used to improve weight transfer.

The Gasser circus are pitted alongside one another. Alongside Lou's Cannon are the yellow 1948 Austin Nogbad the Bad of series orhaniser Nervous Nick, and the red 1952 Austin Devon of Phil Nelson.

Tim Holmes brought his ex-military Dodge truck, which he has just completed, to shake down at the event. He said "I used to race in American Super Stock at York and built this specially. Everything is factory with a mildly tuned 40cu in with home-made headers and 727 Torqueflite transmission. I will run it at Gasser Circus events including the Hot Rod Drags." Tim is also building a '64 Polara hence the truck is already for sale.

Ian Brown is racing his Camaro in Superstock, a heads up sportsman tree eliminator with the main rules being mandatory leaf spring suspension and no power adders, with slicks being allowed.