Comp Eliminator racer Brendan Clancy was delighted to run a 7.15 against the A/NA index of 7.16. He said "We are creeping up on it and additing a bit each time. A six is our goal but we are finding it is spinning the wheels at the top end. But we have a lot more data and when we tune the car it responds. If we have two or three similar runs to that we will increase the nitrous." The class index got reduced by a tenth at the NitrOlympX. Brendan, pictured with creww chief Paul Chandler said "It has taken us three years to get to where we are and I have learned patience!"

Comp Eliminator racer Neil Hunter is running his Firebird in the sevens regularly. He said "My best is 7.75, and the rear wing is now one made for Pro Mod. I tried the Pro Stock wing at the Top Sportsman race at Dragstalgia but the car was getting loose at the top end." The car was built by Jerry Haas for NHRA Pro Stock racer Rickie Smith who ran it in 1995-6 and then it was bought by IHRA Pro Mod racer John Pluchino. It was imported three years ago but Neil considers it a 50th birthday present even though this is a week on Monday. "I bought it as a roller and installed a new 615cu in Scott Shahiroff engine and JW Powerglide which involved making new mounts."

Comp Eliminator racer Robin Sattler has run Hockenheim, Tierp (August) and the Euro Finals this year. He said "We were pleased to set a new F/D record of 8.883 at Tierp and it was in qualifying so the index was not affected. However in the race the car shut off after the burnout because a spring had come off the fuel injection system and the car wouldn't restart. In Hockenheim we reached the semi-final. Compared with the other tracks we don't know our competitors here which adds to the uncertainty." Robin is pictured with sister and crew Annika Sattler.

Super Gas racer Steve Dunn (pictured left) was pleased to have won the APIRA championship but Jon Dunn who is racing for Team Tokyo Toy this weekend said the team's National Championship hopes are slim as they will not receive the all-rounds bonus. Jon said "We are expecting conditions to change over the weekend so it will be difficult to be consistent. As it is, we didn't get a time in the first session and were about half a second slower than expected in the second."

Super Comp racer Ronald Huis was, like a lot of racers today, suffering heat problems. He said "Our transmission was getting too hot so we missed the second and third sessions. The car is running a bit slow and we need more humidity in the air." Ronald built the car after buying it as a rolling chassis in 2005. Nice touches include the car's name on the pedals and flames in the inside door. His first year with it was 2009 with an engine supplied by Autoshop in Florida. Paint is by Mark Harteveld of Voodoo Hemi team.

Super Comp racer Paul Brown suffered a blown head gasket at the recent Open Sport Nationals and fellow racer Paul Hudson with whom Paul is in a points chase is seen helping set up the valve train, after which he qualified no.3. Dave Brown said "The team is supported by Oakley Motorcycle Club which is 10 miles from Santa Pod and has over 400 members and do good work for charities. The team is also supported by Michael R Peters a local company that wholesales white electrical goods.

Super Pro ET racer Dave Townsend is running a Mustang previously campaigned in Pro Mod by Roger Johansson. He said "I bought it as a roller and fitted my engine and auto transmission from my old car and added a second stage of nitrous." At Top Sportsman at Dragstalgia Dave qualified no.1 with a 7.33 on a soft tuneup and a single shot of nitrous, and leaving the suspension settings unchanged.But in eliminations there was a problem. "We were called at 9:15 and the oil heater was not on and the engine got cooler in the line-up. So on firing it up the flow of oil to pushrods stopped with damage to three rockers and lifters." Last minute arrival of spare parts and wrong length pushrods meant a last minute thrash. Dave ran a 8.31 to qualify 46th in the 50 car field.

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Brian Payne ran a best of 7.57/189 today after an engine rebuild. Crew chief Paul Wright said "There was an engine thrust bearing issue after Bug Jam which required machining work. The first run was a checkout for oil pressure. On the quick run there was a small oil fire at the top end so we will work on sorting that out."

Topspeed Automotive Street Eliminator racer Matt Smith's crew chief Craig Munro was on hand when we visited. He said of the red Escort "The car was a concours show car which Matt first installed a 550hp Cosworth engine. Then after he came to see racing here he decided to upgrade to a twin turbo small block Chevy putting out 1000-1400hp with Motec ignition. The setup is similar to Martin's Nissan GTR35. Matt ran a 9.0 on his last run with low boost of 20lb/ft down the track." It's Matt's second MSA championship event and the team are aiming for a high eight ET. As well as being Crew Chief, Craig runs Extreme Fibre and his work with carbon fibre can be seen on Matt and Martin's cars.

Junior Dragster racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor (through Alamo car rentals) Paige Wheeler has accumulated a further two cars following a visit to the US. Crew Dion said "She has had the yellow flamed car for two years and had one specially built for the Eastern Conference finals in the US, which won best appearing car out of 600 entries. And there is also an Outlaw 330 Half Scale car in which she did a demo race at the recent Junior Dragster Fun Day. Dion said "It is significantly quicker off the line and ran a 1.32 60ft time and 4.11 to 330ft." The Junior Dragster Fun Day was attended by over 1500 people and was a great success and there is a possibility of it being run again in 2014.

Super Pro ET racer Maurice van der Laan is racing at Santa Pod for the second time after an appearance at last year's Euro Finals that was marred by brake problems. He said "I only made three passes, this year we have raced in Holland and Germany. I bought the car as a Super Gasser a year ago. I have fitted a new 620 cu in engine with Dart block built by Engalage brothers with a Dedenbear Powerglide and new brakes. This is our first race on the new engine." Maurice, pictured with wife Doenja, ran an 8.71 and 8.78.

Super Gas racer Werner Zudrell has again made the long tow from Austria to race his Keith Black-engined Barracuda here. He said "We have raced in Czech Rebublic and both events at Hockenheim, which was one of the best ever thanks to the new track, but racing at Santa Pod is the highlight of our year."

Pro ET racer Amanda Cox has returned to the class and is racing Grumpy's Dodge from the Paul Marston stable. She said "Paul and his guys are prepping the car and even deciding the dial-in, all I have to do is drive. They have a routine which I go by and it aids consistency." Amanda said her seven-second Nova, built by Eurodragster.com webcam sponsor Jon Webster will have a new engine for Comp Eliminator action in 2014 and the operation will be overseen by Jon Webster with help also from Topspeed Automotive.

Pro ET racer Matthew Seamarks is being helped by Chris Bishop as well as dad Steve. Steve said "The engine has new manifold, carbs and airbox. We were trying to run out first ten at this event and the first run was a 10.90 followed by a 10.96." Having achieved that goal the team may try another carb on the 383cu in Chevy engine.

Pro ET racer and Eurodragster.com sponsor Dan Williams found there was no first gear when he launched. "We have a spare trans so we will put that in and hopefully be back out today", he said. "The problem first appeared at Tierp a fortnight ago but we thought it was the car spinning the tyres. Despite that it was good to qualify ninth in one of the tightest fields at Tierp but disappointing to go out in round one to a 0.001 red light."

Pro ET racer Liz Malcolm, who was qualified twelfth after running 0.0328 over dial, said "We are pleased at being runner up in the APIRA championship and as we are some way behind in the National Championship we will just relax and enjoy ourselves". Husband and crew chief Iain said "The air is not that good today which hurts the performance of normally aspirated cars, all we can do is to lean it out."

Super Street racer Karen Stevens, partner of Eurodragster.com sponsor Mike Lacey, was qualified no.1 after the first session. She said "I'm really pleased. I got my license at the Summernationals and did two runs at Dragstalgia but the gearbox broke. So having rebuilt it and put in a new engine cooling system for the hot air, we are happy with the car."

Super Pro ET racer Ian Hanson who usually runs with the Supercharged Outlaws, had problems on his first run which have led to him retiring. "I had tyre shake off the line and then when I lifted and got back on the throttle the burst plate went. There is also damage on one valve. I want to see if there is further damage so we will take the head off - if the valve is broken there may be more repair work needed." Ian said that he had had a good season running 7.1s at both SPR and Shakespeare County. More about the team can be seen on Facebook.

Super Pro ET racer Mark Flavell is also on the list of retirees and he has also suffered valve train problems. "The engine bent intake valve on the no.7 cylinder. We found cylinder head damage after the win at Hockenheim so changed cylinder heads, but the valve train on the spare head was not right. We had committed to go to the Isle of Man and got away with running the hurt valve train, but that's it for the year now. I don't want to have a catastrophic failure. We have come a long way this year and are in the infancy of running the hemi which can go a lot quicker." Eurodragster.com sponsor Derek Flynn is pictured with members of the team.

Super Pro ET racer Andy Chilton continues to make progress with his Studebaker. Crew Chief and brother Rob Chilton said "At the Main Event we had one run of 9.0 and we improved to 8.5 at Dragstalgia. Our first run today was 8.24. The main reason for improvement is we're now getting our heads around the clutch on the Lenco transmission. We hope to run a seven after which we will then fit the nitrous system and use that."

Super Pro ET Vincent Rosiello runs this '57 Chevy Bel Air with a blown 509cu in engine. Vincent first brought the car out in 2012 after running a '37 Chevy for a few years. The Bel Air has an Alston Chassisworks chassis and big block Dart with 14/71 Mooneyham blower putting out 1600hp. The fibreglass body is by Tim McAmis. His best ET at this race is 8.44.

Super Pro ET racer John Gerritsen also runs a supercharged Bel Air, this time a stock bodied '55 edition. Despite the lack of frontal aerodynamics, John's car ran a 7.64 and 7.67 on his 7.52 dial in to go 35th in qualifying after three rounds.