Santa Pod Raceway Turns 50 This Year

[malc]

Promotional film.



The beginning.

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Hi Malc,

Thanks for posting this up. That footage from 1966 was interesting to watch. Couldn't believe my eyes when i saw a Facel Vega Coupe going up the track, they are serious money now if you can find one.

It would be good to see Ken Cooper up there for the anniversay this year, he was at the very first drag race meeting at Santa Pod in 1966 and is probably one of only a few that is still around today and he is probably the only one who is still actively involved in the sport 50 years later, he still spanners and crews on his son Bradleys car. The last car Ken built was Bradleys slingshot that he finished in his 70's.

Cheers.

Russ.


Edit, i have literally just got off the phone to Bradley and Ken has just been rushed into hospital and is on his way down to theatre right now. I hope Ken is alright, a nicer person you couldn't wish to meet, a true gentleman through and through.

Cheers.

Russ.

[malc]

I was there, pestered the hell out of my father to take me.
I was 15 at the time.

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Hi Guys,

Spoke to Bradley again last night, Ken was critical but stable, i have got my fingers crossed that he is going to pull through this.

Cheers.

Russ.

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Hi Guys,

Spoke to Bradley late yesterday morning and his dad Ken has now been moved to a ward, still very ill but not in imminent danger and he is now starting his radio therapy.

Cheers.

Russ.

[malc]

Do they know what is ailing him ?

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Hi Guys,

Found this on the BDRA Hall of Fame,


Ken Cooper

Member inducted 2015

Ken ‘flathead’ Cooper is one of the true pioneers of British drag racing and hot rodding.

He bought his first car, a ’37 Ford coupe, in 1959 and soon turned it into a hot rod by fitting a '41 Mercury flathead with dual exhausts, lowering the front suspension and painting it bright yellow.

Ken was one of the first members of the British Hot Rod Association and at the first AGM was elected as Midlands Division secretary. He also formed a local Hot Rod club known as the ‘Roadrunners’

Ken had been reading Hot Rod magazine during the 50s which inspired him to begin construction of a dragster in 1960. Things were starting to move forward for drag racing in Britain when Sydney Allard announced he was building a dragster but there was a problem in that the RAC didn’t have a separate class for them. Instead they grouped dragsters with circuit racing cars meaning front brakes and engine covers had to be fitted. If Ken was going to build a dragster he wanted it to be like what he had seen in Hot Rod Magazine so in 1962 he relegated the unfinished dragster chassis to the bottom of his garden and instead built another hot rod from a ’33 Ford Cabriolet, flathead powered of course, and much lighter.

With news in 1964 that the RAC now recognised dragsters as a separate class, Ken literally dragged his chassis out of the weeds in his garden and set about finishing it for the 1965 season debuting at the first practice meet at Graveley. Known as ‘Bazooka’ it was powered by another Mercury flathead topped off by three carbs on a Navarro manifold running methanol and with Edelbrock heads fitted it was looking every bit like an American dragster.

Ken replaced it with a new updated and longer ‘Bazooka Too’ in 1967, followed later by ‘Blast from the Past’ and continued racing, tuning and building more chassis up to 1981. His best times were 10.68 @ 132mph, not bad for a flathead even today.

In 1974 Ken and the late Tony Beadle formed the British Flathead Racers Association. Flatheads were relatively cheap then and the association was formed mainly as an inexpensive way to go racing. Ken built many of the cars in the BFRA and would always go out of his way to help fellow racers with flathead tuning and chassis construction advice.

Ken’s passion and enthusiasm for flathead drag racing is still as strong today as it ever was and when his son Bradley showed an interest to race in 2009, Ken at 72 years old set about building another new flathead dragster.

It debuted in 2012 with Bradley in the driver’s seat and Ken looking after the tuning. The period correct attention to detail is fantastic, looking once again like it’s jumped from the pages of a 50s Hot Rod Magazine and the ‘Back from the Past’ dragster has been a popular addition at nostalgia drag races ever since.

Cheers.

Russ.

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Jan 22, 2016 10:10:52 GMT malc said:

Do they know what is ailing him ?

Hi Malc,

Bladder cancer is the main problem, but he had some blood clots floating around his system which has been the main concern over the last week, as these can be life threatening.

Cheers.

Russ.

[UK RUSS 1960 OLDS]

Hi Guys,

I spoke to Bradley last night, Ken is now back at home although he has to go to hospital everyday for radio therapy. He is a lot better than he was but he is still quite ill.

I have got my fingers crossed that he makes a full recovery and that he can make it to Dragstalgia in July, not sure it will happen now but it would be good to see him take the slingshot up the track one last time as was planned a little while ago.

Cheers.

Russ.

[malc]

Fingers crossed here too.