Booking Opens For 2026 BDRHoF Gala Dinner
New Venue
New Format for the Stuart Bradbury Juniors Awards
Booking is now open for 2026’s British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Awards Dinner. The black-tie occasion takes place on Saturday 21st November at our new venue, Chesford Grange Hotel at Kenilworth, near Coventry, CV8 2LD.Our Online Gala Booking System, designed and executed by Peter Walters Race Design, carries full information on the occasion, with price details and payment methods. The three-course Gala Dinner offers three menu choices for each course, including vegetarian, with food allergy and intolerance exceptions.
Please click HERE to begin.
If you wish to reserve a room for the Gala weekend, visit the hotel’s website www.chesfordgrange.com where rooms per night are currently available online from £135 (double – Advance saver with Breakfast) or visit your favourite hotel booking website. Rooms are subject to ‘dynamic pricing’ therefore we recommend booking early to avoid a price increase. The agreed ceiling rate is £150 for a double room including breakfast. Or please telephone Chesford Grange Hotel – 0330 107 1599 quoting British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Dinner.
Four individuals, one team and one organisation have been selected for induction as new Members of the Hall of Fame: Syd McDonald, former Santa Pod Race Director and SPRC club steward; Team Triple R, led by Robin Read, which has made Daimler power a force to be reckoned with in drag racing; Phil Baimbridge, distinguished Top Fuel Bike racer and builder; Andy Willsheer, veteran drag race photojournalist; Motorsport UK, the governing body of motorsport in Britain; and Tony Betts, a racer since the 1970s now leading the way with Historic Funny Cars.
A fresh format has been introduced for the Stuart Bradbury Junior Drag Racing Awards. Bradbury trophies and cheques will …
MEMBER OBITUARY NOTICE – Joan Cookson
MEMBER OBITUARY NOTICE
August 2026
Member: Joan Cookson
Inducted: 2018
We are saddened to hear that Joan Cookson has passed away. Joan very ably supported her husband Gerald (Gerry) Cookson during his 40 years of competitive Drag Racing, following a family visit to the 1965 Dragfest. To anyone who came into contact with her at any track, but especially at Long Marston/Shakespeare County Raceway, they would have encountered her cheerful nature whilst focussing on her important role. Our condolences to Jerry and Ali.
The Cookson Family were inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2018 https://britishdragracinghof.co.uk/the-cookson-family/
20th Anniversary BDRHoF T-Shirts
Did you miss out? Well, now is your chance to get one, or two, while you can.
These T-Shirts featuring the BDRHoF 20th Anniversary logo were only available at Dragstalgia and proved to be popular, but we do have some left over. A couple the sizes are quite low but if you let Colin Theobald know on his Facebook page by click HERE if you would like one and he’ll check available sizes for you. Colin has also said that he’ll be able to bring them to the Mopar EuroNationals next weekend at Santa Pod, Greenlight Nationals and the European Finals to save on postage.
Sizes are Small to 3XL and are £25 each with all profits going to British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Limited which honours those who built the sport and is a non-profit organisation. We also have some children’s sizes, £15 each. If you cannot get to Santa Pod let Colin know & he will arrange next day delivery at a cost of £5.00 per shipment (not per shirt) U.K. Only.
As it’s a special year for the Hall of Fame, we had some special 20th Anniversary stickers produced and for the first 10 people that get back to Colin, he’ll include one of these stickers with each order as a special memento.
BDRHoF Chair, Lesley Wright, will also have some shirts available in the Venom pit at the Eurofinals this September.
In addition, we will have some available at Melbourne Raceway’s shop for the next three meetings left on the calendar.
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MEMBER OBITUARY NOTICE – Rod Pallant
MEMBER OBITUARY NOTICE
July 2026
Member: Rod Pallant
Inducted: 2023
We are saddened to hear that BDRHoF Member, Rod Pallant, has recently passed away. Our sincerest condolences to his friends & family. Rod & Anne Pallant were inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2023 and their citation can be read HERE
BDRHoF Member and Selector, Keith Lee, has written the following tribute to his friend & legend of the sport.
The Drag Racing community lost a memorable bike racer, when Rod Pallant sadly passed on Monday. He was a standout character in the pits, and especially so on track, with a series of crowd-pleasing machinery, which he always rode like he stole it.
In 1974, Rod started a Harley Davidson dealership, and bought a Harley race bike from Jerry Mitchell, which they ran together. This was soon followed by Rod’s first experience of a twin-engined bike. He bought the 1000cc supercharged Triumph from Barry Townsend, who also joined Rod in his small race team.
His LA Hooker bike name was christened in 1978, when Rod debuted his next twin, powered by a pair of supercharged Kawasaki motors. Not happy with the performance, the blower was ditched for a Hilborn injection system, and this bike was raced for three years. Rod then wrestled with a V8 Rover powered monster – ‘Heavy Metal’. The unforgettable unblown, black heavyweight contender had some nitro tipped in the tank for the first Transatlantic International meeting at Long Marston, and Rod guided the huge bike into the 8 second zone. There was to be a rear-engined version – but while the bike was having bodywork built, the engine and running gear were stolen!
Twin-engined bikes were Rod’s racing passion, He was Inspired by Carl Ahlfeldt’s Orange Crush, and Rod threw everything into …
Dragstalgia Grand Auction & Sale Results
The directors of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame are pleased to announce that the Grand Auction & Sale held during Santa Pod’s recent Dragstalgia meeting raised £4,200 which will be donated to the coffers of the BDRHOF Benevolent Fund.
The directors thank those who so generously provided artefacts and memorabilia items to be auctioned or sold, to those who placed bids and bought items and to those individuals who gave their time (in heatwave conditions) to help conduct the event.
This total includes a generous amount of £400 raised by Mark & Lynne Coulsell who sold some of father Ian’s collection of memorabilia from their pit. It was a very emotional weekend for them. Congratulations to Harley on his win and to the whole Coulsell family for being awarded the Santa Pod Spirit of Dragstalgia award – truly deserved.
Thanks are due to Max Frost and the Santa Pod Raceway team for the provision of the facilities and the permission to use them for fund-raising purposes.
The BDRHOF Benevolent Fund is an independent charitable entity intended to offer assistance to members of the sport’s community who encounter life difficulties. The Hall of Fame’s Honorary Chair, Lesley Wright, said: “We are so pleased that our Hall of Fame activities can help support the Benevolent Fund in maintaining its aims and purpose. It was gratifying that several people over the weekend took the trouble to come up and thank the Benevolent Fund for the support it had given them in recent trying times.”…
BDRHoF Celebrates its 20th Anniversary
In a year of Drag Racing anniversaries – Santa Pod’s 60th and, in America, NHRA’s 75th – the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame reaches its own, special milestone.
In 2006 a group of Drag Racing insiders met at a service station on the M1 to pursue their belief that it was high time the early movers and shakers of British drag racing should be recognised for their accomplishments. The chosen vehicle was the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. The founding chairman, Stuart Bradbury, continued to serve until his death in 2020 and was succeeded by the chair’s present occupant, Lesley Wright.
A panel of selectors meets early each year to choose a new intake of inductees judged worthy of membership. Ninety-four individuals, families, teams and organisations have thus far been honoured. Six more will be announced at Dragstalgia to join them before formal induction at the Hall of Fame’s Gala on 21st November.
Until 2012, formal inductions took place at the Santa Pod Racers Club’s annual dinner and dance. In 2013, an independent ceremony was held at Santa Pod during the European Finals. Later that year, a benefactor in the person of Geoff Stilwell, longtime drag racing enthusiast and former Pro Stock Bike competitor, offered to help the Hall of Fame enhance its activities. The result was the Gala & Awards Dinner held each year since 2014 (2020 – pandemic year – excepted) in a trio of hotels situated west of London. The location had originated entirely by chance but would prove convenient for the succession of legends and notables from America who would arrive via Heathrow and Gatwick airports to celebrate and honour British drag racing. Don Garlits was the first, in 2014, with Connie Kalitta, Ed McCulloch, Ed Iskenderian, Steve Gibbs, Don Schumacher …
2026 Grand Auction & Sale
Just a small selection of the 42 Lots available in this Grand Auction & Sale
Dragstalgia 2026 Fri.26 – Sun.28 June 2026
Every Dragstalgia there is something special on offer when the Historic Marquee hosts the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame’s Grand Auction & Sale of Drag Racing and Hot Rod memorabilia. During the lead-up time to Dragstalgia we shall be highlighting this year’s auction items and marking Santa Pod’s 60th Anniversary, this year’s Auction has a British theme.
Sixty years ago, Harold Bull made the very first pass down the Santa Pod track and artist Paul Whitehouse’s annual Auction donation is his painting of Harold and his Stripduster dragster making that historic first run. Another legend of those earliest years, Allan ‘Bootsie’ Herridge, is depicted in a framed painting by John Knight.
There are rare treats awaiting Dennis Priddle fans. Two items of equipment relating to his career will be auctioned: the fire bottle and brake lever which rode with him in his John Woolfe Racing Chevy Monza II Funny Car, rescued and kindly donated by Keith Pilling and accompanied by authenticity certificates. In 2016 Dennis was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in Florida and the celebratory T-shirt he owned and wore has been donated by Dennis’s widow, Sandra, and Phil Pead.
There are record-setting Fuel Altered artefacts. Nick Davies donates an etched and signed piston from Havoc’s 5.98sec record run in 2024 and Allan & Lee Bates offer the Raptor’s seat belts from Lee’s even quicker 5.89sec pass last year.
Double-300mph Funny Car star John Spuffard (quarter-mile and 1,000ft) donates a 1985 Cannonball T-shirt, never worn, and the high-speed clothing line also includes Barry Sheavills garments and a Chaos NFAA jacket, while Geoff Martin donates official Santa Pod gear from …
Jon Crawford Joins Advisory Panel
The BDRHoF directors are pleased to announce that VW Sportsman racer Jon Crawford has agreed to serve as a member of the Hall of Fame advisory panel.
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Major BDRHoF Announcements
20th ANNIVERSARY – 2026 GRAND AUCTION – NEW GALA VENUE
In this year of Drag Racing anniversaries, the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame celebrates its 20th anniversary, having been founded in 2006.
At Santa Pod’s Dragstalgia (26-28 June), the Hall of Fame will conduct its annual Grand Auction and Sale, by courtesy of Santa Pod. Auction items this year will be focused on UK Drag Racing memorabilia and proceeds will go to the BDRHOF Benevolent Fund. The Hall of Fame has amassed a substantial inventory of items but there is still time and room for more to be accepted. Anyone wishing to donate UK-related artefacts that might have significant auction value is invited to make contact via info@britishdragracinghof.co.uk.
The 2026 Gala & Awards Dinner will take place on Saturday 21st November, but this time at a new venue. Since 2017 the ceremony at which the year’s new Hall of Fame Members are inducted has been comfortably based at Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, west of London. However, the directors have felt that a more central location might benefit Members and guests and have chosen the Kenilworth Suite at Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth near Coventry (CV8 2LD) for the Gala’s new home: https://www.chesfordgrange.com/. Full details and booking arrangements will be made available in due course. In the meantime, please save the date.
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USAutomotive to be acquired
USAutomotive to be acquired by Topspeed Automotive, Bedford.
USAutomotive, a leading supplier of parts for American vehicles, today announces that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Topspeed Automotive.
Established 28 years ago and based in Bedford, USAutomotive has built a strong reputation for supplying high-quality parts and specialist support to enthusiasts, restorers, and racing teams. The company has a notable heritage in American-themed motorsport, including its involvement with the ASCAR series at Rockingham and its support of historic racing vehicles such as Mustangs, Falcons, Galaxies, and Cobras.
The acquisition represents a significant step for the business, bringing together two established names in the automotive parts sector and creating a combined organisation with enhanced scale and capability.
Customers can expect continuity of service throughout the transition, with no immediate changes to ordering or support. Over time, the integration will provide broader product access, improved logistics, and increased resources.
Jane Bassett, Director for US Automotive commented: “We are proud of the role USAutomotive has played in supporting the American vehicle community over the past 28 years. This acquisition ensures the business is well positioned for the future and able to continue serving customers with an even stronger offering.”
Lesley Wright, Chair of the BDRHoF, said ‘We are extremely grateful to US Automotive for the support they have given to the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame over the years. From the beginning of the organisation in 2006 they have helped us to honour those who built the sport of Drag Racing in the UK, and we wish Stewart & Jane a very happy retirement. The business will be in good hands at Topspeed Automotive and we hope to continue our association with them.”
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