Above Portrait: Blackett Photography

Jon Webster has been around the sport for what seems like forever. It was in 1984 that Jon first took an interest in racing, albeit illegal street racing in a modified yellow Morris Minor on an industrial estate in Essex until it was stopped by the authorities. Therefore a visit to Santa Pod in 1986 was required to race the Minor at RWYB events. Jon started his own business in 1988 and decided to sell the Morris Minor to help fund the start-up, sharing a unit with Rob Loaring in Southend. He first became involved with Pro Mod between 1988 and 1990 with local man Tim Cook, for whom Jon built his first full race car, a 7/8 scale ‘55 Chevy. He also worked with Dave Mingay, Alan Packman and Colin Taylor. Jon began work part-time for Hauser Racing in Higham Ferrers before moving to Northamptonshire to work full-time.  During his time there he helped set up a rebuild facility for the constant flow of damaged ASCAR cars which raced at nearby Rockingham Speedway. He also built many Junior Dragsters which at the time were not part of mainstream racing. Thanks to the efforts of Jon and others, Junior Dragster became part of the national championship scene and, with growing numbers of racers, became the success it is today. 

In 1995 Jon was offered an opportunity to move to the USA to work in the racing industry. Unfortunately, the deal fell through – in hindsight, their loss was our gain. In 2004 Webster Race Engineering was based in Rushden, the nearest town to Santa Pod. In 2014 Jon moved the business to new premises in Airfield Road, next to the gates of Santa Pod, the perfect location for the business. Drag racing has always been at the forefront of Jon’s life. In 1999 he raced a ‘27 Model T roadster in Super Gas and Super Comp, winning 80 out of 89 rounds and securing both the Super Series Championship at Avon Park and the National Championship.

Working with Geof Hauser in 1997, Jon built a Ford Probe for Wayne Saunders to race in the Euro Series. The Probe set a world record for a four-cylinder car. Ford had noticed and in 1999 commissioned a Ford Focus racecar to help promote the Focus model in the USA. Jon built the car in nine weeks and drove it at Bakersfield to help set the car up for the eventual owners.

In 2000 Jon built a Super Pro dragster for the Talbots and drove it at all but one of the season’s rounds, finishing runner-up in the championship. In 2001 he built a Street Eliminator ‘56 Chevy for owner John Hale and drove it to runner-up in the championship. 2002 saw Jon build a ‘97 Mustang Cobra Jet to race in Street Eliminator. This was sold to fund the next project, for which he acquired a complete MG SVT through a deal with MG. The plan was to maintain as much of the MG’s production-based chassis as possible and all of its external identity while modifying the underpinnings to achieve a balance between good road handling, top speed stability and quick quarter-miles. The ultimate goal was to set a new British land speed record for the mile using an internal combustion-engined car, a record incidentally still held by the Commuter Dragster at 217 mph.

There was no capital budget available from MG at the time so Jon had to modify the car himself. But once built, there was to be a promotional budget available. Fortunately the SBF Fontana/Yates turbo parts Jon had assembled for the Mustang became available again along with an appropriate gearbox and converter. Peter Knight built the motor and tested it on his dyno to just over 1000hp. However, MG fell into liquidation shortly before the car’s completion and no promotional budget materialised.

Jon ran the car occasionally at Santa Pod and Avon Park and took it to Europe to compete in the King of Europe series. He twice drove it at Elvington’s Ten Of The Best meeting, taking top trophies in the rear-wheel-drive category and covering the standing mile in 25 seconds at a little over 200mph. The car ran a best of 8.41sec/170mph at Santa Pod in Street Eliminator. The MG was sold as a roller and the engine and transmission were installed in the gold Mercury Comet which Jon raced in Street Eliminator for seven years, achieving many trophies: 2012 APIRA Championship runner-up; 2013 National Championship runner-up; APIRA Champion and National Championship runner-up in 2014; and in 2015, both National and APIRA Champion. When Jon moved on to his next project, Pro Mod, the Comet was sold to Keith Bartlett who still races it

The car of choice for Jon’s journey into Pro Mod is a ‘67 Mustang built in just 12 weeks. Running a Ford engine with twin turbos, the car’s best figures to date are 5.909sec and 248.22mph, set at The Main Event 2025. The journey has not been easy, as with any high-powered race car, but perseverance and a dedicated crew have seen the team overcome all issues and enable Jon to run the car to its true potential. The best finish so far has been runner-up at Santa Pod’s Not The European Finals event during  Covid. Not content with the serious work and effort involved in running the Pro Mod, Jon decided in 2020 that he had enough parts available to build a blown ‘outlaw’ Anglia for some more relaxed fun. The Anglia was kept for four fun-filled years, clocking best figures of 7.01sec at 190mph, and then sold.

Another car built for fun was a blown slingshot dragster, intended to race at Nostalgia events rather than in bracket classes. Despite Jon being knocked out in a coming-together with the wall at Dragstalgia in 2014, fun was had and a best time of 7.20sec at 190mph was recorded before the car was sold. It still races today.

The Flying Kestrel is another of Jon’s projects. In conjunction with Kestrel Beer, he turned a rotting 1930s Riley Kestrel found in a barn in Holland into an immaculate, 992bhp Audi-powered land-speed car. Over six years the Riley has been transformed into a record-breaking machine, setting numerous records at Elvington despite one high-speed crash. Lessons were learnt and modifications made and the rebuilt car came back even stronger, setting a speed of over 170mph over the flying mile. The car is under constant development to set more records

Jon has also raced and won in Top Fuel after rebuilding Peter Knight’s ex-Knut Soderqvist chassis that had crashed in Hockenheim. Jon was offered the drive and gained his licence the week before the 2004 European Finals, narrowly losing to Thomas Nataas in the first round, Thomas running  5.007sec/289.98mph to Jon’s losing but personal-best  5.057/271.28. In 2005 Jon competed again in Top Fuel and at the Easter meeting ran another personal-best time and speed, 4.979/290 – his first 4sec pass – in the second round of the Pro Fuel Shootout against Andy Carter. At The Main Event he qualified fourth out of ten entries. In eliminations Jon beat Andy Carter and Micke Kågered before losing to Lex Joon in the final, having been up till 2.30am fixing the front end of Lex’s car after a wheelstand in qualifying.

Jon also raced in Top Fuel at the European Finals, qualifying sixth out of 10 entries but losing in round one to Susanne Callin. Jon was back in Top Fuel in 2009 in a Rune Fjeld car run by McDonald’s Racing at the Easter Pro Fuel shootout, a race involving Top Fuelers and Funny Cars. He qualified third and finished third on race day. At the next race, the FIA Main Event, he qualified eighth and broke during the burnout in the first round. There was success at the FIA European Finals where Jon qualified third at 4.82/294mph. In eliminations he beat Risto Poutiainen in round one, Micke Kågered in the semi-finals with a 4.90/294 and then Jöran Persåker to take the European Finals victory.

In the 1990s Jon joined Custom Car editor Keith Seume and Rob Loaring to set out the concept for Street Eliminator. In 2000 Custom Car withdrew, owing to class politics, and the racers pulled together to keep the eliminator going. After four years, thanks chiefly to the efforts of Jon and Ian Marshall, Street Eliminator was incorporated into the National Championship. Jon has also served on the Santa Pod Racers Club technical committee since 1997.

The list of cars and bikes that Jon has built, worked on, set up, advised on and driven is huge. Notably among them, he has built Top Fuel Bike chassis for Ian King and Rene Van Den Berg, the famous Street Eliminator Bentley, Gary Gooding’s Supra, Mark Todd’s GTO, Andy Frost’s Red Victor Street Eliminator/Pro Mod car, Kevin Kent’s Funny Car and Steve Pateman’s Calibra. To say that Jon has had a huge impact on Drag Racing is an understatement. As with most racers, these achievements would not have been possible without the support of family and friends, in particular from wife Jeanette and daughter Shelby.

It is for the sheer breadth of his accomplishments over four decades – not only constructing such a striking array of cars and motorcycles but also competing with success on two and four wheels – that Jon Webster is inducted into Membership of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

Profile By Phil Cottingham