Kenny Coleman’s first encounter with Drag Racing came in 1971 at Blackbushe Airport in Surrey with his childhood pal Dave Grady and Dave’s Holden Monaro. It enthralled Kenny, and he decided he wanted to be involved in Drag Racing from there on. As a mechanic by trade, he wanted to know what type of engines and what modifications had been made to cars such as Gary Goggin’s Corvette and the dragsters to make them run much quicker than Dave’s. If Kenny was impressed at Blackbushe, it was probably his first visit to Santa Pod in the summer of 1972 seeing Money Hungry, Go-Go-Gone and Maxine’s Toy that sealed his fate as he has been involved in preparing race engines and going back ever since.

Kenny has owned numerous race cars over the years and has supplied and prepared the powerplants for many racers all over Europe in many motor sport disciplines, including of course Drag Racing.

Kenny initially raced American Street cars which he delighted in tuning to extract maximum power from fairly stock components. His first encounter with competition cars came when he purchased Herb Andrews’ Viva Altered Pumpin’ Iron which had been Invader in an earlier life. Having experienced the wild handling of that car and survived a few visits to the fields at York Raceway, Kenny went for a doorslammer in the shape of Jim Briggs’ Wild Man Maverick, renamed Stampede.

That was followed by the ex-Brian Peach tube-chassis Rover which Kenny ran with a blown alcohol motor, a UK first for a full-bodied car. Another first was obtaining sponsorship from South Yorkshire Police! With full police livery, working blue lights and sirens, (and enormous slicks) the car was used by the police in a photo shoot for a road safety campaign, and featured in a TV news programme promoting Drag Racing.

 Around that time, Dave Grady was co-ordinating a group of Super Gas race cars, calling the group G-Force and presenting Drag Racing to the public at hot rod shows and festivals. Kenny was actively involved and played a big part in making the Power Sports Festivals and G-Force so successful, including running the car on Blackpool promenade in front of thousands of spectators.

Kenny was actively involved in the formative years (1985-1987) of Super Modified and heavily supported York Raceway over the years.

In 1989 Kenny formed his new business, EDA (Engine Data Analysis), in Castleford, Yorkshire, building and dyno-testing high performance engines. It was a new venture that proved to be a very useful tool enabling racers to sort out any power gremlins before they took to the track. The workshop also became a place where people could get advice and run their engines before taking them to York or Santa Pod to race. 

Aside from Drag Racing, EDA customers come from a variety of motorsports, including stock cars, boats and historic circuit racing among others. Kenny is particularly proud that an EDA-built motor twice powered the winning car at the prestigious Spa 6-hour race in Belgium – a notable achievement.

Customers soon discovered that having work done at EDA meant that you received Kenny’s help and advice wherever and whenever you raced, a very impressive personal service.

Kenny next teamed with good friend Ian Tubb to run a dragster in Super Pro, winning back-to-back SPRC and APIRA National Championships in 2004 and 2005, and SPRC Sportsman in 2004. 

Kenny’s long-term involvement with Drag Racing in Malta began in the 1990s when Bernie Hepworth, one of Kenny’s customers, took his Rover to Malta. The car was sold to the Borg brothers, Borg Bros Malta, with whom Kenny has been involved ever since. The brothers went on from the Rover to run a blown alcohol small-block Chevy dragster, Rebellious, with which Kenny and Andy Mapes were closely involved. It was one of the quickest small-blocks in the world at the time. 

Santa Pod’s Monster Truck and two-seater dragster have also been successfully running engines built by Kenny.

Over the 31 years Kenny ran EDA, many variants of Drag Racing engines passed through the Castleford facility and the company’s capable hands. Kenny retired in 2020, while EDA continues trading.

Kenny is still actively involved at the track with helping whomever needs guidance, as he has quietly done over many years of involvement in our sport. It should also be acknowledged that throughout Kenny’s career his wife Bev has enthusiastically supported his racing and business involvement.

It is not only for his engineering excellence and long service to the sport, but especially for the help and advice he has so willingly and consistently distributed among the Drag Racing community, that Kenny Coleman is inducted into Membership of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.

Profile by Graham Beckworth