Tony Betts first encountered drag racing early in the 1970s when he and a group of friends visited Santa Pod. In his late teens he ran a Morris Minor, painted hot orange, on the street and joined Romford’s Eastern Cruisers. Then he bought Minormite which ran 12’s at North Weald powered by a Jaguar 3.8 straight-six. This served him well but the quest for lower ETs and higher speeds had begun. Frank Bennet was selling his Phantasm Pop which Tony renamed Robopop, a play on the title of the 1987 film. Even during those early years he knew he needed something which kids could relate to and depicted the film’s character on the boot lid. His legendary sense of humour was also evident here with ‘Part Man – Part Machine – All Pop’ displayed along the side. Tony and Elaine had three young children and a tent in the pits which often flooded. He remembers his young son Dean crying his eyes out when a dragster beat him in the Competition Altered class. Elaine once asked what racing the car was like and at North Weald she lay across the behind the driver’s seat on a run – the blacked-out windows meant no officials could see her!
Dave Collis had sold his beautiful Vauxhall Firenza, and it caught Tony’s eye in Bill Felstead’s garage. He bought the rolling shell and visited the 1987 Gatornationals in Florida. Soon a 454ci big-block Chevy was on its way to Britain. Tony named it Spirit of Frenzy and the family now enjoyed the luxury of a coach as a transporter. After a lot of fun in different classes, including Super Gas, time came to sell the car and Joey Carabott visited Tony in Canvey Island, Essex, to take a look. Tony insisted he took the car out on the street to make sure he could drive it before buying! The car landed in Malta in February 1992. The first V8 to hit their shores attracted TV attention and Tony was treated like a star. This was the start of the Mr. Whippy Drag Racing adventure and a lifelong friendship.
Living close to Norm Wilding, who at the time was driving the Lonsdale Passat car, Tony craved a Funny Car and saw an advert in National Dragster for a Plueger chassis, placed by Steve Hodgkinson, who had raced with John Force and Raymond Beadle. Through phone calls, Steve suggested that he build the car in the US before shipping it over. He sent Tony photos of the Topolino body he had suggested but Tony thought it was horrible. He didn’t like it at all but Steve persuaded him to bear with it. When the car arrived in 1992 Steve came with it. Tony picked him up at the airport and they drove straight to Avon Park to test for the day. On an unprepped track, Tony admits that the car scared the sh*t out of him but they went from there to The Main Event where Tony entered Pro Comp. The car’s body, unpainted, was completely white. Tony set the European record with this car in 1992 at 6.92sec, which stood for 7 years. By ’93 the body had been chopped to expose the engine. At the ’94 NSRA Hot Rod Drags, Mickey Moore arranged the headline class of ‘Bad Boy Altereds’. Tony took home the trophy for quickest ET with a 7.40sec run at 183mph.
“Drag Racing wouldn’t let Tony go, or Tony couldn’t let go of Drag Racing and Venom Racing was formed in 2005”
Jon Webster then helped to produce a Nissan 3000ZX body which Tony paid for by giving Jon his Comet! Running in Top Alcohol Funny Car satisfied Tony’s need for speed for a while but a full-blown Nitro Funny Car remained his dream, so he bought the ex-Harlan Thompson Budweiser chassis. The car appeared in various guises from sponsorship changes and from lending the body out to other teams for shows and appearances. However, it is probably best remembered in its Jungle.com livery. Jungle launched their company in 1999 and were a prominent UK-based online retailer selling computers, software, music, and home entertainment products. Tony was promised a high-profile marketing budget but it was never delivered. He competed in the original Cannonball series at Santa Pod and in the Super Series events at Avon Park.
Tony took a break from racing and moved first to France, then to Spain where he invested a lot of time and money into plans and proposals to build a dragstrip, which was to be known as Thunder Valley. It was a shame that these plans were thwarted by the local authority as the site stood in the path of migratory birds!
He was one of the first to sign up to the newly formed Nostalgia Fuel Altered Association set up by Lawrie Gatehouse. His debut at the 2006 Summer Nationals netted him a class quickest-ever time of 6.70sec on only his second pass in the car. Laurie fielded his own Chaos Topolino Altered driven by John Wright. When John crashed Chaos at Avon Park in 2008, Tony was in the other lane and when Tony crashed the Venom Topolino at Santa Pod in 2009, John was in the other lane. With those ‘Awful Awful Altereds’ it could be said that these two were destined to come together one day! The car was rebuilt by Jason & Roy Phelps, re-emerged in orange livery and ran a best of 6.40sec.
At the National Finals in 2010 Tony attempted to retire from racing, but the weather gods wouldn’t allow him to put in the final pass so the team brought the car to the start line in the rain for a photo shoot and send-off.
A few years later, browsing the internet, Tony came across a ’34 Ford for sale in Holland which he ran at Hockenheim in 2016, beating its previous owner’s PB with a 7.50sec. Tony owned this car for many years as it appealed to his hot rodding roots as well as delivering on-track performance. The car appeared at the Hot Rod Drags and, more recently, at the first show of Drag Racing cars at the Silverstone Festival in 2023.
Just a few of the cars Tony has owned & raced in his career before hitting gold with the record-setting ‘Venom’ Camaro in 2017
At Dragstalgia in 2013, the UK saw the first Nostalgia Funny Car – Apache built by Rob Loaring and owned and driven by Tim Garlick. The lure of Nostalgia Funny Car for Tony was strong and Elaine organised a 60th birthday present for him to drive Richard Hartman’s car at Bakersfield, California in 2015. On one run Tony matched up against none other than Cruz Pedregon. Cruz blazed the tyres and Tony got to the stripe first running 6.11sec, a memory that will live with him forever.
Tony (LH) driving Richard Hatman‘s Funny Car at Bakersfield in 2015, during event eliminations he even knocked out Cruz Pedregon in the process. A memory that will live with him forever.
Once home, Tony learned from Richard Hartman that a sister car was for sale. A deal was struck and Richard came to the UK in April 2017 to help Tony run the car. The Venom Nostalgia Funny Car has gone through several paint schemes since then, with Tony’s attention to detail changing it each time. The car ran a best of 6.01sec at 245mph – just shy of the 5-second barrier.
In 2019, the ‘Hawaiian’, Roland Leong, visited Santa Pod and worked with the Venom crew but a broken transmission put them out of action early. Entering that year’s European Finals, Tony found himself without a crew chief and John Wright was available and willing. This saw the start of a partnership, which along with trusted crew members John Mordey, who started with Tony in the early days; Mickey Moore, against whom Tony had regularly competed since the early ‘90s in Top Alcohol and Fuel Altereds; Trevor Horncastle, ex-member of the Stones Drag Racing Team; Jimmy McKenzie, who has been a loyal sponsor of Tony’s for many years; Drew Mason, when he’s not on Gasser Circus duties; Craig Munro of Extreme Fibre fame; and of course Tony’s son Dean, who now only cries happy tears seeing his Dad achieve great consistent runs time after time. Tony won the European Finals that year and the Fans’ Choice award at Dragstalgia.
Following a clash with the wall in 2020 Tony bought an ex-Frank Manzo chassis which has become the current Venom Nostalgia Funny Car. He became NFC Champion in 2021 and won the Festival of Power in 2022. At Dragstalgia 2023 he realised another dream and ran his first five – 5.96/237mph. It was Low ET of the Meet and he went on to win the European Finals.
The immaculate Camaro became the European class record holder, run to NHRA Heritage rules, with a 5.895sec/250.64mph run at the following year’s Festival of Power. A parachute failure also gave Tony his first trip into the field at Santa Pod!
Tony then invested in a carbon fibre body, expertly moulded by Craig Munro, which first appeared at the 2024 European Finals. The lack of time before the event meant, unusually for Tony, that the car appeared in original matt black form for its first run, with sponsor stickers hastily added the following day. Throughout 2025 the car ran consistent 6-zeros and a couple more 5s which the crew and fans have come to expect of it. Tony won Dragstalgia and set Low ET of the meet again.
While the class has not always been granted Championship status, Tony has consistently been a show headliner at Dragstalgia and proudly represents Nostalgia Drag Racing at the Festival of Power, The Main Event and the European Finals, recording runs that exceed the mark of the era on exactly the same engine configuration.
New for 2026, Santa Pod has brought in a new Cannonball-style racing format at the Nostalgia events which includes Funny Cars, slingshot Dragsters and Altereds with few restrictions apart from a maximum 34.5gpm single fuel pump and a maximum 44amp single mag. Together with John Wright, Tony undertook a new engine programme over the winter which quickly proved to be the right combination with an event win at The Main Event’s Nostalgia Invitational, re-setting the European Nostalgia Funny Car record at 5.7665 on the hottest May day on record.
“The crew are always happy to chat to fans and hand out colouring pictures for the youngsters”
When asked who has inspired him in the sport, without hesitation Tony names his wife Elaine who has been at his side throughout. Her support is invaluable and her hospitality to all who step inside the Venom pit is legendary. The Venomcrew, inspired by Tony’s nature, is one of the most approachable teams you’ll ever meet and help to other racers is given freely. Venom Racing has always been extremely prominent with their distinctive livery on every vehicle in the pit. The crew are always happy to chat to fans and hand out colouring pictures for the youngsters, which usually find their way back to the team to be seen hanging up in the awning at each event. At the track and at the many shows they attend away from the track, they can have up to 250 youngsters sit in the car each day.
Tony on the right, with crew chief John Wright, displaying some of the young fans pictures, for the older ones (see inserts) there’s always something special in the BDRHoF Auction!
The Venom team are always happy to show fans what it’s like to sit in the cockpit – starting at a very early age!
The experience of this on young lives, with Mums and Dads looking on in envy, cannot be underestimated in its importance to drag racing, ensuring events continue to be a popular family day out. Family is at the heart of all that Tony and Elaine do. Even the mastic company MHD which Tony started in the late 1980s during his first big job, the building of Stansted Airport, is named after their children Mandy, Haley and Dean.
It is for his ambassadorship for the sport, supported by a fantastic team, and for his deep engagement with spectators, in person and online – giving them the best sense of community and belonging which nurtures loyalty to our great sport – as well as for the stunning, consistent performance of Venom, that Tony Betts is hereby inducted into Membership of the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
Profile By Colin Theobald & Lesley Wright