British Drag Racing HOF Inductions

[Sbrad]

In association with Santa Pod Racers Club, US Automotive and Beech Underwriting

Midnight 12.00pm Friday July 10th 2015

2015 BRITISH DRAG RACING HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED

The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame (BDRHoF) has just announced the names of the three people selected for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2015. They are drag bike rider/builder John Clift, long standing hot rod and dragster builder/racer Ken Cooper and one of the longest serving drag race organisers in the UK Yvonne Tramm.


John Clift Ken Cooper Yvonne Tramm

Their detailed Citations accompany this release and their names join those whose contributions to British drag racing are considered to have been extraordinary. The Induction Ceremonies will take place at the BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner being held at the prestigious Savill Court Hotel, Windsor Great Park on November 21st when drag racing personalities and fans from around the world will celebrate the commitment shown by these all too often un-sung heroes and the influence they have had on drag racing.

Chairman of the BDRHoF Stu Bradbury said,

“Once again I think the Selection Committee have chosen very well. It is not an easy task but somehow they come up with the goods each year and I would like to thank them for the work they do. John Clift, Ken Cooper and Yvonne Tramm are names respected by all those that have been following the sport as it has grown over the years. These inductions into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame represent our tribute to their dedication. It will ensure their names are honoured for all time”.

The Gala Awards Dinner
Ticket prices for the 2015 BDRHoF Gala Awards Dinner remain as last year at £60 per person. Corporate tables of 10 are available at £580. Room prices also remain as last year, £99 for double £79 for single including breakfast. Complimentary use of swimming pool, Sauna, Steam room, Jacuzzi, and free car parking are also part of the package.

For advance booking of tickets contact [e-mail] or telephone Stu Bradbury on 01933 279102. When other plans are announced this will again be an early sell-out event. Oh yes – there is still more exciting news to come.

The Savill Court Hotel information
Room Bookings 01784 472000 Opening Times 8.30am-5.30pm Press Option #1
After 5.30pm Press Option #3 Reception. Don't forget to mention the Hall of Fame dinner 21st November

END

Further Press Information from Robin Jackson [e-mail]
Tel [phone]

The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is sponsored by many businesses and associations. Without this support it could not exist. They are Beech Underwriting; U S Automotive; Santa Pod Racers Club; Pennine Drag Racing Club; Eurodragster.com; Avon Park International Racing Association; Shakespeare County Raceway; Santa Pod Raceway; York Raceway; Lucas Oil; Julie Braskett, MQQNEYES; International Organization of Professional Drivers Ltd and Rat Trap Racing.



John Clift – a profile by Keith Lee
Anyone remotely interested in motorcycle drag racing during the 1970s and 80s will be familiar with the name John Clift. He was always a determined, hard-charging competitor in Top Fuel, or Top Bike as it was called at the time; arguably the most competitive class in British drag racing during that period.

John originally competed in road racing up to National level, but a friend kept nagging him to have a go at sprinting. He started out drag racing in 1971 running in the Junior Bike class, but made rapid strides through the bike ranks as he developed his machinery.

He made his name first with a supercharged Triumph, interestingly called ‘The co-respondent’, and John was the third rider below 9 seconds in a record breaking 1975 season. By 1979 he had set the 1000cc record at 8.34s/165.

In the search for better and stronger items to keep him racing, John was an early collaborator with British Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Pete Davies, helping to develop the world dominating Puma engine parts. But he was also a talented fabricator. Many well-known riders of the day, both in the UK and abroad, would use one of his rolling chassis or other fabricated components. His advice and generous financial terms were renowned throughout the paddock. At the same time he was a fierce competitor on the track, and would always make race day - no matter how many hours of work and travel miles it took.

He was one rider who helped build good relations in Holland in particular, where John and wife Pat were always very welcome guests – as they were at any drag racing or sprint meeting. Their two daughters, Julie and Nikki, were brought up in the pits, and went on to be involved in the bike side of the sport themselves. Grandson Jamie now crews for Rune Fjeld Racing.

The Puma Weslake, featuring the first of Puma’s billet heads, was still competitive in the mid-1980s, ending with a best of 8.21s/ 181mph.

His on track career ended in the Pro Stock class, winning the European Championship in 1988 on a Suzuki, before retiring in 1990. At that time he was actually constructing a state of the art Top Fuel bike, which would feature the first complete 4 cylinder Puma billet motor. Sadly rising costs delayed its completion, but the machine did go to Australia, where ex-pat Jay Upton became a top runner.

Now living in France, rarely do you come across someone involved in drag racing who is so universally liked and respected as John. When a rider had mechanical gremlins he was always first on the scene to offer a helping hand; often putting his own racing activities in jeopardy due to the time spent in helping out others.

His outgoing and generous-in-spirit personality has been an asset to British drag racing. It is for this and his commitment to drag bike racing as a competitor and an inventive constructer that he has been inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame.




Ken Cooper – a profile by Herb Andrews and Nick Pettitt
When people talk about the true pioneers of British drag racing and hot rodding, the name Ken ‘flathead’ Cooper comes close to the top of the list. He bought his first car, a ’37 Ford coupe, in 1959 and being an avid reader of Hot Rod magazine he 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.

He 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’.

He began constructing his first dragster in 1960 – based on what he had seen in Hot Rod magazine. By that time things were starting to move forward for drag racing in Britain. Sydney Allard had announced that he was building a dragster and things were looking good. But there was a problem. The RAC, who governed motor sport in the UK at that time, did not have a separate class for dragsters. Instead they grouped dragsters with cars designed for sprinting meaning front brakes and engine covers had to be fitted.

That certainly did not fit in with Ken’s idea of what a dragster should look like. If he was going to build one he wanted it to be like what he had seen in Hot Rod magazine so in 1962 he dumped the part-finished dragster chassis at the bottom of his garden.

Instead, he built another hot rod from a ’33 Ford Cabriolet - flathead powered of course, and much lighter than his first attempt.

With news in 1964 that the RAC had 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 the American dragsters he had so much admired.

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 had 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 so 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. It is for his pioneering roles in promoting hot rodding and drag racing in the early years and his continued support of sportsman class drag racing for over 50 years that Ken Cooper has been inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame

Yvonne Tramm – a profile by Simon Groves
Yvonne Tramm and husband Steve first went to Santa Pod Raceway in late 1974. They were completely 'blown away' by the spectacle and from the beginning of 1975 until today they have only missed five events. Children arrived, Spencer and Kirstie, and from a very early age the family sat on the spectator bank at the end of the quarter mile enjoying the racing. They joined the then organising club the British Drag Racing and Hot Rod Association (BDR&HRA), and after it had been renamed the British Drag Racing Association (BDRA) in 1983 Yvonne become the General Secretary – a club with around 1000 members at that time.

Most of the work was carried out at home, with all the family helping to send out tickets to racers, circulating the club magazine Drag Racing News and taking in membership subscriptions. Most of the press liaison was carried out by the club in those days too. There were Area Representatives to manage; they would organise evening social meetings for like-minded racers and spectators in pubs featuring drag racing films and presentations by the top racers of the day. These meetings were an important part of communicating with club members in the days prior to Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and club web sites. She also ran the club shop at Santa Pod Raceway, selling merchandise at the track and by mail order.

In the late eighties, she started managing the signing on of racers. This included much ‘on-the-day’ chasing of competitors. International meetings provided a special challenge and stories of Yvonne rushing down the fire-up road to sign on Swedish competitor the late Lee Anders Hasselstrom just prior to his next Funny Car pass, and confronting Norwegian Rune Fjeld - who has claimed to her on many occasions that he does not speak English - are now part of European drag racing folklore.

At the end of 1990, Yvonne decided to take a break from the BDRA that was merging with the recently folded National Drag Racing Club, becoming the British National Drag Racing Association (BNDRA) organising meetings at venues other than Santa Pod Raceway. But this retirement lasted only a few months because early in 1991 she was asked to join the Santa Pod Racers Club (SPRC) that had become the host organising club at Santa Pod Raceway.


She worked at the track on merchandising and organising the dinner dance, until about seven years ago when she switched to the signing on office.

The late Paula Marshall was the General Secretary at that time but when Paula became ill, Yvonne took on the role of organising the dinner dance once again along with recording the meeting minutes for the SPRC Executive Committee, inter club meetings, riders and drivers meetings and the tech committee – plus managing the UK National Drag Racing Championship and the SPRC Club Championship; all quite a handful alongside a full time career.

As well as being a key member of the team that organises racing at Santa Pod, Yvonne has become friends with many UK racers who she thinks of as her second family. In fact she has done her share of crewing for teams steered by the racing activities of Spencer and Kirstie Tramm. This involved her in supporting Spencer’s racing at NHRA meetings at Las Vegas and Pomona as well as in the UK, building and running a Pro Mod car and Kirstie’s photography at European race events for www.eurodragster.com.

But it is for her tireless work during 32 years on the organisation side of drag racing that Yvonne Tramm has been inducted into the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Without people like Yvonne the sport could not exist.

Edited by Sbrad on Tuesday 14th July 10:05