The Vintage Nationals was the Vintage Hot Rod Association's foray into drag racing from 2017 to 2019. After many an hour waiting in line for the Flathead Meltdown, a decision was made to see if we could pull off our own meeting exclusively for the cars of the VHRA, with the opportunity to get more runs in on race day. 

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With the Hot Rod Races on Pendine Sands and GOW! Speed Hill Climb at Prescott Hill already a roaring success at such prestige, we decided to follow a similar theme and host the event at the premier drag strip in the UK, Santa Pod Raceway, which has been operating since 1966.

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The first event was run in 2017 and was a great success. Not only was the drag strip visited by more than ninety racers, we had two fun packed nights in the clubhouse, with Big Boy Bloater & the Limits and James Hunter taking to the stage on consecutive nights.

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Sadly numbers dwindled for 2018, with a further drop in 2019, when only forty odd cars took part in the racing. It was always going to be a tough gig squeezing our niche event into such a large venue, but we gave it our best shot. One of our biggest hurdles was how brutal a drag strip can be on cars, I personally blew the rear end in my banger powered Model A in 2019, so many kept away as they were saving their cars for Pendine. 

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Whilst the Vintage Nationals isn't currently running, that doesn't mean it won't again, but for now, it's on the back burner. We're proud of what was achieved, and whilst not a commercial success, we gave our members the chance to have unlimited runs on one of the finest drag strips in the world.