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Mix a Model T body with a Chevrolet 'Rat' engine and you have the Stones' team's Tee-Rat.  The car is seen in the pits at Santa Pod in its original injected form.  In the background is the team's 5 litre Chevy powered Mark I Ford Escort which they called Tender Trap.

 

 

Add a blower and Tee-Rat becomes a fuel altered.  This shot was taken in the pits at a National Drag Racing Club meeting at RNAY Wroughton in 1974.  Dave Stone ran 8.54 seconds at 134mph first time out at Santa Pod but went on to become a solid 7 second performer.  He confessed to having suffered with blurred vision at close to 200mph because of the vibration!

 

The Bantam-bodied blown Chrysler Shutdown.  This car was one of the original UK top fuel altereds and was campaigned by Fred Whittle before passing to Mike Hall.  Nick Cleveland tells me that the owner was definitely Mike Hall on this sunny day at Santa Pod as the car sits in the queue awaiting scrutineering.

 

 

The Sneaky T blown fuel altered of Phil Elson seen in the pits at Santa Pod Raceway with its original short wheelbase chassis.

 

The rat drinking his tea means it could only be Tee-Rat.  Seen in the pits at Santa Pod Raceway.

 

 

The ex-Lawce & Gunn fuel altered in 1974 newly imported from the USA by Keith Harvie.  The car was re-named, aptly, Dream Machine and is seen here with the engine fired up in the pits.  Unfortunately by March 1975 it was up for sale for £5,000.  It seems incredibly cheap these days but it was a very long time ago.

 

Also with its engine fired in the pits is the Ford powered Aardvark car of Freeman Rogers, Freeman and, I presume his crew, were members of the US Air Force stationed over here - fortunately for us.  Mike Kason has written to tell me that he is in the driver's seat in this picture.  Mike subsequently bought the car and re-bodied it with a 5 window coupe from Ray's Rods and ran it as Kerbdozer.

 

 

Shutdown, now definitely in the hands of Mike Hall, in the pits at Blackbushe airport at an NDRC meeting.  The car has been completely re-built and features the chassis from Dennis Priddle's STP-sponsored Chrysler Avenger funny car.

 

'Flying' Phil Elson's Sneaky T in the pits at Santa Pod with its new longer, lower funny car style chassis.  By this time Sneaky T had inherited the engine from the Houndog 6 top fuel dragster which unfortunately collided with the safety fence and was wrecked whilst being driven by Harold Bull.

 

 

Shutdown burning out at Snetterton.

 

The Page Brothers' Panic! senior competition altered at Snetterton being driven by Dave Page.

 

 

The original Tee-Rat was wrecked in an accident at Santa Pod, here Dave Stone burns out the replacement with equal enthusiasm in the pit lane at Santa Pod.  The chassis was based on the funny car chassis used by the Hillbillies team.

 

Unmistakenly Shutdown, unmistakenly Santa Pod, but now in Norwegian Ludwig Björnstad's ownership and called Headache.  The car was fitted with a 454 Chevy engine.  (My thanks to Anders Olsson for kindly providing the driver's name)

 

 

Panic! comes of age!  This crowd -pleasing car, now sporting wings and supercharger, is seen in the pits at Blackbushe resplendent in its Wolfrace sponsored colours.

 

Reg Hazelton campaigned this stretched Fiat Topolino-bodied competition altered called Thunderbird in the Pro-Comp class.  The car is seen here with its body raised in the pits at Santa Pod.

 

 

Thunderbird doing what big, bad altereds used to do - misbehave!  Shame about the blokes in the foreground - still not a bad shot anyway.

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