1994 seems a long time ago, but that's when a bunch of muscle car minded folks came together. Rich Berry, Tim Holmes and Jim Wilson joined forces to put an idea into action. That July saw the birth of the Mopar EuroNationals at Santapod Raceway, England. 70 cars turned up and around 300 participants all came together under the one common cause: The Pentastar. As the years rolled by the show grew in stature, 1996 saw drag racing hall of fame inductee Al "The Lawman" Ekstrand from America reunited with his treasured 1966 Hemi Charger. Other big names from the States graced the show, including Dave Jones, and original member of the Mopar EuroNationals committee. In 1997 Tony Oksien joined Mopar EuroNationals as its fourth organizer to complete the current team. The show stayed at Santapod for four years until a change in policy resulted in a switch to Shakespeare County Raceway near Stratford-on-Avon, England. The Mopar EuroNationals returned to "The Pod" in 2001 and has been there ever since, it is now considered to be the biggest Mopar show outside of the USA and Canada. With many thousands of visitors and over 550 mighty Mopars and muscle cars, the show with go can only continue to grow.
The 10 year anniversary saw the introduction of the Mopar EuroNationals hall of fame. Inductees are awarded based on their contributions to the event, and on a long standing commitment to the hobby. The inaugural member was Chris Orthadoxou who is not only a past owner of the country's fastest Mopar, but also is lead singer of the rock band Executive Relief who are the regular Saturday night entertainment. Recent additions to the event have included Friday night muscle car cruise, Saturday night racing, Classic American magazine's Car of the Year heat winner, American Car World's Street Racer Saturday and the Stock Appearing muscle car category and a show stopping fireworks display The show is now the largest it has ever been. In 2005 the strip was pummeled by an astounding 1000 runs from muscle cars of all shapes and sizes. This was witnessed by a record attendance, and was featured on UK network television programme Fifth Gear. 2006 saw the introduction of Friday racing making 22 hours of track time available over the three days. The muscle car cruise became so popular that it out grew its location. A new venue could not be found in time for 2007 and the cruise was cancelled.2007 also saw various mainstream magazine shoots at the show, despite the years appalling weather the Euronats came up trumps yet again with another record attendance. For this year's bash (2008) more changes are taking place. The Friday Night Cruise is back on the agenda and our host venue is the KFC at Wellingborough that has plenty of parking top cope with the cruisers. On return to the Pod an organized "Burn Out" arena will be set up, for everyone to fool around in relative safety. A live band or bands will perform on Friday night. We are also negotiating a deal for a mobile Dyno company to come along so that folks can see the horsepower their cars are achieving. A special Challenger tribute is also planned. It's also the shows Fifteenth Anniversary, yep, 15 years of Mopar Mayhem!!!!!!!! So come along 25th, 26th 27th July 2008 and join in the fun, you won't be disappointed! |
