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WEBSITE MOPAREURONATS 2009 - A REVIEW BY TONY OKSIEN
THE 16th MOPAREURONATIONALS 24, 25, 26 JULY 2009
SANTA POD RACEWAY, ENGLAND
Well, I guess it had to happen sometime as the Mopareuronats has been blessed with fine sunny weather over the last fifteen shows that this year it suffered its first rain - out. Although the show went ahead as conditions improved over the weekend, the track remained closed on Friday with the organisers power less as the heavens opened. The popularity of this event brings many folks together on the Thursday night as the now traditional street barbeque and party on Airfield Road leading up to the Pod gates gets into full swing. Despite the wet start, everyone pitched their tents, constructed their camps and readied their cars for racing, cruising or the show n shine. As last year the cruise left the track and headed for the car park at KFC Wellingborough, considering the damp circumstances 64 cars made the trip. After a number of muscle car drifting exhibitions in the live arena the crowd grooved to the sounds of " The Crooks", the evening entertainment.
As Saturday rolled around the skies cleared and a fine sunny day greeted the participants. The track opened on time and quickly became the centre of attraction as dozens of muscle cars thundered down the quarter mile. The likely lads from Surrey Muscle had a mixed weekend with a series of personal bests from Roger Luty 72 Olds 442 9.75, Paul Dodd Cutlass 10.85, Mad Dog in the Dukes Charger a shakedown run of 9.93 ' 143 mph, Craig McManus 67 Nova 9.9 before chewing up the prop shaft! The annual Surrey Muscle v Taz Racing completion worked out as a three all draw although Nick Woods 70 Road Runner suffered a blown engine; the 68 GTO of Brin Thomas ran 10.75. As the Surrey Muscle head honcho Paul Dodd put it "Man we are now running some serious numbers and with Dave Arnold pulling out consistent tens in the Power Tour and winning, what a great weekend for the club".
Of course Paul is right, as the racing proceeded into the night; the last hour became property of the Power Tour, the Grand Final. With a field of thirty two cars and at least ten in with the chance of winning the championship the racing took on a much more competitive nature. Consistency is the key element in the Power Tour; it's all about running close times and not necessarily the quickest. Over the series, ran at York, Shakespeare and Santa Pod raceways the overall winner was Dave Arnold in the Pontiac Trans Am, Andy Murton last year's winner came second and Dave Billadeau third. A great contest with over sixty entrants battling it out up and down the country. For more info on the Power Tour please go to www.moparnats.co.uk .
The firework display after the Power Tour then signalled the nights festivities, with a live band "The Sound Injectors" and DJ Navarro, folks partied long into the small hours.
Sunday is the traditional Show n Shine day at the EuroNats and once again the car corral quickly filled with some of the choicest muscle cars around. Tough decisions were made by judge's Carsten Wiotenek and Stew Keen but at the end of the day Dave Robson's 70 Challenger just lost out to Chris Davis's 71 Cuda Convertible which took top honours as Best in Show.
With a strong showing of cars from the continent, in particular the French Connection who turned up in force, the Long Distance Award eventually went to Davin Bergamin who drove his 1970 440+6 bbl Road Runner all the way from Switzerland ,some 1163 kms and with a 4-speed manual gearbox pushing through 4.10 gears, average mpg 8! Now that really is true Mopar dedication. After the awards ceremony the action returned to the track and the old favourite which is The Burn- Out Contest commenced. When the smoke cleared the crowd judged Alan Mears in his 69 Road Runner as Burn-Out King 2009.
The rain kept off on Sunday which saw the track in constant use as racers tried to improve on their previous day's times. A battle between Chris Orthodoxou in the Viper and Paul Manders in the Plymouth Arrow for Fastest Mopar went down to the wire as Orthodoxou stormed down the strip on the very last run of the day, failing by tenths of a second to better Manders 7.796 @ 173 mph who took the Top Spot.
So if you took the advice of the Met Office and decided to give the show a miss, you really did miss out, however it's happening again next year, keep these dates in mind 30th, 31st July, 1st August 2010 and get yourself along.
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