www.flatheadmeltdown.com

The Hot Rod Drags has traditionally been the busier of Shakespeare County Raceway's two jalopy-friendly events, but this one was extremely busy…and then some!  A quick word with the chief scrutineer on Sunday lunchtime revealed that over 280 cars had been inspected to race, and twelve of those were entered into the Flathead Meltdown.

The regulars in attendance were: Neil Fretwell in his Sport Coupe, Phil Wells debuting his Fordor Cee-dan, Miss P having a ball in the Shedster, Pete Ayres in the roadster, Mike Couch in his '32, Becky Dunn in her now for sale '26 T, Mart Holden brought 'Old Rusty' out for another play, Tony Devey brought the coupe and I bibbled along in my '30 Tudor.  The twelve was made up by three new faces.  First two were Lee Harris who was thraping the arse out of his Juarez-built roadster and Gavin Meanly in the Dennish-built 21 stud-powered truck.  The final place was taken up by Neil Bennett, owner and driver of the 1935 Batten Special, a VSCC hill climb machine that was drawing a crowd of people wherever it was parked.

Ask anyone who attended this event and they will tell you that Saturday was dominated by several oil downs involving cars from other fields, one of which was so colossal it took over two and a half hours to clear.  Despite this, and with no small thanks to the clean up team at Shakey, most of our flatheads managed at least three runs during the qualifying day.  There were several highlights including a couple of very close side-by-side pairings of the two heavy A sedans, Lee Harris surprising even himself with some very strong high 15-second passes, and a wheel-spinning 16.6 debut from Neil Bennett in the Batten.  The undisputed highlight of the Saturday though, and even of the weekend for some, was a new Meltdown record of 12.63 seconds at 104mph for Mike Couch.  Yup…the guy finally did it.  He ran a 12 AND he beat Jim Turnbull’s old record of 12.7.  This was on his crossply tyres too, not the slicks he’s sometimes seen wearing.  Stunning.  Well done Mike, from everyone associated with the Meltdown.  The only DNQ was Mart when the float in his 94 filled with fuel before he could manage a run.  He got it sorted for a few demo-runs on the Sunday, and was chuffed to bits with an 18.8 pass he pulled late on.

         

A chilly Sunday dawned (after a few Saturday night beverages) with a full eight car eliminator ladder, plus the quickest two four-bangers ready to duel it out.  That chill was soon replaced with glorious sunshine for the second day running, and the bleachers were packed with punters ready to see a good day’s racing.

The first round saw Mike Couch easily see off Pete Ayres by about 5 seconds and Becky Dunn’s mid 18-second pass demolishing Neil Fretwell’s puzzling 19.8 effort.  Lee Harris showed Tony Devey what the back of his car looked like right off the line with a 15.9 to Tony’s 21.5, but the only upset came during the final pairing of Neil Bennett and Gavin Meanly.  Neil should have had the beating of Gavin by a similar margin to the other pairings, but a small drop of oil on the start-line was enough for the starter to pull the Batten back from the line.  After all the down-time the previous day, nobody was taking any chances, giving Gavin a bye-run into the semis.  Not the way that any of us want to progress through to the next round, but Gavin was grateful none-the-less!

        

Another oil-down saw the racing held up for a little while, but once the semis were under way they went to form.  Gavin finally got his chance to put the tent away after Mike saw him off and Lee Harris gave Becky a similar opportunity.  This gave us the final pairing of Mike and Lee to battle it out for Meltdown glory.  Or at least that was what we thought.  Unfortunately for Lee, his rear suspension had taken a pounding from the all the hard launches – and believe me, he wasn’t taking it steady away from the line - causing something to fail.  Still, making it into the final in your first Meltdown is not a bad result.  Taking the fastest newbie award with a 15.6 also earned Lee £30 courtesy of Pete at Lite Welding Ltd, which isn’t bad either.  Well done Lee and cheers Pete for the prize.

         

All this meant that Mike had a bye run in the final which he completed drama-free, running an excellent 12.7 @ 102mph though unable to better his previous day’s record.  So congratulations to Mike two-fold for this weekend.  Yet another Meltdown dust-collector for the mantle piece, £50 cash courtesy of Juarez Traditional Fabrication and another £15 tool voucher from Toolsforcars.co.uk for winning the Meltdown.  But my guess is that the biggest prize of the weekend, the one that he’s sought more than any other, is the one that receives no trophy.  Well done, mate.

         

From eight to four now and the two quickest bangers from the qualifiers faced up to each other to shoot it out in their final: Neil Fretwell and Tony Devey.  Neil’s bronze sport coupe was certainly the favourite on paper over the green coupe, and this one went true to form.  The 4.11 gears in Neil’s quickchange saw him come off the line first and not relinquish the lead over the quarter, with his 18.8 a comfortable winner over Tony’s 21.5 second run.  Nice one, Neil.  £50 and a copy of their new book courtesy of What Katie Did, a £15 tool voucher from Toolsforcars.co.uk plus the obligatory dust magnet sponsored by Saturn Industries.

Now for a little word about the Batten Special and, more to the point, the owner Neil Bennett.  Neil came along for his first taste of drag racing after owning the Batten for the last 35 years.  Usually used in VSCC hill climbs, the Batten runs an H & H-built flattie V8, with Navarro heads and three 48 Strombergs and is capable of turning 6K with ease.  From the moment the car entered scrutineering, Neil and his car were surrounded by intrigued onlookers interested in hearing about the history and spec of the car, and Neil was only too pleased to talk to everyone.  Donning his tweed jacket, open-faced helmet and goggles, he looked the dapper English gentleman, eventually running an out of competition 15.7 @ 84mph with fuel starvation at the top end robbing him of an even quicker time.  He looked so cool in fact, that he was awarded the prize for the best turned out car and driver combo, sponsored by Rebecca Butterfly.  Yup…Neil has won himself a £100 tattoo voucher to be spent on the ink of his choice!  Let us know what you decide to have done, Neil!  An absolute pleasure to have you around and we certainly hope to see you back again.

         

 

The prize for the spirit of the Meltdown was awarded to Gavin Meanly.  This was simply because he turned up to an event for the first time, not knowing anyone, and got stuck in right from the off.  He didn’t stop smiling, enjoyed the banter, ran some storming 21-second runs, and is determined to come back again for some of the same.  His truck looks stunning too.  £50 courtesy of Adrian Smith at Buckland Automotive found its way into Gavin’s sky-rocket.

         

Considering all the down-time on Saturday, this meet could’ve been one to forget, but it ended up being the best HRD for a very long time.  A great crowd of people, stunning weather, and some brilliant racing.  Nuff said.

One final word for our sponsors…

Juarez Traditional Fabrication

Buckland Automotive

What Katie Did

Toolsforcars.co.uk

Lite Welding Ltd

…and Madam Butterfly’s Tattoo Parlour.

You folks have made this Meltdown series the best ever.  On behalf of all the racers, thank you.

Pics courtest of:  Odgie, Phil Wells, Mart Holden.