The Cannonball - Santa Pod - 1st/2nd July 2000
So in its ongoing attempt to prevent Santa Pod improving the site by holding up planning permission, have Bedfordshire Planners found out how to control the weather...for the third event in a row we had rain!! Although it was not as bad as predicted it must have deterred some fans from coming as the crowd could have been larger. This was the nineteenth Cannonball.....the top event in Europe for Funny Cars. Despite this years pre-race advertising stating that it would be the biggest field ever (it wasn't) we still had four Nitro and four Methanol Funny Cars to battle it out for the title. Each car runs three times, there ETs are added together and the two with the lowest total then race for the Cannonball trophy. The Nitro cars should win but they only need one bad run to let the more consistent Methanol cars in. So would Micke Kagared retain his title or would pre race favorite John Spuffard win?
Round One. This was run on Saturday with the weather warm and humid. The first pair were both Nitro cars. John Spuffard ran low E.T. of the event with a brilliant 5.49 at just 216 m.p.h, in the other lane Gordon Smith ran 6.29. The next pair were Methanol cars, Micke Kagarad 5.96 defeated Urs Embacher 6.64. The third pair were also Methanol cars and it was a very close race... Lex Joon 6.04 only just losing to Urs Urbacher who ran a 6.02. The final pair were both nitro cars but Tony Betts was unable to make it so Smax Smith soloed with a12.07, tyre shake caused an early shutoff and he coasted thro the lights at only 52 m.p.h. So Spuffard had a good lead after round one, but what would tomorrow bring.
Round Two This started at 12 .30 slightly behind schedule due to a delayed start because of overnight rain. First pair and Spuffard left hard and looked to be heading for another low five, but at mid track he suffered bad tire shake and this shook the chutes out. John kept his foot on the throttle and drove through the finish line with the chute billowing behind to run a 6.14, if he had shut off he could well have been out of a chance of making the final. Gordon Smith in the other lane ran a 7.70 early shutoff. Tony Betts then took on Smax Smith, after two good burnouts Betts body was raised on the start line to make some engine adjustment but unfortunately they couldn't get it to lock back down and with Smith waiting to stage the starter had to tell Betts to shut off. Smith soloed to another shutoff 11.05. The next two races featured the Methanol cars. Joon 6.27 beat Embacher 6.41. Kagarad just beat Urbacher with a 5.94 to a 5.98 in a great race. Spuffard still held top spot but the Methanol cars of Kagarad and Urbacher were just behind.
Round Three First up Smax Smith ran 6.52, he again had tire shake and peddled it mid track before charging through the lights at 231 m.p.h. in the other lane, it was third time lucky for Betts as they finally put a run in 11.95 but its a steep learning process for this new but promising team. The next race was a solo for Spuffard as Gordon Smith could not make it. After another hard launch he again suffered tire shake and when the chute came out he was forced to shut off, coasting through to a 8.91. If the Methanol cars ran as consistently as they did in the first two rounds then he would be out of the final. This they did with ease Joon 6.14 beat Embacher 6.40, and then in the final pair Kagarad defeated Urbacher 5.95 to a 6.11. With all the times added up this put these two in the final, Switzerland verses Sweden for the 2000 Cannonball.
