Drag racers from 16 European countries plus the USA will gather at Santa Pod Raceway over late May’s Spring Bank Holiday weekend to contest the opening round of 2025’s FIA/FIM European Championships. With an entry list approaching 300-strong, The Main Event encompasses competition for national as well as international title chases, with classes ranging from youngsters piloting Junior Dragsters and Dragbikes all the way up to the fastest two- and four-wheeled adult machinery on the planet.
300 mph Top Fuel Dragsters are the quickest and fastest of them all. Switzerland’s Jndia Erbacher defends the 2024 crown she snatched dramatically by winning the season’s final two races. Erbacher renews on-track hostilities with Sweden’s speed queen, Susanne Callin, whom she narrowly beat to the title. In performance terms, the two are closely matched, each with 3.8-second, 320mph personal bests. Among the opposition, Britain’s Liam Jones returns to international competition after five years’ absence, having limbered up at last month’s Easter event.
The Pro Modified contest brings another chance to see the remarkable Estonian racer, Andres Arnover, in action. The Main Event combines the opening FIA Pro Mod Championship round with round two of the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship. Arnover already leads the UK points after winning round one at Easter with the quickest Pro Mod elapsed time achieved in Europe, 5.695sec, dipping beneath the 5.7sec barrier, which few others have even approached. Arnover already holds Santa Pod’s Pro Mod speed record at 254.86mph. Another 250mph-plus racer is the defending FIA champion, Finland’s Jere Rantaniemi, who scooped the crown with a final-round victory over Britain’s Andy Robinson last September at the European Finals. Both will figure in the 16-strong international field of racers bidding to overcome the turbocharged Estonian.
Aside from the other FIA classes – Pro Stock, Top Methanol – the Funny Car Cup is led by a Texan record setter. When 1960s American racers began cramming nitro-burning dragster engines into saloon-style cars, someone quipped that these machines looked ‘kinda funny’, and the name stuck – funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha. At Easter, Texas veteran Terry Haddock set new European Funny Car marks at 4.124 sec at 307.88mph en route to victory. Like Top Fuel Dragsters, the wild-handling Funnies race over 1,000 feet instead of the classic quarter-mile, for safety reasons. Britain’s Steve Ashdown will be Haddock’s chief opposition.
On two wheels, the FIM European Championship brings entries in Top Fuel Bike, nitro SuperTwin, Pro Stock and Super Street bikes. The Main Event’s supporting programme includes full fields of UK championship car and motorcycle classes.
The Main Event 2025 takes place from Friday, May 23rd to Monday, May 26th at Santa Pod Raceway, near Wellingborough NN29 7XA, with a wide range of off-track entertainment complementing the racing action. Full event details are available at https://santapod.co.uk/main-event.php.
Book in advance, online at https://santapodtickets.com/p/mainevent or by telephoning the Box Office at 01234 782828. Paddock access is free for a close-up view of all the pitside action.
This story was originally published on May 6, 2025. 
