I've been meaning to post these clips for a while, here are some old silent cine film clips of Santa Pod in the late 70's and early 80's. The film is all Ford Pops and Fordsons and includes Street Rods and dragsters alike. Look out for Puddlejumper, Pinball Wizard and Hot n' Bothered.
http://youtu.be/mzeHZdH2l18
Regarding the Al's Gasser roll over, his car had been wild all day, popping wheelies and pulling all over the place under power. On the run against 'Tender Trap' I saw him yaw big time and figured he'd step of the gas to correct it... so I stopped filming as the race was lost!! I remember watching Al wrestle the car away fron the fence and then the rear slick dug in flipping it onto its side before gently rolling onto it's roof as it slid across the track. In what appeared to be slow motion the car finally toppled onto it's other side and as the rear slick dug in all hell broke loose as it barrel rolled to a stop. The doors flapping open and Al hanging out of one of them as his harness had snapped! At some point my friend shouted for me to continue filming hence I managed to capture the final rolls and then I rmember the silence as the crowd realised what they'd just witnessed.
If you look closely in the final shot once it's stopped rolling you can see Al's helmet rolling about on the track to the right of his wreck... we all feared that his head was still in it! Fortunately it was not.
Al survived and so did the car thanks to probably the best crowd blanket collection ever... such was his popularity then and why he's still regarded by many, as one of the all time greats in British Drag Racing.
Phil