Hello! Here's a bit about my life in drag racing so far...  

I started going to the Pod way before I can remember, maybe even when I was still a mere bump. I guess it was going to be in my blood as the old git used to run a slingshot back in 197? before me and my big bro came along. We were regular spectators going as many times as we could every year, definately hooked from a very early age. I even learned to drive at the Pod at the ripe old age of about 7 and I haven't stopped since.

Over the years I dreamed of owning my own car, always wanted a sit up and beg pop after having (and still have) great memories of watching Al's Gasser launching from the line with his wheels up...and it had to be a flamed pop. I've got loads of memories from there, meeting Cory Lee and Harlan Thomson, sitting in the Budweiser junior dragster before they were even heard of back in about '92 I think when I was about 10 years old. I even got to meet one of my heroes, the legendary Sammy Miller, got to sit on his car and have my picture taken with him and he signing a hero card just for me. Trust me when I say I was grinning for weeks afterwards!

Fast forward a few years to when I was 18 and got my first loan! Looking to get a sensible everyday car to get to and from work I had my eye on a Peugeot 306 (don't ask, guess I was just young and naive). Then the old man handed me a copy of Custom Car and showed me an advert in the back for a slingshot, it was only about an hour and half away so it would've been rude not to go and have a look really. In all honesty my mind was already made up before we left so we went to have a look with a wadge of pound notes in my back pocket. Later that day I was the very proud owner of my own dragster, kinda daunting really as I had no experience with anything like this before. We pulled up back at home with mum expecting to see a nice shiny 306 outside but instead was faced with that. Ah well, it was the best thing I've ever done. A quick phone call to a family friend, Kev 'Closet' and asked if he wanted to be a crew chief. The deal was done and Mad'R's Drag Racing Team was born!

We debuted the car under the name of 'Cobalt' in 2001 running with the Wild Bunch. The story behind the name was I fancied a name that had Coe in it (the family surname) and after many suggestions we agreed on the one and duly sprayed the car in cobalt blue. Driving duties were shared between me and Dad and he had the honours of racing the first meeting as I couldn't have done it without his and Kevs help and support. He ended up going through to the semis and coming 3rd in his first meeting, way to go Dad! The next meeting it was all up to me and man was I bricking it. And what I surprise when I went all the way and won the final, one of my best achievements and proudest moments still to this day. Have to say a massive thank you to the B Sting team on that weekend and to the whole 'bunch'. We ended up coming 2nd in the Super Series that year and ended up taking the honours of Best Newcomers and Best Achievers shared of course with the old git. Have to say a massive thanks to Kev for being crew chief and mechanic for getting that car down the track with the best time of 11.932, not bad for a standard 3.5 Rover on twin SU's. And a big thanks to all the team for the help and support in which turned out to be a very successful debut season. Couldn't have done it without you!

WATCH THIS SPACE, TO BE CONTINUED......