FUEL ALTEREDS MORE THAN LIVE UP TO EXPECTATION

USAutomotive played an invaluable part in supporting the five historic fuel altereds that were a star attraction of the weekend's Festival of Speed at Goodwood House.

Goodwood Motorsport Director Richard Sutton said; “The fuel altereds not only lived up to expectation – they exceeded it by a long margin.”

USAutomotive, who specialise in sourcing and supplying service items for all types of American vehicles, organised two 1950's era pick-up trucks and a Ford sedan to act as tow vehicles for the altereds throughout the weekend. Additionally, they provided the manpower and support to ensure the cars performed on time in their allocated slots.

Nanook, Rat Trap and the Bradford 's Topolino put in strong burnouts on Friday, while Pure Heaven suffered a transmission lock-up which propelled it backwards off the line, incurring body damage in the process and putting it out of contention for the rest of the weekend. Pure Hell experienced a blown head gasket, but Don Green, crew chief for three of the cars over the weekend, had it running on seven cylinders, much to the delight of the crowd.

. Rat Trap

Perhaps the best performances were to be seen on Sunday, when the sun shone all day and four of the five cars took to the track. The popularity of the fuel altereds was evident in the paddock with all of the drivers signing autographs for most of the weekend and chatting to the hundreds of drag racing fans who had made the pilgrimage to Goodwood to see them. USAutomotive's Stu Bradbury, Chief Starter at Santa Pod for over 20 years was one of them. In a recreation of the ‘good old days', Stu was called upon to wave off Rat Trap from the line on Sunday and did so in his usual flamboyant style.

Dexter Bradford, who is 77 years of age and Randy Bradford's dad, had a mishap on Sunday when he tripped and fell over at the startline. He was taken to hospital where it was discovered that he'd broken his hip. He's now on the mend and we all wish him well for a speedy recovery.