Blackbushe, Surrey. NDRC Championship Finals. Castrol/RAC NDRC National Championship Round Six. Senior Comp saw Dick Sharpe's Pontiac powered A35 Dorset Horn continue it's winning streak with a string of mid-eleven second runs. The Page's Panic Topolino looked to be the only one that could stop him but when the two met in the final it was Sharpe that took the honours, 11.44 to 11.55.

SPR. Castrol Championship Finals. Senior Comp finally saw the Page team's Panic emerge as the car to put an end to Dick Sharpe's domination of the class. They ran a 10.7 in practice and a bye run in the first round saw them improve to a 10.4. Sharpe managed a personal best of 11.08 before losing out  to Martin Hall in his Chevy powered Firenza, a winning 11.4 to a hole shot 11.2. In the final it was victory for Panic with a 10.05/132 as Hall missed a gear.

SPR. Spring Nationals. Entry List. The attendance for the two days over Easter was put at 25,000 with 16,000 present for Monday’s eliminations. Qualifying in Senior Comp saw Dave Page at number one spot with a 9.6/145. Eliminations was again a two horse race as Dave Page and Dick Sharpe made their way to the final, Page taking a close win with a 10.6 to a 10.9.

SPR. May Day meeting. The eliminations were curtailed by rain. Dave Page ran a 9.8 in Panic.

SPR. Whitsun Holiday Weekend Big Go. Dave Page in the Panic Topolino altered led qualifying in Senior Comp with a 9.8 but had the misfortune to roll the car against the barrier on his next run with Dick Sharpe in the other lane.

Long Marston. Castrol/RAC NDRC National championship Round 5.  Dave Page was back in competiton having rolled the Panic Altered the previous weekend. he made it to the semi finals of Production two in the family's Cortina. It was however the Cortina of Steve Stevens that took the final win.

Blackbushe. NDRC Hot Car/Radio Luxembourg Grandnationals. Expectations were high for this meeting which marked the tenth anniversary of the 1964 Dragfest, but the weather continued to make things difficult for the NDRC as it had at earlier meeting this year. Most of the morning saw rain falling and, once it had stopped, drizzle continued on and off before the rain set in again and called an early halt before the event was completed. Senior Comp saw the return of the Page team with their new Panic Altered, built in 8 weeks. Clive Page's first run clocked an 11.4. He took a semi final win as John Dickson red lit. The final was one of many that didn't happen due to the return of the rain.

Silverstone. NDRC Meeting. Senior Comp saw Sweden's Bengt Stafberg take his 427 Chevy Altered take number one spot with a 10.2. Clive Page in Panic was next with a 10.59. In eliminations Page ran a personal best of 9.6 to defeat the Ford Rochdale of Freeman Rogers before the meeting was called due to rain.

NDRCs first meeting at Snetterton circuit, Norfolk. The final round of the Castrol/RAC National championship, and a round of the STP/Custom Car Championship for Pro Stock and Super Street. Clive Page led the way in Senior Comp, clocking a 9.7/150, followed by a 9.4/144, the quickest ETs ever recorded for a carbureted petrol burning car in any class. Page made his way to the final with a 9.9 win over a 10.8 from Dick Sharpe's Pontiac A35. In the final Page wheelied off the line and took the win with a 10.7 to Rodgers 11.45.

SPR. Fireworks Spectacular. Rain and mist played havoc with the racing and times and speeds were affected by the slick track conditions. Many finals were not held and some classes didn't progress beyond the first round. Saturday saw most vehicles get at least one run in, but the track conditions meant that nobody was able to run anywhere near their full potential. Senior Comp saw Freeman Rodgers lose fire twice, leaving Dave Page to solo to the final with an 11.44/103.4. He would have been up against Vic Hammond's Mr Big in the final. Hammond also had a solo in the semis, a 13.20/122.70, after a no show from John Dickson.

SPR. Easter Meet. In qualifying Dave Page in Panic clocked a best of 9.98/146.41.  Page took the Panic Altered into the three car Senior Dragster Class to make up the numbers. He disposed of Alan Sharpe with a 9.59/140.45 to a 10.68/129.03. Tony Anderson ran 9.41/149.03 to beat a 13.24/96.25 from Malcom Olley. The interesting prospect of a Panic/Trouble final was a victim of the weather and never happened.

Snetterton.RAC National Drag Racing Championship Round Four, round one of the Wolfrace Street Championship and a round of the 208 Pro Comp Championship. The 208 Pro Comp class saw the addition of Clive Page in the Panic Altered as he had no opposition in Senior Comp. Despite being the only car to be running on petrol he won his first round against the Vauxhall Funny Car of Pete Barnett before facing the blown 392 Altered of Mike Hall. A lightening start reaction from Page looked promising for another victory but a worn band in Panic's Clutchflite transmission caused a slow shift and Hall came past to take the win and a place in the final with a 9.2/171 to a 9.7/139. 

SPR. May Day Holiday Weekend Big Go. On Sunday Dave Page in Panic and Phil Elson in Sneaky ran a best of three for the Group B honours. Page ran a personal best and new class records of 9.27s and 147.06mph to a 9.29/129.03 to take the first round. Elson retaliated in the second with a winning 9.48/146.20 and took another win in the final with an 8.73/131.58 to a 9.48/146.20. On Monday Senior Comp saw Dave Page run 9.48/146 in the semis, followed by a 9.46/147 win over Mike Kason's Kerbdozer III in the final.

SPR. BDR&HRA One Day Meeting. Top and Senior Comp saw a combined two entries, resulting in a best of three between Dave Page in Panic, with a half-second head start, and Phil Elson in Sneaky. Page red lit in the first and took the win in the second after Elson shut off with steering problems. In the third an 8.7s blast from Elson wasn't enough to catch Page who made it 3/3.

SPR. European Grand Prix incorporating the first British funny Car Grand Prix.  Senior Comp saw the unusual addition of the Pro Stock Camaro of Gary Goggin. In the semis against the Altered of Mike Kason he managed a 10.05, but failed to advance due to having pulled a red light. Kason met Dave Page in the Panic Altered for the final, but was unable to select a forward gear and reverswed into his own push car, leaving Page to take the victory with a 9.46/145.

SPR. Holiday Weekend Supernationals Including fourth round of the Motorcraft Pro Fuel Masters Championship. Dave Page won Senior Comp in Panic with a 9.05/153 against a 13.54 from Norm Wheeldon, who had earlier run in the nine second bracket.

SPR. International. Reported in the December issue of Custom Car;

"Hard luck story of the meet must go to our very own Panic team who had a gearbox go in qualifying on Saturday, slaved through the day to get a replacement and fit it, found that the new box wouldn't mate with their engine, rebuilt the old box and installed it, and then lost a main bearing when they warmed the engine to check it over. Most people would give up at this stage, not so ace wrench and driver Dave Page. The engine was taken across to team Readspeed's mobile workshop and stripped down overnight with help from Steve Read. By six o'clock next morning Panic was ready to race again, but then the weather put the stoppers on the meet and our heroes were left with no reward for their efforts, other than the long trek home."

The team had hoped to debut the car during 81, but the woes with the motor and cash flow meant the Monza finally made it back out in it's good looking 'Panic' colours at the Easter 82 meeting at the Pod. (From the Priddle Monza profile by Darren West)

SPR. Labour Day Nationals.This was the third running of the Labour Day Nationals and was held under threatening weather which kept the attendance down. There was also quite a small entry of competitors. The Pro Comp and Fuel classes were combined due to depleted fields. Steve Read ran 6.63/209 to down Dave Hartshorne with 8.69/164. Geoff Bosworth on the Cannonball FC went the long way round with 8.10/137 to down Ragnor Nordli with 8.40/112. Gary Page then ran 6.66/222. The third place winner was Dave Hartshorne who took the win over Geoff Bosworth as the motor in Cannonball let go in a big way. Gary Page was the winner of the final with 6.70/213 beating Steve Read who had blower belt problems on his 8.23/102 run.

North Weald. This meeting was organised by the British Drag Racing Association after the demise of the NDRC a couple of months earlier. Pro Drag featured four cars and in the first semi the Read brothers came up against each other. Steve smoked his dragster off the line and let Robin through to take the win in 8.11/171 to 8.16/193. In the other semi, Gary Page easily beat an up in smoke Dick Cruse 7.65/176 to 10.50/71. In the final Robin Read broke a rocker shaft handing the win to Gary Page who ran 7.58/172.

SPR Springnationals. Entry List  In Funny Car Gary Page put in a 7.27 half pass in the Showtime car. In eliminations Gary Page and John Spuffard ran the final in Funny Car, with Page taking the win 6.08/235 to 6.48/190. For final results click here.

SPR. The Cannonball. Eleven cars entered the Cannonball, with six of them being the nitro variety. Gary Page made a checkout pass in Rune Fjeld's car, but a fuel line came adrift and he coasted through at 8.00 seconds. In the second round Gary ran a 6.66/244. In the third round John Spuffard, running alongside Page, suffered an engine explosion around half track and coasted over the line in 6.91 seconds at 149mph. Page recorded a 7.26/127. Rain brought a premature end to the meeting

Santa Pod Raceway. Main Event. In Top Fuel Gary Page qualified at number seven. He advanced to the final with a defeat of Anita Makela, whose engine went up in flames, and a 5.175/256.02 win over Kim Reymond whose tyres went up in smoke on the line. In the final it was Smax Smith who took the win with a 4.959/280.53 to a 5.382/211.65 from Page. 

Shakespeare County Raceway. All Star Nationals. In Fuel Funny Car first round of eliminations John Spuffard ran an early shut off 5.862/218.45 as opponent Gary Page suffered an engine failure which left oil along the second half of the track. Page had qualified fourth with a 10.693/90.91.