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and Killin’ Time Racing. Jackson has credited Cook with providing substantial resources behind KTR’ s success. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Keith Bartlett
Keith Bartlett’ s influence on European drag racing extends far beyond the gates of Santa Pod Raceway. Bartlett has led Santa Pod for 30 years, heading the syndicate that purchased the historic facility in 1996 and helping transform Europe’ s first permanent dragstrip into the continent’ s premier drag racing venue and a successful yearround entertainment business. Today, Santa Pod hosts roughly 60- plus events annually and remains home to both the opening and closing rounds of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship.
His larger impact has been creating and sustaining opportunities for professional drag racing across Europe. Bartlett formed the European Top Fuel Association in 1991, a predecessor to the FIA European Drag Racing Championship that followed later in the decade. Through years of working with racers, tracks, and governing bodies across multiple countries, he has been central to establishing the structure that allows European teams to compete for FIA and FIM championships on an international stage.
That work continues today. Bartlett is chairman of Drag Racing Europe AB, the promoter and commercial rights-holder for the FIA European Drag Racing Championship. DRE took over promotional duties beginning with the 2025 season with goals that include strengthening event presentation, marketing, media coverage, and commercial partnerships.
Even after three decades running Santa Pod, Bartlett is thinking beyond Europe. He and his team are currently pursuing the development of a truly global drag racing championship, another ambitious step for someone whose career has largely been spent building bridges between tracks, countries, and sanctioning bodies. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Donald and Stephanie Long
Nearly two decades ago, when radial cars were an afterthought, Donald Long put them on the concrete, paid them well, and eventually put them in front of massive crowds.“ Going into 2008, I felt like the radial guys were getting mistreated and getting put in the weeds, getting treated like third-class citizens,” he says.“ So I didn’ t care if we had 20 fans that showed up. It was about the radial guys and paying them and I wanted to make it awesome for them.”
The event he launched at South Georgia Motorsports Park in 2010 – Lights Out – became the Super Bowl of small-tire racing, and Duck X Productions became the template every outlaw promoter has borrowed from since. Long engineered purses that simply did not exist before: Radial vs. the World went to $ 50,000-to-win by 2016, and in 2018 he staged Sweet 16, a $ 101,000-to-win RvW-only race capped at 500 spectators and livestreamed using a pay-per-view format.
In 2022 he turned his marquee races into the FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series, roughly $ 200,000 in cash and prizes, and a five-year FloRacing extension signed in 2025 underwrites the guarantees. He cultivated the trash talk, too:“ We don’ t tell them to tone it down. We tell them to tone it up.”
Long’ s partner in life and in business, wife Stephanie, attended her first Duck X Productions race in 2014. Since then, she’ s become just as invested in the business of radial racing. She launched her own Boss X Productions brand and works side-by-side with Donald to put on the marquee Lights Out and No Mercy events, as well as the Radial Outlaws series.
“ In terms of work, it has increased immensely, but that is expected when you have the growth that we have,” Stephanie says.“ It’ s just like any kind of product that has the notoriety and the fans. The bigger it gets, the more work it’ s going to be to keep yourself not only above everybody else but also making your own product bigger and better. But when you’ re passionate about something, it doesn’ t matter how much work it is.” – ROB KING
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THE PROMOTERS
Peter Biondo
If you are an aficionado of accolades, Peter Biondo can certainly rise to the challenge. The seven-time NHRA world champion amassed nearly 160 final-round appearances on the national and divisional stages with 112 victories during his 20-year dedication to the NHRA circuit. At one time, he was undefeated for a staggering 36 consecutive rounds.
Biondo currently holds the record for the highest total NHRA national points accumulated in a season with 792 and also claims the No. 2 and 3 spots with 765 and 743 points, respectively. Performing like a machine on the racetrack and earning the nickname“ Terminator,” he unsurprisingly earned additional success in the big-money bracket racing realm, with over 100 victories to line the trophy room.
In addition to his highly decorated on-track racing career, Biondo and the late Kyle Seipel created Spring Fling Bracket Races( now often referred to as The Fling Race Series) as event promoters, with a focus on the racer experience, 17 years ago. The duo used their extensive racing knowledge to build a race series that has become the industry’ s premier standard of success. This October, the JEGS Door Car Fling will be the 50th event hosted by The Fling team.
These days, the ever-competitive Biondo spends the majority of his time growing The Fling brand and directing their five-race series across the country with his wife, Emily, and their children. About six weekends per year, he gets the opportunity to tighten his seatbelt, put on his helmet, and undoubtedly evoke uneasiness in his opponent as they have to stage up beside Peter Biondo in competition. For a moment, he is back to his 17-yearold self, making that first pass in the family station wagon, but for the rest of the drag racing world, he will continue to be one of the most influential drivers and promoters in our sport. – JESSICA HICKS SPEARS
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY CALLUM PUDGE, KAITLYN WARD, MATT LEVONAS, SCOTT ARNOLD, TARA BOWKER, JOE MCHUGH |