Driver: “Mad” Mick Howling
Class: ProET
Class: ProET
Also used for passenger rides & to teach students how to drive a dragster. Purchased by Paul Marston in 1998 as a rolling chassis, Paul first entered National Event competition with this car. Paul Watson was crew chief, Big Chris Manning as crewman and John Ellis of C & S Racing supplied the power plant and sponsored the car. It took Paul Marston two seasons to taste his first success by winning the National Finals at Santa Pod in 1999.
Super Gas was a real tough class back then, populated by Professor Al O’Conner, Terry Gibbs, Ragin Ray White, Brian Pateman, Physco Phil Drewitt, Kev Moore, Sean Saunders, Paul Letchford, Big Jim Magee, Pete ‘Up in smoke’ White, Roger ‘Snow White’ Butterworth, Tim Adams, Cool Hand Luke Ramage and Jeff ‘in the red’ Bull.
Grumpy’s Dodge is one of the longest serving and most well known cars on the UK drag racing doorslammer scene. Previously campaigned by Paul ‘Grumpy’ Watson who won back to back Super Gas National Championships. More recently PMR Drag Race School instructor Mick Howling won the 2009 National Championship in Pro. ET and Super Gas, it is one of the school cars that members of the public are taught to drive in or be blasted down the track for the ride of their lives during numerous weekends every year. This has at times been the hardest working car in UK drag racing, completing over 250 passes every year.
Between 2010 and present day Grumpys Dodge has remained active with drivers such as Mad Mick Howling, Paul Marston, Amanda Cox and most recently Nick Curtis in UK Top Sportsman 2015 where Nick was No1 Qualifier with a 9.608 on a 9.60 dial in the fast bracket race. The event was cut short due to weather but Nick was still in and received his equal share of the prize fund.
Grumpy’s Dodge 2024 Update
Grumpys Dodge has received some major changes in recent times. Grumpy’s weak spot has always been her rear axle. Its a Chrysler 8 3/4 axle, naturally, specially modified for drag racing. With all the best parts money can buy. However, the weakness is the actual axle case itself. Anything over 650-700hp and it will fail. We were right on the edge with the current motor and have had some breakages but lived with it. So after collecting all the needed parts and pieces, after covid, the decision was made to upgrade the whole drivetrain, Axles, Transmission and of course a more powerful big block chevy. Again all this work was handled at DRE and Gary Springford. A ford 9 inch axle was fitted to replace the Chrysler item. Then an uprated 2 Speed transmission, along with a JW Performance custom torque convertor, built specifically for our car. The motor is a 565ci big block chevy with around 850-900hp on tap.
With these upgrades, our personal best with the Dodge dropped into the high 8 second zone, so Grumpy picked up around half a second or more. Grumpy was campaigned over the 2023 season by Paul Marston, once most of the bugs were straightened out. Grumpy had a tally of a win, a runner-up and down to 4 cars (rained out). Grumpy is also still out main race school doorslammer and has helped a few more people in 2023 make their tentative first steps into competition. Grumpy was also the main feature, when Paul and the PMR crew taught u-Tuber and Porsche F3 star Archie Hamilton to drive her. Check it out on u-tube is a good watch 2024 will see her out again for most of the season, in Pro or Super Pro and most probably Super Gas as well. With a few more upgrades, she should be even more competitive, stay tuned.
Performance
- 0-60 MPH – 1.35 Seconds
- 0-100 MPH – 6.0 Seconds
- ¼ MILE – 9.39 Seconds
- MPH – 139 MPH
- Fuel Consumption 3 Gall Per mile
Grumpys Dodge Gallery
