So you clicked here and thought you'd get a sneak preview of the new Houndog?

Well, this is the story of Internet communications, meetings and phone calls from November 2001 to January 2004 
click here if you just want to go straight to the launch story and pictures

It started with a news item on Eurodragster ......

5th November 2001: Fans will be delighted to hear that one of the most popular names in UK Drag Racing is to make a return to the track. UK Drag Racing legend Nobby Hills is working on a restoration of Houndog 11, which was the first Fuel FC in the UK to receive a five-second time slip. The Corvette body and the chassis of the last car to carry the Houndog name have been located, but the story is a little more complex than that.
"The idea was to restore the car and to put it into a museum, because it was the first five-second car", Nobby told us at the Flame and Thunder Show on Saturday. "But having got into it more, I found that the bug is still there, and so we will want to bring it out and run it occasionally."
As with any restoration project, the first part of the job was locating the original parts. The FC was last seen on-track in the mid-1990s in Top Alcohol, owned by Martyn Hannis and with Kenny McCormack at the wheel. "The body is quite good", said Nobby, "it won't take a lot of work to put it back as it was. I tried to buy the rolling chassis, but the owner wouldn't sell it, so I ordered the tubing for a new chassis, and then he called and said that he'd sell it! I can see that I'm going to end up with two cars!"

Nobby is building a new chassis whatever happens. "I've worked a long time on the jig", he said. "It certainly makes life easier, it's ten thou out at the most. The tubing is all bent and ready to go, so we will have a new, up-to-date chassis with the old body on it. We want to run a real nice race car but it takes a lot of money!"

Nobby also confirmed that legendary Houndog shoe Owen Hayward will be in the driver's seat on those occasions when the restored car runs. Stay tuned for more details of progress on the restoration, as Nobby has promised to keep us informed.

Again from Eurodragster, this time Easter 2002:

Knut Soderquist also told us that he is helping out Nobby Hills with his return to Fuel Funny Car. "I've got him an ex-Geromino late-model Camaro body, a Chrisman with carbon brakes, a Nuclear fuel pump, clutch can, and an AFT clutch from Schumacher", he said. "We will help Nobby as much as we can with tuning although he has his own ideas about fuel and clutch management!"

From the message forums of www. Dragsterworld.com came, from an informed source, some not so good news when asked for news on the new Houndog Funny Car:

Dated 30/4/02:     One comment I have had is that Nobby is light years away.... When you have been in this game as long as I have, you realise that you don't believe anything unless you see it with your own eyes.

And then in response to a follow up question: Looks like next season for Nobby then?

I'm not sure that light years equals next season, but I doubt very much if we shall see him this year or even next.

As of June11th  the same source said:  As a matter of interest, I had a very interesting conversation with Nobby at the weekend. It appears that his project to return to the track with a race car is not as far away as I was first informed.

From the Dragster World message forums came the following (on July 24) written by Stu Bradbury who was the chief starter at Santa Pod in days gone by....
You could see both myself and Nobby Hills back on the startline next year with a brand new Camaro Fuel Funny car if all goes well.

Then, on July 31st, Stu Bradbury posted the following in an answer for more info:

Unable to tell you much about the plans a the moment. However I can say that as usual, Nobby has a lot of new ideas that he will be trying out on this new car. If they come off it will change the way fuel cars are run, not only in the UK, but in other parts of the world. Knowing Nobby as I do, I have confidence they will. He has been trying to get back into Drag Racing for some considerable time, after his expensive experience with a certain American gentleman.

During the September meeting at Santa Pod, Owen was interviewed and confirmed that the new car is under construction and will appear in 2003.

In June 2003, the following information was made available, again from an informed source via the Dragster World message forums....
"As for Nobby Hills, he too was at the Main Event and he had on his person some drawings done by Darren West of a possible design to be put on his Camaro Funny Car when it is finished (I have also seen photographs of the chassis which Nobby says is the best he has ever built). The plan is that Owen Hayward will return to cockpit duties."

Then from Eurodragster came......

16th June: UK Fuel legend Nobby Hills could be a couple of months from a return to the track with the latest Houndog Fuel Funny Car. As we revealed here on Eurodragster back in November 2001 Nobby, who ran a string of cars of that name from the 1960s to the 1980s, will be teaming up again with equally legendary FC shoe Owen Hayward.
"I'm working very hard at it", says Nobby. "I'm trying to be ready in two months. The chassis is complete, the body has been painted, the engine just needs heads and the clutch is in place."

Nobby says that although he is aiming to have everything ready in two months, he will not be rushing the job. "I want to do it properly, and if it takes time then it takes time", he says.

7th September 2003:
After more years than we would all like to admit, I met Nobby and Owen on the Sunday of the European Finals at Santa Pod...and they didn't look a day older.......well, not many days older!
Nobby was kind enough to show me some exclusive pictures of the new car and all I can say is that it looks fantastic...the dogs wotsit's in fact!
The level of detail on the chassis is of the standard you would expect from a Houndog and the body, as previously reported, is a late model Camaro.
Again, as previously reported, the proposed paint job is fantastic and, with all due respect to the current funny cars racing, it puts their paint schemes to shame! 
(There is even a proposed matching paint job for the truck and trailer!)

If the car ends up looking  half as good as the proposed design, it will be one of the best looking funny cars that has hit the strip and congratulations must go to Darren West for the design.

So certain things never change, the attention to detail and the showmanship is still there.

The $64,000 question is still unanswered at this stage...when will it appear?
There are still some loose ends to tie up, but Nobby was very optimistic, so lets hope its sooner rather than later.

Nobby also mentioned that it was 40 years ago this week that Houndog 1 ran for the first time, which we calculated meant that Nobby was 12 (or so) when he started drag racing!

All I need to do now is persuade Nobby to let me have the pictures of the new car, scan them, and ........no seriously, he has promised to keep in touch and as soon as further news is available and the car progresses in its development I'll let you know.

After all these years and having lost touch through time, it was great to meet up with Nobby, Owen, and most of Owens family;  it was as though we had never lost contact in the first place. It certainly added to what was a great days drag racing, 2003 style.

January 2004:

The new Houndog Camaro Fuel Funny Car  made its public debut at the 
Autosport Show at the NEC Birmingham on the 9th - 11th January 2004. 

This next public show of the car is scheduled to be at the Extreme Wheels show at the Ally Pally on the 14th - 15th February 2004.

Nobby told me at the end of November about the planned public launch, but he wished to keep this confidential and make the launch of the car more news worthy. The fact that the news about the car being shown at the Extreme Wheels show broke in December was just one of those things I'm afraid, but I was not prepared to break Nobby's confidence and put anything on this site until he gave me the OK. What appears on this site will be official and will have been sanctioned by Nobby, what appears on Internet message boards etc. may just be rumour.

Click here to see the pictures.