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UK Tom

Writer's picture: 3G video3G video

                Written by Jim Fox        Photos by Jesse Fox (3G Video)



                                                   International

Wow, things have really changed, four years ago the drag and drive community was these crazy Americans in the U.S. that went nuts for a week out of the summer driving their dragstrip cars on the street competing with each other. Now, this exploding sport is taking center stage in the racing community around the world. With events in Canada, Sweden, England, New Zealand and Australia and maybe even more. There is a points system set up for an overall Championship for the year and the competition is getting better, pushing everyone to a new levels. This brings us to UK Tom and his story of a love for a sport that seemed so far away and not within reach for a young man in the United Kingdom.



                                              Love for Racing

Tom Bagguley’s love for racing was because of his Dad, Paul Bagguley.  Dad competed in what we refer to here in the States as demolition derbies when he was in his teens and twenties before Tom was born. When Tom was young they had an Austin 16 and that was the beginning of his love for racing. Tom’s sister and Mom were never involved in the racing scene, this was a father/son thing. His Dad had stopped racing and just did cars shows. There were two dragstrips around where Tom lived, Shakespeare County dragstrip that is now shut down, and Santa Pod dragstrip. Every year for Tom’s birthday, Paul would take Tom to the Nationals at Santa Pod. This was a real treat to get to go to a big event like this. Tom also had a childhood friend who did everything together.  His friend died in June of 2021, Tom said, “it makes you really appreciate all this even more”.



                                              Realizing the Type of Car

Back when Tom was a kid, Paul took him to an event. Tom was looking around at a bunch of cars, he was always more interested in looking and listening to the cars then watching the racing. He noticed that some of the cars and trucks looked weird on the backend.  Now Tom realizes, that is the type of car he races, understanding that was embedded in him as a kid and it stuck.



                                              The Journey Begins

Drag Week seemed to always come on the week when Tom was out of school so he would watch it and that was what he wanted to do. Tom rebuilt a Subaru Legacy and did some track stuff, he really thought that was cool. The Subaru was normal drive so he couldn’t do a lot of drag stuff with it.  His first event was in August of 2018 at Donnington Track on track day. He didn’t drive much in the UK because at that time there were no drag and drive events there. Then in 2022 this event was created called “Sick Week”, being held in Florida during the winter.  This seemed like the perfect timing to get involved in the drag and drive experience. Tom had always wanted to go to Florida and this would be the time to go.



                                             The Experience

Tom came to Florida, rented a car, and drove as a spectator in his first ever drag and drive event.  He came over to drive as a spectator five more times in other drag and drive events just to be a part of what he had dreamed about when he was young. During that time he drove in a three day event in the England called Street Weekend, very similar to the U.S. regional events of drag and drive. In 2022 he drove from Thunder Valley to Bowling Green KY and for the first time he ran out a full tank of gas without stopping.  Tom said, “You can’t do that in the UK” the experience blew his mind. 



                                              Actual Experience

In 2023 Tom came to Rocky Mountain Race Week 1.0 as a spectator for his sixth time. Drove along with the event in his rental car and decided he was over this.  He asked a couple of friends to start looking for something for him to buy and gave them a budget. He just wanted something he could actually drive in the event, didn’t care what.  They found one and it just kind of fell in his lap.  It was a Fox Body Mustang that was hacked together, but nothing could have prepared him for how reliable the car would be.  He went home then came back for RMRW 2.0. You can listen to all of his adventures during the interview on the Pod Cast with 3G Video in the link below. The car got the nick name “Nap Shack” because he had to sleep in it. He had a blast. Then he went right after that event and did Death Week. This made a total of eight drag and drive events in two years that he attended. Tom said, “Enjoy the moments you get but still take pictures”. He was amazed at the drag and drive community and made this observation and said this.  




“You are racing each other but no one wants you left on the side of the road. At Sick Week there were competitors fighting to win but they were swapping parts and making sure each of them would finish to the end. To experience stuff like that is just insane.”



                                                      What’s Next

Tom wants to do as many events as possible but there is just so much you can do. With the timing of flights and costs of flights that have doubled in the past year, finances are an issue. He is only doing two events in the U.S. and Street Weekend in England this year.  Look for Tom at Rocky Mountain Race Week 1.0 coming up this coming week when this article is published and later in the fall at the Sick 66 event.  He will be bringing Paul, his Dad, and a friend with him to RMRW. 

He said, “Just coming out to have fun, don’t care how fast or to win.”




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