New member of BDRHoF Selection Board
The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame is delighted to announce that Keith Lee has accepted its invitation to join the Hall of Fame’s 
Selection Panel. The Panel’s dozen members meet annually to select the year’s new candidates for induction into the Hall of Fame. Keith replaces Brian Taylor, who has withdrawn from the Selection Panel to focus his energies on the BDRHoF’s Management Board along with his chairmanship of the Allard Chrysler Action Group.
Keith Lee’s drag racing association dates back to the original 1964 Drag Festivals at Blackbushe where, as an enthusiastic schoolboy, he watched Don Garlits headline a great day of sport. He persuaded his father to take him the 180-mile round trip to Santa Pod when it opened in 1966, the start of many long dragstrip weekends.
Keith helped promote the sport locally in the Berks/Oxon area by becoming an area representative for the BHRA, before having a go at competition himself. A Junior Dragster powered by a 500 Triumph was started, but shelved owing to lack of shed space. Instead he built his infamous Triumph scooter, which went quickly enough when it wasn’t throwing him off the back!
Becoming more involved with the organising club, Keith joined the BDR&HRA committee in the early 1970s. Peter Bartlett had earlier encouraged him to write reports for the club newsletter. This blossomed, and started a long-standing relationship with Drag Racing News. A love of photography saw him combine the two to supply feature articles to many publications worldwide.
Keith became the regular drag racing columnist for Motor Cycle Weekly, in addition to writing for National Drag Racer. Over the next ten years he freelanced for drag racing and associated publications in many countries, covering cars and bikes together.
In 1973 he became one of the commentators at Santa Pod, an appointment which spanned some 10 years and made for very hectic race weekends. From the mid-1980s Keith continued taking an interest in the sport from a distance while he worked as a qualified mechanical engineering designer. In 2003 he became a full-time professional photographer and moved with his wife Annie to Dorset the following year. He decided it really was time to write his long-intended book on the two-wheeled side of the sport’s early history, the first publication of its kind. Drag Bike Racing In Britain was duly published in 2010. Keith was also a major contributor to Crazy Horses and had significant input into a major motorcycle drag racing book in the USA.
With the introduction of Santa Pod’s ‘Dragstalgia’ event, Keith was co-opted to find and organise entries for the NSA bike shoot-out, for which some great old machinery has returned. Keith continues to produce photos and articles for publication, including a regular feature column for Custom Car magazine which explores many aspects of the early days of the sport in this country. Between them, Keith and Annie also edit The Sprinter, the magazine of the National Sprint Association, one of the country’s historic straight-line clubs.
This year’s new Hall of Fame members will be announced in July at ‘Dragstalgia’ and will be formally inducted during the Gala evening on Saturday 22nd November at the Savill Court Hotel, near Windsor. Tickets for the Gala may be reserved via the Hall of Fame’s website (www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk). It was recently revealed that Don Garlits will attend the Gala as the Hall of Fame’s guest of honour.
Photo attached: Keith Lee.
