British drag racing pioneer Nobby Hills, who has died of natural causes aged 87, became involved with European drag racing at the very start. Witnessing Sydney Allard and Dante Duce racing in the early ’60s inspired him to build a race car of his very own. The first of the Houndog cars appeared in 1964 and, with Nobby focusing on the engineering side of things, was driven by a number of hired-in drivers.
Nobby built six front-engined dragsters, the first having Jaguar power and the last a Chrysler Hemi. Houndog 6 regularly ran mid 7-second quarters in the early ’70s. Things then turned Funny for Nobby
