David Riswick

I was in the USAF stationed at RAF Upper Heyford in the UK back in the mid 60's when one day a B-58 paid a visit to our base. I had never seen one before. This was so impressive back then and the Hustler was kept under wraps during the time it was there but one of the flight line crew took me out to have a closer look. Wow.. Stunning. I was a member of an off base racing team building a Chevy powered drag car. We were looking for a name for the car so I said to the lads how about Hustler? This was in 1966 the next year we won the Super Eliminator Trophy at the annual Championships with Hustler and the team became known as the Hustler Team after the B-58.  This has gone down in British Drag Racing History as one of the pioneers of the sport. We won the Super Eliminator title in 1968 as well see attached color photo of Hustler. And here is the team in 1967, from left to right Mark Stratton, David Riswick and Ken 'Tex' Blake.  This picture was taken in 1967 on the flight line at RAF Upper Heyford. The B-58 had long gone so the best we could do was pose along side an old Voodoo. Upper Heyford handled many covert operations during and after the time I spent there. From the 50's with the RB-47 plenty of KC-135's the F101 "Lead Sled" The U-2, then the complete opposite and unknown SR 71's via Mildenhall to the electronic jamming versions of the  F111's that hit Libya back in the 1986 . In 1994 it closed down all together but the fact that so many strange things happened there has kept it a real focal point to historians. In 1968 a semi-professional circuit racer named John Woolfe, decided to sponsor the team to the tune of a brand new 7 litre Chevrolet engine. Needless to say, with such an advance in performance the car took the Super Eliminator Trophy at the August Nationals meeting for the second year in a row. In 1969 John Woolfe tragically lost his life during the Le Mans 24 hour race whilst driving a Porsche 917 fitted with a factory prepared engine. He had qualified the car in 21st place, but by virtue of the running start had managed to grab 17th spot before the first turn.  John crashed into a barrier wall at high speed just past Whitehouse bend and was thrown from the car. He died instantly. Another photo session taken in on the flight line at UH in 1971 (click to enlarge). The photo shoot was arranged by Ed Shaver for Hot Car magazine but in the event the pictures were taken by a USAF photographer because the aircraft (a General Dynamics F-111 fighter-bomber) was top secret at the time. By this time I had been discharged and had developed the "Hustler" team run by John Woolfe Racing and had landed sponsorship from Mattel Hot Wheels. Editors' note: If you want to read more about the history of the John Woolfe Racing team, just visit this site.