How did you find Brisca F1 Stock Cars?
"When I first came into the sport in 1965, there was no BriSCA, or F1. Stock Car Racing in those days was run by the Stock Car Racing Board of Control and F1s were called ""Senior Stock Cars"", while the F2s were known as ""Juniors"".
I thoroughly enjoyed my racing days - except when things went wrong! I enjoyed the 3 nights a week down at the Stock Car garage, the location of which varied several times and were shared, over a period of 7 years, with Tony Haynes (ex.140), Duncan Schofield (ex.76), long time friend, Derek Coleman (ex.364 and 69), Terry Cooper (ex.223), then, at the end, Barry Hampson (ex.328), the late John Hampson (ex.317) and Dave Dawber (ex.422). The build-up to race days got the adrenalin pumping, there was great camaraderie in the pits - with help from other drivers if you needed it, then a few pints and the chippy on your way home afterwards. Travelling to and from meetings, all over the country was great fun too.
Racing-wise, I was never very good - but it didn't mean to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did and always preferred shale to tarmac, especially on a dry surface. I never seemed to get to grips with wet shale (ha ha)!! It was very hard at first and it probably took me a couple of years to get into it - partly because, at first, I shared a car with my great mate, the late Tony Haynes, so I didn't get to race as much as when you have your own car to start with."
What gave you the incentive to race
Briefly, it was my mate mentioned above, Tony Haynes (an ex. School friend, neighbour and work colleague), who got me to go down to Belle Vue with him (we only lived 12 miles from Belle Vue), early in the 1965 season. I was instantly hooked as soon as the cars came out of the pits for the first heat. I think Jack Ollerenshaw (ex.26) won the meeting final. I turned to Tony part way through that first meeting and said "I want to have a go at this!". He replied "So do I!"
First Car - Built, Bought or Borrowed
My first car, shared with my mate Tony Haynes, was bought from a driver who was retiring through ill health. That was Derek Walker (ex.43), who had a car breakers yard in East Manchester. Derek had heart problems if I remember right, but had been a Belle Vue and Long Eaton regular - and was a B Grade (yellow top) driver when he retired. The car had a Jaguar engine, Humber axles, an Austin A30 body and an angle-iron roll cage (which we didn't like one bit!!). We took the car away, had the good fortune to garage with an existing stock car driver (Duncan Schofield) in Chadderton near Oldham and over the winter of 196566 did some modifications. We changed the axles to a AustinMorris LD, put a round tube roll cage on and a Ford "Pop" body. The easy bit was repainting it!!
Memory of your first race.
In a word - UNFORGETTABLE!!! It was Belle Vue in May 1966, a World Championship Qualifying Round, I think. I didn't have much to eat that day, not until afterwards anyway! I was programmed as a Reserve along with Roger Spencer (ex.315 from Newcastle-under-Lyme), but can't remember which heat I raced in, as I no longer have the programme. (Tony made his debut with the car at the previous Belle Vue meeting and did very well. He finished 7th in his heat and 7th in the consolation). My debut was slightly different. We had an old Ford V8 Fire Engine as a transporter and it broke down on the way, slap bang in the middle of a set of traffic lights!! So we got to Belle Vue a bit later than we should have done, unloaded the car, fuelled it up, and off I went onto the track. A rolling start and we were off. I just kept my right foot flat to the floor on the first lap, managed to get round the first bend, down the back straight and then half spun on the pits bend. Foot still flat down on the accelerator, I shot across the centre green - just missing the St.Johns Ambulance men!!! I got back onto the track to go round the Funfair Bend for the second time. I drifted a bit wide and hit the Kevin Shackleton (ex.240) car, which was in the fence at right-angles to the track. I went up in the air and rolled end over end and sideways over and over again - ending up nearly half way down the back straight on my side!! No waved yellows in those days, I undid my safety harness and fell on the track inside the car. At that stage, I didn't know where my car was, whether it was on the track or the infield. I stood up and popped my head through the cab window, to find I was in the middle of the track, with cars bearing down on me and then splitting to go round me either side!! I climbed out onto the top side of the car, waited for a suitable moment, then legged it onto the centre green, shaken but not stirred!! The breakdowns came round at the end of the race to shovel the remains onto the back of the transporter. The engine and gearbox were out on the track, both axles were off, the roll-cage welding had broke all over the place and the chassis was badly cracked. Apart from that it was OK, ha ha!!! Needless to say, we decided to build a new car from scratch, which we did and brought it out at the beginning of September.
Best Racing Memory
Without a doubt, it was winning my one and only race at Belle Vue, my local track, at their last meeting of the season in October 1968. I'd had a number of 3rd and 4ths etc, but never had won (I only ever had a white roof). I'd raced in heat 3 and just missed out on a place to get me into the final, so I knew the car was going well with its 3.8-Litre Jaguar well on song. I drove the car off the track and headed down the pits -we were right down at the far end. All we had to do was re-fuel, but when I got back up to the pit gate to go into the Consolation Race, they had shut the gate!! No amounts of persuasion would change their minds. Perhaps if I had a red roof….??? Anyway, it meant that I'd be first out of the pits for the Helter Skelter (Grand National), and had Pole Position on the grid. When the green flag fell, I got a flyer and there was a huge pile up on the first bend just behind me. When I came round for lap 2, they were still sorting themselves out – even the red tops! I led from start to finish and remember looking in my mirror a lot during the closing stages!! When the Chequered Flag fell, it was the most marvellous feeling in the world. I raced on a shoestring and it meant so much to me. I will never, ever, forget that night!!
Worst Racing Memory
To be honest, I had a few. I was unlucky enough to break two small bones at the base of my neck, on the right hand side, at Belle Vue in July 1969. That put me out of racing for a few months and it was just when things were starting to come together.
Reason for Retiring
But I think the worst was my final year, in 1971. So many things went wrong. I'd bought the Geoff Buck, ex-Doug Cronshaw "Eliminator" car for a grand sum of £350 - a lot of money for me in those days! I had to take a bank loan out to buy it. The big problem was, I had just started a garage business with some other Stock Car mates and the business had to take preference over everything else. I didn't have the extra money, or time, to change the car to suit me. It wanted the seating and steering completely changing. We also had no room in the garage for the Stock Cars anymore, so everything had to be done outside. I just tried to race the car as it was and didn't ever get to grips with it. Other problems were there too, on a personal front, and I just got fed up and decided to retire at the end of the season. My last race was at Aycliffe in October 1971. I ended up on top of another car and almost went over the fence into the crowd!!
After Retiring - What Then?
After retiring from racing in 1971, I didn't go to a single meeting in 1972, then a mate got me to go and watch again for a few years. I helped some Banger lads out for a while and in 1976 I became Derek Coleman's Fan Club Secretary. This came to an abrupt end when Derek suffered horrific burns at Aycliffe in the middle of that season, forcing him to quit the sport for a number of years. I carried on watching, met and married Glenys in 1979 (We had met at White City, Nelson and Belle Vue!), and between us, wrote the first two issues of "The Story of Stock car Racing", which Graham Bunter published for us. Part One of that (1954) took five years of research. I wrote stock car programme notes for Belle Vue around 198182 - nostalgia articles - and they gave me a press pass, which got us into stock car and speedway meetings for free, so that saved us a bob or two! At the end of the 1980's we became members of the now defunct "Three Counties Stock Car Supporters Club", and I was elected onto the committee, first, as a photographer, then as a Guest Interviewer. We re-joined the Veteran's Stock Car Association in 1992, and I raced in the Veterans Races at Northampton until I became an Insulin-dependant Diabetic in 1995. Oxford's Neil Long (ex.79) used to loan me his car for that and I was very grateful to have another go. I also used to do the photography at the VSCA Dinner Dances for a number of years. Glenys and I were Guests of Honour at the 2002 VSCA D and D, which was a proud moment for us. Mind you, having to make a speech in front of over 200 people was a bit daunting!! A couple of months after that I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, which is receiving ongoing treatment at the Christie Hospital, Manchester. We help out at the VSCA Get-Together at Buxton every year, and organise the Northern Stock Car Reunion at Greenfield, near Oldham, which takes place on the first Saturday in March each year. Next year will be our 20th. I have supplied a good number of photographs for the Heritage website and I've got three albums of Stock Car pictures on my Facebook, so if anyone wants to add me as a friend, Look me up, No Problem! These days, we normally just do Belle Vue meetings, plus the Buxton VSCA meeting and the Coventry Don Round Memorial meeting when we can get down there. I have now been involved with Stock Car Racing since 1965 and met some truly wonderful people. I would not have missed it for the world - and long may it continue!!
