Custom Car April 74 Page 3

temporarily out of action for
renovations this meant that BriSCA
was without a major southern venue ..
Hot Rod racing started to get
reorganised in a big way, with Eaton
founding and controlling the new
South Eastern Hot Rod Club and
running regular events. It was
during this time that George Polley,
one of the sport's most popular
drivers, started to carve his way to
the top. Midget racing was also
introduced after a few trial meetings
the previous season, and Eaton
uprated the F2 formula to 1800cc,
renaming his fast Modifieds
, Superstox ' and introducing yet
another class-' Stock Cars '-to
bring back the crash and bash to
the racing which the crowds so
dearly loved. This alienated Eaton
even more from BriSCA, who were
running a Formula 2 of their own
but still based on the smaller Ford
sidevalve engines.
We can summarise British stock
car racing in '68 as follows. The
British Stock Car Association,
formed of an association of licensed
promoters, were promoting bigblock, unlimited power F1 Stock
Cars, mainly in the north and
.midlands, and in some areas a
smaller F2; or ' Junior' class.
Spedeworth, concentrated mainly in
the south, were promoting
Superstox, Midgets, Hot Rods and
Stock Cars. And independent Bill .
Morris was enjoying terrific success
at Hednesford with his own Hot
Rods.
1968 then can go down as one of
the most important years in stock
car racing history, for since then
there have been few major
developments. Sure, stars have
come and gone. So have promoters,
stadiums even. Cars are faster,
sleeker, andthe sport is growing in
popularity.
In later years Spedeworth has
taken oven the South African
operation and expanded to Denmark
and Italy, and the new agreement
with Dutch promoter Barry van der
Oetelaar means more and better
events in the Benelux countries. Hot
Rod racing has grown enormously
in popularity thanks to the crowd
appeal of such stars as George
Polley and Barry Lee, and Midget
racing has been established as
another fast and colourful sport, the
emergence of the Midget Auto
Racing Club doing much to boost its.
cause.
BP and Custom Car Magazine were
the first national outfits to
introduce large scale sponsorship
38
Above: Spedeworth's new' Stock Car' class brought the action back.
Above: the Wildcat himself in action. Stu Smith (391) at Brafield in 1967.
Below: Dave Pierce was one of the first to enjoy big time sponsorship.
into the world of oval racing, in so
doing helping the sport to lose its
shabby image.
Today there's a big revival afoot,
especially among the ranks of
BriSCA's' Fl. But in general stock
car racing has evolved over it's
twenty tough years into a fast, hairy
sport. It's lost a lot of its rough
edges, but none of its spectacle. It's
gained speed, respect, and a certain
showbiz appeal. Stock car racing
has even been televised.
As an exciting motor sport it can't
be equalled, and how fitting it is that
in 1974, the twentieth birthday of a
sport that has seen so many
characters, so much guts and
inventiveness-and not one fatality
-stock car racing will come to
London's Wembley Stadium in June.
BriSCA had hoped to put on a
one-time return meeting at New'
Cross to celebrate these two decades,
but that just wasn't possible. I'm
sure Wembley will do very nicely.
Roger Fennings
There just wasn't room to describe
all the characters and milestones in
the history of stock car racing in
England. But most of-the
atmosphere of the early days can be
recaptured in two excellent
publications covering the story in
full. Living With Spede is available
from Spedeworth Ltd., Aldershot
Stadium, Tongham, nr Farnham,
Surrey, for £1 including postage.
And you can get Wild Bill to Wildcat
from ~riSCA's Keith Barber, 74
Coventry Street, Coventry for just
65p including postage.
RF
CUSTOM CAR