RICK @ the RACES ( 15 to 22 Sept 2008)

Wed 17 Sept     Arlington Speedway, Eastbourne, West Sussex

Fri 19 Sept         Skegness Stadium, Lincolnshire

Sat 20 Sept        Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich, Suffolk

Sun 21 Sept       Brafield Stadium, Northants

Thanks to modern technology , web master Craig Revelle and my young nephew Thomas Young, we still managed to add some stuff while I was over in the UK on a weeks racing tour. I was staying at my Mum and Dads place in Bedfordshire and had prearranged with Thomas to install all the relevant programs to their computer so I was able to download, crop and send photos, to Craig to put into the ‘gallery’.

It’s now less than two weeks before I move out of my home in Maxville, and relocate to Long Sault , Ontario, so during the transition period the site may be stagnant for a week or two. I apologize to anyone if my replies to the messages take a while. It looks like my email address may change so if you have any difficulty getting hold of me on stox@ican.net, try stockcar67@gmail.com

Since my last report we’ve had three new additions to the guest book.

Claude from Mid State NY, a friend, ice racer and father of dirt racer Claude Jnr

Steve of Ottawa ,Ont. a friend and an announcer at various tracks

Carlo of Luxembourg, Europe, race fan and magazine contributor.

THANKS GUYS

Now back to this weeks report.

2008 UK RACING TOUR

For my ‘four track’ racing tour of the UK , I was accompanied by my buddy Roger Aubin, and we set off from Maxville  on Monday Sept 15 , soon after midday . Roger’s Ford Escape was left at his daughter, Denise’s place in Ottawa, who drove us to the Airport. After a few beers in the departure lounge we boarded our 19-40 hour  flight to London’s  Gatwick Airport.

This was the first time I’d flown with Thomas Cook Airlines and I was very impressed, there was plenty of leg room and the food was above average. I managed to grab a few hours sleep before we landed at around 7-30 Tuesday (16 Sept) morning.

We were met at the airport by my ‘long time’ racing friend, Ian Hall, who was there to greet us , with a photo of car ‘Stock Car 67’ held up, as we passed through customs. I’ve known Ian, a former BriSCA F1 driver (# 381) since the 1970’s .

He drove us to my Mum and Dads place near Dunstable (Bedfordshire) where we based ourselves for the week. We arrived  at 9-30 in the morning, and because of the ‘shut-eye’  got on the flight, I had very little jet lag.

Dad had insured me to drive his Honda Civic, so after a tasty lunch at The Plough at Wingrave, we spent the afternoon traveling around the area getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road again.

We were up early on Wednesday morning for the first race day of our agenda. On our way there, we dropped in to Windsor to ‘check out’  the Castle.

We got their just in time for a coffee in McDonalds before the 11-00 pm ‘changing of the guard’.

From Windsor we got on to the M4 and M25 in the direction of Leatherhead and the A24 to Worthing. It’s been a few years since I’ve been that way, and some how I missed a turning , so ended up doing a detour to Chessington Zoo !  Once I’d turned round and was going in the right direction, we arrived at the sea side resort of Worthing about mid day where I’d arranged to meet up with my good friend Lynn Edwards.

Lynn,  who I have known since my teen age years accompanied me to SUPER DIRT WEEK at Syracuse last year. We met Lynn in the center of Worthing where she parked her ‘flashy’ little Porsche so we could all set off in the Honda in search of a suitable eating place. We found a nice Italian restaurant on the sea-front where we spent an hour or so chatting over lunch.

After saying good bye to Lynn , Roger and I took the A27 coast road towards Eastbourne, another sea side resort, close to where the evenings racing was taking place.

The Arlington Stadium, which is a few miles north of the town, and a track I haven’t visited for about twenty years was our destination. We arrived mid afternoon and sat in the parking lot watching the people arrive.

The track is operated by the Spedeworth organization and I’d made arrangements to meet my friend, media man and journalist Paul Huggett. Paul who is no stranger to North American racing has made regular visits to my place when checking out the Canadian tracks.

He took us on a tour of the pits and introduced us to a bunch of people. I met many of the drivers, photographer Mat Bull and Deane Wood, the new boss of Spedeworth.

I had a good laugh with Stock Car driver # 194 Steve ‘Cecil’ Anscombe who gave me a new word for my vocabulary. He’s seen my racing reports and has been a voyeur of my photos for some time,  so asked ‘how come all the Canadian female drivers are good lookers’ , and why aren’t there any ‘mingers’ ? . Apparently the word ‘minger’ ( I’m told it’s OK to use and not a dirty word ! ) is an ‘in term’ used for an for ‘undesirable’ female !

Stock Cars were the headline division of the program that consisted of Bangers and non contact 2 Litre Stock Rods.

Winner of the Stock Car final ( feature) was Billy Wood, the son of Deane the promoter.

The racing was done by 10-00pm and we were soon on our way back to Bedfordshire, arriving at Mum and Dads place at about 1-30am.

Following our busy day on the Eastbourne,  trip, we chose to take it easy on Thursday (18 Sept). Roger joined my Dad on a outing to the Shuttleworth Collection ( a plane and car museum) at Old Warden while I got on with stuff I had to do on the computer.

The evening was spent at the Cross Keys pub in Totternhoe, where we met up with Mick ‘Blacky’ Black. He was my traveling companion and stock car mechanic in the 1970’s.

Our second day of racing on Friday (19 Sept) took us to the Skegness Stadium in Lincolnshire for the start of the ‘BriSCA F1 World Final Weekend’. We set off at 9-00am in the morning for Milton Keynes where we picked up my old buddy, Colin Herridge who was joining us for the weekend.

The roads in Lincolnshire were never very good , and apart from a few by-passes, it’s still a tedious drive. These days the drive is made even more frustrating by the annoying speed cameras that have been planted every where you go in the UK.

We arrived at the East Coast resort of ‘Skeggy’ around lunch time, which was just right to sample some traditional ‘fish and chips’ at the sea front.

From there we drove down to the track, located at Orby, just outside the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Skegness Stadium opened up in 1977 and I raced my BriSCA F2 stock car at the inaugural event. After opening for Bangers and  Hot Rods in May, the first official BriSCA  meeting took place on Tuesday 14 June 1977, and I was there.

It’s changed a lot since then.

For me, this UK Tour was not only about the nostalgia of visiting the tracks and seeing racing, it was a time for me to meet up with many old friends.

When we pulled up in the parking lot, the first thing we noticed was the large contingent of Dutch fans partying in the camping ground, but the motor-home I was looking for would be flying a Canadian flag.

Former co-worker and race fan, Robin Shaw and his partner Sue had told me to look out for the Maple Leaf flag they were going to erect on their camper.

It didn’t take us long to find them, and it wasn’t long before they started cooking Hot Dogs and Burgers for us. An ex – pat from British Columbia spotted the flag and came over to join us too.

Parked next to Robin and Sue was another couple I knew well in the 70’s and 80’s.

It was Kitty and Nol Bernsden Claes from Nijmegan in the Netherlands. Kitty was the daughter of the late Jac Van Claes, who was the boss of the Dutch NACO organization. Jac was one of the best promoters I’ve ever come across ( he knew how to ‘promote’) and when he passed away in the 1980’s Kitty took control. Sadly, their ‘jewel in the crown’ track at Baarlo no longer holds races.

The next couple we bumped into was Stan Cole ( who visited me in Canada earlier this year) and Tony Butterfield.

Stan I’ve known for many years and Tony was a former driver who bought my BriSCA F2 from me back in 1978 . I’d always wondered how he got on with it and this was my chance to ask him. He told me that on his second time out, at Bradford Stadium’s first ever F2 event he ‘totaled’ it in a wreck . Stan and Tony were kept busy over the weekend helping out one of the visiting Australian drivers.

While we were in the parking lot waiting for the gates to open I also met up with Bev Greenhalf, the veteran BriSCA announcer as well as my photographer and TRACKCHASING friend Colin Casserley. Later in the evening I bumped into Steve ‘Spike’ Rixon and his wife Linda, making a grand total of six ‘listed’ TRACKCHASERS in attendance ( Colin C, Colin H, Robin, Spike, Linda and myself) www.trackchaser.net

Once the gates opened it was time to see the racing and while wandering around the terraces I met even more old friends. I’ve been a member of the VSCA (Veteran Stock Car Association) for over 20 years and I came across fellow members, John Goodman, Paul and Joan Jenkins.

With it being the World Final weekend there was a big overseas presence at Skeggy and South African driver Quinten Sayman won one of the heats. At a guess, I would say there were more overseas F1 drivers present than British as well as plenty of Dutch fans too. For some time , I’ve been corresponding with Robert Wilms from Baarlo in the Netherlands who I met for the first time, along with his friend Luc Sijbers who is the webmaster for www.rienrutjens.homestead.com

Two other people I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time were Steve Rees, promoter of this years BriSCA F1 World Final and Guy Parker of the BSCDA (British Stock Car Drivers Association). Guy was the liaison officer I worked with, when Laurent Ladouceur and Dave Heaslip represented Canada at the event a few years back.

In addition to a regular program of BriSCA F1 and F2 stockcars there were time trials for the overseas drivers to determine their grid positions for the next days World Final at Ipswich.

Frankie Wainman Jnr # 515 took the BriSCA F1 Final and Chris Bradbury # 886 took the BriSCA F2.

The races were all over by about 10-00pm and within minutes we were out of the gate for the long trek back to Bedfordshire. We arrived back at Mum and Dads place at about 1-30 in the morning to grab a few hours sleep before Saturdays big day at Ipswich.

Saturday 20 Sept had arrived and the event I’d been looking forward to all year was just a few hours away. I was born in Ipswich and saw my first ever stock car race at the local Foxhall Stadium fifty years ago. Today the most important event in UK oval racing was taking place there. For the first time ever, the BriSCA F1 Stock Cars were staging their World Final.

It was my buddy ,Colin’s turn to drive today and he picked Roger and me up from my Mum and Dads place in his Vauxhall, soon after 10-00pm. Before heading off to Ipswich we were joined by another race fan and friend of Colin, named Barry White ( not the singer ! )

I still have a lot of family living in the Ipswich area and we’d arranged to meet some of them at The Raven (pub) on the Nacton Road, close to the race track, for lunch. My cousin Jamie and his partner Michelle were there and his son Stuart (my nephew).

Stuart who works behind the bar at The Raven, stayed at my place in Canada a few years back while he was working as a Ski instructor, so it was good to see him again. We were also joined by Malcomb Burton , an old friend of mine who had a spare ticket for the Grandstand to sell to Roger. The food in The Raven was excellent and I can definitely recommend the steak and ale pie.

After lunch we moved down to the track which was already packed with people.

Today was going to be another day of meeting old friends and enjoying the big event. While touring the pits the first person I spotted was Martin Clark, fellow SHORT CIRCUIT MAGAZINE scribe and photographer, who like me, had crossed the Atlantic for the occasion. Martin who is based in North Carolina and I were then joined by our photographer buddy Colin Casserley.

. The number old friends I bumped into were too many to mention, so apologies for anyone I’ve missed. Stuart Ralls and Steve Mayhew were there with Ian Hall ( who’d met us at the airport). My old buddy Mick Black was there too.

I had a good chat with Derek Hines, who’s son Paul # 259 was competing in the World Final. I knew Derek long before he formed  his race team and my daughter Carla used to sit at the races with Paul when they were kids. I remember going to the Lelystad Raceway in the Netherlands with them back in the 1980’s.

Not in the big race, but part of the support program was Tim Warwick # 307, who I’ve known since we were teenage race fans. Tim also likes traveling around and I last bumped into him at a DIRT Modified show in Volusia (Florida) two years ago.

I also met up with former driver Phil Elsden who’s son Mark # 401 was also in the support races.

One of the reserves for the World Final was Mark Woodhull # 335. It was his car that 358 DIRT Modified driver Dave Heaslip drove when he represented Canada in the event back in 2003. Mark’s father, Nev, is another old friend of mine who I raced against in the 1970’s.

As Colin and I toured the pits we came across Stock Car historian, ex driver, promoter, publisher… you name it he’s done it, Keith Barber.

He was escorting ‘guest of honor’ Guy Curval around. Guy # 00 was the top French driver of the 1960’s who often traveled over to the UK from France to race. I remember seeing him compete at Brafield and Harringay ( North London) but his more frequent outings were at Brands Hatch.

After spending a long time in the pits chatting I moved inside the stadium to try and find a good place to stand ( yes , that’s right, North American readers, don’t be shocked, most oval tracks in the UK have very little or no seating accommodation ! )

Just inside the main entrance there was a nice display of heritage stock cars.

There was a replica of Chick Woodroffe’s F2 ( Junior) of the 60’s and retro Fiat Topolino bodied F1 that was built by John Plant (another old friend).

For some reason the World Final format was changed this year, and instead of the big race taking place late in the evening, it was the first event of the day and was completed in broad day light.

Another change to tradition was the pre-race driver parade. For me, part of the excitement of a World Final is the driver parade with them sitting on their cars with the various nations flags flying.

This year, the World Finalist’s were paraded round on an open topped double decker bus while their cars remained parked on the grid. A lot of the pre-race atmosphere was lost by doing this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the race got going, it too, was a bit of a disappointment, with front row starter Andy Smith # 391 leading from Start to finish. There was very little ‘aggo’ and no major wrecks. The most notable drive was from Dutchman, Ron Kroonder # 217 who chased second place man Paul Harrison # 2 over the line to take third.

Unfortunately , I was unable to gain access for the Victory Lane photo’s ( or for race action)

Since I left the UK in 1994, the country has been turned in to a ‘near police state’. The socialist government that has been in power for the majority of the time since I my departure, has brought in many ridiculous ‘big brother’ laws and regulations that have aggravated the masses. ( like the speed cameras mentioned earlier). It’s not just the Ministry of Transport that has too much clout , but also the Health and Safety Department . Everybody ‘and his dog’ in the working arena, seams to be wearing ‘Hi Vi’ clothing ( bright yellow luminous jackets like I wear for infield racing photography) even bus and van drivers.

From what I gather from fellow racing photographers, the ‘H&S’ only permit a small number of media on the infield, so I had to miss out. Thankfully my good friend Colin Casserley, was able to supply me, and other media members with the pictures we needed.

The racing got better as darkness fell and I got that ‘Foxhall feeling’ back as the night went on , as some ‘real’ stock car racing began to take place.

The final was a real cracker ! On the last lap, Paul Harrison who was leading, received a big hit from the chasing James Lund # 153 which put them both wide. This was just enough for Frankie Wainman # 515 Jnr ( who was running third) to nip by and grab the checkers. Great stuff ! just the sort of thing that makes BriSCA F1, the sport it is.

After the racing, it was back to Bedfordshire.

Following Saturday’s BriSCA F1 World Final at Ipswich (20 Sept) , the ‘traveling road show’ moved on to the Brafield Stadium near Northampton for Sunday’s action (21 Sept)

Brafield is only about 30miles from my Mum and Dads house and I always considered it my local track when I lived in the UK. I visited the place regularly from 1965 until 1994 when I emigrated,  rarely missing a meeting. Today it was the ‘World Masters’ which has become a traditional follow up to the World Final.

This time , it was my turn to drive, so Roger and I picked Colin up from Milton Keynes en route to the track. We arrived soon after midday and the first person I bumped in to was photographer Dave ‘Smithyman’ Smith.

Dave, a good buddy of mine must have the worst record for ‘long distance rain outs’ this year. He flew over to Canada from his home in Kent (UK) for a three track racing tour in the summer. It included the World of Outlaws show at Oshweken plus regular weekly shows at Merrittville and Humberstone. All three succumbed to the wrath of Mother Nature and Dave returned to the UK without seeing a race.

I then had the pleasure of meeting former Brafield promotor Philip Bond. I’ve been corresponding with Philip for a number of years and this was the first time we’d met in person. He had arranged photographic credentials for me, which I’m very grateful.

I joined Dave and the regular UK photographers of Colin Casserley, Dave Bastock and Mike Greenwood. Mike is another guy I’ve known for many years, and I used to be one of his regular customers.

To keep the H&S people happy the ensemble of ‘snappers’ took it in turns to stand in the best positions on the center.

The first photo shoot of the day was at the start of the show, when newly crowned BrISCA F1 World Champion Andy Smith # 391 posed with his family and trophy for the crowd to see.

I didn’t stay on the center for all the races as there were a couple of old buddies in attendance I wanted to see.

When I started racing stock cars back in 1974, I shared a car with Chris Pickup # 50 . We bought an old chassis, put a 3-8 Jaguar engine in it, topped it off with an Austin A40 body and went racing. Chris doesn’t go racing these days but after I’d e-mailed him in advance, telling him about my visit, he decided to come along. He also brought along with him, another one of our old Beds & Herts clan, Steve Bird # 52. It was great to see them both after all these years.

I also came across former BriSCA chairman Malc Aylott in the crowd. Malc who I’ve known since his involvement with the Notts and Derby Stock Car Club in the 70’s is taking a rest from the racing scene these days, and this was a rare visit for him.

Joining the BriSCA F1’s and 2’s on the program were the ‘Rebels’ which for the benefit of my North American readers are similar to Legends.

The main difference being the bodies are scaled down fiber glass replicas of the old Ford E93A Pops/Anglias and all have Reliant engines. Contact is permitted.

The BriSCA F2 Final was won by Mick Sworder # 150 and the F1 by Ed Neachell # 321.

When the racing was over, we returned to Mum and Dads place for a prearranged family get together, as it was our final night in the UK.

On Monday 22 Sept, we drove to the National Bus Depot in Hemel Hempstead to catch our ride to the airport. Due to Motorway holdups the bus was late, but the driver made up lost time, and we got to Gatwick in plenty of time for our flight. The plane was also late taking off and we landed in Ottawa at around 7-00 pm. Rogers daughter Denise was there to meet us and we were soon on our way home. It was back to work on Tuesday for me !

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR THEIR HELP AND KINDNESS IN MAKING THIS TRIP SO ENJOYABLE .