"Senior" (F1) Racing in the 1960s

*Look for labels: new additions may be scattered randomly throughout the page.

Sixty-plus photos for your enjoyment, and many more in the following sections!

In this section you can see the cars of Chick Henson, Johnny Goodhall, USAF guys Bill Powers, Carey, Doc Kelly, Hitchcock, Ferrall, Correll, Clayton Sampson; also Aubrey Leighton, Fred Mitchell, Les Mitchell,Dennis Driscoll, Willie Wanklyn, Skid Skinner, Walter Matzke, Doug Wardropper, Alan Wardropper, Steve Gateley, Ron Cayzer, Alan Cayzer, Tiger Griffin, Dick Sworder, Tony Allen, Jumbo Tustin, Bob Laurie, Ellis Ford, John Plant, and the great 'Dirty Dennis' Burdett-Coutts. 

February 2010:  Upside-down view of Jumbo at Harringay Stadium in 1962.

A big thank-you to Diane Sutton and son Paul for these six terrific photos of Jumbo from the collection of the late Aubrey Sutton, Jumbo "Joe" Tustin's mechanic. I am not sure where these photos were taken, but you will enjoy them:  Jumbo 1.  Jumbo 2. Jumbo 3. Jumbo 4. Jumbo 5. Jumbo 6.

Next, a look at Jumbo in the pits at Brafield.   (See Darkie Wright's #7 car in the background.)  An original looking combat-car, and I miss those open exhausts.  Jumbo (Joe, but in full Gerald Ralph Tustin) began racing in the 1950's, and was still smoking tyres up to 1967 — a real character, whose favourite track was the greatly-missed Belle Vue.  Once at Brafield Jumbo was involved in "a bit of an argumant" with top racers J.E. and D.W., which is still remembered today.  Roger Harris, who was mechanic for both Jumbo and Geoff Harrison (Roger also raced grasstrack sidecars and rally cars.) gave me the the gen on Jumbo's car:  Ford 292 V-8 with two 4-choke Holley carbs, homemade chassis, Morris rear axle on Ferguson tractor struts, Ford front axle on transverse springs, part-Topolino body, Ford lorry gearbox with homemade bellhousing.  Where did Jumbo's nickname come from?  He painted a big elephant's bum on the back of the car. 

 July 2009:  Two warriors of the British oval tracks, photos courtesy of #403 Ian Melton. First is Pat Willis #25:

Thanks to Barry Redman, ex-racer #151 between 1969 and 1972, for this photo of a Pat Willis car showing some wear and tear.  Barry recalls riding many miles with Pat Willis, while Barry's father drove the lorry for Pat's buddy Ted Pankhurst.  Barry had gone to school with Pete Webb #8 and later worked in Webb Snr's garage.

Ian Melton also sent a sequence of three photos of Pat Willis's #25 car looking very fifties but I have included it here, an unusual "modern" unmodified body. Pat Willis was #25 between 1957 and 1967.   Photo one.  Photo two.  Photo three.

Below: the great Nev Hughes from West Bridgeford, Notts, on an obviously COLD Brafield Sunday: 

 March 2009: This scan of an SCRN cover was sent by ever-generous stox veteran Ken Mason, to identify Haley Calvert #351, who is just about escaping the 'Flying Dutchman' Barry Van Den Oetelaar (386), during Brandon's June 1966 "Heart of England" championship meeting.  Heading straight for the chaos are 146 Jim Potter and 375 George Ansell, and I hardly need to read the 12-? on the following car because that distinctive front wheel is on Geoff Harrison's 127 car -- recognizable anywhere.  

Ron Pears raced under 331 and 15, and was notorious under both numbers, from 1958 to 1965.  From the village of Outwell, near Wisbech, this "rakish" looking chap ran a scrap yard among other things.  The quaint wooden windmill was Ron's grandparents' home.  A write-up in a local history publication, can be read here.  [Thanks again  to Tim for the scans.] 

March 2010:  Here's Ron Pears 331, masked-up and ready to rock with a mischievous grin.

See the JUNIOR F2 page for more of Haley and Ron. 

Courtesy of Steve Gateley, here in 1962 are some happy men at work on the "The Saint" Doug Warner's #313 car; is that smoke coming from their cigarillos or the motor? Doug Warner, from Birmingham, who raced 1959 to 1964, is on the right; on the left is Bert the mechanic, youngster named Barry behind the wheel. 

  February 2010:  a rather fuzzy old programme photo of Doug Warner's 313 car climbing the fence at Brafield, during the track's 1962 World Qualifying round.  Also in 1962, West ham's April programme praised Doug's "speedster" as a model for all builders; front view.    Earlier, in 1961, West Ham's track photographer caught Doug Warner in a kerfuffle with 331 Ron Pears, 454 Dennis Thacker (Lincs), and somewhere under Ron's car the programme claimed Dougie Wardropper was buried. 

Steve Gateley himself in action, first at West Ham in 1964, lining up beside Oxford's Karl Grossman 289 and Ben Spirers 312 from Evesham.  Next, see the tilt of Steve Gateley's engine mounting on 320 as he moves ahead of Russ Bates.  Steve was a friend of Ellis Ford #3, and here is Steve's car under construction/repair in Ellis's crowded workshop.  

Then at Brandon in 1964 tangled with Mick Screaton 357, from Diseworth in Leicestershire (though BriSCA had Mick licensed at a Notts driver). 

Mick Screaton's godson Tony Sykes [Sykes Snr was Mick's mechanic] reports that the #357 car ended its career in a monumental smash against a post on Long Eaton's back straight, and Mick took the opportunity to move South to some gentler pusuits, including a farm not too far away from Keith Barber.  Always a skilled woodworker, Mick nowadays handles Cornish "Pilot Gigs", this one a unique six-oared 32-foot wooden design based on a boat built in 1838 which is still racing! 

  FEBRUARY 2010: Thanks to Tony Sykes again for this smart photo of Mick Screaton's beautiful #457 car in the pits at either Long eaton or Brandon.  

The great Willie Harrison's #2 car, here at Long Eaton. 

Dennis Irving #485 from Gotham, here shown "on the hook" at Brafield.

July 2009: Ian Melton has identified Dick Sheppard's car, early 1960's, in the Brafield pits.  Dick was from Cheltenham and although he raced BriSCA from 1957 to 1966, he spent a lot of time putting on stunt performances at showgrounds. 

At Hednesford, blurred by speed, Chick Woodroffe's #1 Senior F1 does the business with Steve Gateley himself in hot pursuit.

Last of this 13-photo treat from Steve is a Brandon pits panorama showing Tom Toon #202 and Tiger Griffin #178.

Rough-and-tumble, the spirit of stock-car racing is illustrated by this 1967 photo of the Nelson track's turn 4.   In the background you can see the white overalls of drivers and mechanics watching. The stands are packed, the cars are spinning and rolling, there's dirt and steam everywhere, and not an alloy aerodynamic wing or big-budget sponsor to be seen anywhere.  Thanks to Andrew Hirst [ex-F2 racer at Aycliffe, Buxton, etc] for putting me in touch with the photo.

Three photographs that someone sent me ages ago, which got lost in my computer files.  If you sent them, tell me to give you the credit.  First, the 98 car of (either) Bob Laurie or possibly Allan Jones of Manchester at Nelson: a hard driver at a hard track.
Second, car # 275  drifting fast on Belle Vue's dirt.  SEPTEMBER 2008: The 275 could be either Peter Schofield from Huddersfield, or Eddie Jackson from London (Ten different drivers have carried # 275.) Trying to put a name to a car number in an old photo?  I'm looking at the great Mike Greenwood book "Stock Car Drivers" 3rd ed.

Last, car 161 uses "flower power" but definitely ain't a hippie on Rochdale's surface.  Likely this is either Roger Dobson from Macclesfield, or Oliver Martin from Clitheroe.

Where the hard men raced: "give it some wellie or go home" was the Aycliffe motto, and thanks to Bill Taylor, here is a 1967 programme cover; thanks Bill.

Elsewhere on this site you'll see this car.  Ron Cayzer drove it, then his son John Cayzer.  Here, in approx 1968 in the Coventry pits, the car next went to "Blondie" Da Costa #269.  A classic 60's car, simple and tough. The Cayzers left BriSCA for Spedeworth, and John switched back again in 1979 and is still racing f2's.  [Rick Young collection]

An old Stock Car News photo of action at Hednesford, featuring some great names and cars: #385 is Wilf Hargreaves in the ex-Tiger Griffin car before Smiffy got it; also Tony Wicks 93, Jim Potter 146, and dear old Ron Rogers 152 who I'm told passed away recently.

Tony Neal, #100, in the pits at Aycliffe in 1967.  The man walking into the shot was once known as Jack The Ripper, but relax, it was his "nom-de-racing" when he raced Juniors; here he is Aycliffe's scrutineer Jack Cowling. Photo and facts from John Rigg.  The white rose on Tony's car proves it must be from Richmond, North Yorks, NOT the enemy town of Richmond, Lancs.  In the wars of the Roses, the white rose is the House of York.   I expect that if Tony spotted a 'Red Rose' car in front, he'd continue the fight. 

Syd Farndon, who not only promoted at Tamworth, and practically invented the Junior/F2 formula, but also raced the big un's, and here he is in his red-top # 224, in the 1960 World Final at Coventry, unfortunately in a big brew-up. Syd's car was orioginally a George Foulger special.

Thanks to Steve Gateley for this "candid" shot of the Farndons busy with their motor.  Tinkering after a Brafield race, with 362 Ray Watkins in the background.

Syd's son Steve kindly supplied the above photo, and this scan of the 1960 Coventry program, which is  a large file, but if you move it around you'll see some 'potted biographies and photos — including not only Syd but also Alan Wardropper looking about 14 — and I think he was barely two years above that!

In the photo above, Johnny has won a final despite getting a rock in his face (Walthamstow, 1962, recalls his son Chris King who attended all the races and who is kindly sending some photos and scans to be loaded here)  Look at Johnny — they don't breed 'em like that any more —  if you remember the men who raced stock cars in the 1960's, they were often skilled and hard-nosed tradesmen, self-made, who had seen a world war and/or National Service, and had not lived the easy life — but who knew how to have fun and how to live and play hard. 

King came second in the 1961 World Final, and went to South Africa to win their championship, emigrated there in 1963 (family photo of JK at the airport), returned to England in 1979, but re-settled in SA in 1999, passing away in 2001.     The 1961 West Ham WF would probably have been his, as he was the class of the field, and tore through until a lap-down Trevor Frost settled 'some old grudge', putting Johnny in the fence, from which he brilliantly escaped and went on to 2nd place.    In 1962 at the Belle Vue WF, Johnny made 4th.     

In the 1963 West Ham semi-final programme, Pete Arnold predicted Alan Wardropper from Johnny King, and got it half right --- Johnny got his 2nd place.  Only a few photos show Johnny with a big public smile --- more often they show a rather intense look [see an official Johnny King profile ] , one which probably gave a shiver to even his bravest rivals!

So let's show a truly happy JK, during his South African championship tour in the winter of 1962-1963:

January 2010:  Here is Johnny King in circa 1960, blasting down a Brafield straight --- a terrific action shot from a 1962 Brafield programme; a recurring problem with old programmes --- they would print any good photo from the track, and not always in the same year it was taken!  This motor is part Morris Minor-bodied, and was built before Johnny took over the famous Brise-built 'supercar' car at the start of the 1961 season (info from Chris King).  

"The car that changed the game".  Once in a decade or more, a car appears that moves stock-car racing 'up' or 'forward'.  This one did it for the sixties, built by Johnny Brise, with a Jaguar gearbox (thanks to Chris King; it was NOT a Massey-Ferguson gearbox as earlier listed!), the Olds Rocket 88 motor bored 'way out to almost 7.5 litres, a Jeep rear axle, and a Mercedes chassis.

Russ Thomas sent these two: The late great Johnny "Gimpy" Goodhall's very first car #200, in the Brafield pits: the bodywork was mostly secured by bits of rope, and Gimpy didn't give a hoot. 

 Chick Henson from Kempston, Beds, was a fitter and then a design draughtsman who kept busy with car repairs and rugby when he wasn't racing and running Brafield's catering ---- no lazy man.  Chick's dad was a grocer who was also the Brafield caterer from 1955 onwards, and Chick took over the concession later.   Did you figure out the awful pun that produced the "Chick" nickname?  HEN - SON — , get it?

Here are four photos of his 1961 car.  He bought the Ford Pilot V-8 from Gerry Sheldrick of Linton (Cambs), and towed it straight home with a straight bar to the front bumper.  The car was pretty much stock but those side-valve Fords were unburstable and ideal for racing in those days.  Here's the car in the Brafield pits (1) and (2).  Chick raced it only at Brafield.

"Chick" Henson #477 went on to win this 1963 Brafield race.  Chick's car is wearing a Ford E93A "Pop" body, with a Model B grille.  

[Another Steve Gateley photo:]  Chick Henson, again in 1963, in the Brafield pits.

Another USAF racer:  [Hank Nalli sent me this photo a couple of years back.] Ed Bilak was based at Alconbury and was an ace mechanic, painter, body man, and racer; Ed raced at Kings Lynn, Brandon, and Brafield.  Like most USAF servicemen, Ed had the run of the base workshops, a very wise move by the "brass", to make sure the guys were happy while on foreign postings.

Here's Clayton Sampson [see 1950's section, his midget car, too] .

February 2010: Chelveston serviceman Clayton Sampson 338 is the "American sandwich" at West Ham in 1960, with #446 (Rugby's Graham Butcher) and #90 Jack Minion giving him the squeeze.  In the background Sid Farndon wisely stays oput of trouble.

Now see below for why the "Yanks"  loved Aubrey Leighton.

This car was still racing in 1970, in the hands of Willie Harrison #2, so it must have been sturdy. 

Here are two photos of Keith Barber's recreation of that historic car, 40 years later:(1) and (2). 

 July 2009: Long ago Ken Mason scanned this column on Aubrey Leighton:

Here is the old car, rather battered, raced by #78 Barry Goldsby. (Paul Durham: magazine clipping). The unusual bonnet and grille are from the once-famous Armstrong-Siddeley line of luxury cars, and were made of aluminium.  Aubrey retired from racing after Fred Mitchell 38 notoriously took him out at Coventry in the 1964 WF, with only a hundred yards between Aubrey and a second World Championship.  Forty-four years on, the controversy has not been forgotten.

Aubrey's car in its later Willie Harrison #2 paint, and in the lurid colours of "Gimpy" John Goodhall #261.  [Dick Young collection]

Below:  Later, Aubrey's / Willie's car came to rest at Long Eaton stadium (this photo is a few years old now), right next to the famous Bozzy Bosworth's #22, both owned by Keith Barber, who restored them both for the "Heritage" series.

  
Sometimes nicknamed "Gov", Leighton encouraged the USAF stock-car visitors in the early days.  Ed Hake, one of the USAF servicemen remembers Aubrey as  "A true friend to us Yanks.  Aubrey supported us when there was opposition to us bringing in some big V-8 motors; he stood up publicly and said "Let them bring what they will — I'll race against them!" and he made it his personal duty to make us feel welcome and introduce us around the tracks — a nice chap!"  

The Leighton car had several owners even into the 1970s.  Here we see Russ "Rick" Thomas #286 racing it at Leicester's Blackbird Road stadium.  "Rick" (the Brafield printer was always getting names wrong) was deejay at Brafield from 1963 to 1977.  [Russ recalls that the same printer gave us Albert Chignell as Bignell, and once as Bignelli!]

How did Aubrey Leighton get into stock-car racing? A young Northants man named HENRY (HARRY) PRIGMORE apprenticed for Aubrey in the mid-1950's. When Aubrey took his tow truck to Brafield to help with the wrecks, Harry decided to have a go, in cars that Aubrey built and sponsored (numbers 4 and 70).  Aubrey actually said "You'd never get me in one of those!"  Then Aubrey tried one race in Harry's car, and was hooked.  Leighton's famous "armoured cars" were in reality just rigidly boxed and triangulated designs (1/4-inch checker plate) ahead of their time — when the bumper hit, the whole car's strength was behind it.  The rows and shoving in the pits and on the track, sparked by his success, became part of stock-car racing's legends.  Harry Prigmore went to Australia and raced stock-cars and supermods in the 1960's, and crewed on sprint cars.  For Aubrey, "good enough" was not good enough.  Harry tells me that after he had completed a full valve job on an old Morris, and being under age for a driving licence, he asked whether Aubrey would road-test the car.  Aubrey said "Not now, but first thing tomorrow I'm driving down to Oxford in that car, so you'll come along and bring your toolbox, and if it breaks down you're going to fix it right there on the road."  Aubrey told young Harry to treat all his work that way — as if he was totally accountable for it working well.  Not a bad way for a youngster to learn a trade.  The Oxford trip was to Fred Mitchell's, to look over a V-12 Packard that Aubrey had plans for.  That infamous Packard is illustrated in the 1950's section of this web site.  Harry is now retired in Perth, Australia, and it's thanks to him for this piece of history.

Here is Aubrey's car in the pits at at Belle Vue, date uncertain.

Click on the link to the 1950's section, and you'll see some great action shots of Harry mixing it up at Brafield.  

More Aubrey-related: The late great Fred Mitchell's mechanic, Pete Schafer, tells of a 1959 emergency at Brafield:  Fred's #38 broke a track rod in the first race.  Fred and Pete jumped in the tow car, drove fast over to Aubrey's garage in Earls Barton and welded some angle steel onto the rod, drove back to the track, cobbled it all back together, in time for Fred Mitchell to race in the consolation!  Pete admits that Fred took charge of the welding since it was his life on the line.  

  February 2010:  After the 1964 WF upset in which Mitchell knocked Aubrey out of a certain championship at Brandon, the public idea developed that Leighton "walked away from it all" after that race. However, look what Pete Arnold wrote six months later, in Harringay's first-meeting programme for March 1965:

The magic of numbers runs all through oval racing.  Most racers' sons try to register under their dad's number, but Aubrey Leighton's iconic #42 "pink 'un" had such a hold on one family that it was adopted by National Hot Rod champ (#356) Gordon Bland's son, Shane Bland, when he got into Rods.  A big mural painting of Aubrey's car #42 had for years adorned a wall in the Bland garage, and young Shane had grown up with it (info from Graham Brown, thanks.)

 
Talking of Fred and Les Mitchell:

I am very grateful for being given the chance to scan and load following Fred Mitchell photos, thanks to Fred's long time mechanic Pete Schafer, who has loyally stayed in touch with all the "greats" of that era.  Pete has also told me a few hair-raising stories of mechanical genius and fun!  Thanks, Pete.

Below:  The late Fred Mitchell, becoming  World Champion at Belle Vue.  Peter Arnold does the handshake, and Pete Schafer, who was Fred's mechanic for 15 years, is well satisfied.

Next:  Fred in 1963(?) can anyone identify the track — looks like an RAC road circuit.  Thanks to Ken Mason for suggesting Snetterton [though possibly Brands as earlier printed here];  Ken was a BriSCA lap-scorer for over 20 years at tracks such as Bristol, Coventry, Ringwood, Brafield, Long Eaton, Leicester, Boston, Skeggy, Reading, Lydden Hill, Bradford, White City, Manchester, Belle Vue, Newcastle, and Salford;  Ken even did a Semi and World Final.   Just call him "Nerves of Steel".

Fred on parade, the car cleaned and polished and surrounded by cheerleaders.  I think this must be the 1967 pre World Final parade at Harringay. (Photo provided to mech Pete Schafer by Fred's son in law Paul Holden.) 

Below:  At Brandon (Coventry), Charles and Mrs Ochiltree hand over the goodies, and Fred looks like he's doing an Elvis.  Looking cool against the car is an uninvited fan who nipped over the fence to get in the photo.   This is early 1960's.  Pete Schafer also in the background.  

"The guys" (below).  British stock-car racing flourished because of characters like these:  Back to camera is young Alan Wardropper;  Pete Schafer (Fred's spanner man) is grinning at Fred Mitchell who's leaning on Chick Woodroffe's car and thinking of something else;  Dougie Wardropper looks like he's worked hard; and get a load of that handsome tough guy George Ansell.

Let's give credit to the chap who has donated so much info and photos about Fred's career for this website:  so, 40 years on, here is the late Pete Schafer the ace mechanic, settled near Seattle, USA, with his 'best friend'.  

Fred and son Les:  the fans grinned and the opposition tensed a bit when the Mitchells rolled into the pits:  Fred's 38 and son Les's 238.  This was a very rare spell when Fred Mitchell wore a yellow grade top.

Not a bad way for a teenager to grow up: — Les Mitchell at 16 years old with his stock car, which he raced before he had a road licence.  And the family 'dynasty' goes on, with Darren Mitchell, Fred's grandson, Les's son, racing V-8 stock-cars (#238, Les's old number) in Spedeworth, and winning heats and finals all over the place!  Photo courtesy of Pete Schafer.

Les Mitchell reminds us what 'dirt-track racing' means. In the 70's Les was racing in the Scota/Fisca series on Spedeworth's tracks, and Rick Young identifies this as Wimbledon.

Lovely shot of young Les sitting proud on his 238 pink 'un, a Topolino-bodied car on a parade lap;  where is this track?  Could be Brands Hatch, could be Snetterton (Photo from Pete Schafer via Les's bro-in-law)

  February 2010:  Fred visits the Cadwell fence, courtesy of wild man Wilf Blundell, #75; from a July 1962 Cadwell programme.

Long time racer Willie Wanklyn # 304, who raced everything over the years, and eventually was a promoter in Northern Ireland;  I don't know who the photographer was.  

Here's another shot of Willie Wanklyn, with the Tip-Top trophy he won at Harringay in 1964.  Then, bingo, Willie gets ANOTHER trophy at Harringay, same year, the "ALL ENGLAND".  Does anyone recall Annette Morse, who presented the trophy --- was she in TV or movies?  And thirdly from Harringay, an action shot that looks like Willie is trying for an aerial artillery hit on a sideways George Ansell.  [Scans from Trevor Riching's programme collection]

In the Brafield pits in 1969 is one of the famous Driscoll brothers: Dennis # 274.  [Dick Young photo ]  Powered by a Jaguar 6-cyl, this car won finals wearing first a chopped Fiat 500 shell, then briefly a Morris Minor shown here, then the Fiat reappeared after a Coventry wreck.  The motor was fitted with three twin-choke Weber carbs, and instead of the usual LD back axle, this racer rode on an independent Jaguar Mk 10 rear end.  Brother Pat Driscoll was racing back in 1961, and a program shows that Pat's 3rd place at Harringay on 20th May won him a whole FIVE POUNDS.  The Driscoll family is nowadays represented on BriSCA tracks by Dennis's son Danny # 174. 

Some rare photos on this site come courtesy of Steve Gateley, so here's a shot of Steve #320 at Brafield in 1964, side-by-side with car 95 — which is WHO — anyone?  Bingo:  Walter Matzke from Rugy was # 95.  Steve's car here is a Ken Freeman special with a '61 Thunderbird motor, ex-Ellis Ford. [ Steve raced F1s and F2s and built F2s as well as giving a hand to several other drivers.]

 "Skid" Skinner [autograph, see??] laps the Brafield track in a Volkswagen Beetle-bodied special. Dick Young photo 

Doug Wardropper in the fence (scan thanks to Trevor Richings.) Doug started racing at the very beginning of the sport, in 1954, and won the World Championship in 1963.

Doug Wardropper and son Alan on the trailer   Alan Wardropper started BriSCA in 1959 as a teenager, and drove brilliantly on shale and wet tracks. Alan's cornering on Coventry shale was beautiful to watch; he would "cock" the wheel once to set up the slide, and you'd not see his hands move through the entire bend.

January 2010: Something in the software makes the following paragraph's text too large, but I have tried a dozen ways and cannot reduce the apparent type size; sorry.

I have just discovered that Russ Thomas and I, 46-plus years ago, each witnessed an incredibly violent Doug Wardropper crash, both events at Brafield.  I saw it happen during a two-car match race, when apparently his throttle stuck open on the home straight, and he wisely and bravely aimed his car at an RSJ girder post; it was an awful impact that cut through the bumper and chassis and radiator.  Russ saw an identical crash on a different occasion when Doug was running a sort of "stock car school training session", and this time the car ended up completely though the fence.  Russ sends this photo, and it is so similar to what I recall that I'm not sure which crash it is --- murky enough to be the one Russ saw, at which the skies opened just as it happened, and Doug crawled out and commented "that's not supposed to happen".

Here's Brafield's invitation to "go to school" under teacher "Mister Wardropper, Sir"., and here is the kind of classroom where you would NOT doze off in the back row.

Here is a press photo of Doug and Alan Wardropper in 1962/3: The Wardroppers also built famous Formula Ford engines under the "Scholar" trade name, and had the posh Silverstone circuit racers queuing up at their Ipswich garage.

Doug and Alan both getting their Brafield trophies.  [Photos from Carol Cockings]

Father and son (a common feature of British stock-car racing).  First Ron Cayzer # 267, at Brands Hatch;  then his son Alan Cayzer # 266.  This car body style seemed to me near-perfect, so balanced and so neat and looking like a car!  Alan's own son races today (Steven) in BriSCA F1 as #380.

 March 2010:  Ron Cayzer enjoying his victory parade with the chequered flag, accompanied by Doug and Alan Wardropper, and driven by Alan Cayzer.[scan from Steve Gateley]

Hot engine for those days: three carbs on a Chevy  Hot in other ways, too: no fan belt, no fan, no hoses, no radiator! How about the spectators' clothes?  It's easy to forget how formal people were then, even at a muddy stock-car race. Back then, a working-man often wore a collar-and-tie to his job. DEJA VU??  In August 2000, thirty-six years after I took this snapshot in the Brafield pits, I received an e-mail from a couple who recognized themselves as the people in this photo.  Even though the heads were cut off in the original snapshot, they instantly recognized their clothes and the way they stood .... I only wish their happy faces had been included.

Dick Sworder #150 in a steel sandwich with Oxford's "Dangerous Don Evans" squeezing the outside of the pack; how they got four-cars-wide at Brafield is a miracle, but these guys would never give an inch. (Dick Young photo) — and here is Don Evans's autograph:  images/donevans.jpg

Tony Allen #348, whose earliest car is shown under the 1950’s section later, is shown tangling with Dirty Dennis in the Brafield fence.

Why can't they build this kind of brute any more?  I think there were three Laurie brothers, farmers from Byfield in Northants, and we loved to see 'em race: Bob Laurie's "demonic" #98 senior stocker at Brafield 1964. Bob later got serious and earned his red top in 1970.  Those "ack-ack" exhaust stacks could shoot down pheasants.  Bob was from Byfield, near Daventry, Northants.  Brother Cecil Laurie #368 was also a racer.  A 1959 Brafield programme lists a BRIAN Laurie who wrecked his car in the "consie" race at his very first meet, and a BRUCE Laurie #281, racing in the 'King of the Midlands' meet of that year.  Another two photos of Bob Laurie [Thanks, Russ Thomas]; first is Bob's "Frankenstein Special" in the pits in 1963, and second is a 1965 action shot of the "demonic" car shown above. 

Ellis Ford #3:  [Dick Young photo]  Sad to report, Ellis died at his home in Florida at the end of 2002.  They tried to ban Ellis's cars several times — big motors, lightweight wheels, bare-minimum-bodies, Ellis was always tweaking the authorities.  You could hear Ellis from miles away with those pom-pom exhausts — usually on booming 427 and 428-inch Ford V-8's.   

Thanks to Reg Walker for passing on these new Ellis photos: Ellis with Reg Walker at right;  Ellis doing the cool "pose"; Ellis the winner; Ellis being interviewed by a serious looking young reporter.

Ellis originally did coal-delivery in his truck, then set up a rock 'n' roll teddy-boy espresso bar, with an members-only night club upstairs,  in Stratford upon Avon, where he'd park the stock car out front on a Saturday before going to the races.  Someone who knew Ellis back then recalls that, despite his famous limp, E.F. was could deal with rowdies and drunks in 5 seconds flat.  A WW2 injury left Ellis with the limp.  He was also famous for his humour and practical jokes.  Ellis, wife Pat, and daughters Marilyn and Patti-Anne, lived "over the shop", but he kept his cars on a farm outside Stratford.    Are you old enough to remember the Cliff Richard film "SUMMER HOLIDAY"?  The Ford Thunderbird in that film was Ellis's — but he had already swiped its big 430 cu.in. motor for his stocker.   Alan Wilson, who raced F1's from 1972 to 1988, remembers watching Ellis Ford's car cut up for scrap — sometimes you just don't have the cash on hand to save a car. 

Here is an Ellis Ford fan club Badge .... and here's Ellis's autograph: images/elisford.jpg  Thanks to ex-racer Steve Gateley (who himself was in F1 cars at the early age of 16), and to Andrew Lively, who each knew Ellis when they were teenagers, in "the good old days. "

A terrific shot of Ellis with flag and Miss Brafield — the man is happy! [Photo from Carol Cockings]

Thanks to ex-racer and teenage-Ellis-Ford-crew STEVE GATELEY for these two snapshots: Ellis and Steve on the way home from Brafield, outside the famous Blue Boar motorway 'caff'.  And a super colour shot in the Brafield pits, of Ellis with helpers Steve, Alan, and Pat.

"Dirty Dennis" Burdett-Coutts # 380 from Hitchin, Herts, was a great great character, and I welcome any stories from fans about DD. When he wasn't racing Citroen fwd's in France (was one of the 1960 British team to race at Normandy's Villers-en-Ouche  annual Liberation celebration races), this goatee-bearded mystery man was entertaining us on British tracks; he NEVER gave up.  Keith Barber dug out some history on DD: he was nicknamed "Dirty" as early as a May 1958 programme; in 1957 Dennis's number 303 (and sometimes 304) was entered under the name of The Red Cockatoo, against Willie Wanklyn's The Grey Shadow . We didn't get many double-barrelled names at the stocks, and a Burdett-Coutts family tree back in the 19th century included a Baroness who was the richest woman in Europe and who owned a bank.  Coutts Bank still exists, but Dennis told me he could never prove a close enough family link to inherit those millions!  Dirty D ran what nowadays they call an "automotive recycling facility", and usually had a mountain of American V-8 motors around the place.  

Dennis once ran a demonstration match-race in his monster Hudson Terraplane 4-door against the USAF team's VW bug driven by "Doc" Kelly, at Brafield.  Ed Hake, ex-USAF, remembers "Dennis's bonnet was longer than our whole Beetle — it had the crowd laughing all the way."  Ed also kindly remembers Dennis in the simple phrase "He was good people."

Mick Bennett was DD's mechanic for a while in the 60's.  He tells me that Dennis once used a massive 6-cylinder motor from an army half-track vehicle, with three carbs on top — which Dennis ripped off when he went straight through Brafield's steel fence.  Another stunt was to collect a V-8 Packard motor's exhaust into two huge conical fire-extinguisher canisters, and the racket deafened all of Harringay stadium. Thanks to Mick for the stories.  More history:  According to Pete Arnold's Handbook of 1960, Dennis wrote off 9 (nine!) cars in 1957, his first season, including one whose battery acid took the seat out of D's trousers --- (Tony Organ gave me the info)

Thanks to Steve Gateley for this lovely 1963 shot of Dirty Dennis at Brafield.

I photographed the Dennis-the-Menace cartoon on the back of DD’s Ken Freeman-built car in 1964, and got it into AUTOCAR magazine in 1965: "Dennis-the-Menace". This cartoon was also painted on the boot (trunk) of Dennis's Austin Sheerline towing limousine.   And a hefty fence job accomplished [Dick Young photo].  Another shot of Dirty Dennis on a parade lap at Brafield: Dennis

"Dirty Dennis" Burdett-Coutts raced his cars so hard he sometimes had to borrow one: in this case #383 with its number quickly altered, at Brafield.  Marian Palmowski and Ken Tyrell are names associated with 383 at that time.

And I think the authorities must have had Dirty Dennis in mind when they made this sign.

      Story: Someone tells me that Dennis would occasionally tie a railway detonator to his front bumper,  and wait for a nice shot on an unsuspecting victim, who'd think they'd blown both back tyres or cracked an axle —.

Dennis retired to relax beside his much-more-peaceful fishing lake near Hitchin, Herts.

Dennis passed away in November 2005 at the age of 75, greatly missed by people who worked with him.  We don't get many characters like him any more, so let's be grateful for the years of excitement and fun that DIRTY DENNIS gave the sport.