Senior  F1 Racing in the Sixties

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

Over 400 photos on this page --- use your Edit-Find function to find your favourites or just sit back for an hour and browse!

  April 2010: An anonymous fan sent this nice photo from 1962 (colour photos in 1962 were pretty special) of, possibly, Jumbo 179 leading 68 Trevor Frost and 42 Aubrey Leighton into turn 1 at Brafield. NOTE:  the "179 might just be a "79", in which case the blue-top is Harry Blevins from Manchester. 

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's mechanic. I am not sure where these photos were taken, but you will enjoy them: 

Next, an old b/w snapshot I took,of Jumbo's car  in the pits at Brafield.   (See Darkie Wright's #7 car in the background.)  An original looking combat-car, and I think a lot of us miss those open exhausts.  Jumbo 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 "vigorous altercation" [say no more, gov'] with Jim Esau and Darkie Wright, which is still remembered today.  Mechanic Roger Harris (who 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. 

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.   August 2010:  Pat used a Chrysler hemi 354 cu.in. motor in at least one of his cars, a motor he took out of a Facel Vega, the rare luxury French GT car  - it must have been quite a wreck, because new and used Facels cost a fortune.

Here's Pat looking thoughtful in a BriSCA photograph.

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.

   August 2011:   More Pat Willis, thanks to ex-racer Doug Fisher. Here's Pat in his #25 car at a very sunny Ringwood meet some time in the 1960's --- smiling behind the car is the great Roy Clarke, quote "a brilliant F2 driver", who worked for and mechanic'd for Pat, and who Doug Fisher in turn mechanic'd for.  This Willis 25 car is the famous ex-Johnny Brise, ex-Johnny King machine, into which Pat fitted a rebuilt Chrysler hemi (mentioned above, from a Facel Vega); "it was a flyer".

At one point Pat worked for Ted Pankhurst 104 at his Eton business, later running a repair shop in Geoff Elliott's Datchet yard, and finally his own garage in Virginia Water.  Doug recalls Pat as a terrific engine builder and able to repair anything from a Mini to an HGV.   Earlier, before Pat got the Brise-King car, he had been racing a fast Jaguar engined car which he sold on to Dennis de Quincy #207 from Walton on Thames. Here's a 1961 West Ham WF photo of Dennis in that ex-Willis car.  My especial thanks to Doug Fisher for those two photos and facts; Doug had worked at one time for Pat as HGV1 driver and car mechanic, and can be seen at the top of the Seventies page.

Pat Willis is still "up and doing" in 2011, busily applying his mechanical skills to the delicate task of rebuilding scale model locomotives.  September 2011:  Pat's friend Barry Redman told me that after stock car racing, Pat went on to be a National points champion in off-roading, at over 60 years of age, and then became the only Brit to win the tough RALLYE DES CIMES in the South of France, in 1982.  Tough guy!

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, and here, in 1960 at Staines, Ron and Ken Freeman (61) lose traction.

  August 2010: More on that Wisbech wild man Ron Pears #331.  Thanks to William Smith, who grew up in the same district as Tony Wicks, Viv Harper, and Haley Calvert, and had Ron Pears as a neighbour. William selected this great shot of Ron Pears and his mechanic John Lister, taken in 1960, from his collection [William publishes local history books through his Carrillson Publications].  William remembers when he was a lad, helping Ron with his car, and the reward was rides to various tracks, with a quick "disappearing act" that got him in free ---.  Ron Pears was one of the far-sighted builders, like Barry Hebborn, who invested the then-huge sum of £1,000 for a new race-prepped engine from the States.

 September 2011:   Also from William Smith, Ron Pears strikes a "Hollywood" pose beside his car; place and date not known.

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. 

 December 2011:  Thanks to David Hughes, a Midlands spectator and racer, for this 1963/4 Hednesford action shot which shows Steve Gateley  ["That's me, still learning ---," says Steve today] spinning in a cloud of smoke.  

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 was Dougie Wardropper's car! 

Steve Gateley himself in action, first at West Ham in 1964, lining up beside Oxford's Karl Grossman 289 and Ben Spiers 312 (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, Steve tangled with Mick Screaton 357, (Diseworth, Leics). 

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 pursuits, including a farm not far away from Keith Barber's home.  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 and 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. 

September 2011: Willie Harrison #2 in the Doncaster [?] pits with white-top #95 Peter Roebuck from Long Eaton and #225 Russ Bates on the lorry. [Photo Malc Brown]

  May 2011:  Earlier, in 1963, Willie's car suffers bad damage up against the Long Eaton fence; see the small #2 "taxi light" on his roof.

September 2010: Ian Melton identified Dick Sheppard's car, late 1950's or early 1960's, in the Brafield pits.  Dick had been driving a 1937 Chevrolet, but this car is almost certainly a 1935 Ford 40A five-window coupe, with the 3.6 litre V-8 flathead.  Dick was from Cheltenham and although he raced BriSCA from 1957 to 1966, he also spent a lot of time putting on stunt performances at showgrounds. During his long stunt career in world tours and in movies he wrecked 2,003 cars, and at the ripe old age of 80, Dick made that 2,004 wrecks when a careless driver sideswiped him on a Gloucester street, fortunately without causing injury.   Dick had earlier ridden speedway bikes for the Brandon Bees and Swindon Robins, and as late as 2004, along with Jumbo Tustin, he attended Geoff Harrison's funeral and memorial buffet; "One of the originals" said Roger Harris.  In 2010 Dick Sheppard is publishing an autobiography My Wild Youth In Gloucestershire, through Waterstones bookshops. http://www.dicksheppard.co.uk/?p=107.   Check it out?

Last of this 13-photo treat from Steve is a Brandon pits panorama showing Tom Toon #202 ,Tiger Griffin #178, and #75 Wilf Blundell from Southport, .

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 aerodynamic wing or big-budget sponsor to be seen anywhere.  Cars include #124 Oliver Smith (Durham), #240 Kevin Shackleton (Leicester), and #33 Oldham's Keith Thompson. 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.  

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

This car appears elsewhere on this site as Ron Cayzer's;  then it went to his son John Cayzer.  Here, in approx 1968 in the Coventry pits, the car belongs 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 under the nickname "Jack The Ripper" in Junior racing:  Aycliffe's scrutineer Jack Cowling. Photo and facts from John Rigg.  The white rose on Tony's car shows it's from Richmond, North Yorks, not the rival town of Richmond, Lancs.  

In the Wars of the Roses, the white rose is the House of York.   If Tony spotted a 'Red Rose' car ahead, he'd ----. 

Syd Farndon, who not only promoted at Tamworth, and practically invented the Junior/F2 formula, but also raced the big un's, and here his red-top # 224  is 'brewing up' in the 1960 World Final at Coventry.  Syd's car was originally a George Foulger special. Also there are 35 Rod Dore and 68 Trevor Frost

Syd's son Steve Farndon 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 so young.

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)  Just look at that guy --- 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 they knew how to have fun, and how to live and play hard. 

King came second in the 1961 World Final, went to South Africa to win their championship, emigrated there in 1963 (family photo of JK at the airport), returned to England in 1979, then re-settled in SA in 1999, passing away in 2001.   

The 1961 West Ham WF would probably have been Johnny's, as he was the class of the field, and tore through the opposition 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, as shown on this programme, King made 4th.     

In the 1963 West Ham semi-final programme, Pete Arnold predicted Alan Wardropper to win from Johnny King, and got it half right --- Johnny did get his 2nd place.  

Only a few photos show Johnny with a public smile --- more often they show a rather intense look [see an official Johnny King profile ], 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 shot from a 1962 programme.  This car 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' a level.  This one did it for the sixties, built by Johnny Brise, with a Jaguar gearbox, the Olds Rocket 88 motor bored out to almost 7.5 litres, a Jeep rear axle, and a Mercedes chassis.

April 2010: Anonymous photo of Johnny King in a 1962 Brafield meet, being vainly pushed to start  ---- it didn't work.

Russ Thomas sent this: 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. 

Remember when there were thousands of those lorries on the road, hinged wood sides, especially the red-liveried British Road Services [from 1948 until a certain Maggie Thatcher ---].

 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.   Do you get the awful pun that produced the "Chick" nickname?  HEN - SON.

Here are four photos of his 1961 car.  He bought the Ford Pilot V-8 from Gerry Sheldrick of Linton (Cambs), and towed it home with a straight bar to the front bumper.  The car was pretty much stock but 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 went on to win this 1963 Brafield race.  Chick's car is wearing a Ford E93A "Pop" body, with a Model B grille.  In the same shot is 209 Fred Masters from Rugby.

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

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.

You can also see Clayton with his midget racer in the EARLY DAYS section .

A nostalgia special: Ted Janes was a USAF airman who raced with the Alconbury Spartans stock-car team based at USAF Alconbury (Huntingdonshire).  Here he is in 1966 with a 'special' that harks back to the 1950's -- Ted built this #66 as a nostalgia exercise for demonstration runs.  Rick Young provided the photo, but tells me that those shiny chrome wheel trims were removed before Ted ran this thing in anger. And here from another fan is Ted's autograph

    December 2010:  International:  USAAF racer Ted Janes meets French racer Guy Curval a long time colleague of Jock Lloyd.  The photo's original label says Harringay --- but ?. 

Ted Janes #66 in a more modern car, pitted next to Frank Bourne, at an unidentified (rural) track; photo source forgotten.

January 2011: Colour photography in May 1964 -- then still a rarity --- lets us see Aubrey's 42 car in the Brandon pits, courtesy of Dave Chapman, then a Leicester based fan. If you enlarge the image a lot, you can just see Aubrey's face, with his glasses glinting.  Four months later at the same venue, Leighton's last-lap glimpse of a second world championship was dashed, and his racing career came to an end.
Next, same date, Aubrey's #42 Pink 'Un is up on the converted fire-engine that Leighton used.

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

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-seven 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:  

"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 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" was deejay at Brafield from 1963 to 1977.  

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!"  [Click on the link to the 1950's section, and you'll see some great action shots of Harry mixing it up at Brafield.]   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 shouting and shoving in the pits and on the track, sparked by his success, became a stock-car legend.  Harry Prigmore later 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 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 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.

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!   

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

 April 2010:  At Brafield in October 1962, wearing a blue top, Aubrey gets it properly sideways, and Jock Lloyd's new-that-year XK140 lurks in the background. [Anonymous donation]

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 the son of National Hot Rod champ (#356) Gordon Bland: 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.)

 
Fred and Les Mitchell:

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

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 or Brands.  Ken was a BriSCA lap-scorer for over 20 years at 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 by Fred's son in law Paul Holden.) 

Below:  At Brandon, Fred collects another trophy. Charles Ochiltree is on the left, and Fred looks like he's doing an Elvis.  Looking cool against the car is an uninvited fan who had nipped over the fence to get in the photo. Pete Schafer also in the background.  

Below:  "The guys".  British stock-car racing flourished because of characters like these:  Back to the 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 sitting on the tyre looks like he's worked hard; and look at that cool tough guy George Ansell.

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, at home near Seattle, USA, with his 'best friend'.  

August 2010:  A fantastic-but-true mechanical tale, from the late Pete Schafer: in 1962 or 63 Fred broke a conrod at a Wednesday Southampton meeting, and quickly contacted a friend at Ford's main spares depot on the Great West Road, who said that they had just received a pair of V-8 Mercury motors from an offshore racing powerboat, raced only once.  Lovely! Fred bought one of the motors, and he and Pete scrambled to install it before the weekend.  Fred fired it up, put the car in first gear, let out the clutch --- and #38 went BACKWARDS --- it had been the boat's left-side engine which, following standard nautical engineering practice for balancing a powerboat, it ran ANTICLOCKWISE, with the starter, cams, timing, etc all set up to allow that. So it was engine-out and rebuild the whole damn thing before Friday!

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.  Check out those hand-cut front tyres. 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.

Here is 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 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.  [Rick 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 £5.  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 Walter Matzke from Rugy.  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 [autographed] laps the Brafield track in a Volkswagen Beetle-bodied special. Dick Young photo 

January 2010:   Russ Thomas and myself, 46-plus years ago, each separately witnessed violent Doug Wardropper crashes 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 straight at an RSJ upright girder; 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 "stock car school training session", and this time the car ended up completely though the fence.  Russ sends this photo, saying that almost immediately the skies opened, and Doug crawled out and commented "that's not supposed to happen".

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

  January 2011: Small world.  Someone who was in Doug's racing school that day, Dave Chapman,now from Essex, is the dapper young gent on the far right of the 'classroom' photograph above.  

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

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. 

It is sad when stock car heroes pass away, but if it has to happen --- Dougie Wardropper died suddenly at the age of 72, doing what he loved best, busy in in his engine-building workshop.

============================================================================

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 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. (Rick Young photo) — and here is Don Evans's autograph:  

Why can't they build this kind of brute any more?  I think there were four Laurie brothers, Bob, Brian, Bruce, Cecil, farmers from Byfield in Northants, and we loved to see 'em race. Bob Laurie's "demonic" #98 senior stocker at Brafield 1964. Bob later earned his red top in 1970.  Those "ack-ack" exhaust stacks could shoot down pheasants.  Brother Cecil was #368.  A 1959 Brafield programme records Brian as wrecking his car in the "consie" at his very first race.  Bruce Laurie #281, raced 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. 

  January 2011: A big high-resolution photo from Long Eaton.  Ellis is there with his futuristic car, ready to rumble, and that looks like a hurried splash of gold paint on his roof, meaning this was taken shortly after Ellis's WF success down at West Ham, in the autumn of 1965. Long Eaton's railway bridge is in the background, with its tobacco advertisement.  Dave Chapman remembers the fish 'n' chip shop across the road that spectators could be permitted to run to halfway through a meeting --- and Cliff Burdett reports that the shop's still there today!  Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman.

Ellis at Cadwell, breaking the sound barrier as usual.

Long Eaton, 1962, and running under #183, a red-top Ellis Ford chases hard on the heels of Banbury's Jimmy Wright (ex-speedway rider) #236, and the rest of the pack.  Colour photo anonymously donated.

Ellis Ford #3   [Rick Young photo] 

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-on-Avon.  Ellis would 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.  could deal with rowdies and drunks in 5 seconds flat.  A WW2 injury [various stories about that] had 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", and 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. "

Call your local "health and safety" official and make them look at this photo of Ellis's car!  A terrific shot of Ellis with flag and Miss Brafield — the man is happy! [Photo from Carol Cockings]

Thanks to ex-racer and Ellis-Ford-crewman 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.

Here is Ellis Ford doing the honours, presenting a boo-ootiful bouquet of flowers, and doesn't he look charming?

May 2010: 'Old pals chatting' --- at Brafield in 1962, Ellis, arms folded, sitting comfortably on the front of his 183 car, listening to (oops:  not Trevor Frost as previously labelled) someone.  [Thanks to "Stonemason" for the photo.]

"So long."  Sad to report, Ellis passed away 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  428-inch and 430 Ford / Mercury V-8's.   

"Dirty Dennis" Burdett-Coutts # 380 from Hitchin, Herts, was a great character, and I welcome any stories from fans about DD. 

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 pits shot of Dirty Dennis's car 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.    Another shot of Dirty Dennis, on a parade lap at Brafield.

"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 "Rush"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 a tyre or cracked an axle —.

Dennis retired to relax beside his much-more-peaceful fishing lake near Hitchin, Herts, and passed away in November 2005 at the age of 75, greatly missed by people who worked with him.  He had a younger brother, a keen Vincent motorcyclist, who lost his life in a road accident in about 1960.   We don't get many characters like Den any more, so let's be grateful for the years of excitement and fun that DIRTY DENNIS gave the sport.