Carl H

17 years ago! Blimey. And it's still going. Seems like a good time to thank all the Stoxnet Supporters, past and present, that contribute towards the not inconsiderable amount of cash that it takes to keep Stoxnet online and working properly. Without your help, it wouldn't be here, so thank you all.

If it is ten rounds as originally announced, then it looks like congratulations to Tsjalle Greidanus on winning the inaugural E-Series. Unless the last round is double points? Current points here:- http://stoxnet.com/points/e_points.htm (unoffiical!)

Just in case any of the younger or newer fans are wondering what the fuss about Bradford is, have a read of the potted history on Bradford | Since 1954, written by someone that actually raced there. (No, it wasn't me )

Good interview, and at well over an hour, it was something of an epic. I watched it in installments. A minor point, but he actually started racing late 1982.

Loads more drivers and programmes, mainly from the 1950s. History section added to Bradford New Stats menu includes Most Meetings Per Track

Nice one.

This was 2005 and a lot of internet users were "anonymous" so the first port of call to identify them would be the owner of the website in question. Maybe the law has changed with the advent of social media, I don't know. As it happens, it's a bit of a strange story. The person who uploaded it wasn't breaking any law, as he had taken the photo himself! And it turned out that the guy sending the demands wasn't the young lady's agent, either. Or had ever had anything to do with her. Must have been some sort of chancer thinking that we'd panic and just give him some money 😮

Digger Pugh was Australian.

Looks like that book is worth checking out, thanks for the heads-up Colin. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print and out of stock, and the only copy I've found is a signed first edition, which is as expensive as it sounds. Thanks. I've contributed to a fair few stock car books over the years, but write one of my own... ? Erm. I don't think so.

Has anyone got contact details for Pan Visuals? Seriously, I've asked dozens (at least) of people if it's okay to use their photos on my website, and nobody has ever said no. In fact, a lot have said "please do!". The issue referred to earlier in this thread stems from a photo being used as part of something else, and only some of the photo was used - unfotunately the part that was cropped out included the photographer's watermark, and understandably they weren't happy about it. I'm not disputing the letter of the law but I doubt that anyone is seriously going to be all that bothered about an aeons old photo being reproduced on a low-traffic site like Stoxnet. In any case, it wouldn't be the poster that they would go after, it would be the site owners (i.e. who stoxnet.com is registered to). This actually did happen, years ago. Someone posted photos from a motor show (might have been the NEC, I can't remember), and some featured a model that had been hired by some PR company. Someone claiming to be the girl's agent sent us a few snottograms about payment for copyright infringement....

These aren't right. Looks like I managed to miss the final from Northampton. Since they've started doing the results as graphics, instead of normal text that I can copy and paste, it's a bit more labour intensive, and I obviously got a bit sloppy. I'll rectify that this week.

http://stoxnet.com/points/e_points.htm

Great photo. Where did you nick it from? 1994 - FWJ leads 391 by miles but the engine goes sick. 1997 - FWJ leads 53 by a few car lengths, H34 veers across the track in front of them. 53 brakes, 515 tangles with H34, 53 goes straight past.

The introduction of greyhound racing in the late 1920s led to a lot of tracks being built, and by 1932 there were 4 rival tracks in Liverpool. Stanley Greyhound Stadium in the Old Swan district opened in 1927 for the dogs, with speedway arriving in 1936, and like many other greyhounds and speedway stadia of the era, 1954 saw the arrival of stock car racing. The opening meeting on 18th June 1954 was won by Oliver Hart Jnr, whose dad Oliver and uncle Ron were the promoters. The Hart brothers were non-identical twins and had been speedway riders in the 1930s and 1940s, and promoted speedway and stock cars at a range of tracks in the north, including Wigan, Bradford, and the ill-fated Preston meeting that landed them in court. But that was nothing compared to their final meeting at Liverpool on 24th September 1954, which was abandoned in Heat 4 when a car went through the fence into the crowd, and an 11 year old boy, there to watch his father race, was tragically killed. Stanley Stadium was reopened for stock cars on 13th May 1955 by Southern Stock Cars Ltd, which was American promoters Buddy Davenport and Lester Vanadore. They had arrived in the country as part of a joint venture with pioneer UK promotoer Digger Pugh. Partly a promotional stunt, and partly a business venture, they shipped some US stock cars and drivers to England to race at various tracks around the country, with everyone getting a share of the prize money. In those days, the prize money on a final would be a couple of grand in today's money, so potentially quite profitable. The team was made up of team managers Vanadore and Davenport, plus drivers Curtis Crider, Bill Irick, Possum Jones, Pete Folse, Bobby Schuyler, Bobby Myers, and Neil Castles, who was a last minute replacement for Speedy Monroe. Speedy was listed in the programme for the team's first UK meeting at Harringay on 8th April 1955, but did not race. Davenport later stepped in as a driver when Crider and Myers bailed out early and went home. The Americans' first impression of the racing at Harringay was less than favourable. According to Neil Castles' autobiography, they were expecting something like the NASCAR races in the States, but it was more like a demolition derby. It started well for the Americans. Experienced racers in properly set up cars were no match for the British novices in stuff they'd bought for peanuts from scrapyards. The England vs USA race was a whitewash, with the visitors claiming all five point scoring places. Possum Jones and Bobby Myers took a one-two in the meeting final. Coincidentally, Heat 2 also went to an American, but nothing to do with the USA team. The winner was Vince W Jones from California, who was a law student at Oxford. As for Liverpool on 13th May, it wasn't a success. Only 19 cars turned out to race, and the first heat was described as very tame. Ex-promoter Oliver Hart (the elder) won Heat 2 and the Final. The England vs America race featured Oliver Hart Jnr racing for the Americans, as they had lost a car earlier on. Folse and Irick crashed out, but Castles and Jones got enough points for America to win. Neil Castles finished as runner-up in the Final.... or did he? The name in the programme was actually Doug Castles from the USA, who was also recorded as the winner of Heat 3 and the Final at Norwich on 21st May 1955. These are the only recorded race appearances of Doug Castles, either in England or anywhere else. The rest of the USA team were all documented as being racers in the states, but there is nothing at all to be found on Doug Castles. On the two occasions that Doug Castles is known to have raced in England, Neil Castles did not race at those meetings. The most likely explanation is that Doug Castles and Neil Castles are the same person. Either he used a different name for some reason, or it was just a mistake. However, in The Story Of Stock Car Racing 1955, the meeting report for Liverpool says that the runner-up was "an unknown Australian driving Neil Castles' car" ! Did he also race at Norwich? Lester Vanadore disappeared back to America with all the money, some of which belonged to Bobby Shuman, who had supplied the cars, and later turned up dead. (with thanks to Steve Daily)

Points tables after round 5. http://stoxnet.com/points/e_points.htm

My copy arrived today. Only had time for a quick flick through so far, but it looks really good. 👍

That's interesting. Cars from the 70s and 80s don't look as though they are any wider than today's cars. Do you know what axles they used? I thought everyone used LDs back then - were they narrower than Transits?

I forgot to post the rest of it! Heat and Final at West Ham on 25th April 1959 went to William "Darkie" Wright, who was one of the pioneer stock car drivers that raced at the very first meeting at New Cross Stadium in London on Good Friday, April 16th 1954. Darkie won his first final at Eastbourne in 1955, and went on to win quite a few more, but it was his immaculately prepared cars that got the attention. While most cars of the period looked as though they had been thrown together in a garden shed, because most of them had, Darkie’s looked as though they had been properly engineered. Darkie Wright was one of the first drivers to build cars to order, and apart from stock cars he also built a few Hot Rods as well. Darkie was the oldest driver to have won a final, winning his last at Northampton in 1974, aged 62. He held this record until Rob Cowley won at Birmingham in October 2015. At Belle Vue the same night, Doug Wardropper travelled a long way north from Ipswich to take a clean sweep of Heat, Final, and Helter Skelter, although as far as I know the HS race didn't have a lap handicap for the winner? He went home via Northampton the day after, and won the final there as well.

Sounds great in theory, although it reminded me of my first race. I lined up right at the very back, well behind everyone else, and a flag marshall came over, pointed at Paul Hines and Stu Smith, and said to me "Can you go and line up with the other superstars?"

Did all the drivers booked in actually race?

Points tables - http://stoxnet.com/points/e_points.htm Also, like on the 'real' points tables, click on the App and Ave column headings to re-order.

Peter Arnold announced in the West Ham programme that of the three new ideas trialled at the start of the 1959 season, one of them had been a definite success and would be made a permanent part of racing. That was the grading system. The grades A, B, C, and Star continue to this day, with Superstar grade added in 1976. The other things on trial were clutch starts, and handicap starts with the cars spread out around the track. The Board of Control decided that the procedures for race starts was up to the individual promoters to decide what worked best for the shape and size of their track. Peter also noted that of the eight meetings so far in 1959, six of them had been won by drivers graded lower than Star. The other two were both won by Doug Wardropper.

Very sad to read this. Although we talked it about it several times, I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person. I can't say for certain that Roger's Oval Racing Pages was the very first stock car website when it appeared in 1997, but it was definitely the first one to gain any kind of traction. Roger also organised a group chat system via email (this was before even before chat boards and forums had been invented), and it was through this that I had many an interesting discussion with Roger and others. Truly one of the pioneers of getting stock car racing on the internet. My thoughts are with all those that he leaves behind.

Amended following a steward's inquiry into the result of the final at King's Lynn. Second place was H229, not H29, as originally reported.

Points chart after last night. http://stoxnet.com/points/e_points.htm