From Spedeworth short-track oval racing to Le Mans winners

1980 Spedeworth meeting at Lydden Hill.

Most motor racing is insanely expensive, but there have always been some forms of motor sport accessible to those less well off.   Here, I am talking about Spedeworth, with their stock cars, banger racing, superstox and hot rods, which were mainly run on short-track ovals.  I always enjoyed going to Wimbledon stadium which regularly ran these events.  Occasionally, Spedeworth ventured onto larger circuits at venues such as Lydden Hill.   The pictures accompanying this short blog post were taken by me in the first half of 1980 at Lydden Hill.   All good family fun! 

1980 Spedewoth meeting at Lydden Hill.

Amazingly, three English Le Mans winners  spent some of the early part of their careers in Spedeworth short track racing. 

Derek Warwick is perhaps the most famous stock car driver to move on to the big time of Formula One and Le Mans.   Starting in stock car racing on the tarmac and cinder ovals he made his name in Formula Two Superstox on the Spedworth short track ovals like Aldershot and won the 1971 English title and then won the 1973 World Championship for Formula Two Superstox at Wimbledon.   In 1975 Derek started on the long circuits in Formula Ford.  Derek went onto win the 1978 Vandervell F3 championship before progressing into F1 from 1981 onwards.  In 1992 he won the Le Mans 24 hours with Peugeot.

Lydden Hill 1980. 

In 1975 Martin Brundle moved up from grass track banger racing to Hot Rods and he later got a red top on his car and was doing well on the short track ovals of East Anglia.  The big names at the time were Barry Lee, Derek Fiske, Gordon Bland, Mick Collard and George Polley.   Following Hot Rods, Martin competed in the BTCC in an old Toyota, had a season in FF2000 and then drove for Audi in the BTCC as team mate to Stirling Moss.  Famously in 1983 he was the main challenger in F3 to Ayrton Senna and then drove in F1 from 1984.  In 1990 in won the Le Mans 24 hours with Jaguar.

More recently, Nick Tandy raced in short oval Ministox from 1996 to 2000, winning the Midland title in 1996 and in 1998 he was runner-up in the World Championship.   In 1999 and 2000 he was the Spedeworth Ministox champion.   Then he had to progress as Ministox racing is for 11 to 16 year olds.   Through Mini Se7en racing, Formula Ford and Formula Three, he eventually landed a works drive with Porsche and won the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours.

1980 Spedeworth meeting at Lydden Hill.

Of the last six English drivers to win at Le Mans, three of them or an amazing 50% spent an early part of their career in Spedeworth short-track oval racing.   None of the three had a win in F1.   So if you want to win in F1 start your career in karting but to win at Le Mans, why not consider Spedeworth?

The other three English drivers to win at Le Mans this century were Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and Guy Smith.

The Porsche that won the Le Mans 24 hours in 2015 in the hands of Nick Tandy, Nico Hulkenberg and Earl Bamber.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Always lots of action at Spedeworth meetings!   Lydden Hill 1980.

Irwindale Speedway Night of Destruction, March 2018

Jet Car vs Car.  The car lost in this rather unfair contest!  Nobody was in the car.

I was looking for an event near Los Angeles to go to last weekend and I came up with the Night of Destruction at Irwindale Speedway.  They regularly hold these Saturday night events of family entertainment, although the one last November was meant to be the last event at Irwindale before closure.  However, come January it was rescued for at least another couple of years.  Irwindale Speedway is a half mile lightly banked oval but the Night of Destruction is mainly held on a third mile oval running inside the main track.

The weather was extremely rainy all night and thus a couple of races were cancelled, including the destruction derby and the Race of Champions for late model stock cars as they were considered too dangerous for the conditions.  However, with good rock music playing before the event and fun and entertainment from the other races, we all had a great time.   The same cars and drivers took part throughout out the night - the cars being rather second hand four cylinder front wheel drive compact sedans such as Acuras, Accords etc. It reminded me of the banger racing I sometimes used to see at Wimbledon Stadium in London, England many years ago.  Unlike Irwindale which survived by the hair of its teeth, Wimbledon did close last year.

On a dark wet evening, from high in the grandstand to avoid the rain, photos were not easy to take.  They were all taken with a Panasonic Compact as the organisers don't like spectators with DLSRs and long lenses.

ENDURO
The opening race was a  7 minute, 20 lap race around the third of a mile oval.  The top three finishers were cars 19, 117 and 17 driven by Rodney Argo, Michael Hudson and Daniel Hudson respectively.  They beat the other twenty three starters.

The wet conditions proved rather tricky, even for the leaders.

The winning driver, Rodney Argo, being interviewed after his first win of the night. 

Figure of Eight
The second race, also over 20 laps, was even more fun as it was held over a figure of eight shaped track with a cross-over.  This certainly thrilled the spectators even though only nine cars started.  It was again won by Rodney Argo in car No.19 but this time from cars 7 and 95.

Part of the grid for the Figure of Eight race.

The conditions were extremely wet.  Rodney Argo is in the lead car.

The cross-over in the centre of the figure of eight.

The leader again avoids a car at the cross-over.

A wider angle view of the circuit.

The Flag Pole race
This race featured a 360 degree corner, so again a cross over and 20 laps like the previous race.   This race lasted over ten minutes and had a different winner, Joseph Bereiter in car No.27 from cars 2 and 14.   Fourteen cars started this race.

The pace car leads the field around for the Flag Pole race.

The Flag Pole corner on the pace car lap.

The same corner showing the cross-over.

slippery conditions at the Flag Pole.

Jet Car vs Car.
In this demonstration a pickup with an aircraft jet engine mounted on the rear reduced a car to a smouldering ruin in a few minutes.  Forty years ago this would have been in distinctly bad taste at an auto event but with modern safety standards it is more acceptable.

The Inferno begins its demonstration.

The car well on the way to destruction.

Skid Plate race.
This race was for seventeen of the  front wheel drive compacts but with metal skid plates on the rear wheels instead of tires.  This made them slow but with a tail-out attitude.   This 20 laps race around the third of a mile oval was won by Mike Digregorio in car No.18 from cars 16 and 14.  It lasted nearly twelve minutes.

The skid plate cars go out on to their pace lap.

Val Cummings in his skid plate car.

Tail out in the corners.

Action involving two of the leaders.

More action from the lead bunch.  The eventual winner in fourth place.

The winning car No.18 still playing catch-up.

The usual post race interviews.

The Trailer Race
What a lot of the crowd had been waiting for - the Trailer race.  This features cars (the same as before plus some station wagons and a Chevrolet El Camino) pulling a variety of things including other cars, boats, jet skis etc.  A sort of demolition derby with trailers.   A few extra trailers were placed around the track for the cars to avoid or not!   This event was judged on style! The eventual winner was car No.7 driven by Robert Rice, the King of Destruction from Cheryl Hyland (176) and Steve Cook (99).  This was the longest event at around fifteen minutes.  Seven drivers took part in the mayhem.

The trailer race about to start.

Robert Rice got the judges attention early on by driving straight through the caravan!

The conditions continued to be extremely wet.  This is Tony Cummings.

The winner, Robert Rice, chased by Robbie Salcido.

Cheryl Hyland lost her trailer very early on.

The end of a fun but very wet evening.  Don't expect rain if you come to Irwindale - this evening was very unusual in terms of the amount of rain.  This is SoCal after all.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.