RICK @ the RACES ( 11 to 18 June 2015)
Sat 13 June Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich UK
Sun 14 June Brafield Stadium, Northampton UK
Once again , I’ve just returned from a trip back to the UK, and like my previous trips, the report will be done on a day by day basis.
Thursday 12 June,
I left home in Cornwall, Ontario mid afternoon, in my HHR , bound for Ottawa, and the Uplands, Park N Fly, close to the airport. My flight to London was at 10-40 pm, so I had plenty of time to relax before my departure. The plane took off on time, and once we were in the air, I was soon off to sleep. I woke briefly when I heard the food trolley coming, and after a macaroni cheese and a glass of wine, I was back to sleep. I awoke shortly before landing, which for me, was the perfect way to do it.
Friday 12 June,
The plane landed about 10-15 am, G.M.T and after getting lost in Heathrow’s terminal two, I eventually found my way to the Hertz courtesy bus that ferried me to the car rental office. Once the paper work was done, I was heading for Mum’s place in my white Fiat 500 . I’ve always loved the Fiat 500, and think the bodies were specifically designed for future use on stock car tracks once their road life is over !
I was at her house in Toddington by 1-15 pm and by 1-30 pm I was tucking into a plate of Stew and Dumplings that she had prepared.
Saturday 13 June
After a good long sleep of nearly 12 hours I awoke on Saturday for the first racing event of my trip. My long time buddy Colin Herridge picked me up from Mum’s at 1-30 pm in his Citroen for a visit to the Foxhall Stadium , near Ipswich for a night of BriSCA F1’s , Hot Rods and Mini Stox. The two hour journey went very quickly as we chatted about old times, and it wasn’t long before we were pulling onto Foxhall Heath. This track has a lot of sentimental value to me, as it was the first place I ever witnessed stock car racing. I was born in the town of Ipswich, and my parents took me there when I was only four years old.
With this in mind, our first stop was for a photo shoot at the main entrance. Once this was done we parked the car and wandered into the pits.

We came to the Hot Rod pits first and the first person I bumped into was Graham Brown, a good friend, a Hot Rod official and racing historian. We chatted for a while before moving on to check out the cars.
One that caught my interest was that of Danny Fiske # 304, he is the son of former top Superstox racer Derek Fiske # 304, that I remember watching in the 1960’s.
After the Hot Rod pits we moved on to the BriSCA F1 pits and it wasn’t long before we bumped into more familiar faces. Beside the Paul Harrison # 2 car I found Willie, his father. I’ve know Willie for many years and I always chatting with him.

As well as Paul racing, he’d also got his grandson Bradley out on the track. Willie quickly told me it was now four generations of Harrison’s in stock car racing, as his father had been the first. While we were chatting, another veteran from the past turned up to chat. It was none other than Alan Wardropper # 245 , former F1 pilot, Superstox World Champ and son of Doug Wardropper # 5 my childhood hero. Time for another photo shoot !



Also catching my attention was third generation driver Jordon Falding # 36, son of Peter # 33 and Grandson of Rodney # 36.
After wandering the pits a bit more, I looked for a good spot to take some pics. Even if experienced, it’s always hard to get photo credentials in the UK because of the strict Health & Safety rules regulating the amount of infield photographers. I had to be content with a seat high in the grand stand, and the use of a tele-photo lens.
The proceedings started with a bunch of Touring Car drivers doing some guest driving in borrowed Hot Rods before the serious stuff of BriSCA F1 began.
I managed to get a few pics I was happy with during the day light of the heats, but for the Features, I put the camera away and became a ‘race fan’.
During the intermission I had the pleasure of ‘having supper’ in the track restaurant with my good friend Peggyann Lilley, who runs the UK Legends Racing Club.
I returned to the grandstand for the F1 Final which unfortunately soon after the start, came under the reds. I don’t know the full facts, so will only comment on what I saw. It appeared that the John Lund # 53 car hit the fence hard, and after doing so, John appeared to be ‘knocked out’ or dazed. After which, the car careered full speed, and out of control across the center green. It looked like it came to a standstill after hitting the pace car, a fork lift truck and two of the infield personnel. It was scary, and did not look good, as the race was under red conditions for about an hour while the medics were at work. I sincerely wish the injured parties a speedy recovery.
Once the race was restarted Frankie Wainman Jr took the checkers.
The time was getting on, and by now it was nearly 10-00 pm and the shortened program only had the Hot Rod Final to run. Colin and I had both found the earlier Hot Rods heats to have been pretty boring ‘follow the leader’ single file stuff, so took the opportunity to make an early exit. By mid night Colin had dropped me off at Mums place in Toddington.
Sunday 14 June
I had a good lay in on Sunday morning before my short drive (30 minutes) to the Brafield Stadium , near to Northampton. Although Ipswich was the first stock car track, I ever visited, Brafield was the second one, the one I always considered my ‘local’ and have probably been there more times than any other track.
I drove alone to this one in my Fiat rental and was there about an hour before the scheduled 1-30 pm start time.
Once more the BriSCA F1’s were the headline attraction, with Mini Stocks and Lightening Rods as the back up formula.
The other big bonus for me on this day, was the V.S.C.A get together. For many years I’ve been a member of the Veteran stock Car Association and on a few occasions each year they have get togethers. I was lucky that this meeting at Brafield was one of these occasions. It’s a great chance for race track friends of the past to meet up once again and tell yarns about the good times.

The first people I met at the reunion was my old buddy Phill ‘Bootsie’ Chance, Mick Orridge and association chairman Blondie Da Costa. As the afternoon went along others turned up, including 83 year old George Ansell the 1966 F1 Stock Car World Champion, and Tony Butterfield, on vacation from Australia.

Tony was the guy that bought one of my F2 stock cars, before trying F1 prior to his emigration. We had a small room beside the bar reserved for us, with tea and food laid on . I must thank Paul and Joan Jenkins for all the hard work they do in organizing these do’s. In between chatting , I took photos with my tele photo lens from above the control tower.
The V.S.C.A were sponsoring the trophies for the day and many of us took a turn in presenting them.
I was allocated to do the third heat for the BriSCA F1’s and it was Mick Sworder who won the exciting race. The big race of the day, the Final for BriSCA F1’s was won by Lee Fairhurst # 217.

Once the race was over I had a quick wander round the pits to chat with Mick Sworder and Tom Harris. Tom raced at last years Chilli Bowl in Oklahoma , and has recently purchased a Sprint Car that’s being looked in the USA for future racing, my side of the pond.
After saying good byes it was back to Mums in Toddington, where I picked up Mum for a carvery supper at the Red Lion , at Bidwell Hill Houghton Regis.
Monday 15 June.
Mum and I had a trip to nearby Bedford. We parked the Fiat at the Elstow Park n Ride then got a bus into town.

After this we headed for Dunstable to meet up with my brother Chris. We didn’t stay long as he and Sue his wife were off to a show in London.
After this, Mum and I then spent a bit of time at the visitor center on Dunstable Downs where I took some panoramic photos of the surrounding area.

Tuesday 16 June
After a shopping trip to Houghton Regis in the morning, mum and I drove to my sister Anne’s place near Hockliffe.
After living in the same place for more than 35 years they are relocating to Milton under Wychwood in the Cotswolds of Oxfordshire. Anne and her husband Pete took Mum and I over to see there new place, where they are moving to later in the year.
On our way back we stopped off at Aynhoe where I took some pics of the barges on the Great Western Canal.
Wednesday 17 June
My last full day of this UK trip was a ‘lazy day’ where I took mum to the Milton Keynes area for some shopping.
There’s no Tim Hortons in England , but Greggs do some good stuff and I always find time to visit them a lot.
While , there we took a little drive up to nearby Brafield where we met Colin Herridge . He was there to photograph a mid week practice session, but on this occasion, no one had turned up to practice, so we didn’t stay for long. Mum and I returned back to Central Milton Keynes for lunch, after stopping on the way to take some pics of the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell.
Mum and I , later went out for supper at the Harvester in Hockliffe, before I ended my evening by meeting up with my old stock car buddy Stan Cole at The Bell in Toddington.

This was a place the Beds and Herts Stock Car Club used to meet at, once a month during the mid 70’s

Thursday 18 June
I was up early to drive back to Heathrow, the Fiat was dropped off at Hertz from where I was taken to Terminal 2. The plane took of around 12-30 pm GMT and I was back in Ottawa soon after 3-00 pm Eastern Time. It didn’t take long to clear customs and before long I was back at the Park N Fly picking up my HHR. After a priority stop for a ‘Timmies’ at Finlays Creek I was back in Cornwall by 5-30 pm
cheers great read, loving the work, keep it up. Regards Diesel pool