Wimbledon Stadium Stock Car and Banger Racing – A Brief History
Stock Car Racing at Plough Lane Stadium ran from 1962 until 2017, with meetings run and promoted by Spedeworth International. The opening meeting saw Wimbledon being a direct replacement for Spedeworth’s previous Saturday evening race venue, Rayleigh, in Essex.
The opening meeting was on 29 September 1962, with the feature race being the “Championship of the World” for Formula Two (F2) stock cars. The World Championship became a major spectator event over the years, with many of them being sold out in advance. The track also held regular domestic meetings but was considered the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Spedeworth’s venues with its prestigious London location and choice of indoor or outside viewing. The race-view restaurant facilities allowed Spedeworth the chance to invite celebrities along to watch the racing and to present the trophies.
The fixture lists developed year on year, with more notable events being added. The first addition to the World Championship was the annual Carnival Night, which became the end-of-season celebration race meeting, usually in November. Racing was preceded by a procession of carnival floats made up of the stock cars, which were adorned with a chosen theme.
In 1962, there was only one formula racing, the F2s (which later became known as superstox), but in the late 1960s, three more classes were added to the fixtures, namely hot rods, new formula stock cars (later known as saloon stock cars) and midgets.
The early 1970s saw the introduction of regular banger racing as well. Spedeworth chose Wimbledon as the home of the World Banger Championship, which ran in November each season until 2008 when the event was moved to its present home at Ipswich, with the introduction of the London Emission Zone making it too expensive for the car transporters to travel to the venue.
Stock car fans will offer many different theories as to what made the racing at Wimbledon so good. Many will cite the days when the track was shared with the Don’s speedway team, the shale surface making the driving tricky and levelling out any engine power advantages. Others will say it was the atmosphere of racing under the floodlights and the roar of a capacity crowd.
The final race meeting was held on Sunday, 26 March 2017.
Words by Richard John Neil