Once upon a time!....There were two mega-keen
Stock Car supporters, aka Kevin Wegg and Dean Cox…..
I (Weggie) was something of an ‘Organiser’
and although I was too young at the time, remembered the old Auto-Speedway Foxhall Foxes Supporters Club that used to hold
social ‘dos’ in the pit bar/club room – frequently by drivers
afters meetings.
Long story short. I used to go on John Earrey’s
fabulous coach trips to Wimbledon Stadium and got to know him quite well. I floated the idea of establishing a new club. He
liked the idea as did my great mate Dean. We therefore set about it with ‘gusto’….
I produced some leaflets to advertise that
we would be having an informal meeting in the pit bar to gauge interest and left them at the (long since gone) programme kiosk
at the top of the first bend. The idea being that anyone buying a programme or souvenir would pick one hope and hopefully
then come along!.....
I can’t recall when we held the first
meeting – I think it would have been a Friday evening sometime during 1984 (the 1980’s page reveals the first
official meeting to have been on Friday 11th May 1984), as that rapidly became our regular night!
I recall vividly being over-whelmed by the
interest friends and people I had never even seen before showed that first night. I remember looking out on a sea of people
and was chuffed that at least one driver was there too – Dave Taylor, then a Stock Saloon car driver and now of ‘Historics’
fame.
FROM SMALL ACORNS
The rest is wonderful history really….there
were more than enough people on that first night to demonstrate sufficient interest in setting up a Club. The original intention
was for us to have things like table tennis (Daren Earrey & I both played for league teams and I fancied the idea of a
Foxhall Foxes team!!), coach trips, discos, pool, etc…..Dean quickly mentioned ‘Slot Stox’, having either
seen it or heard about. Besides, both Wisbech and Aldershot had tracks!
I didn’t need any persuading to actual
‘go racing’ myself, so Dean & I quickly introduced Slot Stox and of course it became the focal point of every
evening.
The first track was quite literally made from
a scalextric set bought from one of the early members, Gavin ‘Mr Aggro’ Heard. It was literally a scalextrix oval!
We set it up in the garage of Dean’s
family home, permanently fixing it to a wooden base. I recall the huge fun he, Stevie ‘Mr Steady’ Parker and I
had testing it out!
Not long after with the help of Dean’s
soon-to-be brother in law Chris ‘Smiler’ Bruce we constructed our first purpose-built track, again in Dean’s
garage. That was ace!...
All sorts of Championship meetings soon followed
with, even though I say it myself, some awesome trophies with proper Stock Car models on the top, some of which I still have.
Trips with various drivers to Wisbech on a Monday night were always a laugh, whilst Aldershot was consistently a graveyard
for us - at least in the early years. And always for me personally! LOL! The St. Ives Club in Cambridge is another story altogether!!!....
There are simply loads more stories and people
I could talk about, eg ‘Noddy’ Johnson; KFC Bargain Buckets; “Are you ready?...”, Lucky-ole Saeed,
Mrs B’s Birthday cakes, Those Wisbech Country Bumpkins, Nookie for some behind the Pit gate, etc., etc…….
But suffice to say, it was such a truly wonderful
period of my life. Great times; Great memories and more importantly even Greater Friendships that have lasted the test of
time. Thanks everyone for your support and friendship back then and now! I salute you all!
And finally….it’s simply terrific
to think that thirty years later it’s still going just as strong! And with second generation drivers too….A huge
“well done” to everyone that’s hand a hand in achieving that over the years and to Mark for this ‘ere
Website too. Steam ON Everyone!......
Kevin ‘Sir Fence-A-Lot’
Wegg #524
16th February 2014
