The History of Warton Stock Car Club
Warton began life in 1972. I believe it was originally a charity based one off event that became briefly a racetrack called “West End Raceway” promoted by Pillarway Co. LTD. The Club decided it would be better off being a members club shortly after, with a constitution and an elected committee looking after the running of the club. Over the years there’s been many Chairman, with one of the longest serving being Mick O’Brien in the 1990s/early 2000s.
The track itself is set in an old abandoned quarry, in a scenic reservation area. Originally the track was just an oval marked out around the base of the quarry, with the side doubling as barriers for the drivers and seats for spectators. A big rock reached out over the back straight allowing brave spectators a unique opportunity to watch the cars race around below them. Over the years the rock and stone has been knocked back to give bankings and in the early days, stacks of tyres around the outside of the banking provided seating for the spectators. Barriers would be applied to the bankings in the 80s and the spectator fence was erected during the 90s after a few near misses with cars leaping from the track onto the banking. The track surface was originally dirt and remained that way until the 90s, when initially the straights were tarmaced, followed by the corners a few seasons later. Racing back in the dirt days must have been difficult when taking into account the coastal settings and often blustery conditions, whipping dirt around the track.
The original racing formulas were Stock Cars and Bangers, with a designated Ladies Race during the day. The Stock Cars were a mixture of National F1 & F2 style cars with the occasional ‘Mad Max’ style build joining the fray. Bangers were MOT failed cars, stripped of anything dangerous or flammable and fitted with roll cages. Heading into the 80s, the Banger class was split into Bangers and Super Bangers. Bangers remained the same, but the Super Bangers allowed drivers to weld cars in certain areas to make them stronger, with the idea being that drivers could get a full season out of a car and spend a bit more on engine and car setups. Over the years the Super Bangers would evolve, with the strength resembling more the Stock Cars than the Bangers by the time they hit the 90s. In 1993(or 4) the Ministox formula was added, with rules similar to the National Ministox. This allowed drivers as young as 10 to start racing until they hit 17(nowadays the limits are 11-16), when they would move onto a different formula. Around 1996 ‘Adult Minis’ were tried and deemed successful, becoming ‘Unlimited Minis’ a year later. In 1999 ‘Junior Bangers’ were run as a one off, allowing the Ministox drivers a chance to leave their normal cars at home and go crashing. They were joined by a few others who raced Junior Bangers at other tracks and the odd meeting would run every year until around 2004 when they would get 3 meetings a year, gradually increasing that number. The formula had a name change to ‘Junior Rookies’ to try and remind the drivers that it was still a limited contact formula and not full blown Bangers. Another class undergoing change was the Unlimited Minis, they stopped around 2004, before being reborn in around 2008 as ‘Senior Minis’ with stricter rules to provide a cheaper formula for drivers to get started in their racing career.
Around the late 00s the Ladies Bangers went from being 1 race per meeting to a fully fledged formula with designated fixtures throughout the year. They’ve grown since then to become a popular formula for both drivers and spectators. Super Bangers unfortunately lost drivers year on year until 2013 when the class was put on the shelf. The Mini F2s have been the latest addition allowing 7 year olds to begin their racing career. Those drivers have already started filtering into the Ministox & Junior Rookies.
Chairman over the years…
Around 10 Chairman have come and gone over the years and I don’t know a lot about the earlier Chairman. There is a model of #2 Bowerbank in our Trackshop who was an early Chairman. Another was Brian Lewis in the 80s. The Lewis Family were heavily involved in the Club with Brian and Christine Lewis both racing and running the Club and their sons Ian and Alan Lewis also involved in the racing. Alan Lewis was one of Clubs best ever drivers having won honours in the Stock Cars as well as many Championships in the Banger formula, including National success.
Mick O’Brien took over in the early 90s and brought about a lot of changes both to the track and the formulas. He often had a no nonsense attitude and would not back down from an argument. Many times the highlight of the meeting programme would be Mick’s write up at the back of the programme, in which he would publish a letter he’s received before ripping into the author of the letter. Mick was the first Chairman to introduce a National formula to the track, with the Brisca F2s racing regularly in the mid 90s, including one Final often described as the best F2 race ever. Mick led the Club through a season off in 2001, enforced by the Foot & Mouth outbreak. He also introduced the Metal Mania and Caravan meetings, now the most popular of any season.
Around 2004 Norman Fryer took over. Norman’s Grandchildren and Daughter raced Ministox and Unlimited Minis. A fish and chip shop owner in Kirkham, Norman was a loveable character and a complete opposite to Mick. Under Norman Stock Car and Ministox numbers boomed.
Norman only lasted a few seasons before stepping down. Gerald Hoggarth, the Clubs Life President, would step in briefly until the AGM, when Graham Hayhurst took up the running of the club, along with help from his wife Judith. The Hayhursts have been connected to the Club since its beginnings and Graham’s children, Jennifer, James and Jill all had goes at racing. James would become a three formula Champion, first in the Ministox, then the Junior Bangers and after disappearing for a few years, returning to win the Stock Car Championship. James didn’t mess about with his front bumper and often went a bit over the top, and it would be one of those situations that saw him get a 5 year ban around the 2013 season. Graham was a good Chairman and had a mixture of Normans ability to listen to people, mixed with Micks ability to tell people how it is when needed.
After Graham, Tony ‘SnOrK’ Porter would take up the role of Chairman. Tony started at Warton around the year 2000, initially as a photographer. In a lot of the old footage and before the days of health and safety, you can find footage of him legging it out of the way of race cars heading across the infield. Tony never got behind the wheel of a racecar but had a good business head on him, bringing the club upto date with the admin and the health and safety side of things. Tony led the Club upto and through COVID, before stepping down shortly after to concentrate on his business, second hand games shop in Wigan, and his local political career.
Steve Hardy would take on the role next. Steve has been racing at Warton since the mid 80s, with a lot of success in the Super Banger formula in the mid 90s. Steve was an all action man getting stuck in wherever needed around the raceway. Steve stepped down in 2023, and that’s when current Chairman Joanne Chamley Creighton took over. Probably our first female Chairman, Joanne has also raced at the Club since the 90s, winning many titles in the Ladies Bangers, as well as mixing it in the Super Bangers.
Photos paint a thousand words…
Below are some links to a number of photos albums that have kindly been provided to us from drivers and spectators over the years showing just how far the track, the cars and the club have advanced over the many years of racing.
Potts Family Collection
A selection of images found in the loft, unfortunately no dates but a real variety of images and stages of track progression.
Dan Croskell Collection
A photo collection courtesy of Dan Croskell’s dad from his time racing at Warton in the early days of bangers.
Jay Atkinson Collection
Another banger drivers collection, this time coming from long time Warton driver Jay Atkinson showing a selection of his cars and colours from over the years.
