Saloon Stocks                59 Cars

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 1969

Superstox           80 Cars

1969 the 5th season in Scotland under the Spedeworth / Spedeworth Scotland banner.
It was reported that almost 200 drivers were registered for the start of the season, over 40 of which were for the new Saloon Stock formula. This would indicate that I am missing quite a number of Superstox drivers from my list. Of course it could be that a large number of drivers registered but never raced.

It was decided that the top points scorer at the end of each month would receive the extra £1.00 start money in lieu of the points champion from the previous year.
Prize money would remain the same as 1968 for the heats, except that 7th & 8th places would now receive 50p and £1.00, 7th and 8th place in the final would recieve £2.00. The first 6 places in the final also received small increases though it is not known by how much.
It should be noted that where references are made to start money & prize money awards, in 2011 terms it is necessary to multiply the amounts by a factor of 12.

The formats for the meeting were revised to the 2 from 3 heats instead of the separate heats, consolation & final.

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Although not Scottish it may be of interest that the English Superstox Driver of the Year award as voted by readers of the “Stock Car and Hot Rod Journal” was for Derek Fiske followed in equal second place by 1964 Formula 1 Stock Car World Champion Trevor Frost & Eddie James, the latter two polling the exact number of votes each.

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1968 End of Season Saloon Stock Car English Points top 10

 1968 End of Season Superstox English Points top 10

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1969 Points Champ Malcolm Paterson follows George MacMillan Snr Snr (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

 1969 SUPERSTOX POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP 

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Great Season for 31 Tennant Douglas, Open Scottish, Scottish & "Cock of the North" off to a great start here winning both heats & final at the 1st meeting of the season (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

  Open Scottish Championship   13th April                      West of Scotland Championship  8th June

Good Year also for Gordon McDougall East & West of Scotland Champion and a total of 11 Finals (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

 East of Scotland Championship    3rd August            Scottish Championship   31st August

UK Challenge Cup Winner Tony May (photo Frank Love)

 UK Challenge Cup  21st September                            Cock of the North  26th October

The winners of the most races in 1969 were as noted hereunder:-

SUPERSTOX

Ex European F2 Champion Bill McLeod won the 3rd final of the season despite losing drive 50 meters from the line he was able to coast over.

(knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

Spedeworth Scotland's youngest driver 42 Brian Elder son of Spedeworth stalwort Tammy Elder overdoes it a bit at this last meeting in March. Other cars in the shot as well as the "Younger" "Elder" are 13 George Marshall,  67 Dick Ritchie,  94 Vic Russell & 107 Malcolm Paterson.

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Early Points Leader Walter Brown (photo Frank Love/Retrostox)

The top points scorer for the year was entitled to carry a “quartered roof colour” for the entire following season.
However for 1969 this was to be changed to a monthly basis. Malcolm Paterson thus only had the kudos for the first month of 1969 as Walter Brown was the top points scorer at the end of the first grading period.

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55 Bob Morton, 211 Al Mcleod (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

Les Eaton commented in the January edition of “Stock Car and Hot Rod Journal” that there was a threat looming from the Scottish Drivers due to the standard of the stars cars being far superior to the English cars.

A few of the Superstox drivers who went on to greater things that debuted in 1969 were Les Brown, Bob Morton & Andy Davidson. Bob Morton made the biggest fist of his first year though finishing third in the blue tops.

Bob tangled up with Al McLeod in this mid June photograph though.

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Were the crowd happy or what? (photo knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

In April 10,000 plus fans turned up for the first ever Open Scottish Championship on 13th April and witnessed one of the most memorable stock car events in Scotland, this took place in the title race itself.
21 drivers took part, 14 Scottish, 6 English & 1 South African. World Champion Dave Pierce made the early running in the race, Malcolm Paterson caught up with Tennant Douglas close behind. Malcolm crashed leaving a clear track for Tennant. Slowly he made up the ground and skilfully slipped past Dave to the massive appreciation of the crowd.
He held on to a few car lengths lead until the last lap when unbelievably he lost a wheel. Tennant kept his foot down and crossed the line on three wheels, a few metres in front of Dave. The crowd went wild, a great moment, a great win for a great driver. Walter Brown came home for the 3rd place.

Roy Cecil generously allowed Tennant to retain the trophy which was originally meant to be contested annually.
In another example of great stock car sportsmanship at this meeting, Tenant had damaged his half shaft in winning the title race. Alan Neilson (119) generously removed the half shaft from his road car so that Tennant could take part in the meeting final!
Alan actually went on to win his first ever final at the following week’s meeting, despite moving from yellow to blue grade. He then also won the meeting final at the next meeting on the 27th April. Looks like we had a star in the making.

Neat Superstox of 1st year man Robin Honthy (photo Frank Love/Retrostox)

Another talking point at the meeting was the win for novice white top Robin Honthy, who collected a win in the first heat in only his 4th ever stock car meeting. In fact his performances in these first four stock car meetings were enough for him to jump from white top to red at the end of the first grading period.

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“Happy” Sam Page ex Scottish Champion made his return to the raceway on the 11th May, Sam had been absent through illness for all of the 1969 season so far. Sam had large number of supporters, so he received a great cheer from the crowd when he ventured on to the track with his new Superstox.
Sam had a big reputation as an exceptional engineer & his creations were much admired. He proved that he and his new car were going to be up to the pace by winning the final by a few metres from Malcolm Paterson.

Malcolm Paterson who had been such a dominant force in 1968 didn’t win his first final until mid May in 1969. He did win both of his heats on the day as well to take a brilliant maximum. He then went on to win the finals at the next two meetings.

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Gordon McDougall retained his West of Scotland Championship in June. Gordons sporadic appearances in 1969 had not been particularly successfull and indeed he only just managed to make the last qualifying heat of this meeting. No doubt Gordon’s yellow grading was of assistance in collecting the win. Tennant Douglas was 2nd & George MacMillan 3rd.
Gordon then went on to win the following weeks final (despite being re-graded to blue).

Tennant Douglas suffered a damaged shoulder in a bad crash and all but wrote off his car at the mid June meeting, so missed out on the 1st British Qualifying meeting. In fact Tennant was seriously considering giving up Superstox racing. Luckily he did keep going and in fact made the 2nd  British Qualifying meeting at the end of June and indeed managed a heat 2nd and a final 2nd , unfortunately this was not enough to qualify however he did keep going for another 6 years!
The drivers that did qualify for the British Championship were Scottish Champion Ron Anderson, East of Scotland Champion Malcolm Paterson, West of Scotland Champion Gordon McDougall, ex Scottish Champion George MacMillan, together with on form Vic Russell & Alan Neilson.                                                          
The start money for the Scottish participants amounted to £12.50, the prize money for the event was 1st £100.00, 2nd £75.00, 3rd £50.00, 4th £25.00, 5th £10.00, & 6th £5.00.

Remember multiplying these sums by a factor of 12, that is £150.00 start money, 1st £1200.00, 2nd £900.00, 3rd £600.00, 4th £300.00, 5th £120.00, 6th £60.00.

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From the West of Scotland win in June, Gordon McDougall  then went on to win 5 finals in a row to equal the record held by Malcolm Paterson. The meeting where this took place was the feature event  the  Bo’ness Fair Cup, sponsored by the programme printers “Macroprint”.  It was not the final of the day though, but a special race where the 1st & 2nd positions from each of the four heats qualified. This was not a “stock car race”, but a “straight” race ie no spinning, bumping, or fencing, much the same as the Auto-Speedway races which had been trialled (unsuccessfully) in 1968. Gordon McDougall also won this race.  Thankfully in later years the "straight" racing format for this yearly sponsored event was also abandoned.

East of Scotland title up for grabs on the 3rd August, and a chance for Gordon McDougall to break the record that he now held jointly with Malcolm Paterson of 5 finals in a row. Remarkably none of these finals had been won by Gordon as a red top. However the new re-grading  meant if the record was to be broken Gordon was going to have to do it from the back. Gordon did manage the win. There was  some controversy during the event though. Ronnie Nisbet & Gavin Paterson did hold the lead positions for a great part of the race,  Gordon McDougall, Tennant Douglas, Malcolm Paterson & Sam Page were the stars who came through, however with 3 laps to go George Strachan was knocked out when he collided with the home straight fence. The yellow flags went out and the field completed another 4 laps, when the green flag was shown again! The leading cars all stopped in the belief that Gordon had won having completed the distance albeit under yellow flag conditions. Much discussion then took place, whereupon it was then decided to re-start the race for another 5 laps. Thankfully justice was seen to be done when Gortdon comfortably held on for the win from Tennant Douglas & Malcolm Paterson.

Two very large crowds turned up for the World Qualifying Rounds which took place on the 10th & 17th August. Six places were up for grabs. The first meeting saw Tennant Douglas collect a maximum with two heats & a final win, for a total of 18 points. The other  contenders were Malcolm Paterson with 14 points, Walter Brown 8, Vic Russell 6, George MacMillan, Alan Neilson & Sam Page on 5, Bob Morton on 4, Al McLeod, George Findlay & James Gilchrist on 3, Bill Williamson & Ronnie Nisbet on 2. In the 2nd leg it was again Tennant who reigned supreme, in fact over the two meetings Tennant collected a grand total of 33 out of a possible 36 points. The other qualifiers ended up as Alan Neilson, Gordon McDougall, Malcolm Paterson, Walter Brown, all on 18 points. As the 6th qualifying place was also a tie in points between George MacMillan, Vic Russell & Bob Morton. It was eventually decided that the highest points scorer from those who had not already qualified at the coming ” Laurels” meeting on the 24th August would be the last qualifier.

The Laurels  were won by Gordon McDougall in the Superstox, Howie Jarman won the Saloon Stocks version.

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Gordon McDougal "bombed with flour" Edinburgh Evening News photo 25th June 1969

An interesting event took place at at Turnhouse Airfield on the 28th June. An Air Rally organised by the Turnhouse Flying Club and sponsored by the Drambuie Liquer Company and The Scotsman newspaper.  In addition to 40 light aircraft, glider displays, hovercraft etc. the highlight of the day was a bombing display by a light aircraft, the target was a moving stock car at 80 mph. The stock car was the Gordon McDougall Superstox, the bombs were inflated balloons filled with sand.
This provided valuable publicity for the Stock Car Racing at Cowdenbeath. This picture taken from the Edinburgh Evening News.

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The drivers that did qualify for the British Championship were Scottish Champion Ron Anderson, East of Scotland Champion Malcolm Paterson, West of Scotland Champion Gordon McDougall, ex Scottish Champion George MacMillan, together with on form VicRussell & Alan Neilson.                                                                                                                                                          
The start money for the Scottish participants amounted to £12.50, the prize money for the event was 1st £100.00, 2nd £75.00, 3rd £50.00, 4th £25.00, 5th £10.00, & 6th £5.00.                                                   
Remember multiplying these sums by a factor of 12, that is £150.00 start money, 1st £1200.00, 2nd £900.00, 3rd £600.00, 4th £300.00, 5th £120.00, 6th £60.00.
                                                                                     
At the 1969 British Championship at Ipswich on the 27th July there were 244 cars on the programme.                           
It was the proverbial race of attrition there were only 6 finishers out of the 37 starters, part of the reason was attributed to it being very hot!
Roy Cecil was asked what he thought of the big race after its completion, he stated “surprisingly little”.
 
The result was:-
1st Dave Pierce
2nd John Gray
3rd Alan Cayzer

As for the Scottish participants, George MacMillan, Ron Anderson, Alan Neilson & Gordon McDougall went out before the halfway mark. Gordon was lucky to escape serious injury when a stray wheel landed up in his cab breaking his steering column. 
With five laps left Malcolm Paterson & Vic Russell were still in it. Then Malcolm’s gearbox failed & Vic spun out with only four laps left.

George MacMillan on Scottish Championship day, he won his 1st race of the season at this meeting. (not in this race though!) (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

The 100th meeting took place on 31st August, Scottish Championship Day. The prize money for the Scottish Championship was as follows:- 1st £35.00, 2nd £25.00, 3rd 20.00, 4th £12.00, 5th £8.00, 6th £6.00, 7th £4.00, & 8th £2.00.                                                                                                                                                    
The Scottish Champion also received an extra £1.00 start money at each meeting they attended.                    
The points leader who had been receiving £1.00 start money at each money had the amount increased to £1.50 from the 31st August, but then had to start at the very back of the finals.

The Scottish Championship on the 31st August and another 10,000 fans saw Tennant Douglas follow up his Open Scottish victory in April with another title win. It was a magnificent win drawn last of the 18 qualifiers he had it all to do. It was Gordon McDougall though that made it through to the front until with 3 laps to go he tangled with Ian Graham which enabled Tennant to grab the win, Gordon recovered for 2nd spot , Alan Neilson was 3rd & Bob Morton 4th.
Ronnie Nisbet also won his first race since moving over form the Saloon Stocks to the Superstox at this meeting.

The smallest crowd of the season after the UK Challenge Cup, gale force wind and torrential rain 28th September.
One week before the first title meeting for the Saloon Stocks.
 

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(knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

Tammy Elder (No 43) had spectacular crash at World Qualifying meeting 10th August , back wheels and axle stranded in middle of track 

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Gordon McDougall having won 5 finals in a row including the West of Scotland Championship, started his first meeting of the year from the red grade on the 3rd August for the East of Scotland Championship. This did not prevent him from winning both his heats and the final.

Tennant Douglas won the first 6 races in 1968 to take maximum points in the  World Qualifying Chart –  He repeated part of the doze in 1969 by winning the first 3 races.

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Well deserved 3rd fo 119 Alan Neilson in the UKCC (photo Frank Love / Retrostox)

21st September was the 4th running of the UK Challenge Cup, Malcolm Paterson had won in 1966 & 1968, Tony May had won in 1967. Bumper crowds at the previous 3 meetings created expectations of as many as 12000 fans packing the terracing. Unfortunately the day was beset with very heavy rain and “only” 6000 (a massive crowd by todays standards) braved the inclement conditions. Tony May collected his 2nd UKCC followed home by newly crowned World Champ Alan Wardropper. It wasn’t a completely lopsided race though in fact Tennant Douglas drove a stormer and closed right up on the English stars only to tangle with Alan Freebody and be forced to retire. Alan Neilson earned a well deserved 3rd spot.
Some solace was gained at the meeting when Tennant won the days final with Walter Brown 2nd.

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94 Vic Russell inverts on the home straight 7th September. Note rear engined car of 51 Bill Mitchell (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

The Six Scottish Qualifiers for the 1969 World Championship were:-
Tennant Douglas, Gordon McDougall, Malcolm Paterson, Walter Brown, Vic Russell & Alan Neilson. For some reason Malcolm Paterson did not take part and George MacMillan took his place.

500 World Champ Alan Wardropper (photo Frank Love/Retrostox)

Ex F1 star Alan Wardropper won the World Final, an achievement he never managed in F1, 3rd having been  his best result at West Ham.  He had though won the Formula 1 points title at the tender age of only 18. 2nd was Doug McMahon & 3rd was Bob Perry. All the podium finishers were from East Anglia. The only Scottish finishers were George MacMillan in 14th & Tennant Douglas in 16th.

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1969 Driver of the Year 107 Malcolm Paterson (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

At the last point scoring meeting of the season Malcolm Paterson had built up an unassailable lead. It was Ronnie Nisbet who looked as though  he would at last take the final win that looked to be in his grasp at the last few meetings, but unbelievably it happened again.
“Johnny on the Spot” Gordon McDougall slipped through for his 11th final of the season.
A huge cheer greeted the two points champions as they came forward to collect the trophies. The established superstar Malcolm Paterson and the emerging star Les Kay. Both would go on to reinforce their greatness in later years as two of the best racers that Scotland has produced.

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Ford Anglia 105E was the prefferred car for Les Kay in 1969, I believe it is 116 Mick Reilly getting the treatment at this early August meeting. (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

1969 SALOON STOCK POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP

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The Champagne Stakes  1st June             East of Scotland Championship  5th October

 Top winners of the season are detailed hereunder. The problem with the heats & finals totals is that I cannot be sure what is signified as a final. There was a statement by the promoters that from the 3rd August - should there be a 4th race (a final) the points awarded would be 1st 8 points, 2nd 6 points & 3rd 4 points.

Now the records show there were two meetings with 4 races plus "The Champagne Stakes" special race. There were a large number of meetings where 3 races took place and in later years this last race was nominated as a final.

For the purposes of 1969 I have allocated 3 finals, all other races are nominated as heats.

It is interesting to note Ronnie Nisbet's 7 heat wins, when he only completed less than half the season. I think it is safe to surmise that Ronnie would have been in there fighting for the points title had he not moved over to Superstox.

Saloon Stocks 30th March 1969 (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

One of the great aspects of early Saloon Stock racing was the variety of vehicles chosen. In this line up from the last meeting in March we have an Austin Metropolitan, Ford Classic, Ford Prefect / Anglia 100E, a couple of Austin A40's & summet else!

(knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

In April it was decided that points would now be allocated to the Saloon Stocks as the car numbers had increased appreciably. The first 3 in each race 3 points, 2 points & 1 point. No roof colours would be applicable but drivers would be required to line up in points order.

By May the numbers of cars in the Saloon Stocks was picking up well, to the high teens. The races were also full of incident and action, due to the style of racing being very much in the style of early banger racing, ie take you opponent out when you catch him instead of “rodding” past.
In fact it was enough for Ian Fraser of the Edinburgh Evening News to ponder whether the Saloon Stocks could develop into the main attraction at the track. The comment I think was very tongue in cheek at the time, but turned out to be quite prophetic.

(knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

A couple of shots of 20 Dave Nelson. Dave did win a couple of races in 1968, though this was still not enough to make the points chart. However I do like the Sunbeam Rapier and they did win a few Saloon Stock races. Dave would spring to greater prominence in later years, in fact he went on to finish 4th in the points in 1972.

104 Ronnie Nisbet, 23 Dougie Farrer (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

One slightly disturbing result of all this action though was a proposal from the promotion to limit the number of cars in each race to 12. Thank goodness that procedure only lasted for a short period of time.

The introduction of the Saloon Stocks to Cowdenbeath had gone so well, promoter Roy Cecil scheduled the first "special" race for Saloon Stocks to take place on the 1st June to be called the Champagne Stakes, there would also be some prize money 1st £6.00, 2nd £3.00, 3rd £1.00. This was to become a regular feature of the Saloon Stock season, and was a race which was always hard fought for. The individuals who collected these sums were Dougie Farrer, Howie Jarman & Les Kay.

At the end of the first ever Saloon Stock points scoring  period Ronnie Nisbet in the lead, Howie Jarman in 2nd & Robert Dewer in 3rd.

Not as a result of this Ronnie Nisbet attack though (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

Howie Jarman executed a spectacular triple roll at the following weeks meeting when avoiding a trapped driver, but undaunted, when his car landed back on its wheels carried on to finish the race, an often recounted incident in Scottish Stock Car Racing folklore.

Ronnie Nisbet moves into Superstox (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

Saloon Stock points leader Ronnie Nisbet decided to make the change to Superstox mid season. Not the prettiest Superstox to grace the tracks, but for a first effort it was quite effective if a bit fragile. Later cars would do the job better.

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British Saloon Stock Championship Wimbledon August 9th. 1968 English Points Champion Graham North was the winner, the other place getters were:-
2nd Grahame Davis, 3rd Mick Collard, 4th Graham Dockerill, 5th Pete Thorp, 6th Brian Edwards, 7th Gordon Shepherd, 8th Pete Hollingsworth.

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116 Mick Reilly, 2nd in the points by 3!! "Buster" Keeton "on a roll" August 1969 (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

An interesting occurrence at the 1st World Qualifying meeting for the Superstox on the 10th August, In the 2nd Saloon Stox heat at one point there were actually NO Cars in motion! Mick Reilly & Les Kay managed to get going again & Mick went on to take the win.

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A decision was made during the mid season break to introduce a grading system for the Saloon Stocks. Starting at the resumption of hostilities on the 3rd August.

The points allocated for the Saloon Stocks from 31st August:-
Heats  1st 5 points, 2nd 4 points, 3rd 3 points, 4th 2 points & 5th 1 point. Final  1st 8 points, 2nd 6 points 3rd 4 points.

I confess I have never understood the logic of gaining 2 points in a heat for finishing 4th but no points in the final for finishing 4th. This seemingly inherently illogical points allocation continued for a number of years.
If anybody can throw any light on this strange idea I would love to find out.

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3 of 1969's top men, 23 Doug Farrer, 40 Howie Jarman & 116 Mick Reilly (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

At the end of the penultimate points period the Saloon Stock Points chase was very close. Dougie Farrer holding a 3 point lead from Mick Reilly, with Mick only 5 points ahead of Howie Jarman & Les Kay. So the last months racing was shaping up to be very exciting. In addition to the points chase Roy Cecil arranged for the drivers to compete in their first major championship race the East of Scotland Championship on the 5th October. Dougie Farrer dominated the first heat lapping the entire field from a couple of Alex’s - Baxter & Couper. The 2nd heat it was Les Kay this time from Colin Borthwick & Howie Jarman. Dave Reid was the winner of the consolation.
The final ended in total confusion, and it was some time before a winner was declared. So what of the main protagonists – Les Kay blew it on the first lap when he rolled, Howie Jarman tangled with “Basher" Forrest, Dougie Farrer wore down Colin Borthwick who was in the lead and he spun himself out under pressure, so Dougie was in the lead going into the last lap, but then he tangled up with Colin Borthwick on the back straight and found himself in the fence.  This left our last red top Mick Reilly where? – with the win of course – although nobody seemed to know this at the time. Mick was surprised and thrilled to be declared the winner. The other podium places were claimed by Brian Carney & Bob Twain.

The prize money was 1st £10, 2nd £6, 3rd £3, 4th £1.

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Saloon Stock's biggest smile in 1969 (knockhillimages.smugmug.com)

So to the last points scoring of the season on the 19th October, and a huge crowd turned up to witness the tight tussel for the Saloon Sock Points Championship. Mick Reilly held a one point lead over Les Kay & Dougie Farrer,
Howie Jarman had dropped out of contention.
Mick only managed a 4th in his 1st heat, though he did pick up a 2nd in the next heat. Les Kay however was taking no prisoners he won both his heats, while Dougie matched Mick with a heat 2nd & 4th.
The final then required Dougie to win with Les finishing 4th for the title to be shared.  Dougie managed to get through to the lead, Les though was visibly travelling quicker than the rest of the field and made it through to 2nd. Most then thought Les would settle for 2nd and thus the title – Les didn’t – he was up on Doug’s bumper, he
pressured Doug wide & Les slipped by. He went over the line a couple of metres in front of Doug. A fantastic climax to the first Saloon Stock Points Championship in Scotland.
 
The ultimate standings were:-
Les Kay 91 points, Mick Reilly 88 points, Dougie Farrer 87 points, Howie Jarman 73 points.

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So to the end of the season and my least favourite meeting, it must be said that at this time a proper meeting format was run in addition to the ladies and mechanics races. Tennant Douglas won the “Cock of the North” “Champion of Champions” race in the Superstox, strangely there was no Saloon Stocks race. Tennant also won the day’s final – pity there was no points available for it. James Gordon won the Saloon Final.

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