Post by administrator on Mar 27, 2009 20:33:16 GMT 1
IT was the summer of 1938 and already there were signs of war in Europe - but Stoke garage owner Cecil Heath had other things on his mind - like breaking into midget car racing, then into its third properly organised season.
The sport was then centred on Brandon Stadium at Coventry, Belle Vue (Manchester) and London’s Lea Bridge. There was also a new track set to open at the Sun Street Stadium in Hanley.
This track had been one of the pioneer venues when motorcycle speedway started in Britain in 1928, but had been idle until Provincial Speedways Ltd took an option and opened it in July 1938 as members of the National Car Speedway League.
Stoke’s first league team was captained by Gene Crowley and also included Stan Mills, ‘Skid’ Martin, Les White, Joe Wildblood, Ted Poole and Cyril ‘Squib’ Burton. Besides Coventry, Lea Bridge and Belle Vue, there was also a Wembley team - racing only away matches - in the league.
Heath made his racing debut in a special match race to follow the Tommy Sulman Trophy on August 26, an event won by Les White with 15 points, ahead of European champion Walter Mackereth 13.5, Frank Chiswell 12 and Les’s brother Lane 9. The races were run on a speedway meeting formula, four cars over four laps, with three points for first, two for second, ne for third and a non-scoring fourth place.
Heath was a spectator for the main event, then made his track debut in the support events when he was beaten in a match race by Reg Grice. But it ws the start of a brief career that took him on in 1939 to Coventry and a brief spell at a new Stoke area track at Cobridge.
For many years, Heath owned the Station Garage in Cobridge. When midget car failed to start when war ended in May 1945, he switched to other motorsport, racing his own ‘Heath Special’, a Cooper-JAP 1100 and Jaguar 120 in both car rallying and big circuit car meetings.
He said of the early days of pre-war midget car racing. “The first Stoke driver who caught my eye was a Londoner, Basil de Mattos, who after the war took part in sprint and circuit racing.”
How did Heath start in midget car racing? He recalled, “I became hooked on the midgets after going to a meeting at Sun Street. At that time, Cobridge was just staging greyhound racing. My racing number was 92 and I bought a Skirrow, the car most favoured by the other drivers. I don’t remember how much I paid for it or what happened to it.
“Besides de Mattos, another driver who captured my magination was Walter Mackereth. He was really quick and a top driver in the sport.”
Heath also said at the time of a 1996 interview, “After Stoke closed at the end of 1938, I moved on to Coventry the 1939 season and also had a brief spell racing and promoting at Cobridge before the start of WW2 in September that year.”
Cecil Heath added, “My impression of midget car racing in pre-war days is that it was not very well supported as a sport in its own right and the prize money was very small. Throughout my career, I never crashed nor was I injured, but I was prone to take racing chances and I didn’t practice much either.”
Cecil Heath also said that open meetings were staged at odd time in pre-war days at the Wembley, Southampton and Crystal Palace speedway tracks. “But I never attended any of them. After the war, Dave Hughes built the Brafield track at Northampton, but I dind’t race there.
“My impression of the failure of midget car racing to establish itself as an independent motor sport was because it could not offer the same attraction as motorcycle speedway which it was trying to emulate. The speedway riders and their racing was far more exciting.”
In the 1938 days at Stoke’s Hanley track, a regular visitor at Heath’s garage was Australian driver Ted Poole. Heath added, “He often came round to chat about racing. Ted was several years older than me - I was in my early 30s and he was nearing the end of his career which ended prematurely following a crash at Sun Street Stadium.”
Cecil Heath made his debut for Stoke as a reserve driver in the National League match against Crystal Palace on Thursday, September 1, 1938. The Palace had taken over Lea Bridge’s fixtures. Also in the Stoke team was Reg Grice, the driver who had defeated Heath in the previous week’s match race. Grice filled the palce of Lane White sho had crashed and suffered an injury at Rye House the previous Sunday.
Crystal Palace was a talnted team, led by the legendary American driver Alvin ‘Spike’ Rhiando and also including ‘Bronco’ Bill Reynolds, who won the 1938-39 World Championship at Sydney, Australia. Stoke won the 12 heat National League match 36-35.
Heath had a vivid recollection of one of the last midget car meetings to take place at Stoke. It was the decider in a five match series between North and South teams. The North had won matches at Belle Vue and Leeds, while the South had been winners at Coventry and Crystal Palace. The deciding match at Stoke went to the North by 59-49 over 18 races.
On Sunday, September 18, 1938, Heath was in the Stoke side at Coventry for a National League match. Coventry ld the table with 16 pointgs having won eight of their nine matches. Stoke were second in the table on 11 points. From eight matches, they had won five, drawn once and lost twice.
At the end. Coventry won 39-32 and went on to be National League champions. Heath made a modest two point contribution with two third places for Stoke.
With Stoke failing to open for the 1939 season, Heath joined Coventry. On May 21, 1939, he drove at his home track for the North who lost 42-30 to the South over 12 heats. Heath had three points from three third places in four races.
Heath also remembered earning £13-10 shillins (old money) in prize money at Coventry. This was for winning the han dicap final from Gene Crowley and Walter Mackereth, then coming third behind Johnny Young and Les White in an eight car Le Mans-style race.
After the end of WW2 in 1945, Cecil Heath became involved in mainstream motorsport. he competed in the RAC Rally many times and once took part in the famous Monte Carlo Rally. Heath, who favoured using Jaguar cars, also competed in several nine-hour races at Goodwood.
He also built his own sprint-hill climb car, the ‘Heath Special’ which was fitted with a JAP engine. He then bought a Cooper 100 and used this extensively for various events from 1948 until his retirement in 1953.
The sport was then centred on Brandon Stadium at Coventry, Belle Vue (Manchester) and London’s Lea Bridge. There was also a new track set to open at the Sun Street Stadium in Hanley.
This track had been one of the pioneer venues when motorcycle speedway started in Britain in 1928, but had been idle until Provincial Speedways Ltd took an option and opened it in July 1938 as members of the National Car Speedway League.
Stoke’s first league team was captained by Gene Crowley and also included Stan Mills, ‘Skid’ Martin, Les White, Joe Wildblood, Ted Poole and Cyril ‘Squib’ Burton. Besides Coventry, Lea Bridge and Belle Vue, there was also a Wembley team - racing only away matches - in the league.
Heath made his racing debut in a special match race to follow the Tommy Sulman Trophy on August 26, an event won by Les White with 15 points, ahead of European champion Walter Mackereth 13.5, Frank Chiswell 12 and Les’s brother Lane 9. The races were run on a speedway meeting formula, four cars over four laps, with three points for first, two for second, ne for third and a non-scoring fourth place.
Heath was a spectator for the main event, then made his track debut in the support events when he was beaten in a match race by Reg Grice. But it ws the start of a brief career that took him on in 1939 to Coventry and a brief spell at a new Stoke area track at Cobridge.
For many years, Heath owned the Station Garage in Cobridge. When midget car failed to start when war ended in May 1945, he switched to other motorsport, racing his own ‘Heath Special’, a Cooper-JAP 1100 and Jaguar 120 in both car rallying and big circuit car meetings.
He said of the early days of pre-war midget car racing. “The first Stoke driver who caught my eye was a Londoner, Basil de Mattos, who after the war took part in sprint and circuit racing.”
How did Heath start in midget car racing? He recalled, “I became hooked on the midgets after going to a meeting at Sun Street. At that time, Cobridge was just staging greyhound racing. My racing number was 92 and I bought a Skirrow, the car most favoured by the other drivers. I don’t remember how much I paid for it or what happened to it.
“Besides de Mattos, another driver who captured my magination was Walter Mackereth. He was really quick and a top driver in the sport.”
Heath also said at the time of a 1996 interview, “After Stoke closed at the end of 1938, I moved on to Coventry the 1939 season and also had a brief spell racing and promoting at Cobridge before the start of WW2 in September that year.”
Cecil Heath added, “My impression of midget car racing in pre-war days is that it was not very well supported as a sport in its own right and the prize money was very small. Throughout my career, I never crashed nor was I injured, but I was prone to take racing chances and I didn’t practice much either.”
Cecil Heath also said that open meetings were staged at odd time in pre-war days at the Wembley, Southampton and Crystal Palace speedway tracks. “But I never attended any of them. After the war, Dave Hughes built the Brafield track at Northampton, but I dind’t race there.
“My impression of the failure of midget car racing to establish itself as an independent motor sport was because it could not offer the same attraction as motorcycle speedway which it was trying to emulate. The speedway riders and their racing was far more exciting.”
In the 1938 days at Stoke’s Hanley track, a regular visitor at Heath’s garage was Australian driver Ted Poole. Heath added, “He often came round to chat about racing. Ted was several years older than me - I was in my early 30s and he was nearing the end of his career which ended prematurely following a crash at Sun Street Stadium.”
Cecil Heath made his debut for Stoke as a reserve driver in the National League match against Crystal Palace on Thursday, September 1, 1938. The Palace had taken over Lea Bridge’s fixtures. Also in the Stoke team was Reg Grice, the driver who had defeated Heath in the previous week’s match race. Grice filled the palce of Lane White sho had crashed and suffered an injury at Rye House the previous Sunday.
Crystal Palace was a talnted team, led by the legendary American driver Alvin ‘Spike’ Rhiando and also including ‘Bronco’ Bill Reynolds, who won the 1938-39 World Championship at Sydney, Australia. Stoke won the 12 heat National League match 36-35.
Heath had a vivid recollection of one of the last midget car meetings to take place at Stoke. It was the decider in a five match series between North and South teams. The North had won matches at Belle Vue and Leeds, while the South had been winners at Coventry and Crystal Palace. The deciding match at Stoke went to the North by 59-49 over 18 races.
On Sunday, September 18, 1938, Heath was in the Stoke side at Coventry for a National League match. Coventry ld the table with 16 pointgs having won eight of their nine matches. Stoke were second in the table on 11 points. From eight matches, they had won five, drawn once and lost twice.
At the end. Coventry won 39-32 and went on to be National League champions. Heath made a modest two point contribution with two third places for Stoke.
With Stoke failing to open for the 1939 season, Heath joined Coventry. On May 21, 1939, he drove at his home track for the North who lost 42-30 to the South over 12 heats. Heath had three points from three third places in four races.
Heath also remembered earning £13-10 shillins (old money) in prize money at Coventry. This was for winning the han dicap final from Gene Crowley and Walter Mackereth, then coming third behind Johnny Young and Les White in an eight car Le Mans-style race.
After the end of WW2 in 1945, Cecil Heath became involved in mainstream motorsport. he competed in the RAC Rally many times and once took part in the famous Monte Carlo Rally. Heath, who favoured using Jaguar cars, also competed in several nine-hour races at Goodwood.
He also built his own sprint-hill climb car, the ‘Heath Special’ which was fitted with a JAP engine. He then bought a Cooper 100 and used this extensively for various events from 1948 until his retirement in 1953.
(c) John Hyam 2009