An excited 8 year old woke up on a mid September morning. Little Jonny was about to visit his 3rd stock car track. Taunton was the venue of the World Final, and I can remember my grandad telling me about the big races in the past and that it was going be a big meeting. We got up to the track in what seemed an age for an 8 year old and set up camp just beside race control, deckchairs in hand, avoiding the cow pats. Sadly, my mint Tic Tacs fell in said cow excrement, and I had no sugary sustenance to keep me going.
Sadly my favourite driver at the time, Dave Luscombe (642) spun out whilst leading during a soggy semi final at Bristol - somethings never change! So he had to defend his title from the back. No consolation semis back then, the top dozen and that was it.
So to the race, local favourites such as Mike James (617) in his Ivor Greenwood car, along with the Scottish favourites such as Alistair Hunter (574), former Superstox World Champion Gordon MacDougall (41) and a young lad from Haddington, in East Lothian, Jimmy Wallace (16).
The race was brutal, as Wallace recalls "Mike James was in self destruct mode and I just picked up the places and nobody was catching me" Jamesy had taken out MacDougall whilst leading. Lead changes galore, and it was Wallace who came through to take the gold. The first Scottish driver to do so, and Wallace was World Champion . The Scot felt "absolutely great" to be the champion, but winning on "foreign" territory didn't faze him "To win the world championship is great it didnt matter where it was". Fellow Scot Hunter followed him home, with now Mendips Promoter, Graham Bunter (28) took 3rd place. Defending champion Luscombe fought through to finish a credible 4th.
The following year, Wallace was to double up his title. The popular Newton Abbot track was the venue, and following semis on shale at Boston and Crewe, it gave the grid a bit of a weird look.
However for Wallace it was all the more sweeter. "Winning the second year was even better as my chances of
retaining the title were not good as Chalky White and Malcolm Locke were
favorites and in front of me". He was almost out of the race. "The race started and I got caught up on Alister King's (74) car, then a
few laps later the red flag came out for an injured Gary Hooper (686),
So it was a total restart, After the restart I just picked the ones in front off one by one and won the race by a good margin"
So Wallace started the trend for King, Burgoyne and Moodie as Scottish World Champions, and one day maybe son Craig - who starts his first world final will taste gold....
Years of heartbreak followed, would I ever see a Westcountryman cross the line to take the gold. Well that came in 2004, but the sport has changed for the better.
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