An Interview with Gladiator livewire Noddy 349 Lewis Price
(interview published February 24 2016 in the lead up to the 2016 Unlimited Banger BBA Supreme Championship)

Age: 29
Home Town: Colchester
Occupation: Army serviceman
Family: Wife Deborah and daughter Ellie
Racing career: Started racing aged 17 in National Bangers at Mildenhall in the Winter Series

This is the second time you have qualified for the Unlimited BBA Supreme Championship, are you looking forward to being in the race again?
I am, it’s nice to do these races when I get the chance because it doesn’t happen for me very often as I’m more of a crasher than anything else and even after all these years I’m still not very good at this racing lark (laughs), I’m still not that sure how I even qualified!

It was when you finished sixth in the TSR World Final at King’s Lynn
Oh right, that was the day that Phil (Smith) said I really came ninth even though only eight cars finished (laughs). I’m sure (finishing sixth) wasn’t the idea but you are not allowed to turn round at King’s Lynn so I just kept going round and round and managed to finish which isn’t like me really! That’s one of the reasons I’m looking forward to the Supreme Championship because it is one of the big races where you can turn round and cause a bit of havoc which is great for someone like me because that is what I’m better at and when I enjoy doing. I think it also makes the race a lot more exciting and unpredictable because quite often when you can’t turn round it’s the same people doing the same thing and usually the same faces winning because they are faster than anyone else, allowing turning round makes it a lot harder to predict what is going to happen and that is what bangers should be in my opinion.

On the subject of turning round, your on opposite attack on 516 Carl Gould while he was leading the 2014 Spedeworth World Final remains a talking point in the sport, are you surprised at how much attention it got?
In a way I am but in another way I’m not because to be honest that was always the idea. That year we kept it a little quiet that I was trying to qualify for the race, at the time we figured the World Final would be full of the teams rivals and there would be plenty of people whose hopes we could ruin but as it turned out none of them qualified. About half way through the year when I was really committed to doing all the meetings to get the attendance points to qualify I got the (Lincoln Town Car limo) which was straight away put aside for the World Final and I made no secret of my intentions for the race and told quite a few people what I planned to do and that was to try and turn round and take out whoever was leading. It was nothing against Gouldy, it was just he happened to be leading at the time. It goes back to me saying about how banger racing should be unpredictable and a guy like me is never going to win a race like that or even be in with a chance so the best hope I have of making an impact is do something like that and that was always the goal to just do something which would make the race a bit more exciting and I guess that was the case because people still talk about it now. I also got a lot of beer from that (laughs). It’s weird but the amount of people I’ve had since then who’ve bought me a drink because of that, again I don’t think it was anything against Gouldy, I just think a lot of people enjoyed it because it made the race more exciting to watch.

That said, what are your plans for the Supreme Championship?
Well I’m not going to be winning it (laughs). The hope is just to cause as much mayhem as I can really. I’ve got a Previa for it which probably won’t surprise many people but as I said I’m not very good at this driving lark, I think I spun myself out three times in my XJ-S at the unlimited team meeting at Mildenhall last year before the race even started!

With a good field of cars expected and the size of Mildenhall, does it give you a better opportunity to make a mark on the crashing front?
It does and it doesn’t. On the one hand, being a smaller track and with plenty of cars, yes it can be easier to cause a pile-up and cause loads of chaos but at the same time it makes it harder because there is less room to move and make a move. At the start of the race you need to do at least a lap before you can even think about causing mischief and as I said I’m not the best driver and when you are racing something like a Previa which is one of the slower cars it is even harder to survive a couple of laps and then get into position to do something. I think it is a lot harder than it looks and what people give you credit for. Some people think it’s just a matter of stopping and then hitting something but there is a lot more to it than that and in a race like that it is very easy to get wiped out in the opening laps before you can even think about trying something. But if you can make a move, Mildenhall is an ideal track for that because you can cause a lot of mayhem on your own, especially with a good grid of cars and if you have a couple of people doing that then it’s even easier and the race is usually lively anyway.

Mentioning the Toyota Previa, it’s a car which has divided the opinion of fans and drivers in the sport, clearly you are in favour of them?
I am because they are a really cheap way for someone to go racing. I can’t afford to buy Jaguars and Scorpios for the money those cars regular sell for but you can usually get a Previa pretty cheap, I’ve been getting them for around £50 and even better they need no work to race them. There are people in the sport spending fortunes on shells for an unlimited meeting and then you have to do all the work to turn a shell into a banger whereas the Previas are among the easiest cars to build and you can usually have a lot of fun in them. I admit they wouldn’t be much good for people trying to win races but for guys like me who just like to crash and get in the way they are brilliant.

There have been concerns about the safety of Previas with cases of several snapping quite badly, is that a concern you have?
It doesn’t matter what car you race, any banger is going to have risks and dangers and each car is different. Even something like a Micra, being such a small car if you take a really big hit there is a risk there because the car is so small to start with and every car is the same, they all have their drawbacks and none are bulletproof which is how it should be. The Previa is the same because the front end is pretty weak and after a few hits you are almost hitting other cars with your feet. It’s just about using your head I think and being sensible with what you have but it’s the same with any cars.

Do you think drivers should be allowed to do more to Previas to increase driver safety?
Well the problem is that there will always be drivers who take things too far and that’s why the promoters then stop everyone from doing anything. We used to be able to fit a water tank but people took it too far and used tanks which were completely over the top for the cars and I wasn’t surprised when they were banned. The trouble now is if we were allowed to do more to the cars, there will always be some who will take it too far and then that will probably be stopped again so I’m quite happy for it to be left alone as it is.

You are not the only Gladiator in this year’s Supreme Championship, does that change your approach to the race?
Not really, I think I’d be trying to do the same thing regardless of if any of my team mates were in the race or not but with them out there of course you will have an eye out for them. There will be some who will say it’s team racing but I think it’s the same with any driver who is in a team, you are always going to have an eye on your team mates in any race.

Do you think Craig (Oliver) and Phil (Smith) have a chance in the race?
Definitely because unlike me they can actually drive (laughs)! To be fair I think they both have a pretty good chance here because of the kind of race it is likely to be, if it becomes a really lively one again with only a few finishers they could do well because those are the kind of races where they do well, especially Phil whose won a couple of unlimited races at Mildenhall before where there have been very few finishers.

Have you any plans for 2016?
Not really. We want to go to Ireland, they have a team meeting over there which we hope to go to as a team but it’s a little tricky at the moment because with the team not having a regular team rivalry at the moment it has kind of fragmented the team a bit. We got together a while ago to talk about what meetings we’d like to do this year and the trouble is that without a team war everyone wants to do different things and the things I’d like to do aren’t necessarily what everyone else wants to do so it’s a little tricky at the moment. I just enjoy racing with the team more than anything else, even if it means doing meetings that aren’t best suited to me. I’m not the best at unlimited racing but if the team is all doing an unlimited meeting then I will happily do it. Emmen is another track we would like to visit but almost all their racing there is unlimited and not everyone in the team does very well at unlimited racing which is putting some of the team off but hopefully something might come up which we could all go to. For me, I enjoy the Mondeos the most, I know a lot of people don’t like them but the cars are available, they aren’t too expensive or hard to build and you can usually get a good day’s racing from them but it just seems more and more people don’t like them and if that’s the case you can understand why promoters put less meetings on for them.

You work as a serviceman for the army and have frequently been away to serve for your country, is there any plans for this to happen again this year?
Nothing is set but I’m always on five days notice so something could happen at any time and I would be called away. I’ve done four tours now, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan and to be honest I do miss it. It’s incredibly hard to explain to people who aren’t in the forces but despite the dangers and being away from your family the buzz of being there and doing your job and fighting for your country is just the most incredible thing. The comradery between you and the other guys is just amazing as well and they are your family away from your family so on the one hand I do miss not being there but at the same time I’m very grateful to be home with my family, especially my daughter and I do worry how it will be if and when I’m called away because I’ve not been away since she was born. But that is part of the job and something you accept when you sign up and I’ve been in the army since I was 16 so you know what you are getting involved in. The hardest thing sometimes is not the effect it has on you because you are used to it but the people around you.

A big talking point in 2016 has been the introduction of the rule from the ORCi prohibiting drivers from exiting their cars while a race is active, what are your thoughts on this?
I think it has good and bad points. A lot of drivers, myself included, are guilty of giving or taking a hit and winding themselves and in that second of panic all you can think is that you have to get out of the car and by the time you have reacted another car has come in and then you are in trouble so if it stops drivers doing that then it’s a good thing because the safest place is almost always in your car. The problem is the few times when it’s not safe to be in your car. I remember a time at Birmingham where my car was spun against the fence at the end of the straight and (61 Darryl Theedom) buried Craig (Oliver) through the side of mine. It not only caved in the whole side of the car but collapsed my seat and had I still been in the car I could have got hurt whereas in that case it was perfectly safe for me to get out. So those are the occasions where it could be an issue and there are going to be times when races will have to be stopped to let drivers get out if their car is in a dangerous position and also drivers are going to have to be stopped from continuing to hit cars which are already wrecked.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
All the team for everything they do and my misses for letting me spend so much time at the yard building the cars. It’s all the people who do the little things who you forget at times, even when you are at a meeting and you are so busy with your car and someone will grab you something to eat or drink because you haven’t got time yourself, all those kind of people you really appreciate them.