An Interview with BriSCA F2 Stockcar Mildenhall Track Championship contender 225 Tony Blackburn
(interview published May 20 2015 in the lead up to round four of the 2015 Mildenhall Track Championship on May 30)

Age: 37
Home Town: Leeds
Occupation: Mechanic
Family: Fiancé Maxine and three children
Started racing: In National Ministox aged 11 at Crewe

You were noted by your absence at our most recent BriSCA F2 Stockcar meeting at Mildenhall (on May 9) because you were away at the Spanish (F1) Grand Prix, so firstly, did you have a good time and was the race as dull in person as it seemed on the television?
(laughs) We did have a good weekend as it goes. It’s the third Grand Prix I’ve been to having been to Silverstone and Belgium before and this was probably the best one, it was certainly a lot better than Belgium which I didn’t enjoy but that was a lot to do with the awful weather. It certainly wasn’t that way this weekend because I got sun burnt (laughs). I guess the racing wasn’t the best but it wasn’t too bad at the track, motor racing is always better when you are there live and F1 is definitely better when you are at the track, the noise alone makes it better. But as much as I enjoyed it, especially because it was one of the first holidays we’ve had as a family, I did really miss racing at Mildenhall so I was pretty gutted the two fixtures clashed.

You’ve been an incredibly keen supporter of the meetings at Mildenhall in recent times which is especially impressive given your Leeds base, how far is it for you to get to Mildenhall and what is the appeal of the venue?
It’s about four and a half hours for us to get to Mildenhall but I really do love the track so it’s well worth it for me. When the news broke last year about (RDC losing their noise nuisance case at Supreme Court) and the track being under threat of closing down I was truly gutted and I would honestly be devastated if anything was to happen to it, even with this being my last season of racing. There are so many things I enjoy about the track, I really appreciate the welcome we get when we race there, you honestly do feel very welcome and appreciated and that makes a big difference and I love the buzz of driving into the stadium through the tunnel which is a really cool feeling and I think all drivers like things like that, that kind of buzz is the reason we go racing. The track itself is good for the formula as well, it’s still fast without being too fast and the racing is usually always good and I think a lot of that is down to the track and its size and shape, it’s really ideal for F2s.

You mentioned this being your final season of racing, can you explain that decision?
Well I’ve been racing now for over 25 years and there just comes a time when I suppose you have to grow up so to speak and put your family first and that’s something I’ve not really done for a long time and that needs to change. I still love the racing and I’m having a great season at the moment which I suspect will make it even harder to give it up at the end of the year but sometimes you have to make a decision and stick with it. I’ve had many great years of racing though, it will always be a part of me but it’s time to move on with my life, especially with the great family I have now.

Does the news that 2016 will see the World Semi Finals at King’s Lynn and the World Final at Mildenhall make the decision to make this season your last even harder?
(laughs) Yeah I was pretty gutted when I found that out. That’s just my luck isn’t it really! I’ve never qualified for a World Final which I suppose is something I would have loved to have done and maybe next year would have been the year to really go for it, especially with the World at Mildenhall and that’s one of my favourite tracks and I also go pretty well at Lynn so I suppose if I could have got into the semis I might have stood a chance. But the trouble is when you start thinking about retiring and you make a decision you need to stick with it. Otherwise you’ll always find a reason to have one more season and I guess if I can resist racing next year then I’ll probably be able to resist anything else that might try and tempt me back out (laughs). The thing is though with so many more qualifying rounds on tarmac than shale I don’t think it will be especially easy for shale drivers like myself to qualify unless they are willing to try racing at a lot of the tarmac rounds. It’s going to be even harder because you would imagine most of the shale qualifying rounds are going to be well subscribed so it should be an interesting season.

Despite missing the last round of the track championship you are still sixth in the standings, just 14 points adrift of the leader, are you pleased with your start to the season and how do you feel about your chances in the Mildenhall Championship?
It’s been a great start to the year and I’ve already managed to achieve my main goal for the season which was to try and get to the superstar grade which is something I’ve never done in F2s. In my years in the National Ministox I enjoyed some great success and was at the top of points for some time so it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do in the F2s as well and this being my last season I was especially determined to do it. We made a bit of a plan at the start of the season and when the fixtures came out there was a number of shale dates at the start of the year so I figured that was going to be my best shot and while it was a lot of hard work to do all the meetings I made it so it was definitely worthwhile and it’s fantastic to get that grade after all this time. It was also cool that Rob Mitchell managed it as well because like me he pretty much only races on shale so it’s nice to have some shale racers up there in the Superstar grade. I’m surprised to still being doing so well in the Mildenhall points after missing a meeting but trying to win the points there was never a target, the intention was always just to try and do my best every time and that will still be the case for the rest of the year so who knows, we’ll definitely give it a really good go and it would certainly be a big deal to win the points at Mildenhall, that would be an excellent way to end my F2 career, it’d be nearly as good as doing the World Final (laughs).

Track conditions were a talking point at the two meetings at Mildenhall you’ve raced at, how difficult were they for you to cope with?
The way I see it, with shale racing the track is just part of the challenge and it’s no good worrying about it, you just have to knuckle down and get on with it. We’ve also seen some similar problems at Stoke this year so it’s not just Mildenhall that’s suffered from the bad weather at the start of the year, it’s just one of those things I think and again when you race on shale it’s almost part of that challenge. I can’t complain though as I had two wins so maybe the conditions suit me (laughs).

Having achieved the Superstar grade so early in the season, have you now set any other goals for the remainder of the year?
Well I’d like to try and retain the grade for as long as I can but I think that will be even harder than getting it in the first place, not only because you are always starting at the back of the grid but also because the shale dates are a little fewer and farther between now with a few weekends where there aren’t any shale meetings because of championships on tarmac but we will see. It’s also going to be hard I think because the numbers have dropped a little at the shale meetings and so we don’t seem to have as many qualifiers only finals this year which makes it harder to score points so we’ll see what happens, maybe when the amount of meetings drops a little we’ll get some more cars and more qualifiers only finals for double points. I honestly don’t know why the numbers have dropped and neither does anyone else I’ve spoken to, but it seems to be at all shale meetings at the minute, it’s strange really because I think the racing is still as good. My main target now for the year is the World of Shale Championship. I’m currently third in the qualifying points so the hope is to have a good go at that, especially with the final at King’s Lynn which is a track I tend to go well at. It’s a track where you need to use your bumper and I enjoy that kind of racing. I was pretty disappointed a couple of years ago when I qualified via the last chance race at Mildenhall. At one point I was in front of Josh Coleman in the final before it all went wrong and he went on to finish third so that really got me thinking what could of happened had I had a bit of better luck on the night. Ideally I would prefer not to start to close to the front, I’d prefer to be around mid-way on the grid but at the same time I’m not into playing games and trying to get the position I want, I’ll keep on racing as best I can and we’ll go from there.

One of the changes this season has been over the procedure for lining cars up for lap sheet order restarts and now cars line up in the same order with a red or waved yellow flag, are you pleased about that and what are your thoughts on red flags being used to stop races rather than just waved yellows?
Personally I think a waved yellow is ok, we all know it means to stop so I think it should be enough. It’s a little frustrating when you get a red flag at the start of the race and it’s a complete restart and you’ve done well and have to do it again but at the same time if you’ve been taken out you are glad to see a red flag so you can’t have it both ways (laughs). I’m glad that the order for restarts is now the same with a red and (waved) yellow flag, for me that was one of the biggest issues about a red flag being used to stop a race as I didn’t really agree with how the cars were then relined up, I think this way is better and now it doesn’t make too much difference what flag is used if a race is stopped.

The sport has been rocked recently by the tragic news of the death of Ministox racer Kier Millar, as a racer would have been your thoughts since the accident?
I’d just got home from Spain when I found out about it and it’s absolutely awful, just the worst news you could imagine. It’s amazing really how something like this affects everyone in the sport and I think we’ve all been feeling some emotion because of it. My mechanic asked me what my plans were when he found out and I said that we needed to get some gold paint (to paint my bumper) as people are doing that in tribute to him and I’m sure we are going to see loads of gold bumpers over the next few weekends. As a driver when you hear news like this you do stop and think. It’s one of those things you don’t like to think about and probably try to avoid thinking about but at times like this it’s difficult but everyone who does this sport knows the risks but we do it because we absolutely love it and I’m sure it was the same for Keir as he clearly loved his racing, but that still doesn’t make it any easier when an 11-year-old boy has had his life end far too soon. I was also 11 when I started racing so that kind of hit home for me a bit as well, I just hope his friends and family know that everyone is out there behind them and I hope that helps them in some way.

Is there anyone else you would like to thank or mention?
Kasey of BGM Motor Repairs who is my main sponsor, the Stirk family, especially Big Gaz and his son Gaz for everything they do to help me, Maxine for all her support and everyone else whose helped me over the years.