An Interview with Saloon Stockcar driver 2 Paul Tuppen
(interview published October 1 2014 in the lead up to Paul's retirement meeting at Mildenhall on October 18)

Age: 53
Home Town: Purflett
Occupation: Vehicle technician
Family: Engaged to Tracy and four children
Racing career: Started raced in Lightning Rods at Arena Essex around 1988 before moving into Saloon Stockcars in October 1993 at Mildenhall

Let’s start at the very beginning, how did you first get involved in the sport?
It was through a guy called Bernie Alcock. (Paul then goes through a couple of different ideas about how he first was introduced to Bernie). He worked in a yard opposite to mine and that was how we met and eventually he came and worked with me for a bit. He was racing Lightning Rods at the time but he would often struggle to get to Arena to race. He only had a van and trailer which wasn’t the greatest set up so there were times when he would rely on other people to help him out and one day he asked me if I could take him there so he could race. It was the usual deal he offered to pay for my diesel and I probably didn’t have anything better to do on that Sunday so I agreed and that was the first time I had ever been stockcar racing.

Had you heard of the sport before?
Yeah, I knew about Arena Essex because I used to play over there when I was a kid and they were building the track. Where the fishing lake is now me and my friends used to play down there and we would dig holes in the earth and make caves to play in (laughs). So I knew about the track but I’d never been there to watch the racing before I went with Bernie that day.

What were your first impressions?
I think I was like a few people are when they first see the racing. I took one look at it and straight and thought to myself ‘I could do that’ and pretty much straight away decided to look into getting a car to race myself.

You started your racing career in Lightning Rods, what was the attraction to the formula for you?
I guess it was primarily because Bernie was doing them. Again my knowledge of the sport as a whole was very, very small but I watched the Lightning Rods that day at Arena and it looked pretty good and again, being a bit naive, I figured I could do it so I suppose because it was the first thing I saw that was what did.

What were your experiences of the formula like before moving into Saloon Stockcars?
It’s a bit strange really because the years in Lightning Rods really do feel like a lifetime ago. I’m not sure I even have any pictures of me racing the Lightning Rods. If I do, I honestly have no idea where they are (laughs). Back then I’m not even sure I was aware there were people out there taking photos of you while you were racing, it really was a very different time to how it is now! I did enjoy the formula, certainly at first at least but again I think it can be like that when you do anything that is new because being new in itself makes it pretty exciting and I stuck at the formula for about five years before I finished with them.

What made you decide to stop racing Lightning Rods?
There were too many handbags (laughs). It was getting pretty stupid to be honest. Anytime you scratched another driver’s car the handbags would come out and they would get upset with you and wanted to argue or worse. At first it was every now and again which wasn’t too bad, I guess you had to expect it to a degree, especially being a non contact formula but when it became every meeting it was just stupid. One day I was racing at Ipswich and one of the top boys cut in front of me and we came together and he had a right tantrum about it and what he was going to do and of course nothing was done or said which was pretty normal back then. I drove off the track and put the car straight on the trailer. My mechanic asked what I was doing because it was the first race and I just said that was it, I was done and it was, I never raced a Lightning Rod again.

Can you tell us about how you moved into Saloon Stockcars?
It was through Marcus Pollard really. When I was racing the Lightning Rod Steve Pitcher was doing a lot of work on my car and so I spent a fair bit of time with him and Marcus was there as well and that was how we met and became friends and then I started going with him when he raced his Saloon (Stockcar) and he came with me when I raced the Lightning Rod. In fact he was the guy who asked what I was doing when I loaded my car up at Ipswich the day I raced the Lightning Rod for the last time (laughs). Through Marcus I started to watch the stockcars for the first time, I think Swaffham was the first place I saw them and it was a bit like the first time I watched the Lightning Rods with Bernie, I just though ‘I could do that’ so when I finally gave up with the Lightning Rods it was the Saloons that I wanted to try.

Did you do anything else in the meantime?
I did the rollover competitive at Arena! It was just for a bit of fun really but the first time I did it I beat Chalky Douglas. He was known as the Rollover King at the time and anytime anyone beat him was a bit special really so that was pretty cool to do that but the second time I did it I didn’t roll and crashed the car instead and wrecked it so that was the end of that (laughs). I also did a couple of banger team races. I knew some of the guys in the Ant Hill Mob (the PRI version of the team) and back then you had to name a certain number of drivers in the team at the start of the season but they all didn’t race in the qualifying rounds. They needed a driver and asked me if I could be a named driver but they said they wouldn’t need me in the qualifying rounds and I honestly don’t think they expected to get any further than the qualifying rounds. But of course they did and they got into the semi finals which were head to heads so not only my first banger race but my first ever contact race was a banger team head to head!

How did you get on?
I won it! I’m not sure how really. I think because I’d raced the Lightning Rod they decided to make me the runner and hoped that the other banger drivers wouldn’t know who I was and would leave me alone and I guess it worked pretty well because I don’t think very much happened to me in the whole race, I just kept going and won it while all the others got smashed up (laughs).

How did the championship final go?
(laughs) Not very well at all. I think we were against the Vermin who were one of the top teams at the time and they pretty much destroyed us! I think they might have watched our team race to see what they had to do, they were so good so it is the kind of thing they would have done and unlike the semi final I was wiped out pretty much straight away, I’m not sure I lasted a lap! And the rest of the team didn’t last much longer but it was pretty much what we expected, I think the whole team was simply chuffed as hell to make it to the final.

Your Saloon Stockcar debut was at Mildenhall in October 1993 and so one of the first Saloon Stockcar meetings staged by RDC, what do you remember about that meeting?
Not too much to be honest. The thing I do remember actually was the amount of people who said that if I didn’t like it to just pull off and retire and no-one would think any less of me. Even Marcus (Pollard) said that which I remember standing out a bit because he was the kind of guy I would expected to have given me loads of stick if I had done that but not long before the first race he said that. The formula was hard, even back then and of course having such little experience of contact racing it was a big step up from what I had done before and I think to be honest all the comments before from people actually took a bit of pressure off me which I think might have helped.

How did you get on?
I think I finished the first race, I can’t remember exactly but I know I absolutely loved it.

What did you enjoy particularly?
The contact I think. I was so refreshing to go from what I’d raced before in the Lightning Rods where it was getting to point where you were getting worried about nudging someone because of the grief it would cause to be able to race like the Saloons were and of course there was no drama afterwards because everyone enjoyed the contact side of the formula, I guess it was a big reason why people did it then and still do it now. The other thing I loved was that the cars didn’t stop. In the Lightning Rods I was of course used to the fact that if you crashed into the fence that was game over and not only was your race over but your car was wrecked but in the stockcars, you hit the fence and either bounce out or just back off and carry on and I thought that was brilliant.

It’s often been said that one of the main attractions in the Saloons is the positive environment and atmosphere among the drivers and that despite the high levels of action and contact in the formula, there is rarely any trouble that goes with it, is that something you agree with?
Yes it is. I’ve raced in the formula for over 20 years and I’ve had very little trouble. I had a little one with one driver where we had a rivalry which got a little out of hand but apart from that I’ve never had any real problems with other drivers and most of the time everyone in the pits is always friendly and usually willing to help you out if you need it. I think it’s because you know what you are getting into when you go into the formula. You know it’s a rough and hard formula and so if that’s not for you then you don’t do it, you stay away and do something else. It would be a bit stupid to go into Saloons and then complain that someone stuffed you in the fence because everyone knows that’s what the formula is all about. But I think it does surprise some new drivers when they come in at how friendly the other drivers can be. Just lately we’ve had a few banger drivers come into the formula and for some I think the reason has been because of the hassle they’d been getting into the bangers and then they come into Saloons and its totally different. Everyone beats the hell out of each other on the track but largely they all get on in the pits which is how it should be. I stopped doing Lightning Rods because of how drivers were acting off the track but I stayed in Saloons for about four times as long and I don’t think anyone would argue about what’s the harder formula so I guess that shows it really. I do think it’s a big reason why people stay in the formula once they get there, we’re pretty lucky because we don’t have that much trouble in the formula and I think that is one of the best things about it.

You have had many constants since moving into Saloons, firstly your race number.
I was actually 205 when I first started which was my Lightning Rod number but I was number 2 pretty soon after, it might have even been for my first full season, I’m not sure but I wasn’t 205 for very long. Basically I wanted a low number because I wasn’t very good at painting numbers on my car and so 205 was just too many numbers for me to get wrong and make a mess off (laughs). I think number 5 was already taken but number 2 wasn’t so I was quite happy to take that and I’ve stuck with it ever since. For most of my years of racing stockcars I’ve worked on the car in the yard at work and most of that has been done outside. It’s only the last couple of years where I’ve had a roof over my head and I’ve always tended to stick to the mechanical side of things. Trust me it’s been enough hard work over the years just keeping the car running ok without having to worry about things like trying to make sure the car looks pretty! Painting numbers was always something I struggled with and back when I first started we didn’t have professional signwriters. I think they were just starting to come about but they were loads of money back then so I always did it myself, even though I found it hard (laughs) and having a single digit number did make my life a lot easier.

Also your orange paint scheme was present back when you first started racing.
Well again my first car was actually white but like the number I changed to orange pretty soon afterwards and it’s stuck with me ever since. I tried to get some sponsorship from the company I worked for but they weren’t too keen so that idea fell through and I’d been doing this job for a plant company and had painted all of their machines and I had loads of paint left over and of course it was orange so I thought if no-one was going to sponsor me I might as well use the paint I had lying around (laughs) and that was how it started.

I’m guessing you didn’t have 20 years worth of paint lying around and you’ve had to buy some more cans since?
Yeah I have but to be honest I did have quite a bit and it lasted me a good while. It was also kind of nice because there haven’t been too many all orange cars in the formula in the last 20 years so I guess I did a least stand out a little bit.

I suppose it is as good a time as any to ask why you have decided to hang up your helmet now.
It just seems a good time I think. I know I can’t keep doing it forever and there would eventually be a time where I would have to finish. It’s been on my mind ever since I got hurt at Northampton at Easter and there was a little time when I thought that might have been the end but I got better and I was able to come back but I think getting hurt like that was a bit of a wake up call really. When I realised that this would be the anniversary of my first Saloon meeting and there was a chance to end things where I started so close to the date of the first meeting it just made a little sense to do it here.

You and Tracy became parents again not so long ago, has this been a factor in your decision?
I suppose it has really but the thing is since the baby has arrived I seem to have been busier than ever with work (laughs) so I can’t pretend that I’ve been spending more time at home like I probably should because I haven’t! But it has been harder to work on the car with everything that has been going on so it’s all these things combined. Also the formula is, like I said earlier, harder than ever and it’s not so much for a guy my age anymore, it’s such a hard formula so I think it’s the right time to stop. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change the formula for anything, the fact that it is so hard is the reason I have loved it for so long and why so many others love it but I think it does make it a little harder for a guy my age to carry on. Also the travelling doesn’t help. I was doing 40 plus meetings a year and as much as I loved racing in the west country and in Scotland so much it was a bit of a killer. My closest track is Mildenhall which is about 82 miles where as Arena is less than three miles from my yard to the front gate at the track (laughs). I guess it didn’t help me that I chose to fall in love with a formula where the closest track is about an hour and a half away!

Can you tell us about the crash at Northampton on Good Friday and the injuries you suffered?
It was a pretty big crash. I guess over the years I’ve been pretty lucky. When you race in a formula like this which is as hard as this unfortunately there is that risk of getting hurt and I suppose it is more likely to happen in a formula like this one rather than something like Lightning Rods. That’s not to say you won’t get hurt in something like a non-contact formula, the risk is always there, I suppose it’s just increased in a formula like Saloons but the only other time I really got hurt was at Skegness in 1996 when I crashed in the first race and hurt my back and they wound up cancelling the meeting because of it so that was quite the drama. At least at Northampton nothing got cancelled because of me! I just hit the fence and it was hard and I couldn’t breathe and so I couldn’t talk and that was the biggest problem. They got me in the ambulance and I just couldn’t get my breath and so I couldn’t tell them what was wrong with me and that just made matter even worse because I started to panic and some people with me started to panic and it made the whole thing worse than it was but it was no-one’s fault. They thought at first I had injured my ribs but in the end it turned out that I had bleeding on my lungs which was pretty serious but I wasn’t diagnosed with that for a week or so I think so I spent a few days just struggling on thinking it was my ribs. Once the doctors realised what was really wrong they were able to sort me out.

Was that nearly the end of your racing career at that point?
It did look like it might have been but I was pretty determined to not let it be my final meeting, that really wasn’t the way I wanted to end things after all these years. I decided to take some time off and see how things went but I actually got a lot better quicker than everyone thought I would be so because I was well enough I figured I should get back racing as soon as I could rather than stay out of the car for too long.

But you’ve decided to retire anyway, what made that decision?
Even though I came back and did a few meetings as quickly as I probably could have I honestly think I was out of the loop for just a little too long and in that time I probably realised that I can live without racing myself. Like I said there always has to come a time when you stop and say that’s the end and the truth is it’s probably been coming up for a while. The formula is, in my opinion, harder than ever right now so that’s not ideal for a guy my age really and you’ve got to be sensible. I was doing roughly 40 meetings a year and that is not easy, especially with the travelling and because I was hurt this year I’m not sure I’ve even done double figures this season and the honest truth is I don’t think I have missed it quite as much as I thought I would so that helped make the decision easier to get out now.

Are you pleased that you’ve been able to make the decision about retiring under your own terms, rather than having it forced on you by an injury?
Absolutely. I think it would have been a real shame to have had to have stopped because I couldn’t do it anymore, especially after racing in the formula for all those years, it would have been a bit of a pity I think and this is a lot better and it’s nice in a way that it’s a decision I have control over and I can say I’m stopping because I want to stop, rather than stopping because I have to stop.

This leads us back to October 18 where you will have an official tribute meeting to mark your retirement, are you looking forward to it?
Well yes and no really. Of course I’m looking forward to it because I always look forward to racing, no matter the meeting, it’s racing which is something I always enjoy but this will be a little different I guess. I’ve not given too much thought to it being my final meeting and what that will feel like, I suppose I’ve tried not to think about it too much and I’ll try and leave worrying about that until the meeting itself but I suspect it will be quite a strange feeling really. At the moment my main concern is not embarrassing myself at the meeting (laughs). Usually I’m ok because I don’t think too many people pay that much attention to me and what I do and don’t do but this time will be a bit different because I’d imagine there might be a few more people looking out for me and the last thing I want is to have a bad night and people’s last impression is that I was rubbish (laughs). Don’t get me wrong, I probably am but I prefer it when people don’t notice quite so much!

Have you given much thought as to your plans in or away from the sport after October 18?
I’ll still be around. What I found during the time when I wasn’t racing after getting hurt was that I really enjoyed watching the racing. That’s not always been the case for me. Before if I wasn’t racing I wouldn’t enjoy watching or just wouldn’t take that much notice I guess but this time was different and that was another reason which helped me decide to retire because I feel now I’m in a place where I can just enjoy being in the stands and watching it without having that need to be on the track myself, maybe after 20 years I’ve finally got it all out of my system I’m not sure but I definitely feel different about watching now than I used to, it helps having so many friends that I can still watch when they race. I’ve also started helping out at Mildenhall as a scrutineer which I’m quite enjoying. Originally I fancied being a scrutineer for the Saloons but really to do that you need to be able to travel around to all the meetings and all the travelling is one of the reasons why I’m retiring so if I was going to still keep going to all the tracks I might as well take a car with me and race (laughs). So in the end I wound up scrutineering at Mildenhall which I’ve enjoyed so far. It’s not the easiest of jobs I don’t think, but it’s good to still be involved and feel you are doing something to help. But I hate scrutineering (National) Bangers (laughs). They are terrible! I suppose it’s no surprise but every driver pushes the rules to the limit, that’s just being competitive I guess but that has really taken me by surprise and been quite an eye opener at how much drivers will push (their car preparation) to try and get an advantage.

Having raced in the formula for so many years and having been one of the formula’s most travelled drivers, you must have raced at most of the tracks where the formula has raced at in the last 20 or so years, was there any you missed?
I think the only track I could have raced at which I didn’t get to was Wisbech. I suppose it was a little bit of a shame now because it would have been nice to have said I’d raced at them all but the track should pretty much around the same time I started I think, it was pretty close so there was pretty much no chance of me ever racing a Saloon there really, but I did go there to watch.

What have been your favourite tracks over the years?
Honestly, I’ve always liked Mildenhall. Not just because it was where I started in Saloons but I think it is a really good track for the formula. It’s just the right size so that the racing is still fast but maybe not too fast and it also keeps the cars bunched together so you still get some really good racing even without the biggest of fields because there are some tracks where you need a lot of cars to have a good race. But the thing I think I like the most about it is it’s a track where if you make a mistake you are going in and that’s how a stockcar track should be. You shouldn’t be able to make a mistake and not lose out from it and Mildenhall is one of those places, if you make one mistake you probably aren’t going to win that racing and I think that is great. My other favourite track is Cowdenbeath which might seem strange because compared to Mildenhall it’s like chalk and cheese but again it’s the same as Mildenhall in that you cannot make a mistake because if you do you will pay for it and I think that’s right for our kind of racing. Of course the atmosphere at Cowdenbeath is pretty special as well but I also enjoy the atmosphere at Mildenhall, there is something about the place which I’ve always liked.

Are there any tracks which don’t run Saloon Stockcars now that you miss in particular?
We didn’t have many meetings there, but I really enjoyed racing at Rye House the couple of times the formula was there. It was like a tarmac version of Mildenhall and like Mildenhall it was still fast but not too fast and being quite small you didn’t need too many cars for a good race but you still got a good race from the track and it helped me a lot because it was local. That was probably the main reason I enjoyed it because I got to race fairly close to home!

Do you have a preference for shale or tarmac?
No not really I always enjoyed racing on both surfaces. I had a run of racing mostly on tarmac because there was a short while when I wasn’t allowed at King’s Lynn and was having some trouble with another driver and it was getting a little much so we decided to just stick to racing on tarmac. It meant not racing at the two regular tracks which were closer to me but it cut out on a lot of the stress so it was worth it really and I enjoyed my racing more as a result but I never stopped enjoyed racing on the shale, it never bothered me the surface, unless it rained then I did prefer tarmac (laughs).

What have been the biggest changes in the formula over the years?
To be honest I don’t think the formula has changed that much since I started. The biggest change really is the types of cars we are using but underneath they are still very similar to what a Saloon Stockcar was back in 1994. The racing itself is probably harder now and so are the cars, but it’s all pretty much the same idea and the same concept, it’s not like banger racing which has changed completely in the last 20 years, the basics of Saloons I think are still pretty much the same as they always have been, again I think it’s a reason why I’ve stayed in the formula for so long.

One of the changes has been the fences at the circuits, when you started most of the tracks in the sport were post and rope fences and now most are Armco or similar.
That’s true and I do think that I a positive change because I was never too keen on the posts, especially when I had my Lightning Rod but that was probably because it would wreck my car (laughs). Again I remember the first (Saloon Stockcar) meeting at Mildenhall and hitting the fence and just carrying on like nothing had happened and thinking how good it was! It’s better now having walls for fences I think and I reckon most drivers think that but the problem is that I think that has made drivers build their cars even stronger and now nothing bends at all. Back when I started, the cars were obviously strong but they did bend a little bit if they were hit hard enough which was maybe better. Not when you had to fix them but better in the long run for the driver inside. I’ve seen a car go through the Armco at Skegness and just back off like nothing had happened which can’t be right. The plating fences are good as well because they do less damage to a car than an Armco fence which is good for the drivers.

Having been around the formula for so long you’ve seen Saloon Stockcars come back from their massive slump in the mid-1990s to being regarded by many as the leading formula in short circuit racing, do you think this is a golden time for the formula and why do you think the popularity returned?
I think the main reason is because Saloons have always had fans. Even when the formula was finishing at Spedeworth and were getting nine or 10 cars at Wimbledon there were still people there watching them. You could have five cars at Cowdenbeath and there would still be people there watching them because people just love the formula and have done for so many years and that makes all the difference and I think that’s why the formula not only survived but has come back the way it has because when there are so many people who enjoy the sport so much it will attract drivers because they want to see what the fuss is about. I think this is a great time for the formula, and people have been saying it for a few years now and the racing just seems to keep getting better. Having more and more new drivers coming into the formula makes a huge difference as well because it keeps things new and exciting and the amount of action makes it popular with both drivers and fans so it’s definitely a great time in the formula and hopefully it will continue.

Going back to your own career, do you remember your first win?
I do but I’ve not idea when it happened. It was in the Lightning Rods and it was at Birmingham and the race happened at around Midnight (laughs). That’s the thing I remember the most, how late the meeting was and I think I was more bothered about loading up and going home than I was about going on the lap of honour. I think I still have the trophy around somewhere, unless Tracey has slung it out (laughs).

Have you any particular highlights from your years of racing?
Not really, just the racing. I know it’s a cliché but for me I just enjoy stockcar racing so every time I go out and race is a highlight for me I think because it’s not been often that I’ve not enjoyed it, that was always the most important thing to me and again a reason why I did it for so long. I suppose winning the St Day track championship last year was pretty cool and something which stands out because I never won many things like that, in fact it might be my only title as such. I tied for points with Eddie Darby so that’s a pretty good achievement because it’s very hard to beat him round there and a points title is always a good thing to win because you have to be good at a number of meetings rather than just one race. I like St Day as well so that made it a little more special. It’s such a unique and unusual track but I like it, again it’s a track where if you make a mistake you are going in, the only problem is the journey to the place. From home it is about the same distance for me to Cowdenbeath but it takes so much longer because of all the hills and roads and stuff. At least the journey to Cowdenbeath is mainly motorway (laughs).

Have you had a favourite or best win?
I think it was probably the first time I won at Cowdenbeath and finally beating the Scottish drivers for just one race. I love Scotland and Cowdenbeath and I guess I’ve been quite fortunate because unlike a lot of the other English drivers I never got too much stick from the crowd who can be quite brutal to drivers they don’t like but I’ve always been ok, maybe I wasn’t good enough for them to pay attention to (laughs). I remember when I had my first win there thinking I would get loads of boo’s on the lap of honour being an Englishman but in fact the response was quite the opposite and I got a lot of cheers which I think made it all the more special because there is nothing worse than going on a lap of honour and no-one cares. At the time I was racing at Cowdenbeath a lot because my stepdad was ill and so we were going to see him as much as we could so to have my first win there and get a nice response, it all came together and that’s why it’s my favourite win.

You made your World Final debut in 1996 at Swaffham, what are your memories of that?
(laughs) The thing I remember the most was that I pulled second on the grid and I wasn’t too worried until a driver asked me what number I had drawn. When I said two he made a comment to say it was a bad grid position and I said surely it was a good place to start and he simply said “I wouldn’t fancy having 36 mad bastards starting behind me”. I think I lasted a quarter of a lap, so maybe he was right but I think I was just pleased enough to be in the race and didn’t really care too much at what happened next.

You mentioned drawing for grid positions, that was one of the final years where World Finalists drew for grid positions, the World Ranking system coming into the formula shortly after to determine qualifiers and grid positions. Was that something you agreed with?
Yes, I think it was better and it certainly helped me get back into the race the amount of times I did because even if you did a championship meeting but didn’t do any good at all it at least counted for something so someone like me who made the effort to do all the meetings got something out of it even if I didn’t get results and I think that was good. It’s also helped because it encouraged drivers to race after the World Final because you could score points for next year’s World Final whereas before drivers would quite often race to the World Final and then you wouldn’t see much of them after the World Final but the points would start again the following year and those drivers would qualify again for the World Final which I never considered fair.

Your next World Final appearance was in 2004 at King’s Lynn, were you disappointed at all that it took you so long to qualify again?
Not really. I don’t think you can ever be too disappointed in a formula like this one with so many good drivers and you always have to consider any success a bonus because you certainly cannot take anything for granted. I’d been close a few years I think before that but never quite close enough but it was nice to get into the World Final again, if only to be in that big race against all the top drivers at the time which is something I think every driver enjoys when they get the opportunity.

The following year you were back in the World Final, this time at Mildenhall.
Yeah, that was a little special for me because it was where I started and it was the track certainly at the time I considered to be my favourite because it was before I really fell in love with Cowdenbeath so that was probably my most enjoyable World Final experience at the time. It was definitely the (World Final) I looked forward to the most but the race went pretty much the same as all the other ones did (laughs).

Have you had any particularly special crashes?
All of ‘em I suppose (laughs). No I think I was quite lucky again in that sense. I’ve had loads of crashes, probably at more meetings than I haven’t but I managed to avoid many particularly bad ones I think.

What about racing conditions, any particular bad meetings?
Any wet shale meeting really, there isn’t much worse. I think all shale meetings should be held indoors (laughs) but until then there isn’t much you can do about it really. It’s not you getting covered that’s the problem but the state the cars get into and sometimes it can damage your engine which is no good for anyone but again what can you do, you just have to get on with it. I’ve always found (King’s) Lynn worse in the wet for some reason. When it’s wet for me it’s just like racing on muddy water. At Mildenhall it’s gets more like mud but you don’t get quite as wet whereas Lynn is like racing on a wet tarmac track, except the water is really dirty!

Who are the drivers you have admired, rated and respected the most over the years?
When I first started I guess it was Diggy Smith and now it’s probably David Aldous. Diggy was the man to beat when I first started and now I think you can say the same about Aldous and any time you beat them you consider it a good result and I think there are a lot of drivers who think the same so they have probably been the top men for me and the ones I’ve admired the most. The effort they put in is amazing. I know how much hard work it’s been to do what I’ve done so to do what they do is just incredible. I guess it helps that they have a good team around them who help a lot and that makes a massive difference. Look at me…all I’ve got is Tracey!

What will you miss the most about the racing?
I think it will be the racing itself. I won’t lie, I don’t think I will miss the work that goes in at the yard every night getting ready to race at the weekend, again it’s a factor in retiring but I will miss the racing, when you get to the meeting and that buzz, it’s pretty much irreplaceable so I will miss that. The social side is important but I don’t plan on not going racing any more so I don’t think I will have to miss that at all, in fact I might be able to enjoy that even more now. It was always a bit of a downer for me that at meetings when I was racing I couldn’t have a drink until the racing had finished and so I was always catching up (laughs). That’s probably why Ron and Dave (Coventry) have had to throw me out of the bar so many times. It wasn’t my fault, I just couldn’t have started any earlier because I was racing. Maybe now I will fall over earlier (laughs).

Can you give us an idea of how much work went into your racing and do you still think there are people who don’t appreciate the work drivers put into their racing?
Up until this year I was on the car every night after work for a few hours before I would come home. It was harder because I was always outside until a couple of years ago so it was never easy if it was wet because if you were racing that weekend you couldn’t just think I’ll have a night off you had to just get on with it. I think people do think that unfortunately with racing, especially with stockcars. To be fair Tracey had no idea how much work it was until we got together so I think unfortunately unless you are involved people don’t realise quite how much work it takes but that’s just how it is.

Is there anyone you would like to thank or mention?
Tracey especially. We’ve been together for 10 years now and she’s put up with so much over those years so mostly her but there have been so many others over all the years, I could never remember them all so just everyone and anyone whose helped out at some stage or in one way or another.