Along with Belle Vue, West Ham and Coventry, Harringay was widely recognised in the 1960s as one of BriSCA F1's 'big tracks' and therefore was a regular on the roster to host the sports biggest meetings.
After staging the opening two UK stock car meetings at New Cross Stadium in 1954, the organisers quickly swapped to the more capacious Harringay Stadium for meeting number three to facilitate the size of crowds that wanted to see the new sport sweeping the nation, and the Green Lanes venue was far better equipped to hold the numbers of fans flocking to see the racing unfold.
Like several of the tracks that have hosted BriSCA F1 down the years, Harringay was originally built for greyhound racing and opened its doors in 1927, quickly followed by speedway meetings being staged from 1928. Speedway remained until 1961, and in 1963, stock car promoters Johnnie Hoskins and Stan Hinckley converted the 343 yard oval from shale to tarmac. The 1960s saw the stadium regularly host F1 meetings with the number of fixtures per season increasing from 8 in 1961 to a high of 12 meetings in 1969.
A total of 5 World Championship finals were staged here, in 1955, 1963 (the first on tarmac), 1967, 1970 (which also saw the Junior/F2 WF staged here) and 1973. Other big meetings saw 7 Semi Finals, 3 British Championships, 1 European Championship and 1 Grand National Championship.
The introduction of banger racing in the late 1960s saw the number of fixtures dip into the 1970s, with just 3 meetings in 1972, 4 in 1973 and only 2 in 1974. It wasn't the end though, and a collaboration between Mike Parker and Keith Barber saw racing return in 1978 for one meeting, with a mini revival in 1979 with the Daily Mirror Grand Prix series being launched on Good Friday, the European Championship in July and the Southern Championship in September. One of the final meetings features in parts of the film The Long Good Friday.
Sadly stock car racing never returned in the 1980s, but dog racing continued until 1987, and 60 years after opening its doors, Harringay Stadium sadly closed for the final time, later to be demolished and end up as a Sainsbury's supermarket.
Andre Zang
