Setting the co-ordinates of our stock car racing time machine.
Location - Parker Drive, Blackbird Road, Leicester.
Year - Any between 1954-1956, 1962, 1963 and between 1974 & 1984.
Specifics - Third Saturday of the month April to October 7.15pm.
This was the regular race night during its prolonged final 10 year running, following on a Midlands duo of sister track Coventry (first Saturday of the month) and Long Eaton, the second Saturday.
The stadium itself opened in 1928 for Greyhound Racing and Speedway, which were the staple diet for race fans until it opened its doors for stock car racing in 1954.
Midland Sports Stadiums boss, Alan Sanderson had bought Leicester Stadium in 1950 to add to his portfolio of stadia at Lythalls Lane, Coventry, Brandon Stadium and West Ham Stadium.
Stock car racing ran for the first two seasons, then didn't appear again until season 1962. Friday night meetings were the order of the day and again in 1963, but with limited success, it was decided to concentrate their efforts on Coventry and West Ham.
1974 saw BriSCA F1 return and under Charles Ochiltree's guidance ran uninterrupted until 1984. Midland Sports Stadiums having accepted an offer from Barratt Homes for the site in 1983, saw the 1984 season run all of it's fixtures except one, with the final meeting being a Daily Mirror Grand Prix round on the 22nd September.
Despite being perceived as the 'ugly sister' in the Ochiltree's pair of tracks, Leicester often produced more action packed racing. Perhaps the most famous incident being when Richard Ahern (18) cleared the fence after a tangle with Steve Bateman (427) in 1980. By the mid 1980s, the stadium was showing it's age, and you could be forgiven for thinking that you had stepped back into the 1950s.
It's natural bowl giving a gladiatorial amphitheatre feel to proceedings, and it's 'rough around the edges' appearance to the main grandstand and terracing just added to the perception of watching the racing in a time warp.
Despite seemingly always clashing with a northern staged meeting, Leicester, like Coventry, could always boast the famous Ochiltree tag line of "60 cars, 6 great races". Leicester, like Coventry, and all the other tracks sadly no longer with us, very much missed by everyone who went there.
