Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield has staged F1 stock car racing across 4 different spells throughout it's history.
The Northern Stock Car Company ran the inaugural meetings in 1954 until 1956. A one off meeting featured in 1958, but after the promotion company collapsed, the stock cars were made to wait until they next graced the South Yorkshire shale, some years later.
The big league returned in 1976 under the auspices of Owlerton Sports Stadium Ltd, with Jon Carter presiding over affairs at the stadium. Monday night racing at 7.30pm became the norm and it soon developed into a very popular track with fans and drivers alike. A switch of race day to Sunday afternoons in the mid 80s wasn't a huge success, and the 'in-house' promotion of stock car racing was taken on by a consortium of promoters, then in 1989, by Vince Moody's Trackstar empire.
Unfortunately, the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989 saw the stadium undertake some major works and racing ceased midway through the 1989 season.
Another long sabbatical was ended when driver-turned-promoter, Steve Rees reopened Sheffield in December 1996, but by the end of the 1997 season, Vince Moody was back and Trackstar were once again at the helm.
Moody had a long list of tracks he promoted at, but is best remembered for his long tenure at Skegness. His eye for a show and something a bit different was introduced at Owlerton, with various gimmicks to entertain the crowd. Cheerleaders, novelty racing with Reliant Robin bangers, firework displays, stunt shows, banger ramp rollovers, nothing was off limits to draw a crowd into Sheffield. He even managed to get some TV stars from various soap operas to appear at the stadium to present the trophies and sign autographs for fans.
It was certainly effective, and the stadium was usually packed out with fans. By the 2002 season, Moody had taken a step back, with Trackstar now being run by Moody's son Michael, and Paul Butler. This partnership carried on until the 2003 Semi Final, when Steve Rees was back at Sheffield with his Startrax promotion and remains to this day.
A very well appointed stadium, Owlerton has staged Semi Finals and British Championships down the years. Owners A & S Leisure have recently spent £6m on a new conference centre and executive suite on turn one, to compliment the plush restaurants and bars that the stadium also boasts. The tight D shaped track, coupled with the notorious post and wire fence, makes Sheffield a track for the stock car purist.
