Lesley Wright honoured with The Peter Crane ‘Spirit of 76’ Award
Lesley Wright, Chair of The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame, is the latest recipient of the prestigious Peter Crane ‘Spirit of 76’ Award for outstanding contributions to Nostalgia Drag Racing in the UK. Presented over the Dragstalgia weekend, this proved to be a popular & well-deserved choice.
Short of driving a racecar, Lesley Wright has done most things in Drag Racing during a lifetime’s involvement in the sport. As Lesley Digby, she cut her administrative teeth dealing with the pit gate money in that distant time when spectators were charged to enter Santa Pod’s pits. The tragic death of her partner, racing legend and Santa Pod track manager Allan Herridge, in 1983 did not lessen her involvement. She served as a committee member of the then-BDR & HRA, representing the interests of street classes.
In 1988, Lesley accompanied Al O’Connor and his car Al’s Gasser on a season-long tour of the United States to compete on the NHRA circuit, documenting the experiences, and of a further tour two years later, in the UK’s Fire Up Magazine.
Exposed to the US bracket racing scene, she became a proponent of bracket racing in the UK in her role as a committee member of the newly formed Santa Pod Racers Club & sought and won sponsorship for the Super Gas Drag Racers Association. As SPRC Secretary, she drove forward the Club’s formation as a limited company and worked on revisions of the Drag Racing rule book with the Technical Committee.
In 1997, Lesley’s marriage to John Wright created a formidable partnership and she became a key motivating figure in the Wildside and Chaos racing teams, and latterly with Tony Betts’ Venom Nostalgia Funny Car team.
In 2006, Lesley was one of a small group involved in the founding of the British Drag …