Keith & Frances Parker
How did it all start? Well I guess it was Frances’ fault really, in answering an advert for a membership secretary to work from home. In those days she was working in our Fishing Tackle shop and as the children were at school, was looking for another interest. She was interviewed by some of the great names of the NDRC Committee and Drag Racing. Alan Wigmore, Cliff Jones and Chris Urlwin.
It wasn’t long before she was asked to be the race secretary as well. After attending a few meetings she asked if I would come along to. I agreed as long as I was found something to do … and was I found something to do!
Before long it was a family affair, some of you older racers might remember receiving your timing tickets from our children, Linda and Stephen. Stephen soon moved on to tinkering around with the cars, first I think for George Davie, then the Page Brothers and Ronnie Picardo, to name a few. Linda used to run the sales booth but secretly I just think she liked the drinking! Frances carried on in her secretarial role, whilst I ended up being a jack of all trades, starting on gate duty and ending up being the Vice-Chairman. Before we knew it the NDRC was taking up all our time, literally 24/7. Really we became involved seriously during the latter part of the Skilton era. As sponsors dried up it was decided, with some prompting from me, that we would organize and promote our own meetings which as everybody knows, included Blackbushe, Wroughton and Snetterton. We managed to survive doing this for a couple of seasons but financially the Club was struggling and it became obvious that the number of venues available around the Country were drying …
Brian Chapman
The term giant-killer is often used in sport, but rarely is it used more aptly than when describing the outstanding performances of Brian Chapman riding his Vincent machines over many years of drag racing.
He was there at the beginning of Santa Pod, with his 998cc Vincent sidecar outfit, which was initially used for speed trials events, and ended up as a towing vehicle for his newly built small capacity race bike.
For many years Brian developed his tiny, unfashionable single cylinder Vincent Comet 500. A number of the most successful riders of the period raced using Vincent engines, but it was always the revered vee-twin motor.
Every year Brian continued to modify his tiny machine, which was called Mighty Mouse – and every year it got quicker. A blower was added, and the nitro started to be tipped, causing the times to tumble, which confounded those who said it would not go any quicker!
Somehow he managed to get under 10 seconds, which was a massive achievement at the time; but when he became the first 500cc rider anywhere in the world to run under 9 seconds – that was frankly unreal.
When you consider that the self employed carpenter from Waltham Abbey started drag racing with the 500 single because he did not want to go as quick as legendary Vincent riders like George Brown, Ian Ashwell, and John Lloyd, then you begin to realise the scale of his achievements. He picked up more than his fair share of Top Bike eliminator and championship wins along the way, on such a modest looking bike. If Brian could make it himself, then he would, which was all the more to his credit.
Brian, and his wife Renee, were always to be found in the pits on race day, along …