Motorsport memory: 2003 ASCAR

Trickle-down stock car racing inspires a six-year-old

At the time, I thought my parents were being totally unreasonable for not letting me hang a glassfibre wheelarch on my bedroom wall. Six-year-old me had ridden my scooter from the Rockingham grandstand, under the circuit and to the infield where a mechanic had wrestled the crash-damaged bodywork off the car and handed it to me over a fence. I’d then tried to balance it on the handlebars, and shunted massively when the front wheel fell off my scooter under the extra weight. I was determined to get the wheelarch home, prepared to breathe in the harmful fibres day-after-day and risk pulling the plasterboard off the wall, but alas that choice was overruled.

What followed was an ambitious plan to build my own race car from parts that mechanics would hand to me, alongside saving my pocket money for a house.

With that and Lady Penelope occupying my mind, getting properly excited about Formula 1 would have to wait – I used to watch the first 10 laps, then go upstairs to recreate it on my Playstation 2 rather than sit tight until the chequered flag. Instead, it was ASCAR (on this occasion, that’s not a typo – think NASCAR-LITE) racing around Rockingham’s oval in 2003 that was my first authentic motorsport experience.

Champ Car had very recently raced at the Corby circuit so that, combined with the naivety of my youth, meant it felt like the Americanisation of race day was entirely appropriate. Granted, looking back, calling the series Days of Thunder after the shakey Hollywood flick didn’t do much for its credibility, but the stamping and clapping in time to We Will Rock You before each race genuinely added atmosphere. But that was nothing compared to having Busted, Daniel Bedingfield or The Darkness arriving by helicopter before playing a set. It’s a questionable taste in music that I’ve proudly retained ever since.

Although I didn’t realise it at the time, the thousands of us spectating were pretty spoilt during this period. In 2002 Nicolas Minassian (left) was crowned champion and Jason Plato and Matt Neal were even team-mates for a one-off. Dario Franchitti could be spotted in the crowd and Ben Collins was excellent to watch as he manhandled the camouflaged RML car

(top) before he went on to star as Top Gear’s The Stig. Incredibly, Colin Mcrae would also make an appearance in ASCAR.

When racing used to occasionally break out between the lengthy stoppages to dry the track with jet turbines or to collect Steve Hodgson’s car after he’d smeared it along a wall, it was massively entertaining and a slipstreaming masterclass.

Oddly, it just never translated into a love of its big American brother.

“WITH LADY PENELOPE OCCUPYING MY MIND, BEING EXCITED ABOUT F1 HAD TO WAIT”