Manchester stock car site closes
More than six decades of stock car racing came to an end earlier this month when the owners of the historic Belle Vue Stadium in Gorton, Greater Manchester, confirmed that it will be closing in September.
Stock car, greyhound and banger racing attendances plummeted after coronavirus lockdown was enforced, and continued local measures in Greater Manchester meant that future events have been postponed further and further back in the year.
Stock car racing came to Belle Vue in 1954, when then-speedway manager, Johnnie Hoskins, brought the lucrative sport to its sand oval. A well-attended world championship took place a year later although subsequent attempts to import 500cc midget racing from the US was rather less successful.
Mark Spincer of Belle Vue’s owner, Arena Race Company, said that the business could not continue to support itself despite a history that saw racing survive a horrific fire in 1958 and re-development of the 165-acre showground for housing in 1982: ‘ The effects of the national lockdown, alongside the significant uncertainty over when, and in what manner, crowds may be able to return, has had a huge impact on Belle Vue in particular, given its reliance on public attendance.’
Oval stock car and banger racing organiser, Startrax, ran events at Belle Vue for many years. Its boss, Steve Rees, said: ‘We enjoyed 21 consecutive seasons at [Belle Vue Stadium] among friends, and the great action will be one of our proudest moments.’