West Ham Stadium, built in 1928, was one of the biggest stages that F1 stock car racing ever raced at. Designed by Scottish architect Archibald Leitch, famous for his work in football stadia, this monument stood on Prince Regent Lane, London E16, and boasted a capacity of 100,000.
Opened originally for greyhound racing, speedway soon followed in 1929 with home matches for the West Ham Hammers.
In 1954, the new craze of stock car racing was sweeping the nation, and West Ham's first meeting in August of that year was won by Allen Briggs (138).
Midlands Sports Stadiums boss Alan Sanderson presented stock car racing at the Custom House Stadium, ably assisted by General Manager Charles Ochiltree. This same promotional team oversaw racing at Coventry Stadium and Blackbird Road, Leicester.
Such was the size of West Ham, it was an automatic choice to stage some of the sports biggest meetings, with 6 British Drivers' Championships being held in East London, 2 Semi Finals, and 2 World Finals - in 1961 won by Jock Lloyd (131), and in 1965 won by Ellis Ford (3). The stadium's location meant that it was able to attract stars of stage and screen to meetings and often celebrities of the day were on hand to present trophies to title winners.
F1 stock car racing was staged continuously from 1954 to 1966, with the June WCQR meeting of that year being the last ever to be held, the final being won by Don Evans (37).
Stock car racing was curtailed when land at the stadium which was used as the pit area was sold off, it is alleged that the proceeds of this sale helped pay for a new grandstand complex at Coventry Stadium.
Speedway continued and Banger racing was staged briefly until 1972 when the final speedway meeting heralded the end of this magnificent stadium. It was sadly demolished soon after and consigned to the history books.
Andre Zang
