It's hard to believe that 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of Stu Smith's retirement from Big League Stock Car racing at an emotionally-charged Belle Vue stadium. At his testimonial meeting on 7th December, 1986 fourteen other World Champions were present to pay their respects and compete in the Daily Mirror sponsored Champion of Champions Race in front of a packed stadium. It was won by 199 Mike Close followed by 396 Doug Cronshaw and 212 Frankie Wainman Snr, with Stu finishing 4th ahead of the Dutchman Friedhelm Welters H8 - the World Long Track Champion.

Just recalling the occasion brought back so many personal memories of Stu Smith's 20 year racing career. By way of my own tribute I want to share with visitors to this site a few of those memories - I know many will have their own favourite stories - and recall the most successful cars he drove, using pictures of my models.

But first, where did it all start and how was Stuart David Smith introduced to unsuspecting stock car fans?

In 1964, Stu was an apprentice motor mechanic and wielding the spanners for a driver called Ken Chapman, who had introduced him to stock car racing at Belle Vue. He built his first car for £65 from bits acquired from scrap yards and it took him six months. It had a Morris front axle, Humber rear end, a Jaguar power unit and the bodywork was formed from a Renault 4CV.

His first race was at Long Eaton on April 24th 1965 and he led for eleven laps, refusing to give way to faster cars. Inevitably, he got stuffed into the fence and everything seemed to fall off the car: the engine, the gearbox, the radiator - it got towed home in bits and took all the following week to repair. During the remainder of that season and most of 1966 he managed to rise up the yellow grades helped by replacing the Jaguar engine with a Buick. But in August of that year, with financial help from his father, he purchased the car used by 178 Albert 'Tiger' Griffin. It was difficult to drive given the tricky combination of a lot of power from the 348 cubic inch Chevrolet and the very short wheelbase. Keeping it going in the right direction was a feat in itself and although Stu began winning in it virtually from the start, he could just as easily end up facing the wrong way or in the fence. It made him a firm favourite with the crowd.

In the first grading period of 1967, Stu went from yellow top to star. He persevered with the ex Griffin car, which during the 1968 season was fitted with a 425 cubic inch Buick 'Wildcat' engine, until building a longer wheelbase car for the 1969 season. He won his World semi final at Coventry and immediately afterwards fitted a brand new 427 cubic inch Chevrolet 'big block' power unit, which was to become such a dominant force in the sport. With it he lapped everybody but the second placed man Jim Esau at the World Final at Belle Vue.

The rest, as they say, is history!

During his illustrious career Stu Smith won 501 Finals, 6 World Titles, 13 National Points Championships, 3 British Drivers Championships and countless other trophies and titles. He enhanced the image of the sport and became its best known representative. He had a huge dedicated following of fans but also plenty of others who couldn't stand the arrogance of his skills and desperately wanted to see him taken out by other drivers. But everyone agreed that his participation in a meeting was guaranteed to add an air of expectation to the terraces and lively on-track action.

Excerpts from my treasure trove of memories:

On the 3rd September 1977 the World Final was held at Coventry. Stu had failed to qualify from his semi final at Rochdale. He came out for heat two ever the showman resplendent in sparkling silver overalls - guaranteed to wind up his detractors. He could divide family loyalties! My sister-in-law, a dedicated 212 fan was almost purple with indignation. How dare he try and steal the show, he hadn't even qualified for the World Final, she yelled!! During the race Smithy looked set to lap the entire field before the union jack had been waved. He went past 268 Jim Sanders on the outside of the pits bend forgetting that he had given Jim a hefty wallop during a recent Skegness meeting. As he went broadside across his front end, Sanders put his foot down and took Smithy into the fence removing his rear axle in the process. The crowd went wild and Jim became an instant hero for my sister-in-law and many other fans. But Smithy was not to be outdone. He had the knack of turning a disaster to his advantage and commenced a lap of honour stood on the back of his severely damaged car behind the tow truck waving and blowing kisses to the crowd. My sister-in-law was rendered speechless - a rare event even to this day!

On the 30th July 1978 at the Hartlepool World semi final the F2s were sharing the bill. Stu Smith decided to race both formulas that day. He won the F1 Semi and the F1 Final and as F2 number 500 won Heat, Final and Grand National. The only reason he didn't compete in the F1 Grand National was because he was completely exhausted - hardly surprising. Everybody who was there left that meeting talking about having witnessed a demonstration of stock car driving skills that bordered on sheer perfection. It was a privilege to be present.

The 1980 World Final at Coventry saw a false start and by the time the cars had been brought to a stop many had sustained damage, including the 391 car. His supporters waited anxiously as Stu's team of mechanics proceeded to change the radiator before the restart. You could almost touch the tension in the stadium as part of the crowd willed them to finish on time and another part hoped they failed. The rest of the field were lined up ready to go as Stu was strapped into the car and fired up the engine. That he went on to become World Champion was a tribute to the efficient way in which his team dealt with the repairs.

I will never forget the way individual drivers competed wheel to wheel with Stu despite his fearsome reputation and there were many occasions on which they got the better of him but what entertainment they gave to the fans - 396 Doug Cronshaw, 2 Willie Harrison, 190 Len Wolfenden, 212 Frankie Wainman Snr, 272 Dave Hodgson, 199 Mike Close, 306 Mick Noden, 252 Dave Chisholm and so many others. The 70s in particular was an amazing era for F1 stock cars.

And what about that wonderful time when sew-on badges were all the rage? My son was a keen Smithy supporter and always wanted the latest sew-on. When years later he left home, his racing jacket was left behind. Naturally he'd long since outgrown it but before it headed for the charity shop I had the good sense to unpick all the sew-on badges and mount them in a scrap book. A laborious task maybe, but the outcome was page after page of teriific memories.

The models in my collection of Stu Smith's F1 stock cars. Pictures of all the cars mentioned below are in Gallery Two.

Stu's first ever white top car from 1965 debuted at Long Eaton and powered by a Jaguar engine.

The ex 178 Albert 'Tiger' Griffin short wheelbase car that took Stu to red top in the first grading period of 1967 powered by a 425 ci Buick 'Wildcat' engine.

The longer wheelbase 'Wildcat' machine built for the 1969 season and powered by the same Buick 'Wildcat' engine. It was replaced by the first ever 427 ci 'Big Block' Chevrolet before the 1969 World Final which Stu won with ease. He won the 1972 WF in the same car.

The Super Do-Do (so called because it wasn't short of wings but didn't fly!) introduced in 1976.

The so called 'Bread Tray Special' (the front grill was a reworked bread tray from a bread delivery van) lightweight machine launched in 1979 and virtually destroyed at Belle Vue, requiring a complete rebuild and revised bodywork that went on to win the 1980 WF.

Stu's last construction introduced in 1981 that went on to win three consecutive WFs in 1983, 84 and 85 in three different colour schemes. I've used my model of the 1984 World winning car.

Conclusion:

In 1986, recurring back problems after 20 years of competitive racing and the desire, at age 40, to find time to do other things with his life brought about Stu's decision to retire.

There were many reasons for his extraordinary success in stock car racing: attention to detail, natural driving skills, fearless, mechanical knowledge, never accepting he was beaten, lightening reflexes, uncanny knack of anticipating trouble on track and knowing how to avoid it, making his own luck, exploiting bad breaks, a natural showman - the list could go on and on. The fact is that every now and then in any walk of life, someone comes along who is that extra bit special. He was 'The Maestro', 'The Master', 'The One and Only', he could argue 'I'm One Why Try Harder'. He thoroughly deserved and earned all the accolades.

I count myself as lucky to have coincided with Stu Smith's era in BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing.

It seems a pity that Stu, with or without the help of a ghost writer, has never written a book about his life on and off the track. I'm sure it would make fascinating reading.

If you've enjoyed this feature, let me know - perhaps you too have personal memories of Stu Smith's on track exploits. I'd be interested to hear them.