Classic Hot Rod racing evolved from a special one-off event between Barry Lee and George Polley at the NEC in 2004. The two of them wowwed the crowds in replica's of their cars from the 70's or the golden age of hot rod racing. 306 George Polley raced his usual purple Ford Anglia while 351 Barry Lee piloted the Burtons Ford Escort. The success of that saw the pair tour the country in display racing twinned with the F1's on their golden jubilee tour. The 2004 Spedeweekend had the pair reunited with 19 Mick 'Duffy' Collard in his Ford Escort mk2, the big 3 as they were known in the 1970's, many consider these to be the men that put hot rod racing on the map.

Spurred on by the ever increasing historic stock cars Incarace took the decision to run the class in 2005 after being approached by Gary Witcombe. The class was open to any British built car in production up until 1977. Most Classic Hot Rods have been built for this class barring two. Iain Grayson's Escort has been competing many years mainly at Buxton and still competitive with the modern cars (Paul Stevenson also races a Escort there). Billy Groom's Escort (now raced by Rick Fray) was built in 2001 as a retro style hot rod for Group A Hot Rods. Once the classics took off the car was modified.

There are probably a few other cars sitting in garages that could be resurrected for the classics, while the rules are holding back possible cars (eg Opel Kadett). Lee Fishwick ran an Austin A40 for years in the 1600 Hot Rods and then Group A's, where has this gone?

The class has yet to see the numbers like that in the historic stock cars or the replica cars but for many its shows the youngster what hot rods used to be like. The two cars that started the formula are now raced by different drivers. The George Polley machine is now red and raced by Ivan Russell. The Barry Lee Escort was raced in 2008 in the same colours but renumbered as 950 for former National Hot Rod World Champion Norman Woolsey, this car has been sold on for 2009. Woolsey still has the ex-Bland Escort.

The class features a mixture of long time racers and relatively young drivers with little racing experience. The cars do not race for any titles and money collected over the year is raised for charity. Some of the cars are very quick, Danny Brosnan was quicker than the 2 litre hot rods at Mallory while Norman Woolsey has lapped an oval in under 15 seconds.

For 2009 Ballymena has decided to promote the formula in Northern Ireland, the new year's meeting had three cars and more are expected over the course of the year. Some of the English drivers raced at Ballymena for the Irish Open at the end of August.

Drivers
2 Nigel Hurley	Ford Escort mk2	Lincs
3 Garry Witcombe	Ford Escort mk1	St Neots, Cambs
7 Martin Goldingay	Mini	Nuneaton, Warwicks
8 Darren Owen	Ford Escort mk1	Hednesford, Staffs
11 Mick Mann	Ford Escort mk2
20 Dave Fry	Ford Escort mk1	High Wycombe, Bucks
21 Rick Fray	Ford Escort mk1	High Wycombe, Bucks
22 Rob Montagner	Vauxhall Chevette	Diss, Norfolk
23 Richard Boulton	Ford Anglia	Bedford, Beds
24 Roger Wright	Ford Escort mk1	Sandbach, Cheshire
25 Martin Wallace	Ford Escort mk1	Beds
39 Dean Hunt	Ford Anglia
40 Mick Dixon	Ford 100e	Halesowen, W Midlands
43 Mark Hendy	Ford Escort mk1	Waltham Abbey, Essex
50 Geoff Dixon	Ford Escort mk1	Halesowen, W Midlands
51 Paul Simmons	Ford Escort mk1	Lingfield, Surrey
53 Padraig McCormack	Ford Escort mk1	Rep Ireland
57 Mike Oliver	Ford Escort mk2	Wales
66 Colin Hall	Ford Escort mk2	Kepston, Beds
84 Jerry Ansell
91 Glyn Butlin	Ford Anglia	Swandlincote, Derbys
99 Steve Train	Ford Escort mk2	Cambs
111 Ivan Russell	Ford Anglia	Marshland, Cambs
112 Kevin Russell	Ford Escort mk2	Upwell, Cambs
153 Sammy Mitchell	Ford Escort mk1
191 Iain Grayson	Ford Escort mk1	Longton, Staffs
196 John Hendy	Ford Escort mk1	Waltham Abbey, Herts
241 Dave Gamble	Ford Anglia	Worcs.
304 Checker Thompson	Ford Escort mk1
391 Ian Butlin	Ford Anglia	Swandlincote, Derbys
444 Neil Edwin	Ford Escort mk1	Birmingham
516 Simon Cooper	Ford Anglia	Crewe, Derbys
599 John Hendy Jnr	Ford Anglia
750 Dean Raggett	Ford Escort mk1	Ashford, Kent
862 Carl Checkley	Mini	Solihull, W Midlands
868 David Williams	Mini	West Bromwich, W Mids
905 Robin Morrow	Ford Anglia	Glenarm, Ballymena, Co Antrim
924 Stuart Wright	Ford Anglia	Sandbach, Cheshire
950 Norman Woolsey	Ford Escort mk2	Portadown, Co Armagh
	Ford Anglia
965 Desie Howard	Ford Escort mk2	Moneymore. Co Londonderry

Classic Hot Rods by Webmaster Paul Ballard added 16th October 2009

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