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John Wright – Biography   

John Wright began racing in 1975 at the age of 10 in the Junior Mini Stox Formula. 13 victories and National Champion runner up in the next 6 years gave John the necessary experience to move into Brisca Formula One Stock Cars at the age of 16 in 1982.

As the 1983 Notts & Derby Championship winner with some brilliant performances in an out of date Buick powered car, John caught the attention of local business The Bike Shop who sponsored John for the following two seasons. Racing with Chevrolet power for the first time, John rose to A Grade for the first time in the 1984 season

In 1986 John qualified for his first World Championship Final via a brilliant 5^th place in the Hartlepool Semi-Final that he briefly led after starting in 10^th place on the grid. In the same season John also won his first Grand Final at Crewe Stadium, finishing 2^nd in the Grand National from a one lap handicap; a result that helped towards front row qualification for the Grand National Championship held at Aycliffe later that year.

A quiet 1987 season led John to take a year off in 1988 racing briefly but very successfully in the Hot Stox formula.

No sooner had John quit than a new chassis was under construction in the Wright workshop. Taking over a year to build, the car was a forerunner for most modern Formula One Stock Cars as it used Transit axles and a small block Chevrolet engine. Teething troubles at the end-of-season debut were sorted out for the start of 1990, when John qualified for his 2^nd World Final by winning an epic Semi Final Consolation at Boston.

Consecutive World Final appearances in 1991, 1992 and 1993 could not net a top ten finish although qualification itself was outstanding along the way with the 1991 East Anglian Championship considering the standard of competition.

Two Final wins in 1994 helped by a racing gear box provided by long term sponsors Warwick Business Services made it John’s best season to date despite not qualifying for the World Final. The five-year-old car was sold to Paul Montegue at the end of the season.

John returned to racing at the 1995 Coventry staged British Championship in an ex-Bobby Burns car netting an 8^th place. Later that season John scored a hat trick of victories at the Coventry Grand Prix round, the circuit fast becoming his most successful.

Car modifications failed to improve performance in 1996 and the car was sold to the B-Warm Racing Team after a World Final heat victory.

Johns only appearance in 1997 was at the last ever Long Eaton meeting, the stadium where he had begun his career 22 years earlier. John never won a Grand Final at his hometown track; his best Final placing was second to Peter Falding in 1995 along with numerous heat wins.

It was with a Peter Falding/Clive Lintern car John returned to racing with in 1998, storming to 3 Grand Finals in 4 meetings in May of the year. Front row qualification in the Birmingham World Championship Semi Final was disappointingly converted into 6^th place finish. John gridded 20^th for that years World Final, finishing 8^th after an inspired tyre choice. Super Star grade was attained for the first time, which John held for most of the season.

Despite gaining his first major sponsor (B-Warm Windows), 1999 was a poor season compared with the success of 1998, John failed to make the World Final after an altercation with Steve Booth in the Northampton Semi.

Modifications to the car by the 1999 World Champion Murray Harrison, gave John a performance boost for the 2000 season, netting 7 more wins and domination of the Coventry International Speedway, carrying on the new Millennium where he had finished the 90’s as the 4^th most prolific Final Winner at the Midlands venue, including 3 Midland Championships.

A tarmac World Final prompted a radical car change for the 2001 season. Racing only on the hard stuff, the team developed the car well but ran out of time due to a late start to the season. Only one win to show and a bucket load of bad luck, punctures robbed John of many good finishes, notably a Saturday night European Championship final win.

Late again for the start of 2002 but armed with a brand new FWJ chasis hopes where high.
10 meetings later,all on shale with just 2 heat wins both at the super fast Sheffield Speedway the team where
disappointed with their efforts.
Now fully sorted John hopes to have the car back for a full season in 2003

2003 saw John put all his eggs in one basket by relying on the Coventry qualifier for the majority of World Championship points only to be thwarted by a dodgy steward's decision denying him qualification for the meeting final.

The year ended in disappointment with no race wins for the first time since 1990.

For 2004, John was still disillusioned with the way the sport was heading and decided not to race until late on in the year. This resulted in a point scoring outing at Birmingham (with no transponder) and then an appearance at Coventry (again without a transponder) only to be banned from subsequent meetings due to not having a transponder! Surely this indiscretion should have been picked up by the steward at the 1 st meeting?

John has since sold the car to Johnny Aldridge to be used by his son in the 2006 season.

John is looking forward to a season racing circuit cars and motorbikes during 2005.

A total of 67 race wins in 23 seasons of Formula One racing, including 13 Grand Final victories puts John amongst the top 5 race winners of the current generation of Racers.