Swaffham Raceway, originally Swaffham Stadium, is a

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

and

banger racing Banger racing is a tarmac, dirt, shale and chalk track type of motorsport event popular in countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Vehicles are raced against one another, with the winner being the first to the ...

circuit in

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

, which also hosted

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

from 1987 until 2000.

Greyhound racing

Swaffham became a new track on the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course bettin ...

permit scheme in 1987. The 416 circumference circuit was constructed just south of the Dereham Road on the east side of Broom Covert. The track location was remote and relied on the catchment area of the market town of Swaffham to the west and some clientele from the further afield

Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. It ran parallel to the closed Great Eastern Railway Lynn & Dereham line which ran through an area that separated the track from NRM horticulture laboratories. Maurice and Anne Kirby opened the track to the public on 16 November 1987, with Maurice Kirby acting as the Racing Manager on the race nights of Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Distances were 270, 480, 686 & 896 metres behind an 'Outside Sumner' hare. There was a large car park, 72 kennels and ten on course bookmakers but limited facilities in terms of structures with just one main stand. Because of a lack of greyhound racing in the area, Swaffham attracted significant trainers such as Kevin Cobbold,

John McGee John McGee may refer to: * John McGee (greyhound trainer), seven times UK champion trainer * John McGee (politician) (born 1973), American state legislator in the Idaho Senate * John B. McGee, American state legislator in the Nevada Assembly betwe ...

and Ken Peckham. In 1989 Tom Smith was brought into the track as the new General and Racing Manager and by 1992 he had acquired the lease. Together with his son Gavin they were always looking to improve the mechanical workings of greyhound racing from hare systems to drainage and they produced a new hare that would change the industry. They came up with a hare that was modelled on the older outside 'McKee-Scott' but it had modifications that allowed the hare driver to use a simple turn switch and then an even simpler hare rail at ground level with the wire running on pulleys underneath. Within a ten-year period the popular 'Outside Sumner' and older 'Outside McKee' had all but disappeared within the industry. The hare was known as the 'Swaffham' and this allowed the Smiths to set up a very successful greyhound parts company. A dispute over security of tenure led to the cessation of greyhound racing at Swaffham on 14 July 2000. Kirby planned to reintroduce greyhounds in 2007 after spending £60,000 on a new greyhound track but Kirby died in 2012.

Track records

Today

Stock cars still take place today. In 2018 former

Rye House Stadium Rye House Stadium is a former greyhound racing and speedway venue in Rye Road, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. It is situated adjacent to the River Lea Navigation. Origins The name Rye House originates from a collection of medieval buildings on an ...

promoter Eddie Lesley announced his plans to revamp the site; one of his companies owns the site outright and there are plans for a schooling track.

References

External links

Official website
* {{commonscat-inline, Swaffham Raceway Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Sport in Norfolk 1975 establishments in England Stock car racing venues