Auto focus ■ Words and Pics: Keith Lee
This month, Keith catches up with drag racing stalwarts Glen and Tim Read
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rag racing is very much a family sport. And while at the recent British Drag Racing Hall of Fame gala, I caught up with Glen Read and his brother Tim who were there to enjoy seeing their old rivals and friends, the Stones team, inducted. Their late father, Jim Read, made his mark in the sport both on and off track. There were four sons in total, with Steve and Robin being the other two. All of them were, and still are, involved in the drags, even though they are in their senior years. The Readspeed legacy all emanated from the family business, which was situated at the amusingly named Frogs Island in Oxfordshire. Jim’s family tree surgery operation would be home to the team vehicles, and he was always welcoming to other racers as well. I remember first meeting the Read clan when they arrived en masse for one of the BDR&HRA area meetings I had started in Berkshire, which must have been over the winter of 1969-70. They made an impression then, and still do. Not maybe the most obvious choice for drag racing, but Jim first raced his Volvo Amazon street car back in 1971, having been introduced to the sport by two of his sons who persuaded him to take them to
Above: Jim Read conducting the start line, as Stripteaser launches against Stagecoach Left: Steve Read trying out the cockpit of Jim’s rear-engined car for size. In the background, you can see the team bus dominating the pits at Santa Pod Below: Jim posing in the engine bay of his dragster, back in the Frogs Island workshop
Santa Pod in 1969. The Swedish motor gave way to a blue Camaro the following year. Glen meantime took over driving the Volvo, for his own first taste of racing. Late in ’72, Jim moved into the dragster ranks, with a car based around the old Weekend Warrior chassis assembly which was fitted with a Ford V8 motor and auto trans. It was called Autofrog and fittingly painted a muddy brown. It gave him a taste of something different, and it would not be long before he wanted something faster.
At the tail end of 1973, Jim and myself spent a week sharing an apartment in California during a drag racing trip. We both saw the result of a serious funny car fire, in the form of the remains of Butch Maas’ ravaged fire suit. At that time, a major fire had not occurred in the UK, but this sight at the Simpson shop was sobering – and Jim would be an early proponent of treating safety equipment properly, as scant regard was generally paid to safety gear at that time. Interestingly, although Tim was the
Left: Jim warming the hides of the rst car to carry the Le Patron name
Above: Glen Read launching hard in his neat little 1800cc Volvo powered entry
50 CUSTOM CAR JANUARY 2023
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12/12/2022 15:10
