JOHN BIGGS 2013 INDUCTEE

As the owner of Victoria Auto Wreckers along with his father Ray, John Biggs was approached in 1964 by one of his employees, Bob Bissenden, about sponsoring his racecar. “Much to the disapproval of my Dad, I agreed to Bob’s idea and this started a very successful partnership over the next six years”.

Following his sponsorship that season of Bob’s 1949 Ford Jalopy, John became a 1965 crew member and they built a new ’49 Ford in which Bob finished in second place in the year-end points standings. John’s involvement included his necessary joining of the Vancouver Island Track Racing Association (VITRA) and he regularly attended their monthly meetings so as to learn all he could about auto racing, especially the rules. The following year, in addition to building and crewing on their next racecar, John became head of the Technical Committee for VITRA with the club this year running for most of the year at Nanaimo’s Grandview Bowl oval. At season’s end, they again finished in second place with John being awarded the Dick Willoughby Sportsmanship trophy.

The 1967 season was their final year in the now-named Stockcar class with John also accepting the position of VITRA’s Vice-President and they finished the season in third spot. The next year saw John again elected to the VITRA executive, this time as it’s President. This season also saw the start of the Speedway’s first Super Stock class for which John and crew built up a l957 Ford powered by a 352 cubic inch V8 engine. In addition to running the car at Western, they also entered race meets at the Monroe and TriCities ovals in Washington. Finding out about a certain type of racing slick that was only available south of the border, John drove to Sedro Wolley Washington and bought a set. Before their next race, John bragged to fellow competitors and Western’s manager and promoter Reg Midgley that their car and driver were going to score a clean sweep and that is exactly what did happen as Bob set fast time and then won the trophy dash, fast heat and main event. They went on to record yet another second place season points finish with John also entering a full program of Mechanics Races at the Speedway’s season finale at which he won the main event and finished second in the trophy dash behind his brother Dave. In addition, he was also voted the recipient of VITRA’s Member of the Year award at the year-end banquet.

Building another ’57 Ford for the Super Stock division in 1969, they had the misfortune to blow a costly total of four engines following which they decided to retire from active competition. But this was not the end of John’s association with racing as he served two more terms as VITRA President in 1971 and 1972 and also won the Member of the Year award again in 1971. In 2009 along with Bob Bissenden, John was inducted into the Pioneer category of the Hall of Fame.

Looking back on his racing days, John observed, “I enjoyed this time of my life, being part of VITRA and the fellowship and, if I was younger (a lot younger!) I would not hesitate to do it all again!”.