Member Inducted 2011
Terry Gibbs
History
In 1973 Terry Gibbs bought a 1967 Chevy Corvette Roadster. This
started a love affair with the American car scene, which his family
still share today. But it was in 1976 that he purchased a 1969
Camaro, which was to be the first of many Camaros that would pass
through his hands including 'Black Magic' and 'Money Hungry'. It
was this first Camaro that prompted Terry to incorporate and take
on the Chairman's role of the first 'Camaro Club of Great Britain'
and being invited as special guest of the Camaro Club America to
the 1978 Ontario World Finals was a particular highlight of this
time. In 1979 Terry first started drag racing at Blackbushe in the
Street classes, and he continued to do so through the early to mid
eighties, racing at York, Santa Pod and Long Marston. He later went
on to setup "Camaros Unlimited" importing Camaros and
Corvettes.
In 1991 Terry imported the "Obsession" 1969 Camaro to race in
Super Gas. Tony Gransden drove for the first two years then Terry
took over from 1993 until 1997 when his son and crewman Craig took
over the hot seat as Terry was beginning to get involved with the
promotional side of drag racing. In 1995 Terry took over as
Chairman of the Super Gas Drag Racers Association and as part of
this rȏle took about organising and promoting the first and
legendary Super Gas tour to Hockenheim, where he managed to
assemble no fewer than twelve British teams to take on the might of
the Europeans. He organised the Super Slam meeting at Avon Park in
August 1997 which was a great success leading to him signing up
with track owner Anthony Hodges to run four Super Series meetings
at Avon Park in 1998. Again these were a great success and
attracted Sky Sports who televised the meetings bringing a
much-needed boost to Sportsman Racing and spreading the word of
British drag racing.
In 1999, working alongside Avon Park International Racing
Association and Santa Pod Racers Club, Terry negotiated the
inclusion of the Super Series events in a ten-round UK National
Championship for Sportsman racers which was a major factor in the
growth of grassroots Sportsman racing in the UK.
In 2001 Terry commisioned Geoff Hauser to build the first
domestic Junior Dragsters. There were four in total, and Terry
campaigned for their inclusion within the National Championship,
having seen the progression of the class in America. They were
brought in initially to run as a demonstration class at Avon Park,
and their popularity quickly grew. Terry's involvement with Avon
Park lasted until 2002 when he moved on to new challenges including
the highly successful Xtreme Wheels Shows at Alexandra Palace,
which brought back for many the spirit and excitement of the
legendary Custom Car Shows of the 1970s and 1980s.
Sadly Terry died on Monday 20th March 2006 at the age of 54 but
his memory lives on as a well-known, well-respected racer, promoter
and show organiser within European drag racing - although he
preferred to be known as "Just a Sportsman racer, making up the
numbers"!