Book excerpt: It was by chance that the author stumbled across a long lost programme for the opening meeting of Hanley Car Speedway for 21 July 1938. The programme had been hidden away in family papers for almost sixty years and it sparked an enduring interest in Midget Car Speedway. Motor sport had been the preserve of the rich and glamorous, but now the ordinary man could build a car and race it on a shoestring budget. It was the start of motor racing as we know it today and without the development of midget car racing, we perhaps would not have seen the Formula Three, Formula Ford and other series that we take for granted today. Although a short-lived craze that hit the UK during the 1930s, midget car racing was an incredible motor phenomenon with some races and events attracting over 60,000 people from all over the country. Derek Bridgett's Midget Car Racing chronicles this bizarre but immersive little-known motorsport. Focusing specifically on the Belle Vue Speedway, this incredible book is profusely illustrated with photographs from the period.