06/09/2026
A bit of a long read but a must-read for anyone interested in Ainsworth history…..and I’m sure there’s more that could be added to this!!
From Ulverston, Cumbria to some of the biggest stock-car tracks in the UK, Richard Ainsworth carved out an impressive career in oval racing! Richard Ainsworth
To followers of BriSCA Formula 1 during the late 1970s and 1980s, he was 354 – a number that would later become associated with championship success in V8 Hotstox too.
But the Ainsworth stock-car story actually began a generation earlier.
Richard’s father, Dick Ainsworth, was himself a BriSCA Formula 1 driver from Ulverston. Dick raced from 1959 through to 1970, using several numbers during his career, including 435, 373, 272 and 174.
So when Richard began his own Formula 1 career in 1978, he was continuing a family involvement in the sport that already stretched back nearly twenty years.
And it didn’t take long for 354 to make an impression.
On 1 April 1978, Richard appeared at Rochdale’s Spring Gold Cup meeting, taking seventh in a heat and second in the consolation. Just a few weeks later, on 6 May at Nelson, he recorded a heat victory at a Driver of the Year qualifying meeting.
It was the beginning of a decade spent racing among some formidable names.
This was the era of Stuart Smith, Frankie Wainman, John Lund, Willie Harrison, Len Wolfenden, Bert Finnikin and Mike Close – and Richard increasingly became part of that company rather than simply another name making up the entry.
By the early 1980s, 354 was regularly appearing in significant results.
At Long Eaton’s Grand Slam meeting in June 1982, Richard finished second in the Grand Final, behind Malc Neachell and ahead of a field containing Finnikin, Brian Tuplin, Mike Close, Willie Harrison, Frankie Wainman and John Lund.
Then came perhaps the clearest indication of the level he had reached – qualification for the BriSCA Formula 1 World Final.
Richard lined up at Coventry for the 1983 World Final.
A year later he was back on the World Final grid, this time at the legendary Belle Vue Hyde Road stadium in Manchester, starting from the fifth row alongside defending World Champion Stuart Smith.
In 1986, Richard qualified for the World Final again and brought 354 home in 11th place.
There were plenty of other notable results along the way.
He finished third in the 1985 Grand National Championship at Skegness, behind Frankie Wainman and Peter Falding.
In 1986 he won the Richard Ahern Memorial at Northampton, and he also collected strong results in races including the Bumper Trophy and BriSCA F1 Trust Fund.
But the end of Richard’s Formula 1 career wasn’t the end of the story.
In fact, some of his greatest achievements were still to come.
Richard moved into V8 Hotstox, where 354 became one of the leading cars in the formula.
In 1989, he became National Points Champion.
Then came an outstanding 1990 season.
At Birmingham, Richard became British Champion.
At Long Eaton, he achieved the biggest title of all:
🏆 WORLD CHAMPION 🏆
And by the end of that same season, Richard was once again National Points Champion.
A driver from Ulverston in Cumbria therefore held the World, British and National Points Championships in the same remarkable year.
And he still wasn’t finished.
In 1992, Richard regained the National Points title, making him a three-time National Points Champion – 1989, 1990 and 1992.
His major V8 record speaks for itself:
🏆 World Champion – 1990
🏆 British Champion – 1990
🏆 National Points Champion – 1989, 1990 & 1992
His father Dick had made that same journey from Ulverston to Britain’s stock-car tracks almost twenty years before Richard’s career began.
Dick raced through an earlier age of the sport.
Richard followed him, competing against some of the greatest F1 drivers of his generation before taking the Ainsworth name all the way onto a World Championship roll of honour.
Two generations and a family connection to stock-car racing stretching back to 1959.
