Bill "Wizard" Wigzell,
the wizard of Speedway
racing in South
Australia on both solo's
and cars was one of only
two speedway racers that
raced both the first
ever race meeting at
Rowley Park Speedway in
1949 and the last in
1979, the other being
Laurie Jamieson.
Bill went to school at
Wellington Road Primary
School where he finished
grade 7 and went to work
as an apprentice
Prosthetic Technician.
He loved messing with
cars, hotting them up
etc. so his boss at the
time suggested he meet
with Alex Rowe who
quickly snapped up Bill
as an apprentice
mechanic working with
race vehicles.
Bill then pitted for
Speedcar Racers from all
over the country at
Kilburn Speedway before
his first ever Speedway
meeting at the age of 18
in March 1949.
Prior to this he started
his racing career in
road racing on a motor
cycle at the age of 16
in 1946 and was racing
twice a week at both
Rowley Park Speedway on
Wednesday nights and
Kilburn Speedway on
Friday nights.
Bill was successful as a
Solo rider representing
South Australia all over
Australia.
Kym Bonython, Promoter
at Rowley Park asked
Bill if he would like to
race a speedcar built by
Sir Jack Brabham and
owned by Kym for the
1954/55 season.
Bill proved himself
right away that he was
to be a force on 4
wheels immediately
qualifying for the South
Australian Speedway
Championships during
that season.
In the following season
Bill Wigzell took out
the Chas E Sconce trophy
for Speedcar handicaps
along with other
features.
The following season
Bill had an accident at
work which kept him out
for the season. In the
1958/59 season he
struggled however,
the following seasons
improved where he had a
lot of success.
In 1965 Alex Rowe asked
Bill to drive the yellow
number 2 Ford Consul
powered Speedcar that
was later to be driven
by various drivers
including Colin Hennig,
Steve Stewart and was
then later powered by a
Mazda rotary engine
driven by Steve Hennig
at Speedway Park.
Bill finished third
behind Kym Bonython and
Dean Hogarth in the Rick
Harvey Memorial, then
won the Harry Neale
Memorial, the Golden
Fleece 50 lap derby and
the 40 lap South
Australian round of the
National Speedcar
Drivers Championship.
It was then that Zeke
Agars who was driving
the Kevin Fischer Super
Modified known as
"Suddenly" decided to
form his own team
leaving the seat open.
Kevin Fischer from
Fischer Ford of Murray
Bridge who originally
purchased "Suddenly"
from Graeme McCubbin of
Victoria offered Bill
the drive that was to
become a great team.
Bill and "Suddenly 88"
(a 427 Chevy powered
engine) won his first
race at meeting number 3
and won 7 of the
remaining 14 feature
events for the season.
In 1970 he won the
Australian Super
Modified Championship in
NSW and then won 3
successive Craven Filter
National Titles in 1972,
73 and 74 along with so
many other titles in
both Super Modified and
Speedcars.
At one stage the
combination held every
lap record at Rowley
Park Speedway.
In 1979 Bill Wigzell was
awarded the Order of
Australia Medal for
service to the sport of
motor racing.
With the closure of
Rowley Park, Bill went
on to race at Speedway
Park in a sprintcar
still winning various
races and then retired
in 1986 going on to help
Terry Wigzell (his son)
who is successfully
racing speedcars after a
successful Moto Cross
career.
