November 27th 1954, Aranui Speedway Christchurch witnessed the first stockcar races in New Zealand; Bill Harris in a 1935 Ford Sedan was the first winner of a stockcar race in New Zealand.

Stockcar racing came to New Zealand from England where it was introduced in early 1954, the origins go back to Paris France where a type of short circuit car racing was introduced in 1953 as a result of two event promoters witnessing an evening at Soldiers Field, Chicago, USA. The first meeting in England on Good Friday 1954 saw huge crowds attend and this was repeated throughout the country during 1954.

All this activity was not lost on the many Commonwealth speedway solo riders racing in England at this time, three in particular who observed the huge crowds and crash and bash racing in old cars were Mick Holland, Merv Neil, and Ray New. While Ray New's impact on NZ stockcar racing would not happen until 1963, Mick Holland and Merv Neil were responsible for the introduction of stockcars to NZ in late 1954.

Mick Holland's wife Alison was a Co-Promoter with Des Wild at Christchurch's Aranui Speedway and upon their return from England set about formulating rules and approaching potential racers for stockcar racing to be part of the speedway programme for the 1954/55 season. And so it was that on opening night November 27th the first stockcar races were held in NZ.

Meanwhile in Auckland Merv Neil started building some cars and was attempting to convince the Auckland City Council to allow stockcar racing at Western Springs speedway as part of the show. All the efforts came to nothing until eventually Neil was allowed to run five meetings after the close of the speedway season. On March 19th 1955 the first all stockcar meeting in NZ was held at Western Springs in front of a huge crowd.

Stockcar racing in Auckland moved to the Epsom Showgrounds for the 1955/56 season and carried on there until March 1959. There was still stockcar racing at Western Springs during this time, two races a night amongst the speedway classes, and the first Teams Race ever was held between Canterbury and Auckland in March 1956 at Western Springs. In 1961 the final stockcar races were run at Western Springs and activity moved to a new track at Gloucester Park for three short seasons before closing and leaving Auckland drivers with nowhere to race.

In Christchurch the stockcars were ditched after two seasons at Aranui, continual fence damage was the main reason and a temporary home was found on the paddocks of Templeton Domain where stockcar scrambles were held. The opening of Templeton Speedway in April 1962 saw stockcars back as a regular feature on the speedway programme until finally being ditched in 1964, again mainly through the large amount of fence damage created. South Island stockcars were to return to the paddocks for scramble racing until the establishment of permanent tracks at Nelson and Woodford Glen.

While 1964 had seen the death of stockcars in Auckland and Christchurch, in Palmerston North it was seeing boom times thanks to Ray New who introduced stockcars to bolster vanishing crowds at his speedway meetings. The advent of Television was starting to impact people's entertainment habits and Ray New saw stockcars as a salvation just as the English Promoters had in 1954. The success of Palmerston North was the catalyst that saw stockcar racing spread through the provincial towns of North Island NZ and by 1967 Stratford, Napier, Hamilton, Rotorua, Wellington, and Auckland were running tracks under ACU Speedway Control Board Rules. Later tracks were to open at Mt. Maunganui, Wanganui, and Tokoroa. Meanwhile the South Island racing had spread through South Canterbury and on through Otago and Southland, but still only as scramble racing in paddocks rather than permanent facilities. The land being used for the scramble racing in Nelson eventually saw a proper track built, but it was the opening of Woodford Glen in 1974 as an ACU accredited track, that finally saw the South Island run the same type of car, and to the same rules, as the North Island that accounts today for the sport being truly National and continuing to grow.

Through the years the cars have changed and evolved from 1930's V8's with crash bars added, to full steel chassis purpose built racecars running Hi-Tech engines and suspensions. This evolution into the Superstocks of today also increased the cost of a car from the $50 of 1954 to nearly $100,000 for some cars now. In the mid eighties the concern of rising costs saw the introduction of Standard Stockcars at Auckland and Rotorua; this class has now become a National Class known as "Stockcars", while the "Superstocks" cater for the costlier Hi-Tech end of the sport.


Major differences but by no means all of the differences between Stockcars and Superstocks

As stated by Gavin above stockcars as they are known today have evolved from the stockcars of old, with the every present need to go faster and to win, introducing new technology and increasing the cost of cars something needed to be done. The numbers of stockcars in the North Island is incredible it is one of the most popular classes and some would say has bought the crash back into stockcar racing. The down side of the competitive nature of most people who race is that the ever present need to go faster and win means that the faster you go the more it will hurt (physically and financially). Eastern States Speedway was one of the first tracks in the South Island to introduce Stockcars in their new form, and the class has been on the ups since then. The South Island title tonight is the first to be held and as such proves that the numbers are on the increase in the South. Greymouth, Woodford Glen and Nelson all contract stockcars now. At Eastern States the number of drivers in the Superstock class was dwindling with increases in costs making it difficult for locals to get into and stay in the class. For this reason stockcars were introduced in the hope of increasing the numbers on the track, which seems to have worked with the numbers being a lot higher than they have been in many years.

For many who look at stockcars they appear the same as Superstocks however there are many restrictions to stockcars to try and make sure they stay as they were intended to be, this is reflected in the level of speed they can reach. The differences between Stockcars and Superstocks are many but an overview of some of them are that Stockcars are only two valve per cylinder where as Superstocks are multi valve. Stockcars must run a standard inlet and exhaust manifold, an unaltered SNZ restrictor plate and can only run a two-barrel carburettor. Ignition in a stockcar must be OEM (original equipment manufacture). It must run standard road car tyres as apposed to Superstocks running racing tyres. The suspension in a stock car must be "basic" it cannot be racing suspension. Stocks are also not allowed to use a racing quick-change diff it must be a standard car diff and standard car breaks again not proper race breaks. Stockcars tend to cost up to around $30,000, whereas in a Superstock you are looking at anything up to $100,000.