FRED Mitchell bore plenty of scars from his career as one of the country’s top stock car racers.

He broke an arm, ribs, leg and foot, slashed his eyes and smashed countless cars – his own and others.

Stock car racing was big business in Oxford, particularly in the 1950s.

Crowds of up to 6,000 would pack Oxford Stadium at Cowley to watch fearless drivers try to force their rivals out of the race.

Crashes were frequent as the cars – looking like wrecks but with powerful engines – jockeyed to take first place at the finish.

Fred caught the stock car racing bug when he saw one of the first meetings in this country at Coventry.

He raced for the first time at Great Yarmouth, finishing fourth, won his next race at Bristol a few days later, and never looked back.

He was runner-up in the world championship three times before winning the title in 1962, before a crowd of 16,000 at Belle Vue, Manchester. He was also world champion in 1966.

Throughout his career, he was ranked among the top 10 drivers of about 600 racing in Britain. He began with a V8 Ford, then moved on to a Ford Thunderbird, and later gained success in an old Ford Popular with a five-litre Oldsmobile engine.

His cars had perfectly tuned engines, perfectly synchronised gearboxes and strong axles.

But they always looked rough, with a girder-like protection bar around the sides and front, a roll bar above the driver’s head, and no glass in the windows.

Oxford Stadium was normally the venue for speedway and greyhound racing.

But when stock car racing took place, it had an unfamiliar look, with iron posts in a bed of concrete and stacks of tyres placed around the perimeter to cushion the blow when cars hit them at speeds of up to 45mph.

Oxford Mail reporter Peter Sturges, who attended one meeting in 1958, wrote: “It was an evening of non-stop activity – in between races, breakdown vans were busy clearing the track of damaged cars, and in this sport, there are always many.”

Fred, who later ran a scrapyard at Berinsfield, had his last wish granted at his funeral in 1998 when his stock car followed on a trailer behind the hearse.

More than 200 people from all over the country paid their last respects at Oxford Crematorium.