Hednesford Hills Raceway (often referred to as Hednesford Raceway) is an oval, short-circuit motor racing venue, situated on Cannock Chase, approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) from the town of Hednesford, Staffordshire, England and is operated by Incarace Ltd.
The circuit was originally built inside a dis-used reservoir and operated by Claude Roe and Les Marshall in 1952 utilizing the site of a former reservoir, before opening for the first time in 1954. Due to failure in business, Roe and Marshall decided to abandon their plans for Hednesford Raceway and close down in 1955.
Following the closure of Tamworth Stadium in 1961, would-be promoter Bill Morris acquired the defunct Hednesford circuit and ran a handful of so-called ‘practice meetings’ in 1962. Bill Morris fully re-opened the circuit in April 1963 and from that point onwards the promotion of Stock Car and Hot Rod racing has been uninterrupted at the popular Staffordshire speed-bowl for over half a century.
The shale oval was eventually resurfaced with asphalt in 1982, enabling lap times to fall drastically and track records to tumble. It is even said that four times World Hot Rod champion Carl Boardley once got the quarter mile down to almost 12 seconds in unofficial practice, making Hednesford Europe’s fastest quarter-mile oval.
With the circuit built at the base of the reservoir, the circuit has the advantage of being at the bottom of a large “bowl”, with grass banks surrounding the circuit providing excellent views for spectators. For a small fee, spectators can even drive their cars onto the site and watch from their cars at viewing posts the top of the banks. The circuit is of a quarter mile length, with two banked corners, and a tarmac track surface.