First published in the February 2009 issue of Street Machine

In the decade covering the mid-60s to mid-70s, one sensational car and driver combination rode roughshod over Aussie Super Modified racing. Bill Wigzell, dubbed ‘Wizard’ by his legions of hometown Adelaide fans, found fame aboard the equally legendary ‘Suddenly’, a lurid purple 427ci monster with an appetite for burning rubber. Bill’s success earned the wildly popular driver an Order of Australia medal in 1979, for service to the sport of motor racing.

The Wizard’s early exploits began on two wheels as a road racer then solo speedway rider before graduating into the rough and tumble world of Speedcars, which had a fearsome record of inflicting injury and death on racers in that pre-rollcage era. Bill’s career took off when promoter Kym Bonython installed him into the Jack Brabham-built 1100cc V-twin Speedcar. Bill won four Speedcar feature races in 1960–61 until his season was brought to a premature close when his leg was injured, caught between the gearbox and universal joint.

In 1965, Bill accepted the driving duties in Alex Rowe’s potent supercharged Peugeot-powered Speedcar. It was here that he was noticed by car dealer and team owner Kevin Fischer, when he won the Harry Neale Memorial 50-lap Derby and the SA round of the National Speedcar Drivers Championship against high-calibre American imports in their Offenhausers.

The new partnership took off when the outfit debuted Suddenly, its heavyweight and powerful Super Modified with the famed L88 number. In a time of run-what-ya-brung home-made chassis, Suddenly was a revelation. Fischer’s dealership mechanic Ian Thiele tended to the overhead valve Dodge V8 that had originally been deployed in a hydroplane speedboat. Swapping to the whopping great 427ci fuel injected Chevrolet made all the difference and Bill reigned supreme.

Statistically, Wigzell’s crowning achievement was snatching the 1970 Australian Super Modified Championship at the now-defunct Morisset Speedway (NSW) after starting from 19th place. But hero status was conferred on him at 1973’s inaugural Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, at Warrnambool’s Premier Speedway, in Victoria. Serious right rear tyre abuse on the dry dolomite surface and a poorly directed exhaust set the rubber alight! The audience was agog as Bill torched the tyre until the tortured carcass finally failed. This scene was captured in fading black-and-white footage as proof of the amazing horsepower generated by the purple beast.

After record-breaking feats such as winning 18 of 21 feature races during the 1973–74 season, with nine wins in a row, Bill retired from racing in 1986.

In 2008, Bill was inducted into the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame. He was also a patron of the Murray Bridge Speedway. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 82.

In summing up his career, Bill said: “I drove [Suddenly] for not a single cent of prize money, because I loved the sport so much.”