LOCAL family bragging rights might be almost as important as the gleaming silver trophy when the best stock car drivers around descend upon Odsal Stadium for the BriSCA Formula One World Championship Final tomorrow evening.

The Wainmans, from Silsden, famed throughout the sport over three generations, are out in force with Phoebe, daughter of three-times champion Frankie Wainman Junior, bidding to step up the growing female challenge in a hitherto largely male dominated arena.

This will be the 25-year old legal secretary’s second crack at the biggest prize on offer to drivers of the thunderous, V8-engined vehicles, having made her final debut in 2019.

Alongside Phoebe (car 211) on the grid are dad Frankie Junior (515), younger brother Frankie Junior Junior (555), uncle Danny Wainman (212) and fiancé Karl Hawkins (175).

Yet amid the rivalry there is huge camaraderie as Phoebe, who began racing in scaled down ministox at the age of just 10, explained: “We all support each other massively and we all love it when any of us do well, although we do have a lot of banter in the garage.

“I was probably about a month old when I attended my first stock car meeting, although I can’t quite remember where it was.”

She laughed: “I was only one when Odsal closed (to motorsport) in 1997, so this year is the first time I have been old enough to appreciate the track and the amazing racing there.

“Although it was a family obsession, I never wanted to race until I saw how many girls competed in ministox (a 1000cc full contact formula for 11-16 year olds).

“I made friends with a few of them, asked my dad if I could have a go and never looked back.

“Dad was over the moon as he’d wanted me to race from the moment I turned 10, which is the age you could start back then.”

At 16, Phoebe moved up to V8 Hotstox and in five years became the first and still only female to win an adult formula.

She has since built a big reputation in the premier class - F1 - where the cars have over 600 horse power.

Phoebe said: “I think the cars look great, some of them are really smart but, at the end of the day, it is a full contact sport and we do get a lot of damage so they are built the way they are for a reason.

“I think the appeal is the sound, speed and contact. I don’t enjoy watching cars that just go round and round - I love that I have a bumper.”

At King’s Lynn in 2019, Phoebe became the first woman for 25 years to qualify for a World Final yet feels her finest hour came before that.

“My best memory is when I won the V8 British Championship and my dad won the F1 British title on the same night.” she recalls.

A ‘home’ 1,2,3,4,5 tomorrow would be ideal but there will be 31 other aspirants on the grid when the big race - the third out of eight on the programme - is flagged away, including defending champion Tom Harris and evergreen Lancastrian John Lund, now 67, who took the crown the last time Odsal hosted the final in 1997 and has won a record eight world titles to date.

The Harris family have their own mixed dynasty, with teenage daughter Catherine also flying the female flag at Odsal at the end of her first full season in Formula One.

Ten Dutch competitors add an international flavour too.

Liversedge drivers Mal Brown and Jack France can expect plenty of support from a crowd which, it’s hoped, will approach five figures.

“Covid has denied us a couple of thousand from the Netherlands,” points out promoter Steve Rees.

The first race is off at 5.30pm with tickets available today and on the night.