BILLY NUTT
Billy Nutt's name is synonymous with the North West 200. He has been involved with the event for over thirty years many as the Clerk of the Course and during that time he has turned the event into arguably THE premier Road Race meeting of the year and also Northern Irelands largest sporting event.
We spoke to Bill Nutt MBE from his home in Northern Ireland about his involvement with the North West and lots more...
Billy, how did your interest in bike sport begin?
Well I worked for a company called Dupont, a chemical firm and I fell in with a few guys there who were interested in bikes but that was in Motocross. We weren't interested in Road Racing at all.
So how did the interest in Road Racing begin that took you to become involved with the North West 200?
I had actually been to the Ulster Grand Prix more times than I had the North West but when I got married, I moved to Coleraine, and joined the Coleraine club, but again it was off road sport that we were interested in. Then in 1971, the guys who were running the North West, after the weather had been bad, and they had had a bad time, a fella called Austin McChesney emigrated to South Africa and with him being the driving force, the rest of the guys felt that they wouldn't bother. But the Coleraine club with a number of young guys in it, even I was only twenty five or so, and we thought it would be bad to see the North West go so we decided to have a go at organizing it and keeping it going. However we hadn't a clue as to what was involved or anything, some people still say we haven't got a clue (laughs).
And when did you take over as Clerk of the Course for the North West?
In 1972, when we took over the running of the North West, I was the Race Secretary for a number of years and we had a few different Clerks of the Course, but I think it was in about '81 I took over as Clerk of the Course.
In 1979, Tom Herron, Brian Hamilton and Frank Kennedy were killed at the North West on one of the events worst ever days. That must have been a massive blow to everyone at the club?
We had a few bad years and certainly that was one of the worst years, and then Mervyn Robinson was killed and a number of other guys killed. But after '79, and I had known Tom well, I didn't know if I still wanted to be involved you know, but I felt if I dug in there and try to improve things and the safety....
Like Juniper chicane for instance?
Well lot's of things, the chicanes, lamp posts. With the help of the DOE who have been very helpful we have managed to put together a programme to improve the North West and hopefully we have achieved that. At that time we could have forgotten about it or made a big effort to improve it. Road Racing is dangerous and there will always be accidents but there was a period for thirteen years until unfortunately Donny Robinson got killed, where we had no fatalities which was good.
You have been instrumental in attracting many top short circuit riders to the North West 200 over the years. Why do you think you succeed at this where maybe the TT organizers fail?
Well I think first of all the course lends itself more to a Short Circuit rider, who will be able to come over and be reasonably successful and that helps. Also maybe our attitude towards competitors helps because we felt they were part of a team, because without the competitors and the organizers working together you don't have an event. We've built up a good relationship over the years with the competitors and hopefully we have treated them reasonably well and that in itself has helped us.
Since you have been involved with the North West, is there one meeting in particular that has stood out and if so why?
In the early days, 1975, when I managed to get the Woks Kawasaki, Barry Ditchburn and Mick Grant to come was certainly a turning point for me, because I had managed to get the top team her, but I think the real highlight for me was three years a go, when Owen McNally won the 250 Race. Owen lived on the course and was one of our club members and he was he was an outsider as well. So to see him win was brilliant. To be honest, I don't get too excited about who wins, my main concern is that everyone gets back safely.
I suppose you can't be seen to be bias?
No, but on that occasion I was certainly overjoyed to see him go and win it.
You decided to stand down as Clerk of the Course this year. What was the reason behind that decision?
It was quite simple. I'm fifty six and I've been doing it for thirty years, so to keep motivated takes a big effort. This year I was happy enough to begin with, but getting nearer the time I was struggling trying to motivate myself which is no use. It's not fair on me, it's not fair on anyone, and with the fact that everything is in place for the next couple of years gave whoever was going to take over, a chance to carry on and then develop their own style. I mean obviously, I did things my way and somebody else will do it their way.
The other thing that really worried me, and disappointed me to a certain extent, that I wasn't able to achieve was to try and get the council or government more involved because the Coleraine club is basically a club of volunteers. The only person who was anything like full time was myself but I have my own business so the club paid me a retainer to promote the North West 200 and get the sponsorship an things like that but they didn't pay me for running the races or the other one thousand and one jobs, they just paid me a retainer for that. So you could say that I was full time or whatever but the effort put into it by volunteers is unbelievable and I try to get the councils and these other people involved.
I mean we reckon that the North West 200 brings in five and six million ponds a year to Northern Ireland and I feel unfortunately, people seem to not want to listen or they think that they're getting it for nothing anyway. The council will say they put in forty or fifty thousand, which they do in a round about way and that's much appreciated but the amount of money that could be generated if it was done on a professional basis; the North West would have lots more money to use. To try and attract the real top teams, which I feel we're not quite achieving at the minute, we need the money to bring them here.
This year we had a real good year and everything went well. We used to have problems with campsite but that went well, the event itself went off very well, no accidents, no stoppages so I thought it would be a good chance to get out on the top and give somebody else the chance. But I would say the whole structure of the thing needs changing..... but time will tell.
Will you still have any involvement in the North West in the future?
I'll certainly be doing some things. I'll be running the campsite again next year and I'll be doing the programme and possibly the trading in the paddock area. I won't be having any input to the actual running, because I don't think it's fair on the boys that's involved. If they want any information or advice, all they have to do is ask and I'll give them my opinion and then it's up to them if they take that or not.
Do you think the North West 200 will continue to grow into the future?
I certainly hope so, because after spending thirty years trying to get it to the stage it is I wouldn't like to see it fall by the wayside so hopefully those that are taking over will have the commitment to make it happen. It is a big, big commitment.
Over the last couple of years you have become involved with the Ulster Grand Prix. The event has received criticism, particularly this year from various quarters regarding the quality of the entry. What would you say about that?
Well five years ago the Ulster Grand Prix was disappearing. I talked the Coleraine Club into taking it over even though there's not a big interest in it from the majority of the members but there are six or seven guys who are very supportive of it. People say the entry wasn't that good, but we did have David Jefferies there and the V&M Team and if you look around it's interesting to see how many top teams and riders there are available for Road Racing.
Unfortunately due to the fatalities, this year was a bad year with all our top competitors being involved; Gary Dynes, Owen McNally last year, young McLean, Eddie Sinton, Raymond Hannah, those were guys who had been about for a long time and their going to be missed. This years Ulster was slap bang in the middle of all that and to be honest, my heart wasn't in it and I just couldn't wait to get it over with. It was a miracle that the race actually went ahead at all.
The one good thing was that the public did come out and support us and bear in mind that the British Motocross Championship was being held up the road with our own Gordon Crockard there which had in the region of four thousand people there. A local councilor asked for a boycott of the meeting and that just didn't happen but I would be the first to admit, I just couldn't wait to see it over. But this next year I'll be going all out to improve it and bring it up to where it should be.
A lot of people would like to see sidecars back at the Ulster. Is there any chance of that happening?
Unfortunately no and it's not because I don't sidecars. When we took over the Ulster we brought sidecars back but we had three fatalities in three years and we could never really pinpoint why they happened. I mean one of those guy's, Marty Murphy, was one of our top guys and knew the Ulster like the back of his hand and something went wrong, then we had the accident at the start of the warm up lap, where a competitor was killed and a spectator was killed and again we couldn't find out why it happened. Like with Owen's death and some of the others we've been able to pin point the reason but for the sidecars you could never seem to find this out and to be honest I think public opinion would be against having them back again.
How much of an involvement do you have with the rest of the Irish Road Racing scene?
Well over the last couple of years, not a lot because my sun, Marty has been doing the British and European Championships so I've been involved a lot with him but this past year I was on the roads inspection committee and I'm back on that for the coming year. I don't know how many road races I'll get to because of my schedule, but I'll still keep an eye on what goes on because I'm very interested in it.
On the subject of Pure Road Racing, the whole scene is in turmoil at the moment after one of the worst years for accidents in years. What are you views on the future of Road Racing?
Well first of all, we need to try and get more money into the sport and we need to try and get more young competitors into the sport. I know people think promoters are making a fortune and the clubs, but if you see the balance sheets for an event, the money that comes in is spent again on them so we need to try and raise more money to attract more riders and we need to try to get decent prize money together so competitors can get some reward for their efforts.
I would also like to see more sponsorship. Here in the north of Ireland and the MCUI in general, we need to improve our short circuits because that's the life blood of the sport which gets the young competitors in and if you don't get them in there first, you have no hope of getting them to race on the roads. That's why I'm getting the Aprillia Challenge going over here next year which will hopefully be a way into the sport for these young guys.
And what about Joey Dunlop? How big an impact do you think his death will have on the sport?
It will certainly have an impact. It's hard to know..... the Ulster Grand Prix was well supported by riders and spectators and that was just after Joey's death. I mean Joey is the guy who wanted to Road Race and I think to ban it because of him is the worst possible thing. He wanted to Road Race. It seems peculiar for people to want to ban something he loved, which he gave his life for.
Joey Dunlop wanted to Road Race, full stop and nobody but nobody would have stopped Joey Dunlop from Road Racing. These people who might never of been to a Road Race talking about banning it are just jumping on the bandwagon. It's easy to shout about things, but not so easy to get up and do things.
What was your relationship with Joey like?
Joey and I had a good relationship, we got on very well. Joey never ever let me down. If ever I needed advice on modifying a course or anything and I would ask him to come down and have a look, no bother. He would have been down with a motorbike, he would try it and come back to me.
We also went off to some of these far off countries, Estonia was one of them, where there was only the two of us and I've known Joey for over thirty years but over this last five or six years I've been able to get to know him on a different level. He was an absolute amazing man. I always wondered how he could win these things with the reputation he had of being so laid back, but Joey was everything but laid back. Ok he gave that impression, but he had everything down to a fine art. He knew exactly what had to be done to make a motorbike go, he could size up a course with a run round in a van.
He was just an amazing man and it was a pleasure to have known him and been involved with him.
On our site there was a lot of talk regarding the TT and yourself. Would you have ever been interested in becoming involved with the TT?
I was interested in getting involved with the TT, to link it up with the North West and the Ulster as a series, but getting involved with the running of the TT is something that never crossed my mind because of the commitment to the North West and that being so close to the TT. I had enough problems of my own without worrying about the TT but I was disappointed that it never happened and I did talk to the Isle of Man people and to the Tourist Board and I talked to the ACU about it but for reasons only known to themselves they just didn't seem interested and that was disappointing because I felt that the three races could have kept Road Racing alive by getting the money into it that's so badly needed but it didn't happen so that's that.
On the subject of the TT, what do you think about the future of the event?
It's hard to know. I think the competitors in the end of the day will dictate very much what happens in the future. If you don't have the competitors, if you don't have the big names, star names, perhaps the public will be less interested. However, the TT is a kind of institute of it's own. People go there for the atmosphere, and to tear around the Mountain Circuit on their road bikes living their fantasies which I'm sure leaves some of the residents unhappy, but for me that's a fact of the TT. The atmosphere and the buzz about the place is good, but that could be because it's an island and people just go there and let their hair down and enjoy themselves which will continue, but I still think it will be down to the competitors to keep it going in the future.
Tell me about Nutt Promotions and Travel. What sort of services do you provide?
We specialize in boat fare crossings from the mainland to Ireland, from Ireland across to the mainland, from the mainland to the Isle of Man and then on to the continent and hopefully we're fairly competitive and it's going well. We also do packages for the North West and the Ulster which is going good for us. Then we have a motorcycle show coming up in St Georges Market in Belfast in February, and a summer series called the Champion of Champions which I have ran these last couple of seasons with Ulster Television.
That was an interesting one, running in the evening, we had the practice in the afternoon and then we have timed practice from about half four in the evening with the racing starting at about half six and that has gone down very well with some fantastic racing.....
Yeah, I've seen it on UTV recently.....
Yes that's right. Well then there is the Ulster Grand Prix and then this year I got involved in the Classic Motorcycle show in Antrim and then I have Marty to look after too (laughs).
Well it's been great talking with you Billy, and thanks for agreeing to do it. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Well do you want to ask me anything about promoters making money and that side of things, because I don't have any problems about talking about it.....
No, no. I don't think it really interests people as long as you keep bringing these fantastic meetings to us, I doubt whether anyone cares if you make a million pounds a day providing the bike racing is good.
Well unfortunately I don't (laughs). There are lots of people that can talk about these things but not so many that can actually do anything about it.
I know. Anyway thanks again...
Anytime.