Lanarkshire Car Club and Scottish motorsport lost a stalwart supporter when John Shanks lost his long battle with cancer in June. He got involved in rallying in 1977, and with a variety of navigators, won dozens of navigational rallies in the days when this part of the sport was at its strongest. He was also a very competent navigator, and became as adept at navigating as driving. As an organiser, he ran many events for Lanarkshire Car Club, but also marshalled for just about every club the length and breadth of the land. Basically, as long as he was involved in an event, in any capacity, even as service crew or chef, he was happy.
As an organiser, he was meticulous in his attention to detail, and determined to make his events, and Lanarkshire Car Club's events, the best they could be. He was President of the club from 1987 - 1989
After an earlier spell in hospital, John treated himself to a new toy; a Lancia Delta Integrale which he really enjoyed driving, - briefly! Then, just when he thought that the tales of Italian mechanical frailty were exaggerated, there was a bang, and a long & expensive engine rebuild was required. As the rebuild dragged on, John's health deteriorated, and many people doubted that the Lancia would ever see the light of day again. But one quality which John was never short of, was gritty determination, and one of his final achievements was to get the Lancia back on the road.
His final event was the Jack Frost rally in January 2010 with John Bell as co-driver. By this time, he really shouldn't have been rallying, since he was by now, getting very weak, but it was the same fighting spirit with which he defied all the doctors' predictions of his prospects, that got him back behind the wheel for what would be his final fling.
For all his association with motorsport, we mustn't forget that he was above all, a family man, and we extend our sympathy & best wishes to Morag, Fiona & Jennifer, as well as John's Mum, now over 90, and still going strong in her own home. So as John books into the Final Time Control in the sky, we invite all his friends to remember the good times, and to share their memories of John here. Please send stories / memories / photographs to kenneth.mcrae@strath.ac.uk |
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Memories of John I have known John "Rabbit" Shanks for all of the time we have both been involved in motorsport. We met through Lanarkshire Car Club in early 1977 at a time when we had each competed in one event with someone else. We teamed up in a rally car after marshalling together at the start control of the Ardcastle Wood stage on the Blane Stages (where incidentally our wives met for the first time). Our first event together was the 1977 Cats Eye rally organised by Scottish Sporting Car Club. The route passed my house and also road near where JS lived and this local knowledge no doubt helped. We finished with a clean sheet. I have just been up in the loft to bring down the award from that night which is on my desk as I type this. We went on to compete in our first stage event together in a standard road going Opel Kadette and there were many more events (and awards) in the following years although not always together. In recent years, we had competed together again. Our final event together was the 2008 Inter Association road rally where we were part of the winning West of Scotland Association team. We thus share a competitive relationship of over 30 years. Aside from competing, John was involved in many aspects of the rally scene and even in recent years as he battled with his illness, he was a regular marshal all around Scotland and beyond. Usually this was at card collection controls where he could sit in the car and phone in times since by then he could not stand for long. He was also a regular in our service crew where his ability at the camping stove became legendary. I have many fond memories of John including the camping holiday to France in the late 70s with him and his wife in a borrowed estate car which left home with the mudguards rubbing on the ground because JS insisted in taking a crate of his favourite beer (he had never been to France and did not realise that there was plenty of choice available there). He has reminded me of several more stories during my recent visits to him. I am pleased that my final memory of him will forever be from the last time I saw him just two weeks ago. I was out putting run in miles on the newly fitted engine in Martin Murray's rally car. I thought that JS (and importantly Morag) might want a break so I asked if he fancied getting out for a while. He did not need long to think about it and whilst movement was at this stage difficult for him, he did manage to get himself into the passenger seat and strapped in for a 2 hour blast around his beloved back roads of North Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire. I know that he was in great pain but my lasting thought of John is the smile on his face when I dropped him off. Thoughts today are with his wife of more than 30 years, Morag, His daughters Fiona & Jennifer who I have known all their lives and his few weeks old grandson Jack. PETER WEALL |
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Memories of John. During John's spell in hospital in 2004, he vowed that when he got out, he would lay on an outing for the guys who visited him regularly in hospital, including myself, Big Stewart, Lawrence, & Spud. I thought it would likely be a curry night, or perhaps a concert or something like that. No, No. Never one to do things by halves, John arranged to take us to the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 2005. And so I managed to tick one of the boxes that as a motorsport fan, you must tick. IAN McRAE |
