Roger Clark

Roger Albert Clark (Narborough, Leicestershire, 5 August 1939 – Leicester, 12 January 1998) was a British rally driver, particularly associated with Ford during the 1960s and 1970s. After initially making a name for himself with Mini and other British cars, he joined Ford’s works rally programme and spent most of his career driving Cortinas and, later, Escorts. Clark was a four-time British Rally Champion, winning the title in 1965, 1972, 1973 and 1975.

One of his greatest successes came in the 1972 RAC Rally, which he won in a Ford Escort RS1600 with Tony Mason as co-driver, ending a run of thirteen consecutive editions dominated by Scandinavian drivers. In 1976 he won the RAC Rally again, this time with Stuart Pegg in a Ford Escort RS1800. As the event was by then part of the World Rally Championship, that victory made Clark the first British driver to win a WRC event. He continued to compete more sporadically in later years and was appointed MBE in 1979.