Racing Cars were one of those one-hit wonders who found fame with a song rather different from their usual style.

I’m sure those of my generation will remember this acoustic ballad, which was a surprise hit single in early 1977.

I’m equally sure most fans who went on to buy the Welsh band’s debut album, Downtown Tonight, would have been surprised to find how unrepresentative it is.

Instead of acoustic ballads, they would have found a band with the same sort of country-influenced sound as pub rockers like Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance, Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe.

This song was inspired not by motor racing but by a 1935 book and 1969 film of the same name about a ballroom dance marathon in Depression-era America.

Something of an antidote to the punk revolution brewing at the time of its release, it somehow caught on and became a big hit, peaking at No.14.

Racing Cars, led by vocalist and guitarist Gareth ‘Morty’ Mortimer, had formed in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, in 1975, and were signed to Chrysalis Records.

Despite failing to follow up the success of their solitary single, they were popular enough on the live circuit, especially at colleges and universities, to record two albums before breaking up.

Mortimer worked as a session singer before re-forming Racing Cars in the late Eighties, touring Europe for several years. He died in 2015.