The son of a motor dealer also named Roger Clark, after an education at Hinckley Grammar School where he gained 5 O Levels, he joined his father's business as an apprentice. His younger brother, Stan Clark, also later became a rally driver. Roger learned about cars as a mechanic and then helped the business take on new sales franchises. By 1975, there were four Roger Clark Cars Ltd. garages in the Leicester area, retailing under franchise agreements Alfa Romeo, Ford, Jensen, Lotus, Renault, and Porsche.
Clark passed his driving test in 1956 and immediately joined the Leicester Car Club, where he met Jim Porter, who was his co-driver for 20 years. Initially borrowing a Ford Model Y from his father's garage, he made his rallying debut at club level in 1956 in a pre-WWII Ford Prefect. The car used the number plate 2 ANR, which Clark retained throughout his career and often used for later private entries. After competing in a 1950s Ford 100E van, Clark and Porter began achieving placings in 1960 after switching to a BMC Mini Cooper. In this car, they won the East Midlands Rally Championship (1961 and 1962), came fourth overall and secured a class win in the International Circuit of Ireland (1963), finished third in the Motoring News Championship (1963), and took third in his first Scottish Rally (1963).
This success led to a series of works drives. In 1963, he drove a Triumph TR4 for Spa-Sofia-Liege and a Reliant Sabre in the Alpine Rally. In 1964, while experimenting privately with a Ford Cortina GT, Clark agreed to a two-year works deal with the Rover Company. In 1965, driving a Rover 2000, he and Porter won their Monte Carlo Rally category. During this period, he also achieved the first two of his six Scottish Rally wins in 1964 in his private Ford Cortina. With combined results, he won the first of his four British Rally Championships in 1965. Roger drove for BL during the 1980 season, competing in the TR7 V8 with limited success.
In 1966, Clark and Porter signed a works Ford of Britain deal, with the partnership lasting 15 years. Ford of Britain led the Ford of Europe rallying team, sponsored by Esso Uniflo. Clark was initially part of a three-driver team using the Ford Cortina GT, alongside Vic Elford and Bengt Soderstrom. Under their contract, Ford supplied Clark and Porter with improved chassis, body, and full works blue-printed engines, which Clark then had built into rally cars in his own workshops. In 1968, Clark switched to the Ford Escort RS, the car he is most associated with, rallying it in works form until 1979 and then privately until his retirement in the 1980s. Clark and Porter won British Rally Championship titles again in 1972, 1973, and 1975.
His most notable successes came in the RAC Rally, the UK's largest rally race. As Porter was contracted to work for the rally organisers, Clark hired co-drivers for each of his wins. Clark won the RAC Rally twice: in 1972 with Tony Mason, and again in 1976 with Stuart Pegg, when the cars were sponsored by Cossack Hairspray and coloured red. The 1976 victory was part of the WRC, a feat that would not be emulated for over fifteen years.
Clark and Porter also won the Acropolis Rally in 1968, the Circuit of Ireland in 1970, and the Scottish Rally on six occasions, contributing to a total of 40 national and international victories. In 1973, Clark led the East African Safari Rally by over an hour before being forced to retire at the halfway stage with a disintegrating car.
As part of his later extended works deal with Ford, Clark was contracted and paid as a development driver, tasked with rallying unusual models. These development excursions included rallying a Ford Zodiac in Eastern Europe, a Ford Capri in the Tour of Britain, and a Ford Escort attached to a Sprite Alpine to compete in the RAC and Caravan Club organised Caravan Rally of Great Britain, centred around Silverstone Circuit. Between 1969 and 1971, Clark also raced the Ford works team's Capri in Rallycross events across the UK. The 4WD V6-powered cars were initially successful against their 2WD opponents, but reliability issues and problems with drivability led Ford to drop the Capri programme.
Clark remained very loyal to Ford but occasionally competed in other makes. He was due to undertake the 1974 BOAC 500 in a Porsche 911 Carrera, but the assigned car did not start the event. However, many spectators saw a Porsche UK demonstrator Carrera compete, carrying the number plate 2 ANR. In 1975, Clark and Porter were recipients of the Segrave Trophy, bestowed upon "the Briton who accomplishes the most outstanding demonstration of the possibilities of transport by land, sea, air, or water." He was awarded the MBE in 1979.
Clark never truly retired from rallying, instead dropping back to club events as his commercial sponsorship and supply of competitive cars diminished, partly due to the emergence of the 4x4 Audi Quattro era. He remained influential in rallying and motorsport through committee membership of the British Racing Drivers Club, helping to develop a new Rallysprint circuit at Silverstone in 1997.
Clark focused most of his efforts on building the family business with his brother Stan in Leicestershire, having also opened "Roger Clark Cars" in Narborough in the 1970s. With all businesses closed in the early 1990s due to a hard economic downturn, and despite poor health in the mid-1990s, he set up "Roger Clark Motor Sport." This company, now run by his son Matt, still prepares cars for others to use in rallying. His other son, Olly Clark, has competed in the Time Attack UK series (winning the championship in 2008), the Network Q Rally of Great Britain, and the FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars.
His autobiography, co-authored by Graham Robson and entitled Sideways . . . to Victory, reflected his skill on any surface to make the Ford Escort "dance" sideways through corners, comparable to his world-class Scandinavian equals Hannu Mikkola and Björn Waldegård. Clark died from the effects of a stroke on 12 January 1998. A bronze statue of Clark was later erected in his memory at Mallory Park.
In 2004, a historic rally event was established to recreate the route of the "classic" five-day RAC Rally across the country. This was in contrast to the current rally format by the FIA WRC, which is scheduled under a shorter rally franchise layout and is undertaken mainly in Wales. The event was named the Roger Albert Clark Rally (also called the RAC Rally) in his honour. Competitors are limited to vehicles released prior to 1982 and trace a route through classic stages in Scotland and northern England, such as Kielder Forest and Grizedale Forest, which are no longer part of the modern WRC rallies' itinerary. The rally was held annually until 2014 and on odd years since 2017.
Clark married Judith Barr in 1965, and the couple had two sons.
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