Whatever happened to Saturday night????

When I was a child growing up in the 1970’s, Speedway was my every Saturday night fare. With my father racing sedans, if we weren’t at Jerilderie Park (later renamed Newcastle Motordrome) on a Saturday night during the warmer months, we were travelling to races at Lismore, Toowoomba, Goulburn and the like. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night and we weren’t the only family out there every week, battling with the moths, mozzies, methanol fumes and dust. Speedway was the sport of the common man, and everyone knows the common man loves cars and car racing.  For a family night out it was great value. Dads, Mums, kids, a blanket and an esky. Everyone could cheer their favourite driver or car. The kids could run around and play with other kids they’d just met. Dads could drink the contents of the esky and at the end of the night Mums could drive them all home (after spending a good half an hour or so snaking out of the venue in gridlock traffic past the Ponderosa and back over Hexham Bridge to freedom).

Sadly move forward to 2011 and Speedway in NSW, and the Hunter region particularly is as good as dead. Two classic examples of this are as follows; A few weeks ago only 13 Late Model sedans turned out at Sydney Speedway and on the following weekend only 18 cars competed in the NSW Super Sedan Titles, also at Sydney Speedway. Even more disturbing is only half of those competitors were from NSW.  I can recall a time when the NSW titles were only open to drivers from NSW and 40 or more cars at least would enter.

So what happened to Speedway??  Of course there are a number of reasons why the sport is no longer as popular as in its heydays of the 70’s. I have a theory that a lot of the problems in the sport, particularly sedan racing, can be traced back to one point in time. Here’s my opinion.

Minis, Toranas and other old Holdens bought the crowds to their feet in the 70's

In the 1980 Speedway season USA drivers Charlie Swartz, Rodney Combs, Don Tilford and Jimmy Hopkinson toured Australia in their Howe Camaros. While the Americans had been coming out for several years with Gene Welch’s touring teams, those teams had always brought out standard cars modified into race cars. The Howe Camaros on the other hand, were purpose built race car chassis, and after this tour these Camaros started to flood into Australia to the point of saturation. While I believe purpose built race chassis like Gambler were good for the Sprintcar division, I feel they did immeasurable damage to the sedan divisions. Production line race cars that anyone with the money to spend could buy, pop in an engine and go racing sounded great. But slowly these cars took over, and the days of guys barring-out an old Torana, Falcon or Mini were disappearing. The local identity was slowly dying out as these beastly big American cars took over from the cars the people on the hill actually drove. Blokes like Stu Robertson drove a Supercharged Datsun. So every person on the hill who had a Datsun would cheer for Stuey. Those who drove Holdens booed him for driving ‘Jap crap’. Did he have as big a fan base when he started racing a Corvette? The Holden drivers cheered the Torana’s, the Mini’s were cheered by everyone who loves an underdog and the Yanks in their big Chevys or Oldsmobiles were booed, as were any Aussie who drove a Yank car!

Charlie Swartz in the USA 1 Howe Camaro. He and Rodney Combs were hard to beat  all over Australia.

Don’t get me wrong, the American cars looked great for a while but they slowly evolved into the ‘Late Models’,  huge wedged shaped powerhouses that were so big it was difficult to pass anyone in front of you. Suddenly all identity was gone. Even the Hot Rod division went from being an eclectic mix of all sorts of chopped up old cars, to what effectively looked like garden sheds with wheels. Overall they were ugly and bland and totally lacking soul. Sure there were exceptions, like Gene Cook’s magnificent Bullet Racer, and Barry Graham and Paul O’Neill and the like had outstanding looking cars, particularly on the asphalt at Liverpool. But on the dirt and clay it was fairly mundane single file racing. They were built for ½ mile tracks in the USA, not ¼ mile tracks in Australia. With production line chassis and parts, you then need a powerful engine to be competitive, and Chev engines and the like are not made in Australia. So costs involved to race competitively began to skyrocket, and it wasn’t the only cost going up, with prices at the gate also creeping up. Suddenly it was a costly night to take the family to the Speedway, particularly when the cars out on the track no longer represented the common man, interest started to wane. Gradually you ended up with just the true racing diehards, plus competitor’s family and friends.

Tasmanian Gene Cook's Bullet was a great looking machine, but what exactly was it?

Then when the Motordrome closed down it had a dramatic effect, particularly with the remaining fans. There is really little incentive to pack up the family and make the long haul down to Sydney, especially with kids, for a few hours watching the same handful of cars driving around. It makes for a long and costly night with the added danger of driving home, tired along that lonely Freeway making it hardly worth the effort. 

So how does Speedway fix this mess?? Personally I can't see a fix. While there are a lot of people out there who want to see a Speedway in the local region again, the logistics involved with finding the right location and setting up a track, taking out costly insurance policies plus hiring staff, marketing and sponsorship, I find it hard to see Speedway racing for 4 wheel divisions ever becoming reality in Newcastle again. There are still tracks out there in other parts of NSW holding meetings, but with a lack of competitors these day clubs need to look at running divisions affordable and entertaining. If you look into the past you can see the future. Go back to the 70’s, when you had divisions affordable to everyone. Go back to running Commodores and Falcons and the like, cars driven on the road. Make meetings affordable and maybe the people will come back. Maybe it’s all too late. But the way things are now I can’t see how you can attract new blood to the sport when it costs tens of thousands to get to the track to race for prizemoney they raced for 30 years ago. 

Maybe it’s not going to be this simple, and I could be totally off track with this, but if you take the sport back to the common man just maybe the common man will come back to the sport….

There is an 'I' in Team.....

As I write this today, I do so with a heavy heart. Why, you may ask?? Well I'm a sports fan and I follow sporting teams, and anyone who follows and supports a sporting team knows the giddy highs and terrifying lows associated with being a fan. So after spending all week hyping myself up for the Newcastle Jets clash with Brisbane Roar, watching them lead then ultimately lose, then going home and staying up all night to watch my English team Derby County also lose at home, I'm feeling bluer than BB King.

What I find hard to understand is why am I such a rabid, hard core fan, devoted to the cause of my chosen team with heart, soul, mind and wallet, yet others have virtually no interest in following a team or sport in general?? What exactly was it that triggered this disposition I have had all my life.

When I cast my mind back as far as I can, I have always supported football teams. Those who know me well know of my undying love for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters(yes they will always be Easts to me) going back to early school years. I have tried to pinpoint the reason why and have come up with 3 possible reasons; At an age I was discovering Rugby League, Easts were the current premiers. The first player I can remember is Russell Fairfax, who I was mesmerised by, and my fathers race car was the same colours as Easts, Red, White and Blue. A possible 4th reason was I loved the Uncle Sam deodorant ads on TV, and they were awash with Red, White and Blue. My parents had no interest in Rugby League but they did compete in individual sports.

The earliest game I remember caring about was the 1976 Preliminary Final between Easts and Canterbury, which the then 'Berries' won, ending Easts season. At the time it was about a month before my 7th birthday. I remember being really upset and crying when they lost. So if my earliest memory is of defeat, and the pain that goes with it, why then have I spent the last 35 years, the majority of which have been more pain than joy, devoting my time and energy to such a ridiculous pursuit??

Though when I think of that roller coaster of emotions being a fan has presented me throughout my life, I can't help but wonder about those people who don't support a team. What moves these people? What lights the fire in their hearts? Do they live with the constant swings in emotion like sports fans? What replaces that nervous anticipation that sports fans feel as the weekend approaches? What do you look forward to on the weekend if there is no sport? Having a picnic in the park? Reading books about war? Shopping? I don't know.

I feel genuine sadness and pity for these people, do they feel sadness and pity towards me??

Personally I couldn't imagine a life without being a fan, even though as I think back it's the losses,hurt and sadness I seem to remember the most. Then again, without sadness we wouldn't really appreciate what happiness is. The feelings of happiness during the good times totally outweigh the feelings of sadness through the bad times. Supporting a team can also fill you with anger and resentment. When things are going bad for the team it's my right to criticise them to the hilt, but I'll defend them even more vigorously if you criticise them. And after a lifetime of wearing my heart on my sleeve I get quite upset when I see others with less or no passion basking in undeserved glory. For example, I recall watching the 1997 Grand Final between Newcastle and Manly at a mates house. The group of people I was with were not fans, and their only interest was that a team from Newcastle was playing. As Darren Albert crossed in the dying stages to secure the win for the Knights, I along with everybody else leapt in the air to cheer. It was then as I sat back down and watched my friends continue to celebrate I became really upset. None of these people were fans, they didn't follow the team yet here they were celebrating while the only fan in the place sat there disconsolate, as I was the only one who deserved that celebration. Did they care the next day? I doubt it very much. It took 5 more years before I finally got to experience that joy when Easts won in 2002.(Greatest night of my life, I didn't come home for 2 days!!)

So if punishing myself every Winter wasn't enough, with the introduction of the A League in 2005/6 my support of local Football teams went from casual to extreme and I now live these emotions 52 weeks a year. I had always been a passionate Derby County fan in the English leagues, even though they have supplied me with more angst than joy, and as far as the Jets go, well I have travelled to China and Korea to support them and last year I was at every home game despite living on the Sunshine Coast at the time. The only home games I have missed in the clubs existence is one game when Steely Dan were playing at the vineyards, and one game whilst I was on holidays in America. Even though looking at the Jets record they have lost more games than they have won, they did win a Premiership, and that is what makes being a fan worthwhile, and worth continuing with.

I know people think I'm absolutely nuts following an average Football team around the country, but I wouldn't have it any other way.....For I am part of the team.

Newcastle Motordrome 35th Anniversary November 2011

The 13^th November 2011 will mark the 35^th anniversary of the first meeting to be held under the Newcastle Motordrome promotion and name, after running in its earlier years as Jerilderie Park Speedway. Let’s take a look back at some of those early meetings  from the 1976/77 season.

November of 1976 saw big changes to the Tomago circuit known as Jerilderie Park Speedway. Previously promoted by local motorcycle identity Alan Craig, the promotion was taken over by Peter Gurbriel, who had been the highly successful operator of Tralee Raceway, Canberra. Peter and his wife Hettie made many changes straight away, including the construction of the landmark control Tower at the back of the Grandstand in the main straight. From here officials had a bird’s eye view of the racing action, and lap timer Ron Hawkins was able to control the new state of the art Electronic Timer which had been installed in the back straight. These new editions, plus with upgraded facilities for patrons made the Newcastle International Motordrome one of the most modern, and best speedways in the world.

The first night for the new promotion was November 13, 1976. In the sedan division Paul McKew, who had recently been racing under Heddon Greta club banner, was dominant early with victories in both the Stars Dash and the Semi Main, but it was Uralla visitor Adrian Anderson, then current NSW Champion in a Crystler Centura who took out the feature from under the nose of McKew in his Davids Mini Clubman, who held on for second. Other meetings to follow included an appearance by Gene Welch in a ’77 Camaro as a precursor to the upcoming test series between the locals and the visiting Americans.  Welch claimed the 1 lap track record during the night. Also a teams matchrace between Newcastle and Sydney was held with Sydney coming out on top. Visiting Sydneysider John Nagle won the feature.

The first major meeting conducted that season was the 1976 Coca Cola Classic 50 lap feature for the Production Sedans, held on the 18^th December. The race was also taken out by Adrian Anderson, who always proved difficult to beat at the Tomago track, beating home local drivers Stu Robertson in the Datsun and John Hartcher in a Mini Clubman in third. Adrian Anderson went on to be one of the most successful drivers ever seen at the Motordrome, along with Queenslander Alan Butcher they became two of the winningest visiting drivers to ever race there, and went on to fight out a controversial Australian Title there in 1981.

The next major meeting to be held at the Motordrome that first season was Round 1 of the Fireball Derby for Production Sedans, with Round 2 to be held the following week and the winner determined from a pointscore. In that first round held on January 8, 1977, Brian Burrell in the iconic silver Mini Clubman was first across the line in the 25 lap feature. This meeting marked the first time Burrell had raced the silver bullet, after purchasing it that day from local Hillclimb legend John Brooks. In fact Brian raced the car that night with the number 82. The only time in his illustrious career in both Sedans and TQ’s that he raced with any number other than 18 or 1.

Round 2 the following Saturday saw then up and coming B grade driver Don McKewen in an A9X Torana tying on points in the series with Brian Burrell and therefore sharing the series.  Lindsay Smith was the winner of the feature. On the night McKewen was awarded the trophy at the presentation, but to the drivers and spectators surprise, officials produced a second trophy held in anticipation of a tied series. McKewen quickly rose to A grade status and the following season was representing Newcastle against the visiting Americans before going on to establish a very successful career in speedway. 

1977 Fireball Derby co winners Brian Burrell(left) Bob Christie and Don McKewen(right)

Speaking of visiting Americans, the next meeting up at the Motordrome on the 21^st January 1977 was the first test between the no hanky panky Yankees, always one of the most popular meetings of the year. That first test saw the Americans, represented by Gene Welch, Big Ed Wilbur, Mike Andretta and Johnny Pearson take on the Motordrome team, led by Queensland champion driver Alan Butcher in his big yellow Camaro, and local heroes Brian Burrell and Paul McKew in their Mini Clubmans and Ralph Ranger in the Monaro. The Yankee team proved to be too good for the Aussies, prevailing 42 to 36. The A grade feature for the sedans was taken out by Alan Butcher with Paul McKew second and Brian Burrell third. The Minis proving more than a match for the much bigger American cars, every speedway around the nation at the time had at least 1 or 2 champion Mini drivers. The yanks hated them, they couldn’t understand how these tiny little cars could even get near them, let alone beat them. It even got to the point of extreme frustration for Johnny Pearson that he ran over and punched Brian Burrell in the helmet after taking offense at being beaten again!

USA Superstar Mike Anretta broke many records at the Motordrome

The big meetings kept coming for the sedans with the 50 lap Wynns Enduro rounding out January. The big race and the $1000 winners cheque was taken by Stu Robertson in the ever reliable and competitive Datsun number 20. Young gun John Pyne was second in an XU1 Torana and Ralph Ranger in the big Monaro #69 was third with Don McKewen in the A9X fourth. The real story of the race was the incredible efforts by Brian Burrell in the silver Mini. After starting 20^th on the grid he quickly moved through the field to hit the front. Then with 2.5 laps to go he suffered a rear puncture. Continuing to circle the field he eventually held on for 5^th with only 3 tyres remaining. The following season the Wynns Enduro was lifted to 100 laps and Burrell went on to win on a very wet night. He finished 2^nd to Adrian Anderson the next year as well, making it a very good race for the Mini driver.

During February of 1977 the action continued to heat up! After a couple of weeks of the solos and other divisions featuring while the sedans were racing in Goulburn, they were back in full swing on the 18^th Feb with the 2^nd test between the Motrdrome and the Gene Welch led USA side. Both teams were unchanged from the 1^st test, the only difference this time being that the locals were able to get on top this time, winning 45 to 34. Again, the feature race was taken out by Alan Butcher, something he made a habit of doing for several years whenever visiting our circuit.

March 1977 was another busy month at the Motordrome with the 50 lap Champion of Champions meeting for the Sedans being held on the 12^th. This race attracted a host of drivers from around the East coast with the feature being taken out by Brian Norman of Canberra in a Monza. Brian Burrell in the Mini was second and crowd favourite Alan Butcher was 3^rd. The following week saw the final test between the visiting Americans and the locals. The same teams lined up as in the previous 2 tests, but with the Americans at the end of their arduous Australian tour, wear and tear told and the Australians dominated the ailing American cars, winning 51 to 28. As with the previous 2 test meetings, Alan Butcher took out the feature easily.

Two big meetings featured in April 1977, starting with the 50 lap Lion Grand Classic, a lead up to the big 100 lap Easter meeting to be held the following week. In the Lions feature race nobody was surprised to see Alan Butcher’s big yellow beast great the chequered flag first, with Lismore’s Grenville Anderson second in his XU1 Torana and local Brian Burrell third. Regular visitor John Cartwright from Wollongong was 4^th and Heddon Greta legend Charlie McGarva 5^th in the Cortina.

1977 Lions Club Winner Alan Butcher(centre) with Brian Burrell and Grenville Anderson

Then on April 9 came the flagship meeting of the year. The 100 lap Easter Grand Prix, with a pitstop scheduled at the 50 lap mark. Attracting the top drivers from throughout the land, it offered $10,000 in prizemoney, then Australia’s richest dirt track race. At the end of the 100 laps Brisbane’s Alan Butcher was the winner, capping off a stellar season for the likeable Northerner. Paul McKew finished second in the Mini with Wollongong’s Terry Osmond in a Torana third.

A few more meetings were held until the end of the season in May. Then the 1977 NBN Winternationals began, day time racing on a Sunday that proved to be not overly successful and was abandoned soon after.

It's just not cricket(any more).

There was a time when I was young that I wouldn't miss a ball of the Summer of Cricket. Once Rugby League was over for the year, all thought turned to cricket. Every year I would mange to pull a sickie on the day of the first one day international of the season and miraculously return to good health in time for the first ball. I'd spend hours in front of the box transfixed with all the action, even if there wasn't any! My friends and I would play matches in the back yard during the lunch break, and play Freddie Truman's test match on the dining room table during the game. We would keep records of our games we took it so seriously.

We, Australians that is, loved the Windies. Despite the thrashing they would serve us 8 out of 10 games, we loved them because they were carefree, exotic and very, very cool. Growing up in the World Series Cricket era we were fortunate to see them almost every year. Kerry Packer knew who rated and it was the West Indies. They were arrogant, humble, had players with unique names and were the best cricketers in the world.

But in recent times something has changed. Cricket just doesn't seem relevant anymore. I sit and watch the current test against South Africa and I just can't find the enthusiasm I once had. A lot of it has to do with the generation gap.Back in the 70's and 80's the players were men, and I was a boy. Now in my mind the situation has reversed and I don't see the players as men anymore. Is that just me or does that come with aging?? Looking back at the players of the World Series Cricket era, they were real blokes, knockabout blokes with big moustaches like Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Ian Chappell. They drank and smoked, sweated and swore. They got into confrontations on the pitch with Viv Richards, Joel Garner and Andy Roberts, and on reflection, has there ever been a more manly man than Viv Richards??

For me the end of my love for the game started unraveling during the Steve Waugh era. After watching Australia for the most part, get spanked for the majority of the 80's the domination we all desired turned out to be rather dull after a while. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, watching Australia decimate every opponent, totally humiliating them time and again. Although I don't blame Steve Waugh's unrelenting captaincy for my waning interest in the gentleman's game. The fun was beginning to disappear from the game well before Australia's dominance commenced. A power shift in the game saw the Sub-Continent countries starting to wrestle control from England and Australia. The Windies were on the decline for varying domestic reasons, and the popularity of the game was increasing in India, where it had always been the major sport, and Sri Lanka, due mainly to the Sri Lankans cavalier win in the 1996 World Cup.

The days of players speaking their minds was coming to an end. Australia became so good at sledging that suddenly they were perceived as bullies and were being censured for it. 'What happens on the field stays on the field' was now a thing of the past, and allegations of racism were becoming more prevalent. On the home front a day at the cricket had suddenly lost its charm. Expensive tickets and tight fisted security ruined everything. When spending a day sitting in the sun  watching a game that can, lets face it, be boring at times you need to find ways to keep entertained, and everything that was fun was cracked down upon.

Then the powerbrokers of the game started changing the rules to allow bowlers from certain countries to stay in the game when they clearly were not bowling. At this point in my opinion the game had lost all credibility. Add to this the filthy stench of match fixing, which is still going on today more than 10 years after Hansie Cronje and Mohammed Azzuradin were thrown out of the game and you have more than enough reasons to walk away and find another way to spend the Summer. Now whenever there is an upset result the allegation of match fixing invariably comes up straight away, and there is a very good chance it has been fixed.

So these days it is just another sport to me, no longer holding the importance it once had. The players are no longer heroes, they are professional paid athletes, and well paid at that. We never knew how much Lillee, Chappell and co were paid. Now we read the paper and see the players talking about 'Intellectual Property' and being paid appearance fees on top of their fat Cricket Australia contracts and I just can't relate to them anymore. Now they are forgoing playing test cricket to pick up hundreds of thousands of dollars to play 20 over cricket in India. Good luck to them if they can earn huge coin, it just no longer entertains me.

So to highlight where I believe cricket is in Australia these days compared to where it was. The captain of the Australian Cricket team, a position once revered as second only to the Prime Minister in importance, is discussed more in Womens Magazines and gossip columns than he is in the Sports pages. Could you imagine that happening with Ian or Greg Chappell???

I Need Uncle Sam...

I love America….I’m not ashamed to say it…For as long as I can remember I have been consumed with all things American, and as a child of 70’s TV there is really no surprise.

As much as I respected and enjoyed the comedy stylings of your Benny Hill’s, your Dick Emery’s and even your Morcombe & Wise’s, who could really resist everything cool that was coming from across the Pacific.

How could you not have loved the Fonz and the Happy Days gang, even if they were a little like The Archies! Happy Days and its subsequent spin-offs, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy kept us amused and entertained right through the late 70’s. The night Fonzie jumped the barrels in the carpark at Arnold's on the Fearless Fonzarelli episode in 1976 will live in my memory forever…. Then there were the crazy medicos from MASH… Who among us wasn't transfixed by the lives of Hawkeye, Hot Lips and Frank Burns?? TV commercials screamed out to me, ‘You need Uncle Sam, you need Uncle Sam, let’s get together with the stars and striped can….’ I had Uncle Sam toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, I was devastated I couldn’t use the aftershave!!

I was learning what’s not cool from The Brady Bunch, and yes Marcia was the ultimate 70’s babe. But then I discovered the buxom Loni  Anderson behind the desk at WKRP In Cincinnati, she was in a different league, she was Burt Reynolds missus and he was the Bandit!! Outwitting those damn Smokies in the coolest car in the world.  All my friends and I were at Frontline hobbies buying scale models of the Bandits Trans Am.

Evel Knievel was at his peak and on my TV all the time, I had all the toys and loved the big old Red, White and Blue #1 on his bike and leathers. KISS WAS music, nothing else mattered in 1977, and they were everything that epitomised America. KISS meets the Phantom is still the best worst movie of all time!! Sure Kenny Everett was silly and amusing while flying the flag for British comedy at a time when the alternative was  the likes of The Two Ronnies, and The Good Life, barely funny be comparison. Hoges gave us a dose of how good it was in Australia, and we had the odd cool show like Solo One, but we also had The Sullivan!

The Yanks gave us  the Village People, who while showing us You Can't Stop The Music, were also teaching us tolerance despite us being too young to know, much like the dude in Dr Hook’s creepy song. Gabe Kotter was shooting sharp one liners back at the Sweathogs, putting them in their place while at the same time  battling the grumpy Mr Woodman. Barney Miller was keeping his cool trying to control his crazy 12^th Precinct cops. McGarrett was calling out, ‘Book him Dano, murder 1’, Sam was keeping Endora and Darren apart, Jeanie was getting Major Nelson in no end of trouble, and looking really sexy at the same time! Steve Austen and Jamie Summers were amazing us with their Bionic powers, Charlies Angels were just amazingly cool, BJ & the Bear were rolling on to Dallas, where JR was wreaking havoc and teaching us greed can be dangerous but lots of fun. And every Saturday morning World Championship Wrestling kept us transfixed.

So where would we truly be without the US of A?? I know people bemoan the loss of our culture, and a lot of what comes out of America now is hardly inspiring, but the 70’s were a different time, and the balance old England with the brave and exciting new world of America shaped my generation. Movies, music, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, the Colonel and so much more,  So on one hand I say ‘Australia, don’t become America’, but at the same time thank you Uncle Sam for shaping my childhood with your wonderful TV….