Off Season Reading

There are quite a few good books available these days about Speedway. Here are a few worth checking out. I haven't reviewed them all yet but if you click the word review under the book it might take you to a linked review.


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Picture Loading Test

Bear with me while I experiment with the picture sizes to get the best size on here without having too much download time. I've been using photos at 200dpi which for me has been a bit slow on the PC at home but fine on the Mac at work. Most people are on PC's so hopefully trying some at 72dpi will quicken things up for everyone. If you have any feedback, let me know.

The pics by the way are of Mike Dodd's 345wr tank from Whangarei.

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Grassroots Speedway

Saturday 5th
Whangarei

I had been meaning to go up to the Northland Speedway at Whangarei for ages and this past weekend we were staying with friends who live up there and it coincided with a meeting being run which was their final club day meet of the season.

The track is down by the old port and pretty easy to find. I went in to the pits and started taking a few photos and was surprised to see quite a few Auckland TQ’s here to race against the locals but as I wandered a bit further I was even more surprised to see a genuine tank sitting amoung the eight stockcars in attendance. I went over to speak to the driver who was Mike Dodds 345wr who told me it was bought from Shaun Smith in Wanganui by Neville Macken who sold it on to him. It was great talking to Mike and then after I took a few more photos Stacy Macken came over and introduced himself, he is part of a family of racers including Dad Neville in the recently purchased from Rotorua 75r, brother Deon 343wr, Stacy 48wr and partner Paulette 334wr who all compete.

Stacy told me about the club and the stockcar scene up north and was very welcoming and awesome to talk to. In fact most of the family came over before the meeting and introduced themselves and told me about their cars and their involvement in the sport. Talk about passionate, it’s families like these that are the backbone of our sport. Stacy said although the numbers were low today being the final meeting (there are about 15 local cars but getting them all to the track at the same time is the hard part) that they would turn on the action for the crowd and have some fun and that they did. Two rollovers and more blocking than flagracing in four heats was great entertainment. Two of the stockcars are currently for sale and the 343wr of Deon Macken (the former Iron Maiden of Dean Watts 88p) is on the Macgors Buy and Sell. A good fast car that dished up some punishment for the other cars including Dad who was left on his lid.







Also racing were TQ’s, Quad bikes, Escorts and various grades of productions and saloons. Four heats for each of the seven classes was great value for only $8 and with decent food, good soundsystem and the friendly atmosphere on a brilliant sunny day made it a memorable visit to a track we don’t hear too much about. No delays between races and plenty of on track action. I fully recommend to anyone thinking of visiting or to race at Whangarei to check out their website for next seasons racing calendar, I know I will be going back up. It was a reminder that the sport is supposed to be about having a good time and getting the family involved something that is foremost at this track.





There are some great action shots on the Black Widow Racing site here.


Sunday 6th
Dargaville





As we were leaving Whangarei a guy mentioned to us that there was racing at Dargaville the following day for their final club meeting so we decided to do a small detour on our way back to Auckland and went to Finlayson Park Speedway on the outskirts of Dargaville township. It’s a smaller set up than Whangarei but the fields of mostly productions, saloons and four stockcars were no less passionate in their racing. Actually the biggest hit we saw of the weekend was here when the 349h of Chris White sent the 13wr Stockcar of Gary ‘Grub’ Bankcart right up and over the banked grass wall that surrounds the track! Awesome stuff. Only disappointment was knowing that there are a few good cars up here like the Rees chassis of 49d Andrew Drinnan that I would love to have got a few photos of but unfortunately they were not in attendance.

The commentator here was extremely funny and basically wandered around the track with a roving mic in his hand talking about the racing, the food or anything that took his fancy. And get this, the ‘Pit Stop’ which was the food stand had PIES! Bringing pies back to speedway is my new cause. Forget global warming, there is a pie crisis at most tracks. The weather leading up to the next ice age has been great lately so lets concentrate on the critical shortage of pies!

There was a small selection of photos and information about the track on display and so I hope its okay to reproduce a bit about the Dargaville track for those like me who know nothing about this speedway:

The Dargaville Production Stockcar Club raced for several years in TeKopuru, a settlement near Dargaville.

In 1977 the Dargaville Production Stockcar Club Incorporated was formed and moved to it's current location at Awakino Point, situated approximately 1.5 km from Dargaville on State Highway 14, the road from Dargaville to Whangarei. The racing track has undergone major changes since 1977 when it was just a swampy paddock surrounded by maize fields. The track is now a small clay oval approximately 400 metres long with 12 metre wide corners and 10 metre wide straights.

The Club went through a period of uncertainty during late 1999 and early 2000 with the possibility of the Club losing the lease on the land on which the track was situated. Members reacted positively to this and bonded together with a good result in early 2000 when an agreement was reached with the Council to purchase the land.

The land then became known as Finlayson Park Speedway, owned by the Dargaville Production Stockcar Club Inc., thus making it the first Northland dirt track to own its own land. The Club is currently in a positive growth era with membership currently at 14 family memberships, 13 single memberships and approximately 10 junior drivers and increasing.

So an excellent weekend of racing and an insight in to two of the northern most tracks in New Zealand that I’m really pleased I made the effort to go up and see. That leads nicely into a mention about the forthcoming meeting at Taipa Speedway on Queens Birthday weekend when alot of these drivers will be having their last run of the season. If you can, you should go, you can be assured of a warm welcome and you wont be disappointed.

John Webster Memorial

Considering the heavy rain the night before, I was amazed this meeting went ahead. Although a few of the names mentioned in the programme were missing, there were pretty good sized fields for most including Superstocks and only the Minisprints and Sprintcars had less then 10 cars.

A fitting tribute for John Webster only spoiled a bit by the rain towards the end of the meeting unfortunately meaning the final few races had to be canned. As the fireworks were about to start, I felt the rain was coming in and was heading for the carpark when the first big bang set off so many car alarms I nearly arsed over in the mud! By all accounts the fireworks were pretty good but if the figure mentioned by the commentary team of over 30k worth of crackers is true I can't help but think that money could be spent on better things... even if they bought a couple of 'promotion owned' cars for guest drivers to race in when fields are light (something I think Palmerston North used to do with the sponsors names plastered all over the cars). Just looking at the Buy and Sell they could have snapped up 69r + 69k Superstocks or three decent Stockcars 6b + 52v + 29m or have 10 minutes of fireworks. I don't know how workable this is but it's food for thought. I remember one of the best promos they did at WP was the chance to buy a raffle ticket to drive Graham Mitchell's 93a in the first heat of the Standard Stocks each week. Then again I could be completely wrong and people just love fireworks...

Some of the events worth mentioning from the night must include the input from Murray Guy who was very funny, easy to listen to and if the car gives him any trouble next season he should be sat up in the commentary box. Great stuff.

Although there were only six Sprintcars, they provided some of the fastest action on the track. I'd love to see a full field of these beasts at WP. Promoter Paul Blakely had a go in one and was immediately on the pace and hinted that he would be keen to continue in this class next season.

The Stockcars were a bit tame in the first two heats but let rip in the third. With 28 cars on hand it must have been the biggest local turnout for a while. 919a Shane Bessants long awaited return was cut short in the first heat after being fed into the wall and left stranded, he was hit by 99a in a huge impact which put him out for the night. It was certainly an 'old school' welcome back.

The Superstocks also had a big field and with 85h, 36a and 52a stirring things up a bit provided some good racing. 62r Neville Stanaway was leading the points before the rain spoiled the final big race that promised so much. It was good to see that 10 local cars made it out for this meeting.

Some of the 4 x 4 racing in the Saloons and the Minisprint racing which was let down by only having 8 cars were probably the only low points in the night, not quite as low as the two seater Sprintcar which is very indulgent on a night that is supposed to be about John Webster. I think the whole point of this meeting is to showcase the very best of speedway in a 'speedway expo' type atmosphere. I can understand the reason the Midgets weren't racing (apparently it wouldn't be in their best interests to race too many times at WP while trying to secure more racing at the Springs) but the TQ's did a great job of entertaining in their absence. Considering the weather Gods did their best to ruin the show most people probably left the park well satisfied with the racing. It was a great end to what feels like a very long season.

John Webster was responsible for the book Weekend Warriors amoungst other things.

Meeting rating : 7/10

First Impressions

The idea for this posting came to me after a recent visit to Auckland Zoo. They have redesigned the entrance and built an amazing concourse between the first set of gates and the actual Zoo entry containing a new café, souvenir shop, some sculptures and activities for the kids while the parents are at the ticket booths. Very user friendly and a huge step forward for the look and feel of the place. If first impressions really do last a lifetime, what do these images say about the Speedway that lies behind them? In an age when professionalism is the new goal, there is certainly an attitude at most clubs that standards needed to be lifted to keep the punters coming through these very gates. Some of these pics aren't that recent but they are the image that I was left with on my visit to each track. I believe Rotorua are in the process of upgrading their entrance. Also note that in four of the five photos there is typical speedway weather...


Meeanee, Napier



Awapuni, Gisborne



Waikaraka, Auckland



Paradise Valley, Rotorua



Taipa, Northland