Here`s a page just for bucket loads of Speedway pics
Click on the little pics to bring up a big pic
Basically, my dad raced speedway for years with all the old greats, Phil Jackson, Barry Harrison, Bob lindsay, Ian "Gabby" Marshall, heaps of others that i can`t think of at the moment, so i`ll ask dad one day soon & he`ll throw up heaps of other well known or wicked fast speedway peddlers & i`ll add them up here.
(((There is actually a really good book avaliable at news agents called "the History of Aust Speedway" & altho it`s not all minis (obviously) it does have a few pics of the die hard mini speedway racer in there, good reading too.)))
& so it was that i raced speedway, i couldn`t help it really,,,a Gunjee old mini panel van for 100 bucks, gut the crapper out of it, stuff a full cage & stroker donk with lock diff & away you go,,, back then it was as cheap as chips & we could have passengers (bulk fun with a passenger), now days it`s got a bit dearer but you can still take your mates in the car with you,,, of course with all the hemet, harnesses & padding etc to make it all safe :-) My good friend Ken Hynard built the roll cages for me & he`s allways claimed that if he was sitting in the "Panic seat" (Code named that for obvious reasons) that he was going to make sure that the cage was tough as , ( he`s a boiler maker/tool maker/fitter & turner) dam good man to have around when you want to make stuff :-) & has been one of my life long friends, also helped build & passenger with me in my alloy V8 powered, off road racing buggy (more on that in another page)
I was racing (on & off) at Archerfield speedway, Toowoomba speedway, Surfers paridise speedway, & Echo Valley speedway from about 1982 till approx 1989, & in that time we went through about 3 panel vans & one of my dad`s old short circuit mini sedans (it`s still alive tho) The big cars didn`t really like me that much,,, zipping underneath them all the time & being able to hold my own with their pace up the straights must have been pretty frustrating for them (hee hee) I just loved that part tho, David meets Goliath, sort of thing. heck we had such a fan base that quite a few spectators actually got together & made up this huge banner (took 4 people to hold it up) & it read """399, minis rule ok"""" it was awsome!!! & when we won it was usually to a standing ovation as there was allways a really good battle from the back of the grid, right the way through the whole pack to then grab first place against Holden toranas, ford cortinas & of course those big bad old valiant chargers & centuras with the 265 hemi lumps. We ended up getting kicked up the grades because we just kept on flogging them all & ended up having to play with the "Astra saloons" (basically all the old Grand National Kit cars & anyone else who had methonal fuel injected V8power & things like that, we still kept winning , but not quite so many times. We decided to level up the field somewhat by grabbing my old mans Super Charged engine & stuffing that into one of his old short circuit race minis & gave them all a run for their money then :-) Dad`s still got that car & it`s still basically a runner & we`ve also got another 3 speedway minis built up,we`re trying to organise about 10 of them to have a class of our own ,,,this way those big bad mean old "normal" cars can`t go running into us little toy cars & break our f`kin wheels off all the time :-) we can just be a bunch of little minis all playing together happilly in the mud :-) well that`s the plan anyways, one day,,,one day.
I could bore you all for yonks & yonks with plenty more speedway pics & stories, but hey...we just go round & round :-)

Click "here" to go back Home again.