| The Place Where Champions Gather[1] The Brick Pit The Butter Box |
|
|---|---|
| Location | Torrens Road Brompton, South Australia |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Owner | Soccer Association of South Australia |
| Operator | Wal Watson (1949-1951) Alf Shields (1951-1954) Kym Bonython (1954-1973) The Consortium (1973/74) Racing Drivers Association of South Australia (1974-1979) |
| Opened | 1949 |
| Closed | 1979 |
| Major events | Australian Sprintcar Championship Australian Speedcar Championship Australian Super Sedan Championship Australian Solo Championship Australian Sidecar Championship Rick Harvey Memorial Harry Neale Memorial Golden Fleece 50 Lap Speedcar Derby Various SA Championships |
| Oval | |
| Surface | Dolomite |
| Length | 0.222 mi (0.358 km) |
| Lap record | 0:14.8 (Jimmy Sills () / Steve brazier (), , , Sprintcar) |
Rowley Park Speedway is a former Dirt track racing venue that was located on Torrens Road in Brompton, South Australia, The speedway was named after Mr Enoch Procter (Ted) Rowley, an English-born Dentist who moved to Adelaide from Kalgoorlie in 1908 where he had forged a reputation as being Western Australia's best soccer Goalkeeper.[2] The speedway ran continually during Australia's summer months from 21 December 1949 until its closure on 6 April 1979.
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Rowley Park was originally conceived in 1948 by a group of Kilburn Speedway Speedcar drivers who were disgruntled with the Melbourne based promotors Kirjon Speedway Pty Ltd. The Soccer Association of South Australia owned land on a former brick pit on Torrens Rd. at Brompton named Rowley Park which was located only 5 km from the city and the original plan was for the land to be the home of Soccer in SA. However, the Soccer Association had received press regarding it failure to grow grass on the site. Rowley Park also had a tendency to flood during winter as the bottom of "The Brick Pit" was below the level of the water table which made playing soccer virtually impossible.
The Soccer Association then obtained a lease on Hindmarsh Oval from the Hindmarsh Council but as owners of Rowley Park were keen to make money from it. The initial lease for the speedway was £26 per meeting plus a toll of 1 penny per head through the gate based on a minimum of 23 race meetings per season.
The speedway was originally shaped with four distinct corners and the safety fence was almost rectangular in shape and was nicknamed "The Butter Box". The first meeting at Rowley Park took place on 21 December 1949. The original promoter of Rowley Park Speedway was Wal Watson, one of the group of disgruntled drivers who brought about the new speedway. In 1951 Watson sold the lease to former Sydney solo rider and speedcar driver of the 1930s, Alf Shields who had moved his family to Adelaide. Sheilds ran and gradually improved the speedway until 1954 when he sold the lease to local entrepreneur Kym Bonython. For the next 20 years Bonython, who had first attended speedway as a young boy in the late 1920s at the Wayville Showgrounds, successfully set about making Rowley Park Speedway the place to be in Adelaide on a Friday night during the summer.
The track surface changed from shell grit and brick pipe clay to dolomite in 1953 which was ideal for both cars and bikes at the time. In 1955 the track was given a more oval shape and its length became 358m (391 yards). A safety catch fence was also added on top of the existing safety fence, which was re-shaped to follow the track, in 1955. The catch fencing was upgraded again in 1965 and lasted until the tracks closing in 1979. The chain mesh used in the catch fence was of such a heavy gauge steel that it was then transferred and used at the new Speedway Park track that opened five months later.
Under the promotion of Kym Bonython and his company Speedway Pty Ltd, Rowley Park Speedway began attracting crowds every Friday night upwards of 15,000. This era was aptly named "The golden era of speedway" in Australia with large crowds attending meetings in other cities such as Sydney (Sydney Showground), Brisbane (Ekka) and Perth (Claremont Speedway). "Friday night is Speedway night" was the publicity slogan Bonython used for Rowley Park, as was a cartoon "Almost everybody goes to Rowley Park on Friday nights" which showed everyone from a grandmother to ambulance drivers and a jockey all making their way into the speedway. In 1965 a reported crowd of 20,000 packed into the speedway to see Australia's first Demolition Derby. The Police were called in to handle traffic and hundreds of fans were turned away as the 'House Full' signs went up.[3] The derby itself had 100 entrants and lasted for over 75 minutes.
Another of Bonython's ideas was to import overseas drivers and riders to race full seasons at Rowley Park. In 1957/58 Bonython contracted Bob "Two Gun" Tattersall from Streator, Illinois in the United States, arguably the most popular American driver to race Speedway in Australia and winner of the 1969 USAC National Midget Series and in 1960/61 a young solo rider from Christchurch in New Zealand named Ivan Mauger, who would go on to win a record six World Championships. "Tats" made his international debut racing at Rowley Park (Mauger had already competed in the United Kingom for 2 years). To supplement his income while in Adelaide, Bonython also found Mauger work as a Truck driver.
During the early 1970s, Kym Bonython saw that crowds at the speedway were starting to drop. This was due to there being other attractions such as television. Keen to further his interests in the art world, Bonython sold the lease on Rowley to a consortium of local former race drivers (Kevin Fischer, Cec Eichler, Rex Sandy and Ray Skipper), thus ending a successful 20 years as Rowley Park's promoter. The consortium only ran the show for one season (1973/74) before the running was taken over by the Racing Drivers Association of South Australia. The RDA would run the speedway from 1974 until the track closed in 1979.
Bonython himself wasn't just the promoter and director of Rowley Park Speedway. He was also a speedcar driver who had considerable success winning the South Australian Championship on two occasions. He was also involved in some of the more spectacular crashes seen at the speedway though luckily he didn't suffer any serious injuries at the wheel.
Rowley Park Speedway's long time Clerk of Course was Glen Dix who would later become internationally famous as the man who waved the checkered flag at the Australian Grand Prix during its years in Adelaide (1985–1995). Dix was first involved at the speedway in 1952/53 when he 'penciled' information for radio station 5KA announcer Bill Evans who broadcast the feature races live. Dix moved to be the Assistant Clerk of Course in 1953/54 before becoming Clerk of Course from 1954/55, a position he would hold for ten years. For the first few years he also controlled the bike races until the Speedway Riders Association selected their own starter. As a flagman, Dix became famous for waving the checkered flag in the same enthusiastic manner for every car that crossed the finish line, no matter if the driver finished in first or last place.
Due to complaints from residents about noise and the on-street parking as well as the track becoming too small for the faster cars appearing on the scene, the speedway was closed after the 23rd meeting of the 1978/79 season which was held on 6 April 1979. Speedway continued in Adelaide the following season with the opening of the new Speedway Park complex located adjacent to the Adelaide International Raceway in Virginia, about 25 km north of Adelaide while in 1981 a new motorcycle only speedway named North Arm Speedway was opened in the industrial suburb of Gillman, less than 2 km from Adelaide's current motorcycle speedway track Gillman Speedway which opened in 1998 following North Arm's closure in 1997.
The final meetings feature race winners were Graham Mason (Stock Rods), Bill Wigzell (Sprintcar), George Tatnell (Speedcar), Tony Orlando (Saloon Cars), Leigh Wingard (Sidecar stars) and Lou Sansom (Solo).
Today the Kym Bonython Housing Estate sits on the site of the former Rowley Park Speedway. A raised plaque sits at the entrance to the estate depicting the Rowley Park Speedway logo. The plaque reads: Placed by the S.A. speedway supporters, this plaque serves as a reminder that Rowley Park Speedway operated on this site for thirty years. Unveiled jointly by Kym Bonython A.C. D.F.C. A.F.C. and the Mayor of Hindmarsh, Florence Pens. 14 September 1991.[4]
Rowley Park Speedway operated in an era when safety wasn't the main concern of anyone involved. It wasn't until the early 1970s that safety roll cages for the open wheeed cars and seat belts became compulsory. Until the addition of the roll cage to the cars, Speedcar and TQ drivers plus the bike riders were most at risk of serious injury or death. If a Speedcar rolled the driver was at risk as his or her head was usually well above the height of the rear roll bar. Also, until seat belts became compulsory in the 1970s, drivers often raced without a seat belt or nothing more than a lap sash leading to drivers sometimes being thrown from their cars. Bike riders were at risk of hitting the safety fence with no protection but a crash helmet and leathers, as well as being run over by closely following bikes. This unfortunately led to there being nine deaths at the speedway during its 30 year run.
Those who lost their lives at Rowley Park are
Some of the competitors who raced at Rowley Park Speedway between 1949 and 1979 include:
† - Deceaced
* Frank "Satan" Brewer was from New Zealand but Australian promoters billed him as being from the United States to bring in bigger crowds
Final Season