| The Greatest Show on Dirt | |
|---|---|
| Location | Supple Road, Virginia, South Australia |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
| Owner | Wendy Turner & Bob Sincock |
| Operator | Wendy Turner & Bob Sincock |
| Broke ground | 1978 |
| Opened | 1979 |
| Former names | Speedway Park (1979-2001) |
| Major events | World Series Sprintcars Australian Sprintcar Championship Australian Sprintcar Masters Australian Speedcar Championship Australian Super Sedan Championship Australian Solo Championship Australian Sidecar Championship |
| Oval | |
| Surface | Clay |
| Length | 0.267 mi (0.430 km) |
| Lap record | 0:11.744 (Matt Egel, , 2010, Sprintcar) |
Speedway City (known as Speedway Park from 1979–2001) is a Dirt track racing venue located 26 km north of Adelaide in Virginia, South Australia, adjacent to the Adelaide International Raceway. The Speedway has been operating continuously since 1979 and is currently owned and operated by Wendy Turner and former Speedcar driver Bob Sincock.
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Speedway Park came about due to the closure of Rowley Park Speedway following the 1978/79 speedway season. Rowley Park had run in the Adelaide suburb of Brompton since 1949 but had closed for such reasons as the track becoming too small for the faster cars appearing on the scene, the local residents had started to complain about the noise and while the speedway was located less than 5 km from the Adelaide city centre, parking was street based which brought more complaints from residents.
The land for the new speedway was located 26 km north of Adelaide near the town of Virginia which from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s had hosted speedway at the local showgrounds called Thunderbird Speedway. The new speedway's neighbours were and still are market gardens which meant noise complaints were non-existent. The Speedway Park track itself is a 430m long oval track with a width of 16m and it has a camber of 1.2m. The track is surrounded by a 6'0" high concrete retaining wall with another 3m of catch fencing located on top of the wall. Beyond the track fence is a 3.5m safety zone surrounded by a 1m high chain mesh safety fence. Spectators are not permitted beyond the 1m fence although when an accident on track occurs and a red flag is shown it is not uncommon to see kids at the 3m catch fence to get a closer look at the crashed car. The venue has the capacity to hold more than 10,000 spectators and this have been pushed to the limit on numerous occasions.
The speedway was originally run and promoted by the Racing Drivers Association of South Australia and after a lot of hard work, the track was open in time for the 1979/80 season. Unlike Rowley Park, which had a dolomite surface, Speedway City has a clay surface which specifically suited the car racing categories such as Sprintcars, Speedcars and Super Sedans with their wide racing tyres but was not so popular with the Solo and Sidecar riders who felt the sticky clay track and the solid concrete retaining wall made racing more dangerous than it needed to be. 1985 was the last year that the bikes ran at the speedway, although the sidecars did make a few appearances during the 1990s.
During the mid 1980's the RDA sold the promoting rights to MJS Promotions, who included then local Grand National competitor and later founder in 1987 of the World Series Sprintcars, John Hughes. Under MJS the speedway became known as Winfield Speedway Park due to a naming rights deal with cigarette manufacturer Winfield.
On 1 November 1985 Speedway Park held the first ever Australian Sprintcar Masters to coincide with the running of the first ever Australian Formula One Grand Prix. The Masters was won by World of Outlaws driver Randy Kinser of the United States in his JPS sponsored Gambler Sprintcar from local favourite Bill Barrows. Kinser was in Australia in 1985/86 as part of JPS Team Kinser which consisted of older brother Steve Kinser and cousins Mark and Craig with another cousin, Karl, being the crew chief. During the Sprintcar Masters a couple of the visiting Formula One drivers including Renault drivers Derek Warwick and Patrick Tambay were given the chance to do a few 'hot laps' in one of the sprintcars. Among other visitors was former World Drivers' Champion Jackie Stewart who described sprintcar racing as the "Most exciting form of motorsport in the world".
The speedway has held numerous Australian championships, starting with the Australian Sprintcar Championship in its opening 1979 season which was won by Sydney based driver Steve Brazier. Other titles held at the speedway include the Australian Speedcar Championship, the Australian Super Sedan Championship.[1] The speedway also held the Australian Speedway Sidecar Championship in 1982 and in 1983 the venue held the Australian Solo Championship.
During its so far 32 years of existence, Speedway City has only had two fatal accidents. The first was on 25 January 1985 when local solo rider Kevin O'Connell crashed and hit the concrete wall between turns 3 and 4 at speed and was killed instantly.[2] The speedway suffered its second and hopefully last fatality in 1993 when Speedcar driver (and 1981 SA Solo Champion) Tony Boyle crashed on 22 January. Although he survived the accident itself, Boyle died eight days later in hospital from complications relating to the accident.
Speedway City is currently owned and operated by Wendy Turner and Bob Sincock who took over promoting the venue in 2001. The change of ownership also saw a change of name as Speedway Park was renamed Speedway City. The venue then became known as Truckworks Speedway City but that sponsorship finished at the end of the 2009/10 season.
On 25–28 January 2012 Speedway City will host the 50th Anniversary Australian Sprintcar Championship.[3]
Some of the famous competitors who have raced at Speedway City since its opening in 1979 include:
† - Deceaced
as of 22 May 2011. All have a 1 lap rolling start.