Highline Magazine Edition 9

ISSUE 9

2016

Kerry Madsen

AUSTRALIA

1

SPEEDWAY Sprintcar SEDAN ACTION

TRACTION CONTROL

IS IT BEING USED

Who is Highline Magazine Editor: Brett Swanson Contributors; Kaylene Oliver, Grant Woodhams, Ray Reed, Andy Ticehurst Artist/layout; Andy Ticehurst / PRM Group Photographers: Brett Swanson – Pirate Media Kieran Swanson – Pirate Media Matt Hines – Jigsaw Photography Andy Ticehurst – PRM Group Rachel Cooper - Inaction Photos Leigh Reynolds - Inaction Photos You – The Speedway fans Facebook Contributions / Criticism welcome.

High Line Magazine Brett Swanson 0410 198 138 brett@piratemediagroup.com.au

Front Cover: Kerry Madsen was the man when it came to the Lucas Oils 54th Australian Sprintcar Championship at Warrnambool’s Sungold Stadium in late January taking his fourth #1.

Madsen was the dominant driver throughout January taking big money wins all the way down the east coast and into South Australia. Ace lens-man Geoff Gracie took this superb shot of Madsen early in the night on his way to winning the Kings Challenge, Borderline Raceways biggest annual Sprintcar event.

Inset: Michael Coad (W25) and Darryl Nelson (S9) book-end Grant Stansfield in this Super Rod wreck caught at Warrnambool by Pirate Media’s Kieran Swanson. Nelson triggered the incident when he spun and the innocent Stansfield in his father’s car copped the worst with chassis damage. After an all-nighter to repair the car Stansfield returned the following night and rewarded his crew with the feature win.

OUR VIEW......

With Highline Editor Brett Swanson Wow! What a season it’s been so far and there is still plenty more to come.

So far we’ve had the Grand Annul Sprintcar Classic, the Australian Sprintcar Championship, The Australian Speedcar Championship and the Australian Late Model Championship and coming up in March we’ve got the record breaking Australian Street Stock Championship, of which you can read more about in this issue, the Australian 360 Sprintcar Championship, the 50th Anniversary of the SDAV Hot Rod Club and

plenty more state and national titles still to be determined Congratulations to Jamie Veal, Kerry Madsen, Michael Pickens and Kodee Brown on their respective wins in the big four events.

Congratulations also to Travis Rilat and the Phil Seymour team for taking their third win in the Tyson Perez memorial - the race that honours the memory of Rilat’s Aussie mate. It’s a long way to come from Texas to MtGambier for a single race but it is the one race in the world that means the most to Rilat.

In this issue we want to welcome the voice of all things sedan related, Jason Crowe, to the pages of Highline Magazine. Jason is regarded as one of, if not the best, commentators in Australia and his written work is first class also. Possessing a passion for speedway sedan racing that is almost maniacal, Jason has agreed to help us expand our coverage of speedway sedans and we look forward to his valued input and comment.

The Australian Street Stock title to be held at Ballarat’s Redline Raceway, as stated above, has set new records for the number of entrants for any National sedan title ever held in Australia. And what does this say about the street stock class? Everything! It is just RIGHT: Travis Rilat

a shame that NSW, as it often does, has a slightly different set of rules for its version of Street stocks.

Hopefully this title will be the impetus for the RSA “streeties” to come in line with the rest of the country.

From the point of view of Redline Raceway the title event will be the pinnacle of their recent history and it will be well deserved as they have fostered and nurtured the streeties for many years and have possibly the biggest base of streeties amongst their members than any other club. The club has been working hard for the past couple of seasons in the build up to this national title and from all the streetie races I’ve seen at Redline in the past I can honestly say that this title will be a beauty and that the depth of quality will make it virtually impossible to predict a winner.

Elsewhere in this issue you can read about dual World SGP Champion Tai Woffinden’s first race in a Sprintcar at Geraldton and ask whether International drivers should be allowed to contest the Aussie Sprintcar Title. We also look at the controversial issue of Traction Control and what, if anything, can or should be done about it and who should be doing it.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Australia’s only totally free, online speedway magazine.

Image: Danielle Baker

Presidents Cup....

Images: Pirate Media Group

The Sprintcarnival began as always Wednesday night January 20th at Avalon Raceway for the Presidents cup.

Brooke Tatnell, long the big race dominator at the Lara venue looked like he had another win in the bag, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, or in this case the ability to see what was going on behind him because if he could, he would have gotten a bit more aggressive with the lapped cars and not have allowed a fast finishing James McFadden to catch him unawares and snatch the lead and the win in the very late going.

Tatnell had been running nicely out front thank you very much as Ian Loudoun, Kyle Hirst and McFadden battled it out behind him. Then as the track started to

slicken off McFadden gained speed and after a torrid battle with Hirst grabbed third and then quickly disposed of Loudoun and set off after Tatnell.

Tatnell meanwhile had been caught up on the back of some lapped cars whom he didn’t seem to be that much faster than and whom he took too long to dispose of.

This played perfectly into McFadden’s hands as he blasted around Tatnell and the lapped car and closed out the last three laps to take yet another victory to back up his WSS win a few weeks prior.

Veal was uncharacteristicly off the pace, or was playing possum being in the B-Main with Americans Kraig Kinser (on debut at Avalon), Terry McCarl and Danny Dietrich. While veal made it to the A-Main he never got any higher than 13th place before finishing 14th.

Kings Challenge....

Image: Geoff Gracie

On to Mt Gambier for the Kings Challenge where Australia’s former Outlaw Kerry Madsen joined the fray and repeated last year’s effort by taking an all the way win from Robbie

Farr and David Murcott.

In a harbinger of things to come Jamie Veal blasted from an uncharacteristic 15th starting spot to a fourth place finish.

Oddly enough a win and a DNF for both Hirst and Veal saw Hirst straight into the A-M ain and Veal into the B-Main. Hirst going to the A-Main by virtue of his fast time in qualifying.

Veal, not surprisingly won the B-Main then launched his forward assault in the A-Main passing Hirst along the way.

McFadden, Daniel Pestka and Matthew Dumesny also graduated from the B-Main while Americans Danny Dietrich (7th (2nd in the C-Main)), Paul McMahan (8th) and Jonathon Allard (12th – DNF) didn’t make it.

Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic....

Images: Pirate Media Group Night 1.

One Hundred and Twenty plus cars had entered for this years’ running of the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic which signalled the start of a very, very busy9 day stretch for the Premier Speedway club and all its officials and volunteers.

The first highlight was the unveiling of the Hickman Motorsport #40 of Dion Bellman in its unique, “rusty” wrap. This work of art as pictured, had a “mater” from cars the movie, feel about it but surprisingly didn’t win the best presented car award. That award went to the two car Maiolo team from Myalup in West Australia which presented two beautiful cars. However, in our opinion the effort and uniqueness of the Vic40 made it the winner in our eyes. With all due respect to the selection panel, best present-

ed doesn’t always just mean the shiniest.

As is now traditional the field was spilt in half and seeded to help the top seeds avoid each other as much as possible throughout the heats and to add further assistance to the teams that already had a superior mechanical advantage.

Daniel Pestka and Brad Maiolo set the fast times in their respective time trial groups.

After 12 heats were run straight through, Ian Madsen, Troy Little, Dietrich and Dion Bellman fought a tight battle to transfer to the B-Main.

Darren Mollenoyux, Max Johnston, Grant Anderson and Brad Keller, were the fast four to jump from the B-Main to the feature and it was pleasing to note Keller’s continued speed after his back breaking wreck here in last year’s event.

Ryan jones was top qualifier but fellow front row starter Ben Atkinson whose Bill Roberts fettled NT62 was on rails led the first 14 laps before

McFadden and then Kerry Madsen worked their was stout in 2nd place until Hirst grabbed 2nd way past with Brad Sweet an Jones completing on lap 19 and his compatriot Randy Hannagan demoted Maiolo a further position 2 laps later. the top five for night number 1.

Night 2.

Night 2 saw the second half of the field in competition and Toby Bell-Bowen set fast time for the first group and then Chad Ely went out late on a drying track and set fast time in the second portion.

Again, 12 heats were run with no significant casualties.

C hris Solomon in Ton Batletts SA75 won the C-main from the local legend Max Dumesny, Brett Milburn and off-spring Matt Dumesny.

Kinser finally found a rythymn and some speed to blast from 19th to 5th leaving Farr, Sides, Lines and Murcott behind.

While the lap charts make it look straightforward for Veal it certainly wasn’t as he was made to race hard with defending champion Hirst who led a couple of times as they swapped the lead back and forth before Veal edged out the win.

The bone head move of the night belongs to Chad Ely who spun of his own accord in turn two. With the car back under control he proceeded to drive back out onto the track and stop just as the innocent Brendan Guerin came hustling through the turn only to collide with Mitchell Gee, Luke walker, Kinser and Corey Mc- the stopped car of Ely eliminating Geurin from Cullagh denied hot shots Luke Dillon (7th) and the event.

Carson Macedo (8th) a ticket to the dance.

From pole Veal led every lap as Jamie Maiolo

B-Main 1 saw Murcott, McFadden, Keller and Pestka breathe a sigh of relief as Ian Madsen, Macedo, Dillon and former winners Max DuWith the remaining competitors from the two preliminary nights now joined for one big final mesny and Loudoun were kept out of the fray.

Garry Brazier, Anderson, Mollenoyux and Daniel it came down to Veal’s opportunity to finally seal the deal on the race that he has wanted to Harding eliminated Kinser (7th), McMahan (9th) win so badly since he first discovered speedway. and Sammy Walsh (16th) from B-Main 2.

Triple champion Madsen however had something to say about it and pressured Veal relentVeal, the contender, and Hirst, the defender, lessly and even surged ahead momentarily as shared the front row and Veal led away early each nights feature continued a trend of prowith 2006 pole sitter Atkinson in third and waitducing close, exciting, place-swapping action. ing. Tatnell took 3rd from Atkinson on lap 4 who was still not concerned as crew chief Roberts Eventually thanks to a late race restart which had told him, “You’ll need to carry the car the snuffed out Madsen’s charge, Veal was able to take the win to the raptures of the huge crowd. first 6 or so laps and then it will be good.”

Final Night.

One more heat each but no time trials saw the final points tallied and then the last battles began as Jack Lee Max Dumesny, Glen Sutherland and Jake Tranter went from C-Main 1 to B-Main 1 while Little, Gee, Danny Smith and Matt Smith went from C-Main 2 to B-Main 2.

On lap 7 the car felt better and then on lap 8 it came alive and Atkinson blazed into turn one of lap 9 flat out only to have the lapped car of Pestka spin into the fence taking Atkinson with him. A dejected Atkinson was unable to restart due to a broken rear push bar and dejectedly watched his best chance at a Classic win evaporate.

McCarl and Jones.

At the same time Hirst had just taken the led from Veal but the restart out him back to 2nd Overall it had been a solid week for Hirst and and this moved Kerry Madsen and Farr to 4th and fifth for the restart with Sweet back in 11th. the Monte Motorsport team as they again won the Ian Sheppard Plaque for the most consistent over the five nights of racing, while Sweet Madsen only needed a couple of laps to get around Tatnell who fought back but eventually won the hard charger and Atkinson received his Outlaw rival secured the position and set off the Hard Luck Award. after Hirst passing him just 2 laps later.

As the race was drawing to a close, Madsen continued mounting the pressure and when he was set to pounce, Lines lost an engine and caught out Vogels and Jones and killing off Madsen’s run.

With just two laps left after the restart Veal made the a good start which was all he really needed and his first classic victory was in the bag from Madsen, Farr, Hirst, Sweet, Tatnell, Hannagan, McFadden, Sides,

Prelude to the Title....

Images: Pirate Media Group

Two days later the club held its second running of the Prelude to the Title event with its unique foot race format.

With no reason to hold back or be conservative, the field were going hammer and tong, none more so than Murcott and Hirst who traded slide jobs and unintended or maybe intended contact on a couple of occasions. On track tempers flared as demonstrated by Hirst’s hand gestures under a caution period but Murcott held sway and the assembled media awaited a conflagration at the post race weigh-in which never occurred.

Before this however, there was another disagreement as Madsen and McFadden came together off the last corner while fighting for third place. Madsen slewed across the line sideways as McFadden crossed it upside down

while Lines snuck across the line avoiding wreckage having started 20th.

McFadden had words with Madsen who had taken J-Mac up into the wall and while both had crossed the line in a fashion both were relegated as being the cause of the stoppage.

Veal had spent the whole final rolling around the bottom on the only part of the track that was black and slick and never really featured in the fight between Murcott, Hirst and company.

SPRINTCARS

Story: Brett Swanson Images: Pirate Media Group

54th Australian Sprintc

car Championship!

Night 1

C-Main before taking the win from Kristy Ellis.

Three days later a large contingent of competitors was back, including some of the Americans who’d contested the classic only this time they were mere spectators.

Tim Rankin, Danny Reidy, Andrew Scheuerle and Jamie Hennessy came from the B-Main to the preliminary final where an ill Tatnell drove his heart out to defeat Kerry Madsen in an enthralling feature, after pole sitter Grant Anderson had led for 22 of the 30 lap event. A physically drained Tatnell had dug deep to take a satisfying victory.

As with the Classic, the field was spilt in two over separate days only this time the format was very different. No time trials and two heats each per night plus C, B and A-Mains.

There was one other quirk to the format however and that was that not each heat was the same!

Some were twelve lap affairs while others where only 10 laps apiece. The difference was whether there was 12 or 13 cars in each heat. For just 1 extra car you got an extra two laps which was brilliant if you were a fancied runner with lots of experience starting towards the back because now you had two extra laps to get through the traffic.

All the major contenders made it through their heats but Ryan Jones was to start third in the

Murcott also showed he was on for a third straight title by charging from 9th to 3rd with Anderson and Sam Walsh completing the top 5.

Night 2 Again the absurd 10 lap/12 lap heat system was run with most top names getting through.

Local ace Stephen Bell had been a no show on night 1 due to severe illness that required a visit to the local hospital. With special dispensation Brenten Farrer was drafted in to drive the ACT55 on night 2 at least giving the team the chance to compete.

Jamie Bricknell and Mark House looked the goods in the C-Main until Dennis Jones bumped House from the final transfer.

Luke Oldfield, Ely, Max Dumesny and Keke Falland made it to the Final from the B-Main while two time champ McFadden was in big trouble just missing a transfer and would need to rely on the chase system to work in his favour tomorrow.

The night two final belonged to the new classic champion Veal and a couple of his south-west

buddies in Darren Mollenoyux and John Vogels.

This feature was again a beauty with Ian Madsen leading and Veal trying a number of times to take the lead before succeeding. Punching out of turn two on lap 25 Veal took the lead and Ian Madsen then spun in turn 3 taking out top qualifier Chase Karpenko and Steven Lines who’d grafted hard from 9th to be in 4th at the time. Lines was able to restart and was classified 13th while Farr was 19th after a rear end failure while challenging the top five early in the event.

Championship Night The final night was a very unusual format with no heats just a series of Mains from E to A and twin dashes for the C, B and A-Main fields.

It worked like this. In theory you could come from the E-Main and sit on pole for the A-Main, yes on pole, not just make it into the A-Main.

Theoretically if you transferred from the E-Main into the D and then from the D-Main into the C you could then go into the dash’s.

C2 dash was the back half of the C-Main qualifiers and if nothing else would sort the line-up for the back half of that main. The first two cars from C2 dash would then go onto the back of C1 dash which would set the grid for the front half of the C-Main. So at this point you could have gone from the E-Main to the D-Main to C2 dash to C1 dash and won that dash to have pole for the C-Main.

Win the C-Main or at least transfer to the B-Main via the C and you are then into the B dash’s, and the theory continues that you could race your way

to pole in the B-Main and then hopefully qualify into the A-Main and the A dash’s etc. As track manager David Mills explained, it gives someone who has had a bad qualifying night (such as McFadden) the opportunity to still earn a pole position start for the final, something that didn’t happen for the two time Aussie Champ. But still, in theory….

First event was C-Dash 2 which saw Adam King and Hennessy progress while McFadden still had some more serious work ahead of him.

Garry Brazier and Reidy then secured the front row of the C-Main vie C-Dash 1.

Dennis Jones and terry Kelly then won the E-Main which was shorter than some of the heats.

Brad Maiolo and Luke Walker moved from B-Dash 2 to B- Dash 1 which was taken out by Ian Madsen from Karpenko, Farr and Lines.

Jye O’Keeffe, Kevin Titman, Marty Perovich, Jay Waugh, Atkinson and Michael Cunningham went from the D-Main to the C-Main but in between was A-Dash 2 which saw Murcott and Keller move to A-Dash 1.

The actual C-Main was next and McFadden kept his dying hopes alive by moving from 9th to the win ahead of Keke Falland, James Thompson (in the Steve Crabbe WA56) and Scheuerle.

Kellar unfortunately never took his hard earned start after an electrical problem and then Farr had some issue at the start that took out himself, Bellman, Harding and Vogels and also caught out Lines who was able to restart dead last.

A-Dash 1 was next and this secured pole for Tatnell from Kerry Madsen, Harding and Veal.

Tuff luck story of the weekend was the form of NT’s Karpenko who’d committed to run a few lead The B-Main was next and Farr led the first half be- up shows at Warrnambool prior to the title and the fore Lines took over for the win with Brad Maiolo classic and had then top scored on night two only and Bellman also making the final line-up after to be taken out by Ian Madsen. some tough racing. McFaddens title hopes finished early, officially in 14th position.

The most disappointing aspect for Karpenko other than having to come out of the B-Main on the And so it was on the final night that Tatnell and final night as a result of the previous night’s DNF Kerry Madsen fought out another great battle with was the feeble excuse offered by Madsen for his positional changes left and right with Veal comspin – “the throttle jammed and I had to hit the kill ing home third. Tatnell led for the first quarter of switch”. the 40 lap event before Madsen slid past as Veal and Dillon continued the hard and fast dicing with Next year the Title event moves to Sydney but the Veal eventually subduing Dillon for third. Murcott Classic will always be at Warrnambool. drove valiantly for 5th but the drive of the race was Lines who pushed from 20th to 6th.

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WOFFINDEN TAMES SPRINTCAR.....

Images: Lawrence Hillary, Jon Gall and Danielle Baker

I

t certainly made headlines in the local newspaper when World Champion Speedway Motorbike rider Tai Woffinden announced that he would be racing a Sprintcar in the most prestigious meeting of the season at Geraldton Speedway.

To many it seemed like a publicity stunt when Woffinden entered the #108 car of Marshall McDiarmid in the Limited Sprintcar Association (LSA) of Western Australia, John “Old Boy” Stephens Memorial.

However no one really expected Woffinden to be competitive. While he may have done a few laps of the Perth Motorplex in a Sprintcar he had never raced one and he’d never spent any time on the tight confines of Geraldton’s 360 metre track, the place where Geraldton’s most famous speedway son Mark Wells honed his craft.

Oh yes and in addition to Woffinden being one of the 28 entrants vying for victory, Wells was also a nomination.

Hot laps revealed that Woffinden could indeed drive, but what would he be like in traffic up against the best of Western Australia’s LSA drivers?

But it was anything but a stunt. Woffinden is a professional racer through and through and his relationship with former solo rider McDiarmid is a There would be twelve qualifying heats in all, folvery friendly and solid one. Woffinden has been coaching McDiarmid’s young sons on the fine art of lowed by a B Main and the 30 Lap “Old Boy” Memorial. speedway solo riding.

Woffinden had spent the summer in Perth, helping out young English Solo rider Layne Cupitt at the local bike and sidecar track Pinjar Park. He wasn’t racing himself but he was keen to keep his reflexes at one hundred percent and the lure of a Sprintcar drive was too much to resist.

It was the biggest crowd of the season, and while the “Old Boy” always draws a lot of spectators, the undoubted presence of Tai Woffinden had pulled even more through the front gates than usual. Viva Tai!

His first heat was a seven car affair with Woffinden out of position seven. Baptism of fire time. On the tough bullring that is Geraldton Speedway Woffinden struggles to make his way forward. He picks up a position but is just as quickly sidelined with mechanical problems and pulls to the infield.

His second heat offers some promise as he sits on the front row alongside Robbie Stephens. Stephens is the son of the man the race is named after John Stephens. Stephens is also one of the leading lights of the WA Limiteds, having won this race and also a State Title in years previous.

The green drops and Stephens heads to the lead followed by Woffinden who gets a little too high and finds himself rapidly going back through the field. He isn’t disgraced, he’s been very competitive but he has to settle for sixth.

And so to his last heat with Woffinden starting on the inside row out of position five. He gives a pretty good account of himself, but still can’t seem to hit the right lines. He drops one place to finish sixth again.

If he is to make the A Main at his first attempt at Sprintcar racing Woffinden will have to come from

near the back of the B Main. It’s a star studded field with Mark Wells and WA hot shoes Brett Barndon, Ben Migro and Mick Doble all starting in this one.

They’ve missed out due to crashes and mechanical issues earlier in the night, Woffinden will need to be good to make the top four to transfer to the ‘Old Boy’.

And he is good, making remarkable progress through the field. He gets to third and looks like cementing a starting spot in the A, when he spins the #108 and is sent ROF. Again he makes some progress and is hounding the top four. Another restart and Woffinden dives low to grab fourth, but he has gone too early.

Perhaps no one explained to him that he needed to stay in position until he passed the witches’ hat. Disqualified.

And so ended Woffinden’s night. He might not have set the world on fire, but he was certainly no slouch.

He showed in the B that he had something for everyone.

And just for the record the John “Old Boy” Stephens Memorial was again won by Robbie Stephens. Mark Wells climbed out of the B Main to charge through the field finishing a close second to Stephens while Grant Chisholm grabbed third.

Will Woofy race on four wheels again? Only time will tell. He is more than capable, a real natural. But perhaps he just wants to add another World Solo Motorbike Title to his resume before going Australian Sprintcar racing again.

CLUB INFO

Look and learn people.....

Negativity: Is it good or

bad?

with Ray Read

T

he words “Negative” and “Negativity” seem to becoming IN buzzwords around Speedway lately. Those words appear to be rivalling the word “Amazing” as the most overused term in our vocabulary.

At the outset, let me say that NEGATIVITY always has, and unfortunately always will be, a constant feature of the Speedway scene, as those who habitually DO NOTHING see fit to criticise or abuse those who actually DO stuff. In that regard, clubs, officials and individuals who condemn the practice do so quite righteously. As do those who defend their organisations against slander and obnoxious criticisms.

But we must be careful – very, very careful – that our interpretation of the definition of the word “negative” does not extend too

far. There may be a tendency to treat as “negative” any opinion that may differ from what people see as their own. This can be particularly dangerous where there is an inherent culture within an organisation whereby comments, suggestions and ideas are actively discouraged. Anything that does not comply with the “Accepted Mindset” becomes branded as “negative”, and is summarily dismissed.

Not everybody gets everything right, every time. To ignore this fact and not approach suggestions with an open mind is simply a display of ego-driven arrogance.

In this culture, new ideas will never prosper. Free and open discussion is discouraged, and freedom of speech is stifled. Forward movement becomes locked into the “accepted” way of life, which

stagnates and eventually dies.

Always remember that the main purpose of a Club is to serve the needs and aspirations of the MEMBERS of that club. And it should always be those members who have a right to express their opinions. Obviously, there are certain forums where suggestions, comments and opinions ARE, or ARE NOT appropriate, but let’s not be so fast to brand all new ideas as NEGATIVE. Listen to what people have to offer with an open mind.

There is such a thing as Constructive Criticism, and we need to listen. I recall an old Management Seminar saying: “Success comes in CANS, not in CANNOTS.” The first thing that we learn in Complaint Handling is to LISTEN to the grievance, and then proceed to examine the issues involved. To summarily dis-

ous issues which involved “People” problems. These included problems with the commentating (a subject with which I am very experienced) and also with the personal attitudes of some club members which were having seriously negative effect on the club as a whole. I was both surprised and disappointed when I was treated to a “Shoot the Messenger” response by many who simply refused to accept that a problem existed at all, despite the evidence from their own customers. miss suggestions and criticisms as being “Negative”, and therefore unworthy of consideration is a very dangerous practice.

I recently undertook a survey of customers (spectators) for a speedway club which provided some interesting results. The club stood to benefit significantly by

taking on board the analysis, and the feedback from their paying public. There were many simple things that could be immediately addressed, some which were clearly impossible, and other issues which needed some work.

When I presented the findings to the club, there were some seri-

There is a need to accept reality, and act on it. As I said, not everybody gets everything right the first time. And it’s very dangerous to think that we do.

Podger Wins “Uncs” Race.......

S

ome races are just more important to particular people than others and it’s not necessarily about the money. For Cobden’s Leigh Podger it was a family thing, for a man he’d never even met. Two months before Leigh was first brought into this world his Uncle, Trevor Podger was killed in a road accident. Over the years, the race in his Uncle’s honour, the Trevor Podger Memorial for Super Rods, has become entrenched as one of the division’s pre-eminent events and for the past seventeen years, Leigh Podger has been trying with passion to win the event, for the sake of himself and the Podger family.

A delighted and emotional Podger finally realised the highlight of his racing career recently when he took out the time honoured Trevor Podger Memorial at Heytesbury Stockfeed’s Simpson Speedway.

front row, they were followed by Podger, Darryl Nelson, Coad, Deglaitis, George Woolstencroft, Ewan McKenzie, Robert Richardson, Linda Devlin, Allan Pitcher, Peter Bodger and Walsh behind the wheel of the Damian Falkingham car after damaging his own.

It was Cunningham who made the best of the starts leading away, with Howard and Podger in hot pursuit, with Howard moving into first position in the third corner. The midfield battle between Nelson, Coad and Deglaitis proving to be some of the closest racing as the trio sought to elevate themselves. In lap six the race saw its first red light when the car of McKenzie pitched sideways and dug into the track launching into a wild roll.

As the race resumed it was Howard who again controlled the lead with Podger applying heavy pressure to Cunningham and was able to move himself into After a series of heats won by race anything Michael second position in the eighth lap. The lights were again red when the car of Walsh tangled with WoolCunningham (2 wins), Andrew Howard, Corey Deglaitis, Shaun Walsh and Michael Coad the line-up for stencroft flipping the car on its roof. the final saw Cunningham and Howard making up the

Howard held off a persistent Podger with Cunningham in pursuit, while Nelson, Coad and Deglaitis continued to dice and in lap fifteen Coad was able to move into fourth position. The race came to a caution the following lap when the car of Cunningham spun.

From the restart Howard once again led away from Podger with Coad also now joining the fray, with Deglaitis moving past Nelson in lap nineteen and into fourth position. Howard however struck heartbreak

the following lap when transmission failure slowed the car dramatically on the back straight eliminating him from the race.

From here it was Podger leading the way with Coad applying heavy pressure with Deglaitis, Nelson and Pitcher following. At the fall of the chequer it was Podger who was able to secure a narrow win ahead of Coad, Deglaitis, Pitcher, Nelson, Woolstencroft, Devlin and Richardson.

Images: Pirate Media Group

t o h S e l b u o D ow.... h S r a c t n i r Sp

C

ombining both the 410 (open) and 360 Victorian Sprintcar Championships into a single event has become the norm over the past few years and the 2016 version was the same with nothing but Sprintcars on the program at Avalon on January 9th.

360.

The first event to be run was the 360 title and it was a breakthrough win for former Commodore Cup road racer Michael Tancredi, whose last minute decision to contest both events was a winner. Tancredi normally runs open events but he and his crew reaped the rewards for the extra effort.

Tancredi and youngster Jordyn Charge shared the front row but it was all Tancredi as he led from go to whoa to take the win from the charging Brenten Farrer and former champion Brett Milburn who charged from 9th place to 3rd. Paul Solomon came home fourth ahead of Charge who was hampered by a broken front wing in the late going.

Did the fact that the track went black help the former asphalt racer? Possibly, but he still earned pole from his heat and dash when the track wasn’t black. Congratulations team.

One of the pre-event contenders Dion Bellman suffered a locked front brake and spun but the damage

had been done before that when the event format had been determined.

Bellman set fast time in the Hickman #40 and then went forward in his heat and won his dash yet lined up seventh in the feature(!). Naturally car owner Darren Hickman was incensed at the format as were a vast majority of competitors in both divisions.

410.

Two Americans in the form of Randy Hannagan (Ray Scott #55) and Carson Macedo (Dave Challons #45) joined the

field of local and interstate competitors but when all was said and done it was Simpson veteran John Vogels who grabbed his second Victorian Sprintcar Championship to go with his numerous other accolades.

Vogels, who likes nothing more than to back a car in hard, showed his versatility by dominating the black track to lead all the way despite the pressure from Macedo whose challenge ebbed and flowed throughout the event. Grabbing third in this event also was Brett Milburn who again drove from a 9th place starting position to be on the podium as his solid season form continued. “I hate leading� Vogels told SRA Official Kevin McCallum during a red light stoppage caused by the huge wreck of Glen Sutherland. Sutherlands pristine Gambier Earth Movers #20 was turned to trash when a slider from Grant Anderson forced the South Australian to hit the wall hard.

The water/dirt filled barriers on the infield again proved controversial with numerous drivers hitting them as a result of incidents including Tim Van Ginneken and Dion Bellman but none so spectacularly as Luke Walker.

Sprintcars

Americans in Aussie Title...

The long held logic behind not allowing American, or New Zealand racers to compete in the Australian Sprintcar Championship is no longer valid and needs to be changed.

The argument in favour of banning them from competition is that the promoters don’t want an International to win.he coveted Australia 1 and then return home to the USA or NZ leaving the promoters without the drawcard of the National champion competing at their various venues throughout the regular season.

Makes sense from their point of view doesn’t it?

Okay, so think about this. Kerry Madsen has just won his fourth Aussie Title and he well deserved the victory ahead of Brooke Tatnell and Jamie Veal.

Kerry however, was actually born in New Zealand (a minor point t as he grew up in Australia and calls himself an Aussie), but more importantly, he now lives more of his life in the USA than he does in Australia as does second placed and five time champion Brooke Tatnell. Ironically Tatnell only won his first Aussie Title after visa issues prevented him from getting back into the USA as originally planned at the time.

Madsen was on the first plane out of Australia on Monday morning after winning the title on Sunday night headed back to his Knoxville USA base. Tell me how that helps the Australian promoters?

Let me say right here that I am not having a shot at Madsen or Tatnell, as they have both been and are great supporters of Australian speedway and come back annually to their roots and have also given us Aussies someone to admire and be proud of for their achievements in the USA against the worlds best.

We all look forward to them returning home and adding further quality and lustre to our already impressive fields.

But facts are facts, and effectively until Madsen returns here again next summer briefly, there will be no Aussie champ competing on Aussie soil for promoters to use as a draw card, a situation that has occurred numerous times in the past when both Madsen and Tatnell have won Aussie Titles. And what if little brother Ian Madsen was to win it as he almost did two years ago? He too spends more time in the USA than he does down-under.

Why can’t the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia (SCCA), our Sprintcar controlling entity, be progressive like the Speedcar group, and allow Americans to contest the event adding further quality to the field? Surely the fans deserve the best field possible.

Americans Randy Hannagan, Carson Macedo, Danny Dietrich and Danny Smith were all present on the title weekend watching on after having contested the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic when they could have been competing. How much more interest would there be from US drivers if they could come out and do the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and then the Aussie Title, the two biggest paying Sprintcar races in the land, on consecutive weekends? Throw in the Scott Darley challenge on the weekend before and you’ve got the three biggest paying events on consecutive weekends making it very tempting for overseas drivers and local car owners and that’s without including the Australian Open at Brisbane or wherever it may end up in the future.

For sure the Premier Speedway Club may not be too happy if Americans could contest the Tile as it takes away the one point of difference between the Classic and the Title, but the fans wouldn’t care, and in reality the Classic would probably not suffer at all as it is steeped in tradition and is held at the same venue, on roughly the same weekend, every year, whereas the Title is rotated around the country.

Many fans make an annual holiday pilgrimage to the Classic and I don’t think that would change much especially as it’s combined with Avalon and Mt Gambier’s events as well.

The point here is that the Australian Speedcar Championship, which has just had its 75th running, which was won by Kiwi Michael Pickens again by the way, has shown that an International winning the title does not hurt the class at all. It may upset whoever was the first local home behind the International drivers but that really is just an ego thing - to be able to say you were the Aussie champ. But what

about when a local wins it? He can then say he really beat a truly quality international field.

Highline spoke to esteemed crew chief Bill Roberts, a man who has had a lot to do with American drivers over the years, including winning championships in America, about the topic and was caught out by his opinion.

“No, the Aussie title should be only for Aussies.” He stated. “It’s pay-back for those that have supported the sport here in Australia. I know Kerry has just won it and left already but he paid his dues here and is an Aussie citizen. Let’s keep it for the Aussie’s, it’s a badge of honour for them.”

A couple of drivers independently concurred with Roberts with comments like, “The sport needs a local champion. I think this has detracted from speedcar racing as you have no Aussie champ to race the visitors. The fact that a Madsen or Tatnell etc is good enough to grow onto the world scale should not disqualify them from their homeland title of a sport they helped grow.” Or, “These boys are Australians just making a living in the states, be no different if I was working in the states and came and raced back in OZ, when you think of it when we have the state of origin here we have players playing for QLD but play for NSW teams.”

Having said that, many people on social media have been upset by Madsen, who has not proudly adorned his tail tank with the Aus1 on his American based cars, which remember are Australian owned.

With no American sponsor commitments you might have thought that the Aussie owned team would plump for the opportunity to proudly run the number stateside.

The Aussie fans though love the opportunity to see American and Kiwi racers going head to head with our Aussie hero’s and as Garry Rush used to say, “when you beat the Americans at the Classic, you knew you had beaten the best”, not just the best of a restricted category, and after all aren’t we stating these days our Aussie racers are the equal of the Americans? So why should we be afraid of them. Take a look at recent Classic winners. Since 2004 the Aussies have defeated top Americans like Donny Schatz, Shane Stewart, Terry McCarl, Joey Saldana, Tim Kaeding and many others on more occasions than they’ve beaten us. The ratio is actually 3:1 in our favour.

Get into the modern age SCCA and allow Internationals to compete in the 2016 Australian Sprintcar Title. The sport will be better for it.

TRACTION CONTROL

BRETT SWANSON

TRACTION CONTROL

Article By Highline Editor

Brett Swanson

T

raction Control has been an issue simmering away in our sport for quite a few years now, both here and in the USA where the units are manufactured.

Traction control, is legal in some forms of motorsport, but is not legal in Australian or American Sprintcar racing.

Traction control helps limit tyre slip in acceleration on slippery surfaces. In the past, drivers had to feather the gas pedal to prevent the drive wheels from spinning wildly on slippery surfaces. Many of today’s road vehicles employ electronic controls to limit power delivery for the driver, eliminating wheel slip and helping the driver accelerate under control.

Powerful rear-drive cars from the sixties often had a primitive form of traction control called a limited slip rear differential.

Sometimes referred to as Positraction, a limited-slip rear axle will mechanically transfer power to the rear wheel with the most traction, helping to reduce, but not eliminate wheel spin. With a live axle such as that in a Sprintcar it is impossible to transfer uneven

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Davis Technologies “Traction Control is what we do!

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amounts of power from one side to the other. Hence, a more sophisticated system was needed.

Davis Technologies in the USA is a leading manufacturer of traction control products for use in series and applications where traction control is legal.

As the Davis Technologies website explains; “Traction Control is what we do!

Davis Technologies is the industry leader in racing traction control systems. Our sensor less systems have dominated circle track racing for over a decade, and our systems are now dominating all levels of drag racing as well!!

Whatever you race, we have a system for you !

How Does It Work ?

Spinning the tires not only makes the car harder to drive, but it also causes higher tire temps and excessive tire wear.

Lifting off the throttle or counter steering to correct for this 5% mistake, not only upsets the rhythm, it slows the car down!

Typically, if a driver makes a 5% mistake with the throttle, he/she has to correct 2025% to fix it.

But if the tire slip is detected within one cylinder worth of crank rotation, as the Davis Technologies systems do, then a small

reduction in power can reduce or stop the tire slip.

The advantage of traction control is that rather than overpower a race track with horsepower, particularly when the track is hard and slick, you get more traction and therefore more speed over someone who does not have it and is endeavouring to use their own throttle control, to limit wheelspin.

Highline magazine believes to be fact that traction control is in use in Australian Sprintcar racing and in the USA as well but is not going to list or name drivers or teams that are believed or suspected of using it.

What we intend to do is highlight the unfairness of using it and what, if anything, can be done to detect and eradicate it from Australian Speedway racing.

To the casual fan it may be difficult to identify traction control but two things highlight its potential use. One is the engine noise when the engine is in operation and the traction control is being effective and the other is the unequal performance of cars especially as the track slicks off and the fight for traction is

at a premium.

On a fast, juiced up track traction control really has little or no effect as all cars are usually achieving adequate traction from the hooky clay surface. This is when it really comes down to car set-up and driver ability.

As the track slicks off, the benefits become far more obvious and fruitful.

To put it basically, the traction control unit senses that the wheels are starting to spin or slip and temporarily limits the engines output by reducing spark or dropping cylinders to effectively reduce the engines performance therefore reducing wheel spin and improving traction.

From the drivers point of view they merely hold the throttle where they normally would or flat to the boards and let the traction control do the rest. Most of the gain is found from the mid-corner coming off as the driver can get back on the power sooner or maintain his corner speed better and longer and will eke out an advantage coming off the corner compared to someone not using it who is sitting spinning his wheels. The advantage may only be a car length, but can be more depending on the track conditions, but over a race distance a car length per lap can be a huge advantage.

Tell-tale signs of potential traction control in operation are things such as; •

Cars going forward on slick tracks, especially off

the corner, when others are getting slower.

• Cars on the infield not throwing up dust while passing cars on the racing line.

• Engines making a staccato type noise rather than a constant note.

• One car getting an enormous start off the line while the car beside on the same track surface goes nowhere.

• A car not being able to pass a budget racer in an earlier heat on a hooky track but then blitzing the field when the track goes slick – the one time when bulk horsepower is not an advantage.

• Going out last in time trials and setting fast time, when all other times had been getting progressively slower.

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Tell-tale signs of potential traction control in operation are things such as; Going forward on a slick track......

Again these are just indicators and it is not to say that any driver who pulls away from another on a slick track is using traction control but just that the possibility exists and in some cases it is so damn obvious.

Back to the Davis website: Davis Technologies’ Non Self-Learning systems, such as our TMS-750, periodically compare the rate of acceleration of the crankshaft to an Adjustable Fixed Rate (AFR), known as Threshold.

If the Engine RPM rate of change is in excess of that Threshold, then a correction is made; therefore, reducing the slip.

The comparison is made every cylinder (1/4 of a turn of the crank shaft).

Basically, this Patented system looks for spikes in RPM that are caused by wheel slip. If these spikes are large enough, then a correction is made, reducing the slip.

By adjusting the Threshold, the driver can tune the system to the desired “feel”.

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Self-Learning systems, such as our TMS-750SL,TMS-5500-SL, and TMS-9500-SL series, compare the rate of acceleration of the crankshaft to a calculated threshold value that is constantly updated based on the average of the previous measurements.

By adjusting the Mode, the driver can tune the system to the desired “feel”.

The speed and learning capabilities of our systems is what makes Davis Technologies the best racing traction control on the market today. Allowing you to focus on chassis set-up, and not be distracted by This update occurs on every crankshaft revolution. constantly having to adjust your traction control setSo, if the last 1/4 of a turn of the crankshaft (one cyl- tings, as with systems that work on a percentage of inder) is faster than the average of the last full revolu- slip between the front and rear wheels.” tion (4 cylinders), then a slip is detected.

Going into their website and clicking onto the Circle Through this very advanced Patented process, the Track link highlights a number of units of various size, system constantly accounts for track conditions, tire some quite large that would be difficult to use illegalcondition, even driving style to constantly update the ly and some very small such as the TMS-9500-SL internal settings. which is about 12mm x 25mm x 6mm.

These settings are updated as many as 200 times a second to keep the unit calibrated to exactly the right settings regardless of changing conditions.

Basically, the systems learn the average rate of acceleration of the crankshaft, and if there is a sudden spike in RPM above that rate, then a correction is made.

This allows the system to adjust to the Correct settings even if one corner has more grip than another, or even one groove to another.

The user does have an adjustment referred to as “Mode” that sets the overall sensitivity of the system to make a correction based the extent of the tire slip.

The TMS-9500-SL (Short) is our Smallest, most advanced Self-Learning Traction Control system.

Whether you are running Late Models, Modifieds, Sprints, Dirt, or Asphalt, Davis Technologies Traction Control can hook you up.

If you are running an MSD®, HEI, Electronic Points, or Magneto, we have a system for you.

These units are great for Pro level racers running big races where conditions are constantly changing during longer races and the competition is tough, or you just want the advantages of a smaller, lighter unit.

The Self-Learning units automatically adjust to changing conditions, allowing for the fastest lap

times. $7495.00 *May not be legal in some series.

ble or through a secure wireless Bluetooth connection.*

The units can be configured with optional Serial interfaces The small size, simple keypad, and backlit display make changes quick and easy.

Serial Interfaces

While these interfaces are not necessary, they do The serial interface is used to adjust advanced tuning make getting the maximum potential out of your Tracfeatures of the traction control system. tion Control much easier! (*Bluetooth Handheld Cost $449.95) These tuning features can be used to fine tune the system to exactly what the user desires.

Clearly, we can see from the Davis website that the units can be reasonably large or relatively small, say On a circle track systems, this includes being able to about the size of a square nine volt battery, and they tune the engine RPM at which the system becomes need to be attached to the ignition system either exactive, as well as the RPM at which the system can ternally or inside the MSD box as we believe is combe deactivated. mon practice amongst those who use it.

The user can also tune the length of corrections, and the amount of power that is cut on different parts of the race track.

They can also be activated or switched off through the use of a Bluetooth devise such as a mobile phone.

The software based interface is priced at $149.95, and easily installs on your computer. The Traction Control is connected to the computer via a serial cable or through a secure wireless Bluetooth connection. Tuning is achieved through a few simple mouse clicks.

In the past, some drivers have even seen other winning drivers ejecting a small item out of the cockpit as they returned to the pits (either to be recovered later when thrown at a particular location or simply sacrificed because the prize money just won far exceeded the cost of the actual unit) and at Knoxville raceway they supposedly patted down drivers post- race knowing that the item can be easily removed from the dash and stuck in the pocket of a drivers overalls.

The Handheld interface is priced at $299.95, and may be more convenient at the track. The Traction Control is connected to the Handheld via a small ca-

Locally highline believes that some years ago a major event was won by a driver using another drivers’ traction control system after the other driver got drunk and was bragging how his traction control unit had just been used to win the major event.

So there is no denying it exists and it has been stated to Highline Magazine that if you ring Davis Technologies and

“

Who wants to see follow the leader racing a bit like F1....

“

ask them they will tell you who some of the people are in Australia who have purchased these units. Davis would not be aware of whether these units were purchased for use in series’ where traction control is permitted or not nor is it their responsibility to do so.

We asked both the SCCA (Sprintcar Control Council of Australia – the governing body for Sprintcars) and a number of drivers about the topic. The drivers either had no idea or stated there have been rumours about it but had never seen it. The SCCA response via their National Technical Officer stated that “Whilst we believe traction control has the potential to be used in Sprintcar Racing we do not believe it is as prevalent as some may suggest.”

That is a begrudging admission that there are teams currently using it.

So the issue is what to do about it?

Should we allow all competitors to run a basic cheaper unit so that no one has an advantage? No! says a highly respected crew chief with Multiple championships and American experience under his belt who is adamant that some drivers are using the technological aid.

Of the drivers who responded to our question they all agreed unanimously, one even stating “the last thing we would want is to drive around with our foot flat on the floor and having a computer do all the work”.

“The problem as I see it is that it will kill our racing. It will become slot car racing, because no matter how you look at it, in this day and age when time trials set the scene for our racing everyone will set the same time regardless of engine performance because they’ll all just run flat out. Everyone come feature time will be

on a very similar pace so no one will pass anyone. In all situations except drag racing where traction control is legal but it works around other parameters, it doesn’t help the series but rather hurts it,” Stated our respected Crew chief.

“The thing to do here is to get smarter tech people and educate them about what to look for and to get tough and enforce sanctions if found. You only have to punish one person and the rest will think twice about it,” he continued. “And don’t be fooled into thinking there’s no cheating in our sport and that all engines both here and in the USA comply with the 410 cubic inch limit either, but that’s another story.”

“The issue right now is that we’ve got volunteer officials, and a controlling body that is reluctant to look for it even when they’ve been told how to detect it. The SCCA is scared. What do we do if we find it? What if the driver threatens some sort of legal action?”

“The other issue is that with it being Bluetooth enabled, by the time the car gets back to post-race examination, the device has been disabled and won’t show up without the MSD or other system being sent back to the manufacturer for checking, something that is expensive and that would be vehemently resisted by teams and owners.”

Our drivers concurred one stating, “The best racing occurs when the tracks widen up and slow down with limited traction as everyone is scrambling for grip and different set ups create variances where a car can be better in one groove and not another etc. Giving everyone traction control only increases cost and levels out the mechanical smarts, the cars will also end up around the same speed and then there is no passing like a fast flat out track.”

Another suggested it would become worse, “boring actually. Who wants to see follow the leader racing a bit like F1 is at the moment. Our sport is a driver sport not a computer driven race car.”

to the car. (c) Only 1 ignition triggering device allowed to be used with no changeover switch from crank trigger togenerator trigger.

So should the SCCA purchase a stock of MSD’s and randomly hand them out to all competitors at title events and other big shows like a control ECU that we’ve seen in other forms of motorsport?

(d) Tel-Tac, V-Tac electrical components or other RPM recording devices may be subject to inspection fortraction control.

What about the cost?

Who will pay for it? The SCCA?

(e) Any ignition system may be seized for inspection at any time. (f) Penalty will be as per 8.2 FINES AND PENALTIES (iv).

What about when a driver blows up an engine and then seeks recompense from the SCCA blaming it on 8.2 Penalties the supplied MSD? iv) Any sprintcar driver and car owner that prescribes Clearly it is a difficult situation. the use of any engine, car or other component which offends against the SCCA’s published specifications, The SCCA response to our questioning was, as exuses traction control, uses illegal fuel or additives, pected, to refer to the rule book stating refuses to have his/her engine checked, damages or destroys Council property will be disqualified from the “The SCCA has a very direct stand on traction control meeting and will be suspended for a minimum of 9 devices as detailed in the current rule book” months to a maximum of 12 months from that date.)

6.16 (vi) Traction Control (a) Rev. limiter chip must be sealed in with Silastic or the port sealed with Silastic. (b) Only 1 electronic ignition points box allowed fitted

They further stated, “As with all technology based rules the challenge for the sports administrators is to keep abreast of the changes and the methods of detection. The SCCA holds an active role in policing the rule at its events.”

On this point Highline believes that on numerous occasions over the past few years the SCCA has been advised of how to detect the ever evolving methods of secreting traction control devices in Sprintcars but have remained reluctant to actively pursue the issue even once they are aware of detection methods.

“Finally the allowing of traction control in the sport would have a major cost impact in a sport where competitors are already under rewarded for their financial outlay,” was the final comment from the SCCA. As fans we want to be able to walk away from a meeting and say, wow, what a drive driver x did tonight and we want to know that on any given night, the budget guys have some chance of scoring a good result, or maybe even a win because at around $10,000aus for a unit, it’s not the budget guys that are buying this driver supplement.

Sometimes knowledge is a bad thing and right now, to a degree, traction control is ruining some races for Highline Magazine.

Thoughts and comments welcome. Email: pirate@

piratemediagroup.com.au

“

The issue right now is that we’ve got volunteer officials, and a controlling body that is reluctant to look for it even when they’ve been told how to detect it.

The SCCA is scared!

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“As with many technical “cheats” the SCCA welcomes competitors and car owners to actively report suspected breaches and also make our technical team aware of any new methods of traction control being used.”

VALE

It is with great sadness that Highline Magazine pays its respects to a quartet of speedway racers who have recently passed away.

While most had lived a good life of racing one was just starting out on his lifes journey before being taken too soon.

Alan James “Jim” Knight Highline Magazine was sad to learn of the passing of another of Speedways old steerers with the recent death of Alan James “Jim” Knight after a long battle with cancer.

Jim was a racer back in the day when Super Modifieds were the big banger class and where he campaigned his always beautifully presented #7.

Jim was part of the scene when the likes of Graeme McCubbin, Bill Willis, Ron Smith and co were the hot dogs at venues like Redline Raceway and Monza Park.

After retiring from speedway Jim focused on his family and building the highly successful Flow Controlled

Transport Company which then spawned Flocon Engineering on the back of his unique Australian Design Award winning road maintenance spreaders which are now sold all around the world.

Some years later after the death of his beloved wife and mother of his sons Steve and Peter, Jim was drawn back to speedway with a two car team for both his boys.

As always both cars were immaculate and both drivers proved to be capable steerers of a Sprintcar with each tasting success.

American ace Chad Kemenah became a regular big race driver of one of the Knight family cars and established a strong bond with Steve in particular until Steve’s premature death.

For Jim, the Kemenah deal was more about mates having fun together than bringing in a hired gun to win the big races. There was absolutely no pressure on Kemenah to win except from himself.

Jim was also instrumental in helping the Sprintcar Racing Association out of a precarious financial position as he and Ray Solomon put in a

massive personal and financial effort to arrest the clubs slide and return it to a healthy bank balance.

Jim was at times an abrasive character as he liked to do things his way and to the fullest but always with the best intentions. This often caused some friction between individuals but the long goal was ultimately the best outcome. If some feathers had to be ruffled along the way, so be it.

Jim’s return to racing also re-established links with old friends and eventually he established a relationship with Megan Evans, daughter of uber promoter Bill Evans and mother of racer Daryn Maggs.

An aneurism suffered while at an SRA club meeting couldn’t claim him some years back but sadly, cancer eventually did.

Personally, I was witness to Jim’s personal efforts to support the SRA when it needed it most and was glad to call him a caring and generous friend. You will be sadly missed by all who knew you.

Braeden “Skip” Palmer/Laxton Victorian speedcar racer Braeden “Skip” Palmer/Laxton was sadly killed in a road car accident recently. Braeden who was known by both surnames Palmer and Laxton but universally as Skip, died when his car crashed into a parked truck early on Monday morning (15th February) less than 48 hours after his most recent race at Avalon Raceway.

Braeden had competed Saturday night (13th February) in the SSS Speedcar round at Avalon raceway in the familiar “Fluxy” Fitzgerald #18 midget where he did not have a great night of competition.

Braeden loved his speedcar racing and his pinnacle was a feature win at Darlington’s Mid-Western Raceway last season.

A young man taken too soon.

Allan Luscombe Sadly, we record the passing of another of our senior

statesmen of speedway, with the recent death of Allan Luscombe.

Allan is possibly best remembered for his contributions to speedway by way of Presidency of both the Nagambie and Euroa Speedway clubs in the 1970s.

However, there was a lot more behind the scenes to Allan Luscombe.

Around 1974 Allan had put together a new and exciting racing class of sedans (then called saloons) called ASCA, an acronym for “American Saloon Cars of Australia” The class consisted of large American Saloons, barred to Victorian Speedways Council specifications, and immaculately prepared. They were an instant crown pleaser, yet the VSC rejected their application for affiliation out of hand!

raced together with the XU1 Toranas, and V8. And the old grey Holdens were simply not competitive.

Allan himself developed some extremely potent cars in this class, including an FJ, and later an EJ Holden. Always black, numbered N68. The FJ still exists somewhere.

He also then turned his love of the FJ into a class The North Eastern Hot Rod Association (NEHRA) up- called “Humpy Holdens”, consisting of FX and FJ Holdens, racing largely as a vintage class with a view set VSC mightily by stating they would accept them to preserving the old cars for racing prosperity. as an affiliated class to NEHRA, thereby effectively by-passing VSC. Allan became President of the Nagambie Speedway club, and was effective in introducing some progresThe ASCAs, including Allan is his Chev Chevelle, raced at many tracks around the area with great suc- sive policies, which helped the club significantly. It was when he moved his work-place to Euroa though, cess. that his entrepreneurial expertise really became evident.

Allan seemed to have a gift of inventing speedway classes!

Probably the last President of the Euroa Speedway Club, Allan inherited the difficult job of trying It was at his suggestion that the “B Modifieds” were incorporated as a class into NEHRA. This class con- to breathe new life into an iconic club in decline for a variety of reasons. In response, Allan correctly sisted mainly of modified grey motor Holdens, with several competitive minis, grouped into a racing class identified some of the critical factors, and set about of their own. Racers in this class had previously been attempting to overcome them. Unfortunately, a rathfrustrated by the fact that, as “modified” saloons, they er large project consisting of the construction of the

Hume Freeway passing through a part of the racetrack saw the ultimate demise of the club.

Allan Luscombe thereby achieved a number of ac-

tions which forever marked him as a visionary thinker, and major contributor to speedway over a number of decades. – Ray Read.

Col Parish The Wangaratta Motor Sports Club was created in 1968, and Col was a founding member. Initially, club members raced on a piece of council land but they needed a permanent home. Colin, together with other members secured this site from the Recreation Reserve Committee and the first track was launched in 1971, as a short circuit venue, rather than the usual oval track and running in the opposite direction.

In 1972 he was one of the few people at that stage who were pushing for greater co-operation and professionalism in our sport.

and a Life Member. Colin worked hard behind the scenes for both the Wangaratta club, and the Speedway environment in general.

Throughout his life Col was a strong sponsor of the Wangaratta Motor Sports Club via his business of Parish Automotive Engineering.

Moving on from Speedway, Col became involved (involved is a completely inadequate word) in V8 Superboat Racing, and went on to make his mark as President, and in the words of others: “… a man widely regarded as the father of modern day V8 Superboats.”

Colin Parish was one of those very rare people who Col’s early racing career started in an FJ Holden. He possessed just the right mix of personal qualities. An progressed to an FC, and then to an LJ Torana which excellent administrator, without doubt a great engineer, an entrepreneurial people person, and a visionhe raced for 3 years. Col then built the A9X Hatchback for which he was famous. The car was powered ary who knew where he wanted to go, and to take by a Formula 5000 V8 engine, and was generally ac- others with him into the future. – Ray Read. cepted as one of the best presented cars in Victoria.

Highline Magazine extends its deepest condolences to family and friends of all of our recently departed But for Col, Speedway wasn’t just about driving. He racing brothers. was one of those rare breeds of racing enthusiasts who also made their mark as an excellent speedway R.I.P Jim, Braeden, Alan and Col. administrator. He became President of the WMSC,

n I y s s a l C n i l r Ca n i W e l t i T

M

ark Carlin recently proved beyond a doubt that he is one of Australia’s best Modified Sedan drivers, when he won his third Victorian Modified Sedan Title, at the Heartland Raceway, Moama.

It was not for the fact that Carlin won, it was how he did it.

Carlin qualified fifteenth in the twenty four car field for

the thirty five lap main event, which saw Kye Walters and Russell Bent start on the front row, with Brenton Mills and former winner Darren Cockerill on row two.

Walters got the better of the opening exchanges leading Bent, Mills and Cockerill, while Carlin got a good start, jumping three positions on the opening lap, before dropping to thirteenth on lap two.

Carlin’s progress through the field was swift, moving to tenth by lap five, and after a battle with another former champion, Graham West who qualified fifth, Carlin moved to eighth on lap twelve.

Meanwhile, Kye Walters had opened a handy lead, but that was extinguished with a restart which would benefit Carlin.

Despite Walters slipping to fourth, Carlin didn’t get the concluding the stages all his own way, defeating Brenton Mills by a mere 0.458, while Chrystie who finished third, just 0.631 off winning the event himself. In a blanket finish, Walters would finish fourth, one second behind Carlin.

In a brilliant spectacle, seventeen drivers finished the gruelling A Main, sixteen on the lead lap.

For Carlin, by winning his third Victorian Title, it takes By lap fifteen, Carlin had also passed Leigh Bourke his Tally to three National Titles and six State Title and Greg Stevenson to move to sixth, while a lap victories. later he had passed Cockerill and Bent to move to fourth, as Walters, Mills and Brody Chrystie who had A Main – 35 Laps: 1. V12 Mark Carlin, 2. V14 Brenton Mills, 3. V32 Brody Chrystie, 4. V46 Kye Walters, moved to third.

5. V16 Russell Felsovary, 6. ACT3 Greg Stevenson, Shortly after Chrystie succumbed to Carlin who took 7. V13 Russell Bent, 8. V71 Darren Cockerill, 9. V56 Graham West, 10. Q28 Shannon Marsden, 11. V9 third place, and with fifteen laps remaining the three times Australian Champion moved to second, demot- Leigh Bourke, 12. V10 Trevor Mills, 13. V36 Kellie Atkins, 14. V17 Jeff Leahy, 15. V53 Daniel Simpson, ing Mills to third.

16. V2 Jeremy McClure, 17. V1 Martin Hawson (33 laps), 18. V22 Chris Catley (33), 19. V6 Wade McIn what was turning into a thrilling finish with one second separating the top four, Walters narrowly led Carthy (18), 20. V4 John Benson (18), 21. V47 Garry Monti (12), 22. V121 Jacob Mills (10), 23. V5 Ricky Carlin, Chrystie and Mills with ten laps remaining.

Clark (9), 24. V88 Ty Galley (0). Time: No Time, WinFor Walters though, it was not to be, as Carlin took ning Margin: 0.458, Fastest Lap: 20.713 V46 Kye the lead, as Walters slipped from first to fourth in a Walters matter of laps.

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