SPEEDWAY

Shirley O'Brien has been into Speedway for quite some time now. She tells of its early days and what the sport means today.
Jane Carragher was also there to tell her side of the story - but Shirley was off racing first...

When we came here thirty-two years ago they used the old horse racing track at the five mile for Speedway. Bikes used to come over from Mt Isa. Earlier than that there was a car track at the site of the old pistol club.
There was also a little bit of a Speedway track out at the Orlando Mine. The Mine manager put this in because all the guys out there were rev heads.
In the sixties, baseball and basketball were played in an area off the north end of Schmidt Street until Purkis Reserve was finished and they moved over there. That was when Errol Cutler, who was the District Officer at the time, was approached about constructing a Speedway on that land.
The very first Speedway in Tennant Creek though was actually a rough track out at Nobles Nob, put in there in the 50s.
Anyway, the Speedway behind the Eldorado Motel was up and running about 23 years ago. In the early eighties the government at the time decided to extend the airport grounds. The Tennant Creek Motor Cycle Club as it was called then, petitioned for land to build a permanent Speedway track. This land is sight of the present track. So there's a fair amount of history in the evolution of speedway in Tennant Creek.
In one particularly successful year, we held every Speedway State Title for the Northern Territory - in Tennant Creek. We've always had the best track in the Territory.
We've had a huge combination of racing drivers and riders here. We've had Australian Champions in all fields, not just bikes, we've had the Super Saloons, Australian Champions and Sprint cars come from all over and they all leave saying how brilliant the track is as well as the people. They love coming here because of the hospitality. We've had Ivan Mauger here six times and he's a nine times World Champion.
I love Speedway and I've been involved with it for about 28 years.
I got into the official side of it when my son was racing, so I've been just about everything. I got my first license 16 years ago and that was for Speedway commentator. I was the first woman in the Northern Territory to be licensed to talk! I never let anyone forget that, if they say, "you're talking too much," I can say, "I've got a license to talk, have you got one!".
I think I was the third or fourth woman in Australia to have a license to commentate. From there I went to Judge timekeeping, I've been clerk of the course and now I'm a Grade two referee which entitles me to referee at local meetings, inter-town meetings and to assist at State Titles.
Our licensing in through Motorcycling Australia and bike-style Speedway is the only type of Speedway where you can start as a State Champion or a local Champion and go through to a World Championship. With Solo riding, if you come first or second in your State Title, you can progress to the Australian Titles and if you come in the top three there, you can progress to the Commonwealth Titles and from there you can head overseas and get in the World Grand Prix and possibly become a World Champion. This is the only type of Speedway where you can do that.

Janelle's story:
I'm a passenger, I swing on the sidecar with my husband. I'm also a licensed official.
I was one of the first women to swing on a side car in the Northern Territory but Fran Steel was the first women passenger in Tennant Creek.
We were racing solid for seven years until we had an accident. Since then we've just dabbled in it every year - so that's about 12 years. I think it's like anything, you enjoy it, you really do. There's no money in it, you pay when you go through the gate to compete, but you just enjoy it.
I started as a passenger when my brother, who had been on the bike with Brian, had an accident and chipped a bone in his foot and needed and operation. They said to me, "Oh you can do it".
"Gee thanks!" was what I said the first time!
My son was a year old then. When I had Melody, she was a week old and I went straight back to it. We've carted them all over Australia racing Speedway - keep your bags packed!!
It's a family sport, people are very, very good, it doesn't matter how rough they look or act, they're very good family people, and we promote it as a family sport.
We grew up with Dad who was a mechanic by trade. Dad dabbled in everything so we had Go-karts when we kids. We got motorbikes as we started to get older because we were out in the bush. That's how we learnt to drive and to hook on a trailer and put the boat on and go out fishing and things like that.
You learn a lot too when you're rebuilding and doing things yourself so it doesn't cost you a million dollars. You don't need as much money in a sport if you learn to do some of the work yourself.
The mateship that you end up with out of Speedway is really something worth having all your life and you do have it all your life. Even as you start to get older, side cars in particular, are still anybody's sport - you don't have to be a nineteen-year-old to participate. You're still an active competitor and able to still be up there with the others. A lot retire, not fully, but stop doing competitive racing, where before they may have been doing 20 or 30 meetings a year and then they'll just do four or five, and take the family. You're still doing something that feels worthwhile.

Shirley:
Speedway is family orientated and in the car classes we had the C graders driving. They were kids who weren't old enough to get a license. Once anyone was old enough to get a licence to drive on the road then they couldn't be in this class. So we had kids who were 14, 15 and up to 16 who learnt to drive on the track and a lot of them are now driving in the senior classes.
We've got three little guys of an average age of six that are out there on their pee wees and they're learning machine control. The young men and girls who have come up through C Grade through the car side of it, have learnt the same things.

Janelle:
That's right because you have nothing but the best safety equipment and gear. There are rules and regulations that are governed for your safety and to look after you, its zero alcohol so it's a much better place to go and get your license on and for you to learn what you're doing.

Shirley:
It probably wouldn't hurt for some of these "rev heads" that we've got running around the streets today to be put on a track!