SYDNEY SHOWGROUND REUNION – A SPECIAL DAY!

Feature Photo: by Wayne Meyer:… From left to right: Trevor Harding, Sid Hopping and 1993 World Solo Champion Sam Ermolenko (USA) at the Sydney Showground reunion. Photo: Wayne Meyer.

They came from near and far – America’s 1993 World Solo Champion Sam Ermolenko even travelled across the Pacific – to be a part of the Sydney Showground Speedway reunion on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

The crowd was estimated at close to 200 who gathered in the function room of Watson’s Hotel and eatery in the ground’s Entertainment Quarter precinct to reunite, recall, relive, remember and certainly reminisce about the old days – the times that made the world famous Sydney Showground Speedway at inner city Moore Park the place to be every every summer Saturday night.

It was the biggest show in town in decades past before the sport moved out of the ground when Fox Studios Australia moved in, took over the facility, and brought the curtain down on 70 years of speedway history. 

But, every now and then, it’s good to go back in time and remember in a nostalgic manner akin to the famous words of Barbra Streisand’s smash hit “The Way We Were” – which could have been the appropriate theme song for the day.

The man who won the very last race at the Sydney Showground – the International Speedcar Derby – on April 27, 1996, ten times Australian Sprintcar Champion Garry Rush, attended.  The last Sydney Showground promoter Dave Lander also was in the big crowd. Former Test rider and a man who was a part of the 1988 revival of speedway at the Showground, Trevor Harding, was there.

Ermolenko was the special guest in a great day organised by Sydney Speedway T-shirt merchandiser Wayne Meyer. 

From ‘sixties Midget names Howard Revell, Peter Bowland, Kevin Gormly, Ray Redding, Gordon Benny to ‘seventies Showground drivers Jack Porritt, Peter Nunn, and Terry King to 1991 Australian Speedcar GP winner Aaron Benny, they were joined by the likes of triple Australian Sidecar Champion Phil McCurtayne, former Kiwi Solo rider, three time New Zealand Champion, 1978 Australasian Champion, 1987 Overseas Champion and multi World Finalist Mitch Shirra. Also in attendance was former Sidecar passenger turned Sidecar rider before he moved on to Super Modifieds, Sid Hopping, and sedan National Champion David House amongst over 50 former competitors on hand. The roll call was impressive. 

Age waits for no man (or woman) and so it was on this day as compatriots and former racing opponents swapped yarns. 

The hair may have got thinner, turned grey and some even had lost a head full of hair, the waist line expanded to oversize, but it didn’t matter. A stroll around the pebble concrete walkway on the perimeter of the arena infield – which represents where the track formerly existed – even left a few gasping for breath! 

Some found the stair climb to the second level function room a stamina test of its own kind courtesy of a distinct lack of fitness and took the elevator instead. 

Regardless of how they got to the designated meeting point, everyone was together in a spirit of camaraderie that made this such a very special and wonderful day. 

A static display of cars and bikes was highlighted with the appearance of the beautifully restored #75 Jeff Freeman driven Don Mackay Offy Midget now owned by former driver Rod Bowen.

Photographic highlights from the day by: …Keith Nicholls

The Wells #54 car and the Mackay Offy in which Jeff Freeman drove to victory in the 1965 Australian Speedcar Grand Prix at the Sydney Showground on March 6, 1965, were features of the car and bike static display at the Sydney Showground reunion.

A group photograph of some of the people who attended.

Vintage speedway identities Greg Mann (left) and Steve Magro.

Former solo rider and bike engine builder Larry Simons (left) catches up with Joe Tatnell. 

Former speedcar driver Ray Redding who drove one of the best turned out Holdens that ever raced at the Sydney Showground duirng the ‘sixties.

Speedcar drivers from decades past, from left to right, Gordon Benny, Howard Revell and Ray Warner.

Gary Park, son of sixties speedcar star Kevin Park, with former sidecar rider-super modified competitor and founding Parramatta City Raceway promoter Sid Hopping.

Ten times Australian Sprintcar Champion and the man who won the last race at the Sydney Showground the International Speedcar Derby on April 27, 1996 – Garry Rush, pictured with Speedway Classics magazine publisher Dennis Newlyn. 

The previous week at the Sydney Showground Garry took out the time honoured Australian Speedcar Grand Prix as part of the Final Salute two weeks that brought down the curtain on 70 years of history at the Sydney Showground.

From left to right: Stuart Telfer, Garry Rush, Dennis Newlyn and the reunion day’s MC Phil Hall.