GILLMAN SPEEDWAY REMEMBERS BOB WHITE

Story by: Mark Neale

The running of the fifth Bob White Cup will be held at Gillman Speedway in South Australia Saturday night, February 11.

Bob White passed away in 2016 due to illness, but his legacy lives on at Gillman Speedway with the BOB WHITE VIP ROOM named after him in acknowledgement of all the many countless hours he put in over many years serving as track electrician handling all general maintenance at the venue – even the car park lights.

He was always one of the first to arrive at the venue in the morning of the meeting and often one of the last to leave and the man who locked the gates at the stadium the following morning at around 1.30am.

He was the right hand man for long standing track manager Dave Parker and, along with a group of dedicated and loyal volunteers, put in plenty of hard work making Gillman Speedway what it is today – Australia’s best speedway bike venue!

Bob was a former Sidecar rider, competing mainly in the Northern Territory after being a childhood fan of the famous Rowley Park Speedway before it closed.

He was a member of the Ron Parker and current day rider Shane Rudloff’s pit crew in the early 2000s and travelled all over Australia.

Not only did Bob put in many hours of hard work at Gillman he also welcomed a host of interstate and overseas riders to his house and workshop during their stay in Adelaide.

They included five times Australian champion Glenn O’Brien, nine times Queensland Champion Gary Moon, winner of the first three Bob White Cups, Darrin Treloar,  and Americans Joe Jones and Brian Motts, to name just a few.

When Bob passed away in 2016 he left money to the club which they used to purchas new lights, solar panels and extend the VIP room (BOB WHITE VIP ROOM.)

When the Gillman calendar is released each year, eleven times Australian Champion and Australia’s most successful competitor of all time Darrin Treloar marks it in his diary and leaves no stone unturned to make sure he clears his racing schedule so he can nominate for this prestigious event which means so much to him and his team as Darrin, and so many others, pay respect to the legendary Bob White.

BOB WHITE CUP HONOR ROLL

2019 1ST Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox

2020 1ST Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox

2021 1ST Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox

2022 1ST Mark Mitchell/Tony Carter