Behind the fast and furious action, speedway is one big family
It’s raw, it’s loud, it’s in your face. Saturday nights are an institution at Valvoline Raceway. We went behind the scenes to meet the people who make the speedway tick.
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The sleeping giant of Western Sydney is about to wake.
When the lights come on at Valvoline Raceway tonight, racing fans from across the country will be trackside to watch the 2019-2020 speedway season roar into action.
From the old school sprintcars to the crowd-pleasing Demolition Derby, tonight’s Lord Mayor’s Cup marks the start of one the most ambitious seasons yet at the iconic Granville clayway.
Featuring a jam-packed program of 40 events including three massive weeks of racing over Christmas New Year and the Ultimate Speedway Nationals, the return of the Saturday night institution has been highly anticipated.
Despite its reputation as a raucous, muddy sport, to insiders speedway is a family affair, and generations of kids who grew up around the track will be filling the stands or joining the small army of people behind the scenes on opening night.
The Daily Telegraph went trackside to meet the people who make the speedway tick.
THE VOLUNTEER
In 1976, when Lance Wilson heard race driver Sid Hopping was building a speedway track at the old Granville Showground, he phoned him up and asked for a job.
He landed a gig as a runner, carrying messages from the pit to the commentary box, buying a brand new pair of white Amco jeans for opening night.
The jeans are gone, but his love for speedway remains and the 65-year-old Cranbrook native is one of two original volunteers still working Saturday nights at the raceway, the other is 82-year-old ‘Dutchie’ on the crash crew.
From the front gates to the finish line, there’s no corner of the venue he doesn’t know, and in his four decades of volunteering, he’s watched the sport transform.
“Back in the day in the 1960s and 70s, speedway was classed as the dirty form of sport, that is, you go there and come home dirty covered in mud and dust and clay,” he said.
“But a sprint car or even a sedan car today is as technical as a Formula One car in regards to the set up, the engines that are built, the chassis designs and the aerodynamics.”
As a motorsport, speedway stands out because of the skill required on the clay track which changes every lap, he said.
“It can go from wet and muddy to black and slick and drivers have to adjust their cars to conditions,” he said.
“That skill combined with the incredible speed and agility of drivers is second to none.
“It’s fast, it’s furious, the passing manoeuvres can have the hair on your arm standing up. And today with the younger drivers coming through, they’re a lot quicker than 10 or 20 years ago so you have to have razor sharp reflexes.”
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RACER TURNED PIT REPORTER
For 28-year-old Mikaela Blyton, there’s nothing better than frocking up in a fire retardant suit and getting behind the wheel of a wingless race car.
Part of a strong contingent of female drivers who’ve been giving men hell on the track for years, Blyton basically grew up in a four car race team — her dad is veteran driver Mark Blyton, and brothers Marshall and Jamison also compete.
“He has never played sport in his life, and has zero interest,” she said of her dad. “It is motorsports through and through, which has a lot to do with the way we are.”
Blyton, who began racing junior cars at just 14, and went on to drive wingless cars for Blyton Motorsports, was a member of the 2014 Speedway Australia Rising Star Program.
“When I turned 18, Dad didn’t want me to go the pub so he bought me a race car instead, that way he’d know where I was on Saturday nights,” said the Dubbo-born mum of two.
Speedway doesn’t have gender-based races so she frequently raced against her own family.
“There’s always been a bit of a stigma that the women don’t go as hard as men, but I was the only girl in my family. When I went into it, when you put the helmet on and you’re in a race, it really didn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl,” she said.
Married to driver Blake Darcy, Blyton has taken some time out to raise daughters Callie, 3, and Addie, eight months, spending the past few years on the hill as a spectator.
But this year, she finally returns to the thick of it as a pit reporter at Valvoline Raceway.
“I’ll be a little out of my comfort zone,” she laughed. “But I’ve spent my whole life in the pits down with the cars. It will be good to get back in there.”
THE SUPERFAN
Shaun McDonald, 39, of Northmead, is the definition of a superfan. His father started taking him to meets at Parramatta when he was just one year old and he’s been going ever since.
These days, he doesn’t just watch the sport, he’s part of the family at Valvoline Raceway.
A writer, stats man, PR guy and program designer, he mans the race night pit box and is secretary of NSW Sprint Car Club. That’s on top of his full time storeman job.
“I just love the sport, my whole life is basically entrenched in the sport,” he said.
“It’s the friendships you make, the excitement of the racing and the bravery of the drivers.”
His intense love of speedway saw him spend three years compiling stats on every main event race at the raceway since 1977, although he’s never been keen to get behind the wheel.
“Just seeing what the drivers do especially the sprint car drivers is just breathtaking,” he said. “It’s hard to explain, but how someone can be that good at going that fast and going sideways with 23 other cars on an oval which is 460m long, it’s quite insane.”
THE WRITER
Dennis Newlyn was born into speedway. His parents Rex and Sylvia met through the sport and at three weeks old, he spent his first race meet in a bassinet at Sydney Showground.
Inheriting both his grandfather and father’s love for the sport, Newlyn’s has played a vital role documenting it as the nation’s leading oval track journalist.
For 53 years he’s written for national and international publications, his contribution so valued by the speedway community, at his 70th birthday attended by a who’s who in the sport, he was gifted a return ticket to the US to attend the 2019 Indianapolis 500.
The kicker wasn’t just the trip — he was interviewed on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network pre-race show, and broadcast live across the country.
It was the same network he listened to on a short-wave radio as a boy.
“It was the highlight of my life!” he said.
Newlyn said it’s not only the brilliance of drivers and the intensity of competition that keeps him coming back, but the family connections that make the sport strong.
“There are thousands upon thousands of people in Sydney who relate to speedway. To me, it’s the sleeping giant of Western Sydney,” he said.
“I’m only one of a massive number of people that have family in speedway that goes right back decades and decades. The people are the sport.”
THE DRIVER
If there’s one man itching for speedway season to start, it’s 28-year-old driver Matt Jackson.
The current NSW and South Australian Speedcar Champion, the Bonnyrigg local has spent the off-season rebuilding his car while trying to stay fit ahead of his first race tonight.
Speedcar races aren’t long, but the intense focus required demands training, even the strength of neck muscles to hold a helmet up under G forces must be maintained. There are also no practice sessions, most drivers can’t afford to rent a private track, so technical and physical preparation is everything.
A third generation driver, Jackson will be driving car 97 in the Cejn Speedcar Association Championship tonight, the same number his dad drove.
A dedicated team of friends and family get him on the track each year — speedcar drivers can’t even do their seatbelt up without help — but when the race begins, he’s on his own.
“It’s completely on you, you’re just strapped in, there’s no help,” he said.
“You’ve got no rear vision mirrors, so drivers don’t know if someone’s catching them from behind, if someone’s about to pass.
“You’ve got to really have a sixth sense of what’s happening on the track.”
Jackson is racing 35 meets this season, and has big ambitions in the sport.
He’s nervous, but the thrill of being in the driver’s seat is incomparable.
“It’s trying to control something when you’re out of control because you are on the absolute edge when you’re in the car,” he said.
“It’s motorsport. It’s raw, it’s loud, it’s fast, it’s in your face. There’s never a dull moment.”
Valvoline Raceway’s full season calendar can be found at www.valvolineraceway.com.au
Valvoline Raceway is at 21 Wentworth Street Granville.