The Sydney Showground in the sixties was my stomping ground and the foundation for my appreciation of all motorsport.
Who could forget midget speedcar heroes like Johnny Stewart, 'Leadfoot' Lenny Brock, The Cuneen brothers, Barry Butterworth, Jeff Freeman, the great Bob Tattersall and many more and the two wheeled racers like Jim Airey, Bob Sharp, Cec Platt, John Langfield and a bunch more.
In my 59 years I've never experienced another atmosphere as electric that of the 'Showy'. When those lights went on and the first white overalled pit pusher would push his rider and bike out the big wooden gate of the pit area my skin would tingle and not stop until I got off the 394 La Perouse bus after the ride home.
My lady and I went to the Fox Studios craft markets a couple of Sundays ago and while devouring a tasty double shot skinny mocha latte and blueberry muffin on what used to be the infield of the old track I found my head being flooded by some great memories of a time in Speedways history that will never be repeated. Even Diane who has no interest whatsoever in motorsport fondly remembered the excitement of spending Saturday night at the 'Showy Speedway' with her brothers when she was a kid.
I'm so glad I lived during an era that hosted the worlds greatest speedway.
l-r Jim Airey,Brian Collins, Geoff Curtis l-r Airey,Collins, Bob Sharpe Cec Platt
Today, Klub Kevlars Chris Ellis owns the Jawas ridden by Jim Airey and Geoff Curtis. The Airey bike is distinctive as it ran McGee fuel injection and the machining to accept the Hilborn fuel pump is still evident on the end of the camshaft housing. Curtis was killed on his bike (liverpool?) and still has the damage from it's final ride and Curtis's name plate on the rear guard. Both bikes will be ridden for the first time in 30 years at the Broadford Bonanza next year by both Chris and Jonesy. Cec is a good mate and is a regular at Nepean speedway and dirt track days. He was a stalwart of the 2 valve vintage long track in the 90's and his dices with John Langfield at the early Bathurst Long Track events showed that Cec was one of the best riders never to achieve his full potential. When most riders who showed a bit of potential went to England to further their trade, Cec took a different tack and went to America and was an early star at places like Costa Mesa and San Bernadino. His son Ty followed in his dads footsteps and also raced solos both here and in the USA where he actually held the lap record on the tight Costa Mesa track for a while.
