Series Information

Midget speedcar racing began in Brisbane on Saturday February 22, 1936, when a couple of Englishmen and some drivers from interstate took to the dirt track at the Exhibition Grounds. It was the start of something that continues today, nine decades later. T he meeting was promoted by Frank Arthur and Bert Pryor along with their associates Vic Huxley and Roy Starfield.

The Englishmen were Jean Reville (actual name Eric Gene Reville) and Bud Stanley whose name was really Stanley Budd with Reville supplying both their cars. The interstate contingent was comprised of many of the pioneers of the sport in Australia including Charlie Spurgeon and Bill Sticpewich. Both of whom had previously raced speedway motorcycles.

The cars were mainly powered by motorcycle engines with some driving the front wheels.and others with a chain driving the rear wheels. The problem with front -wheel drive was they could drive over the car in front or climb the fence. Within a couple of year s, they had been banned.
Midgets, as they were called at the time, first raced in Australia at the Olympic Park track in Melbourne during December 1934. Sydney followed at Wentworth Park in 1935 and Camden Park in Adelaide later the same year. The first ‘official’ Australian Midge t Car Championship was held at Olympic Park on May 3, 1935, with Bob Finlay crowned the first champion. Cars had raced on the dirt speedway track at Davies Park at West End in Brisbane in the late 1920s, but they were small sedans and raced clockwise.

There were only five meetings in the Brisbane season with the motorcycles also racing at some of the shows. Renowned American stuntman Orren ‘Putt’ Mossman and his troupe appeared at the last show on Monday March 23 after rain had postponed the meeting fro m the previous Saturday.

Reville showed that he was a very accomplished driver winning many of his races with Stanley also tasting success. Others to shine were Sticpewich (JAP), Spurgeon (Harley -Davidson), Lance Wilson and Norm French in his Amilcar powered machine. There was only one Brisbane driver during this season with Bill Jeffers in a Rudge powered car from the south. Jeffers owned a motorcycle shop and was a successful sidecar racer. One interesting car was the machine used by Mark Cox. Cox was a blacksmith and had built h is own car utilising a rotary hoe engine. After some fine tuning the car was competitive.
Midget racing was also introduced to Rockhampton in 1936 with the first meeting on Thursday October 22, at the local showground. The promoter was Mr B Kemp who had four midgets and six motorcycles along with some cyclists to entertain the crowd. The carsh ad been built in Sydney by Frank Stewart who took the cars to Rocky and stayed to drive one. Six fortnightly meetings were held with Stewart eventually taking over as promoter.

Today we take visiting American drivers for granted as usually there is at least one at our major Australian meetings. Back in the 1930s it was no different. Paul Swedberg and Beale Simmons ventured here in 1939 and returned the following year. Swedberg br ought the first Offy powered car to Australia in 1940 and eventually sold it to Wally Read in Sydney. Unfortunately, the Yanks didn’t make it to Brisbane, and we would have to wait until post WW II to see any American visitors. Swedberg and Simmons had pas sed by then with the former killed in a racing accident in California in 1946 while the latter was a victim of the war.

What happened to the Englishmen? At the end of the tour Reville sold his cars to a Melbourne buyer. Stanley returned home while Reville settled in Brisbane. He purchased a reasonably large property on the top of the big hill on Cavendish Road Mt Gravatt, o pposite the college, as you travel from Creek Road.

This was the end of speedcar racing in Brisbane for the time being and with Australia involved in the War from 1939, speedway was not run on a regular basis until after the hostilities. There was also a chance that with no local cars that it would be the e nd of it, or would it?
What occurred when speedway resumed in Brisbane in 1946 was extraordinary. The next chapter ‘The 1940s – Boom Time’ will cover what was a very exciting time in Brisbane speedcar racing.

Acknowledgement and thanks Barry Lane

We continue our story about the 90 year journey of speedcar racing in Queensland. Our next chapter covers the tremendous popularity of speedcar racing after World War II. 1940s – BOOM TIME

In early 1946 the hostilities of World War II were winding down and people were getting back to normal life. During the War any kind entertainment was limited so when it was announced that speedway would return to the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds on March 9 , 1946, with a program of speedcar racing, the promoters knew they were guaranteed a big crowd.

However, it wasn’t a big crowd, it was a HUGE crowd! There were so many people they forced the gates open and even though the Police tried to restore order, they were hopelessly outnumbered. The Police wouldn’t allow the crowded trams to stop as they would only add to the problem. The newspapers reported there were between 40 and 50 thousand people on the grounds. They were up the light towers, the trees and on the roof of buildings, anywhere they could see the action.
The program consisted of speedcar racing along with cycling and trotting events. The seven speedcar drivers were Ray Revell, George Bonser, Johnny Read, Jim Cross, Bob Playfair, Belf Jones and Fred Barker, all from Sydney. Promoter Frank Arthur had contrac ted them to stay in Brisbane for a couple of months to establish the sport here.

Another attraction on the first night was the appearance of the ‘Rocket Car’ which was Revell’s car fitted with multiple rockets that looked spectacular when fired as he trave lled around the track at speed. There was no feature race on the opening night with Revell the winner of the first feature race, 10 laps, the following week. Revell had been racing since the late 1930s and was regarded as one of the best in the country. Two New Zealanders also came to Br isbane, Jack Malcolm and Max Hughes, for a couple of international contests and some major races. Revell won the first ever Queensland Championship on April 4 while Hughes won the first World Derby (20 laps) on May 10.

Most drivers of the time were using Ford A engines, a 4 -cylinder side -valve engine of about 200 cu in. with three main bearings and gravity fed oiling system. It was prone to getting hot when used for racing so most feature races at that time were 10 laps. Other engines used included Rugby, Continental Beacon and the Ford V8/60.

When the second season began in September 1946 many local drivers had purchased or built cars including Allan Belcher, John Maxwell, Ron Strong, Fred Allen and Chas Whatmore. Whatmore had done some racing on road circuits prior to the war. Revell dominated the season with 10 feature race victories. Whatmore won the ‘Closed’ Queensland Championship on December 21 that was only open to Queensland resident drivers.

At the end of the year Fred Allen, Lew Murphy, John Maxwell, Jim Cross and Ken Wylie travelled to Perth to kick -off speedcar racing at the Claremont Showground track. They stayed about 6 weeks with Wylie winning the first Western Australian Championship. W ylie sold his car to Chas Lindberg in Perth and Lindberg then travelled to Brisbane via Sydney to race.

Early in 1947 American drivers Cal Niday and Perry Grimm came to Australia to race primarily in Sydney and Brisbane. Both had cars powered by the Ford V8/60 engine fitted with Edelbrock performance equipment. Niday’s car was a Solar while Grimm had one of the new, sleek tube frame Kurtis -Krafts. They cleaned up most nights as the local drivers and cars were no match for the American professionals. The only driver who offered some competition was Ray Revell.
On June 7, 1947, Brisbane held its first 50 -lap race. It was won by Kev Gallaher (NSW), driving a car powered by a modified V -Twin motorcycle engine, with Ron Strong and Chas Whatmore following him across the line. Gallaher would lose his life in a Sydney racing accident in 1949.

In August 1947 a group of Brisbane drivers promoted some meetings at the Lismore Showground featuring speedcar racing. To be able to put on a show they transported cars on one of Ron Strong’s trucks. The meetings were reasonably successful but when the new Brisbane season commenced, they found it very difficult to both race and promote. At the end of the year former driver Doug McDonald took over the promotion which lasted until the early 1950s
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Speedway was also being run at the Ipswich Showground on Friday nights and the speedcars appeared there every couple of weeks throughout the season.

Niday and Grimm returned in 1948 and this time Niday brought the first Offy powered car to Brisbane. It was a very smart looking unit and while here Jim Cross took all the dimensions and built a couple of copies. Grimm returned with the same car but with a new paint scheme. Once again, they were very had to beat and at one point, Niday won six straight including the 50 -lap World Championship. The Americans had encouraged Ray Revell to try his luck in the USA so when they returned home, he soon followed.

Brisbane drivers were now looking to improve their equipment after witnessing the capabilities of the Yank cars. Curly Ryland was one who had a tube frame car built and one of the first times he drove it was on Main Beach at Southport where a race meeting had been organised on the sandy beach. All went well until a large wave swamped Ryland and Ivor Broughton. When Revell retuned in November he had a new car. It was an Offy from the Johnny Balch stable in Los Angeles that had won a lot of big races. He was again based back in his hometown of Sydney as the local scene was now very strong with lots of local drivers and cars.

In 1949 the visiting driver of note was Frank Brewer. He was advertised as an American but, in fact, he was a New Zealander who had been racing on the west coast of America for many years. He drove a very fast Kurtis -Kraft with a Ford V8/60 engine that was fitted with many racing bits from Eddie Meyer. Brewer was known as ‘Satan’ as he raced like the devil.

When Brewer and Revell raced on the same night there was plenty of hard -fought action and they shared the honours between them, but Brewer was the victo r in the Brisbane ‘50’. He was used to the long races in the USA where he had won a 250 -lap event. The last season of the decade had finished on a high riding the crest of a wave of popularity, but could it continue? Look for the next chapter ‘1950s – The Fall and Rise’.

Acknowledgement and thanks Barry Lane

The local speedcar scene was very strong in the 1949-50 season with the local stars Allan Belcher, John Maxwell, Ron Strong and Curly Ryland providing plenty of good racing with Ryland also winning the Queensland Championship that season.

The 1949 Australian Grand Prix was held at Leyburn on the Darling Downs and even though it wasn’t speedway, it did involve many from the speedcar fraternity. Chas Whatmore and Rex Law were entered while ‘Cappy’ Woods Hudson powered speedcar, which was fitted with larger diameter wheels, was also on the start line. The race was won by John Crouch who had raced speedcars in Sydney during the 1930s.

The Exhibition track hosted a ‘Australian Championship’ with Frank Brewer the winner while Ray Revell was too good in the World Championship. It was during this period that Hollywood thought it was a good idea to have movies about racing. Both ‘The Big Wheel’ starring Mickey Rooney and ‘To Please A Lady’ with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck were about a driver who started in midgets and ended up in the Indianapolis 500. The latter was a better production.

The following season set the local speedway scene back many years. The main arena of the Exhibition Grounds was unavailable as major work was being carried out. It meant no racing took place until well into 1951 and then it was only bikes. One new bike rider was Keith Blicharski who would race speedcars in the late 1960s, early 1970s. The local speedcars were invited to race at the Gatton Showground after some of the members helped build a fence. Only a couple of shows were conducted and after a car went through the fence, racing stopped.

The 1951-52 season proved to be very poor. Competitor numbers in both cars and bikes had fallen and likewise the patronage had dropped. With very little racing the previous season, people had found other things to do such as the movies, football, horse racing and the like.

A new track, Riverview Park, in south Lismore opened for afternoon meetings and the local drivers were joined by some from Brisbane including Steve Howman. Unfortunately, Howman was involved in a nasty accident when he struck a car that had stalled on the track. It was so dusty the drivers couldn’t see. Another driver who raced there was Dave Leonard who lived at Tweed Heads but eventually moved to Brisbane to live and race. Revell again cleaned up the major Brisbane meetings with Brewer following him home on each occasion.

Speedcar racing at the Exhibition the following season, 1952-53, was spasmodic with little interest shown by new drivers. Riverview was struggling and eventually the speedway moved back to the Lismore Showground. During May Frank Brewer won five consecutive feature races including the local ‘Australian Championship.’ Unfortunately, May 2 was a sad day for local racing when the popular Curly (Cecil) Ryland was killed during a heat race when his car rolled and he was thrown onto the track. He was a successful businessman from Maryborough who flew to Brisbane to race while his car stayed in Brisbane and was maintained by John Maxwell. The accident showed how dangerous the sport could be and as a result some of the drivers with families, retired.

The 1953-54 season was dismal for the speedcars. Very few drivers were still involved and consequently there wasn’t a lot of racing. A couple of big shows at the end of the season resulted in wins for Frank Brewer. Another interstate visitor was Kym Bonython (SA) who was not only a good speedcar driver but was also the promoter of the very successful Rowley Park in Adelaide.

The following season was dominated by Steve Howman (8 wins) and Allan Belcher (6 wins). The stockcars were introduced in January 1955 which improved the crowds dramatically and possibly saved speedway in Brisbane. The first local Holden powered speedcar debuted in April 1955 in the hands of Eddie Brennan and won first night out.

Things started to improve in 1955 – 56 with new drivers Lew Marshall, Bill Goode and twins Kevin and Les Jefferson. Promoter, Frank Arthur, introduced speedway at the Toowoomba Showground with meetings being held on Friday nights. Speedcars did run some shows, but drivers had to hurry up the range after work and the road was nothing like the four-lane highway of today. The speedcar association also promoted some shows at the Ipswich Showground on Wednesday nights but were not financially successful. Steve Howman had another great season with 11 wins including a Queensland Championship. Interstate visitors included Ray Revell, Kym Bonython and burly Jack O’Dea (Vic).

The new season again featured an influx of new drivers including Barrie Watt, Wal Tedman, Roy Barker, and Les D’Arcy. Watt would go on to race for 54 years while Wal Tedman had been a prisoner of war who now ran a fruit shop at Mt Gravatt. D’arcy had a short career, retiring after a very spectacular accident. American visitor, Dick ‘Jet’ Brown,’ had a successful stint in Queensland but was beaten by Bill Goode in a 10-lap ‘Australian Championship’ at Toowoomba. The speedcar association negotiated with the Redcliffe Council to run speedway at the local showground, however they had to fix the safety fence which was unsuitable. The members set about building a fence around the track which was a mammoth task as the track was 643 metres on the pole line. It was hoped the track would open during the second half of 1957.

Redcliffe opened on Saturday afternoon, 10 August 1957 with 4000 spectators witnessing the action of the solos, sidecars, gnats and speedcars. Meetings were soon changed to Saturday nights and ran most weeks until the Exhibition season began. Dave Leonard purchased a Holden powered car from Sydney and over the next couple of seasons turned the car into the very smart looking ‘Chromeline Special.’ Steve Howman added another Queensland Championship to his resume while the very tall Harry Neale (SA) won the other major events.

Redcliffe continued the following season with the crowds between 1500-2000. Being so big the track was hard on machinery and some competitors opted not to run there. Howman was now running a Repco-Holden engine which was the grey Holden motor fitted with a crossflow head developed by Repco. It was quite successful, so Howman decided to travel to Adelaide to contest some big races at Rowley Park. He was seriously injured in an accident there on 2 January 1959 and passed away two days later. It was a huge loss for his family and local racing. He had been the man who organised the Redcliffe shows and that role was taken on by Bill Goode. Roll bars were introduced and made compulsory later the same year.

The young Gibb brothers, Barry, Robin and Maurice, who became the Bee Gees, had their first paid performance when they sang on the back of a truck during the Redcliffe meeting on 14.2.1959 and people tossed money over the fence for them to collect.

The decade had seen a major turn around for Brisbane speedcar racing after things looked ominous six years earlier. However, the passing of the very popular Steve Howman was a loss felt for many years to come.

Things were about to get very interesting as the years turned to the next decade so watch out for the chapter - 1960s – A Great Era.

Acknowledgement and thanks Barry Lane