Held in The Club at Parkwood Village on the Gold Coast. this year’s function, an annual event for the sixth time, was the most successful.
As the organisers, Ian Maudsley and his wife Val put the whole function together which included food and drinks. This year with the support of Gwen Cooke and Perry Bitsikis, they had around 150 guests come along.
From across the Tasman came Graeme, Tony and Brian Lawrence, Jim Palmer and Michael Clark. The latter is a columnist, commentator and sometime racer who spoke on behalf of his countrymen to the event’s host Speedcafe’s Brett “Crusher” Murray.
Clark spoke of the great kinship between Australia and New Zealand in motorsport. The Formula Ford he drives is yellow for a reason as he idolised the likes of Kevin Bartlett, Frank Gardner and Max Stewart.
More on the motorsport legends lunch
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“You guys have been heroes to us for so long. Going to Bay Park and the thought of Norm Beechey racing a Chevy Nova was so exciting I didn’t sleep the night before,” he said.
“You people have been such an incredible part of our racing. People talk about New Zealand as being a small Australia, let’s face it, in reality, it’s a big Fiji in comparison.”
He added that motor sport identities when compared to sports like rugby and cricket, are quickly forgotten and therefore it is important that they are still honoured.
Murray also spoke to Speedway legend Garry Rush. He won 10 national Sprintcar titles, numerous classic events, and his podium finishes were just under 70 percent of the races he competed in.
He nominated Steve Kinser as the best driver ever, the late George Tatnell a friend and greatest rival, and spoke of the talent of Tony Stewart who he brought to Australia. Although the latter experience did not end as well as he would have liked.
He also talked about his experience in touring cars, his endeavours to master Bathurst. “There you didn’t race against other drivers, you raced against Bathurst,” he said.
He also cited the two fastest cars he has driven, one a Sprintcar, and the other the Ford Sierra RS500 he raced with Ray Lintott and Terry Shiel in the 1990 Tooheys 1000.
An added theme to his year’s function was the attendance of third-generation drivers along with their grandfathers and fathers. They included Dick, Steve and Jett Johnson, Peter, Ryan and Cameron McLeod, Barry “Bo”, Glenn and Aaron Seton, and Max Geoghegan, grandson of the late Ian “Pete” Geoghegan.
The latest generation of drivers revelled in meeting many of the names which they could then put a face with. And those names were many, too many to name here, but Speedcafe did also talk to Kevin Bartlett, John English and Kerry Bailey which will be available to view on social media.
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