Harding started his motorsport career in 1958. For 40 years he had key roles in the running and/or the promotion of two of Queensland’s most famous race circuits.
Harding spent 40 years working at Lakeside International Raceway and 16 years at the now defunct Surfers Paradise International Raceway.
Lakeside had its racing debut in 1961, closed in 2001 and was reopened in 2008 after an investment from a consortium.
Harding was one of the men that helped initially develop and then open Lakeside, supporting the vision of Sid Sakzewski.
Harding started as Lakeside’s club secretary and then moved up to general manager and promoter and was the facility’s first full-time employee. He started in 1958, left to work at Surfers Paradise International Raceway in 1970, only to return to Lakeside a short time later.
The only time Harding wasn’t at Lakeside was when he spent a couple of years working exclusively for Surfers Paradise International Raceway, after being coerced by Keith Williams.
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He worked at Surfers Paradise until it closed in 1988 and managed Lakeside until his retirement in 1998.
Motorsport promotion and track management didn’t just come to Harding; he’d had an interest in cars and motorsport for a very long time. He used to own a ‘beloved’ Morris 840 which he raced in motorkhana events and even dabbled in the odd endurance race. Knowing that racing or owning race cars would never earn him a dollar, he started work as an administrator and never looked back.
Harding used to run and promote an array of racing categories at Surfers Paradise including Speedway, Drag Racing, the Tasman Series (F5000) and touring car events.
In his role as promoter, Harding used to travel all over Europe and the United States searching for drivers that would travel to Australia to race.
In the early days that included the Tasman Series and drivers the calibre of Sir Jack Brabham and Jim Clark.
Harding told Speedcafe once that his favourite racing memory involved Peter Brock and Dick Johnson in the championship deciding race of the 1981 touring car season.
“The most memorable race I ever saw was an Australian Touring Car Championship race involving Peter Brock and Dick Johnson as they battled for the title at Lakeside,” said Harding.
“It was the last round and they both ran nose to tail virtually for the whole race.
“There were probably 10,000 people there, which was huge for Lakeside.
“They never touched a panel; Dick Johnson eventually won the race and the championship.”
While Harding had fond memories of that Brock-Johnson battle, it was Johnson who had the kind words for his ‘mate’ today.
“David was an old-school promoter who did an exceptional job,” said Johnson.
“He was hard and tough, which he had to be to keep the gates open, but he would privately cut you a bit of slack if he knew you were happy to contribute to the overall success of the place in other ways.
“David, Joy, Jillie (Dick’s wife) and I spent many a night together and there were always plenty of stories told.
“I know there was one night David wasn’t too happy when I backed out of his driveway in Main Beach, not realising his Jaguar was parked behind me. He loved that bloody car.
“We have lost a few good people in a very short period of time.”
Speedcafe founder and co-owner Brett “Crusher” Murray was a long-time friend of Harding.
“David gave me one of my first PR gigs when I started my company in the early 90s,” said Murray.
“I did all the PR for the major events at Lakeside and when he retired we remained good friends and always enjoyed a glass of red and a laugh.
“He was a regular at the annual motorsport reunion on the Gold Coast and only last week had confirmed that he and Joy would be attending this year’s event in August.
“He was tough, but fair and the respect he had in the business came from those attributes.”
Harding is survived by his wife Joy and children Andrew and Sally. Speedcafe offers its condolences to the Harding family and their friends and colleagues.
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