Misplaced Pages

#615384

43-655: Liverpool Speedway (also known during its life as Liverpool International Speedway and Liverpool City Raceway ) was located in Green Valley , Western Sydney , New South Wales , Australia . Liverpool was officially opened by Frank Oliveri and the Oliveri Family, alongside Ald. E. Smith, the mayor of Liverpool at the time, and ran until its sudden and unexpected closure in 1989. Frank Oliveri would later share track management with track announcer and promoter, Channel 7 television sports presenter Mike Raymond. The builder of

86-528: A 1937 Chevy Coupe. He totaled the car when a tire blew out. He raced modified stocks in 1955. In 1958, Mel began his career in the midgets. Kenyon's first championship was in NASCAR 's Florida midget series in 1962, but he changed to USAC in the middle of the season and finished fifth in the USAC National Midget championship points. Kenyon won the 1963 Turkey Night Grand Prix . He finished second in

129-485: A 5–1 advantage in each race. They finished on a perfect 30 points (Sigalos 18, Schwartz 12) ahead of Englands Peter Collins and Kenny Carter on 22 (Collins 15, Carter 7) and Denmark 's Hans Nielsen and Ole Olsen in third on 21 points (Nielsen 11, Olsen 10). Host nation Australia , represented by local Liverpool riders Billy Sanders (the reigning Australian Champion) and Gary Guglielmi, finished in fourth place on 16 points (Sanders 11, Guglielmi 5). 1982 would prove to be

172-461: A clay surface, World of Outlaws legend Steve Kinser would swap his Sprintcar for a Speedcar and win in 1986. Stock Saloons were also a favourite at the track. The cars had to be a pre-1968 production car and they raced the track in a Clockwise direction. In Speedway, either on dirt or bitumen, almost every class of car and the Solo bikes race oval tracks Anti-clockwise. Squealing tyres would become

215-510: A decade earlier. It was, however, a long time before residents were provided with adequate services such as public transport, health services, shopping centres, and other necessary facilities, and before 1970 there were no pre-school centres. There was, however, a local post office, the Green Valley Post Office open from 1964 until 1973, when it was renamed Miller. Unlike older suburbs of Sydney, where streets often run parallel in

258-402: A grid pattern, Green Valley's streets follow the contours of the area, so that many streets are curved and follow an almost semi-circular pattern. Many of the streets in the suburb of Green Valley have Aboriginal names, such as Arunta, Kinkuna, and Naranghi. According to the 2021 census , Green Valley had 12,919 people living within its perimeters. The median household income of $ 1,775 per week

301-534: A special glove with a rubber grommet sewn into the palm. The glove fit on Mel's hand and hooked into the steering wheel. The trio formed a racing team called 3-K Racing, with Don as the crew chief. Kenyon returned to racing in 1966. He had twelve first or second-place finishes, and finished second in the National Midget points. He qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 just eleven months after his fiery crash, and finished fifth. He won 17 of 49 features to claim

344-539: The 1982 Speedway World Pairs Championship Final. It would prove to be the only time in the 26 years of the World Pairs Championship (1968-1993) that it was ever been held outside of England or Europe . The championship was won by Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwartz representing the United States . The pair finished unbeaten over their six heats with Sigalos winning each and Schwartz 2nd each time giving them

387-524: The NSW Government to build the track as the NSW Speedway Act stated that no speedway could run without a safety fence. The new track a distinct camber and had two straights due to the back straight being not following the "D" curve of the main track (this also saw the spectators on the back straight about 30 metres back from the track). Previous to this, Solos and sidecars had been run at Liverpool on

430-511: The reigning World Champion , won the only Australian Solo Championship held at Liverpool, to date the last time a non-Australian won the national title. This was despite protests from other riders who did not believe the Dane should have been eligible to ride in an Australian Championship meeting. In a major win for the Liverpool City Raceway management and promoters, the track was awarded

473-432: The "Liverpool International Speedway". Also announced at the time were extensive renovations including a fully enclosed grandstand with a glass-enclosed restaurant, a VIP lounge and a 3-storey control tower, all aimed at increasing the track's spectator capacity to around 35,000. The track was paved in time for the 1974/75 season, but the other proposed works never got off the ground. Liverpool Speedway's biggest annual event

SECTION 10

#1732852627616

516-546: The 1960s Sydney's suburban sprawl had reached Liverpool, and the Housing Commission 's development of the Green Valley Housing Estate between 1961 and 1965 was the largest single housing scheme ever attempted to that date. Within a few years 7,464 cottages, flats, and units were built, and by 1966 over 24,000 people were living in an area that had been occupied by market gardeners, dairymen, and poultry farmers

559-450: The 1963 USAC championship points, and won his first USAC National Midget championship in 1964. Kenyon failed to qualify for his first Indianapolis 500 in 1965 . Kenyon's tenth career race in a USAC IndyCar was at Langhorne Speedway in Langhorne, Pennsylvania on June 20, 1965. Mel's engine blew up sending oil all over the car, his firesuit and the track. He lost control of the car, hit

602-545: The 2004 Indianapolis Speedrome midget track championship at the 1/5 mile track. Kenyon competed in the full schedule at the Indianapolis Speedrome in 2005 against his son. Kenyon has seven USAC National Midget championships, eight runners-up in the season points standings, and Top 5 point finishes in 21 of 27 seasons between 1966 and 1988. At his Motorsports Hall of Fame induction in 2003 he had 111 feature wins, 131 seconds, 107 thirds, 81 fourths, and 69 fifths, for

645-594: The Australian drivers. American drivers such as Gene Welch, "Big Ed" Wilbur and Rodney Combs became regulars in Australia and the action on the track was often described as "World Championship Wrestling on Wheels". The test matches took place both on the dirt track and the pavement with the usually good natured crowd totally against the visiting Americans. Despite the change in track surface from dirt to asphalt, Speedcars, Sprintcars and other car categories continued to race at

688-566: The Cabrogal for meat, hides and bones. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie established a town at nearby Liverpool in 1810, the surrounding areas were soon granted to British settlers who began clearing the forests for farmlands. A large area to the northwest of Liverpool was dubbed Green Valley. As well as the present-day suburb of Green Valley, it included what is now known as Ashcroft , Busby , Cartwright , Heckenberg , Miller , Sadleir , and parts of Hinchinbrook and Mount Pritchard . One of

731-536: The Green Valley population was 37 years of age, with 19.4% of people being 14 years and under. 48.7% of the people living in Green Valley who worked were employed full-time, while 26.1% were employed on a part-time basis. Green Valley had an above average unemployment rate of 7.5%. Former Liverpool Mayor and local businessman, Frank Oliveri, who settled in Green Valley in the early 1950s with his family after migrating from southern Italy. Frank Oliveri and family owned

774-563: The Liverpool City Raceway, local bus company (with green white and red colour livery) and was a Liverpool City Councilor for over 40 years, with two terms as mayor and three as deputy mayor. A tribute is displayed to Oliveri at the front of the Green Valley library/community centre with a photo of a young Frank at the gates of the Liverpool City Speedway (now the Valley Plaza/Library/Community Hall). Eric Hall sold

817-582: The National midget title in 1967. Kenyon finished third in the 1968 Indianapolis 500 in a car sponsored by his hometown of Lebanon, Indiana . He did most of the work on the engine despite his hand. He routinely tore down and reassembled the Offenhauser engine by himself. He won the 1968 National Midget crown. Kenyon took fourth in the 1969 Indianapolis 500 . He nearly won his first Champ car event at Michigan International Speedway on July 16, 1972. Kenyon

860-707: The Valley Plaza and for Winnall Reserve, Rugby League Fields,the home of Hinchinbrook Hornets. With the Sydney Showground Speedway at Moore Park not hosting weekly meetings after the 1979/80 season, and Liverpool closing in 1989, this left the more Sprintcar focused Parramatta City Raceway at Granville (opened in 1977) as Sydney's only active major speedway. The bikes continued racing at the poorly attended Nepean Speedway in north western outskirts of Sydney, but otherwise many Sydney based riders such as Craig Boyce , Mick Poole and Stephen Davies were forced to use

903-452: The annual National Championships and crowds of up to 25,000 people would attend this event. Grand National Sedans were a new breed of cars developed especially for Liverpool Raceway, though some were easily adapted for the many dirt track speedways around Australia. They were a tube spaceframe chassis with a fuel injected small block V8 engine , similar to a Sprintcar engine and although designed primarily for racing on Liverpool's paved oval

SECTION 20

#1732852627616

946-746: The cars competed on dirt or clay around the country including at the Newcastle Motordrome north of Sydney, Parramatta City Raceway in western Sydney, Rowley Park and later Speedway Park in Adelaide , Claremont Speedway in Perth , Premier Speedway in Warrnambool , and Archerfield Speedway in Brisbane . One of the speedway management's biggest promotions was to annually bring a team of four sedan drivers from America to race at Liverpool in test Matches against

989-472: The country and raced at the venue. Stu Thompson, Greg Hill and Perry Kramer raced at Metro West at various times. One event at Metro West had a $ 10,000 pro purse which was the highest purse in Australian BMX history at the time. By 1989 the speedway was under threat by the so-called urban sprawl, and this led to the reluctant closure of the venue to make way for new housing and a shopping complex now known as

1032-498: The field, drove the VW powered cars. A.J. Foyt was again the winner this time passing local hero and National Champion George Tatnell in the dying laps. Tatnell was driving his controversial Winfield sponsored "Wedge" Speedcar powered by an off-set Offenhauser engine. Despite Tatnell's over 10 years of racing speedway until that point, his relative inexperience at running on paved ovals compared to Foyt showed when his tyres went off while Foyt

1075-404: The first settlers in the area was Peter Miller, who gave his name to the nearby suburb of Miller . Another was Charles Scrivener who served as mayor of Liverpool and who oversaw the establishment of Green Valley School in 1882. When the first children began their classes the school was nothing more than a large tent, although a wooden building with an iron roof was constructed not long after. By

1118-606: The lead in mid-race after Kenyon almost spun on oil and tapped the fence. Kenyon still finished 2nd while the USA made it a 1-4 result with Larry Rice and Garry Patterson being the only other drivers to finish on the lead lap. The attendance for the Grand Prix was around 10,000. Foyt returned to Liverpool for the 22nd Australian Grand Prix in 1976 along with fellow Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford and fellow Americans Ron "Sleepy" Tripp and Hank Butcher. All four Americans, along with most of

1161-463: The main part of his land to Frank Oliveri which became the pit area of the Liverpool City Raceway. Eric Hall also conducted a pre-recorded weekly radio show called "Happy Harmonies" on radio 2KA for 17 years during the 1960s and 1970s. 33°54′21″S 150°52′01″E  /  33.90596°S 150.86681°E  / -33.90596; 150.86681 Mel Kenyon He attended his first auto race in 1946. Kenyon began his racing career in 1954 racing

1204-785: The main track since the tracks opening after local rider Gordon Guasco convinced Speedway Manager Oliveri to put bikes on the program. Guasco was to lose his life at the track in a crash on 8 November 1970. The infield motorcycle track hosted many world class solo and sidecar riders during its life, with solo riders like local stars Billy Sanders, John Langfield , Phil Herne , Garry Middleton and Gary Guglielmi mixing it with interstate stars such as Phil Crump , John Boulger and John Titman . Also, World Champions such as Ivan Mauger ( New Zealand ), Ole Olsen and Hans Nielsen ( Denmark ) and Americans Bruce Penhall , Bobby Schwartz , Dennis Sigalos and Shawn Moran regularly raced at Liverpool when competing in Australia. In 1976, Ole Olsen,

1247-460: The norm at Liverpool in its 10-year run as a paved speedway. When it was decided to pave the Speedway in 1974 it was also decided to build a 280 metres (310 yards), dolomite and dirt based motorcycle track on the inside of the pavement track so as to keep both cars and bikes on the same race program. As the new track had no outside safety fence, speedway management had to get special dispensation from

1290-565: The only time in World Pairs Final history that a pair have won with the maximum possible score. Following the 1983/84 speedway season the pavement was torn up and the dirt was re-introduced with clay as the main surface, though the bikes continued on their own track as the main tracks clay surface was not suitable for bikes. The Grand Nationals were still popular, but Sprintcars were fast becoming Australia's most popular speedway division. Also popular at Liverpool and through NSW and Queensland

1333-529: The popular Newcastle Motordrome as their home track. The Motordrome, which itself closed in 2002, was located approximately 175 km (108 mi) north of Sydney in Newcastle . Currently most Sydney and NSW riders use the motorcycle only Loxford Park Speedway in Kurri Kurri as their home track. Deceased † - Deceaced Green Valley, New South Wales Green Valley is a suburb of Sydney , in

Liverpool Speedway - Misplaced Pages Continue

1376-466: The race circuit is named Douglas Charles Barrett. Liverpool Speedway was officially opened by the Oliveri Family on 14 May 1967. The 440-metre (480 yd) track was D-shaped and was a clay-and-dolomite mix. On the program that first night were Speedcars , TQ's, super modifieds, stock cars and production sedans. Liverpool was managed and promoted by Channel 7 television sports presenter Mike Raymond and former Liverpool Mayor Frank Oliveri. The speedway

1419-533: The speedway with the track hosting the Australian Speedcar Championship in 1976 and a round of the three race 1977 Australian championship. In 1975, Mike Raymond and his promotions partner Frank Oliveri attracted then three time Indy 500 champion A. J. Foyt and fellow Indy racer Mel Kenyon to Liverpool to race in VW powered Speedcars in the 21st Australian Speedcar Grand Prix . Foyt passed Kenyon for

1462-668: The state of New South Wales , Australia . Green Valley is located 39 kilometres (24 mi) west of the Sydney central business district , in the local government area of the City of Liverpool and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Green Valley was originally home to the Cabrogal people who spoke the Darug language . It was covered in eucalyptus forests and home to native animals such as wallabies and possums that were hunted by

1505-415: The track to behind the starting hill. They would then select a golf ball out of a bucket with 1 of 6 numbers written on it, which gave them their starting lane position. Around 1984, the starting hill was moved to the south west corner of the track. The track had fences with advertising signs and was very professionally operated. In the early 1980’s, a tour was organized for group of American riders who toured

1548-490: The wall and was knocked unconscious. Jim Hurtubise and Ralph Liguori slid in the oily track and ran straight into Mel's fuel tank. Joe Leonard , also involved in the crash, rescued Kenyon from the burning car. Because of severe burns, Kenyon went through multiple operations at the San Antonio Burn Center, and he lost nearly all of his fingers on his left hand. Mel, his brother Don and their father Everett designed

1591-420: Was a class known as Compact Speedcars . Liverpool also had a BMX track at the south western end of the venue and hosted many international events. The BMX track was known as "Metro West" BMX track. The track originally had the starting hill in the center of the track. All of the riders would line up just outside the track and win between races, three races full of riders at a time would cross two racing lanes of

1634-496: Was able to keep his tyres fresh enough to push harder in the final laps. Liverpool, which was renamed in 1980 to become the "Liverpool City Raceway", continued to run the Australian Speedcar Grand Prix on both the asphalt and dirt until 1988 with such winners as 10 time Australian Sprintcar Champion Garry Rush in 1977, Ron "Sleepy" Tripp of the United States in 1983 and 1984, and after the track had reverted to

1677-694: Was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame . He won the 1985 National Midget championship a year after his induction. Kenyon won the Indianapolis Speedrome midget car track title in 1993. Kenyon stopped racing on the national tour in 1995 after his wife Marieanne became virtually comatose after suffering a major head injury in a bicycle accident. Kenyon won the Midwest-based NAMARS championships in 1995, 1996, and 1997 while in his sixties. Kenyon continued racing after his 70th birthday in 2003. His son, Brice Kenyon, won

1720-459: Was leading as he approached the white flag, but his Foyt powered Eagle ran out of fuel. Mel coasted around the track and finished third. He finished fourth in his last of eight Indianapolis 500s in 1973 . He had four Top 5 finishes in the classic race. He won his second Turkey Night Grand Prix in 1975. The event was held on the 605 Speedway, the first time the event was held on pavement. He had over 100 victories in midget cars in 1984 when he

1763-706: Was on par with the national median ($ 1,746). Most occupied private dwellings in the suburb were standalone (82.1%) with 17.0% semi-detached or townhouses. A higher than average number of homes were being purchased (69.3%). 44.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were Vietnam 9.4%, Iraq 8.8%, Fiji 4.3%, Cambodia 2.9%, and Laos 2.5%. 27.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Vietnamese 13.9%, Arabic 10.3%, Hindi 4.8%, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 4.6% and Spanish 3.8%. The top responses for religious affiliation in Green Valley were Catholic 27.6%, Buddhism 16.1%, Islam 14.6%, and No Religion 12.1%. The median age of

Liverpool Speedway - Misplaced Pages Continue

1806-421: Was promoted heavily on television and radio. With television personality Raymond in charge, Liverpool was perhaps the best-promoted speedway in Australia during the mid-1970s and through the 1980s. During the winter of 1974, the management of the speedway announced that the track surface was being changed from clay and dolomite to asphalt . At this time the venue had its first name change when it became known as

1849-472: Was the Marlboro Grand National 100 Lap race which was first run in 1971 and won by local driver Rick Hunter. The race became the home of specialist pavement racing cars which eventually became known as Grand National's. This event attracted drivers from all around Australia and the United States making it the most prestigious sedan based speedway event ever hosted in Australia at the time other than

#615384