Australia is a great place to visit. However, it's also a great place to race. Racing is as popular in Australia as it is in the US. We have NASCAR, they have V8 Supercars. We have Midgets, they have Speedcars. We have Legend Cars… Well… They also have Legend Cars. John Dennehy is the Speedway Legend Cars Australia dealer & is doing a great job of supporting the Legend Car program in Australia.
On my visit to Speedway Legend Cars Australia (S.L.C.A.), With the help of Sam Bouker, Michael Cook & Michael Zamat, we did the initial scrutinering of the Legend Cars that are participating in the S.L.C.A. series during the 2014/2015 season. These Legend Car drivers will compete at Valvoline Raceway (in Sydney), Canberra Speedway (in the capitol city of Canberra) & several other "country" tracks. We also got to participate in an open practice held at Valvoline Raceway (this included several classes of cars & totaled close to 80 cars in the pits that night).
The first racing event of the season was the "ACT Titles" at Canberra Speedway. This race was actually a "carry over" from the previous season. At the end of last season, this event was rained out four times. On this day, the sky was clear & racing was great, with the #11 of Rick Christy taking the checkered flag at the end of the day.
A quick trip to Adelaide to meet with Jeff Krebbekx of Speedway Australia was a great success as he seemed to be in support of what John Dennehy, S.L.C.A. & US Legend Cars International were doing in Australia.
Steve Green of Valvoline Raceway and his staff were very welcoming with photo shoots, several interviews & overall fun at the track with great fan accommodations such as a big screen TV on the back stretch, a kids playground, concession stands, displays, etc.
We also did a little road course racing. The event at Sydney Motorsport Park was met with some success as Legend Car "road course" racing is just now beginning to take off in Australia. There were several drivers that participated in this event that had not raced road course in the past & commented that they would be interested in having more road course events as part of the Legend Cars program in Australia.
The trip was capped off with the "Saturday Night Show" at Valvoline Raceway. This nights event included 28 Legend Cars, around 20 Speedcars & close to 60 Sprint cars. There was great racing all through the night in all classes with the Legend Cars heat races being what I thought to be the best, most exciting races of the night. Valvoline Raceway has a 10:30 curfew & unfortunately, the Legend Cars weren't able to complete their Main Event before this curfew due to some unforeseen events in the other classes earlier in the night.
Overall, The Legend Car program in Australia is going good under the direction of John Dennehy, Maria Dennehy, Sam Bouker, Michael Cook & Michael Zamat. They have a great team to support Legend Car Racing and are very enthusiastic about the success of the Legend Car program in Australia.
I want to thank John & Maria Dennehy and the whole team at S.L.C.A. for the accommodations & warm welcome on my trip to Australia.
Scott Reinhardt
(INEX Executive Technical Director)