R.I.P. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/20/3168700.htm Good lil' movie on top right of this page; http://www.rowleypark.com/home/p2001_articleid/1
Sad news. I read about him a couple of years ago. Prior to that I didn't know anything about him but my mum remembers him from the early days in speedway. He did have a good innings though. RIP.
An inspirational man to many. A renaissance man of a special ilk for sure. 'Mr. Rowley Park'- * Australia's first demo derby which ran for 75 minutes (crowd-20,000- turn 'em away at gates) * Figure 8 stock car racing When I heard of his p***ing, with, outside his window, an F18 a vertical climb (in a pre- race demo for the Adelaide supercar race), it put goosebumps on me. Just like the gypsy lady said, and most fitting.
..But back he came for more! Namely that very sweet Kurtis Offy in pic 2.. Just watched the little 4 minute movie on the Rowley Park page ( link in o.p.). It has nice loud race snippets & nostalgic vision.
I was one of the "pie eaters" that spent every Friday night at Rowley Park Speedway back in the 60's. My favorite car of Kim's was the Kurtis/Offy roadster--I have one fuzzy photos of it shot through the pit fence. I was lucky enough to be part of that era at Rowley Park, initially as a spectator and later painting cars for some of the racers and also crewing for Jimmy Sills when he drove one of Kevin Fischer's sprinters. Kim made sure that there was plenty of action every week with solos, sidecars, TQ's, speedcars and initially stock rods and later sprinters and sedans. I got to see stars like Ivan Mauger, Eric Boo****, John Boulger, Phil Crump etc on bikes, the awesome HRD Vincent sidecar of Len Bowes, Bob Tattersall, Gary Patterson and Sleepy Tripp in midgets (sorry, speedcars) as well as the local stars like Joe Braendler and Dean Hogarth. Add to that Ray Skipper, Marshall Sergeant, Phil Herreen, Bill Wigzell etc as the stock rods morphed into sprinters. Can't forget Carey McCarthy and John Crowhurst either. Roo
Hey Roo, You forgot to mention Murray Parker. He's still going at about 90 years now. He restored Dean Hogarth's ''Old Smokey" A model banger with OHV conversion midget a few years ago, and now, Warren, his son drives it in spirited demo's around the tracks in SA. Yeah, I was one of the old pie eaters he referred to also. There will only ever be one ROWLEY PARK!! And one Kym Bonythen. A very interesting gentleman. RIP Kym.
Pay your dough, sit on the hill, have a Coke.. . Roo, those paint jobs with the track lights dripping off the tails as they whizzed by were the magic of Rowley Park. I know Mr. Bonython made a point of putting on a well presented show. All those immaculate speedcars. Boulger, Samson & co. on those beautiful 2 valve Jawas. Always at full tilt.
Phil, remember the night that Murray put the San Jose Super type car through the pit gate with his Pontiac stock rod. Roo
For those here that don't understand the "pie eater" reference, Kym Bonython's family were "OLD money" and for him to be so heavily involved in such a blue collar sport was somewhat of an anomaly. Where the US had hot dogs and hamburgers as what is now referred to as fast food those of us from Australia grew up snacking on meat pies (and pasties in SA). Kym being somewhat upper cl*** was not in the pie eater category by any means so he always joked about it when he got the microphone in his hand. To give you an idea as to how up market the Bonython family is, the is a building at Adelaide's "Ivy League" university named Bonython Hall. Roo
Kym Bonython, A great man and respected Adelaide iden***y.... Thanks for organising the Beatles to come to Australia in '64 - R.I.P.
This is an old thread, but just spent 6 hours shooting the breeze, talking old Rowley Park stories with the now 85yo Dean Hogarth. It was an absolute pleasure and we all had plenty of laughs, interesting talking old cars, ch***is setups and old times.
The Jalopy Journal
