Questions over the future of Calder Park Raceway
Questions over the future of Calder Park RacewayEarly in November it was announced that the current staff at Calder Park Raceway would no longer be required as of mid December and the Bob Jane Corporation, of which Rodney Jane is a director, would be taking control of the venue from this point forward.
This change in ownership has raised a number of questions regarding the future of the venue. Most importantly for drag racers and fans, will Calder Park Raceway still be holding drag racing meetings? Will the calendar of events for 2013 go ahead as scheduled? And will ANDRA be involved?
After a number of attempts to contact Rodney Jane without success, it would appear that the future of drag racing at Calder Park is uncertain, at least in the short term. For the 2013 season there are a number of dates pencilled into the calendar including ANDRA Championship events on the 15th and 16th of February and the 19th of September.
The event scheduled 15th and 16th of February was to feature ANDRA Championship classes Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. However, if you look at the calendar of events for the South Coast Raceway you’ll see that the Slamfest is scheduled for the 16th of February.
The Slamfest is Pro Modified Australia’s series featuring Top Doorslammer which attracts many of the classes’ top racers. So how can they be in two places at once? After a brief chat with representatives of Pro Modified Australia and South Coast Raceway, both confirmed that the Slamfest will be at South Coast Raceway on the 16th of February.
There is also the question of the Calder Park Drag Racing series which was announced in September with the 1st round held at the November 10th meeting. The announcement at the time indicated there would be another 3 rounds in 2013, with the series culminating on 30th of November.
The Bob Jane Corporation also owns Adelaide International Raceway, which for the past 12 months has leased the venue to Rino D’Alfonso of Racing Onn Promotions who has run a number of ANDRA sanctioned drag racing events, the first at the track for over 10 years.
So what’s the future for drag racing in Melbourne? Could we see the Bob Jane Corporation lease Calder Park Raceway to an independent promoter? As Rino D’Alfso has indicated on social media, “I have lost money over the last couple of events, and I have reached a point where I may not be able to continue should this event not be a success or break even”. It would appear that leasing a venue and promoting drag racing can be a costly and risky venture.
It was back in early 2012 when Calder Park Raceway was flagged to be added to the ANDRA calendar after an absence of over 11 years. The then CEO Greg Humphreys indicated in an interview that “I cannot – will not – let another 10 years go past without big time ANDRA drag racing being in Melbourne. Melbourne deserves a brand new track, but at this stage, the only opportunity we’ve got in Melbourne is at Calder Park.”
With these statements from the then CEO and a push to run ANDRA sanctioned events at Calder Park Raceway, Gary Miocevich withdrew his support for the Motorvate Melbourne project in June 2012, a project to lobby the Victorian government to build a new ANDRA sanctioned drag racing venue in Melbourne. After a number of years and significant investment “I have tried to reach a mutually acceptable position with ANDRA, without success so I’m withdrawing my services (and funding),” said Gary in an open letter to Victorian drag racers and fans. It’s unlikely that Gary Miocevich will be putting his hand up to re-invigorate the Motorvate Melbourne project any time soon.
So where does that leave drag racers and fans in Melbourne? Until a definitive statement is made by the management of Calder Park Raceway no one has a clear picture of what the future may hold.
