The new Brompton Estate, a modern housing estate on the busy and sometimes noisy Torrens Road, but behind the iron fence and the red bricks there’s a ghost right beneath your feet. It’s the ghost of Rowley Park Speedway, the place where the champions gathered. For tens of thousands of South Australians for almost 30 years, Friday night was speedway night at Rowley Park. It was for me, because my dad, Mel, was Course Announcer there for quite a while!

Ask anybody who was a regular and they’ll tell you, there was nothing quite like Rowley Park! It was noisy, the racing was intense and in your face, the air was an addictive blend of excitement, anticipation, and high-octane racing fuel and you could get away with having a Chiko roll and chips for dinner! The Brompton Pug hole started life as a soccer pitch but when winter rains made the clay surface unplayable it was leased to a group of breakaway racers who wanted to start their own track. A few days before Christmas 1949, Adelaide’s new speedway roared into life.

Its first few years were successful enough, but Rowley Park really came into its own in the mid 1950’s when the late Kym Bonython became its promoter. Kym Bonython: Well I started going to speedway at Wayville when I was 8 or 9 years old back in the late 1920’s when I was a dairy breeder up at Mount Pleasant, I decided to finally have a go myself.

And it wasn’t just razzle-dazzle that he bought to Rowley Park; he also bought a degree of professionalism to the sport that gave it credibility. That brought him the crowds he wanted, along with access to some of the biggest stars on the world speedway circuit like Marshall Sargent. On any given Friday night, you could see State, National and World Champions risking life and limb racing solo and sidecar bikes, speed cars, stock cars, TQ’s … it was sensational and spectacular.

Another bonus for speedway fans was the chance to get close to the pits and their heroes who were more often than not happy to have a chat or sign an autograph. In its golden years Rowley Park was considered to be not just the best speedway in the country but one of the best in the world. Its credited with running the very first Demolition Derby and I’m not sure if this is true or not but my Dad told me that Rowley Park was chosen as the first place in Australia to test market Potato Chips.

And here’s the program for that Demolition Derby, 70 cars entered there’s even a Humber Super Snipe in the field!

Adelaide had never witnessed anything like it, word obviously got out because the Police made them shut the gates when the crowd hit twenty thousand! Rowley Park was a great place to watch speedway. I can remember seeing people up against the track fence, beer carton on their head with two eye holes cut into it to try and keep the dust out. I can also remember looking over to the houses in Coglin Street and seeing people jammed onto their shed roofs watching it all for nix!

It wasn’t just a place for champions though, it was also the place to strut your stuff in the fashion of the day. For me, my greatest memory, Bob Two Gun Tattersall racing on three wheels in the State Speedcar Championship, despite being black flagged he did for 20 laps. And finally Rowley Park wouldn’t have been Rowley Park without flag waver extraordinaire Glenn Dix. The world saw him in action at the Grand Prix but Rowley Park is where it all started. While the noise, the crowds and the smell of race fuel have long since gone, you’ll find this memorial tucked away in a little Brompton park keeping the memory alive.