Speedway Demons

Shy, quiet, unassuming Gary is a HOON. He took me out to the Meeka Speedway yesterday. The gates to the track were open as we drove up and our eyes met in immediate unspoken agreement. Floor it! We did a lap in the ute, sliding the corners and laughing our heads off.

Speedway is a huge thing out here; it's basically a dirt racetrack in the middle of anywhere (every little town has one); people come from hundreds of km's away with all kinds of crazy DIY racecars or just plain old mom n dad sedans etc and they have races and parties for a few days. The whole town turns up; locals pitch in with barbecues and cook up sausage sizzles, the fireys and ambos come along with the emergency vehicles and everyone camps out. When blokes aren't out prospecting, they're working on their speedway car (they all seem to have one or be planning to build one). My bus is going to be enormously popular as a viewing platform (we also have plans for making it into a float for next year's town parade).

There's a speedway meet out at Landor, which makes Meeka look like a bustling metropolis - it's about halfway between here and Gascoyne Junction, a hard dirt road drive hundreds of km's from ANYTHING, and the turnout for it is huge. People build shacks and houses along the creek which they use each year for the few days of the meet.

It's one of many unexpected events which outback people organise throughout the year - there are also horse races, vintage car rallies, "bush bashes" (driving around like maniacs for charity events), rodeos and town festivals. The great thing is that, unlike city events, there isn't all the paperwork & fees & corporate slickness - if you want to make a few bucks selling hot dogs & burgers, you just chuck your barbecue and some eskies of meat on the back of your ute and go do it. If you know how to repair tyres or fix things, you go help out in the pits. Take the dog, a swag and a ton of beer, have a good time. Like everything out here, if stuff needs doing, you just get a bunch of mates together and go help out. I love it!