When it was announced that Stock Cars Australia was going to Calder Park in the 2023 season, the question for me was how do I get there?

To me, Stock Cars Australia going to Calder Park was considered to be the biggest moment in the history of the category so far, we were going back to the complex where Stock Car racing in Australia first came to life.

So, after months of saving and planning, I left Maryborough, QLD on Friday July 20 to first travel by car to Brisbane, then take a plane to Melbourne and lastly a bus to Deniliquin to celebrate my nephews 21st birthday that day and then hang around for the race.

I watched the days tick down and the entry numbers go up, everything was looking great, all that stood in our way was the weather and the odds of rain over the weekend were going up and down by the hour.

My sister Linda and Brother-in law David needed little convincing to go to Calder Park, in fact, once I told Linda there was a Shell car as she’s been a Shell fan since following DJR she could barely contain her excitement, Stock Car fever was in Deniliquin.

Friday, August 11 2023

Linda, David and I left Deniliquin just after 3pm for Gisborne where we would stay for the next two nights.

We had a bit of scare early in the trip, some birds were fighting, and one flew straight into the windscreen that gave everybody a fright but there was no damage to the windscreen.

We stopped in Axedale along the way, it was a nice place, the park is quite nice, kids would love it.

Subway was for dinner; the people of Gisborne are very polite as they let people cross the road without making them wait for a gap.

Saturday, August 12 2023

We got to Calder Park, and it was lightly raining, we had to wait for a guy to set up so people could collect their tickets or purchase them.

While waiting, my jacket got plenty of attention, one guy even photographed the back of it which was something new, turned out to be Tex Lindner and it was posted on Facebook, but it wasn’t until November that it was seen on there.

Peering through the gates, I could see the #27 in the distance on display, it looks good on camera, and it looks even better in person.

Once we got in, it was a question of finding out where the Stock Cars were, there were no maps or anything and the only rule seemed to be that you must have a ticket.

Thankfully it wasn’t a difficult task to find the cars as engines were being revved and all we had to do was go towards the sound.

We got to the garages and went down to the end of the row, we didn’t want bother anybody at the time, so we just stood and watched the cars being worked on, the #25 grabbed our attention, BP sure picked good colours to get attention of people.

After meeting Zac and getting an update on how the #25 was going as he was working on the car with Laurie, we left everybody to do what they do best, and we went to go check out the track.

It is highly recommended that if you go to Calder Park, take a towel with you to wipe the seats, rain/dew pools in the seats so you’ll need to dry them before parking your butt and do wear dark coloured pants/shorts if you have to get a bit wet.

The view of the track was pretty good, unfortunately there was a tree whose branches stick right out and block the view of turn one if you’re in the seats.

We watched qualifying and saw that the asphalt/concrete transition when hitting the main straight made life interesting for the drivers, thankfully nobody lost it there and gave the walls a whack.

The track looked great, I had watched YouTube videos for months of cars using the track and seeing the changes take place a little bit at a time and it was cool to see the grid all nice, new and shiny.

We went back down to watch the cars prepare for Race 1, it was interesting watching the teams working on the cars, one smart team member had a bicycle to go from A to B and most people probably clocked up 5km of walking per day.

We then went and taken a look at the #7 AUSCAR, the #51 Chevrolet Lumina, the #66 Holden Commodore and other vehicles that were on display like the HQ Holdens and other vehicles.

Once again it was back up the hill for the first race, the big moment was here at last and there was no doubt that the Stock Cars were the loudest vehicles at Calder Park especially when they came out of the last corner and accelerated.

We met Richard White, he was great to talk to about everything as the weekend progressed, quite a lot was learned over the course of the weekend from everybody.

The cool thing about Calder Park was that you could go almost everywhere, and it brings people together because you feel part of the action instead of being the casual spectator and so we got to see things happen as much as we wanted, whenever we wanted.

We headed up the mound before 12:30pm to get to the Thunderdome and I stopped about three quarters of the way up to film the cars about to go into the tunnel, it was a great place to film them from and made a note to do the same the next day.

Seeing the cars run on the Thunderdome was a moment of great pride, Zac pulled off the greatest thing to happen for Stock Cars in over twenty years and in the process fully woke up the motor racing publications who wouldn’t give us the time of day earlier and were now breathlessly reporting on this great moment.

As the action wound down or at least it appeared to, it was time to go back to the garages and sample the Calder Park menu though it was a surprise to hear in the distance that some people were still logging laps and it sounded faster too, eventually Richard reversed by in his #8 and you could see how delighted he was getting to do those laps on the Thunderdome.

The garage area revelled with the sounds of excited drivers, family, friends and fans, all with a story to tell about their experiences.

We went up to watch the last race of the day, the weather was starting to turn, it had turned freezing cold with a nasty wind and Tullamarine was not visible with darkened skies over the airport.

The race itself was entertaining, there was more biff than usual with the OzTrucks finding each other and the grass more than the average race.

We had one last catch up for the day with Zac to go through the race and the day, the condition of the #27, the possibility of the #7 AUSCAR being in action on Sunday and then we saw the #25 being towed in and wondered what happened before we headed out of the complex and headed on back to Gisborne but not before passing the #23 tribute AUSCAR.

Fish and Chips was for dinner, the Matildas were playing on TV and I couldn’t get much sleep, I was awake past midnight and finally slept after watching a bit of Star Trek.

Sunday August 13, 2023

We had a bit of breakfast at McDonalds and then we were ready for Day 2, a day that was bigger than I could have ever hoped it would be.

It had rained overnight but thankfully stopped at time for the sun to come out and do its job of drying the track, entry was just a matter of holding up the two-day ticket as we were going past the gate.

This time we had taken our camping chairs to use and while watching the racing, I often turned around to see the action in the garage.

Race 3 came and ran smoothly; the weather was much more appealing than the previous day and Zac got a drive in the #7 AUSCAR so he wasn’t a spectator this time around.

After the race, there was a sizeable time gap before the Thunderdome exhibition and so I got to climb into the #3 Lumina after Richard shown me how to get in and out of the car first, so I didn’t make a fool out of myself.

David taken over photographing duties which was good especially as I am not a fan of selfies, and you can’t really do it in a race car like a regular car.

Getting in turned out to be no problem and neither was getting out, it was quite roomy in the car and very comfortable.

I was then taken a few garages along the pits to meet Brett Mitchell and Robert Marchese, both are great fellas, very humble and friendly.

I sat in the #8 OzTruck and it was a very comfortable OzTruck, it also has a lot more switches than the #3 Lumina and was quite a warm machine too, so warm it wasn’t easy to get out of it.

Brett and I as you see were photographed together, I have no fashion sense and looked really ridiculous but ridiculous was preferable to cold, I wish somebody had told me that my glasses were angled like the Titanic before it plunged into the depths.

Regardless of my fashion sense, a copy will still be printed out and hung up on my wall.

It was down to the #41 garage to meet Mick Heppleston and sit in the #41, I pretty much had the getting in and out of vehicles down to a fine art by this time and Mick is a great, friendly guy.

I then met Laurie Mckinnon and sat in the #25, Laurie later on mentioned it’s the same car as the Matchbox model and it is pretty surreal as I have a few at home.

A surprise awaited me, while sitting in the car, Laurie instructed me on how to fire up the car and then I got to work on revving it, nothing wild just a little over 2000rpm to make some noise and feel the power of the car and you definitely do feel it go through you.

Then it was time to get into the #27, the car was being prepared while I was in there for the exhibition laps and its health at the end of it determined if it was going to be a Race 4 entrant.

The steering wheel was a little resistant to my attempts to get it off and so I used a little more of my small arm strength, but I had put too much into it, the steering wheel came off and I whacked myself in the nose, luckily nobody was watching so after a quick check for blood, I hung up the steering wheel and climbed out.

By now I sat in four Stock Cars and an OzTruck but it wasn’t the end of the road, Zac told me that I was being given a gift and that gift was the passenger ride in the #7 AUSCAR around the Thunderdome.

Have you seen the movie Twister? There’s a scene when everybody scrambles to go chase a Tornado and the character Melissa is trying to figure out what is going on, well, that’s what happens when it is time to go, everybody is scrambling, everybody was going, and my brain was trying to keep up with everything.

So, Brad and I got into the #7 and set off, we were a helmet short as the one meant for Brad went walkabout, but we didn’t need one until we got to the Thunderdome.

Driving in we noticed the grandstand was looking good and felt that something must be up by going to all that effort to clean it up but what? We had no idea.

The helmet issue was quickly solved, I was strapped in and away we went logging laps, it was largely a super smooth ride, so smooth it felt like a Sunday drive except the rare times we hit one of the bumps/cracks/holes, but the middle line was pretty good.

I hope Rodney Jane gets somebody out on the track soon with a few tins of paint etc. and brightens up the start/finish line, it would complete the repainted section of the track and look great on TV ads.

It was fun going along with the #22 and #6 and it was quite startling when the relative quietness suddenly changes with the roar of Stock Cars and OzTrucks approaching and then peaking when they are blasting by us.

I spent the time looking at everything that I could possibly see, I also laughed a lot, me being on the Thunderdome, I thought spectating on Saturday was spectacular and touching the walls was special, but this was a whole new thing.

It was cool when I would look over to my left and a car would pass by and get waved to or given the thumbs up, one such example was when Lukas Gates went past and he gave the thumbs up, what a thrill everything was.

So, it was time to pull in and finish, Rodney Jane then came along and was persuaded to go for a run in the #7 with the #22 right behind, the #7 interior was then signed, and Brad and I got the car back to take it back to the garage area.

The Thunderdome that you see in those Toyota ads that air during Cup races on Kayo looks nothing like it does now, it has a long way to go but it looks so much better now.

It was time to ring the parents to recap the events that had taken place, they got to watch the laps on FaceTime that Linda had done which was cool and I described the weekend experience to them.

I hung around the garages talking to Laurie until the 10-minute command was given, I went back up the hill to watch Race 4, the wait for the race was longer than that as the Excels were late in finishing.

The sun came out from behind the clouds for the start of Race 4, it was beautiful the way the scene changed before the clouds came back to block the sun towards the end of the race.

After Race 4, we went back to the garages before going home, we would have stayed longer but the cold weather was causing a few health flare ups, so it was time for the drive back to Deniliquin.

When you hear people say that an organisation is great, you would think that there’s a chance of exaggeration but those who are part of Stock Cars Australia are genuine, they are great, friendly, hardworking human beings, a rare quality in this world, when they want you to be one of them, you are one of them.

Stock Cars Australia made a lot of new fans during the weekend and others had discovered that Stock Cars are still plying their trade in Australia, sure it is not like the 90s but that doesn’t matter, things rise, things fall, and things change but the enjoyment always remains the same.

My life has changed so much since going to the round, I have the desire to want to do more and be part of more, I found my place in the world.

If you’re a fan or generally curious about Stock Cars then make sure you stop by and see them when they are at Winton, Sydney Motorsport Park and Calder Park, hopefully One Raceway in the future.

We came, we saw, we conquered.