Riverside Dragway

Riverside Dragway was formed in 1962 after the Victorian Hot Rod Association was given support by the police to run organised racing events at the unused Fishermen’s Bend Airstrip. The Airstrip was located on the southern bank of the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, adjacent to the Holden factory.

Riverside soon became the first home of Australian drag racing and the first Nationals were held there in 1965. [1]

1962

See 1962 Riverside Dragway photos

Extract from 1964 Motor Racing Yearbook…

“October, 1962, was the opening date for what could develop into one of the leading Motor Sports on the Australian Motor Racing calendar. With 15 competing cars and some 30 odd bewildered spectators, Riverside’s first drag meeting got away to a heartening start. Star of the first drags was Greg Goddard‘s supercharged flathead (side-valve) Ford Dragster. Although it never actually saw competition Greg put in a couple of frightening practise runs.

Sounding more like a jet than a V8 the poor puffed ford gave an ear splitting performance for the first 100 yards or so and then popped a piston out one of the exhausts. Most hot rodders who witnessed this event will probably vouch that Greg was heading for at least a 10 sec. quarter.

Darryl Harvey was king of the rodders with his little maroon ’34 Ford Roadster turning consistently in the high 14-sec bracket. Darryl was always pushed for class eliminator by Bruce (Rip) Kirby who was always out to “get him” to show that the side-valves can still give a big OHV a go for its money. Side-valve V8 versus Side-valve V8 as the Kirby-Scully duel continued meeting after meeting. Terry Scully‘s ’48 Ford Mercury powered “A” model bucket was the ultimate in hot rod starkness.”

Extract from 1964 Motor Racing Yearbook…

“Peter Holder turned up in November, 1962, with his first creation, an extended Standard 10 chassis with the biggest roll bar you have ever seen. With times in the 17 sec. bracket, the dragsters were about the slowest things on the strip.”

1963

See 1963 Riverside Dragway photos

Extract from 1964 Motor Racing Yearbook…

“Pete’s first challenge came from John English. John turned up about December, 1963, with just the opposite type of car which was still classed as a dragster.

An immaculate rear engine rail running full independent suspension this car was quite a few hundred pounds heavier than Holders, but the weight difference was equalled out by a red hot ’48 Ford Mercury, which John, an expert engine tuner, had worked over with the use of Waggott high-comp heads and twin Stromberg carbies.

Turning in the high 17, the rear engined rail could not quite match the power to weight ration of lighter but less powerful car. Month after month the duel continued, with the addition of two more carbies and lots of experience John managed to lower his times to around 14.5 seconds., but Pete not to be outdone (a la Jane and Beechey) pulled a few more sneaky tricks from the old sleeve and he managed to hold English for some time until the date of the Geelong Sprints, where the beautiful rear engined dragster was wiped off against a tree.

With the potent combination of John’s Ford Motor, which was still in one piece and the Goddard Dragster chassis, which Eddie Thomas now owned, Sneaky Pete was no match for the Flying English, who then proceeded to turn times in the low 13’s. It wasn’t till October, 1963, that Pete re-entered the challenge with a new light weight rail sporting the old side-valve mill in a slightly hotter form.”

1964

See 1964 Riverside Dragway photos

Extract from the 1964 Motor Racing Yearbook…

“…early in 1964 Eddie Thomas, under the guiding hand of Mr. English installed a 400 h.p. supercharged Chrysler in the now, well used chassis.

Times dropped abruptly into the low ll’s with speeds up to the 140 m.p.h. mark. This was to mark a new era in Australian Drag Racing. With the now consistent arrival of the Mullin’s and Bell Supercharged Chrysler Dragster from S.A. competition was more than willing. Spectators were now blocking their ears and staring in amazement at ‘the vigorously smoking tyres from the ultimate in drag racing equipment.”

Extract from the 1964 Motor Racing Yearbook…

“July, 1964, was a record breaking meeting in many different ways. Record attendance, now around 4,000 compared to the first meeting of 30. Record entry around 100 compared to the first meeting of 15. This would go down in the books as the most mixed up, bashed up, nerve racking drag meeting ever to be run at Riverside.

With the Eddie Thomas Dragster making like a self contained hand grenade, Barry Ferrari’s elegant white Sunbeam Talbot ignorantly spewing the inside of its overstressed gearbox all over the starting grid and (Sneaky) Pete Holder guiding his misguided B/D missile between cars, barricades and leaping bodies, the spectators were in all treated to some very interesting fill ins between runs.

The time trials produced nothing startling in the way of record shattering runs, but they did produce a flaw in the clutch-plate of the Eddie Thomas Dragster, when on the cars first attempt to leave the line, the complete clutch assembly disintegrated, sawing the bell-housing completely in half allowing 500 h.p. of expensive supercharged snarling motor to writhe in frustrating agony on the asphalt. Thanks to the scatter shield, which is compulsory under V.H.R.A. regulations, an explosive mass of death dealing shrapnel was contained within the confines of the car.”