The club was last week saddened by the news that founding member and long-serving official Ian Sheppard had died after a long illness.

Premier Speedway historian Stewart Owen paid tribute to a fellow life member of the club.

“He was a genuine man, a humble man and a very trustworthy man,” Owen said.

“Speedway is a far better place because we had Ian Sheppard around.”

Sheppard’s passion for speedway started in the mid-1950s, when he was among the first handful of drivers to travel to Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier to race.

“It’s why there’s such good competition between Warrnambool and Mount Gambier,” Owen said.

“He was a top competitor.

“(His involvement) started from then, more or less up until he died.

“He was a racer, a builder, a promoter, an operator, a director.

“He held almost every position possible. He was instrumental in so many things.”

Owen highlighted the role Sheppard played in attracting American drivers to compete in Australia.

“He was also instrumental in getting the concrete fence put up outside the racing track,” he said.

“He worked very hard on that.”

In the 2001 Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic program, Sheppard was described as “a conservative, calculating person whose knowledge of the way the speedway system works and the people who administer it is unsurpassed”.

The program listed his most satisfying time as 1992, when Premier hosted the Australian title, the Classic, and the World Series Sprintcars in as many days.

Sheppard — a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who was born and raised in Warrnambool — died last Thursday. His funeral was held on Tuesday.

“His family said he had a 15-year extension on the illness he had,” Owen said.

“He was probably rather ill in the last five months.

He wasn’t able to make the last meeting of the season at Easter (because he was sick).”