Wife: Sharon.

Children: Brad and Tim.

Parents: Pat and Colin.

Siblings: Kerry and Marie-Clare.

Education: St Mary's Primary School Woodford then Mailors Flat Primary School before completing my education at the old North Technical School.

Sporting highlight: playing cricket and tennis out at Mailors Flat in my younger years.

Richard, what are your memories of being out at Mailors Flat playing tennis and cricket?

I've got to be honest with you, I was an average sort of sportsman.

I used to struggle but I loved playing both games.

I can vividly remember playing colts cricket with Mailors Flat when Les Johnson was our coach.

I never made many runs during my short career; for a while I used to be the wicket keeper.

Once my cricket career was over I played tennis on Saturday afternoons for Mailors Flat but as I said previously I was not much good at any sport.

There has been a sport which you've been heavily involved with for many years and that's out at Warrnambool's Premier Speedway. How did your involvement begin in that sport?

I used to regularly go out to the speedway and sit on the terraces with our kids.

Phil Johnson was on the board of the club and one day he asked if I was interested on jumping on board.

I ended up getting elected onto the board in 2004. Jimmy Lewis had been the president of the club before I took over the job.

Jimmy is back on the board now which is really great.

He's got a great understanding of all the things that happen at the speedway and about the sport.

Richard, I take it you've witnessed plenty of times in your role as the president out at Premier Speedway?

Yes. It's only times like this when you're being interviewed and you sit back and remember the various things that have changed.

I suppose the biggest change was when we introduced a three-day Classic back in 2008.

There was not everyone in favour of that, but as the time has rolled on it has proven correct.

I'll never forget we had long discussions with Borderline Speedway Mount Gambier and Avalon Raceway about changing the dates as we wanted them both on board as they are crucial to the success of the sport.

All parties are very happy now. Time has certainly flown when I think it was back in 2008 when we introduced that change.

David Mills has been the general manager of Premier Speedway for 15 years and he's been instrumental in lots of the works that have happened around the club. He's done a wonderful job.

Things including a new score-board, grader, tractors, office block and corporate box have all been big winners for the club.

We've introduced a new electronic ticketing system which will prove to be a great asset. It took a while to get all the software in place but it's right now.

We have nine members who comprise the board.

The club is very lucky to have a wonderful band of volunteers who work tirelessly at improving and maintaining the facilities, and on top of that we've got wonderful sponsors.

We're always on the lookout for more volunteers to keep the show on the road as in all walks of life our volunteer base is getting older and we need to have new people in place to do the valuable work they all do.

The club would really struggle without those sorts of people.

Has it been worked out how much money the three nights of the Classic injects into Warrnambool?

Deakin University worked it out that the Classic, which this year is on January 21, 22 and 23, generates more then $7 million into the local economy.

It's a massive event not only for Warrnambool but for the region. We can usually have up to 16 American drivers, but sadly this week because of COVID we'll only have one American (in Carson Macedo) taking part in the event.

He's ticked all the protocols outlined by the government. He's done his time in quarantine and is right to go.

We've got all the protocols regarding COVID put in place for our patrons.

The Classic just generates an incredible atmosphere.

Richard is there much prize money connected to the Classic?

Over the three nights there's over $225,000 in prize money but for the Classic itself it's $30,000 to the winner.

The drivers and their support crews just love the speedway world. It's an expensive sport for them to be involved in.

We had no Classic last year because of COVID.

We had a two-day event but we're looking forward to a big event this weekend.

The Easter Trial is also a big feature for Premier Speedway as it works closely with Borderline Speedway and Avalon Raceway which hold events on the Friday and Saturday nights before we race on the Sunday.

Away from the speedway, Richard you also have your own business in Tasweld Engineering. How did you find the time to devote to being president at Premier Speedway and also running your business?

I'm very lucky I've got great support from the people like David Mills, the board and volunteers out at Premier Speedway, while on a business front there are brilliant people who work at Tasweld.

I started out as an apprentice fitter at Kraft before going to night school and learnt to be a boilermaker. I co-founded Tasweld with the late Clive Tasker 35 years ago and now I'm in partnership with Harry Uwland.

We're an industry leader in fabrication, welding services and the installation of stainless steel equipment and pipework.

Tasweld has done work Australia-wide over the years from up at Cape York back in the late 1990s to anywhere in between.

We've got a wonderful team of workers at Tasweld and without their support I would not be able follow my hobby in the speedway.

Tasweld is like any other business; we've been hit hard by COVID which has seen some of our staff off work, but we're trying our best to get through the issues the pandemic has presented.

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