If horse racing has long been known as the sport of kings, speedway would probably have been a sport of paupers. Men playing with cars in the dirt, living out their boyhood dreams.
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Both horse racing and speedway are synonymous with Warrnambool and power the south-west's economy each year. The Grand Annual Steeplechase run as part of the May Racing Carnival used to be the city's most recognisable event. It is beamed across the equine globe and together with the three-day carnival attracts more than 25,000 people through the turnstiles.
But Premier Speedway's Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, to steal a racing line, is neck and neck with the thoroughbred carnival these days. What started as a two-night show in 1973 with a field of 40 cars is now a three-night racing festival, attracting more than 100 drivers and crowds that pack out the volunteer-built and self-funded Allansford speedway.
Speedway and sprintcar racing are no longer a sport of paupers. Car owners invest hundreds of thousands of dollars each season in just getting to the track. Then there's the running costs and the dreaded, inevitable crash budget - the equivalent of a horse owner's contingencies for vet bills.
Some drivers are full-time, they race in America where the stakes are high and the rewards significant. It is no longer men just digging in the dirt, there's plenty of women racers, and it's a business, serious business.
People in speedway have bemoaned for years it was a niche sport and looked enviously at "main stream sports", wishing, hoping, dreaming that one day theirs could be a better place.
Rewind to the first classic and the winner, South Australian Zeke Agars, who collected $350. He could never have imagined the race would carry a winner's cheque of $50,000 in the milestone 50th running in 2023. The sport is indeed in a better place.
Sprintcar racing has come of age.
Next week's Australian title at Premier Speedway will be broadcast live on free-to-air TV through the Seven network. That's a great opportunity, thanks to the club, to promote the city and everything we love to a new audience. The sport gets weekly free-to-air TV coverage in Western Australia, there are live streams available from just about every major show these days. Mums, dads and children flock to the tracks. They can engage with drivers unlike major motorsport. The on-track entertainment is exhilarating. Think back to the 2023 classic when Portland's Brock Hallett claimed Australasia's biggest sprintcar prize in the final metres.
But there are growing pains though.
Drivers, team owners have been calling for more prizemoney because costs have risen and rightly so. And speedway tracks in the capital cities of Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane have closed for various reasons, although Sydney could yet roar back to life. There's an opportunity for Premier Speedway to further cement its standing in the sport and take on more shows and further improve facilities, which have long been talked about, and in turn the product.
Promoters can hardly ask punters to pay more at the gate to increase prizemoney because they are already forking out enough. They can't bite the hand that feeds them. Sponsorship and TV rights are the answer. Anyone involved in sport knows it's harder than it sounds to attract and retain sponsors but the sport has never been more attractive. But how well does the sport promote itself?
Team owners like Warrnambool export Tim Hodges have been selling the sport to a broader audience in the past two summers. He gets it, some others like long-time commentator Wade Aunger do too. But not enough. The sport and its participants, including promoters, need to understand there is a greater good and the long-held dream of a sport of kings is attainable.
The classic's back, the Aussie title is here next week and the region is buzzing with fans.
To steal a line from the May racing carnival, how good is the 'Bool?
