Western Springs Speedway – thanks for the thrills!

Motorsport racing has been held at Western Springs Stadium since 1929. Photos supplied Colin Irwin Photography www.sap.net.nz

Phil Dark, a proud Howickian and professional motorsports broadcaster, has been the voice of speedway in Auckland and writes of his sadness for the end of its run at Western Springs Stadium.

The land where now stands Western Springs Stadium, the park-like grounds, MOTAT and the Auckland Zoo, was purchased from the Motions family by the Auckland City Council to house, among other things a huge pumping station, and to cater for a growing Auckland’s needs before the start of the 20th century.

Zoned a recreation area, it also held a stadium in its natural amphitheatre where athletics, cycling and speedway motorcycle racing, then known as broadsliding, would be held.

That first motorcycle meeting took place in 1929, followed by the first midget car race in 1937.

This began an association with the then new sport of speedway that would continue to this very day.

In those 95 years, Western Springs Stadium would see the very best in the world competing on both two and four wheels, enthralling the massive crowds that would line the concrete terraces lining the cinder track.

Situated just six-kilometres from Auckland’s CBD, the stadium was easy to get to and soon became a focal point and activity mecca for entertainment-starved locals, but recently that all came to a crashing halt.

New Zealand driver Barry Butterworth was always one of the crowd favourites in midget cars.

In a nondescript meeting room around an equally nondescript table, Auckland councillors were tasked with deciding the future of one of the world’s best speedway venues, Western Springs Speedway.

In an 11 to eight vote, they decided that the end of the 2024-2025 season would be its last and the door to Western Springs Speedway would be shut permanently.

In a secondary vote, they approved a financial rescue package of $11 million be granted to enable Waikaraka Park Speedway in Onehunga to make improvements and let the two separate entities merge.

This means that one of Auckland’s great sporting venues would be no more and after years of fighting and wrangling, the nearby Western Springs residents and the council have finally got their way.

The stadium will still be used for sporting events. There are suggestions that the Springs will become the new home for new A-League football club Auckland FC, and it will continue to stage concerts and community events.

Another fan-favourite racer Ted Tracey goes sideways into a corner, as is the style of driving required in midgets.

Like a lot of speedway fans, I’m saddened by this turn of events.

I’ve been going, firstly as a spectator and then as the track announcer replacing the late-great Bill Mudgway, since the late 1970s.

I’ve worked with and met some great people over four different promotor ships starting with the larger-than-life Reece Facoory and finishing with Bruce Robertson and John McCallum, the current promotional team.

I’ve seen all the greats perform there – Ivan Mauger, Barry Biggs and Ronnie Moore, although my favourite was always John Goodhall, the underdog Aucklander.

On four wheels we welcomed the very best as well – AJ Foyt, Bob Tattersall, Rich Vogler, and who could forget Ron Sleepy Tripp, who loved New Zealand so much that he married an Auckland girl in Erin and took her back to California with him.

Sleepy Tripp, of the United States, was a regular competing visitor to these shores and respected by Kiwi speedway supporters.

Other iconic events hosted at the stadium include events of the 1950 Empire Games, the Springs venue for cycling and the closing ceremony.

1950 was just the fifth time the Games had been held, with Australia topping the medal charts from New Zealand and England.

There have also been amazing music concerts at the Springs, including by David Bowie who played to 83,000 fans, New Zealand’s largest attendance for such an event.

But it was fans of another kind that filled the 20,000 available seats to see the late-great Sir Peter Snell take a 10th of a second off the 1000m world record.

Howick’s Phil Dark, right, pictured with US driver Ron Sleepy Tripp, has been the track announcer at Western Springs Speedway for many years.

And speaking of fans, it’s the dyed-in-the-wool Springs fans that are hurt most by this latest act.

Yes, a lot of them will travel across town to Waikaraka Park, but many will not.

Yes, it is speedway, but not as they know it.

So come the end of the current season it will be time to say goodbye to yet another Auckland sporting icon.

Goodbye Western Springs Speedway, thanks for the memories.

Speedway events at Western Springs have long been a popular entertainment activity that Aucklanders have flocked to in their thousands over many decades.