Allan Bates was busy Thursday morning giving his collection of speedway cars a final wash and polish ready for them to be transported to Maitland Showground for the big speedway party that starts tomorrow.
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His cars along with a speedway motorbike will be on display and Allan is looking forward to catching up with old mates and competitors and talking all things racing.
His association with speedway racing started 50 years ago in 1973 at a race at Heddon Greta and although he gave up racing a number of years ago he still spends much of his spare time on restoring speedway cars.
Celebrations for the Centenary of Speedway will begin on Friday, December 15 - 100 years to the day - with a Speedway Showcase at the Maitland Showground supported by Maitland City Council featuring a collection of historic speedway motorcycles, speedway sidecars and speedway cars some of which will participate in demonstration laps.
The Maitland Showground gates will open at 10am and be followed by the Centenary of Speedway Dinner from 7pm.
Allan won two NSW Hotrod titles in 1983 and again in 1984. In 1984 he came second in the Australian titles in his car carrying his racing number 57 which he has lovingly restored.
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"I had a call from a bloke down Toronto way and he asked me if I was interested in a sprint car wreck which he was thinking of taking to the tip. Turned out it was my old car so I quickly headed down and picked it up," he said.
"It takes me around three years to restore the cars and doing that one was pretty special."
He said he had spent 10 years looking for that car and when he found it, it was a complete wreck.
"But it was great to bring back to its former glory and show it off at events like this one in Maitland," he said.
Allan is a panel beater by trade, having worked with the late John Smith, who owned a smash repairs business in Singleton for many years, and was himself a sprint car racer.
"I worked for John and also raced his cars including the Dulux sprint car which I have just finished restoring," Allan said.
To pay for his racing passion Allan left his trade and became a truck driver ,first carting coal up and down the highway before rail took-over, and now on mine sites.
With retirement on the horizon Allan will be busy restoring more speedway cars and perhaps in between travelling the roads on his Harley Davidson road bike with his wife.