One particular USA vs Australia match remains in my memory as if it happened yesterday. Grenville was captain, with Toowoomba’s favourite racing son Russ Hoffman and Howard Fiedler from Kingaroy, both in Toranas, and I making up the team. Kevin (Cortina) and Merv Hargreaves (Falcon Hardtop) were reserves. At that time the U.S. team was driving Chevvy Sharks (Monzas) and I recall that John Pearson had a 427c.i. big block motor in his car. The format was a series of heats with two cars from each team, followed by a 12 lap final with all four cars from each team. The Aussie team was looking good however Howie and Russ were sidelined early with mechanical and crash damage. In came Kev Hargreaves but he too was sidelined. Unbelievably Grenville then went out with a mechanical problem with three heats to run. That left Merv Hargreaves and I to contest the remaining heats and the final against the four Americans. Australia had been doing well and we still had a mathematical chance of winning however we had to finish one-two in the final. I recall Merv starting on the pole with “Old Yella” from four. Merv was one of the coolest drivers under pressure I had ever raced with or against and I knew that he would be rock solid on the pole line on what was essentially a single lane track. We set off and Merv led the way unmoving as they bumped and shoved trying to pass the big Falcon Hardtop (seen below). For us to win the test, I had to pass both John Pearson and Ed Wilbur.

We did our victory lap with Aussie flags held high and the capacity crowd went absolutely crazy. They were literally hanging out of the stands and over the fence screaming and waving. It was a very proud moment for all of us.

I met Allan Butcher on that very first night in Townsville in 1974. In fact Allan was the only person to make himself known to me and offer some driving tips. I felt very humbled that this great speedway champion would take time to talk to me. Allan and I became very good friends and we raced together on many occasions including USA vs Australia Test Matches. It was always good to have him on our side as he never took a backward step and was an intimidating, tough, but fair racer. He was kind enough to let us house the car at his Mount Gravatt panel works. He and wife “Tubby”, Australia’s greatest ever lady speedway driver, are wonderful people, both true icons of the sport.

In those three fantastic seasons we met so many wonderful people and raced against the best speedway drivers in the country and in fact, the world. Jack Hewitt replaced Ed Wilbur in the USA team and he and I became good friends. Jack was another very tough but fair racer who subsequently realised his ultimate racing dream when he finished 12th in the Indianapolis 500. I toured with him in 1981 when he was racing the World of Outlaws and dirt champ cars in the Mid-West of the USA. Prior to that Jack was banned from racing in Australia after he punched up an Aussie driver in Darwin during a USA vs Australia match. I spoke with him after the incident and he explained in his slow mid-western drawl. “You know Peter, (Jack prefixed nearly every sentence with “you know”), every morning for a couple of weeks when he looks in the mirror, ****** will think about what he did to cause me to beat him up a bit and he will never drive dirty again.”

The beginning of the end for the “Old Yella” Chellingworth TAA Monaro was ironically at the Toowoomba Showground Speedway, the scene of many of our finest victories and podiums. It was a qualifying race for the 1977 Australian Saloon Car Championships which were being held at Carrick Speedway in Tasmania. We won the qualifying race, which provided some worthwhile traveling money for the long haul to Tassie, however the engine died after crossing the line and the car came to a halt high up near the boards. Unfortunately we were hit from behind by a fast finishing competitor that almost broke the car in half. My crew as well as many other crews spent all night and Sunday straightening, welding and hoping. Fingers crossed, we left for Tassie on the Monday.

A rough track and rain on the Friday night, when we beat the Tasmanian Champion Neville Harper in a very exciting heat before it was rained out, saw the final being run on Sunday afternoon. The Monaro was not handling well at all, however after starting out of position six we made our way up to second behind eventual winner Alan Blake from Western Australia. With 10 to go I was really struggling just to keep it straight and dropped back to finish seventh. We raced one last time in Toowoomba on the way home. “Old Yella” finished her days in the hands of Tito Shroj who painted her black and raced at Mareeba Speedway, 50km west of Cairns.

We won more than 100 feature races, represented Australia 14 times against the USA, were runners-up in the 1976

Over Christmas and New Year in the late seventies, Canberra’s former Aussie Champion, David Wignall and I, were invited to New Zealand to contest Tri-Nation Test Matches against USA and NZ. at Auckland’s Waikaraka Park Speedway. John Anderson and Billy Clarkson raced for the USA. I drove a Torana and Dave raced a Monaro. We didn’t win the test. However, after starting on the outside of row six in the 24 car field, I went on to win the Australasian Speedway Sedan Championship, half a lap ahead of Anderson and Clarkson on New Year’s Eve. The car owner was a dairy farmer, ironically by the name of John Anderson, from Hamilton in the beautiful Waikato district. In New Zealand speedway circles John was regarded as a silly old dairy farmer. He had tears in his eyes as he sat on the bonnet on the victory lap with checkered flag in hand.

I am most fortunate to have experienced all the highs and the lows that speedway has to offer and would do it all again tomorrow."