Mick & Joe’s Racing Team has achieved something special in speedway dirt track racing, with driver Damien McAlister claiming the team’s first major win since their formation in the early 1990s.
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At Goulburn Speedway’s last meeting, he claimed the 2017 NSW Production Sedan Title.
It’s been a solid season for the Goulburn locals, highlighted by Damien’s victory in the recent NSW Title, which also saw the three-car team – run by Brian McAlister and consisting of his sons Damien (35) and Craig (32), and their cousin Darren Snowden –complete a top-five sweep, with Darren and Craig finishing in third and fifth place respectively.
Their professionalism and team presentation was demonstrated earlier this season when Craig received the Best Presented Car and Team Award at the National Title at Wahgunyah Speedway.
The family-based team has a rich history in Australian speedway, beginning more than 45 years ago, when Brian became a regular spectator at Goulburn Speedway after its establishment in 1971.
He moved to Western Australia for work in the late 1970s, where his wife Diane gave birth to Damien and Craig. They returned to Goulburn and purchase Mick & Joe’s Discount Tyres in 1992, which instigated the launch of Mick & Joe’s Racing Team.
With more than 20 years’ racing experience, competing in Modified Production Sedans throughout NSW in the 1990s and winning multiple Goulburn Speedway Championships, Brian recently stepped away from a decade as Goulburn Speedway Club president.
He retired from racing at the end of the 2012-13 season to spend more time as a team owner. That season, competing in Series Productions, he finished second in the NSW Board Title driving the team’s LJ Holden Torana.
Damien shared his father’s passion for speedway and started racing in 1997. He spent a couple of seasons racing a Torana in the Goulburn Speedway track class called Stock Rods. After a five-year hiatus due to other interests, Damien returned to Stock Rods in 2008, later moving into Series Productions, where he was joined by his younger brother, Craig, in the 2010-11 season. Craig initially drove a Ford Escort. In 2013 he won the NSW Board Title, and was joined on the podium by his father in second place.
Completing the three-car team is Darren Snowden, a cousin from Damien and Craig’s mother’s family, who has more than 20 years’ racing experience in Stock Rods and Formula 500s.
All three will line up in the $5000 Rocky Hill Royale this Saturday night, March 25, with a field of 20-plus Production Sedans.
The team has spent three seasons in the national Production Sedan class, which gives them the opportunity to travel to tracks throughout Australia and test themselves against some of country’s best drivers in the class.
Assisting each other with maintaining the cars, Darren does the fabrication and Damien and Craig complete the mechanical work.
The tight-knit unit credits their positive results to the on-going whole team effort, which has proved a winning formula, particularly this season.
The team is grateful to their 2016-17 season sponsors: Mick & Joe’s Discount Tyres, Goulburn Engine Centre, Fyshwick Head Services, Jake’s Performance, GW Racing, Down Under Graphics, Studio 4 Signs, Southern Differentials, Mastercraft Tyres, Atlantic Oils, Xtreme Auto Parts, and Collector Welding & Fabrication.
Special thanks go to Damien and Craig’s parents Diane and Brian, Darryl Thorpe, Shane Murray, Paul Kranitis, Kurt Kranitis, Tony Kranitis, the Collector crew, Mick Williams, Hillman Hornbrook, and David House.
To find out more about the Mick & Joe’s Racing team, follow them on Facebook by searching ‘Mick & Joe’s Racing’.
