Beating the system
As a teenager in Bathurst in the 1970s, it became a challenge for us to gain entry to the pits during the Easter races. There was always an ACU official checking Pit Passes when the gates at the start/finish line were open between races. If there was enough of a crowd ready to enter, the whitecoated man would be overwhelmed and so, by positioning ourselves on the offside of someone with a pass and asking them in a loud voice, “Who’s in the next race Dad?”, just before the said official, we could usually sneak through. “Dad” would look at us with shock or distain, but that didn’t worry us as we had achieved our goal. Not quite as good was to send one of us in front to be caught, and during the commotion, two or three of us would make it through. By the time I was 18, we had a mate whose dad worked on the council so we could use his pit pass to gain access, and by passing it back through the fence several times, we would all be in. This explains how I got a candid shot of Murray Sayle (above) when he was riding for Milledge Brothers in 1978. I read in OBA 78 that he had retired so I would like to wish him all the best for the future. Don Sinclair Bathurst, NSW