The Youngster still has fire in his belly
WHERE there’s smoke, there’s fire – and if the old saying applies at a Supercars Australia event, The Youngster’s never far behind.
Brisbane man Allan Young, aka ‘The Youngster’, has devoted his life to saving the lives of others both on the job and after hours.
The retired (well, sort of) Queensland firefighter has combined a lifelong service career with his contagious love of motorsport.
Young, 72, has been a volunteer fire marshal at Supercars events around the country since his passion for motorsport was ignited in 1979 when a colleague suggested he volunteer as a fire marshal at Bathurst.
“I haven’t missed a Bathurst since,” he says.
Nor has he missed a Coast race since his debut in the second year of Indy in 1992.
He’s also become a fixture on track at the Ipswich, Townsville and Sydney races and is looking forward to adding Newcastle to the list later this year.
“I’d like to do the first one this year but I won’t go back as a marshal,” he says.
A former Queensland Fire and Rescue Club office bearer, Young is president of The Retired Firefighters Association of Queensland.
”I have to still be involved and this is one way I can still be connected,” he says.
“I can’t stop. I’ve been at a lot of events for a long time and put a lot of effort into bringing safety to the course as far as fire goes.”
Young currently volunteers as assistant chief fire marshal at Supercars events including this weekend’s GC600 after giving up his role as chief last year.
“This year might be the time I start to cut back on a few of the events,” he says.
Young has also attended “quite a few major accidents, most of them at Bathurst of course”, including Michael Burgmann’s fatal crash at Mount Panorama in 1986, and “Colin Bond’s car up on Skyline”.