30 YEARS ON FROM INDY
FLASHBACK TAKES TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
THEY called it the ‘thunder down under’ and it was held right here on the Gold Coast
It was 30 years ago this week that the inaugural Indy Car Grand Prix revved to life on the streets of Surfers Paradise, bringing celebrities and petrolheads to the city for the biggest event in its history.
It was a moment more than two years in the making.
Negotiations to bring the US-based open-wheelers began in 1989 when the state government bid to host the opening round of the Indy World series.
Premier Mike Ahern made the announcement in March 1989 and insisted it would be “bigger than the Commonwealth Games”, with a street circuit built through central Surfers Paradise.
“This is a major TV event covered by network television in North America and commercial television in Japan as well as right across Australia,” he said.
“Its value would be incalculable in terms of promotion for Queensland.’’
Mayor Lex Bell backed the bid and the Gold Coast ultimately won out over other rivals.
Two years later, Mr Ahern had lost the premiership and Labor’s Wayne Goss was there to preside over the event.
A global audience of more than 500 million people caught a glimpse of the Gold
Coast during the inaugural event.
Tens of thousands of fans poured into the Coast in the days leading up to the event, along with drivers, support crews and even celebrity socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor who stayed at the newly open Royal Pines resort and charmed local police.
Gabor was at the centre of a controversy after she stormed out of the gala ball in response to being branded a “septuagenarian” by Sale of the Century host and event compare Tony Barber.
“She would be one of the most interesting septuagenarians in the world. She’s as old as my mother,” he said.
Local business owners were delighted by the influx of visitors but not everyone was happy.
Main Beach residents complained they had experienced a sleepless week as workmen hammered and drilled 24/7 to get the circuit completed in time for the race.
More than $80m worth of high-performance cars hit the circuit despite team managers lodging concerns with event organisers about the prospect of sand from Surfers Paradise beach blowing on to the track and turning the circuit into a “slippery nightmare”.
A crowd of 30,000 passed through the gates on the first day of the $25m, three-day spectacle, which saw the openwheelers
race through the streets of Surfers Paradise and Main Beach at more than 290km/h.
Indy general manager Bob Minnikin described the first time the cars were seen in action as “breathtaking”.
“We will be able to put on a first-class Saturday show and on Sunday you will see a topclass motor racing event,” he said.
Legendary driver Mario Andretti took to the track and took out second place on day one, behind former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever who led the pack into poll position.
One of the most unusual sights at the event was a giant blow-up King Kong which
dangled from a high-rise construction site overlooking the track.
The third and final day of the carnival, which featured the main race, was hailed as a success after more than 50,000 people passed through the gates to see a beaming Mr Goss fire the starting gun and tell drivers: “Gentlemen, start your engines”.
Brisbane singer Suzanne Clachair performed the national anthem and it was off and racing as the openwheelers roared through the streets as fans packed the grandstands and the balconies of Surfers Paradise’s towers to catch a glimpse of the “fastest show on Earth.”
John Andretti, Mario’s nephew, won the inaugural event after 65 action-packed laps across two eventful and incident-packed hours.
It was a fairytale finish for the young driver after both the older Andretti and Cheever both colliding at a chicane on the 45th lap.
Fans were also delighted by two Australian Defence Force Iroquois helicopters flying low over Macintosh Island and four army “stuntmen” rapelled down ropes.
A smiling Mr Goss crowed to media that the event had been “sensational”.
“It has been a great success,” he said.
“We are obviously
delighted with the way it has come together and the Queensland Events Corporation and Indy general manager Bob Minnikin have done a great job.”
Tourism bosses were also happy, saying the Indy had been the “golden carrot which lured Easter holiday-makers to the Gold Coast a week earlier than normal”.
The instant success of the first Indy set the stage for future races, which ran until 2008 when the event switched to an all-V8 format following the exit of the Indy cars.
CAROL Fox knows how to be in the right place at the right time.
It’s a talent that saw her become the first female surf lifesaving beach guard in Victoria, a talent that saw her become president of Women Sport Australia and named one of the most influential women in the country … and it’s even a talent that saw her escape Melbourne just months before COVID locked down the Victorian capital.
Now Carol, whose career in elite sport performance has informed her role as a confident communication expert, finds herself based on the Gold Coast at a time when the city is tipped to be named co-host of the 2032 Olympic Games – an opportunity that could just combine all of her talents at one place at one time.
Named as an Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence in 2019 for her work with Women Sport Australia, where she advocated for gender equality across wages, facilities and leadership, Carol has spent 30
years levels of sport, government agencies and corporate organisations to coach leaders to become more effective communicators.
And when she looks around her new home state of Queensland, she can see there is some work to be done.
“I can see there is so much potential here at a grassroots sporting level in regards to women’s leadership in sport that is waiting to be unlocked,” says Carol, who was also a national level swimmer and water polo player.
“In Victoria there is the Change our Game initiative and New South Wales has Her Sport Her Way. Both provide a range of grants and funding to support women and girls in sport and that’s what would be good to see happening here.
“It’s great to see women at the elite sporting level getting more attention and better pay, but real change starts at the bottom.
“We need to see women in leadership roles at a club level if we want to see the flow-on effects really take hold, and right now is perfect timing considering the young people of the Gold Coast have just over a decade until it looks like the Games will be in their city.
“We need to see women as umpires, as referees, as presidents, on boards and commenting in the media because having women active at every level gives girls such a better chance to get engaged in sport and stay engaged.”
Carol has long walked her own talk, ever since discovering as a child that half the population was excluded from surf lifesaving.
That childhood realisation sparked a lifetime of advocacy for gender equality.
“My older brother and other boys from my swimming squad went down to Lorne Surf Life Saving Club and I remember turning to my dad and saying ‘I can’t wait until I’m old enough to be a lifesaver’ … and my darling Dad had to break the news to me that women were not allowed to be surf lifesavers.
“I always remember back to that moment, the shock that we were excluded just because we were female. Even now I think about the concept and it still flabbergasts me. This wasn’t a sport either, this was a volunteer organisation providing a community service – and they were excluding women.
“I am proud to say that women were integrated into the surf lifesaving movement very quickly once the doors were opened though. In fact, on International Women’s Day this year Life Saving Victoria celebrated its first femalemajority board. It has also achieved gender parity across its volunteer base and professional staff.”
Yet just a few years after Carol joined lifesaving, history was repeating itself – this time as Carol pursued her dream to become a paid lifeguard.
Ultimately becoming the first female employed in that role in Victoria, Carol says it was not always an easy path to forge.
“Once the Sex Discrimination Act was brought in, they had to employ people based on merit, not gender. And thank goodness I had the merit for the job,” says Carol.
“But it was bloody hard work being the first to knock down those walls again and again. It was the same when I wanted to compete in surf lifesaving carnivals alongside my brother and friends.”
While working as a lifeguard, Carol was also studying, eventually completing her Master in Arts (Human Movement), with a thesis that focused on gender barriers to elite coaching positions.
It was during this time of advocacy and education that Carol says she started suffering from exhaustion.
“The more research I did, the more life I lived, I was just angry. Angry that being a woman was still a barrier when it comes to success, especially within sports,” she says.
“Eventually I had adrenal exhaustion, I couldn’t keep my energy at that level all the time.
“And then I realised that being angry is no way to communicate your point anyway. When someone is angry and screeching at you, you don’t hear their message.
“I decided to stop being angry and to start a conversation. Instead of fighting, it was time to ask questions … and that’s something I would love to see more women and men do.
“Right now, it’s really hard not to be angry. You hear the reports out of Canberra and it’s difficult not to call it out in an angry manner. But when we do that, we waste our energy, people stop listening … it’s time to ask the questions.
“I want to encourage everyone to get curious about why things are the way they are, to keep asking, keep highlighting it, but in a calm manner … that’s how we’ll change things. You can see the paradigm shifting already.
“I think if we see everything as a challenge and a fight, we do a disservice to our male champions and friends, it becomes exclusionary. We need them asking the questions right alongside us.”
Since moving to the Gold Coast last year, Carol says it’s taken no time to make new friends in this city – men and women alike.
And now she’s ready to formulate a game plan.
“I’ve always loved coming to the Gold Coast, we always holidayed here. And one bitterly cold Melbourne day I just came home to my husband and said ‘I’m done’.
“We arrived here just weeks before COVID kicked in and we’ve thanked our lucky stars ever since.
“I just love it here. I feel like I’m finally home … and I feel like I can really be of service to this community.
“I’d love to start a Women Sport Gold Coast chapter, it’s a big responsibility but it seems like now is the perfect time.”
Once again, Carol is at the right place at the right time.
The more research I did, the more life I lived, I was just angry