V8's silent honour to Winton boss

Ronke built Winton to what it is today. Source: Cameron Tandy / News Limited

THERE are few places where a minute's silence would be more noticeable than a V8 Supercars meeting.

And even fewer that will be as poignant as that for Mick Ronke on Sunday at Winton.

The V8 grid will unite for a minute before the race, with drivers to stand beside their cars before they take to a track that would not exist if not for the efforts of Ronke, who died in April aged 65 after complications from heart surgery.

So integral was Ronke to the Winton Motor Raceway that in his stead, three fulltime employees - his son Adam (operations), Heather Wallace (administration) and Don Bartlett (engineering) - now fill the role he once commanded alone.

Ronke put his hand up in the 1960s to fill the volunteer's competition secretary role when Winton was confronted with closure for the first time.

His son Matthew said today that "from there he eventually found a winning formula" that only became a paid role 25 years ago, but endures at the small regional circuit that thrives despite its remote location in north-eastern Victoria.

"He'd be here seven days a week -- it was his passion," said Matthew, who himself runs Wakefield Park near Goulburn.

"He spent every moment of every day here working to make the facility better and grow motorsport in the area."

That love was fully tested in 1996 when the then Touring Car Championship didn't come to Winton because the facility didn't meet changing requirements.

"The edict to get V8 Supercars back here meant the circuit needed to be extended and new facilities put in," Matthew said.

"The club took that on and it cost them a couple of million dollars, but they lost their major income source (the round) in the interim.

"We only just found out a couple of weeks ago that Dad actually went without a wage for two years so the club could pay back the loan.

"As long as there was a meal on the table at night, you don't know the details of that as a younger guy."

Ronke, who helped found the Australian Auto Sport Alliance that has become a saviour of sorts to many grassroots motor racing groups around the country, used to field calls from many fledgling superstars who would ask if they could turn a few laps at Winton.

In the early 1970s, he would occasionally skip away from his fulltime job with Telecom to unlock the gates for Peter Brock to test the Torana that would later propel him to superstardom.

Another of those he helped along was Garry Rogers, now the owner and principal of the powerhouse Fujitsu Racing GRM team.

Rogers, who first raced at Winton in 1963, would be part of a group that camped around the track's dam just to get the most out of the circuit that is now test track for the Victorian-based V8 Supercar teams.

"It will be an emotional day. Other than Mick's family being involved here, the whole motor sport community was his family," Rogers said today.

"They've done an enormous amount of work here over the years, bit by bit, with a lot of volunteers and unpaid help - and Mick was the driver of that.

"We were here testing 10 days ago and they were putting slabs down in a new area to be ready for this weekend - it was pouring rain and they were just doing it. That's what Mick was about.

"He wasn't someone who got up and screamed and yelled, he just went about encouarging everybody and making people involved in what was going on.

"That is the thing Mick would do. His whole life was not just the circuit, but the people around him who were involved with it."

Matthew spoke today about times when his father would sacrifice his wage to build a new toilet block for the club's biggest weekend and be repaid months later when the cheques cleared.

That commitment was repaid in part earlier this month when the club opened entries to the newly minted Mick Ronke Memorial Trophy race in November at its main club meeting and filled it within three hours.

"I think a lot of people just want to come here and show their respect to Dad," Matthew said.

"It's been quite staggering how many people have told us he's touched them to help them go racing.

"We have Queensland off-road clubs through to West Australian motorkhanas come to us and say we would have stopped if it wasn't for what he put in place."

Sadly, instructions for the track's future were among the last few words Mick spoke to his sons.

As he was wheeled into surgery, Mick gave Matthew directions as to what needed to happen for this weekend's racing.

"He just seemed to know what to do and when to do it," Matthew said.

"It's gonna be a sad day. But he left my brother and I a legacy that we know what he wants so we can keep working towards it."

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

V8's silent honour to Winton boss

Dengan url

http://sportfoxer.blogspot.com/2013/08/v8s-silent-honour-to-winton-boss.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

V8's silent honour to Winton boss

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

V8's silent honour to Winton boss

sebagai sumbernya