A Bloody Paraplegic
My first car & Drag Racing (1)

My Dad, Walter (Wally) Dwyer, was a great mechanic and loved tinkering with cars. He had his beloved Customline and set about getting me a car as soon as possible after I got out of Hospital.

Tinkering with cars was, like cycle racing, in the Dwyer blood. Clem Dwyer who was a cousin of my Dads is well known and respected in Motor Cycle and Car Racing circles. He lived 5 minutes push bike ride from our place in Floreat, Perth, Western Australia.

'Uncle' Clem Dwyer was one of the people originally involved in getting circuit racing under way at Caversham (we later used the straight as a Drag Strip) and has been described as "A remarkable man. A skilful car designer and builder, he was also a gifted driver and raced all sorts of cars from an SS100 Special to a supercharged Renault Dauphine''. He is also said to have been "WA's most prolific motor sportsman". More here

I vaguely remember going to the Car and Bike races that they held 'around the houses'  in the country, and to race meetings at Caversham.

	Every Friday night Dad would come home from work with fish-n-chips and some lollies for us kids and then we would go to  Claremont Speedway when the season was on. Those were the days when they had the Solo bikes, Sidecars, TQ's (quarter midgets) and Speedcars (midgets) and you ate potato chips while listening to Patsy Cline sing Seven Lonely Days over the PA.
Above: Laurie Stevens was one of the drivers back in the good old days. Photo from http://www.vintagespeedway.com

I also remember the first car that would later become know as Sprint cars, being run at Claremont by a visiting American. He kept on breaking lap, 5 lap, 10 lap, 15 lap records until he eventually hit the fence.

Some action below from Claremont Speedway but this was when they had roll bars. When Dad and I used to go they didn't have any.

I put in the above just for the memories but I sort of drifted away from the Speedway / Car racing when I went into Hospital and I haven't been to a race meeting since Claremont Speedway or the Caversham Circuit Closed.

When I was 18 I got permission, as a bloody paraplegic, to have a special licence so that I could start driving on the road at an earlier than normal age, which was 21 at the time.

Dad got hold of a FX Holden which began life as a six-cylinder four-door, six-seater sedan and that was my first car.

	While mine started out looking something like the photo on the left this was a time for customising cars so that's what we started to do. If only we had known......!! The grey motor came out of the FX and a red motor from a EH Holden was stuck in with a few added bits and pieces.
Above Photo was pinched from Aussie Coupes at here

Dad stuck a falcon steering wheel on along with a few extra gauges.

Hand controls worked by pulling down to put the clutch in, pushing forward to brake and twisting a bike hand throttle to go.

The technique was to pull down for the clutch, slip it into gear (you rested your thumb on the steering while you flicked it into gear) and twist the throttle as you let the clutch out though when Geoff Pilgrim drove it he didn't bother putting the clutch in. A skill I never learnt.

From memory the car stayed like this for a bit and was just plain fun to drive. Many a street drag race was either won or lost on any given night of the week with the old FX. Guess not much has changed.........except for the cars...

Don Stein (above right) who passed away recently was always ready to lend a hand with my car and we spent many a night cruising. The 1320 Drag Club started at his place and I was to become the first President of the Club.

My car went through a number of customizing stages while it was still being driven on the road and I need to sort the order out as I can't remember how it went at the moment. This means going back over the different Drag Race meetings.
 

We were working on the car at home and the Neptune Racing Team drivers dropped in for a chat and gave me an autographed photo. Above are Jim McKeown, Norm Beechy and Peter Thornton. This was akin to having Craig Lowndes and co turn up for a cup of tea and a biscuit so it was very exciting.

I had two prangs in the FX Holden. One when I was sliding around a corner down the road from our place in Floreat Park. I hit the curb and the two drivers side wheels folded under but the car didn't go over. When Dad heard about it he said some words along the lines of "You idiot...." and then proceeded to show how it should be done in the Customline.

Unfortunately the next time I did a good job on the way home from a Drag meet at Caversham when it did go over. This one was to eventually cost me my leg.
 

continued My First Car 2 and Drag Racing.

My FX Holden.



Grey FX Holden motor was replaced by this red one from a EH Holden which had a few added bits and pieces.




Petrol was around 80c a gallon from memory.



At Caversham which was an old airstrip converted into a racing circuit.



Drag racing was also held on the main straight. This is a typical line up of cars for a Sunday meet.



Rear end of my FX Holden.



The Office.