The History of Charlton Raceway

The Downs Speedway Club was established in 1966-67 when racing was held at the old Toowoomba Showgrounds and continued there until 1974 when the Royal Agricultural Society announced they would promote speedway themselves. The then members of the Club voted to establish their own grounds and in May 1975 the land at Charlton was purchased. Many dedicated people such as Merv Buncle (dec), Trevor Twidale, John Wagner, Kevin Stephson, Joe Ramia, Bryan Burke and Alex Campbell spent a lot of hours working to establish the complex. The Downs Speedway Club's Charlton Raceway complex was finally opened on 23rd April, 1977. Over the years we have hosted over 30 Queensland Championships and over 13 Australian Championships for Sprintcars, Modified Productions, Super Sedans, Speedcars, Compacts, Solos and Litre Sprintcars. We can also boast to having had some of the best race car drivers as members of our Club, some being, Russell Hofmann, Bryan Burke, Doug Schultz, Rod Wilkinson, Arthur Wieden, Harry Brazier, Len Kennedy, John Giersbergen, Peter Lack and Darryl Bonell.

The club relies heavily on a very dedicated team of voluntary workers, some which have been here from day one. These range from the ladies in the canteens through to the general maintenance of the grounds to race night officials, all of whom are deserving of the highest praise for their dedicated efforts.

Due to problems with Public Liability Insurance and possible litigation against the Downs Speedway Club's Directors a new entity was formed to promote Speedway. The new organisation, Charlton Raceway Inc. was led by Doug Schultz, with a committee of Harry Brazier, Bryan & Leonie Burke, Graham Erhart, Noel Gessner, John Giersbergen, Peter Ford, Jenny Hynes, Len Kennedy, Lionel Noll, Dan Oliver, Trevor Polzin, Joe Ramia and Eric Robinson and together with the generous sponsorship of Toowoomba icon Clive Berghofer put together a successful first season. The club has continued to run strongly since.