By TANIA PHILLIPS
MOTOR Racing fans are a devoted bunch – as the staff at Victory Ford, Tweed Heads South, found out last week.
Victory Ford, the local Ford dealership, played host to this year’s Bathurst winners Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom and Steve Richards along with other leading Ford Drivers in the lead-up to the weekend’s Gold Coast round of V8 racing the Gold Coast 600.
And racing enthusiasts came from everywhere including some from as far away as Melbourne and Lismore, according to Victory Ford general sales manager Brad Wielstra.
“It was a fantastic visit,” he said.
“We had a good crowd turn up and some really great support from the local community. We had some people from Melbourne and we even had some customers who had been at Bathurst and who had just rushed back to the area.
“There were probably 70-80 people. It really was a bit of a thrill to bring these winning drivers here to the Tweed.”
Pottsville man Pete Smith brought plenty of memoribillia for the drivers to sign including a prized cap that had already been signed by Steve Richards’ father Jim at the height of his career. The cap now bears the signature of father and son.
Pete said work commitments would be keeping him away from the Gold Coast 600 so when he heard that the drivers were coming he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to meet them.
After all it’s not every day that the men who have just won the biggest motor race in the country turn up in your backyard.
