While the matter of a stand-alone drag strip for western Sydney remains firmly under review in the New South Wales Premier's Office, the situation was inflamed on July 7 and 8 by the appearance of letters from the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation, sent to individuals who had written to the NSW Government, announcing that the project was "not supported".

The letter, under the signature of the Minister, John Watkins, went on to state, "The construction of such a facility would alienate additional open space land and severely impact on its amenity and value. In addition, the development of a motor sport complex would impact on the viability of Eastern Creek Raceway."

However, the closing paragraph sent drag racing tolerance meters off the scale. It stated: "I understand the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) has met with a representative from the Australian National Drag Racing Association and a competitor group with a view to conducting some form of championship level drag racing at the Raceway." It is somewhat surprising that Mr. Watkins, who is also the Minister for Fair Trading, should be putting his name to such a misleading and deceitful statement.

The meeting referred to, on June 1, saw the ARDC decline to meet ANDRA standards of track preparation and offer only one date this year (in December) and none in 2000. ANDRA has refused to sanction such an event. A subsequent discussion between ANDRA and the ARDC got no closer to a resolution. ANDRA's NSW Divisional Director Terry Agland has referred to the situation as an impasse.

The suggestion of the closing sentence that recipients phone the ARDC to obtain further information, when followed up, brought only assurances that any drag racing at ECR would be on a virtually unprepared surface, without prizemoney, and would not be classifiable as championship status.

Subsequently ANDRA's CEO Tony Thornton has written to the Minister pointing out errors in a similar but separate letter sent to the sanctioning body and disputing the implication that "the matter of the dedicated drag racing facility has been resolved". This was, ANDRA's letter stated, incorrect and that the matter remains under review in the Premier's Department, and urged the Minister to stick to relaying facts rather than opinions.

Agland wrote to the Department in much stronger terms, expressing dismay and serious concern over the letter's nature and timing, and demanding a letter of correction be issued and seeking a personal apology from the Minister. There had been no response to this letter at the time of going to press.

The issue brought a similarly hostile response from many of its recipients, who have written back the Department, its minister and other ministers, disputing the pre-emptive nature of these letters, following so closely as they do the Department's June 22 media release, making similar incorrect claims.

"Plainly this issue is not dead or buried," said RPS Promotions representative and DRAGSTER Publisher David Cook, one of the scheme's proponents. "We are uncertain as to why we have met this knot of opposition from within one government department, and we can only presume we have touched a very raw nerve here.

"I would like to assure drag racing fans, both in NSW and around Australia, that until they hear it from us that this is dead then it is still a long way from being so. We are in regular touch with the Premier's Department, from which we are receiving an excellent response, and we continue to receive support from a number of other Government ministers and outside bodies.

"We doubt that Mr. Watkins is even fully informed on all the issues associated with this proposal, but we have been unable to get before him. We note that even when Terry Agland attempted to obtain a meeting with him to put ANDRA's case that he was turned away by public servants who did not want anyone talking to the minister on the matter.

"About the only problem we are currently experiencing is from one or two opponents to our proposal who have obtained the phone number of the contact people in the Premier's Department and begun a phone pestering campaign, apparently to convince them that this is not supported from within the drag racing community."

Cook and his RPS partner Jim Read went on to express delight in the number and content of letters being written by members of the drag racing community. "It is gratifying to see the number of letters coming off our faxes. The racing community has been keen to make a meaningful contribution to this. We have purposely kept the submission process simple to date to avoid problems, but now the racers have come into their own, and they are not lying down and accepting this nonsense."

Support from outside the Sydney drag racing community has continued to roll into the NSW Premier's Department, with recent letters from Steve Bettes' National Drag Racing Supporters Group, the South Queensland Division of ANDRA, Calder Park drag racing manager Steve Allen and the studios of Willowbank Raceway's television producers, among others. Interest has also now been shown by a major Sydney daily newspaper and influential Sydney radio personality Alan Jones, who, at the time of writing, is keen to air the issue and make representations to the government.

To keep the NSW drag racing community fully informed the NSW Division of ANDRA has called another meeting, to be held at the Bowman Hall, Blacktown Community Centre, Campbell Street, Blacktown, on Wednesday, August 11, starting at 7:30 pm. The intention is to gather as many people as possible from the racing community, fans, businesses and other interested parties. Major media is being invited, and the intention is to bring together in excess of a thousand people as a show of strength. By this date there should be a decision from the Premier's Department. The meeting will be a celebration of the new drag strip or a planning session for the next stage of the campaign. Do not miss it.