PETER MURPHY JOINS MURRAY BRIDGE SPEEDWAY
Feature photo by: Brian Darby.
Peter Murphy is the new General Manager of Murray Bridge Speedway.
One of Australia, NZ and the USA’s most respected racers and administrators Murphy flew in earlier this week from Auckland to begin his tenure at the iconic South Australian Speedway venue having inked a deal with Made Too Go Principal Barry Waldron last week.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” the versatile Murphy conceded, “I’m under no illusions that it won’t be easy but the venue is fantastic, the culture of Speedway and motorsport in general in South Australia is very obvious. I can’t wait to get started.”
Murphy has vast experience in many aspects of Speedway competition across Australia, New Zealand the US.
His appointment as GM of Murray Bridge is a major shot in the arm for the sport in SA and the country in general.
One of Australian Sprintcar racing’s most decorated racers in the US and NZ both in winged and non-winged Sprintcar racing (not to mention his driving career here in Australia where amongst other things he won a Monday night World Series Sprintcars feature race at Claremont Speedway for Harry Delamont) Murphy’s active duty as a racer was cruelly cut short in 2013 in a violent crash at Antioch where he received head injuries that almost took his life.
The crash forced Murphy to look into other forms of the sport on an administrative level.
He was already a respected and revered crew chief and Sprintcar mechanic which also included tenures with the King of the Outlaws Steve Kinser amongst many others.
With an intimate understanding of the cars themselves, how to race and set them up and also understanding what he himself would want as a race fan it was a logical progression for Peter to become a Promoter himself.
He built and fostered the Peter Murphy Classic annual race spectacular and spent formative times on the Promoting side at Tulare, Hanford and Skagit Speedways to name just three.
“I felt like when racing the cars themselves was off the table I wanted to stay involved in the sport and I felt like I could contribute to the promoting side of Sprintcar racing. Being able to understand the balance between what the fans want and what the teams need is the critical part of promoting. It’s a balancing act for sure but I love that challenge,” says Murphy.
For Australian Promoters, teams and fans having Murphy involved now in South Australia at Murray Bridge is a major coup.
“Peter’s experience on so many levels in our sport make him a real asset to the industry here in Australia,” says Sprintcar Speedweek Inc President David Mills, “we’re really excited to have his input into Speedweek through his role at Murray Bridge and we think in return he’ll be pretty excited to work with us. We’re really grateful to Darren Shaddock for his hard work on Speedweek in the past and we wish him well for the future.”
One of Murphy’s immediate goals is to reinstate confidence in the teams racing at Murray Bridge Speedway and the fans who come to support the racing. “Tolmer Speedway and Borderline Speedway are doing some phenomenal things with their venues and I think the time is right for Murray Bridge to grow alongside them as we revitalise Speedway, not just Sprintcars, in South Australia working together.”
It’s a quick learning curve for Murphy with just forty eight days until the Brandt Sprintcar Speedweek presented by Clay-Per-View on December 26 – one of MMSS’ biggest events of the year every season.
It’s even less until the December 4 Sprintcar Masters coming up the weekend after the Speedway in the City event.
“It’s not ideal timing but that’s OK, we’ll work with it,” says Murphy, “I feel like I’m a quick learner and I’ll adapt as quickly as I can. I’m relying on people to tell me about the challenges and the advantages they see in Murray Bridge Speedway and we’ll rip in right now to start making a difference.”
