General News
1 April, 2025
Hundreds mark 40th Eddington Sprints
The sound of engines never stopped in Eddington over the weekend with one historic vehicle doing the quarter-mile sprint every 59 seconds.
Racing through its 40th anniversary, the Eddington Sprints is a traditional quarter-mile competition for historic vehicles. Bendigo Car Club president Craig Button said the weekend saw pre-1978 vehicles take to the country track.
“Anything from your 70s Holdens and Fords through to the 1920s,” he said.
“It’s a fairly laid back event. The competitors get the opportunity to have three timed runs for the day.”
But just because they’re getting older doesn’t mean they’re getting slower. From cars to bikes many were highly modified pieces of machinery.
Their old chassis hid powerful gear. From truck engines through to repurposed airplane motors the ingenuity on display drew in thousands of people on Saturday.
There since the beginning the paddock pits filled with old cars brought back many memories for Roger Boehme.
“It’s good for the soul. It’s very good for the soul,” he said.
Involved for 40 years, secretary for around 25, Mr Boehme has stepped back for the first time this year — confident in the event’s future.
“The Bendigo Car Club said ‘when you want to move on we want to keep running the event the same way’ ... and they’ve done that,” he said.
While the event has changed around Mr Boehme, he finds the atmosphere of camaraderie is consistent across the sport.
“You only walk a few feet and you meet someone. Camaraderie is huge,” he said.
Maintaining community at its heart Mr Button said the competition is fierce but friendly.
“The camaraderie amongst competitors is great. If anybody has a few dramas with their cars there’s usually someone who can pitch in and give them a hand,” he said.
Now with sophisticated timing equipment and tyres instead of hay bales for safety Mr Boehme remembers a different time.
“We had some pretty crude timing set ups in the old days. We’d have a flag drop and some bloke with a stop watch,” he said.
But even as things have changed those involved in the Eddington Sprints still don’t take themselves too seriously.
At 82 years old Mr Boehme no longer competes but the memories stick with him.
He remembers one year going through paperwork when there his name was as a racer — a plan hatched between a friend and his late wife.
“So I did, had an absolute ball, broke an axle on the car in my third run … and had a 15.3. I was pretty wrapped with that,” he said.
The Eddington Sprints have attracted characters of their own over the years too.
He remembers a “very flamboyant driver” with a truck engine stuck into an English sports car.
“He laid rubber the entire quarter mile. Just smoked them up, the whole quarter mile,” he said.
Another was a “poor bloke” with an immaculate Ford Falcon GT XW which he bounced off the dry barriers down the quarter mile.
“He just sold the bloody thing, so he had to rebuild it again,” Mr Boehme said.
The weekend also saw current champions returning to defend their title. Dave Morccombe has been reigning champ for 11 years straight in his 1972 Corvette. Mr Button said he keeps a record of 13.1 seconds, the track has a 13 second limit.
“He’s a man with a target on his back,” he said.
Also back to protect her title was Kristy Stafford who has been the fastest woman for the last three years. By midday she was having a back and forth with another driver before getting a half second lead.
But outside of the competition is how it brings the community together. Mr Button said the event was one of the biggest fundraisers for local community groups.
“[The club doesn’t] look to make a lot of money out of it, we just want to bring people to the town,” he said.
Families, in the many ways they come, are keen to get involved. Mr Button himself has a friendly competition with his son.
“He tries to beat me which is good because if he beats me he’s having a go. There’s always that father son challenge,” he said.