Letter from Gary Miocevich re; a permanent dragstrip in Victoria

[RegSpec]

An update on progress for a strip of our own in Victoria.
Gary Miocevich is one of the principals of the consortium lobbying the Victorian Govt. for a dedicated strip in Victoria.


From: Gary Miocevich [mailto:gary@motorplex.com.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 28 October 2009 12:14 AM
To: adrianmcgrotty
Cc: Thornton ANDRA CEO Tony
Subject: Re: andra drag racing facility

Hi Adrian,

Firstly thanks for your support as we have been suffering from some serious criticism from some Drag Racers which also includes some of our Victorian racers.

Last week I met with the Premier and also with the Minister for Sport and Rec.

I will meeting again with them in the near future.

This is really delicate stuff and unfortunately we can't say much as it gets straight back to those that don't share or ANDRA Drag Racing vision for Melbourne.

Some key points are;
1. It generally takes 5 to 7 seven years from the start of the approach to Government until you race at a venue.

2. I thought my previous experience would see that this time could be halved however the Victorian Government are not willing to just accept the WA and NSW ANDRA venues as being suitable for Victoria and we have had to go through the whole process from scratch.

3. The Victorian Government would not give us a copy Drag Racing Feasibility study as they said it contained some commercially sensitive information and one contributor didn't want us to see that information. While not sure, we believe that Calder Park objected to the reports release to ANDRA. We were so frustrated that we took the matter to the Victorian Ombudsman who directed the department to meet their FOI obligations. We have been informed that the process has now been completed and we should know what and when we should receive the part or all of the study in the next few days. We suspect that it has been with held because it is very positive to our argument.

4. We met with Mr Osler and Sport and Rec Victoria on July 17th 2009 where they advised that they needed to do a further study to define the potential sites more thoroughly to allow the Government to be able to select a site that was really viable for Government. They also wanted to check the operational viability of Drag Racing venues independently of what ANDRA had already provided. This study was to take two months and be finished by the end of September and we asked this direct question at that meeting. We have pursued them continuously from that time however they only awarded that consultancy contract this week. They have told us that tit should be completed by Xmas but that's a tight time frame. We are yet to find out who the consultant is (should know in the next few days) and we have offered a team of people to assist with this work.

5. We are also currently planning a major public rally which will be one of the biggest ever held in Melbourne 20,0000 plus people......you would be impressed when you hear of the corporate people involved....it will be huge. we will announce a date shortly, but keep February free.

In summary we have been working on the Melbourne Project for a little over 3years and we have spent huge sums with our consultants and invested heavily with our expertise. I have had great support from Tony Thornton and the ANDRA team as well as from Perth Motorplex, Western Sydney Int Dragway, Willowbank Raceway and even the former NSW Premier Morris Iemma.

We are making good progress but its hard, hard, hard, and slow, slow, slow..... you get a lesser penalty for murder!

Unfortunately, many in our sport are ignorant of the complexity or dealing with Government and I am tiring of some of our own high profile Drag Racers who I have known for many years that appear to have no idea of the task at hand. Some are even talking of running at Calder Park which would
certainly damage our progress to achieve an ANDRA Championship Drag Racing venue.

There has been no ANDRA Championship Drag Racing in Melbourne since
2001 .... thats 8 years we'll never get back.

We can achieve this goal but we require everyone to support the cause and I ask that you Champion the cause to all people that can help ..... and
alienate those negative destroyers who haven't got a clue of the big picture.

There you go .... you have the latest information as of today. Feel free to spread this info.

Where ever you can please help by being a disciple and pushing the Victorian Government relentlessly .... never back off.

Regards

Gary Miocevich
Project Director
ANDRA
gary@motorplex.com.au