MOTORSPORT: Speedway’s family 'feud'

The Dumesnys are such a speedway family they now have their own race.
The six of them – champion Max, wife Melinda, and children Mitchell, Michaela, Matthew and Marcus – are competing against each other tonight (Saturday, February 13) in what is billed as a ‘grudge match’ at Sydney’s Valvoline Raceway, or what to many will always be Parramatta City Raceway.

They will all be driving 7.0-litre 900hp V8 winged sprintcars.

It’s believed to be the first time anywhere in the world that six members of one family have raced against each other in sprintcars.

Max Dumesny, a veteran of 33 years in the sport, is a triple Australian champion as well as seven-time World Series Sprintcars champion who also won a NASCAR championship in the days of Bob Jane’s stock car racing series in Australia.

While a dedicated oval-track racer, Dumesny also drove in the Bathurst’s 1000km touring car race 20 years ago.

He’s the long-time Australian distributor of Hoosier tyres – an American brand specialising in speedway rubber.

Wife Melinda, daughter of Sydney sprintcar identity Sid Moore, also has raced dirt-track speedway a lot, but not for a decade or more.

The couple have both competed at America’s famed Knoxville Nationals.

The next generation have all followed the family’s speedway tradition. They are aged 28, 26, 21 and 16, while Max says only of the parents that they are both in their 50s.

“When I agreed to do this [family race] I don’t think any of us had any idea of what might be involved,” Max said.

“I’m still not sure what we’re getting ourselves into, but the public reaction has been pretty amazing – it’s obviously something that people want to see.”

Mitchell, a WSS round winner at Parramatta, has returned to racing this season after a serious back injury kept him out for three years.

He now usually alternates in the driver’s seat with sister Michaela, who also is Valvoline Raceway’s pit reporter.

Matthew was a motocross racer before turning to sprintcars three years ago, while Marcus only made his debut this season.

Asked how all six came to have first names beginning with ‘M’, Max said: “Melinda and I didn’t have any say in the names we were given obviously, then we named our first two kids Mitchell and Michaela, and then we thought we better continue the trend -- so we’ve got Matthew and Marcus too!” Mmmmmm.

The Dumesny ‘grudge match’ is part of the Ultimate Pink Night at Valvoline Speedway, where all women will be admitted free as part of the campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer.

Fans are being encouraged to wear pink, many teams are ‘pinking’ their cars, and all money donated will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The night also includes the 17th round of the Ultimate Sprintcar Championship NSW, while Legend cars and wingless sprints also are on the program.

The racing starts at 5:30pm.