The Loveday Racing Team has been searching for new, winning talent to join the team.
At the top of the agenda was someone who could finish a race as they already had Toby,
Australia’s top prologue racer.
After interviewing hundreds of applicants, such as Craig Lownes and a few Kiwis, Tony
realised he may have to pay them. “Bugger that,” Tony said and nek minnut promoted his
partner Jodie to number one team driver. “Jodie already does everything around the place, so
she might as well win us a few races,” Tony added.
Jodie’s racing career got off to a shaky start. Her first instructor was partner Tony.
Unfortunately a huge domestic erupted during day one, after Jodie exceeded 60km/h and
ended with Jodie storming off and shouting, “If you are so bloody good, name all the races
you have finished”.
Looking for further insights to the racing game Jodie approached Toby Whateley, only to be
told “That’s not my area of expertise, I only do prologues, don’t know much about finishing
races”.
Little did Jodie realise that one of the world’s greatest co-drivers and navigators was just a
stone’s throw away. Enter the famous Douglas Kerwim Cartlew, keen to tackle Toby Price for
the Finke crown. After months of serious training Douglas announced Jodie was ready to start her racing
jouney.
Jodie’s first race was at Tailem Bend in 2023. Jodie and Douglas prologued in 2nd place out
of eight entries in class, only two seconds off first place. Maybe she should have got advice
from Toby. Unfortunately, whilst trying to decipher Douglas’s hand signals they crashed into
the bar and were forced to retire.
With a carton of West End hidden in the Can Am to keep Douglas calm and a chance of
finishing, the team headed for Parilla. The sweet taste of victory came early in Jodie’s career
as she finished first in Class 6, flogging the six other class entrants.
After their first podium, Douglas decided it was time to hit the National stage and
entered in the Loveday 400. Jodie prologued 9th in class, out of twenty two entrants.
As she was about to kit up to start the race Tony was seen storming through the Tavern
shouting, “Who is going to cook the bloody pizzas, clean the toilets and work the bar”?
Anyway, Jodie was forced to retire and the pizzas she made were excellent as usual.
Not one to spread rumors but I was at Loveday the other night and Toby and Simon were
sitting in the Can Am sulking with tears running down their cheeks while Jodie roared around
the prologue track at record breaking speed. A speed that warrants the number one team
driver badge and trophy truck driver for sure.
We will have to wait and see if the rumor comes true.

Racing has been in the blood of the Whateley's since the start of time. Don’t be fooled by the
gentle and quiet misdemeanor of family patriarchs Wayne and Rae. Wayne is known locally as the Riverland’s Peter Brock of tractors. He still holds the record for the fastest time on a tractor from the Golf Club after closing time to the Barmera pub.
It was common knowledge to keep off the road leading to the property at lunch times as the race was on. Wayne and the workers would line up on their tractors and head to the shed for smoko. No guesses who got to the tucker first every time - just have a look at the size of Wayne. If Wayne didn’t win all hell would break loose and he would implement immediate rule changes that somehow gave himself a very unfair advantage. As time passed and the Whateley's bred, each kid got their own tractor and smoko time became known as the Bathurst of Loveday. Most visitors to the park think that Rae, Tony’s mum is quiet and reserved, but show her a fox and all hell breaks out. Like most farmers Rae and Wayne had their own chooks that were
plagued by fox attacks. Wayne would often say he had to sleep in the chook house to protect the chooks, however, if you ask Rae, she has a completely different story. Years ago the family were out on their regular Saturday night’s entertainment, fox shooting. On this occasion Rae was driving with Wayne navigating and throwing down a few West Ends, with the back seat full of kids. The chook stealing fox made a fatal mistake that night, lighting up in the headlights. Like a mad women possessed, Rae hit the fast pedal and took off through paddocks and fences at break neck speed, never once letting the critter out of her sight. The car was filled with mayhem with kids tossed from back to front. Wayne was having difficulty drinking his beer and shouted, “For God’s sake, shoot the bastard”. Each kid had their own 303 and the night was full of gun fire as the Riverland lit up.
The fox’s final moment came when it zigged and Rae zagged managing to hit the killer at speed, sending it spiraling into the air. Rae slammed on the brakes as everyone tried to figure out where the bloody hell the fox had gone. With a blood curdling scream of utter terror the fox smashed through the windscreen and landed on Wayne’s lap. The sound of four 303’s being cocked sent fear through Wayne’s groin with Rae shouting just in time “Got the mongrel, hold your fire!” Wayne and Rae’s driving and racing skills were certainly passed onto the kids. They can still be seen around the park checking on campers in their Can Am, although at a much more sedate speed. Second generation Tony’s first passion was speed boat racing. He founded the Circuit Ski Racing Association in 1991 and administrated it for many years, winning multiple titles. If you want to know how good he was, just ask him. Soon came the Loveday 4x4 Adventure Park and the now infamous Riverland Challenge Annual 4X4 Racing Event along with Mud, Dust and Music. People often mistake Tony for a Riverland redneck and they may well be correct, however, his lengthy resume reads something completely different. Following are just a few highlights: • Management of the Action Arena, for the National 4X4 Shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide
• Organized and managed the Australian 4X4 Muster and Australia Extreme Live World Records Event
• Action Arena Manager for Moto Expo and member of the Troy Bayliss Events Management Team for the Sydney, Brisbane,
Geelong and Adelaide Super Cross
• Conceptualised, created and managed Dirt Wars Survivor Obstacle Race
• Conceptualised, created and managed Tacker Attack Obstacle Mud Run
• Loveday 4000, Loveday 350, Loveday 320 and Loveday 250.
Tony searched for years to find true love with a partner who loved racing and outdoor adventure. Jodie has now joined Tony in a racing career, far superior and twice as fast as Tony ever was. Toby Whateley, the third generation also has racing in his DNA. He began riding a motor bike by himself at the age of two, the age when other kids might just be looking at trainer wheels. At four years of age he was drifting the old V6 ute around the paddock rounding up cows. When Tony started the shitbox racing, there he
was in his own car, doubling up with the Trophy Karts, beating all-comers. All this time he was a star at the 4x4 shows across Australia, wheel standing and jumping Can-Ams among other vehicles. Toby then moved into racing Can-Ams and eventually his own Trophy Truck as well as racing in the Dingy Derby, all with great success. Toby’s resume is also a very impressive one. He was at the forefront of SXS racing, being the first driver to win a section of the Australian Offroad Racing Championship, going on to be the first SXS driver to win Finke in his class. He finished the 2018 Australian Championships in second outright, cementing the arrival of SXS’s as a popular racing vehicle. Currently his racing life is consumed with the development of the Loveday Rush Truck. A sixth place in prologue at Finke 2023 is a taste of what is to come. Toby and Keely are the very proud parents of the fourth generation of Whateley's, Myles Whateley. With mum Keely a great participant in the one horse power sports and Toby the five hundred horse power variety, either way Myles is set for a great and exciting life.

The Whateley mob have had an interesting journey from farmers to offroad racers. The first thing they learned was that race cars won’t hold together with binding string. Being fast learners they soon picked up that zip ties are the go. From there it progressively got worst. About the same time Tony got into Can Ams, their old man Wayne imported a shiny, new red Tractor from China. It was his pride and joy until his redneck son and grandson came up with the
idea it was a great source of spare parts for the Can Ams. We all know how the farmers, or in the Riverland they are known as blockies think. “Yea, reckon I could get that to fit with a bit of help from the angle grinder and welder”. Four Can Ams and numerous tractor parts later they decided they could build their own flat pack trophy truck. I actually rang Chris Western from Rush Trucks and told him “for God’s sake man and for the good of your reputation, don’t whatever you do, sell them a flat pack. “Nek Minut” A few of us actually moved to the Riverland to watch the progress. There hasn’t been
better entertainment in the place since Wayno got chased by a horny bull, but that’s another story. I should have built a grand stand and sold tickets. First thing they did was unwrap everything and throw away the instructions. If you can’t read, instructions are of no use. They laid the whole lot out on the shed floor and reckoned that looked picture perfect. Toby plugged in the welder,
watched a couple of YouTube video tutorials and off they went. Farmers being farmers, Tony’s old Man Wayno would wander into the shed and borrow a few bits for fence posts, after all, it was just laying around on the shed floor.
It was about this time you had to start to feel sorry for Chris Western, from Rush Trucks. The nightly phone call would go something like “hi, new best friend, we have got all these bits left over, any idea where they might go”. In the end Chris wouldn’t answer, so they just welded all the bits on somewhere and hoped for the best. The next thing was the engine. Wayne locked up
all his tractors and assorted farm equipment. Off they headed to Riverland Auto Wreckers where Vandy sold them a “bloody bargain of an engine, only used to do burn outs all night in Elizabeth for twenty years, and still actually had seven of the eight pistons”. To cut a long story short they eventually decided it was finished, even if the truck was missing a few parts and they had a few boxes of truck bits left over. The fact that most of the ones they
actually did have worked, proved to be the sealer. On the morning of the first scheduled race it actually started. Toby took off in a cloud of dust and when he returned said “goes ok, but what are all these lights”. A bit of oil and a few
disconnected wires later (no wires equals no lights) it was ready to race.
“Bloody hell” they all shouted we are a professional race team.
Anyway, it’s a bit hard being a new professional race team. No film crews came to visit. No papperartsi hid in the bushes. No one wanted to sponsor the new TV Tony had installed in the shed to watch “how to fix a race car” tutorials. Vandy said the motor was fine when he had it. Even the team
uniforms didn’t fit. Twenty motors later, new red hub caps, and a few more bits welded on the mob arrived in Finke with a flash new paint job,
all looking very professional. Even a string of DNFs wouldn’t deter their belief in outright victory. I had actually written a victory speech. Prologue saw the Rush Truck come in 3rd in Class and 8th outright, with the same result into Finke. The red neck Loveday farmers on a non-existent budget and a support
crew mostly consisting of YouTube videos was actually starting to mix it with the deep pocket mob. On the way back, bang, crankshaft. All I can say is “lock up the tractors again, Wayno”.