DARWIN TO HOST SUPERCARS INDIGENOUS ROUND

Supercars will join the AFL and NRL with a special Indigenous Round, celebrating native Australian culture, in Darwin in June.

The Darwin Triple Crown is to be overlayed with a First Nation theme that will include Aboriginal graphics on signage, involvement of local indigenous communities and unique car liveries paying tribute to Australia’s pre-European heritage.

Supercars teams are backing the initiative, agreeing to develop special designs for the June 19-20 event.

The Merlin Darwin Triple Crown will be officially designated as the Supercars Indigenous Round, mimicking the AFL’s long running and successful annual tribute to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

Darwin and the Northern Territory have the highest proportion of indigenous populations in the nation.

Talking on the eve of this weekend’s Sandown SuperSprint, Supercars chief operating officer Shane Howard revealed the plan to honour Australia’s original inhabitants at the Darwin event.

“One of the things we are looking at with Darwin and working with the promoter there is for Darwin to become our Indigenous Round,” Howard told select media including AUTO ACTION. “We’re working through a number of activations and things with the promoter to do that. We think it’s a really cool thing to do, a good step.

“There’s a lot of interest. There’s certainly a lot of interest and support from our teams – and from the defence forces (which have key strategic bases in Darwin).”

A life-long enthusiast with a family background in motor racing, Howard is standing in for Supercars chief executive officer Sean Seamer at Sandown. Seamer is recovering from dental surgery in Sydney.

The sport’s longest serving executive, Tasmania-born Howard runs the Gold Coast office, overseeing the events and motorsport departments.

Supercars has embraced the Indigenous Round as part of international motor sport’s move to towards inclusiveness and diversity.

The Indigenous Round was proposed by Darwin Triple Crown promoter Northern Territory Major Events, headed by Tim Watsford.

“It’s been a fantastic success for AFL and other footy codes,” Howard said. “Tim Watsford raised it with us and asked us if we’d consider supporting that, and, of course, we embraced that with both hands.”

Supercars teams are also keen to participate with Aboriginal art-inspired liveries.

“The teams are already on board,” Howard said. “We’re getting good feedback that they want to get behind it.

“Some teams have done it before, but we want to have a more unified approach and we think we can really do a good job of it across all levels of the sport.”

Darwin to host Indigenous Round – Images: InSyde Media

Supercars will encourage NT Aboriginal communities to participate, inviting them to the event and actively involving young aspiring indigenous drivers.

“We’d like to introduce indigenous people to the event, to our teams, to the sport and work with the community,” Howard said. “And then, obviously, bringing awareness of indigenous people and where we can help with sport.

“We’ll have our drivers get involved, meeting with communities. We’re working through those opportunities and how they can be rolled out – I think, very similar to what AFL have done.

“Obviously, AFL have a lot of indigenous athletes. We’ve identified some indigenous kids racing karts, etc. We want to support that. Our guys are their heroes, so it’s about bringing people together.”

Supercars also wants the Racing Together program to be involved.

Launched by Australia’s FIA delegate Garry Connelly and his wife Monique, Racing Together is promoting indigenous participation in Australian motorsport.

Darwin has become of the hub of the AFL’s annual Indigenous Round, hosting the Sir Doug Nicholls ‘Dreamtime’ match between Essendon and Richmond.

Nicholls, an accomplished Fitzroy (now Brisbane Lions) Aussie Rules player, was the first Aboriginal to be knighted and was a former governor of South Australia.

The ‘Dreamtime’ game was the brainchild of multiple AFL Grand Final-winning Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, first played at the MCG between the Bombers and the Richmond Tigers in 2005.

An AFL Women’s Indigenous Round is also held.

NRL has had an Indigenous All-Stars versus All-Stars game since 2010.

Darwin is the natural home of a Supercars Indigenous Round because of the city’s and Territory’s cultural ties with Aboriginal sport.

The Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway is the longest established event of the Supercars era, joining in 1998.

This year’s event will feature Friday night drag racing and a round of the Australian Superbikes championship, reprising the popular ‘2+4’ combined meetings of the 1980s.

According to Howard, Darwin has become a flagship event that will be enhanced this year by the addition of ASBK and the Indigenous Round imprimatur.

“It’s just a really solid relationship,” he said. “They’re being innovative with their program and we want to support that with the Indigenous Round. It fits together well.”

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