Categories to regularly run at the Motordrome during its 25-year existence were Sprintcars, Speedcars, Super Sedans, Solos, Sidecars, Grand National Sedans, Compact Speedcars and Litre Sprints The speedway originally had a dolomite and clay mix surface, but was paved during the early to mid-1980s before the asphalt was dug up and the original surface was restored.
Led by captain Rinat Mardanshin, Oleg Kurguskin, the late Rif Saitgareev, and runner up in the 1990 Under-21 World Championship Rene Aas, it was the Soviet's first defeat on their 1990/91 Australian tour as they came up against a NSW lineup including Newcastle's own 1990 World #3 Todd Wiltshire, as well as that season's Australian Solo Champion Craig Boyce and 1989 Australia #2 Stephen Davies.
Despite being undefeated on their Australian tour to that point after meetings in North Queensland and the Northern Territory, the Russians were expected to lose heavily to the almost test strength NSW but were in the challenge right up until the final heat of the night when Wiltshire and Boyce shut out Kurguskin and Saitgareev 5–1 to give NSW a hard-fought 49–41 win in trying (damp) conditions.
Other famous competitors to race at the Motordrome during its life included World of Outlaws legend Steve Kinser of the USA, his brother Randy and cousin Mark, Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, as well as Australian speedway legends Bernie Whalan Garry Rush, George Tatnell and his son, Brooke Tatnell, Max Dumesny, Steve Brazier and his son Garry Brazier, brothers Ron and John Pyne from nearby Kurri Kurri, Grenville Anderson, Billy Sanders, Phil Crump and Leigh Adams.
In a sport where death or severe injury is often an accepted risk (especially to the motorcycle racers), the Newcastle Motordrome bucked the trend and never saw a fatal accident, though in 1975, when the speedway was still Jerilderie Park, it was where the career of the 1954 and 1959 Speedway World Champion Ronnie Moore of New Zealand ended when he crashed and was in a coma for several weeks after.