Rowley Park had run in the Adelaide suburb of Brompton since 1949 but had closed for such reasons as the track becoming too small for the faster cars appearing on the scene, and the local residents complaining about the noise; while the speedway was located less than 5 km from the Adelaide city centre, parking was mostly street-based, which brought more complaints from residents.
The speedway was originally run and promoted by the Racing Drivers Association of South Australia and after a lot of hard work, the track held its first official meeting on 2 November 1979.
The Masters was won by World of Outlaws driver Randy Kinser of the United States in his JPS-sponsored Gambler Sprintcar from local favourite Bill Barrows.
This actually broke FIA regulations which did not allow a Formula One driver to drive another race car within 24 hours of the start of a Grands Prix without written permission.
[2] The speedway also held the Australian Sidecar Championship in 1982, and in 1983 the venue held the Australian Solo Championship where winner Billy Sanders from Sydney famously told the unruly crowd to "Get Stuffed" in his acceptance speech (Sanders clashed with fellow unbeaten rider and crowd favourite Phil Crump in Heat 17 resulting in the Victorian rider's exclusion from the race).
The venue has also hosted various South Australian championships, including the Sprintcar, Speedcar, Super Sedan, Street Stock, Solo, Sidecar, and Formula 500 state titles.
The first was on 25 January 1985 when local solo rider Kevin O'Connell crashed and hit the concrete wall between turns 3 and 4 at speed and was killed instantly.
The speedway suffered its second (and hopefully last) fatality in 1993 when Speedcar driver (and 1981 SA Solo Champion) Tony Boyle crashed on 22 January.
Starting in 2016, long time Adelaide based Super Sedan driver Bill Miller took over as the promoter of the venue.
[4] A then 16-year-old Brooke Tatnell had made his Australian Championship debut at Speedway Park in 1988, making the 40 lap Final before a mid-race crash took him out of the event.
For over 20 years, the infield commentator who generally performed MC duties for podium presentations at championship or high-profile events as well as giving reports on cars/drivers that had either crashed or suffered mechanical failure was the popular Mal "Rosie" Rosenzweig.
At the end of each meeting, Rosenzweig would always tell the spectators to have a safe journey home and remind them that the racing takes place on the racetrack, not on the road.
[8] Some of the famous competitors who have raced at Speedway City since its opening in 1979 include: † – Deceaced Bill Miller Super Sedan as of June 2016.