considering the aussie & kiwi invasion of nascar in 2024, revamping this place would be a PERFECT ploy for nascar, as it's rumored to race in mexico or canada to test international reception before a possible race overseas. it's sad this place is just rotting at the moment

I’ve driven on the Dome on track days. Yes it’s a bit run down and the track is very bumpy but it’s still a buzz driving flat out on the banks. I was there as a kid on opening round of NASCAR so to drive it now fulfilled a childhood dream ❤️

We fixed North Wilkesboro here in America after it sat Dormant since 1996. I think there’s still hope for The Thunderdome…

Best name for an Australian Nascar track possible

THE TIMING IS RIGHT!!! NASCAR!!!. We lost interest when V8 Supercars took over but now it’s in the toilet! I’ve been more interested in Gizzy’s NASCAR venture this year than the Supercars championship. We are bored and so are our drivers (hint; the rising interest). It would be a dream come true to see NASCAR race the Thunderdome again. And I dare to dream from then onwards: I could see NASCAR race Sydney Motorsport Park or even the streets of Surfers Paradise just like INDY did. Let’s make it a new era in USA/AUS/NZ Motorsport. 1st step; Bring the Thunderdome back to life!

All we want is life beyond the Thunderdome.

Great video. Should also make mention that recently, Calder Park has been making a bunch of strides in getting the track back up to standard again. There's a bunch of new signage and regular race meetings coming back, so hopefully that's the start of the rebirth of the track as a constant go-to venue in Australian motorsport.

Went to a few races as a kid and remember how bloody hot it was but the roar of those engines will never be forgotten. Still have the Calder Park "Nascar Australia's #1 Motorsport" shirt.

The second Australian round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship used the combination road/oval track

This track today would probably race excellent with the next gen cars. The long straightaways plus the very banked corners would put on an awesome show.

and now v8 supercars is falling off; a shadow of its former self really Would love a video on that.

Back in the days when we had Commodores and Falcons !

Went to many a race meeting at the Thunderdome. Saw great racing. It was a sad day when racing there stopped. One of the most memorable meetings was when they had truck racing there. That was a blast, with the meeting being cut short after a truck hit the wall on a banking after blowing a tyre and punching a big hole in the wall. I lived in StAlbans, about 15 minutes pushbike ride away at the time, when the Thundedome was first finished. My mates and I used to ride everywhere. We rode the the Thunderdome and managed to ride our pushbikes around the dome about a week before the first ever meeting there. There was no security, so we just rode it through the tunnel. To say the banking is steep is an understatement! I rode my mountain bike up the banking that day, but it was a struggle. Even drove our cars around the dome a few years later when we went to watch a club track day on the main circuit, and found we could just drive through the tunnel & onto the dome. We were the first that day to work this out, and not long after, other cars started doing hot laps on the dome until we got asked to leave. lol. Even rode a motorbike around the dome a few years later when I did a defensive rider course with H.A.R.T. (Honda Australia Rider Training) at the dome. Had many a great time at the Thunderdome in years gone past. I hope this icon of Australian motorsport is fixed up & bought back too life one day, but sadly I don't see happening any time soon.

Bob Jane was an absolute visionary. Forget all the BS about his personal life and business troubles with his ex wife and son. If it wasn't for his determined drive the Thunderdome never would have existed, we owe a huge amount to him. He was a "take no prisoners" champion race driver, with the vision to bring his fire breathing '69 Chevy Camaro to tracks around Australia just like Allan Moffat with the awesome '69 Trans Am "Coke" 302 Boss Mustang. I took my late father to the first ever night meeting at the Thunderdome and it was packed to the rafters with over 50,000 fans what a spectacle !!! As a young kid Allan was my hero and Bob was the "enemy", that's because I was a one eyed Ford fan. I met both of them around 10 years ago at the Phillip Island Historics and was fortunate that they both signed a Sandown program cover showing Moffats Mustang just behind Janes Camaro, Allan spent a quiet 15mins alone at my stand recounting memories of all the different pics / ads I had of him .... real lovely gentleman, and Bob was very obliging as well. A great memory for me. Sad to see Allan in waivering health and RIP Vale Bob ................... 2 massive Icons in our motorsport.

I owned a Bob Jane T Mart at that time & it was to the franchisees detriment that the Thunderdome was built, more & more pressure to sell more so he could get more of his fees to fund it. Some franchisees were even threatened with the loss of their businesses if they didn’t come up to his demands of having no debts to his HQ at the end of the month, never mind the fact that main suppliers were left waiting up to 90 days to have their bills paid. Between the Thunderdome & his personal life he forgot that the T Mart owners were his lifeblood.

love these odd one-offs, great video!

The fun thing about the Thunderdome as well is that, as an american who knows a ton about oval racing and NASCAR. It's an amazing oval, it's genuinely such a unique track, 1.25 miles high banked, really wish we had something like that here in the states tbh. I hope they get the whole place renovated, I'd love to see some endurance racing on the combined layout (probably put a chicane on the oval front stretch), plus it get some SAFER barriers on the oval. Hell the absolute end goal would be a NASCAR event again, and that would be so good, NASCAR is looking to expand internationally and well it's mostly road courses to choose from (which I like tbh), but if the Thunderdome were to be renovated and revived it'd be the perfect place for an international race that's actually on an oval. Plus it just makes sense with the current supercars invasion of NASCAR (go SVG you mad man)

It also hosted an infamous Guns and Roses concert. Massive crowd on a stinking hot day where they ran out of food and drink real early. A bottle of water was going for 50 bucks by the end. Crazy gig.

Just stumbled upon this. Brings back the memories from the first 10 years of Thunderdome. Felt like most of my childhood was spent there, went to every meet and drag event, seeing Bob around was a treat. Listening to the spotters at the back of the stands, and the HQ races... the crashes!

The only time I saw the oval track used was the 1987 Swann Series Superbike races. I loved the ATCC as a kid, but never saw a race live. As for NASCAR, it was just never my thing. Most Australians preferred racing on tracks with corners going left AND right! Once Phillip Island, Eastern Creek and The Paperclip opened, it was game on for touring cars! I wish we went back to the old GroupC. Supercars just don’t have diverse enough grids. And yes. Even GroupA and the “international” cars was better than Supercars. I never stopped watching until it became a “silouhette” series. 👍

Its like going back in time visiting Calder Park, with most of the infrastructure still the same as when it was built plus the giant weeds growing in between stadium seating its makes for an interestesting aesthetic. Keep it Reet still use the Thunderdome section for their drift events and the Victorian State Race Series returned there for the first time last year and they're back again this year. Its worth checking out if you ever get the chance.

We had a superspeedway at Rockingham in England that NASCAR never bothered to visit in the 2000s, although Indycar did manage a couple of races. It's just a test track for car manufacturers now. Don't forget though that the first ever banked oval racing circuit was also built in England and that was in 1907 but WW2 put an end to it and the only part that survives is a museum now.

Learned something new while being entertained. Great video!

Very intriguing!! While certainly not first on NASCAR’s to do list. Given the cost of restoration and construction. This is almost certainly coming back someday in some capacity.

I remember back in 1989 arriving at the thunderdome at just 4 years old hopping out of the back seat of my uncle’s new and evolutionary Holden VN Commodore. It was a cold sunny day and oh boy was it loud, every time a car came around I’d put my fingers in my ears. It never meant anything to me back then but every time I drive past the thunderdome at 39 years old I remember that nostalgic moment in the good old days. Damn that VN Commodore felt so ahead of its time and was so fast compared to any other six cylinder.

I heard about Calder Park Raceway and the layout looks quite nice.

I used to go a lot as a kid. The Werribee Timezone would hold Daytona USA comps and the winner would get tickets to AUSCAR at Calder Parks which was easy pickings. I was there when a record for flips or spins or something was set during a crash in the support classes. I LOVED watching the HQ's.

calder is still used regularly for drifting, drags, etc. and parts of the facility have been tidied up recently. I've seen it worse than it is now.

I've always been curious about the Thunderdome. I wasn't around in its hay day but always found it a fascinating facility, even in its current sad state. Thanks for sharing more about its history!

I was lucky enough for my Dad to take me out to Calder for the NASCARs a few times. I was obsessed with NASCAR in the mid-late 90's so I am so lucky that it lined up with the Thunderdome being open!

Great work as always. Love the F1 and non F1 content!

I went to about 6 races there Some of my favourite memories as a kid

I’d love nothing more than to go full Cleetus McFarland and buy this track and bring it to better than formal glory condition. Both the track and oval have massive potential for races and events alike beyond the weekend warriors and sideways sliders.

W vid keep doing more Aus n New Zealand motorsports I’ll watch

Never heard fun and oval racing in the same sentence before!

As an Aussie Indycar fan who casually follows NASCAR, revamping it won't do much for anyone. V8 Supercars is in it's death twitches and likely to be a GT3/production touring category. There just isn't the apatite or emotional connection for Mustangs and Cameros to support that series so I don't know how NASCAR would get inroads here. Maybe a demo race from Nationwide even on a track but all the street circuits that were good (Adelaide, Gold Coast, Newcastle) have been altered beyond use. It's the same as Baseball, every few years they try to make inroads into Australia during summer where the national sport, Cricket, is at full steam and it never works out. Problem is unlike Cricket, racing here doesn't have an identity anymore since Holden and Ford bailed after local manufacturing died.

Incredible documentary, and great footage find. I had no idea.

Indycar should return to Australia here!

This was a raceable track for both Indy Car and Stock Car in the old Andretti Racing games for N64 and PS1. All the Down Under and kiwi drivers moving from ASCC to NASCAR, and NASCAR trying to go international with Project Garage 56, Euro NASCAR, even merging with IMSA and purchasing Brasil's stock car series in recent years, running ARCA equivalent feeder series in both Canada and Mexico... I have a lot more hope for NASCAR to break out of the USA than I even had when they were running exhibition races at Twin Ring and Suzuka East in the 90's. Funny story, those races in Japan happened right when I discovered NASCAR, because I found out my grandfather was a fan and former bootlegger/street racer, and I had friends start getting into it simultaneously at the impressionable age of 6 lol. I just remember trying to convince my mom to let me stay up to see the Bristol night races on TV to see if Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, or one of the Labonte's won (because even then I had my favorite drivers and teams), and her being very impatient because she wanted to program the VCR to record her soap operas.

I had to laugh at Dick Johnsons description of oval racing as running a marathon around a cloths line.

I remember watching HQ racing around the Thunderdome in the 90s.... was awesome

This brings me back I went to races regularly with my best mate and his dad this was my introduction to motorsports and I loved it the sound was awesome heaps of crashes it was the best

theve started reconstraction of the whole motorsport complex at calder park and the track just outside the oval now holds a licence for small touring car events

i want iracing to scan this track with special event: thunderdome 500 with the -87 nascar cars we got

Very nice choice of background music. The Bellrays are a mighty band!

This showed up in quite a few videogames as well, so there's that, also AUSCAR also ran at Bathurst, IIRC As did FFords and FHoldens IIRC

Neil Bonnet was on an absolute roll when he went down there and ran that race. He had been winning everything. What a guy he was. Dave Marcis also loved the trip. Racing is about the drivers, the characters, the trials and tribulations. If it's too perfect, too sanitary, and too full of technical rules it won't make it.

Love the coverage other motorsport history. Would be awesome to see you talk about Jett Lawerence in motocross and how’s he representing Australian motocross in the USA

I went there for stunt driver practice for the film "Metal Skin" Did a few laps in the Nascar and the Valiants from the film. Good times.

I'll be there in a few months for Saloon cars, never been before, very excited to see it all, even though I'm told the circuit is terrible to drive on

I was lucky enough to drive the dome a few weeks ago as part of our race series. What a blast it is going flat out on the banked corners. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before feeling the car bottom out and hunker down onto the corners whilst holding yourself flat to the floor. The surface is pretty bumpy though and it hasn't been maintained very well, but you still get most of the fun. If anyone ever gets the chance to do it, go before it's probably gone some day.

Great video ❤️

This video only has 9 dislikes which shows this is a great video about Calder Park. Subbed

There is also unused/abandoned oval track at/in Welkom, FreeState, South Africa.

I driven an Auscar on the Tunderdome at a track day and used to watch the races at the Thunderdome in the late 80's and 90's. HQ's, Auscars and Nascars. Loved it! Driving on the banking makes you realise it's a lot steeper than it looks from afar. And with your foot planted to the floor and the V8 revving hard on the banked turns it's something I'll remember forever. With SVG doing so well, it's time to renovate Thunderdome! Bring it all back

Well put together mini doco.

I still remember going to this track & watching these races. Later in life was part of the HQ racing there too. It was an awesome time. You didn't realise how steep the track was till you slipped on your butt trying to walk on it 🤣

so sad to see it abandoned now, bring back the glory days

Absolute awesome never missed a race when lived in Melbourne should be brought back to life great video and why not run touring cars around it

I was there at the first Nascar race in February 1988 , had seats just after the start line. The noise and vibration from that many V8s at full noise on the first few laps was unreal.

Considering that Sandown is going to close. I would love to see the Thunderdome to be brought up to standards for all concern to allow the Sandown 500 enduro to move and become the Thunderdome 500. Also as part of raving on Ovals in the Supercars, and to act as a build up to the Thunderdome 500. Build as part of the showground/sports park, smaller half miles ovals in Canberra, greater Newcastle/Hunter region, and up in Townsvile. In that the smaller half ovals wont have enduros, but more 2X250km rounds in the Supercars. I have always felt that the whole oval thing is the only thing that is missing with Australian Motorsports outside of Sprint Cars.

I’ve done club days at the Dome; right foot to the wall, my head held flat against the helmet wings of my seat. It’s an amazing feeling to go deep into those walls, feel the centrifugal force float the car out high, and whip off the shoulder into the straight. Ungodly! Even at restricted road rego’d, club car level!

It's actually been cleaned up and in use again. My uncle had his nascar there recently

wow i never knew this even existed.. ive heard of calder park.. but never knew about this thunderdome.. now i feel sad that this is the outcome for it.. damn

Saw an event there in the 80s as a kid. Auscars, Nascars (with Brock in one) and a demonstration of top fuel dragsters in the pit lane. Those dragsters literally pushed you back into those hard concrete terraces with their noise. What a buzz.

I went to the August and December 1988 meetings. At one of them, Peter Brock had his first race in a Ford after his split from Holden. The events were so well supported with the Bridgestone Precision commodore team doing an impressive display and the RAAF doing an acrobatic display over the Thunderdome. It must be brought back. Remember Craig Lowndes horrific roll on the fence at Calder Park?

I went to a couple of races. Was fun. You could get down close to the fence and feel the speed. I'd love to see a few races on it again.

I think The whole of Calder Park recently has looked incredible, the grass and everything has been maintained, the walls have been repainted as well. I think the grandstands in the thunderdome is letting down the rest of the looks. With a little lovin and volunteer work I bet it would look good as new 👌. I’m going to be drifting there pretty soon so cant wait!

I went to some of these meetings. They were great value. I've also raced on the national circuit. It's a great little track. I have a Lotus 7 type car which is well suited to it.

Great Video ....Calder Park would be great revamped and restored ....Lets also not forget Guns and Roses 1993 Concert which is remembered for lots of different reasons !

Great video. I've gone on a drive around calder in 99', in a Tickford nl Fairlane, missed out to go in the vt clubby. Still did 200kmh around the track. It's a shame it's the way it is. Needs a cleatus figure to fix it. Heathcote went ok, but I've heard there's bill issues now with it. Another factor, the prize money petered off reducing incentive for racers.

I helped construct it and update circuit. Robert was a visionary and dawn good bloke. Pity cams and he never got along as it is one of the great curcuits in Australia. Let's hope it one day can be reserected.

Very interesting video. Can you please make videos on other old Australian tracks like Oran Park? 😊

There’s an abandoned NASCAR oval in the UK too. It’s Rockingham circuit in Corby . Didn’t work in UK either 😂

Live in Diggers Rest and go past every day for work. I can remember going their on a school excursion though its fuzzy now. They drove us round in a bus on the apron of the oval and the lower slope of the banking. Glorious track, if iRacing would get out here and scan it, take a little liberty with smoothing out the surface it would reach a massive audience

Timing is definitely right to bring it back to life. Needs to be both the oval and also add a circuit to the inside as well so you can run it as a ROVAL for the Supercars. Stadium seating for a Supercar race where you can see the whole track would be a big selling point for fans. Hopefully some US track owners see the opportunity here and make an offer to buy and rebuild it.

We've got one of these in the UK as well, called Rockingham. A very similar story to it as your Thunderdome. Originally a high interest in NASCAR that petered out then had British Touring Car Races that drew no interest and tried sports car races and weekend race days. Now a much forgotten circuit.

80's Australia was something else

I remember this quite well, it was good to see NASCAR looking outside their comfort zone back inbthe late 80's. This was also about the time IIRC that CART was starting running races on the street circuit at Surfers Paradise. For me being a motorsports fan in general, since I was a kid in the late 60's early 70's, it introduced me to the V8 Supercar Series which I still follow somewhat today. I think the NASCAR/AUSCAR race was a great idea because it showcased drivers from both countries on an equal setting. Shame it didn't last just like I wish Marcos Ambrose had better success, just like I hope Shane van Gisbergen, I know he's a Kiwi and Ambrose is from Tasmania, has a successful career here in the States.

I feel kinda sad, but happy and fortunate at the same time that I'm old enough to remember going to the Auscar races in the 80s and 90s as a lad. What a blast. That, the Melbourne F1 GP, and the V8s started a lifelong love of fast cars for me. It'd be a shame to let the 'dome rot away for much longer when Nascar is looking to expand anyway.

I remember watching the Debut race as a kid

It recently got a repaint! She lives!

Wish it could be brought back for NASCAR again but sadly I don’t think anyone wants to spend the money on practically rebuilding the track due to the issues with it.

Rumour has it there are a bunch of old tires buried on the property.

$54m AUD in 1987 (when Thunderdome was opened) is equivalent to $156m today, with the current exchange rate that's USD$102m.

I walked around it a couple years ago and the grass and roots have caused so many cracks to open up that it would be hard and costly to repair it as opposed to just ripping the whole thing up

Actually have been there with my dad and his mates who were driving around for a bit, it was a lot of fun to watch

He heh he,.. Bob didn't care about the racing, he cared about how much money he could make when he saw the size of the crowds NASCAR pulled back then. I sat in the crowd for a lot of those Thunderdome races, it rarely filled the stands, and the TV coverage was big for the first one, and non-exsistent thereafter. His own description of the dome, was that it was paid for by the 'rock apes' who went to see the Drag Racing. Bob really didn't like Drags, but he loved the money he made off it. Kinda funny when the script reads as if written by someone who didn't live through the times. AUSCAR was never a challenger to Group A or Supercars. AUSCAR was created as a feeder class in to the Australian NASCAR series, which both ran the 'dome and dirt ovals next to Sprintcars and Modifieds. AUSCAR later ran road courses, after Bob and France Jr had their falling out, IIRC it was because didn't pay what he was supposed to for the use of the NASCAR name at non-NASCAR events. The Thunderdome is used nearly everyday of the year, a lot of car related stuff is done inside it by manufacturers, as they can run testing there out of public view. Same goes for Cinema usage with giant greenscreen stuff, as it's completely private, so any paparazzi who try to get photos can be charged with trespass and have their SD cards taken. The reason it's in such disrepair can be placed squarely at the feet of Bob's son, who didn't want anything to do with motorsport, and wanted to be an accountant.

I remember the gunners concert! Epic!

I never realised this place I drive past all the time at Calder Park had such a history!

I remember passing that place a few times, never went there because it died out pretty quick.

Still love that that first race was run clockwise. Reverse to pretty much all other ovals.

I worked nearby, in Keilor Downs, around this time period and I could often hear the cars as they were doing laps. To be able to hear that from kilometers away, I can't imagine how loud it must've been inside!

Back when it opened I had discussions with Bob Jane about bringing some Indy Cars over to run there. Never happened but I still have the Thunderdome cap he sent me...

Flying into Melbourne Airport, it's still gives me goosebumps to see the 'Dome and the Drag Strip from the air. Unsure what the Jane siblings have in mind, but the urban sprawl is getting awful close to the property. Whether they eventually sell, or revamp remains to be seen.

Not a big fan of Nascar myself but i can see places like this being used for all sorts of motorsport racing events and competitions just need to re-ignite that spark, and do always find it sad how often things just get left to waste away after such expense has been spent on them. Thanks for the story

Yep.. Fully sick maate ! We I go past it I always let out a Vroom Vroom noise.

I went to a race there once, it was great. I miss the Thunderdome. Bring it back!

Rumours were circulating that Bob had millions of old tyres buried in the banks of Calder Park.

Old Bob used to drive down to the Calder Park BP from his house, unfortunately he chose to drive the wrong way down a one way road to achieve this. I had to come to a complete stop to avoid being hit by his Mercedes one day. He gave me a wave and continued on his merry way. A legend of Australian Motor Racing, loved the Chev Monza I saw him race.