Not many muscle cars enjoyed a double life but Clem Smith’s Hemi Pacer did. On Friday nights this Series Production race car was transformed into the official Rowley Park Speedway pace car.
Flamboyant flagman Glen Dix would stand in the boot while he lined up cars for the feature race. Dix was kept reasonably secure by a special frame with a ‘belly bar’. He was able to communicate with the driver of the car via a one-way microphone. This was one of the many theatrical touches that made Adelaide’s Rowley Park track one of the best-known speedways in the world.
Dixie would also wave the checkered flag to mark the finish of the race, dancing out onto the track like a bullfighter to greet the winner. Although he would get close enough to passing cars to see the whites of the drivers’ eyes he was only ever hit once (breaking his kneecap). He later used this daredevil technique when Adelaide hosted the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.
Clem Smith’s burnt orange Pacer normally competed at tracks like Adelaide International Raceway. The C on the side indicates it was a two-barrel 265 rather than the four-barrel Class D car.
At the time Pacers were seen as a serious threat to the Toranas and the GTHOs in the hands of Leo Geoghegan and Norm Beechey, but in Adelaide Clem Smith’s was far better known than either of those. Check out those spectators, a typical Friday night crowd at Rowley Park.
For more on famous flagman Glen Dix, check out two-part profile in issues #141 and #142
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