For nearly 50 years, Heathcote Park Raceway has serviced the needs of Victorian drag racers, and with new management, its future is very bright indeed. But Heathcote won’t be Heathcote anymore. Henceforth, the facility formerly known as Heathcote Park Raceway will be known as Victorian Motorsports Park.

“We just thought that with the new ownership, we wanted a fresh start so we should rebrand it and move forward with positivity,” co-owner John Ricca told Street Machine.

As we reported in the February 2026 issue, the facility is now co-owned by Wally Szabolics, Daniel Szabolics and Ricca, and the new team has been working flat-out to transform it into something special.

“We cleaned up about 50 tonnes of tyres between Christmas and New Year,” John said. “That was pretty much the first thing we got into.”

But the new owners have gone a lot further than just removing unwanted rubbish. Long-time fans of the facility will barely recognise the place.

“We’ve removed all the sheds from the pit area, so the old scrutineering shed and all the garages with the roller doors – they’re all gone,” John revealed. “We’ve opened up the whole area and it’s getting sealed with asphalt all the way to the back fence, and from the entry gate all the way to the speedway.”

All that remains is the old canteen, the timing building near the startline, and the toilet block, which – as race-goers will be glad to hear – has been gutted for refurbishment. The team is going all out to create a facility worthy of its name. And how about that name?

“We’ve raced in the States; we’ve been to South Georgia Motorsports Park and Bradenton Motorsports Park, so we just decided to go with Victorian Motorsports Park just to follow that theme. It had a nice ring to it,” John explained.

Moving forward, there are big plans afoot for when the gates reopen. Naturally, they’re going to continue with drag racing, roll racing and burnouts, but there are also plans for festivals and possibly a drift track in the future. And while there is no official opening date yet, the calendar is already starting to fill up.

“We’ve got Jamboree booked in October, then King of the Street,” John said. “We’re in talks to bring Grudge Kings here, and it’s looking like we’ll have an APSL meeting as well.

“We’ve got an IHRA 660 Pro Mod event booked for 22 August, so that could potentially be our first event. We’ll see how we go. We’re just going to keep pushing as hard as we can.”

Phew! And that’s not even counting Street Machine Drag Challenge, presented by VPW, which will start and finish at VMP, 26-31 October.

Just before we went to print, management also addressed one of the most pertinent questions for racers: who is going to be the sanctioning body? The answer is IHRA Australia.

“IHRA is doing massive things around the world,” John said. “Look at what they’re doing in the States, and the plans they have here for Pro Mod and other things. It’s enticing to us, so that’s why we’ve decided to go that way.”

The team has a massive amount of work to do before August, and they’ll be praying for good weather as the countdown to reopening approaches.

“There’s quite a bit happening; I’ve been at the track more than I’ve been at home this year,” John said. “But we’ve had a lot of help from racers and mates like Keith Hards, Josh Tuskin, Justin Gauci and others. It’s been great that these guys have been able to give us a hand, and it helps us out massively.”

All we know is that we can’t wait to see some quarter-mile competition action back in Victoria!