BUILT IN THE DIRT: How Grassroots Motorsport Launched Global Brands And Why Tracks Need Us Now

BRISBANE, AU

Australia is currently experiencing an unprecedented urban fitness surge. Every weekend, thousands gather along city foreshores and suburban parks, decked out in high-end activewear for morning run clubs. There is no denying run clubs are a positive movement for community health—yet while running enjoys open access to public parklands and millions in corporate sponsorship, the real, raw heart of Australian action-sports heritage is facing a quiet, tragic extinction.

Grassroots motorsport—a discipline pioneered in Australia, forged in dirt, mechanical grit, and family pit crews for over a century—is running out of land.

Iconic Southeast Queensland grounds like Davis Park, The Brisbane Exhibition (Ekka Showgrounds), and Archerfield Speedway are already history. Most recently, Banyo’s historic 22.66-hectare Mick Doohan Raceway site was placed on the industrial real estate market to be carved up into logistics warehouses. For over four decades, the track served as a crucial proving ground for world-class talent, from MotoGP stars like Jack Miller to local junior riders. Now, the land is marketed purely for industrial potential without acknowledging its 40-year heritage as a racetrack.

The Evolution of Paddock Apparel: From Local Dirt to Global Boardrooms

The tragic irony of this venue crisis is that grassroots motorsport has historically been the foundational launchpad for massive Australian brand success stories.

In 2002, brands like LSKD—originally founded in Queensland as Loose Kid Industries—built their early foundations right in the dirt, selling t-shirts out of ute beds and shipping containers at local Queensland motocross and BMX tracks. Founder Jason Daniel admitted in a feature interview that "it was 10 plus years before the brand actually did anything"—a decade sustained by local trackside community sales before scaling into a $400M global activewear company that successfully pivoted toward high-street fitness and urban run clubs.

Yet, a look at the modern action-sports landscape reveals a stark contrast. While LSKD once backed local motocross and speedway riders in its early years, its global sponsorship roster and marketing capital have shifted into CrossFit champions, elite Olympic athletes, HYROX competitions and urban run clubs. Dirt track, speedway, junior sidecars, solo bikes and karting no longer sit on major corporate sponsorship ledgers.

While multi-million-dollar marketing budgets flow into city running events and suburban fitness clubs, local mum-and-dad mechanical workshops, regional trade shops and working-class families are left carrying the entire financial burden of keeping junior motorsport alive. 

The Silent Crisis: Losing "Social License" & The Human Cost

Tracks rarely disappear overnight by accident. More often, a lack of active promoters and media coverage causes events to go quiet. When the noise dies down, local councils stop seeing the value, deciding the venue has lost its "social license"—making it easy for developers to step in and rezone the land for concrete warehouses.

Behind those political council decisions are real kids whose worlds get shattered. There is nothing quite as heartbreaking as having to look a 13-year-old racer in the eye and explain that their local track, their safe haven, their second home and the place where they learned discipline has been closed forever.

"Not every junior wants to go for a run or ride a BMX," says Jocelyn Dare, Founder of Nomad Dirt Culture. "If a kid is given a safe, structured place to race, drift or try out motorsport, 99% of the time they want to jump straight in. But when councils lock the gates and change the narrative of the sport to suit their agenda because a track went quiet or land yields a high commercial profit to sell, where do those kids go?"

The "Nuisance" Double Standard: Public Highways vs. Private Dirt

When local councils or property developers look to rezone historic raceways, grassroots motorsport is often quietly labeled a "community nuisance" that has allegedly lost its "social license."

Yet a look at public infrastructure records reveals a glaring double standard.

Every year across Southeast Queensland, state highways, major transport arteries and city bridges are repeatedly shut down for commercial running events.

• In Brisbane: Major arterial links—including full closures of the Story Bridge, the Ivory Street Tunnel and inner-city CBD corridors—are shut down for events like the Brisbane Marathon Festival and Run Army, freezing city traffic across whole suburbs.

• On the Gold Coast: The annual Gold Coast Marathon locks down over 40 kilometers of public coastal thoroughfares from Paradise Point to Miami—shutting down sections of the Gold Coast Highway, local boat ramps, and suburban access roads for entire weekends.

Grassroots motorsport, by contrast, operates inside purpose-built, enclosed facilities on dedicated private or leased land. It asks for zero public road closures, zero police traffic escorts and zero disruption to state highway corridors.

Yet while commercial running events that paralyze public transport infrastructure receive full government permits and millions in corporate backing, grassroots motorsport venues operating strictly on their own dirt are carved up for warehouses under the guise of being a "nuisance."

At what point did operating on private land become a public nuisance, while shutting down state highways became a corporate privilege?

100 Years of Erased Heritage: The Forgotten Legacy of the Ekka Showgrounds

The year 16th October, 2026 marks exactly 100 years since the first official speedway meeting took place at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground (The Ekka) in October 1926.

In its golden era throughout the mid-20th century, speedway was the undisputed giant of Australian sports culture drawing weekly crowds of over 30,000 spectators and regularly outdrawing both cricket and rugby league. The Ekka was the sacred cathedral of Queensland motor racing, forging world champions and defining Brisbane’s weekend entertainment for decades.

Yet a century later, there is zero public celebration, official tribute or recognition on the grounds that the sport ever existed there. Across three generations, the cultural narrative has been quietly rewritten, leaving a historic 100-year legacy erased from the city's public identity.

Most tragically, around a dozen athletes lost their lives on the Ekka oval—paying the ultimate sacrifice on the dirt in pursuit of Australian sporting glory. Today, not a single official memorial plaque, heritage marker or public monument stands on the grounds to honour their names or acknowledge the lives lost where modern concrete now sits.

"How do we allow 100 years of history and the lives of fallen athletes to be completely swept under the rug?"asks Jocelyn Dare. "When you erase the birthplace of Australian action sports, you erase the history of the working-class families who poured their lives into it. We cannot let corporate developers or rewritten histories wipe away the memory of those who gave everything for this sport."

The Skyrocketing Cost of Racing & The Stand Against "Tall Poppy" Politics

It is getting harder and drastically more expensive by the day for young athletes and working-class families to line up at the gate. From junior go-karts to junior sidecars and solo bikes, the financial pressure on families is suffocating.

At the same time, "tall poppy syndrome" and internal politics often creep into local sporting communities. When major brands or commercial figures walk away once things get difficult or political, local families and juniors are left taking the brunt of bad behavior and rising costs.

Yet, community support and independent media coverage are proving to be the lifeline keeping these families in the sport. At a recent dirt track event, a racing family approached NDC with a message that highlights exactly what is at stake:

"We were going to stop our son racing solos after the flak we copped, however your reel saved us and gave us hope to continue going. Thank you for making a difference."

The Promoter & Land Dilemma: Displaced Into "Nomads"

Across Australia, a recurring pattern is putting the sport on life support. For decades, local clubs and promoters have poured blood, sweat and tears into building vibrant racing communities on short-term lease agreements.

Once urban sprawl catches up and property values soar, landholders or local councils sell off the sites for industrial logistics developments. High-value land sales yield massive returns but when the dust settles and the gates lock for the final time, the land is reallocated, and generations of racers across 2 wheels, 3 wheels and 4 wheels from go-karts, solos, sidecars, and dirt track MX to Sprintcars, drag racing and drifting are left completely displaced.

This cycle is precisely why the term "Nomad" is no longer just a brand name; it is the literal reality for thousands of Australian athletes forced to travel hundreds of kilometres just to find an open gate.

"When You Turn Your Back on the Dirt, Is The Millions Worth More Than The Heritage?"

"I stood trackside and held space for hundreds of people across Australia and the globe, including at The Last Dance of Mick Doohan Raceway," says Jocelyn Dare, Founder of Nomad Dirt Culture. "I interviewed the community to help give them a voice about the loss of local tracks. To see decades of history sold off—and to see that they didn't even class it as a racetrack or acknowledge its history in the sale—tells you everything you need to know about where corporate priorities lie.

Has greed completely taken over passion? What about the community that’s left with nothing now?

That heartbreak is the exact reason I built Nomad Dirt Culture. NDC was created to give a voice to the displaced, to protect the souls of 125 years of grassroots motorsport culture and to ask the tough questions: when you turn your back on the dirt, is the millions really worth more than the heritage? We don't rely on corporate politics or permission; we care about keeping kids in safe track environments, promoting surviving venues and keeping Australian motorsport alive for the next generation."

Preserving Heritage in a Digital & Physical Era

Operating with zero corporate handouts or government media network funding, Nomad Dirt Culture (NDC) was built strictly through direct community work. Founder Jocelyn personally delivered over 3,000 physical stickers directly to riders, families, and volunteers across Australia. In under 8 months, NDC’s independent coverage has generated over 8.4 million organic views.

"I started this journey six years ago after self-publishing my father's 45-year racing scrapbook and saw a massive gap in the industry," says Jocelyn. "From dirt to bitumen, y'all came from grassroots motorsport."

At upcoming events like Candynats, NDC is setting up its full pitstop gazebo, handing out free stickers, fresh merch, and 1,000 free physical trackside newsletters dedicated to local motorsport history.

"Mainstream media outlets and corporatized sectors often hide the true narrative of motorsport, especially when a track closes," says Jocelyn. "We created our digital archives to protect the authentic narrative of Aussie motorsport, history that was built in local dirt by everyday families, not in corporate boardrooms."

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: WHAT IS YOUR TAKE?

As historic raceways are rezoned for industrial development and urban run clubs receive prime public parklands and corporate millions, Australian motorsport stands at a critical fork in the road.

• Should multi-million-dollar activewear brands that started in local dirt pits contribute back to preserving grassroots tracks?

• Why does corporate sponsorship flow so easily into urban fitness crazes, while traditional Australian motorsport heritage struggles for airtime?

• What steps must local councils and State Governments take right now to protect remaining tracks before there's nowhere left to ride?

Drop your thoughts in the comments below or share this article to join the movement. 🏁👇

Sources & References

• LSKD Photo & History Reference: Style Magazines, "How Jason Daniel Turned LSKD From A 13-Year-Old Dream To A $400M Empire" — Read Article Here