Whether or not you support the monarchy, the fact remains that the King’s Birthday Honours List (it seems funny calling it that after calling it “Queen’s” for my whole lifetime), does a great job in recognising people in our community whose service to others is above and beyond.
And so it is that this year’s awards are particularly relevant to us motorcyclists here in NSW for, this June, the OAM (Order of Australia Medal) was awarded to Jan Blizzard. For the benefit of my readers who aren’t locals, let me give you a bit of info about tis remarkable lady.
For the whole period of my involvement in motorcycle racing, (since 1976) Jan has been the fixture around which the spot has revolved. She and her late husband, Arthur, who sadly died of cancer in 1995, basically ran motorcycle competition for that period. Now I don’t want you to think that this was some sort of autocracy because it wasn’t. Arthur and Jan were members of the then Auto Cycle Union, the NSW governing body of all motorcycling competition in the state. They both had executive positions and were members of many of the sub-committees that oversaw the various aspects of the sport.
The Bathurst Easter Carnival was run by the ACU and Arthur and Jan saw to it that the carnival was better and better each year.
They were both members of St George Motorcycle Club and Jan was Race Secretary for all the meetings that club ran.
The ACU ran all the C Grade and later D Grade meetings and, once again, Arthur and Jan were integral to the running of these meetings.
Perhaps this picture will best explain the depth and extent of Jan’s involvement in motorcycle racing over the years.
Now it has been truly said that anybody who has had anything to do with motorcycle racing in that period has had something to do with Jan. It’s also been truly said that, for every meeting in which she was involved, there are a myriad of stories that those people could tell.
Jan was the power behind the throne and, following Arthur’s death, she moved to the front but Jan was never a shrinking violet. She possesses an outrageous sense of humour and a laugh to match. She has an encyclopaedic memory of all things racing and the person who dares to match wits with her on the who, what, where, when and why, will surely end up disappointed.
And a rider should never believe that he will be able to put one over on Jan with a flimsy excuse as to why he hasn’t brought his licence to the meeting or any of the dozens of wheezes that riders use to try and fly under the radar. It just won’t happen.
Having said that, Jan will always try as hard as she can to make sure that the riders get to ride and to enjoy their day at the track. She is strict but fair and nobody has ever been able to say that they got anything but the “down the line” treatment that every rider knows they will get when Jan is running the show.
Cross her at your peril and infringe on the rules and the tough side of Jan’s nature will soon become apparent. Do a wheelstand on the dummy grid and you will get a call-up to the office where Jan will deal with it herself or, if the offence is more serious, she will flick pass you to the Clerk of Course and you DON’T want to go there. Having “called up” dozens and dozens of riders during my years on the microphone, I can assure you that, if you GOT the call, you deserved it.
I am delighted to say that I enjoyed a close and enjoyable relationship with both Jan and Arthur. Some of it was personal and none more so than sitting beside Arthur’s bed in his last days and chatting with him about stuff. But, as a club administrator and commentator, I also was constantly amazed by Jan’s enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism. Let me provide one example of the many that spring to mind.
In 1976, when a few of my mates and I decided that we needed a specialised road racing club in Canberra, we were faced with a problem. The ACU very strictly controlled the number of registered clubs in any particular vicinity. Registered clubs were the only ones who could run race meetings and issue racing licences so they had a core role to play in the administration of the sport.
The problem that we had in Canberra was that there were already 4 ACU-registered motorcycle clubs and the whisper was that the ACU were probably not likely to issue a 5th registration to suit us. After a couple of calls to assess the lie of the land, I was granted an appointment with the Road Race Committee to plead our case. I rode up to Sydney and I there explained that our riders had to be members of a club to get their licence, to compete at Club Days and at Open meetings. As the Canberra clubs were all dirt bike oriented, Canberra riders were all members of Sydney clubs. This meant that they mostly couldn’t get to club meetings, get entry forms for race meetings, get their licences renewed etc.
A dedicated road racing club would remove all those difficulties, I explained. I reckon I got a pretty fair hearing though I was warned that, should any of the existing Canberra clubs object to the proposal, the deal would be dead in the water. Now they could have left it there but, after the meeting, Jan rang each of the secretaries of the Canberra clubs, explained the situation to them and asked them if they were willing to expedite our request.
Not long after the meeting, we received a letter to say that our request had been approved. Thank you, Arthur and Jan. From there on the two of them were extraordinarily helpful to CRRC and especially so during the time of the road closures. We were so grateful to them for their help. AND, while it would have been very tempting for Jan to insist on being the race secretary for those early meetings as we were all so inexperienced in the admin involved, Jan stepped back and allowed us to learn “on the job”, being there to give advice and assistance when it was required.
As I said before, I count myself very grateful to have been able to know the Blizzards, to work in a myriad of meetings with them and to have been able to call them my friends. Right up to the present moment, I know that, if I need something, I can ring Jan and she will do her level best to help me.
In September sometime there will a public gathering where all of Jan’s friends can meet and help her celebrate her well-deserved award. That will definitely be a hoot.
Congratulations, Mrs B.
