Rotorua Stockcar Club promoter Sonja Hickey retires after 22 years

Sonja Hickey is retiring as promoter of the Rotorua Stockcar Club after 22 years. Photo / Andrew Warner

After 22 years at the racetrack, Rotorua Stockcar Club’s promoter Sonja Hickey is retiring.

Hickey said she was looking forward to seeing more of New Zealand in her motorhome with her husband, Stan Hickey, going for long walks and doing arts and crafts.

“It’s just time for Stan and I to go off and do a couple of other things rather than working fulltime.”

The 65-year-old said her career was supported by “a really good team of people around me”.

Reflecting on her 22 years at the club, Hickey recalled getting into the stockcar scene because Stan was a racer.

“We’d just sold our business ... and the club was ... in grave financial difficulty.

“I just thought I would, for a couple of years, lend my expertise to what I’d learned in business. And that couple of years turned in to 22.”

Hickey said the early days of the sport were “simplistic compared with today”.

“You used to arrive on a Saturday night and you didn’t know who was racing or whatever and drivers used to turn up.

“Whereas now you have to know who’s racing,” she said.

“When you look back 22 years, the changes have been massive. All the new laws and rules and regulations but it’s good, no complaints.”

Sonja Hickey will continue as the club’s secretary and treasurer, working one day a week. Photo / Andrew Warner

Hickey said her favourite memory was taking the TWS World 240s - an annual meeting - from “a minor meeting to a major meeting”.

The meeting was first held in 2005 in Rotorua and this year’s meeting was the “biggest race meeting” for spectators and competitors that had ever been run at the Rotorua track.

“You do get a buzz out of having done that. Not that I’ve done it on my own - I’ve got a really good team of people around me.

“A lot of them have been with me for the whole 22 years.”

Hickey said her work during the off-season involved getting sponsors, making sure building, maintenance and repairs were done and setting up the new season with race dates.

“All the planning in winter is crucial to make sure that you’ve got a successful season in the summer.”

Asked what she would like to see from the sport in the future, “just for the sport to continue as it is”.

“There’s a lot of people that have a lot of fun. At the moment, we’ve got 53 12 to 16-year-olds racing in the youth mini-stock cars. All those kids are out there with their mum and dad every weekend racing and learning to drive.”

Hickey will continue as the club’s secretary and treasurer, working one day a week.

Committee member Samuel Ashton will take over Hickey’s position as the club’s new promoter, saying he was “speechless” when he found out on Monday he had been elected.

The 21-year-old recalls being at a prizegiving a few years ago with Hickey.

“I was 18 and I walked up to her and I said, ‘If you ever want to retire [from] your job, I’d like to give it a go’.

“She turned around and said to me, ‘Get yourself on the committee and try every job possible and we’ll go from there’.”

And that’s what he did.

Ashton said taking over from Hickey would be “the hardest job possible”.

“She has left big shoes for me to fill ... but hopefully [I] can do it.”

He expected his first year to be “a bit rocky” but was looking forward to facing new challenges.

“After that, hopefully, I can be the next Sonja Hickey.”

Sonja Hickey was awarded the Jake Pulman Award of Excellence at the New Zealand Speedway Awards in 2019. Photo / Stephen Parker

Rotorua Stockcar Club vice president Steve Layne said Hickey was seen as a leader who made things happen.

Layne said the club had “a really good team of people” and Hickey was “very conscious” of being seen as the one who made everything happen.

“But she’s the first one to acknowledge that there’s a lot of people that make it happen and that it’s not just due to her.

“She’s certainly achieved a lot for the club from the days when she took over, and things were way different back then, to the secure financial position we’re now in. And certainly, the improvements to the facility, the upgrading, have made it a pretty special place to be.”