Before long, a natural amphitheatre was identified close to the airport at Landguard Bluff, and permission was gained from the local council in record time.
As the project gathered momentum, a crew of locals joined together and outside expertise was found in the form of Eaton's fellow Panthers Warrick Sisson, who graded the track, and everyone's favourite blocklayer, "Big Bad" Charlie Berntsen, who helped to build the toilet block, which is still standing 50 years on.
Opening Day finally rolled around and, fittingly, Berntsen won the first race at the new track.
A massive crowd filled the facility, testing the patience of the local Traffic Department before and after the meeting.
Speedway is a weather-dependent sport.
Ironically, the weather in the first season was too good; fine, hot weather meant the new grass on the spectator banks and infield withered quickly, and dust became a problem, causing spectator numbers to dwindle.
One solution, as New Zealand first experienced daylight saving in 1974, was to move to twilight meetings and for many years late Sunday afternoon meetings at Whanganui were as much a part of speedway as hot dogs and chips.
Teams racing quickly became a popular attraction at Oceanview, and the Wanganui Warriors became a force to be reckoned with.
Berntsen captained the first Warriors team, which raced against the Wellington Wildcats, Roy Eaton transferred his allegiance to the track he helped to build, and other Warriors in those first few seasons included Dave Hooper, Jim Rison, Ormie Andrews, Graham Eaton, Bernie Hamley and Adrian Flett.
They were joined in the 1974-75 team by a couple of blokes who would go on to be quite influential in Whanganui speedway, Bob Smith and Evan Mooney.
In 1981, the Warriors, captained by George Duncan, finished runners-up to the Palmerston North B team in the inaugural Stockcar Teams Champs at Palmerston North, losing by the narrow margin of 80 points to 70.
Since then, they've contested five finals without recording that elusive victory but remain one of the most popular teams at Teams Champs.
After stockcars and superstocks became separate classes in the 2000-01 season, the Wanganui Vulcans stockcar team was formed.
The Vulcans quickly became a formidable combination, with drivers such as Tony James, Sandy Flett, Dion Mooney, Francis Potaka and Blair Lockett becoming very tough competitors.
Like the Warriors, however, the Vulcans have so far been unable to win the New Zealand Stockcar Teams Championships, which would carry the bonus of hosting rights the following season.
Oceanview was originally built as a stockcar track, and the contact classes remain the headline acts 50 years on, but sidecars quickly became a popular class, with saloons and TQ midgets also joining the programme.
The sidecar class has provided Whanganui with more New Zealand Championship success than any other class.
John Hannan and Jason Wallis won New Zealand titles in 1995-96 and 2003-04, along with the combinations of Tony Cave and Graeme Uren (1985-86), Nigel Belsham and Stephen Anderson (1990-91) and Murray Hackett and Steve Heibner (1996-97), the latter two coming on the tight Oceanview circuit.
The saloon car class descended on Oceanview in early 1978 for the one and only New Zealand Saloon Championship contested at Oceanview.
A big field of cars and a large crowd led to an entertaining afternoon as Peter Woods from Invercargill won the first of his three NZ titles in his immaculate Ford Mustang, while local Dave Gilbertson took second place in his very fast turbocharged Mini.
In later seasons Peter Sloman and "Uncle Ray" Purdy were the mainstay of the saloon class, with Sloman winning the New Zealand title at Auckland in 1985-86, and Purdy picking up a third placing at Dunedin the previous season.
TQ midgets always put on a great show at Oceanview and were well-suited to the tight Whanganui track.
Peter Huijs won the New Zealand Championship in Stratford in 2000-01, having finished third at Meeanee the season before, while Clayton Grant had a third placing in Whanganui in the 1993-94 season. The Huijs family remains well involved in racing at Oceanview, mainly in the midget class.
It hasn't always been plain sailing through 50 years and Oceanview Speedway has been through plenty of ups and downs.
In the late 1990s, competitor numbers had dropped alarmingly, as had spectator numbers. The future was looking grim until an unlikely hero emerged.
Darryl Taylor could see the writing on the wall as the cost of competing in speedway was rising every season at an alarming rate.
Taylor set about building a budget car to enable people to compete at a reasonable cost, starting with a chassis design drawn on the floor of his workshop, running gear from a Japanese 1200cc car, and over the course of the next few weeks the very first ministock was born.
It would be a while before Speedway New Zealand created the youth ministock grade, but Taylor's innovation was the catalyst for many new drivers to enter the sport. The likes of Gerry Linklater, Dion Mooney, Francis Potaka and Blair Lockett all cut their teeth on ministocks before moving up to the stockcar class as funds permitted.
The youth ministock class was a step change for the sport in New Zealand. Now, by far the majority of superstock and stockcar champions got their start in youth ministocks where they could learn racecraft in a generally safe environment.
Oceanview Speedway hosted its first New Zealand Stockcar Championship in 1982, and what a meeting it was.
As the laps counted down in Heat Three, Dave Evans was heading for a victory until Evan Mooney halted his progress, allowing Charlie Berntsen to win Wanganui's second title, after Keith Turner's 1979 win at Palmerston North Speedway.
Mooney, ever the club man, had also played a part in Turner's victory, as had Bob Smith, who finished third overall in 1982.
Fast forward to 1995, where Mike Johnston came so close to another home championship, finishing a close second behind Rotorua driver Lyall Rumney, while Darryl Taylor filled the third step of the podium in 2008, finishing the championship behind Kyle Fraser, who beat Wayne Hemi in a run-off.
Whanganui was again the host venue of the 2019-20 New Zealand Superstock Champs.
With around 115 cars entered, even making the Top 26 on Whanganui's notoriously tight track was an achievement. Carl Burns was the sole local driver to qualify for the Big Show, but it was Randal Tarrant who mastered the tricky conditions to take out the win.
The event was very well attended and supported, giving the Whanganui club the opportunity to further improve the facility.
Oceanview has hosted just one New Zealand Stockcar Championship since stockcars became a stand-alone class in 2000, which was won by Peter Rees. The WSSC is due to host the event again in a couple of seasons, and it will likely be the biggest event in the track's history.
Gerry Linklater is the sole New Zealand Stockcar champion from Oceanview, winning at Auckland in 2006-07. He nearly became a repeat champion the following season at Stratford, finishing the weekend as 2NZ after a three-way run-off for the title.
Dion Mooney picked up back-to-back second placings in 2015-16 and 2017-18.
Now known as Oceanview Family Speedway, it attracts families who have played a massive part in the growth of the sport in Whanganui since day one. It's the impact of the families, along with the willingness of so many people to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in that gives Oceanview Family Speedway such a great vibe.
Oceanview's 50th anniversary will be celebrated on Saturday and Sunday, October 22-23, with a two-day meeting.
On Saturday competitors will race in a club meeting where admission is by gold coin and all proceeds will be donated to the Whanganui Cancer Society.
On Sunday the first points meeting of the season will be held.
Racing starts at 3pm both days, and the climax of Sunday's meeting will be the TradeZone fireworks display.
