The inception for Irish Racer came from many years standing behind the hedges at races like the Carrowdore 100, the Isle of Man TT and the Ulster Grand Prix. Having travelled in my early years due to my father’s career choice, I’ve also had the luxury of attending sporting events both in the UK and in Australia.

After starting out as a part-time budding photo-journalist in 1998 and supplying an image of Keith Gillespie [Northern Ireland V Germany] to a local football magazine, relationships were formed with a now defunct publishing company in Belfast back in the summer of… not ’69 as the song says, but in 1999.

Irish Racer first hit the shelves in October of that very same year with the late John Donnan on the front cover. Ironically taken at the 1999 Carrowdore 100, a place I would later call home, and also where the magazine was first based when I eventually decided to take it up as a full time career move.
The magazine moved from bi-monthly to monthly in 2003 when we decided to open a full time office in Dundonald and since then Irish Racer and the newly formed parent company Careva Publishing & PR have gone from strength to strength.

Very much a family business, the day to day operations are handled by my wife Jewel [accounts, administration and subscription], my daughter Cara Montgomery [Advertising Sales Manager], Chilli our resident office pooch and yours truly.

For the past 7 years we have also been publishing the programme for Ireland’s biggest outdoor sporting event, the International North West 200, and recently secured the contract for the Ulster Grand Prix programme for the next two seasons.

The final part of the jigsaw [for now!] is the Irish Racer Awards, which celebrated its fifth year of existence in January 2008. A gala black tie event for the motorcycling fraternity in Ireland that has become one of the biggest black tie sporting events in the UK and Ireland, with over 550 guests purchasing tickets every year. This year our star guest was none other than Giacomo Agostini.

"One experiment is better than a thousand expert opinions." - Villum Kann Rasmussen.