Dion was just 28 years old when he went on a motorbike ride with some mates west of Wauchope and never made it home.

Dion was a fitter and turner at the time, locally, for both Boral and Nestle. He was your typical, hard working, down to earth guy, who loved anything loud and fast.

Dion was everyone's mate.

He was especially well known around the area for his supercharged white VN Holden Commodore and his ability to put it through its paces as a much loved member of the Kempsey Sporting Car Club.

Each year since his departure the club has held a race in his honour at their track in Cooperabung, the Dion Barnett Memorial Hillclimb - a day where locals fight it out for the perpetual trophy which is awarded to the fastest time of the day.

In its 20 years of circulation it has been awarded to only eight different people, most of them well-known to Dion.

The first three wins went to Shaun Kyle who took the trophy home in his WRX powered Subaru Brumby ute and managed to beat Dion's personal best time on the day, followed by Sean Watson who then took out the next three after him in his V8 powered 240z.

Even fiercer competition then saw it change hands a few times between Alan Hindes in his Suzuki powered Piranha, Dave Morrow in his Suzuki powered Krygger and Robert Tamini in a WRX up until 2011, when well-known local lads, Mat Huxley and Darren Read fought it out with Huxley taking the win in his Nissan GTR-32 Skyline, all before heading to work in it the next day.

Finally in 2012 Darren Read took the win, followed again by Dave Morrow in 2013, then Darren Read went on to not only take the win that following year, but also took the trophy home a further six consecutive times after that in his Hayabusa powered Minetti ZZ, Minetti Monster and most recently, Hayward 09.

The current standing 2020 champion is Tom Gietzelt and his 2014 WRX.

In honour of a great mate and in an effort to give thanks to the Kempsey Sporting Car Club for upholding Dion's legacy, a fundraising night has been organised for Saturday January 23.

The event, better known as 'Drinks for Dion', will be held at the Kempsey Golf Club, kicking off with a 'Show 'n' Shine' on sundown from 5pm followed by Australian Motorsport Trivia which will be run in teams of 2-10, to be organised by those attending.

There will be various pieces of Dion memorabilia to be seen on the night as well as a session to tell stories about our mate and the good times we all had. A one-off Dion memorabilia piece will go to auction at some stage and local pub rock band Flash Ratz will play throughout the night.

Tickets are $40 each which includes dinner, entry to Australian Motorsport Trivia and the Show and Shine (if you have a toy with two or four wheels you'd like to bring along).

Tickets are on sale only until January 13, and are available by contacting the Kempsey Sporting Car Club, jumping on the Facebook event page 'Drinks for Dion' or you can drop into Subway Kempsey and purchase one.

Ten dollars from the sale of every ticket will be donated to the club to help them upgrade their facilities at the Cooperabung track, as well as any other proceeds made from the night.

Organisers are aiming for a laid back, casual, automotive fuelled night, just as Dion would have liked it and the event is open to like-minded people as well as any of Dion's friends, family or colleagues who wish to join in.

Guests are encouraged to wear their favourite car or bike shirt.

If anyone has any photos or footage of Dion that they would like to share on the night, they are urged to contact Ashleigh Bennett at drinks4dion@outlook.com or on 0413 765 712.