Public burnout car to rev up interest

Spectators will have the opportunity to burn some rubber this year with Nickol Bay Speedway revealing the inclusion of a car in which the public can hit the burnout pad.

The public burnout car is among a host of new additions to the track, which have kept committee members and volunteers busy during the off-season.

Speedway president John Magerl said the upgrades would make for a more enjoyable experience for drivers and spectators.

“Brett Dohnt has donated a vehicle for anyone who wants to have a crack,” he said.

“Anyone who wants to try burnouts legally in a controlled environment is quite welcome to pay their insurance and come out and try in front of the crowd.

“We’ve also cleaned and touched up the bar and canteen, and the new lap scorers’ hub will centralise all our officials and make for smoother racing.”

The first meet of the year is this Saturday, with free entry for spectators and racing starting at 6.30pm.

The first major competition will be the Sprintcar Stampede in June, and organisers are also looking at bringing back the North West Nats burnout competition after it didn’t run last year.

Mr Magerl said while driver numbers were up on last year, volunteers would be harder to come by.

“We will be struggling for volunteers as every club is at the moment, but we’re trying to work with the City of Karratha and the other groups to support each other,” he said.

“We’ve lost a couple of key drivers, but we’re gaining more too. We’re going to have modifieds and productions this year.

“We should hopefully have two or three burnout cars per meet and a lot more juniors as well this year.”

Mr Magerl urged local clubs to work with each other to ensure they all had enough volunteers to run their events.