01-08-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
What a drag: annual racing event left in limbo by resealing plans
A popular event at the Oamaru Airport has been postponed by the Waitaki District Council without formal explanation, leaving the organisers "disappointed and confused".
Waitaki District Council allows hot rod club Whitestone Rodders to use the airport runway twice a year for the Oamaru Drags, where spectators enjoy V8s, imports and motorbikes taking turns speeding down the airport runway during four rounds of quarter-mile action.
Now in its 13th year, it attracted up to 150 competitors and 1500 spectators each year and also kept "boy racers" off the street, Whitestone Rodders president Geoff Omnett said.
Mr Omnett said it was "unusual the club had not been given any real justification in the decision to halt the big community event".
"It's odd, and Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he and the councillors weren't aware of any such decision being made."
Mr Omnett said the council had previously advised them that tarmac resealing, organised by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), was to be done and for that reason they were not permitted to run the drags this year.
Funds from the event — held in March and November — go towards the club, but also help other organisations that assist the club in running the event, including Air Training Corps and Hato Hone St John, he said.
The club was also told the CAA required the council to carry out an aeronautical study to inform decisions about the future of the airport and the use of the runways.
Club member and race organiser Kevin Boler said last year the previous council property manager Tania Goldingham informed him there would be no more drag racing at the Oamaru Airport for the "foreseeable future", although he believed the "door was still open".
Mr Kircher said he was unaware of any discussion between the hot rod club and the council regarding the tarmac.
"There was talk around the impact that drag racing has on the runway, but it hasn't been a decision by the governance team to cease that event," Mr Kircher said.
The council's plans to reseal the airport tarmac had been "put off" as they considered "cheaper options", including the possibility of using a new SteelGuard surface similar to the recent resurfacing of Alexandra Airport's runway, which came in at $470,000 — about half the cost of earlier estimates.
Club committee member Murray Mackenzie said an email from the council property manager last month that asked the club to remove their event signs at the airport and all of their belongings in a storage shed had been upsetting.
"We are disappointed — we spent $1500 of the club's money to repair all the rotten weatherboards at the council's request, and then six weeks later they tell us we can't race here any more. We're like 'what's going on?'," Mr Mackenzie said.
Mr Omnett said they were aware the airport was busier with New Zealand Airline Academy flights "but their planes don't land on the tarmac, they land on the grass".
Mr Kircher said if the impact of the drags on the tarmac was an issue, they could look to other solutions such as "moving the race start area to a different part of the runway".
Waitaki District Council director of strategy, performance and design Joanne O'Neill said a meeting was set for August 11 with club members, council property managers and new airport manager Matt Sisson.
"We look forward to having a constructive conversation about the future of drag racing in Waitaki, given the increasing use of the Oamaru Airport," she said.
Originally organised by the North Otago Car Club in the early 1970s as a single-car timed run down the flattest section of Seven Mile Rd, drag-racing in the area had a long history and had evolved over time, Mr Boler said.
