The Steel City Drag Club was formed in Whyalla in the mid-1960s by a like-minded group of individuals who were looking to be able to performance test their cars.
Initially, they operated on a compacted dirt drag strip in a creek bed on the northern side of the city – that is, until the government installed a new water supply pipeline for the city that went right across the track.
As a result, the club relocated to the current site on Mullaquana Road on the south side of the city, opening in 1969.
The track initially operated with concrete launch pads onto a dirt racing surface with stopwatch timers.
It would later be improved to boast a full eighth mile concrete track and was eventually widened and extended with a sealed braking area added as the performances of cars and bikes increased.
At the same time, the club went to work developing its own electronic timing system and computer-based vehicle seeding system which current Steel City Drag Club President, Mark Kuhn, explains was way ahead of what the major tracks were using at the time.
Eight years ago, the old track was ripped up and replaced with the current spec full-width concrete track.
“This provided Whyalla and drag racing in general with a national standard regional eighth mile drag racing venue,” Mark explained.
“The club/track has a long association with ANDRA and was proud to be the promoter of the first Andra SA Tri Series round run in conjunction with the Coonawarra and Mildura tracks.
Looking ahead, the club has some exciting developments work in the plans for the next one to three years.
“The future for Steel City Raceway is one that is planned to be very exciting, with many upgrades and additions planned over the next one to three years,” Mark said.
“With the assistance of funding from all levels of government along with invaluable corporate sponsorship, in the coming years the Whyalla Raceway will see a totally new race surface, an expanded and sealed pit area, a new amenities block for toilets and showers for race teams along with shade structures for spectators in place, and that is just to name a few of the planned upgrades – watch this space!”
The track has certainly kept busy over the years, running club championship events; off-street racing in conjunction with the local council to provide a safe venue for enthusiastic drivers to test their vehicles away from city streets; advanced driver training courses; and even the Leukemia Foundation’s Aussie Muscle Car Run on multiple occasions. It also hosts the annual Steel City Nats, which features motorkana, go to whoa, powerskids and of course burnouts on the recently added burnout pad.
“We believe the main purpose and value of the club/track has always been to provide a friendly venue for drag racing in regional South Australia, which we have done for more than 50 years,” Mark explained.
“The club has recently completed its first drag racing event in this COVID-19 climate and was able to do so safely and successfully.
“With this milestone achieved, for 2021 we have some great events in the works including a further three club championship rounds to be run along with the annual Steel City Nats event.”
With such a great year of action planned, the Steel City Drag Racing Club is on the hunt for supporters to ensure all they do continues to be possible.
“We need people to first and foremost support the club by becoming members and attend as many events as possible,” Mark said.
“We would love for people to also step up to volunteer if possible, becoming involved in the running, organising, managing and promoting of our sport.
“Not only can members and volunteers get involved and have a great sense of satisfaction from helping out their club and their sport, we also offer a club registration service for members to facilitate classic and modified vehicle registration, so that is an extra perk.
“Most of all, we need our drag racing community to understand we are a totally volunteer run club operating on an exceptionally limited budget. We are open for business year in, year out, and are working exceptionally hard to bring a great program together for everyone.
“Our management team and our volunteers are amazing and quite simply without their support the club and venue would not exist, so I ask of the drag racing community to please support us and remember, positive comments and attitudes bring positive results.”
The club is glad to enjoy the support of a number of key sponsors.
“Our thanks goes to Max Cranes and Hi-Tec Oils who have been our lane sponsors for many years, with Max Cranes also supplying a lot of in-kind support over the past 14 years which is greatly appreciated,” Mark said.
“We would also like to say thank you to all of our past and present monetary and in-kind sponsors.
“It would be so wrong to single out and mention any one person or entity as any and all support to our club is important and invaluable and no matter what the scale it is, it all makes a difference.
“So, thank you all, as you know who you are, and especially to the 40 or 50 racers that continuously support our club and venue year after year along with all of our volunteers and officials who make up the Steel City Drag Club Family.”
Round two of the Steel City Club Championship will be held on Saturday, February 27. For more information about Whyalla’s Steel City Drag Racing Club, visit http://steelcitydrags.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/WhyallaSteelCityDragsClub[/vc_column_text]
