Do The Stomp!

Larger than life, John ‘Stomper’ Winterburn did big things for aussie drag racing

- Lex Swayn

FOR A man who was not a participant himself, the late John ‘Stomper’ Winterburn had an enormous impact on the sport of drag racing. Put simply, Australian drag racing would not have been as successful if not for his unceasing efforts behind the scenes.

Stomper is the longest-serving official in Aussie drag racing, with a total of 54 years spent in the service of the sport. He served at Surfers Paradise International Raceway from 1966 until 1987, with 15 of those years spent as meeting director. When Willowbank opened in 1985, he was meeting director for both tracks, and when Surfers closed in ’87, he remained Willowbank meeting director until 1999.

Fate brought John Winterburn and drag racing together in 1966, when he agreed to take his brother Bob’s FJ to an Easter show ’n’ shine held by the Holden Car Club at the Ski Gardens, across from the newly built Surfers Paradise International Raceway. The show also featured some of the visiting US cars for the Dragfest event that was to open the race track on Easter Sunday. SPIR manager Bill Pickett came over to ask if any of the car club guys would like to help as officials.

“That’s where I came in,” Stomper said in a 2006 interview. “I don’t really remember much about the event. I recall there was dirt everywhere, because it was a new facility, and I ended up covered in it because I was running all day from the tower to the startline and back. It was all new to me; I had no real idea about drag racing.”

It was a fortuitous introduction, as we now know that Dragfest was the catalyst that led to Australia becoming the largest drag racing stronghold outside North America.