The south-west has never needed the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic more than this January.
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The speedway event, one of the biggest in the world, injects $3.5 million directly into Warrnambool's economy each January and $7 million across the region. It attracts visitors from America and across Australia, international media attention, television coverage.
But Premier Speedway Club general manager David Mills revealed the event may not go ahead in January because of uncertainty over COVID-19 restrictions, including the possibility of vastly-reduced or no crowds.
Mills and his club, which is volunteer-dependent, have worked incredibly hard to transform the race into a three-night festival. The crowds now rival Warrnambool's time-honoured May Racing Carnival.
Mills doesn't want to reduce the event and possibly undermine its standing among drivers, teams and supporters. He is mindful of protecting the club's long-term future. He is also worried about his volunteers and members of other sporting clubs who help put the show on. The club has given itself an October 20 deadline to decide what, if any form, the classic will take. The health and safety of all involved and the community is clearly the number one priority.
The region's hospitality and tourism industries will be hoping like hell the club can find a way to keep the race on the calendar. The region has already lost the Port Fairy Folk Festival from next year's calendar, that's after this year's May races were crowd-free and just about every event, agricultural shows and festivals, have been cancelled.
The region, which relies heavily on tourism to drive our economy, will be without international tourists for possibly the next two years. Interstate and regional visitors will be critical to helping re-build our tourism industry and provide light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.
Our natural attractions will certainly help but we need our big events. Ask any retailer, motel, hotel or cafe owner, and they will tell you these events are the cream on the cake. We need the classic like never before but the stars, such as lifting border and crowd restrictions, need to align within the next 25 or so days. Fingers are firmly crossed. There's a lot at stake.
