Gayton McKenzie seems to be making good on his promises to make spinning one of the biggest sports in South Africa after revealing the involvement of a big sponsor for the sport over the weekend.
The Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, on the eve of his swearing-in three months ago, said in a Facebook Live post that he wants to use the motorsport of spinning as a tool to get young kids off the streets and away from gangsterism.
The spinning of tyres started in the townships as a ritual to honour fallen gangsters during the apartheid era. But it has since evolved into a popular motorsport in South Africa.
However, spinning is a very niche sport and there are few designated sites on race tracks around the country where people can get together and burn some rubber.
There is also a negative stigma surrounding it, as a lot of people in the coloured, Indian and black townships often do spinning in the streets in their communities, which is viewed as dangerous, and is, by law, illegal.
However, this past weekend saw two massive spinning events in South Africa which McKenzie himself attended. The first one on Saturday at Cape Town’s Killarney race track was his own event - “Wie’s die Hond se Baas?” - which is part of a series for amateur spinners that is being hosted in all nine provinces.
The other one was the Red Bull show run, which was hosted on the streets of Sandton in Johannesburg, where professionals showed off their tyre burning and drifting skills.
In Cape Town, McKenzie revealed that a major cellphone company was set to invest a lot of money in spinning, which will allow participants to earn a salary and practice their trade in safe environments.
“We are going to announce a big international cellphone company that is going to sponsor spinning going forward,” McKenzie said.
“Spinners are going to get salaries. We are going to formalise and professionalise this sport. Things are going to change.
“Let’s put politics aside and make sure we get our children off the street and get them on the tracks. I’m going to invite the president of the country to the next spinning event so he can see what we are doing here.”
One of Cape Town’s motorsport TikTokkers, Mary-Anne Wakefield - LalliesF1 & Motorsport - told IOL Sport McKenzie is financing “Wie’s die Hond se Baas?” himself.
“Cape Town was the biggest event thus far. We had 69 entries and it was massive. They gave all the ticket revenue to Killarney in exchange for making the venue available and suitable for spinning.
“Each province has three winners - first, second and third - and by the end of the competition we will have 27 drivers in a national competition.
“Gayton is actually funding the prize money for each province, first place raking in R20,000, second place R15,000 and third place R10,000. Driver of the day gets R5,000 and there is no entry fee for the drivers.
“Gayton is funding this whole thing, trying to show that people can make a career out of it.”
Wakefield added that since McKenzie took over, there is a buzz around spinning community, who for once seem to be united in growing the sport.
“We have always had illegal spinners, people who go and find a pitch on the weekend to do their thing,” she added.
“But this competition has created a buzz where guys have come together. In every sport it’s us versus them, but it seems like they are coming together for the greater cause of spinning and that is great.”
@JohnGoliath82