Stock car racing in the blood of Tablelands' Jonsson family

Warren Jonsson of Jonsson's Farm Market & Jonsson Farms, and his brother Graham, raced stock cars together at Bathurst, NSW, in the early 90s.

Now Warren's sons Brad and Dean Jonsson, who own cattle and cropping properties on the Atherton Tablelands, are letting their kids take the wheel at Herberton Tepon Raceway. A new grade has allowed children, as young as seven, to take part.

"There's country kids competing from cattle stations, avocado farms and rural earthmoving businesses," Brad said.

This weekend will mark the first race meet for the year.

Brad said the kids have taken a huge interest in the sport and the skills and experience they gain from it.

"With help from their parents, the kids generally find their vehicles and often they have to rebuild them, repanel, regroove the tyres, paint and fix the engines," he said.

"This process teaches them fairly good mechanic skills because these stock cars are not a registered vehicle, so there's always something going wrong with the car that they have to fix."

Like any other competitor, Brad says the kids and their vehicles are decked out with safety features to prevent them from serious injury.

"They're all wearing racing safety attire, and are fitted with a five point harness, neck brace, raised seat, and are wearing seat belts across the shoulders, one across the waist and one between the legs," he said.

"The stock cars are also fitted with rail cages."

Brad said his father's passion for the sport had passed onto them and their children

"My dad has been racing for as long as I can remember and he started off racing at the Herberton track," he said.

"My kids love it. It's like Christmas day for them.

"They're travelling sideways at up to 80 Kilometres an hour and for a 10-year-old kid, that gives them a huge adrenaline rush.

"If the kids accidentally hit an opponent's car, as soon as they finish the race, they walk over and apologise and shake their hands."

Tableland Competition Car Club holds stock car races at the Herberton Tepon raceway every third Sunday of each month, starting from 10.00am.