On bended knee at the dragway

Hold your horses: Wayne Penrose plants the ring on partner Jill Boothman's finger on the drag strip at Morgan Park on Sunday.

By Jeremy Sollars

JILL Boothman was just about to take her maiden run on the Warwick Dragway track last Sunday when she was stopped in her tracks in more ways than one.
The Woolloongong competitor was at Morgan Park with partner Wayne Penrose for the VW Weekend and was just about to fire up her metallic purple VW Beach Buggy with a 240 horsepower engine on board when track officials ordered her to cut her ignition.
Thinking there was something wrong with the car right before her first foray into drag racing her heart sank, until Wayne appeared next to her wheels on bended knee and produced an engagement ring – and a proposal.
The moment it all happened was captured by roving Free Times photographer Terry West, who’d just arrived at the dragway on Sunday morning.
“Her first words were, ‘Oh my God, thank you’, which I think counted as a yes,” Wayne told the Free Times.
“I’d concocted the plan in my head a while back when Jill and I were planning our trip to Warwick – I had all the track officials clued in and even the announcer.
“I got them to call out over the PA system that they needed to hold her up at the starting line and to tell her there was something wrong with her car.
“They were all in on it.
“I’m glad she said yes, I’d have looked pretty silly in front of the crowd.”
Immediately following the proposal and her acceptance, Jill carved up the dragway track with a blistering 8.56 second run, not a bad effort for a first go.
Wayne, 51, is a VW mechanical specialist of more than 30 years standing while Jill, 52, is a disability support worker.
The pair started dating two and half years after meeting up on Facebook, having attended the same primary and high schools growing up in New South Wales and both having had previous marriages and families.
“We went to Hayes Park Public School and Kanahooka High School near Dapto,” Wayne said.
“We both graduated in 1980.
“I didn’t think I was cool enough to talk to her in those days – I was the tall kid who played basketball and she used to hang out with the footy players.
“We’ve both been down the marriage path before – we both have grandkids and Jill has a 13-year-old son.
“You go through that circle of life, some things don’t work out as you’d planned and then you turn around and find each other – it’s just wonderful.
“We’d talked about getting married and it’s that feeling of not wanting to let this person go.”
Wayne said prior to their getting together Jill had zero interest in motorsport, but these days can’t be kept out from behind the wheel.
The couple travel to motorsport events across New South Wales and interstate and have a fleet of 10 VW racing vehicles, including Jill’s Beach Buggy.
They also race vintage motorcycles and are set to embark on a trip to Adelaide with their bikes in the next few weeks.
Wayne said it was his 11th year at the Warwick VW Weekend and Jill’s second, with their next drags event in Gunnedah in the coming months.
The couple are yet to set a date, but Jill has put an absolute deadline at the end of 2020.
For more of Terry West’s photos from the VW Weekend turn to page 10.