The rowdy onlookers then stood in the way of police after the car, a 1965 Chrysler sedan, took off.

Insp Tony Moodie, of Albury police, was yesterday appalled by the behaviour of the people involved, who were believed to have been part of the weekend’s Chryslers on the Murray event.

“The disturbing thing about this incident is the amount of people standing with their family without a care in the world, in close proximity to a man, cheering him on when he was allegedly intoxicated, didn’t have a current licence and did not have proper control of his vehicle doing the burn-out,” he said.

“What is even worse is that when police tried to apprehend the driver, a large portion of the crowd turned on police, blocking their leaving and allowing the driver to get away.

“Some of those people can think themselves lucky that they themselves are not facing court.”

Adrian Froon, 23, of Moama, faced Albury court yesterday charged with dangerous driving, mid-range drink-driving, driving while disqualified, aggravated burn-out, negligent driving and disobey a police direction.

Police told the court Froon was seen doing the burn-out on Burma Road, in front of the Ettamogah Pub, about 4.40pm on Saturday.

The burn-out lasted for about 30 seconds, producing a large amount of smoke.

Police approached the driver but he sped off through the crowd.

Several people then stood in front of the police car as it attempted to follow.

Police were eventually able to move through the crowd and saw the car again at the Hume Highway at the Davey Road off-ramp.

They said Froon lost control of the car and crashed into a sign before continuing along Davey Road.