LOVE LETTER TO MIDGETS
SPEEDWAY’S GOLDEN ERA
BEFORE TV AND THE INTERNET, KIWI S GOT THEIR DRAMA FROM LIVE EVENTS. MID GET CAR RACING WAS A FAVOURITE —TREVOR STANLEYJOB LIN UN COVERS ITS HISTORY FROM 1938 TO THEM ID ’70 S
Early New Zealand speedways
Monica Park Speedway in Ferry Road, Christchurch, was such a roaring success that, when it opened on 9 November 1929, a second night of ‘ broadsiding’ was held three days later on Tuesday night. A year later, the Western Springs track opened in Auckland on 30 November, and construction was slated for a track at Tonga Park in Dunedin, giving the country five tracks. The Palmerston North track opened on 27 December 1930.
The final night of the 1930–’31 season was hailed as a Grand Carnival night. It included a match race between Otago and Canterbury, a penny-farthing cycle race, a horse-trotting match race, and a duel between two cars. A fireworks display completed the evening. Variety acts were a staple of the music hall, but here we had it at the speedway. The organizers left nothing to chance when it came to entertaining the crowds, which that night included my parents — but now, on with the show.
Overseas midgets in Christchurch
Midget car racing originated in Los Angeles in 1933 — four- cylinder cars were ‘midgets’ in the land of the V8. The first races were held on former bicycle-racing board tracks, then moved to the first purpose-built speedway at Gilmore Stadium.
In Christchurch, the first midget car races held featured cars and drivers from Auckland, the US, and Australia, where they are called ‘speedcars’. The first of three meetings was held on 26 February 1938. It seems that the promoter intended to point the speedway in a new direction, billing the midgets as being “faster than broadsiding” and offering “more thrills to the yard of track”.
Future Indianapolis 500 winner Duane Carter dominated on the track in a Star Continental Special. The sole New Zealand representative, Gerry Matheson, was a popular winner of the International Triangle Race, heading off American Paul Swedberg and Australian Arch Tuckett. However, Carter’s win in the feature earned him a great reception from the large crowd, with the punters thrilled by the wheel-to-wheel dicing with his rivals.
The following Saturday night’s action attracted another big crowd. Once again, Carter won the 12-lap feature from his fellow Americans. The close-quarters racing in the eight-car-strong field captivated the audience. He also won the ‘pay-up’ race against Paul Swedberg, which meant that the loser had the honour of settling the teams’ fuel account in Christchurch.
Little did everyone know, as they made their way down Ferry Road by foot, cycle, tram, motorbike, sidecar, or motor car, that the meeting on 12 March 1938 would be the last speedway show to be held at Monica Park. The outbreak of World War II soon after snuffed out any future speedway plans for this venue.
New speedway
Midget car racing originated in Los Angeles in 1933 — four-cylinder cars were ‘midgets’ in the land of the V8. The first races were held on former bicycle-racing board tracks.
It wasn’t until 10 years later that Aranui Speedway opened — for the
1948–’49 season — on a site now occupied by state houses between Rowan Avenue and Bexley Road. This speedway produced some world champions. Ivan Mauger won the Speedway World Championship crown no fewer than six times. Four other riders from Aranui who became World Championship stars were Larry Ross, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore, and Geoff Mardon — the first Kiwi to stand on a Speedway World Championship podium and later the works driver of the famous chain-driven Stanton Corvette sports car. Ten years further on, Aranui held its last race on 11 April 1959.
I first became aware of the speedway in about 1951, when my parents bought three sections on the corner of Pages and Marlow Roads. Just before the new season of 1951–’52 opened, I suggested to Mum and Dad that we should offer our sections up on Saturday evenings as a public car park, and charge one shilling a vehicle. I packed the cars in tightly — first in, last out, no alleyways for anyone who may have wished to go home early. No one ever did. The public was far more patient and tolerant back in the good old days. Dad built our new home there, completing it in late 1952, and we shifted in from north New Brighton to be just a threeor four-minute walk to the speedway entrance.
Sign of the times
Ever heard old folks rave about speedway in the 1950s and ’60s? It is not easy to explain, but the sport had a magic to it then. It is more professional now and, at least here in Christchurch, well organized, both at Templeton and Woodford Glen. But, to some of us, anyway, it lacks the sparkle of those days.
In the ’50s, speedway had a far stronger public following than it has now. Can you imagine a crowd of 18,000 turning up on a Wednesday evening in 2018 to watch midgets race at Western Springs? Yet that happened at several meetings in Aranui in Christchurch during the ’50s. Even a ‘normal’ Saturday night would draw crowds of 9000 to 11,000 — and bear in mind that Christchurch’s population was substantially less back then.
There are good reasons, of course. There was no television; pubs closed at 6pm; and restaurants, from what I recall, were virtually non-existent. The few we had were regarded as a luxury and were only patronized by the welloff, or once a year for special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries. All shops were closed by 9pm on a Friday night, and virtually the whole country stayed shut until 9am Monday. The exceptions were New Brighton and Taupo: their shops had special dispensation to open on Saturdays from 9am to 9pm.
On a Saturday night, the only things to do were to go to the flicks or a dance, visit relatives or friends, or one could just stay home and listen to the many radio serials.
In theory, speedway racing then was not much different to how it is now, but there were a lot of small differences that gave it an edge over racing, trotting, or rugby.
Cars had become seriously fast, available to everyone — at least in the US — and a symbol of freedom and limitless possibilities. Look at any US vehicle manufactured during this period! The flamboyant design of these (now-classic) cars, estate wagons, and pickups
speak for themselves. Speedway fitted in well with other teenage fads like hot rodding, movies, slot cars, and dangerous stars such as Elvis, James Dean, and Marlon Brando — and our own Burt Munro on his 1920 Indian motorcycle at Bonneville. (On his first attempt in 1962 he recorded 178.95mph / 287.98kph; lifting this to 183.59mph / 295.45kph in 1967; and, on one occasion, he reached 205.67mph / 330.98kph in a flying mile.)
Then there was the drama of racing itself — the fact that the fastest drivers always started from the rear of the grid. This made for intense, dramatic, and spectacular racing. The sport had been around for a long time, but the mid ’50s to ’60s felt like its perfect decade. It seemed to catch some of the flavour of the times. It was loud, colourful, dangerous, and a bit violent.
Warm evenings in the golden era
Back then, everybody stayed on to watch all of the races. The last race, exclusive to the stock car, was named The Butchers’ Picnic. Last car running takes all. Yes, actual prize money! For all classes, from first to fourth.
The Australasian Midget Championship of 1955 was held at the track in March. It drew the largest number of paying public attendees to any motor racing event held in the South Island at that time. On the Wednesday evening of the qualifying heats, a crowd of no less than 18,000 came to watch midget racing.
Come the finals on Saturday evening, a record crowd of 21,000 attended, according to The Press the following Monday. I doubt that figure has ever been bettered; well, certainly not down here in the South Island — and if Western Springs could boast a bigger attendance for speedway since 1955, I would certainly be keen to know when.
Ride ’em cowboy
Several second-hand car dealers were involved in the sport then, mainly in the stock car field. One of the better known was John Jacobson, proprietor of Jacobson’s Car Sales in Tuam Street, downtown Christchurch. ‘Honest John, king of the car sales’, he called himself. He was a flamboyant man with a Clark Gable pencil moustache; about five feet, six inches tall; always happy and whistling. He was just as well-known as a speedway driver. John, or ‘Johnny Jake’ on the track, drove a midget powered by a Hudson Terraplane sidevalve six-cylinder engine. No safety clothes in those days — drivers wore what they wanted to. He bought two shirts to wear on alternate Saturday nights — a black shirt with white tassels, the other a white one with black tassels!
The memorably worst midget, in performance and presentation, was a Rugby-powered car owned and driven by Alex Kahu. You could hear the diff whine above all the other noise during a race. It stayed like that season after season. Perhaps it actually had wine in the diff! Even its number was unusual: a question mark!
On a Saturday night, the only things to do were to go to the flicks or a dance, visit relatives or friends, or one could just stay home and listen to the many radio serials
The last post
A particular voice comes to mind when I think of those days. Charlie Clarkson was a brilliant announcer. I don’t know for how many seasons he was master of ceremonies at Aranui, but I suspect it was all 11. He had a crisp, clear voice that I can only describe as ‘malted’. Quite distinctive, knowledgeable, loud, and clear — neither a fast talker nor slow. The icing on the cake for me was the fact that, from the 1955–’56 season, he always played Bill Haley and The Comets’ See You Later, Alligator as the public filed out of the stadium at night’s end.
The final meeting was held on 11 April 1959. The stands and the dirt track, the scene of so much energy and excitement, were left to await their date with destiny and the ministry for state housing.
Show business at Templeton
The show must go on and eventually, three years later, it did at a new complex opened in 1962 at Templeton, right next to the Ruapuna sealed circuit. When our three children were old enough to take out at night and we could go back to the speedway, I was amazed and pleased to hear Charlie back on the tannoy — still playing See You Later, Alligator at the end of every meeting!
Speedway may have been show business, but there was real racing going on. The competition was all the more real, because the healthy prize money made everyone desperate to win. Racer Edwin Murray told me a few years ago that his New Zealand Midget Car Championship 1967–’68 winnings paid for new carpet throughout his home.
During the ’60s and early ’70s, the real crowd-pullers at the Templeton Speedway were Edwin’s red Ford Zephyr Six–powered car, fitted with the potent Raymond Mays head conversion, and Trevor Hall’s black and chrome Holden six–powered Taubman’s Special. These two drivers were fierce competitors and had the crowds on their feet
on many occasions.
It is still considered the golden era of the sport. As mentioned earlier, the handicapping system in those days made for more exciting racing. The fastest man started at the back, up to three-quarters of a lap behind the slowest. This was also before the introduction of the full race cage. Midgets were fitted with a single roll bar, so the cars looked like real race cars, and crashes were seriously dangerous.
Many old midgets restored
White midget number 96 was a 1947 model powered by a four-cylinder Continental side-valve, built and raced by Danny Mayson at Western Springs, Olympic Park (later New Zealand Football’s Newmarket Park), Huntly, and New Plymouth. The Mayson family still owned it when I photographed it a few years ago.
Midget number five, powered by a 1940 side-valve Studebaker six motor, was raced at Templeton by Laurie Millar from 1968 to 1970. It was later rescued and restored by speedway historian Allan Batt of Christchurch.
Red car number one, later known as ‘Popeye’, is the South Island’s best known speedway car. Power comes from a Ford B4 motor — a modified Model A — fitted with a Winfield head and twin carburettors.
Gerald ‘Jiggs’ Alexander, a law student at the University of Canterbury, bought the car, in March 1953, from Harry Charteris in Auckland. A few months later, speedway promoter Les Moore (father of rider Ronnie) introduced midgets at Aranui on 5 December 1953. Jiggs, delayed by law exams, made his debut the following week but soon became controversial on and off the track. The
Christchurch Star- Sun reported speedway in detail then and boosted the popularity of the local speedway scene overall.
Jiggs won two out of the three heats of the 1953–’54 Canterbury Midget Match Race Championship, but, in the fourth heat, he collided with the Willys-powered midget of his main rival, Bill Harris, from Tai Tapu. Jiggs’ B4 midget was tossed into the air, landed heavily, and the bonnet came up and cut his right ear severely.
The secret driver affair
The Championship Final was postponed to the following week, but Jiggs still hadn’t recovered. Now, here was where Jiggs the law
Speedway may have been show business, but there was real racing going on
student came into play. From his hospital bed, he made arrangements for well-known race car designer-builder-driver Hec Green to take the wheel in Saturday night’s Championship Final. In spite of never having driven a speedway midget before, Green finished second behind Harris, enough to beat Harris by just one point.
The promoter claimed he didn’t know of the ‘secret’ driver switch. Green drove the midget wearing Jiggs Alexander’s gear, giving everyone the impression that it was Jiggs at the wheel. The Christchurch Star- Sun newspaper had a ball with this story as different sides argued whether the Championship was for the car or driver — no doubt to the delight of the shrewd promoter.
Jiggs then raced his midget to the end of the 1955–’56 season, but he was back in the news again in a clash with the promoter over track conditions. He was barred for the rest of the season. Even the nationwide weekend newspaper The Truth argued that Jiggs had received rough justice.
The manager of Gold Band Taxis, Charlie Saunders, bought the car with the intention of getting the ban on Jiggs lifted. (By pure coincidence, Charlie was the salesman who sold me my first house a few years later about a mile from the old speedway site.) Despite all efforts, however, Charlie was unsuccessful and Earl Wilde raced the car for the balance of that season.
Popeye
Merv Sloan bought the car for the 1956–’57 season, and it was under his ownership that the car gained the nickname ‘Popeye’, after the spinach-eating cartoon character.
Several drivers raced the car until it became uncompetitive in the ’ 70s. Stephen Foster bought Popeye in early 1991 and commissioned Edwin Murray to restore it. Edwin was both a panel beater and the New Zealand Midget Car Championship champion for the 1967–’68 season. These days, Popeye is reserved for shows and the occasional demonstration run under the care of Edwin.
The V8 60 — the classic midget
A smaller version of the beloved side-valve Ford V8 motor, the 60hp (45kw) 2200cc, powers the most desired of the old midgets today. The car shown at the top of page 35 was built and raced in the US during the ’50s. It was imported in 1963 and raced at Western Springs until New Zealand Customs seized it for irregular import documentation. It was then put up for auction. Merv Neil bought it, changed the number from 23 to 10, and raced it against the likes of Barry Butterworth, Bob Tattersall, and Blair Shepard. He fitted a JAP air-cooled twin 1200cc motor to win the Auckland Championship, and he came third in the New Zealand champs in the 1965–’66 season.
The car finished its racing career at Kihikihi over the 1977–’78 season, powered by a single-cam 2.4 Vauxhall Viva GT motor. Dion Mayson, who helped start the vintage speedway movement, took the car back to its V8 60 form. It passed through several hands until Roy Rowe, a Ford V8 and Lincoln V12 enthusiast, bought the car in 2006. Over the last 10 years, Roy has taken it to more than 40 demonstration meetings.
This V8 60 is fitted with Offenhauser heads and an Edelbrock manifold fitted with twin Stromberg 81 carbs. It has a Harmon-collins magneto; torsion-bar rear suspension, knock-on quick-change alloy wheels, a quick-change rear axle, and alloy panels. It’s the real Mccoy.
It is still considered the golden era of the sport. The handicapping system in those days made for more exciting racing. The fastest man started at the back, up to three-quarters of a lap behind the slowest.