THE SUPERSTAR OF SPEEDWAY
New Zealand legend was greatest thing on two wheels.. and even outshone the All Blacks
IVAN MAUGER was the golden boy of speedway – and not just because his bike was gold-plated for posterity.
From a nation where he had the All Blacks religion, Open golf champion Bob Charles and Olympic middle-distance gold medallist John Walker for sporting company, Mauger cast the longest shadows of all in the land of the long white cloud.
Six-times world champion and three-times runner-up between 1968-79, he was the first superstar on shale. No disrespect to Steve McQueen hurdling the barbed wire in the Great Escape.
No disrespect to stunt king Evel Knievel hurdling rows of double decker buses in a glorified long jump.
No disrespect to Barry Sheene, splashing himself in Brut aftershave.
And no disrespect to Mike Hailwood, Kenny Roberts or Valentino Rossi, who all knew their way round a race track at high speed. Mauger, who died at the weekend aged 78 after a long, dignified
struggle against the ravages of Alzheimer’s, was the greatest thing on two wheels.
He was just 17 when he left New Zealand, with his 16-yearold wife Raye, and caught a boat to England in search of a fast track to stardom.
For 24 years, he graced the ovals at Wimbledon Dons, Rye House Roosters, Eastbourne Eagles, Newcastle Diamonds, Belle Vue Aces, Exeter Falcons and Hull Vikings.
Your correspondent was lucky enough to see him in action when Poole Pirates came calling at the County Ground in Exeter 42 years ago.
Mauger’s broadside duels with Malcolm Simmons, the England captain, were clash-ofthe-titans stuff.
In 1970, American speedway magnate George Wenn and chrome plating tycoon Ray Bokelman promised Mauger they would get his bike gold-plated if he completed a hat-trick of world championship titles.
And when the Kiwi legend duly rose to the challenge in Poland, they were as good as their word. His bike was shipped to the States, given a layer of bullion emulsion and, 48 years later, it remains on display at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch.
Mauger’s daughter, Julie, recalled last year how the gold rush began with classic prospector’s optimism, saying: “He was 17 and married to my mum. They were literally two teenagers who got on a boat going to the other side of the world with someone’s name on a piece of paper.
“Dad wasn’t money-driven, he was driven by winning.”
Although much of his racing career was spent on British shores, following the tracks left by compatriots Barry Briggs and Ronnie Moore, Mauger remained fiercely proud of his Kiwi roots.
Whenever the All Blacks were playing, he would always fly their iconic fern standard outside his home.
But nobody flew the flag for New Zealand, or motor sport, higher than Ivan Mauger.