Hogan’s need for speed began young
WANAKA
DRAG racer, speed demon, Kittyhawk pilot, aircraft renovator, businessman — Wanaka’s Garth Hogan has made an impact more than once during a busy career.
His adventures are explored in a new biography, Go Fast or Go Home — The Garth Hogan Story by Tim Hanna.
A need for speed began early as his father Ron Hogan was heavily involved in motorsports.
‘‘So it’s the old Aristotle quote of ‘give me a child until he is 7 and I will give you the man’,’’ he said this week.
Reading about hotrod and drag racing in American magazines captured his imagination, he said.
In his 20s he got behind the wheel and in 1978 he was the first in New Zealand to surpass 200mph (322kmh) on the track in a 426 Hemipowered Ford Capri ‘‘funny car’’.
A funny car is a customised dragracing vehicle.
He reached another milestone in 1989 when he drove at 263mph (423kmh) for 5.52 seconds, a record that stood for the next 18 years.
After he retired from racing in 1993 a new horizon opened in aviation, and encouraged by his wife he learned to fly, progressing to performing at airshows in classic fighter planes such as the Tiger Moth.
He set up an aero restoration company and some of the projects included restoring a Curtiss P40 Kittyhawk.
He was one of the four original founders of the Warbirds & Wheels museum in Wanaka.
When management of the
Warbirds over Wanaka airshow, founded by Sir Tim Wallis, transferred to the community in 2006, Mr Hogan became the first chairman of the new Warbirds Over Wanaka Community Trust board.
But he has never forgotten the feeling of being behind the wheel of a fast machine.
A drag race might be over in 5 or 6 seconds, but a ride in a topfuel racer was a greater experience than a lot of people had in their whole life, he said.
In one of his last races ‘‘it went to 150kmh from zero in a little bit under 1 second’’, he said.
‘‘That is a ride you cannot explain.’’