Speedway legend always learning, always tinkering
John Lovelady Racecar builder B March 13, 1961 D April 12, 2021
John Peter Lovelady was known as a ‘‘speedway legend’’ in New Zealand, winning multiple national titles, building more than 150 cars over his career and influencing many in the speedway community.
‘‘He would always be tinkering in the shed every day. There would always be something going on,’’ said his wife, Chris Lovelady.
Passionate about the growth and development of speedway, the couple ran a successful speedway business called Lovelady Racecars. But to Lovelady it was not just a job, Chris said.
‘‘He really loved it.’’
The passion shone through, and he helped develop national speedway rules and was on the committee of Woodford Glen Speedway, extending his help and supervision beyond his work.
‘‘He was pretty much here, there and everywhere around the country, with people or helping people,’’ Chris said.
Lovelady was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in December 2019 and died at his home Darfield, surrounded by his family, on April 12 at the age of 60.
More than 500 people attended his funeral in the small Canterbury town, among them many from the speedway community, who went in their race team shirts.
Born to parents Alan and Patricia in Adelaide on March 13, 1961, Lovelady grew up in the hills above the city where he went to school. He developed an interest in cars at a young age and would often be tinkering with them at the family block.
His father was a structural steel engineer and moved the family to New Zealand for work in 1976.
Lovelady was the second eldest of six siblings in a ‘‘very close family’’, Chris said.
He left school aged 15, and in 1980 built his first race car to race at Woodford Glen Speedway in Christchurch where he would later become a committee member.
Because of his success in racing, he was asked to build cars for other people and a request from a fellow driver in 1984 started him on his career path.
In 1982, Lovelady met his future wife through his brother’s girlfriend at the time, and they were married in Christchurch in October 1985.
Two years later in June 1987, the couple started Lovelady Racecars. The business was immediately successful and ‘‘just grew and grew’’, Chris said.
‘‘He was quite innovative in the style of cars that he built.’’
With his high attention to detail Lovelady built many cars, the majority of which were for the modified, saloon and super saloon classes. Hand-spun wheels were also a speciality of the business.
Most of the cars were for dirt-track racing, but some one-off projects included a ‘‘door slammer, rail dragster, altered dragster, pre-65 saloon, OSCAR, TransAm, Hot Rod and a drag bike’’. ‘‘He built over 150 cars over the time.’’ He followed his mantra throughout his career of ‘‘plan, do, measure, improve’’, Chris said. ‘‘He always liked to build things and design things, and make things go better and faster, so it was inevitable that he would do the kind of work he did.’’
The business also had a longstanding partnership in the modified class with Greg Keegan, who became a close friend to Lovelady.
‘‘We had the same way of going about stuff,’’ Keegan said.
Keegan piloted a Lovelady modified, winning first place in the New Zealand championship in 1990, second place in
1991, and third place in 1998 and 1999. They also competed in the Grand Prix, South Island and provincial championships.
Keegan would help build the cars and the pair worked together, always trying to improve and having a winning mindset.
The Loveladys had their first child, Georgia, in 1992.
The following year the family moved the business to Darfield, where they remained.
Lovelady instigated a series events for speedway classes, including the Autocolor modified series in 1992 and
1993, while mentoring many drivers throughout the years, Chris said. ‘‘It wasn’t just building a car with them, he was the sort of person that would mentor people and people would always be ringing through race meetings. He would be helping them at race meetings, setting up their cars, and things like that.’’
In 1997 the couple had their second child, Jackson. He began racing when he was 15, a passion he still has today.
Lovelady continued to work after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
‘‘He would always be learning, always reading and watching things . . . leaning more and more, all the time,’’ Chris said. ‘‘He worked very hard at it, but it was also his passion as well – one of those fortunate people who got to work in the field he enjoyed.’’
Outside of speedway and time with family, the couple enjoyed walking and would often go to the Malvern Hills near Darfield.
‘‘I suppose you can call him an ‘active relaxer’,’’ Chris said.
He continued working on design plans until the last few weeks of his life. Chris said he had a lot of plans for the future, involving speedway and the building of cars.
‘‘He had lots of things in the pipeline, that’s for sure.’’
Lovelady walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding on March 6.
‘‘He was very determined that that was his goal . . . it was a real focus for him,’’ Chris said.
It was an emotional but special day, surrounded by friends and family, she said.
He is survived by Chris, their children Georgia and Jackson, his father Alan, and siblings Elizabeth, Paul, Bernadette, Mary-Anne and Sarah.