TRIBUTES FLOOD IN FOR CHRISTIE
Five-time Hot Rod World Final winner remembered fondly by peers
Tributes have been paid to National Hot Rod star Ormond Christie, who passed away last week.
The 71-year-old was a fivetime World Final winner and his son John is still a regular competitor in the class in Northern Ireland and on the mainland.
The 2003 world champion Dave Longhurst said: “Ormond was an amazing driver. People talk about the big hitters in National Hot Rods, and he was right up there. He was methodical about everything he did – even if you were playing a game of pool with him, he would be thinking about four shots ahead. He paid the same attention to detail on his cars, and they were often the envy of others.”
Rob Collard, son of Hot Rod icon Mick ‘Duffy’ Collard, said that, although he did not race against Christie Sr himself, he was well aware of his reputation.
“I watched him race lots when I was young, and you could see that he was a super quick driver, but he had a feel for his cars too,” said Collard. “Sometimes he might not have had the massive chequebook to buy his way into a winning car, so he would work so hard on his cars and that earned him so much respect. He changed the face of Hot Rod racing with some of his innovations.”
Former rival Jeff Simpson said: “Ormond was a really smashing guy. He was 100% committed to what he did and he was more or less in a league of his own. He was just fast and he totally loved his racing. He will be a huge loss to the world of National Hot Rods.”
Double World champion Malcolm Blackman added: “I never actually raced against him but I learnt a lot from studying him and what he did, and he was just a magic driver. He was watching me testing my car at Northampton one time and came over and just said ‘OK, put it away now’. I’d been tinkering and fiddling but he could see it was already spot on – and he was right.”