NZ Stockcar Title Meeanee 06

Just getting to this meeting was reward enough for me after a few weeks of injury stopping me from doing anything but with the help of prescribed drugs (including Morphine yee har!) nothing was going to stop me going!

It's at this point I'd just like to say to anyone I ran into including Wal86 (StockCarScene) and Yaz (NZ Stockcar Crazy) that I was heavily medicated so if I rambled or didn't make sense that's my excuse! It was great to catch up with you guys at last and put faces to names.

Anyway on to the meeting, 140+ cars were entered and the thought of an entire weekend of stockcars with a few superstock races thrown in on the finals night was just what the doctor ordered. We arrived fairly early on Friday night after a slow drive down to Napier (staying at the Shoreline Motel on Marine Parade - excellent!) only to find my 'pet hate'... the "Blanket People" had struck! Now I try to always write pretty positive stuff but these people really pee me off, HUGE blankets with one person or sometimes no one at all sitting on them reserving seats for 20+ people who wont arrive until after 6pm really sucks. If we can take a day off work, drive from Auckland to Napier and reach the gates at 4.15pm and then have trouble finding a decent seat of course I'm gonna be mad. Anyway I think something has to be done about this before too long because if you have a favourite seat or a group of you are going to meet up then get off your butts and get down there early like the rest of us do.



Qualifying Night

With only 4 cars going through from each heat I thought it would be all out carnage after the first round of heats but surprisingly some of the heats were a bit tame including green group's third heat which was like a flag race with barely any contact and one of the very few low points of the weekend. Hits did come though and the stars of the night for me were 68b Tony Darroch who destroyed his car, 37b Paul Demanser and 9g Steve O'Dwyer who turned mongrel after his chances of qualifying had been ended. In fact there was a few races where there was so much action going on including multiple red lights (that bloody siren sound) and roll overs that you'd have to be a hard nut not to have enjoyed the spectacle. The programme ran smoothly although the points updates where non existant and this is a major low point for me.




Instead of constantly hearing "Crank it up Sonny" and some old porn slapper thanking "Brent Boddy cars for the hot new pace ute with 17" mags and lowering kit oh yeah baby eat some Gala Catering hot dogs mmmm" WE WANTED POINTS UPDATES!!! I don't care if they are official or not, I want to know who the top six are going into the final heat at least and also during a break when both 1NZ and 97p where being removed from the track we got jokes instead of the importance of what had just happened, two of the major players removed from the championship. As the pits was closed to the public we left on the first night only having our own feeble attempts at who might be in the finals? Isnt it typical that at a track that had an excellent sound system, the commentary team had nothing to say!

1nz Dale Robertson's reign was over pretty quickly actually and it was disappointing to see him struggling all night, it was as though all his bad luck for the season hit on night one. Other favourites to suffer and not qualify were 8m Scott Fredrickson who must be one of the most targeted drivers you'll ever see and 97p Graeme Ward who was off the pace all night with various problems. 14r Steve Axtens and 19r Lance Aldridge the TAB favourite both taken out early on aswell. It was good to see a few unexpected drivers qualify like 49b Mark Jones who had some major support in the crowd and the five Straford drivers who really did their club proud.





We left the track well satisfied with what we had seen and thirsty for more carnage on night two.

Finals Night

A much better performance all round with the points updates and a few insides as to what was happening including tell us who was coming where in the points during red light stoppages - this was a much better option than music or husky voice overs but overall Im going to say that the commentary was below par for a meeting of this stature.

The Blanket People were out in force but we managed to get seats in the top row along from turn two so I was able to lean against the back board of the stand only slightly medicated and quite comfortable. I'd hate to think how many people squashed into the stadium but it was definitely a full house!

The actual three heats for the NZ title were great and once we saw who the finalists were (parked on the infield) it was obvious to me that a Palmy car or a Rotorua car would take the title. The Rotorua challenge faltered and it was the Stratford drivers who became a real chance by heat three, but I still didn't think Peter Rees would get the title as I was sure he would be a marked man. Ivan King 48r almost took him out in heat three but you have to hand it to the 11p that he can take the hits and was deserving of the title. We thought 19p Kerry Humphrey had won it and I probably think alot of the drivers did too as 11p seem almost oblivious to the fact he had just won.



19p Humphrey gets my driver of the weekend award. What an amazing achievement to be 3nz after moving up from the ministocks only a few seasons ago and had a tyre not chosen the worst time to give up he would easily have won the run off with 22w Richard Gaskin for the 2nz position. He was humble and gracious and his well presented car was a credit to the man and his club. He is a future 1nz for sure.

The consolation races were great although the attrition rate was high and perhaps a few of the groups could have been combined later on but a special mention to 44c Peter Ross in an immaculately presented car that came so close to qualifying on night one and showed his class taking out two of his three consolation races on night two. It's a great sign for the class that both of the entries from the South Island were competitive, well presented and worthy of being there. 1nz and 86b also took to each other in every race they were in and 37g Ricky Kuru had the best rollover of the weekend in my opinion and there were plenty of those. Generally the entire night was a credit to the drivers and the Hawkes Bay club.

...and finally some good stuff

A few things I'd like to mention that I thought were excellent, the opportunity to go on the infield and take photos of the cars and have a good close up look at them before the meeting. This was the first time I've ever gone on the infield at any track and once the cars fired up to head back to the pits the atmosphere was amazing, a perfect start to the weekend.

The signing session for the kids on Saturday was also a great idea and well done to the club for encouraging the drivers to be more proactive with the crowd.

The food choices at Meeanee are far and away the best of any meeting I've been to (outside Palmy of course) and even included Subway!

The programme was well put together and as a point of interest had an article on the woman drivers competing, Lisa Black, Rose Halfpenny, Kelly Layton and Donna Carter. 93a Kelly Layton and 117a Rose Halfpenny qualified for the Clay Classic.

The seating was great and the general feel of the Meeanee track is always excellent. The last meeting I attended there was Murray Hobbs winning the NZ Superstock title a few years ago and once again that was a fantastic meeting to attend.

If Billy Neill ever decides to leave stockcars he could show the clowns a thing or two, his quad bike performance was spectacular to say the least! Go Billy!



My best presented car award goes to 11r Kayton Beazley.

All in all then a great visit to Napier and a special occasion witnessing Pete Rees taking the 1nz title for the second time, and the first person to do it in Stockcars since the class was officially recognised. The quality and depth of stockcars in Palmerston North is frightening and it's hard to see any one else winning a title when you have the majority of drivers in a final carrying a 'p' on their cars.

Meeting Rating : 8/10

Top 5ive January

Richard Ashcroft : Break The Night With Colour
Coldplay : Talk
Supergrass : Low C
Sugababes : Ugly
David Gray : The One I Love

Super Saloons and super painful!

I'll keep this update fairly short and brief due to injury!

I decided to venture off to the NZ Super Saloon GP last Saturday following on from the Modified version the week before only this time I knew the field would be full of stars and the action aplenty.

I wasn't going to be disappointed, two groups from every corner of NZ racing over two heats to qualify for a one race final for the coveted NZ Grand Prix title. I actually liked the format for this championship with the 'all or nothing' one race final.

There was a big crowd in attendance and the meeting was well run and pretty slick although the stand-in Flag Marshall had some moments during the evening including waving a yellow flag instead of the white flag for a last lap and some confusion with some of the starts but as I say I think the usual guy was missing. Also it was great to have Jamie McCarthy back behind the mic, this guy really knows how to hold a meeting together and although the regular guy does a good job, Jamie has just got that 'X-factor' that makes the difference. Hopefully he will be employed during the NZ Superstock champs as he's usually up with the play and has alot of background info which the crowd appreciates, specially at the big meets.

I have to say Super saloons have never been one of my favourites, I think it's just a throw back to your upbringing when Dad used to take us to WP in the 70's, there was only saloons and stockcars and you either like one or the other and I've always been a stockie supporter but in recent seasons the big saloon meetings have never disappointed and this meeting lived up to it's title.



A full review of the meeting can be found on Percy's website including the controversial final lap in an excellent report. At this stage 67s Bunter Pierce is the winner, but I believe protests have been lodged with the other two podium finishes being 34t Ray Stewart and 38a Peter Hemi. Whatever the result the meeting was a winner and the drivers involved certainly did their class proud.

Anyway the meeting was a goodie although I left with a slightly sore back which worsened over the next 24 hours until I ended up having to visit the Auckland Hospital emergency department on Sunday. End result 3-6 weeks off work, a neck brace and barely able to move, my trip to the World 240's at Rotorua now off and planned visits to Meeanee and Palmy on shakey ground... harden up young man, who would of thought watching Super Saloons could hurt so bad! Timing couldn't be worse and I'm gutted but anyway I guess I will be logging onto the Macgor Discussion Board like all the other unlucky non-travellers this Friday and Saturday for reports of all the action...

Anyway I hope it's a great meeting (I know it will be) but not like 'too great' okay!

Meeting rating: 6/10

NYE Modified GP

NYE is a strange time to hold a meeting in my opinion but as the meeting was supposed to be a quickfire one with a fireworks display which I intended on missing so I could go out after the meeting I thought I'd check it out.

The 'Grand Prix' in most classes seems to have lost some of it's lustre over the last few seasons and the Modified version proved this with a mere 14 cars entered. The programme ambitiously had 32 drivers listed but I think that may have been wishful thinking. In fact the field was almost the same as the previous meeting on Dec 27 which gave it a bit of an 'Auckland club night' feel to it, which was a bit disappointing. I'm taking nothing away from the drivers who were there and as it turned out the racing was top notch and quite dramatic if you included the 1NZ rollover, but with 10 Auckland cars, 1 Huntly and 3 Rotorua drivers it was never going to be a true Grand Prix meeting.

I really think the time has come for SNZ to address the problems with Clubs scheduling these meetings to suit themselves. The NZ, North, South and GP titles, the 'Big Four' should all be run on static dates every season so that there is no overlapping or poor scheduling and so competitors know that the NZ title is the first Fri/Sat in February every season for instance. I dont know how workable this is but it's got to be better than holding a GP on NYE? I don't want to take away anything from Allan Haigh's win but had he beaten the field of drivers listed in the programme that would have been something special to remember I'm sure. Two drivers I noticed who seemed to step up a level for this meeting were 66a Chris Picknell and 22r Glen Lloyd who both were super competitive at various stages.



Looking at the programme and the previous winners in this title Jamie Fox must be wondering what he has to do to win with yet another 2nd this time round missing the title by three points and previous finishes in 2004 3rd, 2003 2nd, 2001 3rd, 1999 2nd and 1996 3rd! Still that's an awesome record of podium finishes any driver would be proud of.

As for the rest of the meeting, the saloons were contesting their TelstraClear DHL Series and managed to put in some hits the stockie boys would be proud off. 48m Phil Towgood won this particular round.

The stockcars were entertaining although understandably down in numbers with 441a Andrew Weir providing most of the entertainment as he had no intention of racing for any flags. 99a Grant Littlewood picked up most of the wins.

As I mentioned I didn't hang around for the fireworks and the meeting was running later than I had expected but I still managed to make it to my next destination at 11.40pm with a whole 20 mins to get ready for the big countdown.

Meeting rating: 4/10

City of Auckland Classic

Sounds like a BurgerKing meal but in fact it was the name of the meeting on December 27 at Waikaraka Park that me and about 200 other people went to... well there was probably more than that, but a pretty small turnout for a class that really holds the show together more often than not. Keeping with the BurgerKing theme this meal had been an 'upsized combo with fries' but due to lack of interest or whatever ended up being a 'McSalad with Diet Coke'. Huge prizemoney had been offered for a Stockcar Stampede two nighter but perhaps the timing or promotion or whatever the meeting was transformed into the previously rained out City Of Auckland one night meeting which ran the same night as the Superstocks in Rotorua.



The title was to be decided over four races with money also for stirring which is always a winner in my book and after the first race I thought 96a would have it in the bag after rolling another two cars in the first two races including the 21a tank of Graeme Wood which ended up flat on it's roof, which brings to five cars that 96a has rolled in two meetings that I've seen him at, but NO! Pauly Rawiri 137k made even more impact and took the money with constant attacks on anything that moved even with a car that was starting to fall apart on the last laps of the final. Carlos Chestnutt 64a was one of the many who fell to the attacks of Rawiri and was neatly put up the wall while leading heat three.

Mark Wearing 34a won the title in the end with Kelly Layton and Andrew Weir filling the minor places but as with most stockcar meetings you tend to focus on the cars doing the damage and for that Pauly Rawiri definitely stole the show.



The highpoint for me of course was seeing the return of original 'tank number 3' in the hands of Graeme Wood an old campaigner from years ago. He had a pretty solid night, and with a rollover, did something I doubt I've seen before outside of a teams meeting and that's to see a tank on it's lid! It was interesting seeing the crew looking at a copy of "The Tank" book before the meeting and especially the pics of the entire front torn off the car after a meeting at HB. A true piece of speedway history... that could be the car or the driver!



The Modifieds on the support programme were excellent value as usual with the addition of Tony Galbraith and Scott Lane and have me thinking of perhaps going to the New Years Eve meeting which will feature Modifieds in their Grand Prix. WP could take a bath on this meeting if the numbers at the Classic were anything to go by, but at least they are giving us the option.

Meeting rating: 4/10

Top 5ive December

Pluto : Long White Cross
The Church : Two Places At Once
Groove Armada : But I Feel Good
Prince : Cinnamon Girl
James Blunt : Wise Men

Here's your Christmas card

Saves on postage I suppose, and so much feeling in the message! No matter what Christmas means to you, it usually means some excellent speedway meetings during the break from work. Lets hope the weather plays its part.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Lets go to...

...Sydney!

Although I missed possibly the best meeting of the season so far (The North Island Stockcars at Huntly) I will console myself with the fact that I was in Sydney. Four days of 30+ degrees full on sunshine and staying at the Star City Hotel in Pyrmont was alright with me.

If your are going to Sydney try booking your accommodation on www.ratestogo.com, we got our rooms for half the normal price and as you can see the view was outstanding.

Demo Derby

December already and only meeting four for me, so instead of another speedway free weekend I decided to check out the Demolition Derby meeting at Waikaraka Park.

There was alot on in Auckland Saturday night and with big speedway meetings out of town also, I thought the fields might be a little light and the crowd would be less than usual. Derby Night always seems to get a huge crowd at WP but by 6.20pm when I went to sit in the stand the crowd was minimal to say the least but over the next hour the stand filled and the crowd would have been one of the biggest I've seen there for a while. This was to be the theme of the night for me, I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised.



First, and most importantly as it seems these days, every class had a decent amount of cars. Stockcars had 20+, Streetstocks had about 20, 10 Modifieds, umpteen ATVs and Minisprints, and about 12 Saloons along with a bonus of two Superstocks running off the back of the Stockcars. Dave Tennant had the 75a in a new paint scheme hooking up much better than down at Huntly and 414a Warwick Ansty turned up for his first run of the season. It was at this point in the pits that my lack of mechanical and structural knowledge was sorely exposed as I commented to one of the 414a crew "that the car looked different this year" to which they replied "that would be because it's a brand new car" much hooting laughter. Apparently the old car has been sold to one of the Hunters. Both cars had what looked to be a great shakedown and were fairly even in pace, only action for them was when 14a Stockcar managed to take both of them out in one well timed hit in the feature race.



The Stockcars again were in stirring form with 3 rollovers all initiated by the 96a who I thought was being piloted by Nick Krznic although later I heard Rinso's name mentioned so whoever was driving was the highlight of the night. 49a, 158a and 108a were the unfortunate victims. Had there been some bonus for tipping cars over he would have left WP with a decent payout. A few returning cars included the 441a of Andrew Weir who started slowly with a first heat dnf but won the feature, the car looked fantastic and you can add his name to the stars of this class, 14a, 96a, 89a who cause mayhem week in week out.

There was some talk during the week about the decision to run Modifieds at Auckland instead of joining the meeting at Rotorua and I can only speak for myself as a spectator, that it was the right decision. The racing was close, fast and much appreciated. One rollover for 33a, and some spectacular racing in the 11a vs 59a battle lifted the meeting from being 'well attended but average' to actually entertaining. Considering the size of the crowd, this was an important opportunity to showcase the class too.

I noticed the amount of advertising around the place for Hell Pizza, The Rock FM and also C4 Music who were all dragged in with the Derby and that there will be coverage of Jonno, one of the C4 presenters driving in the Derby on his Thursday night show, although WP may have shot themselves in the foot by sending him to the infield for not stopping on a red light in the first few minutes of the Derby!! Sometimes I think you just have to bite the bullet and think of the bigger picture, the opportunity to get free coverage was severely cut short.

I also have to mention Nevano Cowan in the saloons. His driving style is unorthodox to say the least but when he gets it right it's really exciting, when he gets it wrong... carnage! This class is missing some names like Steve Louden and Nigel Ross and is crying out for someone to step up and entertain and Nevano is the man.

So overall, I didn't expect much and got more than I hoped for. Also I swear they played Poi-E twice on the PA (which was working) so a bonus point for that.

Meeting Rating: 5/10

Top 5ive November

The White Stripes : My Doorbell
John Legend : She Don't Have To Know
Madonna : Hung Up
Two Tons O'Fun : Just Us
Che Fu : Lightwork

The good, the bad and the ugly

My third meeting of the season was the Stockcar Teams Invitation at Huntly Speedway. Finally the weather was playing it's part and a good sized crowd turned up to see six teams battle it out for the title.

The Good.

It's been a while since I've been to Huntly, but one thing I notice every time I go there is that it improves. There is a real desire in the club to lift their game and it shows. The track is looking great and although the seating is still a bit basic there is definately a more professional look and feel to the place. I could actually hear Malcolm Sines on the PA system which might be a first for me at Huntly.

The pits were full of stockcars, always a good start, and this was the first meeting I've been to in a while that had a decent Superstock field for a meeting that wasn't a championship of some sort. The fact that it took cars from four tracks to do it was a little worrying (A, H, R and K) but still it was better than watching ministocks or minisprints or mini anything else. Mini usually means hotdog time in my book and with the proposed MX Extreme display we didn't need any more filler classes.

The presentation of some of the teams was excellent, Auckland's new Mainfreight sponsored bodies really stood out and as always Rotorua and Huntly were well presented.

The sight of Dave Tennant in the pits meant one more 'A' car to add to the ranks but Dave had a night to forget with gremlins finishing him off early in the evening. Also the debut of a new Lance Ashton stockcar that had problems early on but as we saw in the final consolation race he started to mix it up and get the crowd excited.



The Bad.

The Northland Hounds no-show was not a good start to the meeting but the organisers gathered together an invitation team that on paper looked good enough to take the title.

Some of the teams races lacked a bit of passion or teamwork or something, the spark just wasn't there. There were a few drivers though that never disappoint and Wootton, Rawiri, McIntosh and Chestnutt performed like they always do lifting the action and entertaining the crowd.

Although some teams go to all the trouble of getting matching team bodies I think they need to keep their normal racing number. With so many cars having the same shape, it can be difficult to keep up with who's who. Auckland stuck with their usual racing numbers and it makes all the difference for the punters.

Not a single tank in the pits! This is teams racing!

The Ugly.



I'm sorry but the MX Bike display just did nothing for me. Maybe I'm a bad person but I really wanted one of the bikes to hit the guy with the mic standing on the ramp. Then when they came out for their second display it was dark and as they climbed the ramp you couldn't see them anymore! They could have had hamsters riding the bikes for all I knew. I'm sure some people enjoyed it and promoters have to try new ideas but for me it was a lemon. Starting the meeting with the first display was a mistake too, by 7.20pm we were hanging out for some stockcar action, not updates on how "Dave Clements" and his squashed nads were doing in hospital! *For those who weren't there, Dave was one of the MX riders who crashed off his bike before the meeting even started, and as the woman behind me said in a very loud voice "his balls went up through his eye sockets." I'm not sure if she was a nurse.

We can land men on the moon but we just can't make a roving microphone work. Poor Mintie probably had lots to add to the meeting but most of it was distorted and unlistenable and stockcar drivers must be the worst interviews you can possibly do. You could ask them what they had for lunch and the answer will probably be "yeah, nah", few if any of them are keen to talk and unless you have real characters like Barry Hunter present, it should be a no go area.

Overall the meeting was good, the programme was good by Huntly standards and the food was okay. I took a friend who only occasionally goes to speedway and asked for an unbiased rating out of ten for the meeting and was given a solid 6/10 which seems fair to me. For the record, Rotorua beat Palmy in a workmanlike but unremarkable final and although a few stars were missing from some of the teams only a few of these six teams will be in the running at the Teams Nationals in Palmy on January 13 + 14 when I assume Wellington, Bay Park and Hawkes Bay are added to the mix. Does sound like an exciting prospect though...

Meeting rating: 6/10

Flashback 007

19s
John Mercer
Stratford 1986

This car has been mentioned lately in the MIA Stockcars on Macgors. It's under the thread about Steve Malaquin with someone asking did he build the space frame 'ladder tank' as it was called, but as another person correctly pointed out John Mercer had it first...

" ...wasn't it the other way around, after Steve Malaquin had that tank Red Jones, Ross Bryson raced it as a std stock out of Rotorua, then raced by Dayne Condor out of Huntly, I haven't seen this car 4 a while..."

I'd love to know where it is now, look at the siderails, solid little bugger isnt it! It's definately one of my all time favourite stockcars, which sounds like a good idea for another posting...

*The photo is from the 1986 Air NZ Teams Champs programme from Palmerston North and I'd like to put a credit but there are no photo credits in it unfortunately, and I'd love to get some more photos of this beastie.

Flashback 006

Graeme Ward
1NZ
2003

As the NZ Standard Stock champ from the season before at Palmerston North, Graeme Ward bravely fronted at Huntly in 2003 to defend his title, but there was to be no fairytale back to back wins, massively outnumbered and with major damage to the car he failed to qualify for night two. His never say die attitude and spectacular driving style always makes him a target, but I'm sure the 1NZ will reappear on the car in the future.

Here's a site that has a report from his title winning meeting the season before: NZ Standard Stock Title

Bang!

My second meeting of the season was at Waikaraka Park on Saturday night for their fireworks "spectacular" which I think will be remembered more for being a fizzer than anything else. I arrived at around 6pm and there was a light amount of rain which almost had me turning the car around but I went in anyway and my first thought was that the pits seemed to have less cars than the opening meeting. I'm not sure of the numbers but unfortunately the first taste of Superstocks was going to be entree size as there were only six of them including two Huntly cars. Their first race was a little light on action and speed but understandable. The programme mentioned that Mark Decke will be running as 99a this season and that probably was the only highpoint for the Superstocks all evening.



Stockcars were there in force and thankfully performed like they always do, in fact their first race was the standout of the night with 96a Nick Krznic driving his old car and causing all the mayhem after a long absence from the track. In their second race they were combined with the remaining superstocks and that was there lot for the night, which makes me wonder why the ATV's were given 3 races, in fact quite a few odd decisions were made throughout the meeting and the best one was the decision to stop the meeting and have the fireworks while it was still light because of incoming rain... the rain never appeared, some of the fireworks never exploded (which really summed up the meeting) and then there was a half hearted effort to restart the programme after the lights were turned back on only to be told by the commentator that there was some MORE fireworks so we'll stop the meeting and have those instead.

At this stage I made like a skyrocket and left the stadium.

As usual the sound system was below par, which is a pity because they managed to get Paul Vasey in to talk about the Superstocks (including his own which is still a few weeks away) and the Stockcars including the team to go to Huntly (89a, 71a, 12a, 99a... was all I heard) but most of the commentary is lost on the public as you can only ever hear it when there is no background noise.

I always think that these Meetings are a good chance to grab a few new punters who come along basically to see the Fireworks and yet the supporting meeting usually is pretty lame and reinforces the feeling that most people tolerate the racing just to see the fireworks. It's a major marketing opportunity that is completely wasted every season.

I'll try and end on some positive notes, the new track surface looked good, Kevin Moore and Shane McInteer were great in the Supersaloons, the Modifieds were good and the food was okay and... we've just found EVEN MORE fireworks!

Book Club 3

Heavy Metal
A Pictorial Review of Stock Cars in Canterbury
Allan Batt
Publisher Speedway Classics

I picked this book up through an advertisement in Siderail magazine a few months ago. As the title suggests it's a pictorial review of the first 21 years of stockcar racing in the Canterbury region from 1954 up until 1975 including the first year of racing at Woodford Glen. The collection of photos is amazing and credit must go to Allan Batt for undertaking the task of getting something in print. He mentions in the introduction that the original plan was "for a full history of stockcar racing, however it soon became apparent that little media coverage, combined with few club records and the passing of many of the sports identities meant that an accurate account was not going to be possible" and some things never change in regard to the "little media coverage". So he went for the pictorial option instead. It highlights the fact that an alarming amount of history is slowly disappearing and without the dedication of people like Allan and the Vintage Stockcar Clubs most of the sports proud past is going to be lost forever.

There is a short write up about each track featured including how they came to be and in most cases their demise including Aranui, Templeton, Doyleston, Ruapuna, Prebbleton, Kaiapoi, Ashburton, South Canterbury, Kaikoura and Woodford Glen. He mentions that "during the 60's every town worth a damn had a stockcar track" and what a pity it is that these days most cities are doing everything they can to get rid of the remaining tracks.

This book has 64 pages, black and white print and cost $25.
Add this to your Stockcar Library.

8/10

Flashback 005

There's a section on Macgors site called "Stockcars Missing In Action" which is excellent for tracking down old stockcars. Someone has mentioned an old Lyall Rymney stockcar they are trying to find and so I looked at an old NZ Stockcar Champs programme from Rotorua 1985 and found these two beauties... 72r Lyall Rumney's standard stock with what looks like a Mini body on it and 5b Paul Demanser in a pretty cool looking Ford V8 Anglia special! They definately don't make 'em like they used to.