Photos: The Sprague Family Collection

[Grant Sprague]

Kev sorry for not getting back to you ....but did PM u .. see you at 2nd weekend .. two virgin cyl heads found ....in the old days it was delt to in one week or days done and dusted , now its a biggy as time moves quicker

[Kevin Hirst]

Kev sorry for not getting back to you ....but did PM u .. see you at 2nd weekend .. two virgin cyl heads found ....in the old days it was delt to in one week or days done and dusted , now its a biggy as time moves quicker

Glad to hear you found some, is time moving quicker or are we moving slower, can't wait to see you on the track again.

[John McKechnie]

We are not getting 24 hours into a day like we used to...............

[Grant Sprague]

Correct ............ you guys just could be on to it .....even my girls say " hey Dad .time seems to be going very fast ".......talking of fast we might be getting off the main subject here , but that other topic is very interesting ...know a bit about that

[Grant Sprague]

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[Grant Sprague]

Thought this a great photo,[ thank you AD] Levin about 63 ...64.. Paul or Kerry behind ... was there ten years old ...

[Grant Sprague]

GOING HARD >>>> nothing has changed ....

[Grant Sprague]

[Grant Sprague]

A wet race , manfeild . was always good to head off the 327s....seems like yesterday ....

[Grant Sprague]

[Grant Sprague]

Central Motors was what Ernie called this business ..34 North Street Timaru , Skoda was the only franchise Dad could get in 1953....54.. Soon this area was demolished to become Sprague Motors, I thought quite a good photo...[worth a view]

[Steve Emson]

Good photos

[SPman]

How is this for a great Donn White shot of Gary Sprague punting his E49 Charger into a corner at Baypark for the Labour weekend meeting in 1980. No pussy footing it here - Gary is really pushing along. A great action shot.

I cant recall Garry being in any other attitude at BP - sometimes even on the straights!

[RossStone]

While I check over some forums this is the first time I have actually added to one; so here goes re The Sprague Family Collection.

Years ago, about 1974 to around 77 my brother Jimmy and I had a BP service station in Tuakau, which is about ten kilometers past Puke from Auckland. One day the phone goes and it is Ernie asking if the Sprague/Leonard car could be based at our place for an upcoming B&H race at Puke.

Obviously the answer was yes as we were interested to see how behind the scenes worked with this successful South Island group. At this point I should say that my mother was originally a West Coaster and my dad was from Temuka so I didn’t have a north or south bias, just a racing obsession.

The B&H date duly arrived and we found Ernie, Gary, Leo, Peter Wilson and the rest of the Team all good people with the attitude that they were there to do the job. We had a big workshop so the guys had their own space, and keys in case they were back from the track late etc. The first night back I always remember that the first thing they did was to get a discussion going on what was needed to be done and in what order, all contributed. The first thing on the list was to get a few beers for later in the night.

They all stayed along the road in the Tuakau pub which wasn’t that flash in those days, unlike now after a major reno and referb.

This same thing happened every year B&H wise until we sold the servo, to go racing ourselves in a bigger way.

As the years flashed past it was always a pleasure to organize Ernie passes to the Eastern Creek round of V8 racing that he came over for a few times. It was special to show him around our setup, and cars, as I always had a lot of respect for that Sprague operation that had so much talent.

In later years again it was always good to catch-up with Gary in Western Australia while he was living there. Speaking of Gary there is an image of the Nissan, in the Sprague forum, that he and Graeme Crosby drove for Kent Baigent and Graham Bowkett in the Wellington and Puke races. I like to think I helped put those two drivers together, obviously along with Graham and Kent.

The guy on the roof on the skis is another story on its own after the testing at Manfield then his boot binding came undone while on-track. It was basically the last race for those cars so no one was too worried about a few holes in the roof to secure the ski mounts. Jimmy was goat farming, of all things for a short while, and we brought him in to mount the skis using mounting off the cage etc. The skis had to angle so the guy on top could lean in the corners. I can’t remember the skiers name but with him was a guy called AJ Hackett , who was telling us that he was going to start a business where people could jump off a bridge or whatever on a stretchy rope, any doubts I had about that were soon gone after a year or so, good luck to him.

Just quick story from around 2004 on Leo who I always thought was a special driver. Jimmy and I had a friend who lived in Oamaru and sponsored our Winterbottom Championship development car plus he had some main game signage with us over the years, mainly Ambrose’s car. Anyhow we were heading to Ch Ch from Oamaru and going thro Timaru this white van pulled out in front of us. Straight away I recognized Leo and tried to get him to pull over for a BS session but he wouldn’t stop until he pulled into a spare parts joint. He thought that there was going to be some agro and it looked like he was about to bolt for the door until he recognized us. Leo was in overalls, hadn’t changed and it was great to have that catch-up with him.

Sorry, this is all a bit long but I couldn’t shorten it, as it was such a great era, great people and great racing. I haven’t met Grant but I enjoy his passion for motorsport, must catch-up one day, also good to read Steve Emson’s comments.

[Oldfart]

Great stories Ross

[Grant Sprague]

Good to read , thank you Ross...... as you probably know Gary & Ernie held you & jimmy in high regard, made me grin re Tuakau .. as a boy I tagged along was an early teen I remember the pub well ....after the work was done .. & there was plenty of it ..they resorted to a beer [but controlled & very onto what was meant to be] twice I got to Tuakau .... the other times we stayed at the Rockfeild Motel Gt South Rd I think it was , every thing was budget ..but they got support from Todds , & Ford & used the resourses to the best they could with great results ..... I recall Dad coming home from seeing you & Jimmy he had an SBR jacket he brought back & tossed it to me when you guys were up front & said "Grant this is yours" as we had been running a mustang here & thought it suited the occasion ......had the pertek name on it , as for Steve Emson & I that was an era that followed with great gusto for what we had ....yep would be great to catch up one day , Gary is still in Perth .....

[Grant Sprague]

Grant ................... craigmore Hill Climb south of Timaru......about 1973

[Grant Sprague]

Good days , Grant & Roy fighting it out for the finals NZ Championship North & South Island combined ..............great days both cars are still running in the S I ...

[Steve Holmes]

Cool photo Grant. I remember that event, it was part of the Formula Holdens? I thought the Pre65s were by far the most entertaining class at the event. Unfortunately, all your races were shuffled through early. I think two races on Saturday and only one on the main day Sunday?

[Grant Sprague]

Yea Steve not one race was easy , these cars had rear drums no power steer [not mine any way lol ] no power brakes , road tyres or dot rated ......and still did 250k plus[ with a strong 289.]... at Puke this car was fun