Speedway saloons from the late 60's to the mid 70's, any pictures, memories...

[Gerard Richards]

The early days of dirt track saloons was pretty evocative. Numbers weren't thick on the ground as cars were hard to come by back then. The gladiator pit of the dirt oval was the final chapter for a road car back then. Most were built up from wrecks as were many of the circuit saloon racers of the era. Cars that come to mind were Trevor Gray's great FJ Holden (1st NZ Champ), Ron Kendall's 100E Prefect with Lotus Twin Cam and later Mazda RX2, Norm Anderson's 3.3 Victor, The Pierce Brothers from Stratford, with there 289 V8 Falcon and Vauxhall's, the McConnachie 67 Camaro and '69 Mustang, Peter Howarth's great EH Holden, Tony Redfern from Hamilton with his 350V8 Kingswood and the list goes on. I know Steve has posted a couple of photos of the Sidchrome Monaro that Jim Richards, Steve Millen and Bruce Dorn raced, this was also a great car. Not wanting to duplicate his thread on lost cars, I thought it would be great to have a dedicated Speedway Saloon line. It would be great to see some pics of these early cars and maybe here that one or two had possibly survived

[Kiwiboss]

Gerard. i remember the McConnachie 69 Mustang quite well from it racing at Forest Lake!! would have only been 11/12 at the time? it was the talk of Speedway back then!! which reminds me, whatever happen to the McConnachie Brothers? i know Steve will have some McConnichie Mustang pictures!!

:cool ale Mathers
TGA, NZ

[Steve Holmes]

Where the hell is pallmall when you need him! He has a massive collection.....

[Gerard Richards]

Yes I have seen pictures of the McConnichie '69 Fastback Mustang in blue and white it looked a treat (also built from a wreck). I never actually saw it race, but it sure looked the goods. I do remember reading one of the McConnichie brothers was killed in the U.S.A., racing I think, but it might have been a road accident, possibly in the mid 1980s. Yeah I have seen some of pallmalls early stock car and saloon photos they are fab, would be great to see some more!

[pallmall]

Where the hell is pallmall when you need him! He has a massive collection.....

Watching from afar! Actually I have been having some issues logging in.
Yes I have thousands of speedway photos and photos of all the saloons mentioned. Will post some over the next week as time and logging in issues allow.

I did some stuff about the McConnichie Brothers and the Mustang a couple of years ago for an Austrlian web site. This will tell you most of what you need to know. Barry was killed racing an offroader in the USA, Graham is still living in the USA, and the family will not really talk about the boys, their early racing and the tragedy.

http://www.homepages.ihug.com.au/~gmison/McConnachie_Mustang.htm

Gavin.

[Lee Tracey]

One of the Australian Saloon team from 1971.

Ross Baker in the Escort

Both photos as purchased from the Forest Lake track photographer of the time.

Cheers
Lee

[Steve Holmes]

Watching from afar! Actually I have been having some issues logging in.
Yes I have thousands of speedway photos and photos of all the saloons mentioned. Will post some over the next week as time and logging in issues allow.

I did some stuff about the McConnichie Brothers and the Mustang a couple of years ago for an Austrlian web site. This will tell you most of what you need to know. Barry was killed racing an offroader in the USA, Graham is still living in the USA, and the family will not really talk about the boys, their early racing and the tragedy.

http://www.homepages.ihug.com.au/~gmison/McConnachie_Mustang.htm

Gavin.

Thats a great article Gavin. Was the visiting US 69 Firebird raced of Ronny McDowell the car that was later raced by Ron Kendal?

[Steve Holmes]

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One of the Australian Saloon team from 1971.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]345[/ATTACH]
Ross Baker in the Escort

Both photos as purchased from the Forest Lake track photographer of the time.

Cheers
Lee

Cool photos Lee, got any more?

[Kiwiboss]

So was this the ex Mcdowell Pontiac with John Scott driving? Not sure where this was taken? Luv the Fat Feet and the sideways action!!

Dale Mathers
TGA, NZ

[pallmall]

The Ronny McDowell Firebird was owned by Cowan-Black promotions and was built up by Ron Kendall, Eddie Sutherland, and the Ferabends. Unfortunately the car was only just finished in time for the McDowell visit and too many teething problems meant that Ronny was not seen at anything like his best. Ron Kendall took over the driving duties following the visit and got the car sorted, the only hickup was when one of the USA drivers on his way to Australia, and here with Gene Welch, blew the engine in a guest drive. I believe the car did go on to John Scott, but I am not 100% certain. The John Scott car certainly was a competitive package and was still racing against the new tube frame cars in the early eighties. I think the photo Dale posted would be from 1981.
Photos will follow in the next few days.

[pallmall]

The Cowan Black Pontiac, photos taken by Andre Ruiterman of the nearly finished car.




Ron Kendall. (photos by Heather Hills and Andre Ruiterman)





15A John Scott (Andre Ruiterman photos)

[pallmall]

The McConnachie Mustang (photos by Heather Hills and Andre Ruiterman)








The first NZ Speedway Saloon car champion. Trevor Gray.




75 Peter Howarth in his second Holden.




And Jimmy Richards having his first speedway outing (and winning) in the Howarth car.

[pallmall]

Australian Kenny Barlow, many times visitor to race in NZ in stockcars and saloons. Kenny was the person who convinced the Cowan-Black and Scott-Black promotions at Waikaraka and Forest Lake to introduce saloons to their programme during his visit with the Australian stockcar team in early 1968. The two tracks introduced the new class a few meetings into the 1968-69 season. The tours by the Australian drivers in their own cars in the following few seasons allowed the NZ drivers to improve their cars and become more competitive with the visitors.
This is Kenny on his first visit with his own car around 1969, the car stayed in NZ and for a time was run and driven by Jimmy Richards for the Waikaraka promotion. (photo Heather Hills)




Australian Ken Richardson and his Aussie car at the same time. (photo Heather Hills)

[Steve Holmes]

Sensational posts there Gavin! Do you know where the Kendall Firebird came from before it was converted for the track? Was it brought in from the US or was it already in NZ?

When did teams start converting rhd cars to left hand drive for speedway?

[pallmall]

Sensational posts there Gavin! Do you know where the Kendall Firebird came from before it was converted for the track? Was it brought in from the US or was it already in NZ?

When did teams start converting rhd cars to left hand drive for speedway?

I am not sure where the Firebird came from, a lot of USA cars came in to the country as wrecks for parts, some were local wrecks, cars crashed by their owners who found more power and less traction than their ability could handle. Actually amazing how many imported USA cars got crashed within the first 6 months of being in the country, but that is a whole other story. I guess that the Firebird was probably something that the Blacks had 'in stock' in Morrinsville.

As to the RH drive LH drive thing I researched this a bit recently after a question on Macgors. The rules never stated driver position, only roll cage construction relative to the seat. One of the reasons to go LH was to get the driver away from the fence, especially as a lot of tracks had wooden fences backed by earth and it was common for boards to split and come loose, another reason was weight distribution, and another was LH drive put the driver in a better position for passing and seeing the pole line. Some cars were converted back inthe early seventies to LH drive, by the late seventies it was more common, and of course as the tube frame cars came along through the eighties that was the way they were all built.

[pallmall]

Some colour from the early days at Stratford. I think the Tina is Henry Plowright, and the green #2 is Frank Pierce.

[Steve Holmes]

Amazing photos Gavin! The last set are particularly enjoyable. Do you know the date of the top one in the last post with the Cortina and Zephyr etc?

Do you have any shots of speedway Monaros?

[pallmall]

Ron Kendall started out in stockcars in early 1968, but by 1970 was driving the 100E saloon which gained him a 2NZ with GT power at the first NZ Champs and a 1NZ with Twin Cam power at the second NZ Champs. More titles would come in the Mazda.


Ron then went on to a Cortina, the Firebird, Mustang, and the Mazdas.

[pallmall]

Amazing photos Gavin! The last set are particularly enjoyable. Do you know the date of the top one in the last post with the Cortina and Zephyr etc?

Do you have any shots of speedway Monaros?

Stratford was the first track to start saloons after Waikaraka and Forest Lake, I guess those photos would be 1970 approx. Monaros soon, plus a few other Holdens.

[pallmall]

A few Monaros and other Holdens.

Kevin Bates.


Tony Redfern.




Steve Millen.



Peter Martin.



More to follow.