The Kiwis (2)

 Owen Shaw (Shawrie) (A Shaw thing)

Owen Shaw began racing stockcars at Forest Lake at the age of 26 during the 1972-73 season after being introduced to the sport by his business partner Kevin Free. In his first season he raced a Ford V8-powered car he built himself. He was instantly fast and became a key member of the “Waikato Wanderers” stockcar team. For the next season he drove an ex-Mac McLaughlan Valiant-powered stockcar competing regularly at Forest Lake, Waikaraka Park and other NZ tracks. In the 1974-75 season he raced a newly-built Mac McLaughlan stockcar but was involved in a nasty accident at Waikaraka Park which saw him hospitalized with internal injuries.

After a season off he decided to race in the midget division. He purchased the ex-Fussell and Cartwright #7, now powered by a Chevy II, changing its number to #2 and then to #43. For 1978-79, he switched to VW power driving the ex-Phil Horrobin #14 (renumbered as #43) and started to make his presence felt in the midget ranks. For 1979-80 he purchased a Gardner midget and was a member of the winning NZ midget team (along with Barry Butterworth and Ted Tracey). He took the Gardner car to the USA in the winter of 1980 acquitting himself well setting fastest time and winning heat races at several tracks. Back in NZ in 1980-81 he raced the Gardner car and again made the NZ Test Team, won the Coca Cola series and was second in the NZ Championship. Half way through the 1981-82 season, Owen switched to the Bill Barker-built Porsche-powered midget and won the NZ Midget Championship at Ruapuna. During 1982-83 he switched from the Barker car back to his own car - a new Ray Alach coil-over midget and remained a leading driver through the 1983-84 season. For 1984-85 he purchased the ex-Maurice Cowling LTC VW and went on to win the NZ Championship held at Nelson.

After a year away from the sport he reappeared in 1987-88 in the sprintcar ranks firstly driving Garry Murch’s car and then an ex-Hogan Gambler. For the 1987-88 season, Owen purchased the ex-Ian Easton Osborne and raced it through the 1988-89 season. He was a leading driver and finished second in the 1987-88 NZ Championship. For the 1989-90 season Owen purchased the ex-Jeff Gordon Osborne from John Rae and remained a top-line driver. During 1991-92 he was the captain of the NZ Sprintcar team that defeated the American team (Ronnie Day, Jimmy Carr and Jac Haudenchild) and he also won the World 40 lap Sprintcar Championship. He went on to win both the Auckland and NZ Sprintcar Championships in 1991-92. Owen raced against Barry B in a midget between 1976 until 1985 (twice being in the NZ Test Team with him) and between 1987 and 1990 in sprintcars and got on with him well as a fellow driver. Owen Shaw was known as a fair but hard driver and for his highly professional demeanour both on and off-track. He pioneered a professional approach to sponsorship and went out of his way to give his sponsors their money’s worth.

 Noel Goodwin (Goodie)

Noel Goodwin was born in 1946 and raced power boats and cars most of his adult life. He competed in circuit racing in a variety of saloon cars including an Anglia, a Zephyr Corvette and an XU1 Torana as well as in trucks. He also raced in hill climbs and in rallies and drove a Ford Escort in the 1971 Heatway Rally. In addition he tried his hand at saloon car racing and demolition derbies at Waikaraka Park. Noel through his company, Otara Auto Wreckers, was one of the sponsors of Owen Shaw’s midget during 1979-80 and he became so interested in Speedway that he purchased a TQ midget (#77) and went racing at Western Springs the next season. Already in his late 30s (and experienced at many types of racing) he was instantly competitive and fast. He raced the TQ with considerable success through the 1980-81, 81-82, 82-83 and 83-84 seasons. Never being one to be intimidated by a challenge, he then purchased the ex-Barry Butterworth Shores sprintcar (renumbered it as #77) and became a sprintcar star virtually over-night. He won the 1984-85 NZ Sprintcar Championship held at Western Springs in his first season (from Ian Easton and Allan Wakeling) and also won the North Island Championship held at Palmerston North in the same season. For the 1986-87 season he raced a new Gambler sprintcar and for the early part of the season Barry Butterworth drove the Shores car. He continued to be a top-line driver and won the 1986-87 NZ Sprintcar Championship. During 1987-88 he ran a two-car team with Garry Davie driving the second car. For 1988-89 he raced a new high-bar Gambler and then retired at the end of the season. In succeeding seasons he raced a borrowed sprintcar at Ruapuna on several occasions and also raced the Ken Mullins midget #22 during the 1992-93 season. Noel had several spectacular crashes during his career. During his TQ racing days he was nicknamed “flippa” because of the number of times he got upside down! His most well-known crash occurred at the Meremere highbank track in 1988. He went over the upper lip of the high bank at high speed, down the other side and landed upside down in a ditch some distance from the track. Fortunately, he emerged relatively unscathed.

Thoughout most of his sprintcar career, Goodie raced against Barry Butterworth and often beat him. Noel was known as one of the real characters of the sport and he spoke with a croaky voice as a result of him having a tracheotomy earlier in life after a scare with throat cancer. Off-track he was known for his mad-cap, comical and entertaining behaviour. He was a well-known character and prangster in circuit racing long before racing sprintcars and was widely known as a larger than life character who always drove the wheels off anything he got into. He liked to celebrate by standing on his head and his favourite party trick was to bet people he couldn’t hold his head under water in a bucket of water for 4 or 5 minutes. Since he breathed through a hole in his throat (covered by his shirt), he always won! He passed away suddenly in 2008.

 Graham Standring ("Mr 100%")

Born in 1955, Graham Standring grew up in Auckland as an avid speedway fan. In his teenage years he began racing moto cross and became very successful in the sport winning the 125cc North Island Champs three times and the Auckland Champs four times. In 1984, at the age of 29, Graham purchased a TQ midget and began racing at the Springs. He won three features in his first season (1984-85) and raced with great success throughout the next few years in TQ #72. In the 1985-86 season, he won the NZ, North Island and Auckland TQ Championships. For the 1986-87 season, Graham drove a Ray Alach-owned midget (renumbered #72) and won the feature in his third meeting and then capped off the season by finishing second to Ted Tracey in the NZ Midget Championships. Throughout the next few seasons, Graham continued to be a top-line driver in both the TQ and midget sections. In 1987-88 he was NZ Midget Champion and also finished second in the NZ TQ Championship. He won the NZ Midget Champs again in 1989-90. He raced in the USA in 1989 without great success but in the winter of 1990 he took his Edmunds coil-over Cosworth #72 back to the US and won two USAC features; one at Kokomo, Indiana and the other a Western States race at Bakersfield, California. In 1996 Graham and Garry Harris built a new Canaday-powered midget which featured several innovations including rocker arm suspension, open driveshaft and twin universal joints. The car was quick and was developed and improved over the ensuing seasons. He took the car to Australia in 1996 and was leading the Australian Speedcar Championship until his car expired only a short distance from home. He did, however, win the NZ Midget Championship for a third time in 1996-97. In 2004, Graham sold his midget to Michael Brunt and retired. However, Danny Lendich offered him the drive in the Wendy's-sponsored #33 Spike Esslinger midget - and it was an offer too good to refuse. He remained one of NZ's top drivers until he retired again in 2010. However, in late November, 2010 Graham, at the age of 55, ran the Lendich car in shakedown outing for American Jerry Coons who was to drive it in the international series. In the process Graham won his 100th midget feature race. As well as winning three NZ Championships, he finished second in the NZ championship four times and won the North Island Midget Championships seven times.

Throughout his career, Graham remained very independent and in his younger days he was a notably aggressive driver. These attributes inevitably resulted in him having a number of run-ins with officials. His career overlapped with Barry B. He began driving midgets while Barry was in Australia running at Parramatta and developed into a top driver while Barry was concentrating on sprintcars and promotion. By the time Barry raced the Ray Bull VW (1990-91), Graham was reigning NZ Midget Car Champion and NZ test team captain. He had risen through the ranks to take Barry's place as NZ's No.1 midget driver.

 Brett ("the jet") Horrobin

Brett Horrobin began racing go-karts in his teens and at the age of 16y old he won the Junior Open New Zealand Championship held in Hastings. During this period he also served as part of Ted Tracey's pit crew at Western Springs. He began racing TQs at Western Springs in 1981 driving a red #87 which was sponsored by the tabloid newspaper the Sunday News. He raced this car through the 1982-82 season and became a backmarker in the TQ section. By the 1983-84 season it was time to move up to midgets and he purchased the ex-Owen Shaw VW-powered Ray Alach coil car. The car was renumbered as #87 and again sponsored by the Sunday News. Over the next few years the Sunday News VW became a well-known and very competitive car at Western Springs. He was very successful in his first season winning the Levis Midget Series, the World 30 lap Championship and the King of The Springs point-score series. During the latter series he was involved in a spectacular crash on the pit straight (which made the national TV news) when he rode a wheel and flipped. He broke his kneecap in the crash and as a result he had to cancel his first planned racing trip to the USA. For the 1987-88 season Brett drove Ray Bulls VW but for the next season his brother Phil purchased a Harris Cosworth and won the1988-89 NZ Midget Championship in this car. He raced this car through the next season and with a new Harris chassis through the 1989-90, 90-91, 91-92, 92-93 and 93-94 seasons (as #87 or #1). He won the NZ Midget Championship in 1990-91, 91-92 and 93-94 seasons. Brett took the Harris Cosworth to the USA in 1992 and 1993 and raced with limited success. He finished 10th in the Bellville Nationals in 1993. In 1994-95 Brett drove a Kendall Racing Beast V4 and in 1995-96 a Stealth Gaerte before retiring from Speedway. Over a relatively short career in speedway Brett won the NZ Midget Championship four times and was of truly international class throughout the early 1990's. Brett was one of the notable  competitors in the CTRA Outlaw racing at Waikaraka Park and Meremere during the late 90s.

Brett's career overlapped with that of Barry B. When he began racing the Sunday News VW Barry was in the Alach coil Chev V4 and Brett raced against him the next season when Barry had the Gennetten V4/VW. By 1990-91, when Barry raced the Ray Bull VW, Brett was at the height of his powers and won the NZ Championship both that year and the next year when Barry ran the Ken Mullins VW. Over a relatively short speedway career, Brett was extremely successful and in the 90s, on his night, he could certainly run very competitively with any of the American visitors.