Eric started racing the #4 midget of Les Hancock at Waiwakaiho Speedway in 191/62. He then drove the new car of Les the #6 midget with a hotted Humber 80 motor. An interesting story on this car was it had “No SIX” painted on the side of the cockpit but with an arrow drawn through the middle so it actually read “No SEX” which then became the name of this car.

Eric’s next vehicle for the 1963/64 season was Ex Don Rutherford #99 which he rebuilt some of the bodywork on and was famous for having girls in his pit crew which Eric reckoned it distracted the other drivers to his advantage.

For Eric it was to be around a thirty-year gap between running his # 99 midget at Waiwakaiho and getting back into midgets at Ferndene then Stratford.

In 1995 Eric got several guys together to run midgets at Ferndene. Stratford was out of the question because they only wanted stock cars and the like down there.

That was the start and they ran the CTRA midget champs and other events out there. They had a few meetings when the top Auckland cars would come down and they were good because those guys really enjoyed the open and fast 1/3 mile track at Ferndene. Ferndene also ran a few sprint car meetings. It lasted about four seasons and during all that time we kept talking to Don Marsh (Track owner) about Ferndene signing up with Speedway NZ. He had originally applied to join SNZ but had been turned down but he always said he would be happy to be part of it.

Eventually, Stratford was convinced to run midgets in the 2000’s and Eric was on the Stratford committee to ensure the class was treated fairly with the Stockcars etc running there.

Eric was 67 years old when he stopped racing after winning the Taranaki Midget Champs in 2006 a feat he wanted after just missing out in 1963 at Waiwakaiho so after 43 years he finally made it.

Eric got the bug to own a vintage Midget which he duly purchased a Kurtis Kraft Offy out of America and followed up by a trip to America in 2012 where he had been invited to drive at the Milwaukee Speedway.

From 2014 Eric started restoring the #32 Sprintcar and this coupled with the increasing onset of his Motor Neurone Disease meant that for the last 18 months, the project slowed and for the last 12 he relied on the time, skills and generosity of a great number of people to get it to fruition. Completing #32 sees his dream come true, of owning a genuine ‘60’s classic looking Sprint Car.

Eric did a lot for Midget Speedway racing in Taranaki, firstly at Wiawakaiho, then Ferndene and finally at Stratford supporting drivers to get the Midget class to a level to be very competitive with visiting drivers.

Eric was awarded life Membership of the Taranaki Historic Speedway Association in 2022, and sadly passed away in October 2022.