Where are the early rider/drivers/officials now?

These are persons who have been, or are, involved in speedway in New Zealand. Some were or are well known in New Plymouth but not outside New Zealand. You can see more on the NZ Speedway Hall of Fame page.
Like other pages, this one will be added to as information comes to hand.

Abernethy, Bruce,— Hutt and other NZ tracks  and raced in UK.
Died April 1999 aged 72.

Andrews, Bob  Born and rode in UK for many years. Lives in Auckland, NZ.

Beardmore, Eric  Midget competitor from Waiwakaiho, Ferndene and Stratford.

Brewer, Frank “Satan”    Died 2001.    A New Zealander who made it to the very top of the speedway midget racing.

Briggs,  Barry From Jim Blanchard’s site. Barry lives in California.

Briggs,  Wayne,   Rode for the Edinburgh Monarchs in mid 60s, Lives in Malaga, Spain.

Callender,  Johnny      Drove on speedway, raced motor cycles and Go Karts made a major contribution to motor sport in Taranaki. Died in 1978.

Cowley, Neil  Driver of Saloons Modifieds and Sprintcars.

Cribb,  Bruce      Lives in England. Read about him by clicking his name. Son of Kiwi Cribb who rode speedway much earlier

Fearman,    Reg.    Not a  Kiwi but raced here in New Zealand back in the 1950’s.

Fullerton,  Mike   Rode for Paisley Lions. His story by Bill Elliot of Scotland.

Gifford,  Dave  Solo Rider from New Plymouth, New Zealand. Rode for Newcastle and other UK tracks. Lives in New Plymouth.

Hart, Jackie, –Hutt and other NZ tracks and Exeter Falcons in England. Recently lived in Palmerston North.  Died April 2014

Handlin, Barry      See photo’s on Midgets Photo Gallery page. Lives in Dallas, Texas.

Hayden, Kevin— Hutt and other NZ tracks and rode for Cardiff in Wales. Currently living in Lower Hutt.

Hoskin’s, Ian,–Father Johnnie and Ian started and ran speedways in Australia, UK, Spain and Rhodesia. Jonnie was from Waitara, NZ

Kilmister, Wally. Raced in NZ and England..

Levy,  Abrey     (Aub was his racing name) Currently living in Picton.

McIsaac, Gordon   Runs private speedway Museum in Auckland

Mauger, Ivan   Winner of 9 world championships on speedway bikes. Born, Christchurch, NZ.

Malskaitis;  Rim  Rode in NZ then Long Eaton. Currently lives in Auckland , NZ.  Great story about Rim by Dave Gifford.

Moore,  Ronnie     From Christchurch , New Zealand

Mossman,  Putt   An American who visited New Zealand in the 1930’s and provided entertainment at speedway venues. He also promoted one track.

Neil,  Merv Rode for Auckland and Norwich Stars in England from 1953 to1955 then became racing car driver.

O’Connor, Don    Involved in forming Speedway NZ away from the ACU in the early 1980’s.

Ovenden, Bruce      New Plymouth rider who stared for the Glasgow Tigers 1963 to 1966.

Peterson,  Gary     Local New Plymouth rider who died tragically in a speedway crash in England in 1975

Redman, Trevor,   Rode at Taita in 40’s and 50’s then rode and promoted in UK and South Africa in 1960’s. Died September1997.

Roycroft,  Three generations.   A.J,  Ron and Terry.  Story courtesy of Scott Thomson.

Rutherford,  Don       Don drove midgets, was president/promoter of Waiwakaiho speedway. Died in New Plymouth after a short period living in Queensland.

Shuter,  Frank       Article by Peter Hosking describes Frank’s interesting life.

Smith,  Ross       Manawatu rider / driver in the 1948 season.

Subritzky,   Bryce     Started competition at Western Springs. Rode in UK and in NZ until the late 1960’s. Died 1999.

Swanson,  Ramon   Rode at Taita before official opening December 1947 Lives in Lower Hutt.

Taylour,  Fay       A rider / driver between 1928 and the 1960’s. Rode solo’s and also drove midgets here in NZ.

Other British Speedway riders living in NZ include, Tommy Sweetman, Bob Andrews, Pete Gay and Roy Trigg.

Contact the webmaster, please, if you have any information on the above, or other early New Zealand rider/drivers
that would help this project.

This photo taken at Costa Messa in 1970 shows from left, Barry Briggs from NZ, Ivan Mauger from NZ, Bert Harkins who rode for Edinburgh Monarchs, Jim Airy from Australia, “Roy Williams” (or Bernie Lagrosse) from New Zealand who rode for Berwick, and Dave Gifford who is from NZ and is featured here.