INJURED AT SPEEDWAY

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30041, 28 January 1963, Page 8

INJURED AT SPEEDWAY

Punctured Lung, Broken Rib

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND. Jan. 27.

A 56-year-old midget-car racing driver, who is said to have broken everything except his neck at least twice, suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung in an accident at Western Springs stadium Auckland, on Saturday night. He is Frank Brewer, a former New Zealander now living in Australia, who had been engaged to appear at two meetings at the stadium for the first time since 1954. Brewer won his first race of the evening, but was beaten out of a place in the second, when the car he had been loaned kept oiling up.

In his final race, the last of the evening, he swerved to the right to avoid four cars which had piled up on the track.

His own car was struck by a car following him, and his ear was forced at speed on to and across the concrete cycling track and into the safety fence, fairly close to where toe public were sitting. Brewer was most anxious today to reassure the public that toe • mishap was purely accidental. His condition was reported to be “fairly sick.” Mrs Brewer who as Miss Margaret O’Connor was a prominent dancing teacher in Auckland tor some years, was sitting close to the spot where toe car struck. Brewer became known as one of the world’s most successful midget-car racing drivers during a career of 25 years, many of which were spent in the United States. He is a naturalised American citizen.