A HAZARDOUS OCCUPATION, BUT . . . Professional midget car driver has no regrets

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33092, 6 December 1972, Page 16

A HAZARDOUS OCCUPATION, BUT . . . Professional midget car driver has no regrets

(By

R. O. DEW)

There can be few more hazardous methods of earning a living than driving midget cars, but the gifted professional Auckland driver, Barry, Butterworth, has no regrets about the rather impulsive decision he made as a 16-year-old in the mid--1950s to become a speedway racer. Although he has been involved in more spectacular crashes than he cares to rejnember and has had his share of mechanical failures, he has rarely thought of “giving the game away.” His successes far outweigh the disappointments and the reputation for skill and daring he has built up in Australia and New Zealand is an enviable one. Much of his racing has been in Australia, where he is among the greatest drawcards in the sport. In the last eight years his visits to his homeland have been few—and often fleeting ones at that. But twice during this period he found time to contest the New Zealand midget car cham-

pionship and both times he emerged a comfortable victor. He spent almost the entire season racing in New Zealand last season and among the highlights was an impressive victory over the brilliant American, D. Strickland, in the World 30lap Derby at Templeton. However, he had returned to Australia before the 1972 New Zealand championship was held and this went to‘ another Auckland international, T. Morris. Butterworth and Morris will meet at Templeton on Saturday night, a clash which could prove a pointer towards the outcome of the next national championship. This will be decided at Templeton on February 24.

“I’ll be in for sure,” said Butterworth after being advised of the venue. “I would love to have another crack at the title.” In spite of his great international record, he is not taking Saturday’s clash with Morris lightly. “His Chevy II is going like a blur at the moment and he has improved so much in the last three years that it is not even funny,” he said. “Now if he make? a break through the traffic I start to get a bit desperate. I have got to beat him, but he is making it very hard." Oddly enough, Butterworth’s first interest in speedway was motorcycles. “I went to Western Springs one night when I was 16 and was so impressed that I went home and told dad that I was going to buy a bike. He almost had a seizure and. so I bought a three-quarter midget racing car instead.” He raced in this class : until 1960 when the appeal of the full-sized midget s racers- took its hold. “The VB-60s were the thing in > those days and they looked I like something I would enjoy driving so I bought one.”

He raced this for two years before the chance to buy the racer owned by R. Crowther, a former national champion, presented itself. It was also , powered by a VB-60 engine but was a better handling machine than his first racer. He raced this for two years with considerable success before obtaining an American Offenhauser racing engine—the first to come to New Zealand. With the Offenhauser engine, Butterworth won everything he could in New Zealand and when the chance to travel to Australia came that same year he took it without hesitation. During a fbur-month stay in Australia in the 1964-65 season, he surprised many of the seasoned drivers with his ability. He won

both the South Australian and West Australian championships before disaster struck. In Sydney he broke the crankshaft of the Offenhauser and it cost him $2OOO for a replacement. Then in Brisbane he was leading the world championship with only four laps to go when his gearbox caught fire. “It was an old car and this was a 50-lap race. It was just over-worked. It was not made for that sort of thing and just got hotter and hotter. I had burned my legs on the gearbox in previous events and this time I wrapped old rags around it. It was these which eventually started the fire.” After spending much of the 1965-66 season in New Zealand, Butterworth decided to move permanently to Australia. “The competition in Auckland was not great and the prize money was poor,” he explained. He bought a Chevy II racer and his first full season was a great success. Among his major victories were the Sydney Cup and the Waratah Cup features. Unfortunately, the next two

seasons were not so bright. “Every time I went out the engine blew up or I got tipped over.” He recalls with a shudder the cost of engine failures in two major championship series in 1969. The Chevy II broke down in the final rounds of both contests and the loss of prize money was $BOOO. “There was nothing for getting second.” A season back in New Zealand restored his faith in the sport. He won everything with the Chevy n but when he returned to Australia he gave it to his brother, Max, who is still racing in it. Butterworth decided to return to the Offenhausers. “They are not as fast as the Chevy Ils but are far more reliable. You can run 12 meetings in a

row without even changing the spark plugs.” With a new Offenhausen success followed success until the crowds began to dwindle in Australia. The sport was poorly promoted and as the crowds got smaller so did the prize money. “Meetings which used to draw 40,000 now only get 2000. They say the racing is not as good as it used to be but I can’t believe that. If it is getting worse, it is only because the drivers are not getting the money back tn put into their cars.” Butterworth has no intention of returning to Australia "for a couple of seasons.” He has sold a car sales business he had in Australia and now has a financial interest in the establishment of a midget car speedway at Whangarei. The surface will be bitumen, banked, and a third of a mile in circumference. “You can go like hell,” said Butterworth who has already tested the circuit. He hopes that it will be open in time for next season and plans to spend the winter working on it. He is particularly impressed by the progress made in New Zealand. “The

standard has certainly gone ahead. I couldn’t get over it when I came back. Even last season, I didn’t have much trouble winning with the Offenhausen Now I have got to work so much harder.” However, he is very much the man to beat in any major contest and it will take a very skilled driver to prevent him winning the third national title he has his sights set on this season. The photograph shows Butterworth in the Offenhauser racer that he proposes to use for major events later this season. It is at present sidelined with a broken crankshaft and he will drive his second car, also an Offenhauser, at Templeton on Saturday night