Hogan’s heroic halt

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 6

Hogan’s heroic halt

J Quick thinking by the Auck-c •land driver, Garth Hogan, mayshave saved his life at the Rua- 1 1 puna drag strip yesterday after- : noon. 1 The parachute on his ‘“rail’ failed to open at the end of a . solo run of 9.655ec and Hogan careered past the braking point. : He stood on the brakes—the ’ discs turned blue with the strain • —and when it became apparent ’that he still would not stop be- ; fore the fifth green at the Tem- • ; pieton golf course, he slid tne < i machine sideways before shuddering to a halt. Hogan was obviously shaken as 1 he climbed from the cockpit. The parachute had shaken loose dur-. ing his burn-out and was not connected, and only Hogan’s cool ! thinking kept himself and his; I machine in one piece. ' Three other rails were to have been on display yesterday, but i one did not even complete a run. • The local star, Ron Collett, broke a fuel pump drive on his machine, which put him out of 4

commission for the afternoon. But the crowd—possibly the largest since two top American funny cars were in Christchurch last season—was treated to the rare sight of two very quick Australian rails. Bob Reischl did two early solo! runs, and he was joined later in I the day by his compatriot, Alanj Oldgers. Reischl’s blown bigblock Chev completed the run in! a fast B.lssec, while Oldgers was slightly slower with a tim* of; B.s9sec. Both Reischl and Oldgers could! have turned in better times but ‘the length of the braking strip, ipast the auarter-mile line made it ,a little risky. Desuit e the possible danger, Reischl still managed to turn in a time of 7.B9sec jon his last run. the fastest time' •ever recorded at the strip. Earl Nunn was beaen in the drag-bike final by Paul MeLauchj lan after a bad start, but he still astounded the crowd with a time iof just over lOsee in an earlier run.

Results: Palmer Ford stock.—T. Carson 'Falcon G.T.H.O. 351 1, 14.78. 1: M. Dawber (Pontiac 389 i, 15.81. 2. Crescent Electronics buoej stock.—W. Burrell Falcon G.T. t i2B9), 13.99, 1; N. Pilling '(amaro t 350), 16.38, 2. i| Solar Energy street machine.— /P. Williamson (Ford Popular 202», 1114.08, I; B. Nellev >56 Chdv), 1115.12, 2. h Glass Repros street rod.-r-M. ■Fairburn (454 Chev T 11.09. f; l‘R. Pabst (327 Che\ Tj. 13.24, 2 i' S and G Automotive pro > ■ stock.—P. Plvmerage < Fdk on t 429), 12.54, 1; R. Taylor 'Holden - 283), 13.83. 2. - Crescent Electronics altered.— ? D. Cairns (302 Chev T), 1101, 1; s M. Blackie ’283 Chev T. . 11.44, 2. Cunningham and Gregee street » bike.—J. Williams 'Kawasaki * 12.16. 1; B Rathgen (SuLzuki GS 1000), 14.96, 2. > Thorpe Engineering drag bike, r.-McLauchlau ,TZ 750 i. 10.77. 11 iNunh (Kawasaki 1075), 14 95, 2.