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Press, 23 February 1984, Page 21

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Queensland and the possibility of being involved in Australian production saloon car racing with Dick Johnston has lured this year’s A.N.Z. New Zealand Touring Car champion, Gary Sprague, of Tauranga. Sprague, sponsored by 54 Ford dealers, won the championship in an XE Ford Falcon (above), prepared by his father Ernie with a longtime racing associate Peter Wilson, both of Timaru, and Albie Collier of Tauranga. Sprague scored 57 points in the A.N.Z. series, to 32 for Aucklander Robbie Francevic (Holden Commodore SS) and 18 for Bruce Anderson (Ford Falcon XD). The series, established this racing season, was to have comprised six races, but the Invercargill floods caused the cancellation of the Teretonga Park round. The series was closely contested, with the Sprague Falcon gaining three wins from two pole positions and the Commodore winning two races from three pole positions. Francevic, a former New Zealand saloon car champion, made a brilliant comeback this season after being more or less out of serious

racing for a number of years. At the A.N.Z. round at the New Zealand Grand Prix meeting at Pukekohe early in January, he spreadeagled the field in a masterly display of wet weather driving and, as he contested only three of the five rounds, the points margin between Sprague and himself is probably by no means a fair indication of either the abilities of the drivers or the performance potential of the cars. The final race in the A.N.Z. series was held at Levels Raceway, near Timaru, and it was appropriate that Sprague’s last appearance should be at the South Canterbury circuit. Timaru born and bred, Gary Sprague was blooded in motor racing by his father, Ernie, and Peter Wilson.

For ’ a number of years, Ernie Sprague was the man to beat in the annual production saloon car marathon at Pukekohe, where he was partnered by another Timaru driver who was equally famous, Leo Leonard.

Subsequently, Ernie Sprague and Leonard broke up when Gary’s ability on the

racing circuit showed winning potential in the eyes of his father. The father-son combination was an exceptionally strong one. Last year the younger Sprague was partnered in the Benson and Hedges race at Pukekohe by Dick Johnston, the two winning the 2litre class in a Ford Telstar. It was Sprague’s performance in this car that impressed Johnston so much that he suggested Sprague might co-drive with him in a Falcon in this year’s James Hardie endurance race at Bathurst. Johnston