Motorsport: Ivan Mauger the pragmatic superstar fans loved to hate

Ivan Mauger competes at Western Springs in 1970 - a world championship year

Former world speedway champion Ivan Mauger says an absence of big names has exacerbated the decline of the sport.

"It's still a great sport but we had genuine stars in our day," the 66-year-old New Zealander told the Times newspaper in London. "People wanted to see Barry Briggs and Ole Olsen and Michael Lee. And they wanted to come and hold me in contempt."

Western Springs was full every speedway night in the 1960s and 1970s as crowds followed the NZ motorcycle team, headed by Mauger, and his presence and that of other champions drew international speedway stars.

With Mitch Shirra, Larry Ross and Bruce Cribb, Mauger secured New Zealand's only world team speedway title in the 1979 finals at London's White City.

He also won six world titles over 11 years, and said the most satisfying came in 1970 when he took on the best of Poland on their own patch. He also won three world long-track titles.

"A lot of it was about being psychologically stronger than the next guy," he said. "Saying goodbye to your wife and kid when you're only a kid yourself makes you grow up. I fought for everything."

A decade later he had done all he wanted to. He invested his money and lost close to £1 million ($2.9 million) when Lloyd's crashed in the 1990s, but recovered to set up a training school and buy a yacht.

This week, the New Zealander voted "Millennium Man" by readers of speedway's leading magazines sat on a yacht moored off Mexico in 43C heat as he talked of a career of tearful goodbyes at Tilbury Docks, crossed lines with George Best and great escapes in a gold Mercedes in the days when 70,000 people would watch him race at Wembley.

Even Tony Rickardsson, the Swede who last season matched Mauger's world title tally, would accept that there has never been anyone quite like the New Zealander, the Times reported.

Mauger's study began in earnest when he waved goodbye to his wife, Raye, and 8-month-old daughter, Julie, as they departed Tilbury to return to Christchurch on the SS Rangitoto.

It was 1958 and he was 18: "That was hard and it definitely made me stronger. I had a one-bedroom flat in Wimbledon and couldn't afford for them to stay. I never saw or spoke to them in eight months because we didn't have phones. Kids today have it easy."

In New Zealand - where speedway racing was started at Western Springs in 1929 by former World War I motorcycle dispatch riders - Mauger had watched with a dropped jaw when Ronnie Moore, the first great New Zealand world champion, came home.

"It was way beyond Beatlemania," he said. "It is hard to explain to people just how big a star he was at home. He was much bigger than the Beatles."

At Wimbledon, where Moore reigned, Mauger helped clean the toilets and tend the tulips. It was a true Cinderella story. He took a slow boat home at the end of the season, worked in a factory, and returned in 1963.

Mauger's first world title came in 1968. In those days it was decided via a one-off world final. Now the championship is run over 10 rounds, a fairer but less thrilling format, with races at the weekend at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium comprising the British Grand Prix.

It was the fourth of the 10 European grands prix held between April and September used to determine who will be crowned the world champion.

Mauger admitted his obsessiveness spawned a win-at-all-costs mentality. It led to his deliberately forcing the occasional rival off the track.

"I was never the most popular rider but I thrived on that," he said. "It really didn't bother me if there were 70,000 people booing. I think they had a grudging respect but I liked winding them up."

Never more so than the night he was forced to make a getaway from Swindon in a car driven by Phil Crump, an Australian rider, whose son Jason is the leading rider of the current season.

"That was a bit hairy," Mauger said. "Sometimes they would throw things at me. When they knew I was in the back they hurled a brick at Crumpie's Mercedes."

In 1968 Mauger was the world champion and George Best had helped Manchester United to win the European Cup, and several years later the pair became neighbours.

"He was a nice guy and we would travel to awards dinners together. Of course, George would usually stay later. It was sad when he died, but you can't feel too sorry for someone who kills themself."

The Times said it was this pragmatic, emotionless attitude that fuelled Mauger's status as a hate figure.

For the record

* Ivan Mauger was world speedway champion in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1977, and 1979, runner-up in 1971, 1973 and 1974, third in 1967 and fourth in 1966, 1975 and 1976.

* He won the 1000m sand track title in 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1976, and was runner-up in 1975.

* Mauger also won every major title that included the British, European, World Team, World Pairs titles and a host of test, cup and individual matches.

- NZPA