Graeme “Mintie” Mead is a sports commentator and the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast.
OPINION: In the world of speedway, the name Aaron Humble is well known as one of the best Three Quarter Midget (TQ) drivers the Waikato has produced for some time.
Gone are the days of speedway being seen as hordes of black Stubbies, mullets and bogans, instead, the sport has now grown into a professionally organised sport with millions of dollars’ worth of race cars, support vehicles and crews racing at tracks all over the country.
That’s why I believe that Aaron deserves to be more widely known and that speedway needs to be taken more seriously as a motorsport.
All cars are special builds with lots of horsepower and race on an oval dirt track - it’s a place for fast-paced action and plenty of speed.
Stockcars racing at the TWS Paradise Valley Speedway in Rotorua.
It also has a bit of history: The first speedway meeting was conducted in Christchurch in 1928 - for motorbikes - with car racing first appearing on the programme in Wellington in 1936.
A speedway race meeting nowadays lasts between three and four hours, with often over 24 races for around seven different classes a night and over 100 cars each week - and double that for some New Zealand titles.
There has been a massive resurgence in the TQ class in the last five years, mainly due to the sheer volume of teenagers racing in the ministock speedway class all around the country.
Ministock drivers are aged 12 to 16 years old and TQs have become a progression of choice for many of them, including Aaron.
I recently spoke to him for the All Sports Breakfast, where he talked about what got him into the sport in the first place - and what keeps him going.
Aaron, of Hamilton, has a family history in speedway, with his dad Chip racing minisprints for many years based out of Huntly. Chip was a fierce competitor in this class and carried the 3NZ number on his car in 2008.
Aaron’s older brother Josh also races - stockcars - while their eldest brother Simon followed his rugby dream instead.
Aaron, however, was destined to have some long-term speedway aspirations.
He was a late starter at 14 years old. He began his racing career in the ministock class when he was a student at St Paul’s Collegiate.
Waikato Speedway racer Aaron Humble (front) with TQ car "Jeni" and his support crew.
For three years he raced at nearly all of the 23 speedway tracks around New Zealand collecting a hoard of track titles.
This culminated in a nomination for New Zealand Ministock Driver of the Year in 2017.
When many of his fellow ministock competitors decided to continue their careers in stockcars, saloon cars and midgets, Aaron ventured into the second oldest open-wheel speedway class: Three Quarter Midgets, which had its first national title in 1953.
TQs run a 750cc motorcycle engine and have a strict chassis design that is strictly set by speedway New Zealand.
Aaron decided to compete in the TQ class due to the cost of purchasing a car and the running costs during the season.
The sprint cars and midgets that race out of Western Springs (Auckland) and Kihikihi have a cost of well over $100,000 - even more if you want to be competitive.
Aaron Humble's TQ Jeni.
TQs are more affordable but very competitive with large fields of over 25 cars turning up to tracks every summer.
Aaron’s TQ - affectionately named Jeni - runs a 750cc Suzuki motor and special chassis that has been built in Auckland by Gina Harris of Harris Racing.
Last year propelled Aaron to new heights when he won the New Zealand title beating Jeremy Webb from Christchurch.
Jeremy won the previous four national titles and was bordering on impossible to beat.
But Aaron ended up taking home the coveted NZ Grand Prix title, 1NZ, which included wins at every track he raced at, setting a new lap record at Western Springs and being named New Zealand TQ driver of the year.
Aaron Humble and his support crew after winning the national title last year.
This year provided an even bigger challenge with Aaron defending his title in Nelson, a place that Jeremy called his second home.
Jeremy took the win home, so Aaron is currently 2NZ.
Aaron told me that racing was a bit like an addiction to him with the drive to be New Zealand’s best and the want to be better, faster and more consistent than anyone else in the country.
There are many young drivers now entering the class in the Waikato, and here, Aaron is the benchmark to beat.
All while being on his competitive racing journey, Aaron also studied at Waikato University and is now a qualified accountant.
But during all this, he remained a well-grounded - and humble - young man.
One of the things he said to me during our interview sums it up quite nicely: “Nothing in life is given to you - You gotta go out and earn it.”
Graeme “Mintie” Mead is a sports commentator and the host of the radio show Waikato All Sports Breakfast, which runs on Newstalk ZB on Saturday mornings from 7am.
