FEATURE
A driver introduction tour of the track at Manfeild, in classic Red Egan style – sitting on a deck chair on the back of his V8 Mitsi racer.... daughter Danielle on his lap.
red roars off ...but rep lives on Story: Wayne Munro Photos: Euan Cameron & the late Graham Blow ONE OF NEW ZEALAND TRUCK RACING’S MOST COLOURFUL characters, Bill (Red) Egan, has died. He passed away at home in Kumeu in mid-September at the age of 72 – having continued to work in the road transport industry right up till the day before his death, despite serious health issues. Red, formerly the longtime owner of Auckland-based Kirk’s Towing, had run vehicle testing stations in West Auckland through the later stages of his life. Bill is survived by wife Reo, grand-daughter Carys and daughter Danielle, who told his funeral service that there are “so many stories about Dad that start with: ‘I first met Red when he towed my car from….’ (such and such a place.”) But the hard-case, hard-drinking Egan was arguably best known in the industry for his truck racing exploits – following his declared approach: “We’re not here for a long time…..we’re here for a good time.” His race team wasn’t so much a low-budget operation, he
reckoned – it was, plain and simple, a “a no-bucks budget” outfit….“always short of money.” Uniquely, his first race truck – a V8 Mitsubishi Fuso T-Series – was built as a class project by students at Auckland’s Carrington Polytech, where he was a tutor at the time. Some of the same motor mechanic students went on to crew on Red’s race team – and helped him continue to develop (and race) the Mitsi. In the Mitsi’s second year of racing (in 1991), he scored a race victory – and proudly proclaimed it was the world’s first win for a Japanese race truck: “No-one could ever take that away from me.” (It wasn’t a gimme: He had to beat Nissan Diesel racer Rusty Hawker to achieve that honour). Bill made his truck racing debut in ’89 (at the very start of the sport in NZ), sharing the driving of an International R190 owned by mate Harry Thompson. After building the Mitsi he finished thirdequal in the B-Grade division of the NZ Truck Race Championship in 1991 and later scored race wins in the ex-Denny Hulme Scania Truck & Driver | 81
