Profile Grahame Berry

IT was November 1977 at Thunderpark Dragstrip. The Hogan/Berry Capri Funny Car had already made a 7.6 pass at 192 mph, Garth Hogan driving, and as per usual, the crew of Grahame Berry (builder of said Funny Car) and Bevan ’Straw’ Lye checked everything before the next run. Straw started at the front, Grahame started at the rear, checking and re-tightening anything which may have shaken loose, and they’d meet somewhere in the middle, usually around the steering wheel. The next run came, the Funny sounding strong. But down the track, the Funny veered left, crashing into the Armco barrier. The steering wheel had come off in Garth’s hands! The Straw-Berry crew sprinted from the start line towards the accident, by which time Hogan had already vacated the car, steering wheel still in hand. Recalls Grahame Berry, “I’d just about reached the car when this steering wheel went flying past my head. It was the only thing we hadn’t checked. Hogan wasn’t happy!”

Grahame Berry laughs out loud as he regales the tale, one of many during a recent evening of regaling stories from his long career of hot rodding, drag racing, fabricating race cars, hot rods, Cobras, and his retirement pastime of building models.

Here’s another one. After one race meet at Meremere, just as the crew were packing up, team member Roger Hermenson’s 10-year-old son John wanted to sit behind the wheel of the Funny Car. Then someone had the bright idea to let him stay in it for the ride back to Auckland. Now, what 10-year-old boy wouldn’t love that? The tow vehicle was Grahame’s Holden Premier wagon. But somewhere near the Bombay Hills, the wagon began to feel a bit sluggish, reminiscent of a concrete