Just in PASSING
• Hot Rod Hero
HIS picture appeared in the NZ Herald in 1971, when Pete Lodge broke the National drag outright record at Kerrs Road, Manurewa. It was the day he first ran slicks (M&H), and it was the first time slicks were used in NZ. He set the new mark at 11.35 seconds that day, just undercutting the long-time record holder Brian Trigg in his rail Andromeda, which had been 11.4 for a couple of years, I think. Pete had done a 10.9 before this, but it hadn’t been recognised or not backed up. The NZ Herald photographer staged the photo by bringing in a spectator suitably scantily attired to add interest. Her name was Michelle, I recall from the Newspaper version, which I have in a scrapbook somewhere. Pete was a big hero to us, young lads, at the time, as he was a Scout Leader at the Mairangi Scout Troupe that I attended at the time. Back in 2013, I wrote a story
