Motorsport: Auntie Olivia's name a big help to Emerson

By BOB PEARCE

What's in a name?

For Emerson Newton John it provides some of the incentive to compete in the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Californian is a nephew of Australian singer Olivia Newton John and while Auntie Olivia is not on hand to watch him race, he says her name can be a help.

"I'm struggling for a budget to race and I was told that the name had a lot of recognition in Australia, so I checked out the Tasman series," he said.

"I've seen what Scott Dixon and Jason Bright have done in the Indy Lights series in the States so there was clearly something that helped them come over and succeed."

Another big attraction was the cost of racing in this part of the world, compared with Europe and then the States.

"A season in Indy Lights and they're asking $US1.3 million.," he said.

"They might take you if you had $US1 million, but they would still be wanting more.

"Here, in Formula Holden you could do a season for $US152,000 and the Tasman series for $US30,000."

Newton John was not born to the sport. His parents were only casual fans, but they sowed a seed when they named him Emerson.

"After two weeks they hadn't decided on a name when my dad saw that Emerson Fittipaldi had won the world championship. He liked the name and that was it."

He made his mark on wheels with a couple of outstanding seasons in shifter karts, finishing second in the national championships and winning a summer series.

He made the jump to a testing contract for Formula Three in Japan, only for that experience to cost him a good chance in the Winfield driver search in Europe when he withdrew from the finals because he was told he would be ineligible.

In 1997 he won six races in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series in the United States. The following year saw him driving a Renault Megane in France and last year it was a Renault Clio.

He sees the Formula Holden racing Down Under as a possible springboard to Formula Atlantic or Nascar in the States.

But there is always the question of money. His wife, Amy, helps to fund the living expenses, but the racing will depend on results and maybe a marketable name.

Spectators will get their money's worth with 18 races, including the 40-lap finale at 4.30 pm on Sunday.

On Saturday, as well as qualifying, there will be races for Formula First, Super GT, Porsches, Formula Fords and touring cars. The next day all the above plus Formula Holdens and V8 tourers will race.

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Andy Booth and team-mate Matthew Halliday are rivals on the track and possibly in the driver market, too.

Both are working hard to gain a drive in Indy Lights in the United States next year. Halliday has already had a successful test and Booth hopes to arrange one.

A win in the grand prix at Pukekohe on Sunday would be a tremendous boost to any driver's chances of advancement.

While Simon Wills must be the favourite to complete a hat-trick of wins, following in the tracks of Craig Baird, Halliday and Booth should press him hard.

Halliday was second to Wills in the first race at Manfeild on Sunday, while Booth capitalised on Wills' misfortune to win the Denny Hulme Memorial.

Strangely, both had very similar stories of bad luck. Booth burned out his clutch in the protracted start to the first race, while Halliday took almost no part in the second when a stone destroyed his oil pump.

Booth is something of a forgotten man in New Zealand motorsport. He briefly competed here in Formula Ford, then headed for Britain where he twice made the final of the Formula Ford Festival.

Two seasons in the turn-up-and-drive Formula Palmer Audi championship produced a rookie award and some podium finishes, but he had little to show for his outings in the Australian Formula Holden championship.

Halliday believes that Pukekohe will be a very different story from Manfeild. The South Auckland circuit is less technical than Manfeild and rewards power and bravery.

Wills, himself, recognises the challenge. He won his first two grands prix on the tight Ruapuna circuit. To complete the hat-trick on the wide open and, despite vast improvement, bumpy Pukekohe would be a considerable achievement.

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Marcus Gronholm's win for Peugeot in the world rally drivers' championship is a testament to the manufacturer's rallying expertise.

The French firm won the world championship with Timo Salonen and Juha Kankkunen in 1985 and 1986, and then pulled out of the championship race.

This is their first full year back and they have won both the manufacturers' and drivers' crowns.

They celebrated by sacking their temperamental No 2 driver, Francois Delecour, immediately after the British Rally.

Britain's Richard Burns was second, five points behind Gronholm.