A commentator who led the pack

1978Whitham Ray Whitham (Yamaha RD350) competing in the last Marlboro Series 'Production Class' at Gracefield Grand Prix meeting, Lower Hutt, 1978. PICTURE: SUPPLIED

Motor racing lost a great friend with the passing of Ray Whitham.
In late December, family and friends said goodbye to Ray. His commentating career that I knew covered the spectrum of motorsport, from car and bike street races, New Zealand road race championship events, longtrack, speedway, athletics, classic bike racing, classic scrambles, classic cars, muscle cars and super trucks, to dragon boats and I am sure many more.

Peter Lodge, former president of the NZ Classic Racing Register and NZ Drag Race Pioneer, described him as a lovely man, with time for everyone.

I first met Ray in 1991 at a sprint meet on Alexandra Road Trentham outside General Motors, he was a lively happy guy with a booming voice and had offered to commentate, but that day thought the social atmosphere was so great he said we don't need me booming over everyone. We did eventually work together and this time it was at the first longtrack meeting in the North Island, at Hutt Park in November 1992 - the first ever race meeting I promoted. Ray added lots of anecdotes and colour to the commentary, and I became an instant fan. He was ably supported by Neil Ritchie on that balmy summers evening. When I took up running of the Speedway Promotion at Te Marua in Wellington it fell to me to organise commentators, with the committee all having their favourites or friends of friends, who were mostly awful. Ray Tarrant from Palmerston North was the best around but whenever he wasn't available I would call Ray in and his warm style and professional manner won over a loyal fanbase (including the committee). I can always remember late on Saturday afternoons in summer, in-between calling races Ray would announce the cricket score from the test match, not something the crowds were used to hearing but welcome news all the same. As a pro commentator, Ray would paint pictures with words - yes half the fans had just seen it happen but the other half hadn't, so his banter had to continue and he would always adlib comments to keep the audio entertainment flowing.

And as a Nissan Mobil commentator Ray certainly painted pictures of magic. I remember sitting in his office on the terrace around 1996 and I asked him what it was like to commentate Greg Murphy's win, six months earlier, and Ray replayed the entire last lap of the race blow-by-blow, every corner, every downshift as Murph went on to take an historic win. I couldn't believe how a man could remember his exact commentary word-for-word six months later, I just wish I had a tape recorder with me that day. I had seen the race on TV but in those few moments Ray painted a more exciting picture.
Ray told me many times about his memories of attending Western Springs Speedway, whether on holiday in the big smoke or perhaps working in Auckland I do not recall, but it was the magic commentary of William 'Bill' Mudgway at the Springs which Ray said made a big impression on him, he heard the commentary as a magic form of art, the fluid voice, the banter, the anecdotes all thrown in to form both an entertaining and colourful picture for the fans. I believe through his commentating career Ray sought to emulate his hero known as the 'The Voice of Speedway' who started at the Springs in 1948 and went on to do Boat Shows and home shows as well.

In his time in the capital, Ray was involved in the entertainment industry and, as we found out at his funeral, used to do a bit of accompanied stand-up comedy and was called on to be the master of ceremonies for the Hogsnort Ruperts Original Flagon Band reunion at Labour Weekend 2014.

I next met up with Ray working on the Boxing Day bikes committee in Wanganui in 2005, an event he was so passionate about and had worked at for decades. He had been a commentator for the Battle of the Streets series for many years when it also took in Gisborne, Masterton, Paeroa as well as Wanganui, and was a key organiser of the sole downtown Wellington Motorcycle Street Race. Ray and I worked together again at the Classic Dirt event at the Wanganui racecourse in 2008 with World Champions Jeff Smith, Shayne King and Hugh Anderson, at the Suzuki 50 Yr event, at the Triumph Classic Festivals and the Barry Sheene events at Hampton Downs. When I launched the NZ Truck Festival at Taupo for May last year the first person I called on after securing Steve Parrish GP Star as my international guest, was Ray Whitham to be my commentator.

And Ray was so thrilled at working alongside media personality and Isle of Man commentator Steve Parrish that I had planned to do an interview over a cuppa round at his place for the local Midweek paper and for the truck festival website. But sadly I never got there but he did tell me with great pride and lots of laughter on the phone one day about some of what they discussed, the Isle of Man of course and Bruce Anstey. Ray had known Bruce since his racing beginnings in Wellington and had even sent in a nomination for Bruce to be recognised in the New Year's Honours in recent years. Ray asked Steve Parrish who he thought the top contenders were for the 2015 IOM, and he reeled them off and then added Bruce Anstey. Ray told me he recounted some of Bruce's career highlights and history that Steve was not aware of. Ray said when the TV show came live from the island Steve Parrish could not stop talking about Bruce Anstey all through the show and, as we know, Bruce did the business again.

Ray enjoyed laughing and chuckling about that a lot, he had made his contribution to push the Kiwi rider cause. And who was the first person I talked about in confidence to about my NZ Super Motard Championships application to MNZ, Ray, of course, as we were going to do a lot of ZB Sports news about it. Ray was a friend and great sounding board about motorsport, he is already sorely missed. R. I .P Ray.