Drag racing: Grant Rivers' surprise award

Father and son Grant (left) and Adrian Rivers collect their national drag racing trophy in Blues Brothers garb reflecting the name of their machine, but there was more to come for the elder statesman.

Whanganui performance engine builder Grant Rivers doesn't normally do surprise, but he was openly chuffed when he attended prizegiving at the annual New Zealand Drag Racing Association awards in Wellington.

Rivers and son Adrian arrived knowing they were up for honours when they won the season's Competition class in their home-built dragster tagged Blues Brothers.

However, what Rivers senior did not know, was the recognition he would receive for being a household name in the game for many of the 35 years he has been involved.

Rivers was made a Life Member of NZDA and that was a fair call - Rivers is truly a legend among muscle car, drag racing and performance engine circles.

"It (the Life Membership) was a hell of a surprise and a pretty emotional experience," Rivers said.

"Adrian and I and the whole family had only gone to the awards and annual meeting to collect our NZ1 Competition trophy."

Surprise is simply not part of the equation when Rivers and his team go to work and develop purpose-build engines for a raft of motor sports.

It all began when a young teenage Rivers bought his first car, a Ford Popular when he was just 13-year-old.

"I didn't even have a licence to drive the car home," he recalled.

In 1977 Rivers started his mechanics apprenticeship at Rod Campbell's then Guyton St service station and joined the NZDA is 1982.

"Rod is a great guy and gave me a really good grounding. Since those day it has become a real family experience building and racing machines we have built."

And for 25 years Rivers has also been heavily involved in the success of the Luptons from Waverley in hydroplanes. The Rivers magic has ensured the Luptons and Co had speed and stability on the water to take on the world.

Personal success for the Rivers family has come in the form of three NZ2 drag racing titles and now two NZ1. Even daughter Nicole has her name on one of the NZ 2 trophies with brother Adrian.

This season the father and son combination shared driving honours to jointly take the national title.

Meanwhile, outside racing seasons, the Rivers crew keep busy performing general mechanic duties at the Hatrick St workshop, although the mainstay of the business is building and tweaking performance engines for nationwide and international customers.