Ivan Jones

Petrol head heaven as truck racer farewelled
19 April 2006
By RICHARD WOODD

Hawera has never seen a funeral like yesterday's, when they buried Ivan Jones.


Nearly 1000 people, mainly from hot rodding, drag racing and engineering circles, descended on the JD Hickman warehouse, the only place big enough to stage it.

The coffin came in aboard Ivan's shiny black racetruck, the 565 cubic inch V8 thundering from header pipes, competing with the poignant lyrics of Don McLean's American Pie.

His black helmet sat on the coffin, beside a figurine of Ivan clutching his legendary spud cannon. It was made by Nigel Ogle and given to him on his 50th birthday, after the cannon blew up and nearly killed him when he tried to fire it with oxy-acetylene gas for a bigger bang.

Projected on a big screen were images of Ivan racing, shooting his arsenal of guns, hunting and fishing. Hot rodders made up a convoy of V8 rods and muscle cars for the occasion.

The service was non-religious, with no prayers or singing but lots of music, stories and tributes. Ivan went to such a funeral four years ago and told his mate Geoff Furborough who conducted it: "That's the kind of funeral I'd like. You're in charge."

Three months later, Ivan was diagnosed as having a malignant tumour on his spine and died on Good Friday, after a lengthy illness, aged 57.

"It would be hard to get a welding job done in South Taranaki today," quipped MC Mr Furborough.

He said Ivan was a man who lived hard and played hard, always on the edge. He'd known him 36 years and they only ever talked about guns, horsepower, explosives, engineering and politics.

There were tributes from Ivan's three daughters Nicola, Megan and Carla, his partner Sheryl (his wife Maria died in the Ansett Dash 8 aircrash near Palmerston North in 1995), brother Trevor, Egmont Rod and Custom Club president Hamish Hiestand, fellow petrolhead John Rae, and business partner Steven (Scotty) Landsborough (who is now the sole owner of Ivan Jones Engineering).

Ivan and Scotty built the 1100hp racetruck during the past three years. It was said to be the fastest street legal ute in the Southern Hemisphere. Ivan's best drag run was 9.49 seconds at 240km/h. He was wheelchair bound when he raced the truck at Meremere last month.

Two weeks ago, he competed in the Wanganui drags (in winning form) and was planning another run at Meremere this weekend, but picked up a virus and never left Te Rangimarie Hospice. "I don't know what we're going to do with the truck, to be honest. We talked about burying it with him, but the engine's too good for that," Scotty said.

* RICHARD WOODD is based in Hawera. Ph 06 278 1718 or 027 655 3446, or e-mail dailynews.hawera@tnl.co.nz