Riverside, Calif. (March 27, 2010) - Racing mechanic, Formula 1 driver, and racing car constructor Howden Ganley was today announced as the first awardee of the newly-established Peter Bryant Challenger Award. The annual award honors the memory of the late motorsports engineer/designer Peter Bryant.
The unique award will be presented to Ganley as one of the highlights of the annual Legends of Riverside Film Festival and Gala at the Riverside International Automotive Museum held over the weekend of March 26 - 28.
Born in New Zealand, Ganley was bitten early by the racing bug and was, by all accounts pretty darn good at it as a lad. As many young fellows from that country, he followed his passion for motorsport to England where he became the first employee of a fellow Kiwi named McLaren when that (also young) guy decided to start building his own racing cars.
Working as a racing mechanic, Ganley raced his self-financed F3 car so well that he was eventually given a shot at driving an Yardley BRM F1 car. He drove F1 for four years (1971-74) and took part in 35 grands prix for the Marlboro BRM, Iso BRM, Williams, March, and Maki teams. He also ran F5000 and Can Am cars very successfully.
Shortly after hanging up his helmet Ganley went into business with fellow F1 driver Tim Schenken forming Tiga Engineering designing and building a winning line of customer racing cars. The inscription on the smaller memento trophy that Ganley will take home indicates the he was chosen for this award because he not only engineered racing cars, and raced them, but that he became a well-respected constructor as well.
Ganley resides in northern California but travels frequently to New Zealand and England to see old friends and to take part in vintage automotive events (not unlike the Legends of Riverside) as an honored guest. Ganley was a friend and great admirer of the late Peter Bryant and at one time had worked directly with Bryant on a sportscar engineering project for the Ford Motor Company.
The perpetual trophy, will carry the winner's name and be placed on display at the Riverside Museum. Each year's honoree will be presented with a personal memento of their win. Bryant left those who knew him with a sense that they had hung out with a great guy, one who was very proud of what he'd accomplished, but who was even more excited about what he'd being doing next week.
For those who never had the pleasure, his book is almost like spending a weekend with him. "Can-Am Challenger" is an elegantly-engineered tale told in plain talk by a justifiably-confident man. is a true textbook of tenacity. In the well-written book Bryant reels off the colorful story of how he worked his way from shop sweep-up boy to successful and universally-respected race car designer.
The annual Legends of Riverside event is a limited-attendance event (only 250 all-access ticket are available for the full three-day presentation). The small number of tickets sold assures attendees of personal contact with any of the close to 90 authentic motorsports legends and special guests on hand for the event. Adding to the experience are locally-catered gourmet lunches and dinners, along with the screening of a number of racing films, in some cases with the one or more of the film's actual participants sitting right there watching along with the ticket-holders!
"Peter was such a wonderful part of our inaugural gathering last year, we really wanted to keep his name associated with the event, so we've established an award that celebrates the kind of engineering excellence and enthusiasm that Peter represented," said museum director Bruce Ward. "Everyone who ever had any contact with him at all will never forget Peter, he was so friendly, so personable, and so excited about his next engineering challenge ... We all miss him terribly."
His work ethic was remarkable, fully matched by a wicked sense of humor, and, as he would never fail to mention (or air out at the slightest provocation), a wonderful singing voice.
Peter Bryant, quite literally, spent the last weekend of his life in the company of hundreds of friends both new and old. Taking part in the first Legends of Riverside event last March, Bryant was much in demand and always in the limelight for all three days. Signing books, posters, chassis drawings, and generally holding court every time he sat down, he was truly in his element.
His untimely death at 71 years old, only a day after he got home to Las Vegas from the Riverside celebration, was more than a shock, it was a sharp blow to the solar plexus. Smiling, ebullient, Peter Bryant who had been so much a part of the first-ever Riverside Legends event, was gone. "Now we have a way to remind people of what wonderful fellow Peter was."
FOR MORE EVENT INFORMATION: www.legendsofriverside.com