Mr Summernats

AS WE REV UP FOR THE RETURN OF STREET MACHINE SUMMERNATS, WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THE MAN WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE

- Chic Henry

IF Street Machine is the bible of our sport, then Summernats must be Christmas, Bathurst and the Olympics rolled into one. There are stacks of other great events on offer around the country these days, but the Street Machine Summernats remains the biggest, wildest and most diverse of them all. If you want to immerse yourself in the full gamut of Australian custom car culture over four days, there’s nothing else like it.

The bloke we have to thank for it is Anthony Robert ‘Chic’ Henry. Chic founded the Summernats in 1988 and drove it like Brocky until 2009, when it was sold to new owners Andy Lopez, Dom McCormack and Andrew Bee. Now 75, Chic has remained involved with the event ever since, crowning each new Grand Champion and moving among his flock.

Where did the name Chic come from?

I’ve been called Chic since I was seven. I got it from a Warner Brothers character, Henery Hawk. He was the little chickenhawk, one of Foghorn Leghorn’s mates. So I was Henry the Chickenhawk, then Chickenhawk, then just Chic.

When did the car bug bite?

I grew up in Tasmania, and when I was about nine years old, my dad bought a 1937 Chev roadster. He painted it blue and, with the help of a couple of uncles, swapped a Bedford truck engine into it. I used to ride around in the dickie seat with my mates; we thought it was pretty cool.

Dad was always mucking around with cars, and he loved motorsport. We went to race meetings at the Baskerville and Longford circuits. I remember seeing Bob Jane’s E-Type Jag; it was the coolest looking car, with massive rubber. Wow!