Former World Rally Championship Commission president and one of New Zealand motorsport’s most influential figures Morrie Chandler has died, aged 85.
Chandler began his motorsport career competing in hillclimbs and trials with the Northern Sports Car Club in 1962. It wasn’t long before he was president of the club or that much longer before he was elected to the executive board of Motorsport New Zealand.
That journey set the tone for the next 50 years.
While remaining an active competitor, he formed Ralliart New Zealand and lobbied the FIA for a regional series – the Asia Pacific Rally Championship arrived on the back of his efforts in 1988. By that time, he’d already been clerk of the course on Rally New Zealand for four years, a role he held until 2005.
Having sat on the FIA’s WRC Commission since 1983, Chandler was well known across the world of rallying. When Shekhar Mehta passed away following a short illness in April, 2006, the popular Kiwi was asked to step into the position of Commission president.
Mitsubishi and New Zealand rallying were close to Chandler's heart throughout his time in the sport
Mehta’s second stint as president had come as a result of Jacques Regis walking out of the role after 14 months. It was fair to say the Frenchman hadn’t achieved the sort of universal popularity and respect Mehta and subsequently Chandler brought to the job.
After the boom of the early noughties, the WRC was struggling for vision, stability and balance when Morrie took office. He put all of that right. With a typically hardworking, committed and far-sighted approach, Chandler steadied the WRC ship and delivered intervention and direction. He was a breath of fresh air and an absolute joy to interview.
I first met Morrie in 2001 on my first ever trip to his part of the world. He couldn’t have been more helpful. Yes, he had a round of the world championship to run, but he wanted to make sure that my maiden voyage to his part of the planet left me with the right idea about the country, the people and the sport.
That was Morrie. He always had time. Regardless of the time.
It’s fair to say eyebrows were raised when a New Zealander was locked into a senior FIA role which required spending a chunk of time at the governing body’s Paris headquarters.
“It’s a plane ride,” was Chandler’s response. “I’ll be there.”
Chandler was universally popular around the world – but he remained a Kiwi at heart
It was. And he was. Always. Time zones and geography meant nothing to him. He just got on with the task in hand. Establishing the Pirelli Star Driver program – which helped Ott Tänak and Hayden Paddon along the road to the WRC – was one of Chandler’s significant achievements. And his prowess for governance was never limited to rallying, a point underlined by his time as an Formula 1 steward.
Meeting Morrie was always the highlight of a day. Greeted by the big handshake and the warmest of smiles, you arrived into the conversation fully understanding that you would emerge from it both entertained and enriched. He was an absolute gentleman.
As New Zealand’s rallying community lands into Dunedin for next month’s season-opening Otago Rally, hearts will be heavy at the memory of a legend lost. Morrie wouldn’t want that. Smile a smile for him and remember one of the very best of people.
DirtFish extends its deepest sympathies to Morrie’s family and many friends around the world.
