Many New Zealanders went to Europe to become racing drivers, surviving on their wits and on their practical abilities. Howden Ganley was one of them. He was 14 when he went to Ardmore near Auckland and watched the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix which fired his ambition to get into racing. He trained as a mechanic and in 1961 headed for Europe where he soon found work and used the money he earned to pay for his racing. It was not until 1967 that he became a serious contender, having managed to scrape together enough money to buy a Brabham Formula 3 car.
In 1971 he was hired to race for BRM and finished a strong fifth in the famous blanket finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. This was followed by a fourth place at Watkins Glen and a similar placing in the following year's German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. In 1973 he moved to Frank Williams's team and actually led the Canadian Grand Prix before fading to sixth place. He drove briefly for March the following year and then hooked up with the Maki team. The car was never very reliable and Ganley decided to retire from driving after a spectacular accident at the Nurburgring.
He went into partnership with Tim Schenken, another Grand Prix driver, to form the Tiga racing car business but eventually sold out in 1987 and went into business outside racing. He served for a period as secretary of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) but then moved to the United States.