One of Australia’s greatest Supercar Drivers, Dick Johnson AM, has inducted five new members into the exclusive Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
The ceremony on the Tech stage at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix brings the number of inductees into the Hall of Fame over a period of 124 years to 93.
The late Garrie Cooper, Australia’s most successful domestic race car constructor and a former national sports car champion, heads the honour list across four disciplines of motor sport.
The others are five-time Motocross Champion, Craig Dack; two-time Speedway Sportsman of the Year, Bill Barrows OAM; three-time drag racing Top Eliminator Champion, Graham Withers; and the late Jack Ahearn, who was second in the 1964 World Motorcycle Championship.
Dick Johnson, already a Hall of Fame member, was made a life time Motorsport Australia Member of Honour.
The stellar lineup of heroes was selected by a panel comprising each of the five disciplines of the sport, Motorsport Australia, Motorcycling Australia, Karting Australia, Speedway Australia and the Australian National Drag Racing Association.
The Hall of Fame concept was adopted in 2016 to honour the top tier of achievers and to inspire the next generation of competitors, administrators and volunteers.
Its membership is so exclusive that it accounts for less than one inductee per year since motorsport first began in Australia on 1 January 1900, the day Federation was declared.
Garrie Cooper’s induction was particularly poignant. Several of the cars he built were on display in the Heritage paddock at the Australian Grand Prix and two of them were brought to the ceremony.
Cooper built 248 Elfin racing cars before his death in 1982, aged 46, of heart disease.
The 2024 Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductees
Garrie Cooper - Engineer/National Sports Car champion
Craig Dack - five-time Motocross champion
Bill Barrows OAM - two-time Speedway Sportsman of the Year
Graham Withers - three-time drag racing Top Eliminator champion
Jack Ahearn - 1964 World Motorcycle Championship runner-up