Vale: Garry Rogers

Garry Rogers was affectionately known for his trademark offbeat sense of humour and that cheeky, infectious grin, but in Australian motorsport he was much more than just a loveable larrikin.

Story: Staff Writer

So too as a driver, Garry Rogers was more than the sum of his achievements. He never won any major titles, but across a four-decade career he was widely respected as fast and capable driver. From his beginnings in early Holdens in the ’60s to a rapid BDA Ford Escort Sports Sedan in the ’70s and then the ex-Ian Geoghegan ‘Craven-Mild’ Monaro GTS 350 and Hatchback Torana Sports Sedans, it wasn’t until 1978 that Rogers transitioned to touring cars.

In the late 1970s and early ’80s he starred at Bathurst in Torana A9Xs and Commodores, finishing fifth in ’79 in only his second start. He finished top 10 in the following two years, and then again in 1985, and also in his final Bathurst 1000 start in 1993. As a measure of his pure speed and ability, Rogers was a Hardies Heroes qualifier every year from 1979 through to 1983.

Rogers’ last serious racing campaign was in production cars in the early ’90s. But even after he set up Garry Rogers Motorsport as a full-time professional touring car team, initially running Steven Richards in Super Touring in 1995 and later Jason Bargwanna and Garth Tander once GRM had moved into V8 Supercars, Rogers insisted he hadn’t formally retired from racing himself.

Those initial three GRM drivers were the first of a string of young talent that Rogers fostered, the most recent successes being the likes of James Golding, Scott McLaughlin and Nathan Herne. But while Rogers is rightly regarded as an impeccable talent scout, his radar wasn’t always on target. In 2004 he famously sacked his young driver mid-season – three years later Jamie Whincup scored the first of his four Bathurst wins, followed by seven championship crowns, for rival team Triple Eight…

Rogers’ team built and managed the 7-litre Holden Monaros that won both Bathurst 24 Hour races (2002 and ’03); in 2014 GRM brought Volvo into the Supercars championship. GRM quit Supercars at the end of 2019 to concentrate on Australian Racing Group categories at the time, such as TCR, Trans-Am and S5000, with GRM assuming technical control over the V8 openwheeler category.