Latest / Rusty's Garage / Garry Rogers Tribute

Transcript

Garry Rogers Tribute · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:19
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:31
  For this episode, I wanted to do something to honour the memory of Gary Rogers, who passed away aged 80, just before the 2025 running of the Gold Coast Supercars round.
• 0:42
  Like all of you, I tended to think of Gary as so much younger than his years.
• 0:46
  He was so full of energy and so sharp.
• 0:49
  His relatively sudden passing has sent quite a shockwave through our motorsport community.
• 0:54
  So I thought a collection of stories.
• 0:56
  and memories from people who drove for him, worked with him and were just proud to call him a mate might be good tonic at this time.
• 1:07
  racer, Hall of Famer, team owner, family man, and someone whose approach to life we can all continue to learn from.
• 1:15
  James Moffat has done just that, from title wins in Trans Am for Gary Rogers Motorsport that means so much to him, to sharing a beer and supporting the family on the day of Gary's passing as everyone struggled to process it.
• 1:34
  James, thanks for coming on.
• 1:35
  This is a big blow to lots of people, but to you especially too, mate, isn't it?
• 1:41
  Yeah, I guess these things are never – you're never ready for them.
• 1:47
  And it certainly has taken a bit of time to process it all and digest.
• 1:52
  But I guess that's mainly because people that were so close to Gary just –
• 2:00
  Thought he'd go forever, really.
• 2:01
  Yeah.
• 2:03
  And that's more because of how he was, you know.
• 2:07
  He was going right to the very end.
• 2:09
  So that's the character he was and he'll be deeply missed by –
• 2:15
  Not just people in the motor racing industry, but, you know, the broader community.
• 2:21
  Tell me about the first time you guys, you know, kind of crossed paths and what it's led to for you, because it's led to more, I think, James, than just drives in Trans Am and TCR cars and so on.
• 2:34
  Yeah, you're right there.
• 2:37
  over the last sort of probably four or five years have been very close outside of racing with some other business interests together.
• 2:48
  But I first came across Gary way back in 2004, actually, when I was racing in the Lotus Trophy Series, and I got introduced to him
• 3:02
  via Steve Kramer, who was the Olin shop guru back at the time, but also engineered for GRM in the Supercars Championship.
• 3:11
  So I remember being quite young and quite nervous and a little bit intimidated by him, to be honest.
• 3:19
  But he gave me his business card, and I still have that business card today.
• 3:24
  But, you know, nothing ever sort of came of that sort of first meeting with Gary all the way back then, but...
• 3:32
  As time unfolded, I ended up finishing my full-time supercars career driving for GRM in 2016 and 2017.
• 3:43
  I look back at that now with great fondness because to represent and drive for GRM is a huge honour and privilege.
• 3:54
  I'm glad you've brought up the racing team here.
• 3:57
  We're talking to Sally as a part of this podcast as well.
• 4:01
  The impact that he had as a leader on that team of people, and I would imagine it's taken quite a toll on those guys and girls too, mate.
• 4:11
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:12
  And, you know, there's obviously the current group or crop of employees at GRM, which there's been a lot of them that have been there for so long.
• 4:24
  You know, I think guys like Gypsy, Les, Squiddy in the fabrication department,
• 4:34
  People like Sally who, you know, helps us get to and from the racetrack with all our flights and accommodation and make sure everything is organised.
• 4:45
  Stiffy, our team manager.
• 4:47
  You probably catch you onto a bit of a theme there that anybody that worked at GRM –
• 4:52
  Copped a nickname very quickly and that was from Gary.
• 4:55
  So it was funny though, when I was driving full time, my nickname within the team was my normal nickname, which is Moff.
• 5:08
  Yeah.
• 5:09
  but more recently Gary referred to me as Bobby.
• 5:13
  So with the building activities that I do outside of racing, he quickly came up.
• 5:19
  Bob the Builder.
• 5:20
  Yeah, that's it.
• 5:22
  But, you know, he's the only person that calls me Bobby.
• 5:25
  So I will miss that, you know, hearing his voice and hearing him say that.
• 5:31
  Good stuff.
• 5:31
  Can we finish with maybe two yarns if you're up for it?
• 5:34
  Maybe a fond memory that you have on the racing side could be something funny, maybe a Zenith moment, something special that you shared along the way.
• 5:41
  And then perhaps something on the business side.
• 5:43
  He's been great with life advice for those that he loved and cared for, hasn't he?
• 5:50
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:51
  I think probably on the racing side, Rusty, the last few years, there's been a lot of special memories spent together.
• 6:01
  I'm very fortunate to say that I've been on road trips with himself, his son Barry, who those two are – so many people think that Gary and Barry are brothers, which Gaz used to always get a real kick out of.
• 6:20
  So not father and son, but, you know, spending a lot of time on the roads, travelling to race meetings with both Gary Barry but also Gary's grandson, Charlie.
• 6:35
  They were, you know, really special times and a lot of fun, a lot of laughs,
• 6:43
  Gaz loved his trivia, so we'd always have to stop and get the newspaper and do the trivia on the road trip.
• 6:52
  He loved stopping at all the old country towns and getting out and walking up and down the main street and just appreciating the old buildings.
• 7:02
  He got a real kick out of all that sort of stuff.
• 7:04
  But we were at Tail and Bend last year and staying in accommodation together, which we often did.
• 7:13
  and uh
• 7:16
  I had this shaving cream in my sort of toiletry bag and Gary's like, well, what's this, Bobby?
• 7:23
  And I said, well, Gaz, it was Gillette shaving cream, nothing special.
• 7:29
  And he's like, well, what do you do with this?
• 7:31
  I said, well, you shave and Gary was always cleanly shaved.
• 7:36
  I said, well, you would shave every day or every second day, Gaz, so give it a go.
• 7:40
  You put it on your hand, rub it in your hands and then put it on your face and away you go with the razor.
• 7:45
  And he sort of couldn't really wrap his head around the concept of this.
• 7:49
  And so I said, well, give it a go this morning, you know.
• 7:51
  So Baz and I had gone off to the track and not shortly after we'd arrived at the track, I get this photo from Gaz, a selfie, and he's got the shaving cream all lathered up, you know, ear to ear.
• 8:07
  And this big cheesy grin and he walks into the track later that day, he goes, what?
• 8:12
  Bobby, I've never had a cleaner shave in my whole life.
• 8:16
  He thought that it was just the bee's knees.
• 8:19
  So I'll send you that photo, mate.
• 8:22
  Please.
• 8:22
  And I don't know if you guys have the ability to put it up on this, but it's a very, very funny lasting memory that I will have of Gaz.
• 8:33
  Great stuff, mate.
• 8:34
  I mean, that just proves what a – I mean, enormously successful in business, but so –
• 8:40
  so grounded and simple sort of philosophies in life.
• 8:44
  I know you've been close with the family during this difficult period, mate, and this has probably been a tough one to do, but thank you for coming on and sharing a couple of memories today.
• 8:53
  No, absolute pleasure, Rusty.
• 8:55
  Thank you for having me on.
• 8:56
  And, you know, he was a beauty.
• 8:59
  He used to say that a lot about people, but, you know, he was a basic person in many ways, but his generosity was so humbling and, yeah, very, very sad that he's no longer with us.
• 9:13
  But as he would have wanted, we'd just keep going and get on with things.
• 9:19
  The next of our guests is Garth Tander, who had two stints with GRM, won the great race with them, along with Jason Barguana at the turn of the century.
• 9:28
  Bargs has been on the garage before, along with his son, Ben, who drove for the team in recent years.
• 9:33
  Having that second generation become a part of the GRM family is a very special thing.
• 9:39
  But as Garth explains, the lessons from Gary for all of the drivers in the team over the years go well beyond racing.
• 9:49
  Garth, it wasn't uncommon for, I mean, I think Cam McConville drove the parts truck.
• 9:54
  You were probably active on the workshop floor.
• 9:56
  He made these young racers work for it, didn't he?
• 10:01
  He did.
• 10:02
  Yeah, I had to go, I had to work in spare parts.
• 10:04
  So that was my job, spare parts.
• 10:06
  So when I first started, I was like, what's this all about?
• 10:11
  Seriously.
• 10:12
  Yeah.
• 10:13
  Yes, I started in the warehouse picking orders.
• 10:16
  So, you know, Gary Rogers Nissan was a massive distributor of Nissan spares, Subaru spares and Daewoo spares.
• 10:23
  We did a lot of Daewoo because they broke down all the time.
• 10:28
  So I was at the back picking parts and then I sort of got –
• 10:32
  I promoted to warehouse manager and then I sort of became an interpreter and then it got to the point where the spare parts department used to get the shits on when I used to go away racing because the spares department wasn't operating properly.
• 10:46
  It's like, hang on a minute, I'm here to be a race car driver.
• 10:49
  This is just part time.
• 10:49
  So, and this whole time, Bugs was there.
• 10:53
  He's my teammate.
• 10:54
  And man, he used to just swan off.
• 10:55
  He was in service because he could sell ice to Eskimos.
• 10:59
  And, um, and Bart was over there swanning, doing nothing and I'm working my ass off.
• 11:04
  So yeah, it was very GRM.
• 11:07
  We laugh.
• 11:07
  We laugh now.
• 11:08
  Does that stuff, you know, was that stuff good for young racers in some way, maybe around commitment, dedication, maybe even just on the business side?
• 11:18
  Oh, yeah, I hated it.
• 11:20
  I hated it at the time with a passion.
• 11:23
  And I used to tell him all the time, I hate this.
• 11:26
  But now looking back at it, absolutely appreciate what Gary was doing and making sure we didn't get ahead of ourselves, making sure that we appreciated the opportunity, understood the...
• 11:41
  It wasn't just a magic carpet ride.
• 11:43
  You had to work hard to get ahead.
• 11:45
  So, yeah, at the time I hated it, but I was 21 and, you know, I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to be Peter Brock.
• 11:52
  But at that, you had to earn your stripes.
• 11:55
  I learnt that later.
• 11:57
  We are talking now with you having chalked up six Bathurst wins, right?
• 12:02
  But you got to do your first one to win your first one with GRM, with Gary.
• 12:08
  Take us there.
• 12:08
  What was that like and what did that mean to him?
• 12:10
  Oh, it meant a lot to him.
• 12:13
  Bathurst meant a lot to Gary.
• 12:14
  That was...
• 12:16
  Always a lot of build-up.
• 12:17
  I mean, that was only my third Bathurst.
• 12:20
  So, you know, the first one I finished and then we won it.
• 12:23
  But yeah, look, it meant a lot to Gary.
• 12:27
  He had a long, already at that stage, a long partnership with Valvoline and with Cummins at that time and the two managing directors of those companies, Mike Porter at Valvoline and Mike Green at Cummins.
• 12:38
  And Gary were all very, very close.
• 12:41
  And they worked very hard, spent a lot of money, invested a lot of time, effort and funds to get that result.
• 12:49
  And I guess that was probably the culmination of everything that GRM had done to that point, basically at the point where GRM really arrived as a race team.
• 13:00
  All right.
• 13:00
  What about a story maybe or two that you can remember from your time with him that could be funny, heartfelt, beyond that Baffer's win?
• 13:07
  What else?
• 13:08
  Yeah, look, hard because, you know, since we spoke about you're doing this and you wanted some stories, I'm like, far out.
• 13:15
  Pick a story because there's so many.
• 13:17
  So I'm going to go right back to the very start, the start when Stephen Richards left GRM to go to Nissan and race in the British Touring Car Championship, got that opportunity, so that created the opening at GRM.
• 13:32
  And I'd never, ever spoken to Gary before.
• 13:35
  And I was never one of those kids to self-promote, to call around, to hustle, to try and get a drive.
• 13:41
  But Mike XL, who was the engine builder at GRM, rang me, got my number somehow, I don't know, rang me and said, you need to call Gary, you need to ask about this drive.
• 13:51
  We watched you in Formula 4 the year before.
• 13:54
  You need to call Gary.
• 13:55
  He says, yep, yep, okay.
• 13:56
  So he gave me Gary's number and I called him.
• 13:58
  Like I said, never spoken to Gary before in my life.
• 14:01
  So I rang him and, oh, hello, Mr. Rogers.
• 14:04
  My name's Garth Tander.
• 14:05
  I'm not sure if you know who I am.
• 14:07
  I won the Formula 4 champ and I hadn't even finished the sentence, yes, I know who you are.
• 14:12
  I know what you did last year.
• 14:13
  And anyone that's spoken to Gary on the phone will know that.
• 14:16
  That's how it went down.
• 14:20
  I know what you're ringing about.
• 14:21
  I'll call you back.
• 14:21
  I'm like, okay, that's...
• 14:26
  That's that done.
• 14:27
  I'm not getting that right.
• 14:28
  And Trudu's form, he rang me back.
• 14:30
  This is on Thursday.
• 14:31
  I remember it was a Thursday.
• 14:33
  I was working for Fastlane Racing up at the track at Wannery Raceway in the Sheds.
• 14:37
  And he rang me back that afternoon and said, right, we're testing on Tuesday.
• 14:43
  You're on a plane Monday.
• 14:45
  And that was it.
• 14:46
  That was it.
• 14:47
  Unbelievable.
• 14:48
  I reckon that I would have spoken.
• 14:50
  Prior to getting on that plane, I reckon I had spoken to Gary for less than two minutes.
• 14:55
  Unbelievable.
• 14:56
  And did the test and throttle jammed, speared off, broke the splitter off it.
• 15:02
  And I was like, oh, that's that done.
• 15:03
  They won't believe me that the throttle jammed because, you know, Formula 4, you didn't have data, but they looked at the data.
• 15:08
  Yep, yep, throttle jammed.
• 15:09
  So he calls me in on the Wednesday after the test, and he goes, how do you reckon all that went?
• 15:14
  And he's like, oh, I thought I did really well, Gary.
• 15:16
  I thought it was really good.
• 15:16
  I was only about a second off Bargs, and I was like, no, that's not so bad.
• 15:20
  And he goes, yeah.
• 15:21
  Do you want to race to Phillip Island this weekend?
• 15:29
  what?
• 15:30
  And I'm like, yeah, yes.
• 15:32
  And that was it.
• 15:33
  So within, within eight days, I was gone from a former Ford mechanic, never spoken to Gary Rogers to have my first drive in a supercar at Phillip Island for Gary Rogers Motorsport.
• 15:42
  And that's how Gary operated.
• 15:44
  So, um, I had no idea how that was, how life was going to play out for the next seven years for the first, for when I was there for the first stint, but yeah.
• 15:53
  Yeah, it was – I learnt a lot.
• 15:56
  I learnt a lot.
• 15:56
  Did you?
• 15:57
  Well, let's finish with that then.
• 15:58
  Maybe some of the things that you'll take away from that chapter, from being around him, and this has obviously had a huge impact in our community, among fans, among particularly those that are close to him.
• 16:12
  What's the thing that you'll cherish, Garth?
• 16:14
  Yeah.
• 16:15
  I cherish a lot, the opportunity, for sure.
• 16:18
  I mean, if it wasn't for Gary Rogers, I wouldn't be a supercar driver at all, let alone having any sort of success.
• 16:25
  Like, literally, I had no options as a kid that just won the Formula 4 championship, spent all the money that mum and dad had, exhausted all the sponsorship that we could gather.
• 16:35
  That was it.
• 16:36
  I was done.
• 16:37
  So if it wasn't for Gary, then, you know, this phase of my life, that direction in my life would not have happened.
• 16:43
  So absolutely cherish that and can never, ever be more thankful for that.
• 16:50
  But even now today, like, you know, in my role at Grove Racing, where I help with the direction of the race team with Stephen Grove and Brenton Grove, yeah.
• 17:02
  You know, we were looking at driver options for this year, for 2025.
• 17:06
  And when Kai Allen became an option, I was like, wow, we're going to have two kids.
• 17:11
  We're going to have a Matt Payne, who's 22 at the time, and we're going to have a 19-year-old, you know.
• 17:17
  And I said to Steve and Brenton, I said, mate, I remember way back when I started at GRM, we had Jason Barguana and myself and no one believed in youth at that stage.
• 17:26
  And we built something pretty cool.
• 17:27
  And that was way back in the early 2000s.
• 17:29
  And I think we can do the same today.
• 17:30
  So it was that.
• 17:31
  I was inspired from what Gary did with us way back then that gave us, gave me the confidence that we could do what we needed to do with two young drivers today.
• 17:41
  And it seems to be working out OK.
• 17:43
  So I never got the opportunity to tell Gary that.
• 17:46
  But that's something that sticks with me today.
• 17:49
  That's the opportunity for young drivers and improve that all the way through, you know, the lifetime of GRM.
• 17:55
  Finally, mate, we don't need to get into details of his passing here, obviously.
• 18:00
  But was that on your mind perhaps when you were at Bathurst or maybe you didn't know at that stage?
• 18:06
  And how did it hit you when you learned about this?
• 18:09
  I didn't know.
• 18:10
  So I didn't know that he'd taken ill a couple of weeks prior.
• 18:14
  I did think it was strange that I hadn't got a text from Gary post Bathurst.
• 18:18
  Like win, lose, or draw.
• 18:20
  I always used to get a text from Gary post Bathurst, and I didn't get that.
• 18:25
  And I was like, oh, that's strange, but Gary being Gary, he's probably busy at the farm or doing something.
• 18:30
  Who knows?
• 18:31
  And it was actually on the Thursday morning of Gold Coast, Steve Richards texted me and said, oh, I'm not sure if you've heard the news, but Gary passed.
• 18:38
  And, yeah, I mean, it was a hard weekend at Gold Coast, really hard weekend.
• 18:42
  Obviously, Supercars paid tribute to Gary beautifully on the Saturday and, you know, a lot of people up and down pit lane that we worked together at GRM, you know, initially the first time for those first seven years and then when I went back in 2017, 2018.
• 18:57
  A lot of mechanics, a lot of engineers, you know, you didn't have to say anything.
• 19:02
  You just sort of have an embrace and a knowing look or, you know, a smile.
• 19:08
  Yeah, it was a tough weekend.
• 19:09
  It certainly was.
• 19:10
  And he leaves a big hole, certainly a massive hole in my life, but also, you know, the Australian motorsport landscape.
• 19:20
  GT mentioned Stephen Richards there and the opening or the almost baton change at GRM between them.
• 19:26
  For Richo, the family connections run deep with the Rogers and he has vivid memories of Gary as he grew up during Oscar at Calder Park, Super Touring and Supercars, where Gary gave Steve and his legendary father Jim a chance to drive together, something that means so much more to them than just a rare place in the record books.
• 19:51
  Can you remember your earliest interaction, Richard, with Gary Rogers?
• 19:56
  Yeah.
• 19:56
  Look, I mean, probably, Rusty, it goes back a fair way because, you know, when Mum and Dad first came to Australia chasing the motorsport dream, Gary was almost the first guy that they bumped into at the track and called her.
• 20:11
  So...
• 20:13
  I think, you know, Gary came up and introduced himself and from there, you know, it was pretty tough for mum and dad back then because they didn't have a lot of money and, you know, they had to buy their first car to get around over there.
• 20:26
  And Gary got them some finance because they didn't have the means at the time.
• 20:32
  So the relationship really, you know, Gary and his family to a degree have been, you know, lifelong friends of mum and dad since they moved to Australia.
• 20:43
  And then, you know, so my interaction's going back.
• 20:47
  I remember things like Gary's a massive, massive Speedway fan.
• 20:53
  And one particular time, you know, rang up one day in January and he was going to the Classic down at Warrnambool and he invited us along.
• 21:02
  He had this really cool, I think a 560 SEC AMG Mercedes.
• 21:09
  So he comes and picks us up, Dad and I jump in the car, and he knows all the back roads to Warrnambool.
• 21:16
  And we're scooting along the back roads at about a...
• 21:20
  let's say, a tad over 200 kilometres an hour.
• 21:26
  Made the short trip to Warrnambool about an hour shorter than it probably would normally be.
• 21:31
  So, you know, those sorts of things.
• 21:33
  And then, of course, you know, I was lucky enough to be a part of the GRM.
• 21:39
  In fact, in some ways probably the foundation of what GRM was is a full-time operation and there were only a couple of us and, you know, the early Oscar days were great fun.
• 21:52
  And then, you know, the move from...
• 21:54
  you know, from Oscar into what is now V8 Supercar.
• 21:58
  So, you know, without Gary, in reality, my career would have been a lot harder to kick off for sure.
• 22:05
  There was a couple of key things in that phase.
• 22:08
  I mean, I think of Super Turing and his commitment to that and where it would take you for a little while in your own career.
• 22:15
  And then the fact that the longevity in the Richards-Rogers family friendship was so good that ultimately it brought all three of you together because you got to race with your dad under the GRM banner, didn't you?
• 22:28
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:30
  There were two years there where we drove together, my first year full-time in V8 Supercars and then in 1997.
• 22:38
  And, you know, we were just a small team of people, I think, at the time we might have had.
• 22:44
  six full-time staff, including me in the workshop.
• 22:49
  And, you know, we had a customer, a customer spec Gibson motorsport car that, you know, really we weren't doing, but we'd started to do a lot of our own development with.
• 23:01
  And then at Bathurst in 97, you know, we got over the line to finish second, you know, which at the time was just a
• 23:07
  massive achievement for such a small team that were using customer cars, not building our own cars.
• 23:13
  We were using customer cars and sort of trying to hot rod them up to suit us.
• 23:17
  So they were really good times.
• 23:20
  You know, I think 96 were the privateers champion.
• 23:23
  You know, we punched above our weight, but Gary's commitment right from – and I just remember the day that he came in and he said, you know, working in the workshop,
• 23:35
  doing the Oscar stuff and, you know, there was a bit of stuff going on with Calder Park and the TV and Valvoline weren't particularly happy with the coverage that they were receiving.
• 23:48
  And, you know, we thought we were going to go and try and do something else and obviously we did the super tours in 95 and then he came in and he said, right, we're going to go, we're going to have a crack at the V8 program.
• 24:01
  For me as a, I think I was a...
• 24:04
  23-year-old at the time, it was like, wow, how happens this?
• 24:10
  Surreal.
• 24:11
  Mate, what do you think, I mean, he would get on the set of television sometimes with crazy outfits, T-shirts, funny things.
• 24:18
  He was so good about ensuring that a character was injected into the sport, but a character that truly represented you.
• 24:29
  Yeah, look, I think, you know, in the early days, there wasn't as much of that going on in the early part while I was at GRM.
• 24:38
  I think for sure when we'd get up to the Gold Coast or Lakeside, there was always the colourful shirts and things like that.
• 24:48
  I think that happened a little bit later.
• 24:51
  But, look, I was very lucky through...
• 24:54
  I say lucky because I really got to see Gary and, you know, Gary's character is exactly as you'd see when he was dressing up.
• 25:02
  But, you know, I got to see a side of Gary I think early on where, you know, he's a very, very genuine guy, very selfless, hard sometimes, hard, which was good as well, but, you know, from a professional standpoint.
• 25:17
  But just the way in which he did.
• 25:19
  He dealt with people, you know, the people that were in it.
• 25:23
  At that point, the race team was at the back of his car dealership, Nissan dealership in Glen Waverley.
• 25:28
  And, you know, he had a huge involvement with the mechanics.
• 25:32
  He'd get the mechanics from the dealership involved in the race team and just the people, you know, obviously garnered a hell of a lot of respect from everyone that knew him.
• 25:43
  He knew how to have a good time.
• 25:44
  I remember a 50th birthday at the dealership and my wife Ange and I walking up.
• 25:52
  We stayed at a hotel down the road and I was dressed as Pluckaduck walking down Spring Harrow.
• 25:59
  But that was Gary.
• 26:01
  There you go.
• 26:03
  That was his 50th birthday at the dealership in the showroom with all of his closest friends.
• 26:08
  Yeah.
• 26:10
  And I'll go back to the super touring time and I'm expanding on this a bit, but one of the, you know, obviously when I moved on from GRM and then Gary, you know, GRM got huge and they, again, punching above their weight consistently with the drivers they had, you know, but also the investment that Gary had in the sport.
• 26:31
  And one of Gary's fondest memories that he brought up quite often, we were,
• 26:37
  We both went together to the UK to buy the Honda Accord for 1996.
• 26:42
  So this is late 95, early 96.
• 26:46
  We had a trip over there and we had a stop over at Singapore for about 12 hours and we wandered down through the streets and we found this place for dinner.
• 26:57
  We were about to go to the airport and we found this place.
• 27:01
  It was like an open restaurant.
• 27:07
  And all they had in there, it was absolutely packed, and all they had was duck and rice.
• 27:13
  That was your option.
• 27:14
  And it was packed.
• 27:15
  And you walk up the duck and chop, getting hacked up on the thing.
• 27:20
  And they had Carlsberg beers, and they were in big bottles, right, about that big.
• 27:26
  And we spent, I think, two hours waiting to get a transfer to the airport.
• 27:30
  And for both of us, it's one of the coolest things.
• 27:34
  We just couldn't believe it.
• 27:35
  Here we were surrounded by all these people.
• 27:36
  The atmosphere was unbelievable.
• 27:39
  We had a duck and he always said, remember we had those big 9% Carlsberg beers we were just drinking.
• 27:45
  I think by the time we got to the airport, we were hammered.
• 27:50
  He responded for that.
• 27:52
  So I think those, for me, you know, the Gary at the racetrack was one thing, but the Gary, the person, his wife Kay, the Rogers extended family.
• 28:04
  Barry wasn't really much involved back then.
• 28:06
  He had his car dealerships himself.
• 28:09
  And, you know, we just had a great relationship and that continued on right until the very end.
• 28:17
  You made the call to Garth.
• 28:19
  You and Garth have been good friends for a long time, and I think you shared with him the news of his passing in the lead-up to the Gold Coast event, mate.
• 28:26
  How did it hit you?
• 28:27
  How did you feel?
• 28:30
  Yeah, look, I'd found out a week or so earlier that he was quite unwell, and I was just...
• 28:39
  quietly, was trying not to be intrusive, but I was just in contact with Barry and it came like a shot in the arm, really, you know.
• 28:52
  I wasn't expecting it.
• 28:53
  I was sort of thinking that the Gary that we all knew, he'd just bounce back and we'd see him at some point catch up and, you know, and then, yeah, it was pretty, yeah, it was a shock.
• 29:07
  It really was.
• 29:09
  And so, you know, you're never ready for these things, but I think, you know, just the respect for the guy.
• 29:20
  As a person that was a mentor for me and gave me such an unbelievable opportunity, but more so as a friend and a friend of our families, mum and dad, you know, they're lifelong friends.
• 29:34
  Life-changing.
• 29:36
  I sort of said in a post I made, you know, Gary was a dream maker for many, many people, you know, mechanics, engineers, drivers.
• 29:45
  Yeah.
• 29:46
  I think people look back as they get older like I do and have a fair appreciation for what Gary did inside the sport and outside the sport.
• 29:57
  Long-term friends that he has from his car dealerships going back 40, 45, 50 years, still connected.
• 30:06
  Messages I've had over the last few weeks, particularly the last week, he was just an iconic person.
• 30:15
  he's going to be sorely missed.
• 30:18
  Gary didn't just keep an eye on talent in the usual or standard places.
• 30:22
  The Richards might have had the DNA or the lineage, but a brave young star in front-wheel drive production-based cars caught Gary's eye, and not just because of the YouTube numbers he was getting.
• 30:34
  You could think, well, Gary just drafted Jordan Cox in for TCR and for a clever bit of promotion, but for Jordan, it became so much more than that.
• 30:46
  Jordan, great to get you on.
• 30:47
  Is there a story around how you came into contact with Gary Rogers and started to drive for him?
• 30:55
  Uh, there is actually.
• 30:57
  So it was actually back in the Honda days, if some of you might remember, the little Honda Civic that ran an improved production, had some good success and 15 minutes of fame with that at Adelaide and Bathurst.
• 31:11
  And then Gary was asking about it, who's that guy?
• 31:15
  And then turns out I went to TAFE with one of the –
• 31:18
  one of the mechanics there.
• 31:20
  And yeah, basically Gary invited me into the garage, and Barry as well, invited me in the garage at Adelaide, and I met them.
• 31:28
  And I'd never been around a supercar team before.
• 31:31
  I'd only really been around grassroots level stuff.
• 31:33
  And he showed me all about it.
• 31:34
  He said, mate, you're doing good.
• 31:35
  Keep it up.
• 31:35
  You know, I hope to see you around more.
• 31:38
  And that was that.
• 31:39
  It was a typical, you know, 30-second Gary chat to the point, yep, you're doing well, like to see you.
• 31:44
  This is our race team.
• 31:46
  Righto, hope to see you around.
• 31:47
  And then two years later, I ended up driving for him in TCR.
• 31:51
  Unbelievable.
• 31:51
  What was he like to work with?
• 31:54
  Because he always oozed this incredible positivity.
• 31:56
  But when you're in, you know, with the team, you're trying to win and things like that, was it just the same?
• 32:03
  What was he like to work with in that regard?
• 32:06
  Oh, mate, it was a pleasure to work with.
• 32:08
  Probably more my style, to the point, no nonsense.
• 32:13
  He was a great...
• 32:16
  For racing, I found he just was a great sort of – he knew – incredibly level-headed, and he knew how to – if someone was – if an engineer was trying to reinvent the wheel and he would pick up on it, and if the driver was overdoing it, you know, he'd pick up on it.
• 32:31
  He'd let you know about it, and if you felt as though you were hard done by, which all of us drivers in motorsport always feel as though we're hard done by –
• 32:41
  Uh, he, he would always, he'd call it as it was and he'd usually say, Hey, you're hard done by there.
• 32:46
  You know, uh, you know, that was unlucky, but get back on the horse, see the next one.
• 32:50
  You know, he'd always call out whether it was right or wrong.
• 32:52
  And it was, um, from that point, you always knew sometimes when you're a bit unsure of yourself or unsure of, of, um, um, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you
• 33:00
  of your performances or whatever.
• 33:02
  He was always like to the point, yeah, that was a good job or no, that wasn't, you stuffed up.
• 33:07
  You run your own racing and automotive business now.
• 33:10
  He's been successful on track and off it.
• 33:13
  Has there been things that he's helped you with or taught you perhaps on that side?
• 33:17
  Oh, definitely.
• 33:17
  So actually you just reminded me.
• 33:20
  When I first started TCR, it was 2019 it was, yeah.
• 33:24
  So, and then 2021 rolled around and the results were up and down and I sort of backed my abilities and I'd sort of also sort of found a few things I was probably deficient in and, you know, lack of experience and that I really needed to work on.
• 33:39
  you know, at that point I was like 25 and all I wanted to be was a racing car driver, you know, like we're racing here.
• 33:45
  Like, Oh, this is awesome.
• 33:45
  You know, I've got the sponsors, you know, I'm in a great team.
• 33:48
  I'm in a great environment.
• 33:49
  I'm driving some incredibly cool cars.
• 33:50
  I just want to be a racing car driver.
• 33:51
  This is awesome.
• 33:52
  And then I said to Gary, you know, like I've got this business, I've started at the same time and I really enjoy doing that though as well.
• 33:59
  And what do you think I should do?
• 34:01
  You know, should I commit to the driving side of things?
• 34:05
  He goes,
• 34:06
  And he's incredibly, same again, like I said, level-headed.
• 34:10
  And he just said straight to the point, he said, look, motor sport isn't everything in life.
• 34:14
  You know, everything's a balance.
• 34:15
  You know, don't ever forget the other side of life as well.
• 34:18
  So, you know, driving, you're doing a good job, but when do you say you keep going?
• 34:21
  But don't ever forget the other side of life.
• 34:23
  And I was like...
• 34:24
  That is so true.
• 34:25
  So, you know, basically he said, you know, you need your business as well if you want to keep – yeah, for a lot of people, you need your business as well.
• 34:33
  And I decided to stick to that on the side as well, which is –
• 34:39
  Luckily, I'm fortunate enough that business and racing and my sponsors, I get to go racing.
• 34:46
  I get to do both at the same time well, which is, I credit his advice for that.
• 34:52
  Can I finish with how much this might have impacted you, mate, and the observations you've made around the pit lane and the impact on motor racing generally?
• 35:02
  This is a huge loss, isn't it?
• 35:05
  I'm over that doubt.
• 35:06
  Like I sort of mentioned in my sort of social media tribute post, like it's just the amount of people that are doing tributes to him.
• 35:15
  It was so fitting and it felt only so right because he just, he appealed to so many people, you know, and he also, people had dealt with him,
• 35:26
  He dealt with so many people across the years that it affected people, you know, in one way or the other.
• 35:32
  And it was incredible to see, you know, the reach that he had, not just from people directly associated with him, you know, employees or drivers or whatever it might be, but also just the fan base as well.
• 35:45
  And you realised what he did for Australian motorsport as a whole.
• 35:51
  Realistically, mate, there's not many people...
• 35:54
  that have sort of had that sort of effect on motorsport in Australia.
• 35:58
  And, yeah, it was sad to see him go, mate.
• 36:05
  There are so many races that drove for Gary and GRM over the years, some only in one-off appearances or for special projects.
• 36:12
  Greg Murphy spoke about the Holden Monaro 24-hour cars recently, which included the likes of Peter Brock, Jason Bright, Todd Kelly and many more.
• 36:22
  Murph couldn't believe it when Gary came on the radio in the final hour and gave he and Garth Tander in the sister car permission to race each other to the line, providing they didn't take each other out.
• 36:33
  Murph did a double take and actually asked for the message to be repeated.
• 36:38
  A true racer's racer.
• 36:42
  Here's Aaron Cameron now, another to make it to supercars through hard yards and with some Gary guidance, earning a prestigious gold star in S5000 on the way.
• 36:56
  Aaron, he was always this immense supporter of young talent, and you're probably toward the most recent in that queue.
• 37:03
  How did that come about for you?
• 37:05
  I actually remember pretty vividly when TCR was coming about that first year, I...
• 37:12
  I think I called him.
• 37:13
  It was a very quick conversation with Gary at that stage.
• 37:16
  And probably like most, actually like most of my phone calls were with him, straight to the point.
• 37:21
  I went in there, had a meeting.
• 37:23
  And I think he already knew the answer of what he was going to say because I was trying to get a drive for that 2019 series.
• 37:28
  But I think he just wanted to meet me and sort of see where I was at.
• 37:32
  And I tried to pitch my case and he pretty much told me,
• 37:36
  no and I'll see you next year or good luck or whatever.
• 37:39
  And it was a no that first year, but then I didn't give up hope.
• 37:42
  I did that year with MPC and had some success.
• 37:44
  And then I thought, screw it up.
• 37:47
  I didn't have anything else to go with.
• 37:49
  So if I didn't call Gary again and give it a crack and –
• 37:52
  And thankfully, the next time I went in there, he said, yep.
• 37:56
  And then again, the decision was already made.
• 37:58
  The meeting was just... A formality.
• 38:01
  Yeah, a formality.
• 38:02
  Like he was already...
• 38:03
  In my mind, his head was already made up when I went in there that he was going to make it happen in some way.
• 38:07
  So yeah, I'm forever thankful for...
• 38:11
  the meetings we had and him helping me pursue my career, him, Gary, everyone at GRM and especially Barry as well.
• 38:18
  Without that, I certainly don't make it to supercars at the moment.
• 38:22
  So what things did you learn perhaps from him that have helped you on that side, mate, on the business side?
• 38:28
  What are the things that you'll take away from those wonderful conversations with Gary outside the car?
• 38:33
  I think just everything I take from my period at GRM with Gary is just about
• 38:40
  is just keep going.
• 38:41
  Like, obviously, I started in supercars, getting to the main game a few years later than most.
• 38:47
  So it was just about never giving up, waiting for the right opportunity.
• 38:51
  You never know what's around the corner.
• 38:54
  So it's just... And that's what I've probably...
• 38:56
  Yes, I use it in my racing, but I also use that outside of life.
• 38:59
  Like, you just never know what's coming.
• 39:01
  You just got to keep going, whether it's bad at this time, but it's always just...
• 39:05
  It'll get better and... Yeah, forever.
• 39:08
  Yeah.
• 39:09
  Forever grateful.
• 39:10
  Yeah, it was one of the first times I've been emotional about someone actually passing away when I heard about it last week.
• 39:16
  Can you share that, mate, how it made you feel and where you learnt about it and so on?
• 39:20
  Only if you're comfortable.
• 39:22
  Yeah, I think I was at breakfast actually with the Blanchard team.
• 39:26
  We were all having breakfast together.
• 39:27
  And, yeah, I think my engineer showed me from the Speed Cafe sort of reports and obviously I didn't really believe it because I hadn't –
• 39:35
  I hadn't necessarily heard and I hadn't really fully stayed in contact with Gary as much as I probably should have, which is sad now.
• 39:42
  But, yeah, certainly there was a few tears at the breakfast table and just, yeah, someone like that who's been so influential in my career.
• 39:53
  It's just...
• 39:55
  Yeah, it was just a, it was a pretty shit Thursday.
• 39:58
  It was a pretty shit Thursday and had a good chat with actually Barry Ryan as well.
• 40:03
  I think that was on the Thursday, the Friday as well.
• 40:06
  And he showed me that text message that he'd got from Gary after he passed away.
• 40:12
  And yeah, it's sort of.
• 40:14
  Cool to connect with some people like that who've also had a good connection with Gary.
• 40:19
  For those that don't know that story, maybe just share that.
• 40:22
  That sort of underscores Gary, doesn't it?
• 40:25
  Because the text came through later, didn't it?
• 40:27
  Yes, yeah.
• 40:28
  The text, obviously, Gary had passed away.
• 40:30
  And then I think it was the next morning or something like that that the text had come through.
• 40:35
  And I don't know how that all sort of worked.
• 40:38
  I don't want to know how it all sort of worked.
• 40:40
  But it was just, it's sort of typical sort of Gary sort of stuff that...
• 40:44
  And yeah, we've all had a good laugh about it now.
• 40:47
  And I think it's been out on the other social media platforms as well.
• 40:51
  So I'm glad everyone gets to sort of see that.
• 40:54
  Tell me about a moment that is sort of etched in your mind around maybe some of the success that you had at GRM, maybe a little moment that you got to savour with him.
• 41:04
  I actually, what I've got on my, I'm putting down on my notes here, my,
• 41:09
  probably one of my most fondest memories is nothing to do with car racing.
• 41:14
  It's about harness racing.
• 41:15
  Go for it.
• 41:15
  We only go for his car racing exploits, Hall of Fame, all that stuff.
• 41:20
  People mightn't realise he loved this space too, didn't he?
• 41:23
  So keep going.
• 41:24
  Yeah.
• 41:25
  I reckon that he nearly liked harness racing more than car racing.
• 41:28
  He loved his horses.
• 41:30
  So we, and I'm pretty sure the main story I'm talking about is Bathurst, TCR.
• 41:37
  I know I was in the front of the truck and I think maybe Coxie could have even been there as well.
• 41:41
  And he would sometimes give us tips on...
• 41:46
  on the trots that weekend where the trots were, what was going on.
• 41:50
  He'd always call pencil, which I don't know if pencil was his trainer or pencil was his tip guy, get tips off, but we, he'd always call pencil and then give me all of the races and where to put my money on.
• 42:03
  And I think,
• 42:05
  Yeah, I really – I don't know if any of the bets actually were ever a success, but I always enjoyed just putting the money on with him.
• 42:14
  And I remember Moff coming in at the end of one of them conversations and he reminded me that Aaron –
• 42:21
  Yes, Gary loved his horses, but his horses may not have been as successful as he would have liked.
• 42:25
  So maybe don't put all of your life savings on this bet.
• 42:28
  So, yeah, but it was just so much fun.
• 42:33
  Some of them sort of chats we had in trucks talking about harness racing.
• 42:36
  I didn't really understand what was going on.
• 42:38
  But, yeah, I don't think – I never made a profit out of any of those bets, but it was still good.
• 42:44
  Good.
• 42:44
  What about a racing moment maybe in the Peugeot or something or other?
• 42:47
  Is there a little thing there that you'll –
• 42:50
  you know, cherish?
• 42:52
  I like, I suppose probably one of the things for me in my racing is when we did do well, it was sort of, it was always like, yes, have celebrated, but there's also, there is always another race straight after that.
• 43:07
  Just because you win one race doesn't mean you're the best guy ever in the world.
• 43:11
  So it was always a focus of,
• 43:14
  Yeah, he'd say good job, but it was quickly moving on to there's another race weekend or, yeah, like it's always – one win was sort of not never enough, but like it was always straight to the next goal.
• 43:27
  And that's something for me as well.
• 43:29
  Yeah.
• 43:29
  I'm not a big celebrator of things.
• 43:31
  I just want to keep getting better and seeing where it all takes me.
• 43:35
  You've been able to break in, mate, through hard graft, and I know that a bit of that has come, I guess, from him encouraging you to be like that.
• 43:44
  What's the element of Gary Rogers that you'll continue to take forward with you here?
• 43:48
  I don't know.
• 43:51
  I suppose it's probably more from what I just said about not –
• 43:57
  I have this big thing about not over-celebrating.
• 43:59
  I feel like I got a lot of that from Gary.
• 44:01
  Like it's all just focusing on what you can do, what you can do in that moment.
• 44:06
  Enjoy the moment but kind of be eyes forward.
• 44:09
  This has come through a bit in this wonderful collection of stories.
• 44:13
  This is a theme, mate.
• 44:14
  Yeah, like exactly.
• 44:15
  It is just that.
• 44:16
  Enjoy the moment for what it is but it's not about, yeah, we were never a team to completely celebrate.
• 44:24
  massively on everything we were doing, but we were just always, yeah, continually trying to work together and see where we could, what would actually end up happening in the end.
• 44:33
  Like you just never knew what was going to be the next thing at the old GRM workshop.
• 44:38
  Keep boxing on, mate.
• 44:39
  And however that happened, I'm thankful and I can sense you are too, that your paths crossed along the way.
• 44:45
  That's really cool.
• 44:46
  Yeah.
• 44:47
  Thank you.
• 44:47
  I'm forever grateful.
• 44:50
  From TCR to Trans Am, Owen Kelly had never formally retired, having raced in NASCAR in the US and supercars back here.
• 44:59
  But the chance to kind of combine the two and drive for someone he really respected and who had a shared love of Speedway was a dream decades in the making, even if it came about in a funny way.
• 45:13
  Oh, and in later life, Trans Am really grew under the Rogers wing, if you will.
• 45:19
  And there's quite a cool story about him reaching out to you to get involved, isn't there?
• 45:23
  Yeah, there is.
• 45:25
  I got a random call from Gary one day and obviously I had his number from pestering him over the years, wanting to drive for him, you know, and he rang and said, oh,
• 45:40
  And in typical Gary fashion, a million miles an hour.
• 45:45
  Like, right, how are you, mate?
• 45:47
  Good, good.
• 45:47
  Yeah, good.
• 45:48
  Thanks, Gary.
• 45:48
  How are you?
• 45:49
  Yeah, good, good.
• 45:49
  We're having this race in Tasmania and it's 10 grand a win.
• 45:53
  It's the Trans Am Cars and we need a local bloke.
• 45:56
  And you'd be up for that, wouldn't you?
• 46:00
  I said, mate, I've been trying to drive for you for 20 years.
• 46:02
  Of course I'll be up for it.
• 46:04
  And...
• 46:05
  He said, righto, good, sounds good.
• 46:07
  All right, I'll get back to you with the details.
• 46:09
  Bang, hangs up.
• 46:11
  And I'm sitting there like, what just happened?
• 46:15
  Am I, I'm not sure what I just signed up for, but it sounds like it'll be fun, you know.
• 46:21
  Typical Gary.
• 46:22
  And then about 15 minutes later, he rang back and said, oh, small detail, I forgot to mention, you've got to run the car.
• 46:33
  Oh, right.
• 46:34
  Okay.
• 46:35
  So small detail.
• 46:37
  I said, that's all right.
• 46:39
  Those things are built like a NASCAR.
• 46:42
  I'll get Ambrose and you won't get him.
• 46:46
  He's not interested.
• 46:47
  And I said, no, I reckon he'll be in there.
• 46:49
  I'll get Ambrose and my brother Christian and we'll handle that.
• 46:52
  No worries.
• 46:53
  And...
• 46:55
  So it's interesting to look back on because Gary was really the catalyst to get Marcus back into racing because he was, you know, up the lodge there in the central islands of Tasmania hiding under a rock basically and we were just going to do two races and those two races in Tasmania and then that turned into another one and another one and another one and then we said, oh, well,
• 47:20
  Why don't we just say we're doing the whole thing, you know?
• 47:22
  We keep doing one more.
• 47:24
  But, um, so that's, yeah, that was, um...
• 47:27
  Typical Gary though, everything was a million miles an hour and get on with it.
• 47:32
  What I love about that is that he saw opportunity to bring some stuff together.
• 47:36
  I mean, he had a crack at that from the TCR side.
• 47:38
  He saw something special in Trans Am.
• 47:41
  I mean, this is the thing that filters through his whole racing career, isn't it?
• 47:46
  And he's put not just money, but a reputation and people together for massive projects like this.
• 47:54
  He has, and, you know, you go right back to, like, the Thunderdome, for instance.
• 47:59
  He had a big investment there with a couple of Oscars right through all of that, supporting all of that.
• 48:05
  And then, yeah, fast forward to things like Trans Am and the S5000s and everything, the amount of not only money but effort that he put into all of these things.
• 48:20
  Like, having a V8 supercar team is one thing.
• 48:23
  And that's a huge undertaking on its own.
• 48:25
  But to branch off and do all these other things, there's not many people in Australia or in motorsport in Australia that have backed it and put their money where their mouth is as much as Gary and Barry.
• 48:44
  Is it fair to say, mate, that a little of the, I don't know if this is the right word, kind of the ethos, if you will, of the way the Kellys go about business is very similar to perhaps the way the Rogers went about things.
• 48:57
  It's not intended to be flashy.
• 48:59
  It's roll your sleeves up, get into it and try and have a bit of fun as you go.
• 49:03
  Yeah, I think that's probably pretty close to the mark.
• 49:06
  And what I liked about Gary, and I think it's a bit like how we are as well, is he's got a very definitive no dickhead policy in everything he does.
• 49:16
  And you know about it really quickly if you are one.
• 49:20
  And he gets on with it.
• 49:22
  And so, no, I think...
• 49:26
  Yeah, it's probably fair to say, but, you know, that was one of the best parts about Gary is just no bullshit.
• 49:32
  It was straight to the point.
• 49:34
  You knew where you stood and like he kept saying, you know, righto, press on, get on with it, you know, and always in a hurry.
• 49:42
  You summed it up, I think, beautifully the other day when we called to tee this up.
• 49:47
  And that is, you know, for all of those achievements, you know, Hall of Fame, winning Bathursts, you name it, all the stuff that he's done along the way.
• 49:55
  He would often simply say that these are the good old days right now.
• 50:00
  We were standing in the workshop one day and one of the boys said something about the good old days.
• 50:06
  And Gary said, these are the good old days.
• 50:08
  We're in the good old days now.
• 50:11
  And that really stuck with me.
• 50:13
  I thought it was a great comment and he would know, wouldn't he?
• 50:16
  Because he's been around for a while.
• 50:19
  Definitely.
• 50:20
  Can we finish this, mate, with maybe a little something that you'll take away from this?
• 50:24
  I feel like all of us are shocked by his passing because he was so mentally sharp and seemingly bulletproof and it's been so sudden and hit a lot of people hard.
• 50:36
  What's the thing you reckon you'll take away from...
• 50:39
  getting to race for him, getting to work with him.
• 50:42
  And if you don't mind, mate, I'd love it if you shared a little bit about your own son's racing, because he and the Rogers family have quietly loved supporting Hudson, haven't they?
• 50:53
  They'd been, Gary and Kay would come and watch Hudson race.
• 50:59
  And when we started the Trans Am thing, Hudson was only, you know, six or seven or whatever, or five and six and seven.
• 51:06
  And,
• 51:09
  He came to all the races with me, so he's on the rattle gun, and Gary just loved that.
• 51:14
  Ed Hudson was in there working, and he's on the end of the jack handle and doing all those things.
• 51:19
  And whenever they could, Gary and Kay would come, just turn up to the kart races, and there they are, you know, to watch Hudson race, which was fantastic.
• 51:32
  And they...
• 51:36
  Yeah, we're really interested in him and really like following him and I'll certainly keep Kay up to date on what he's doing and Barry obviously and, you know, that's the other good thing which I know Gary got a kick out of.
• 51:51
  A lot of people think Barry is Gary's brother.
• 51:57
  Gary enjoyed that more than Barry but while Barry's around, Gary will always be here, won't he?
• 52:05
  Yeah, absolutely, well said mate Whether it was quietly turning up to support young Hudson Kelly or holding his own in boardroom negotiations Gary had a common touch that was unchanged no matter what the environment or the situation Success in automotive, success in business
• 52:24
  racing, property, even events and category management, and more.
• 52:28
  But he never screamed, how good am I going?
• 52:32
  If he created headlines, it was to inject a bit of theatre, character into the moment.
• 52:37
  As Supercar's CEO James Warburton explains, Gary loved motor racing, but the show was even more important.
• 52:45
  James, what's your earliest recollections of Gary Rogers?
• 52:49
  I always remember a larger-than-life, you know, character, you know, watching him in Pit Lane growing up, you know, watching him as a team owner.
• 52:57
  But I think for me, you know, I really got to know him in 2013, 2014 when I came into the series and, you know, he was just, it's everything that everyone said, an absolutely lovable character, larger-than-life, you know, so much fun, actually quite intense.
• 53:13
  very, very intelligent.
• 53:15
  And, you know, for me, and certainly in those sort of tougher times in 2013, you know, when the private equity had come into the sport, incredibly encouraging.
• 53:22
  You know, he always, you know, had a moment to, you know, and those famous words, can't just sook about it, let's get on with it, get on with it, good plan.
• 53:31
  And all the stuff that, you know, Gary used to say, which, you know, was always so much fun.
• 53:35
  Yeah.
• 53:36
  There might have been, you know, on paper, you would think it was ironic that he would pair with the Swedes and work with Volvo and so on.
• 53:43
  I mean, you were there in that period too.
• 53:45
  And that was fantastic for our sport as a collective, wasn't it?
• 53:48
  Yeah.
• 53:49
  I mean, the way, you know, the way in which he did it and, you know, again, I mean, you know, the anecdotes around the drivers that he had and the talent he brought in, but the success he brought for them.
• 53:59
  It was a very, you know, odd union in many, many senses.
• 54:03
  But, you know, the fact is it worked.
• 54:04
  And I think one of the reasons is there's very few people that, you know, shake your hand or, you know, give you a commitment.
• 54:10
  And that was the great thing about, you know, sort of Gary and Barry, you know, who I got to know, you know, just as well through that period.
• 54:16
  They said something and they said they were going to do it.
• 54:18
  You know, they did it and they did their very, very best to do it.
• 54:20
  And, you know, I think they achieved everything that they set out to achieve.
• 54:25
  They were passionate about motor racing generally, weren't they?
• 54:30
  And supercars in that period where they were there, we benefited from that.
• 54:35
  I would imagine there's probably at times tough moments too, but you grow with that, don't you?
• 54:40
  Yeah.
• 54:41
  You know, but I think the thing is that, you know, Gary in particular always had a very firm grip on reality, you know, so he would understand very, very deeply that, you know, we race cars to provide entertainment.
• 54:56
  you know, to build the sport and to build the fans.
• 54:58
  And so he was always very generous from that point of view in terms of understanding why a decision might be made or, you know, why something might have gone against him.
• 55:07
  He mightn't have liked it, but, you know, he always had that attitude.
• 55:11
  You know, it's sort of, you know, bigger than the sport.
• 55:13
  You know, he was all in on the sport.
• 55:16
  As much as, you know, Gary, you know, was, you know, a fierce competitor and everything else from a GRM point of view, he always regarded, you know, the sport and the series as,
• 55:26
  You know, something, you know, that was incredibly important to him.
• 55:30
  This little motorbike here in the background, you know, in 2017 as I was leaving, he asked to come and see me and John Borghetti and obviously Virgin Australia were sponsors at the time, as you'd recall.
• 55:40
  And I had no idea why and I said to John, JB, I said, man, I don't know.
• 55:44
  And he actually presented us these things from the workshop.
• 55:48
  And it basically, you know, is along the lines of thank you for your energy and your efforts, you know, in terms of, you know, what you've done for supercars.
• 55:56
  And he, you know, had a similar thing, you know, with John Borghetti.
• 56:00
  John was an aeroplane, which looked bloody terrible.
• 56:02
  John actually didn't know what to do with it.
• 56:04
  But I've kept that with me, you know, through, you know, sort of a number of jobs since I left here, you know, eight years ago.
• 56:11
  And, you know, it meant a lot to me that, you know, a team owner like that would actually recognize, you know, it's not just nice words, but actually recognize and, you know, go out of their way and build something quite unique.
• 56:23
  You know, but that was Gary, you know, and there's lots and lots of stories from lots and lots and lots of people.
• 56:30
  you know, that he would do it.
• 56:31
  You know, I remember it at the Gold Coast because he's an early riser and I'm an early riser.
• 56:36
  By sort of Sunday, you're like ready for, you know, you're ready for race weekend to end, so to speak.
• 56:41
  And I would wander over and our truck was out the back past where the catering hall used to be, you know, and, you know, GRM was there.
• 56:48
  And we'd always be there about 6am Sunday and sit down and we'd have some of the most fantastic conversations, you know, just the two of us, you know, 6am on Sunday morning because neither of us could sleep because it was so bloody light in Queensland because of daylight saving.
• 57:03
  You know, so they're great.
• 57:04
  Yeah, just absolutely, you know, great memories and, you know, I think the outpouring of love and emotion about one of the great characters and one of the true, you know, bastions of the sport, you know, he deserves every accolade he's got.
• 57:18
  Couple to finish here.
• 57:19
  Firstly, that outpouring you've spoken about, I mean, it was everywhere in the Gold Coast event, not just the paddock at the weekend.
• 57:27
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 57:29
  I mean, you know, like the fans, he always gave, you know, he always gave a lot of time to the fans.
• 57:34
  As you know, you know, the team owners and, you know, many of the engineers and, you know, mechanics are, you know, at times as well known.
• 57:40
  And you would argue that, you know, sort of many of our team owners and Gary was one is just as well known as, you know, some of the legendary drivers that we've had, you know, sort of in the series over the years.
• 57:50
  You know, that goes to, you know, whether it's his sauna moment or his dress-up moments, it was fun, you know, and he did remind us.
• 57:59
  You know, I think Aaron Noonan said the words, you know, that...
• 58:04
  he reminded us that life wasn't that serious at times too.
• 58:07
  And, you know, so he put a smile on everyone's face and, you know, and he was the first to have a gag.
• 58:13
  He's obsessed with numbers and parts of that Volvo thing, you know, the size of the 33 or, you know, the number on the side.
• 58:19
  He was like, you should do this for all the cars.
• 58:20
  It's like, no, Gary, they want their sponsors.
• 58:23
  They've got more sponsors.
• 58:25
  So, you know, yeah, some great memories.
• 58:28
  I love that.
• 58:29
  To wrap this up, he's a Supercars Hall of Famer, rightly and proudly there.
• 58:36
  What do you feel like is his legacy?
• 58:38
  I mean, he did some incredible things around promoting young talent, for example.
• 58:41
  I mean, there's so, in answering that, there's probably many facets to it, but I immediately think of the young stars that he opened the door for, gave an opportunity and set on the pathway.
• 58:53
  Absolutely.
• 58:54
  You know, and I think you could see that every single team in pit lane, you know, virtually over the weekend had a member that had their start at GRM Motorsport.
• 59:03
  And, you know, as we said in our release, it's pretty fitting, isn't it, that at Bathurst there was a driver on every step of the podium that represented him, whether they were co-drivers or, you know, main game drivers that got their start.
• 59:15
  And I think that says it all, you know, and the fact that, you know, many of those drivers that started went on to win multiple championships or in the case of Scotty Mack, you know, to go on beyond, you know, to, you know, sort of IndyCar is testament, you know, to that and exactly, you know, who he is and what he's about.
• 59:36
  We're not done yet on this special edition of the Rusty's Garage podcast.
• 59:40
  More stories on Gary Rogers from those who knew him and loved working and racing for him in just a few moments.
• 59:55
  Motor racing is a tough business.
• 59:58
  The lure of winning sometimes overrides good decision-making, seriously testing, and sometimes breaking friendships.
• 1:00:06
  As we continue our Rusty's Garage podcast special dedicated to the memory of Gary Rogers, it's worth thinking about the rare space that he occupied in the pit lane.
• 1:00:16
  Widely respected, loved.
• 1:00:19
  Former Network 10 commentator, now NBC Sports broadcaster, Lee Diffie, recalls how savvy he was and the trademark loyalty of Gary's.
• 1:00:31
  Diffie had a soft spot for the Channel 10 team, didn't he?
• 1:00:35
  Yeah, yeah, he did.
• 1:00:38
  He had a soft spot for people that he thought were genuine and that were really good for the sport and were just good people.
• 1:00:48
  Um, if you're a bit of a mug, if you're a clown, he didn't really have much time for you, but, uh, Gary was able to identify sincerity and authenticity very, very quickly and very accurately.
• 1:01:00
  And, uh, and then once you're a friend of Gary's, you're a friend forever.
• 1:01:04
  You had a great quote that you used, I think, on an Instagram post when you were summing up how you felt like a lot of us about all of this.
• 1:01:11
  And that was around how he kept his almost blue-collar values, if you will, despite being enormously successful.
• 1:01:19
  He didn't walk in and carry on like he just jumped off a lear chair, did he?
• 1:01:23
  No, not at all.
• 1:01:24
  And I think that those values or that core value was something that he worked very hard to instill in the drivers who he employed and, in fact, all of his employees, really, but especially the drivers because they were the ones in the limelight.
• 1:01:40
  especially the young guys.
• 1:01:42
  You know, Gary was known and many people called him as a star maker for the extremely long list of young drivers who he gave an opportunity to who then went on to become either supercar champions or Bathurst 1000 winners or even, you know, racing overseas like Scott McLaughlin.
• 1:02:01
  And so...
• 1:02:02
  I won't name names, but if they watch this, they'll know who they are.
• 1:02:06
  When they were working at one of Gary's dealerships, they may have been racing a supercar, a touring car or a supercar on the weekend, but on Monday through Thursday, they were sweeping the floors, you know, and they were taking out the rubbish and they were doing chores that they didn't really want to do or tasks that they didn't want to do, but that's how Gary kept them grounded.
• 1:02:28
  He, in the course of this podcast and some of the reflections that people have had, often business dealings were done with a quick phone call, a quick handshake, and off you went.
• 1:02:36
  You did a bit of business with him too, didn't you?
• 1:02:38
  Yeah, I did.
• 1:02:39
  I did and helped him with some drivers.
• 1:02:44
  from over here in the US to bring out when Supercars had the international invitational at the Gold Coast 600.
• 1:02:52
  And he would ring and say, all right, Diff, who are we going to use this time?
• 1:02:55
  And so I was able to help him out with Simon Paginot, IndyCar legend, Indy 500 winner, Patrick Long, sports car superstar.
• 1:03:09
  and featured in the F1 movie, of course, and Patrick's legacy lives long in the sports car world, in the Porsche world especially.
• 1:03:16
  And then Ricky Taylor, you know, sports car champion and major endurance sports car race winner.
• 1:03:22
  The first two went well.
• 1:03:23
  Unfortunately, Ricky's journey with GRM didn't go so great at the Golf Co 600.
• 1:03:28
  He ended up...
• 1:03:29
  flipping through the air of which uh of which Gary and the GRM crew called him Ricky Bobby well they were calling him Ricky Bobby before that anyway and so unfortunately Ricky Taylor's journey didn't go so well unfortunately because I think Ricky would have done really really well when uh the news broke about Gary's passing you know affected a lot of people you included I can recall you ringing me about it and that's because there's a little bit of a family connection for you too mate in this wasn't there
• 1:03:53
  Yeah, his daughter Chrissie came and stayed with us here in the US and got to know my wife and my children really well and we stayed in touch and still do.
• 1:04:02
  And, you know, now Chrissie's married herself, Chrissie's a mum and, you know, she came and stayed with us at a time in her life where she was looking forward.
• 1:04:11
  you know, what that next chapter was going to be or what the next adventure or where life was going to take her.
• 1:04:16
  And Gary was very appreciative, you know, to myself and our family for welcoming her in and hosting her and treating her like a family member.
• 1:04:26
  But, you know, it goes both ways.
• 1:04:27
  That's what, you know, Gary did for me from a very young age.
• 1:04:31
  Yeah.
• 1:04:32
  The Diffie family heritage is from country Victoria.
• 1:04:35
  Well, obviously, initially England.
• 1:04:37
  But, you know, when my ancestors came to Australia, they settled in about two hours north of Melbourne in that Wangaratta, Bonella, Shepparton, you know, all around there.
• 1:04:50
  that country Victoria area.
• 1:04:51
  And I remember once we were doing a race meeting in, in at Winton.
• 1:04:56
  And so we were staying in Wangaratta and having, having dinner in a restaurant.
• 1:05:02
  And he invited me to have dinner with him.
• 1:05:04
  And I said, I can't, I've got my auntie and, and, and my, my cousins and my nan is coming.
• 1:05:09
  And he's like, your nan's here.
• 1:05:10
  Well, I'd like to meet nan.
• 1:05:12
  And so every year he would always ask about my nan and ask about my relatives.
• 1:05:16
  And because, you know, Gary was a country guy at heart as well.
• 1:05:19
  So, um,
• 1:05:20
  I mean, that's what separated him from so many people, that he remembered those things for everything that he had going on in his life.
• 1:05:26
  He always remembered something about your life, you know.
• 1:05:29
  Great stuff, mate.
• 1:05:30
  You've leant into a story there.
• 1:05:31
  Is there one more you might like to share before we wrap up this convo that, you know, will stick in your mind forever about the great Gary Rogers?
• 1:05:39
  Yeah, he, one of my favourite Gary stories was to go back to that 2012 year of, you know, the Gold Coast 600 and the international drivers there and when I brought Ricky Taylor out and unfortunately it came to a really abrupt end.
• 1:05:54
  And James Hinchcliffe, Hinch, who would become my IndyCar booth mate.
• 1:05:58
  Hinch was the other driver for GRM there and there was that massive pile up on the start straight and...
• 1:06:04
  It was devastating to the drivers and it was devastating to the team because the crash bill, the crash damage was so extensive.
• 1:06:12
  And we were just standing there looking at each other like, oh, well, and the car came back to pit lane and back to the garage.
• 1:06:20
  And I remember vividly Mark Beretta interviewing a shell-shocked Ricky Taylor and just this junk pile came back to the garage and Gary said, all right, and just...
• 1:06:31
  Gave a few commands to the crew and said, salvage what you can, put it out the back, put a price tag on it, we'll sell it to the punters.
• 1:06:39
  Diff, and I had my mate Nathan Daly with me, and Nathan and myself, and he said, Diff, get Nathan, I'm going to get Chrissy, we're going to sit out the back, there's nothing else we can do.
• 1:06:51
  And so we went out the back of the pit area of the Gold Coast 600 and we went behind like a catering tent or something and we grabbed about half a dozen milk crates and we tipped them upside down and we sat on these milk crates of the Gold Coast 600 and had a couple of beers.
• 1:07:04
  And Gary just said, what else are we going to do?
• 1:07:06
  And that's...
• 1:07:07
  that's the normal bloke side of Gary and that was the pragmatic approach and way of Gary Rogers and just get on with life, you know, and that was the last text he ever sent me, which was just a short time ago and he said never give up and that's, you know, we've all got to do that for Gary.
• 1:07:27
  To another guest contributing from the United States now, Scott McLaughlin has just returned to his home there after a well-earned break down under following the 2025 IndyCar season.
• 1:07:39
  You may have seen on social Scott's reflections of the part Gary has played in his career, encouraging him to be comfortable with the media and fans.
• 1:07:49
  The importance of respect for the guys and girls in the team to build that tight crew around you.
• 1:07:55
  And the value in having a life away from the track.
• 1:08:00
  All important components that shape Scott McLaughlin, the racer we see today.
• 1:08:07
  Scott, he made such an impression on a lot of people, and I could tell from your social post that he taught you a great deal, not just about what you needed to do as an emerging race driver in the car.
• 1:08:19
  Yeah, no.
• 1:08:19
  Like, as Rusty, he was, as you know, like, he was such a life off the track as well, as much as he was a...
• 1:08:27
  a fierce, uh, team owner and, um, used car salesman.
• 1:08:31
  So he's one of those dodgy guys, but he was, um, yeah, just a fantastic dude.
• 1:08:36
  And I met him at probably the perfect time of my life.
• 1:08:39
  Um, you know, I was 18 and, and moved to Melbourne for the very first time and working in the, in the shop with, with him and the guys.
• 1:08:47
  And, um, um,
• 1:08:49
  you know, at the time, you know, you're like, all you want to do is be in main game, supercar driver.
• 1:08:53
  And you're like, why am I working on the floor?
• 1:08:55
  But I look back on those years and I'm like, far out.
• 1:08:58
  Like, I'm so glad he made me finish my apprenticeship as a fabricator.
• 1:09:01
  I'm so glad he made me work those first couple of years and learn and respect.
• 1:09:06
  Uh, the tradesmanship goes into racing cars and then how they're built.
• 1:09:10
  And,
• 1:09:11
  And then the respect that you give, you know, the guys and girls on your team.
• 1:09:14
  And he was a hard man, but he was a very – he was a good man.
• 1:09:20
  He looked after his people and he was loyal to his people.
• 1:09:24
  You know, don't worry if you crossed him, you know, I'm sure he'd tune you up from time to time.
• 1:09:29
  But he was a good man and someone that, you know, even today, you know, in America, he was –
• 1:09:37
  one of the few people from supercars that like, you know, I still reasonably not, not few people, but you know, I kept in constant contact with, I keep in contact with a lot of people from supercars, but I was almost texting Gary every week.
• 1:09:49
  And that's up until, you know, I was very thankful.
• 1:09:53
  I got to speak, speak to him, not, um, you know, uh, just before he passed and he was the same old guys.
• 1:10:00
  And, and, um, yeah, I'm just very, very thankful for the friendship.
• 1:10:03
  Um,
• 1:10:04
  I'm thankful for the mentorship and, yeah, we're going to miss him a lot.
• 1:10:10
  We are.
• 1:10:10
  That's a great trademark of his, don't you reckon?
• 1:10:12
  I mean, you went on just naturally through career and progression to, you know, get an opportunity with Penske and so on.
• 1:10:19
  Sometimes that can mean that relationships go through a downturn or whatever, but the fact that you've been able to keep that the entire way, mate, says so much about him, doesn't it?
• 1:10:29
  Yeah.
• 1:10:30
  Oh, look, I've been never, I've never been more nervous going to Gaz's office that day and going, Hey, like I'm not coming back next year.
• 1:10:37
  Um, especially after we had a pretty awesome 2016 campaign and, and won a couple of races and, um, you know, it was probably our best championship to date, but you know, he knew the opportunity I had on the horizon.
• 1:10:49
  He knew my goals and, and, um, he was, he was just amazing through that whole process.
• 1:10:55
  Um, was he,
• 1:10:56
  I obviously deep down, you know, he's brought up so many guys and he's always on the raw end of the stick in that department because he puts so much money into people when I'm crashing cars, when I start my career and whatnot.
• 1:11:06
  And, and, but he's constantly, um, you know, losing these guys because, you know, but he teaches us the key ingredients to be a great race car driver.
• 1:11:15
  And,
• 1:11:16
  Um, yeah, but like he, he was nothing but, um, complimentary and wanting me to do well.
• 1:11:24
  And even when, you know, I was battling for that first title in 2017 and, and he was one of the first people that texted me when I lost it.
• 1:11:32
  Um, and he was one of the first that texted me when I want it.
• 1:11:35
  So, um, just a, just an amazing person.
• 1:11:39
  We had our ups and downs like everyone does.
• 1:11:42
  And there's times that I was like far out, like why?
• 1:11:45
  why do I have to dress up like a drag queen right now?
• 1:11:49
  But, you know, he was such a, he's just one of those guys.
• 1:11:53
  And, yeah, just, yeah, I'm going to miss him a lot, man.
• 1:11:57
  Often it's the stuff away from the track too.
• 1:12:00
  That's the public stuff people see him, you know, crazy ideas and character and things.
• 1:12:05
  Maybe was there a road trip story or can you remember one or two things that are shareable about your time with him?
• 1:12:11
  Yeah, he shared.
• 1:12:12
  He was just so big on the team morale and get, I have to be honest, you know, I didn't really like those road trips.
• 1:12:20
  I really hated them to be honest because all I wanted to do, I wanted to get to Bathurst and I wanted to just drive and I was so excited and it delayed, he always wanted to stop and all these places.
• 1:12:29
  But when you look back on it now and you're like, far out, like that was such a good idea.
• 1:12:33
  You know, everyone got around it, you know, me and, you know, Robert Delgren at the time, he had no idea what he was in for.
• 1:12:42
  Just incredible.
• 1:12:44
  And look, that brought everyone down to the same level.
• 1:12:48
  And then it was the same where we stayed.
• 1:12:51
  We stayed in like a hostel, like an old hostel that I swear to God was haunted, but we were in the same place.
• 1:12:57
  We're in the same, you know, rooms every year.
• 1:13:01
  You'd share a shower, you know, there was just like, it was just very grassroots stuff.
• 1:13:07
  And Gaz loved that.
• 1:13:08
  He didn't like the, you know, he was, he was a very wealthy man.
• 1:13:11
  He did very well with his cars.
• 1:13:13
  He did work very well with everything, but he didn't like the, the, the, you know, shine of, of, of.
• 1:13:19
  The showy stuff.
• 1:13:20
  Yeah.
• 1:13:20
  The showy stuff.
• 1:13:21
  He was just that guy.
• 1:13:22
  And, and I think, you know, that's why he was so endeared by the fans too.
• 1:13:26
  And,
• 1:13:27
  Always had the fans at heart.
• 1:13:29
  Always had his drivers and his team at heart.
• 1:13:33
  But, yeah, he was a great guy.
• 1:13:36
  How will you best remember him?
• 1:13:38
  Is there kind of one takeaway for you where you'll think, you know, this is the thing etched in my mind about Gary forever?
• 1:13:48
  Just I think he was such a good – he never –
• 1:13:54
  He never pumped you up.
• 1:13:56
  You could have the greatest race of all.
• 1:13:59
  And, you know, I'm a winner at Pukakawi, for instance, and he would be like,
• 1:14:04
  you know, Scott's great job, great job, but Hey, no race tomorrow.
• 1:14:08
  You're only as good as your last race.
• 1:14:09
  You could be last tomorrow and suck.
• 1:14:11
  You know, like he was very, he brought you down to earth, but he would never shoot you down the amount of times that I had a bad race or crash the car, tie blew up, hit the wall.
• 1:14:20
  You know, he was always that guy that just kept everyone level headed.
• 1:14:25
  And I think it was such a great outlook in life.
• 1:14:27
  Um, you know, he was just full steam ahead.
• 1:14:30
  no looking back and just a great way to look about life.
• 1:14:34
  And yeah, I'm excited for next year because I just feel like I've got a lot of motivation with him and, and, and knowing that he'll be up there watching me and hopefully give me some wisdom and, and we'll see how we go.
• 1:14:44
  Awesome.
• 1:14:44
  Will you carry a little something with you in that regard, mate, a little GRM something?
• 1:14:48
  I'd like to, I've been thinking about what I could do for my helmet next year and stuff like that.
• 1:14:52
  You know, that the Rogers family, you know, between Gary, but yeah,
• 1:14:57
  Barry Rogers, Kay and Michelle and Cassie, Chrissy, sorry.
• 1:15:05
  They're just amazing people and I've known them for a long time.
• 1:15:08
  And Charlie Rogers, who's Barry's son, he's over here running right now.
• 1:15:12
  He's in college.
• 1:15:13
  trying to keep in touch with him he's in Pennsylvania I'm in North Carolina so um I just you know that the family is dear to me and then um yeah I'm gonna do every bit I can to to you know do the best I can but it's gays wouldn't care he'd be like don't worry about that crap just get on with it and just drive you know that's not gonna do anything right and just be that's just how he would be you know and um that's the best part about him
• 1:15:36
  In recent days in the broadcast and on socials, Mark Scaife reminded us of the massive contribution that Gary made to Australian motorsport and supercars over a very long period.
• 1:15:48
  That sentiment is echoed here by close mutual friend David White, who was head of sport at Channel 10 during a golden period and went on to even greater success internationally in sports broadcast and media rights negotiations.
• 1:16:03
  That distance to David in the UK and for a time in New York never affected their bond or friendship.
• 1:16:11
  Listen carefully here as David shares some insights on James Golding's dedication and how Gary recognised and rewarded that, plus a shared love for a different kind of horsepower.
• 1:16:23
  MUSIC
• 1:16:25
  David, you knew him for quite some time.
• 1:16:27
  What was the first time you sort of crossed paths and did you immediately kind of click in a friendship sense?
• 1:16:35
  Well, Rusty, I first met Gary in the beginning of 1997 when you and I were involved in the start of supercars, V8 supercars, as it was then on Network 10.
• 1:16:47
  And I had dinner at the Domain Hotel with the then board chaired by, you know, Tony.
• 1:16:55
  James Erskine was there, Larry.
• 1:16:57
  And I sat next to Gary.
• 1:16:59
  And, of course, being a motorsport fan all my life, I knew of Gary and I was actually a little bit intimidated sitting next to Gary.
• 1:17:09
  And halfway through dinner, he said, righto, Mr. Television smartass.
• 1:17:13
  He said, what are we going to do to make this car racing better?
• 1:17:19
  And I remember I said to him at the time, I said, Gary, I said, mate, the best car race you'll ever see is when the fastest car on the track is not the lead car.
• 1:17:30
  He went, yeah, okay, well, you might be all right then.
• 1:17:35
  And, yeah, that was the start of it.
• 1:17:38
  So, you know, it started a 28-year really, really strong friendship.
• 1:17:44
  Yeah.
• 1:17:45
  Amazing.
• 1:17:45
  He was great in a business sense.
• 1:17:49
  I mean, he clearly loved his motor racing.
• 1:17:50
  He'd come from that, a racer's racer, I think as Scaifey reflected, but he got that it was so much more than that, didn't he?
• 1:17:58
  Yeah, look, for sure.
• 1:18:00
  He was a very sharp businessman, you know?
• 1:18:04
  I mean, I'm sure it's all been said before, but one of the other common interests that he and I had was that, you know, I was born and bred in Tasmania and he loved Tasmania.
• 1:18:15
  and he had quite a few business interests down there.
• 1:18:18
  He owned a hotel down south of Hobart.
• 1:18:23
  He built a marina down there.
• 1:18:25
  He had an industrial estate down there and a beautiful home on the Derwent River, which was the old Harbour Master's house.
• 1:18:33
  So, you know, he loved going down there.
• 1:18:35
  And, of course, his great love, probably his greatest love outside his family were his horses.
• 1:18:44
  And he had several horses down there that used to run in the trotting meetings around Tasmania.
• 1:18:52
  He and I actually at one point owned a horse together.
• 1:18:56
  And I think we would both acknowledge it was the slowest.
• 1:18:59
  Did you?
• 1:18:59
  Yes.
• 1:19:00
  Bonfire night.
• 1:19:02
  It's in a can now.
• 1:19:03
  It was very slow.
• 1:19:05
  Yeah.
• 1:19:09
  The impact from your point of view, I mean, getting to sit beside him like that and working with him as the sport exploded in its popularity, he clearly had business acumen and was savvy in the manner that you talked about there.
• 1:19:22
  What are the things that supercars perhaps even now still benefit from having had Gary Rogers involved?
• 1:19:29
  Yeah.
• 1:19:31
  Well, Gary always danced to the beat of his own drum, you know.
• 1:19:36
  He would play by the rules to the point where that he didn't think the rules were right.
• 1:19:44
  And for sure along the way, and this is in no way shape or form of criticism, but along the way as supercars evolved, you know, from time to time I think decisions were probably made that weren't...
• 1:19:57
  weren't 100% correct.
• 1:19:59
  And, you know, if Gary thought that they weren't, then he'd be very vocal.
• 1:20:03
  He would stand up and put his point of view and to the point where if he was resolute, then he just wouldn't do it.
• 1:20:15
  So, you know, I think he was very good for the sport in that sense and probably held management and some of the other teams to account, you know, because of his strong beliefs.
• 1:20:27
  He was a character, D-Dub.
• 1:20:29
  There were times where we probably never knew what was going to happen on camera with some of the antics, and we loved that about him, didn't we?
• 1:20:37
  Well, we did, you know.
• 1:20:38
  I mean, again, they've probably been told, but, you know, some of the antics he got up to on the grid in some of the biggest races, I think, in 1998.
• 1:20:53
  And at the first Adelaide 500, you know, he got up to all sorts of shenanigans on the grid, which I think the then premier of the time wasn't quite sure what he'd brought to town.
• 1:21:05
  But no, he...
• 1:21:08
  But he loved his car racing, but more than that, he loved the team that were involved.
• 1:21:17
  And even though he probably would never have said it, I knew that a big part of the reason that he continued on car racing was to make sure that, you know, everyone that had been loyal to him for 35 and 40 years
• 1:21:34
  still had something to do, you know, even during COVID, Greg, when, you know, there was no car racing for all intents and purposes.
• 1:21:44
  He found projects for the team to do, you know, building cars and just made sure that everybody had a purpose, you know.
• 1:21:55
  Very, very, very, very caring man.
• 1:21:58
  Mm-hmm.
• 1:21:59
  You entrusted him with a special project of your own, a Tirana that you loved, and he and the team helped restore it to its more or less original state, didn't they?
• 1:22:10
  Well, yes, that's true.
• 1:22:12
  I owned Colin Bond's L34 Holden dealer team rally car, which had quite a great history.
• 1:22:22
  It started life as a touring car.
• 1:22:26
  And anyway, Gary, it was a bit of a rough old thing.
• 1:22:29
  And Gary had a look at it.
• 1:22:32
  I took it and showed it to him in Melbourne one day.
• 1:22:34
  He said, ah, look, this is no good.
• 1:22:36
  He said, look, it doesn't go as good as it should and it doesn't look as, you know.
• 1:22:40
  He said, you've got to get rid of all this rally stuff and, you know, turn it into a really good thing.
• 1:22:45
  And I went, okay.
• 1:22:45
  He said, I'll do it for you.
• 1:22:46
  I'll do it for you.
• 1:22:47
  So I gave him the keys.
• 1:22:48
  I didn't see the thing for about another six months and it came back and it was,
• 1:22:52
  all beautifully painted and had new this and new that and it ran like a clock and it was lovely.
• 1:22:59
  And I was ever so happy.
• 1:23:00
  I said, what happened to all the original rally stuff, you know, the lights and the fuel tank and wheels?
• 1:23:07
  Ah, Cocky said, you don't want all that rubbish.
• 1:23:09
  So I threw it on the tip.
• 1:23:12
  which at the time I wasn't that worried about until I went to sell the car before I came to live in the UK and everyone said, well, where's all the original stuff?
• 1:23:24
  I said, I think it's on the Warragal tip.
• 1:23:30
  But for all intents and purposes, he restored that L34 for me and it cost me a corned beef and hash and a couple of beers at the Emerald Hotel.
• 1:23:46
  Unbelievable.
• 1:23:47
  It was beautifully done too.
• 1:23:48
  Two to finish D-Dub.
• 1:23:50
  There's probably many things that he should have been proud of in his career from the different successes in business and even on track.
• 1:23:59
  What he did for young racers especially is a standout for me.
• 1:24:04
  There are countless examples of people that he helped along the way.
• 1:24:08
  I mean, you've stayed in touch with Scotty McLaughlin, for example, doing amazing things in the United States.
• 1:24:13
  There's lots of stories like that, isn't there?
• 1:24:15
  Well, for sure there is, you know.
• 1:24:16
  And, again, it's been all well documented.
• 1:24:19
  But, yeah, I do stay in touch with Scott and so do Gary.
• 1:24:25
  You know, Gary would ring him on the morning of the Indy 500 just to give him a few words of advice, you know.
• 1:24:33
  Not that Scott wasn't getting plenty of advice from people like Roger Penske at the time.
• 1:24:37
  But, yeah.
• 1:24:39
  Uh, yeah, Scott, I know Scott's, you know, desperately sad at, at his passing and, and, you know, just look what he did for, you know, James Golding, who, who turned up at his workshop, um, came in from South of Frankston on the train as a 16 year old and said, I really, really want to go car racing.
• 1:24:58
  And.
• 1:24:59
  Gary said, well, I'll give you a job, you know, changing tyres and cleaning windscreens and see how you go.
• 1:25:06
  So James came in on the train every morning as a 16-year-old kid and worked, you know, at Gary's behest.
• 1:25:14
  Gary paid him, of course, and then as a reward, Gary put him in a race car at a test day at Winton.
• 1:25:21
  And not surprisingly, you know, we saw James' talent for the first time.
• 1:25:26
  And, you know, I know Gary was ever so proud of, you know, Scott and Jamie Wincup and Stevie Richards and, you know, and the like.
• 1:25:40
  Yeah, I mean, if there was a legacy, then for sure, that's one of his big ones.
• 1:25:45
  I mean, he's in the Hall of Fame.
• 1:25:47
  We've just talked about a bit of legacy there a moment ago.
• 1:25:49
  How should we best remember Gary Rogers?
• 1:25:53
  That's a good question, Rusty.
• 1:25:54
  Well...
• 1:25:59
  He'll always be remembered for what he did, right?
• 1:26:01
  He'll always be remembered.
• 1:26:02
  You know, he owns all those cars that will forever, you know, stand the test of time.
• 1:26:10
  All his young drivers will stand the test of time.
• 1:26:14
  So, you know, I don't think he'll ever be forgotten, but I think...
• 1:26:17
  If there's some learnings that everyone should take, it's, you know, live every day.
• 1:26:24
  You know, in his 80 years, he left nothing on the table, absolutely nothing on the table.
• 1:26:31
  And, you know, one of his favourite sayings was, the smallest fish are the sweetest.
• 1:26:39
  David, he'd say, the smallest.
• 1:26:41
  So when we won $2.50 on bonfire night, he'd ring me and he'd say, we're in the money.
• 1:26:47
  He said, we've won $2.50.
• 1:26:49
  But he said, just remember that your mother used to say, the smallest fish are the sweetest.
• 1:26:55
  That is a perfect way to end this, D-Dub.
• 1:26:58
  I wish we were catching up for better reasons.
• 1:27:00
  Thank you for reminiscing a little bit about the great Gary Rogers.
• 1:27:03
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 1:27:04
  Good to see you, mate.
• 1:27:05
  David kindly steered us in the direction of James Golding there, so let's bring him into the conversation now.
• 1:27:11
  Hard-earned opportunities in S5000 and Trans Am as he grew into supercars, and the ability to write perhaps the best chapters yet of his career.
• 1:27:22
  That podium at Bathurst just a few weeks ago, was very nearly a win, is something that no doubt filled Gary with pride.
• 1:27:30
  James Golding, if you had one word to describe Gary Rogers, what the heck would it be?
• 1:27:36
  Different, probably.
• 1:27:39
  Probably the best way.
• 1:27:40
  Yeah, very unique character, as we know.
• 1:27:44
  How did he impact, I mean, I feel like this is an obvious question, mate, but how did he impact your racing life?
• 1:27:51
  Yeah, a big wave for me.
• 1:27:53
  Joined the team at Gary Rogers Motorsport in 2013 when I was racing Formula Ford and Gary really set me straight when I got there that, you know, it's not going to take anything but hard work to get to the top and he obviously kept an eye on my racing whilst I was working there as a mechanic.
• 1:28:11
  He gave me the opportunity to get involved there and learn the craft behind the scenes.
• 1:28:16
  and really take his attitude onto my racing, which really taught me and grounded me for my career to progress.
• 1:28:29
  And I can't really thank him anymore for that.
• 1:28:32
  You're proudly wearing a GRM shirt, but a Premier cab.
• 1:28:36
  So we know where you are currently in a career sense.
• 1:28:40
  But I love the pride that you have for GRM.
• 1:28:42
  Take us back to kind of the early discussions that led to drives and things like that, because he could be tough, but in the same breath, incredibly generous to emerging races, couldn't he?
• 1:28:55
  Yeah, that's right.
• 1:28:55
  He always come across pretty hard and made sure that the work was getting done, that's for sure.
• 1:29:01
  But for me, it was a bit of a weird one.
• 1:29:04
  I think we had a test or evaluation day at Winton with one of the co-drivers, Alex Premo, I think it was, and he was doing some laps in one of the old supercars, which would have been sort of Super 2 spec then.
• 1:29:19
  And that was when I was in Formula Ford and Gary said, oh, do you want to have a go?
• 1:29:24
  And obviously I had a big grin on my face and put my hand up straight away.
• 1:29:31
  So that was the first opportunity he gave me to get a feel for a supercar.
• 1:29:36
  And then obviously that led to racing the Super 2.
• 1:29:40
  And at that point in my career, I wasn't really...
• 1:29:44
  you know, hell-bent on doing supercars.
• 1:29:46
  Obviously, I was involved in it, being part of Gary Rogers, but I didn't really know where my career was going to go.
• 1:29:53
  I was thinking about going to America and trying to sort of go on that IndyCar path, but once Gary gave us the opportunity to do Super 2, it was kind of too good to be true, so we took it with both hands.
• 1:30:05
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:30:05
  So in that sense, just step me through how he might have helped to guide you and how important that was.
• 1:30:12
  Oh, it was definitely important.
• 1:30:14
  It's one of them things that that early on in your career you can kind of sort of make or break, you know, making the right decision.
• 1:30:22
  But he really left it in our court, which was a really great feeling as well.
• 1:30:26
  He said, you know, if you want to go and do that, then 100% I'll back you, go and do what you want to do.
• 1:30:32
  But he, you know, he wanted to offer the opportunity to,
• 1:30:35
  get into super two and sort of start that pathway to supercars.
• 1:30:38
  And, and that's what I chose to do.
• 1:30:40
  And yeah, obviously really grateful for that.
• 1:30:43
  Did he keep in touch and did you keep in touch?
• 1:30:45
  That's been another kind of reoccurring thing here.
• 1:30:48
  He was great with longevity of relationships, business or, you know, racing slash personal, wasn't he?
• 1:30:54
  Yeah, that's right.
• 1:30:55
  Yeah, Gary and I have always kept in touch pretty closely ever since I started there and then, you know, progressing to other teams and different racing as well.
• 1:31:06
  Obviously, when they pulled out of supercars, it was unfortunate to stop racing, but also kept racing for them at the same time with the S5000 and other categories, so I didn't actually...
• 1:31:16
  stopped racing for Gary and, yeah, once again, it's been a privilege to drive for him and something I've really enjoyed and it's really made me who I am today as a driver and given me the grounding to keep working hard and progressing.
• 1:31:32
  He enjoyed some fun.
• 1:31:34
  He enjoyed the entertainment and a laugh and stuff.
• 1:31:36
  If you've got a yarn that you've thought of, could be away from the track, could have been in the pit lane or the transporter or something or other, share that with the audience if you can.
• 1:31:45
  Yeah.
• 1:31:45
  Oh, there was a couple of moments I do remember pretty clearly.
• 1:31:50
  One was when I was working in the team and I was in sub-assembly.
• 1:31:56
  I was leaning on the bench.
• 1:31:58
  We were looking at a part on the bench, me and the other guy that worked in sub-assembly, and Gary walks in and he goes, you're the form in here, are you?
• 1:32:09
  And I said, oh, no.
• 1:32:10
  And he goes, we don't lean on the bench.
• 1:32:16
  As I said, he's a great character and he was hard, but deep down he had a lot of love and support for everyone and if you ever needed help with anything, he'd be the first one to help you out.
• 1:32:28
  So that was one.
• 1:32:30
  And also, again, I did hear his story, not from his mouth, but from a few different people that –
• 1:32:40
  One day when he was driving on the road, he may have accidentally ran into a lady driving her car just to get her number as well.
• 1:32:49
  So that was a funny one.
• 1:32:52
  Yeah, that was hilarious.
• 1:32:54
  So, yeah, he just – one of those guys that thinks out the box and, yeah, nothing's ever a limitation.
• 1:33:03
  Exactly, exactly.
• 1:33:04
  What about a moment for you in your racing with him that you got to share that, you know, is pretty special, I guess, to the both of you?
• 1:33:14
  Probably I think the Super 2 wins with Gary were really cool.
• 1:33:24
  Obviously it took a long time to get to that point and –
• 1:33:28
  yeah, just to share success with him was awesome.
• 1:33:32
  And also just a few of the drives I had in S5000 and that sort of thing that really that hard, um, raw racing and, and to do that with GRM and Gary was awesome.
• 1:33:44
  Um, yeah, there's been a few different points, but, um,
• 1:33:50
  Even recent times, just discussions we've had about good races I've had and just really enjoyed it.
• 1:33:57
  And he's always been there, support, good, bad or otherwise.
• 1:34:03
  So it's been great to have him in my corner.
• 1:34:04
  As I said, it wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today without him.
• 1:34:08
  You're a tough guy, mate.
• 1:34:09
  How has this impacted you?
• 1:34:13
  Yeah, it was pretty tough to take initially when I first heard about it.
• 1:34:17
  I was lucky enough to see Gary last Sunday.
• 1:34:24
  So I was down in Melbourne, caught up with him then, and it was his chirpy self, which is an awesome thing to take away and remember as the last time I seen him.
• 1:34:37
  Yeah, he definitely didn't change his character all the way to the end, which is pretty cool.
• 1:34:42
  But I'll definitely be carrying him in my mind moving forward for the rest of my racing career.
• 1:34:52
  And there's a few things he always said that I'll carry with me, like...
• 1:34:58
  Cool heads will prevail is one.
• 1:35:01
  Always.
• 1:35:01
  I remember hearing that one whenever we went to Bathurst.
• 1:35:04
  Yeah, it was just awesome to be, you know, a part of his life and also to have him as part of mine as well.
• 1:35:14
  On the outside, it probably looked like blokes going racing, and while it had that no-nonsense, don't-get-all-PC-honest style about it, it would be wrong to think that Gary made it exclusively a boys' club.
• 1:35:26
  Fair to say Sally Parkinson had to earn her stripes, like all of Gary's employees, really, but the trust he had in her, the opportunities he gave Sally, said so much about both of them.
• 1:35:39
  Fittingly, we chatted with her at GRM headquarters this week, back to work, just as he would have wanted.
• 1:35:47
  Sally, what was it like working alongside the great Gary Rogers at GRM there?
• 1:35:55
  Interesting.
• 1:35:57
  In what way?
• 1:35:58
  I guess, I mean, Garrick did, you know, what you see on TV and everything is what he was like.
• 1:36:02
  He was fairly much a character, you know, always different things on the go and just trying to, you know, come up, you know, some zany way of doing something different.
• 1:36:11
  But, you know, often it was his way and that's the way it had to be.
• 1:36:13
  So, yes.
• 1:36:14
  How did you first, how long have you been there for now and how did that first opportunity to go and work there come about?
• 1:36:21
  Yeah, so probably would be nearly 16 years.
• 1:36:25
  So it was back when, I guess, Jeremy had just had the Fujitsu partnership announced and they were going to need someone to come on casually for the race weekends just to help out.
• 1:36:35
  So I sort of saw it somewhere and I sort of reached out to Gary and he was sort of like, what's your involvement?
• 1:36:44
  80s.
• 1:36:44
  So he sort of went, oh, okay, well, obviously you're not a race fan, but you've grown up around it, so you'd probably be okay.
• 1:36:49
  We had a chat and I thought it went all really well.
• 1:36:52
  And I followed up with him a few days later and he said to me, look, I really, really like you, but I don't want a girl on my race team.
• 1:36:59
  So what changed?
• 1:37:00
  What changed?
• 1:37:02
  I said to him, I said, well, I can't change that.
• 1:37:04
  So I said, why don't you just give me a go?
• 1:37:05
  He's like, oh, okay.
• 1:37:07
  So I think I went along to the last round at Homebush in, what was that, 2009?
• 1:37:11
  Went along there and, yeah, and the rest is sort of history from there.
• 1:37:14
  And he became a great supporter, a great champion, didn't he, of you and your involvement?
• 1:37:19
  Exactly.
• 1:37:20
  But I often remind him of that point as well, that he didn't necessarily want me on his team.
• 1:37:23
  He didn't want a girl.
• 1:37:24
  And then I don't think he probably could have continued the way the team operated without having someone to organise him and organise everyone.
• 1:37:31
  So, yes.
• 1:37:32
  On the flip side, what did you enjoy so much?
• 1:37:34
  I mean, you're talking to us from GRM even now.
• 1:37:36
  What do you enjoy so much about working there?
• 1:37:39
  Oh, it's, I think we're just looking at something.
• 1:37:41
  Then it's not, I mean, we're a family.
• 1:37:43
  It's, I guess, it's an extended family.
• 1:37:45
  We have so many, you know, sort of people.
• 1:37:47
  I mean, lots of people come and go, but back in supercar days, it was a very stable team.
• 1:37:51
  You know, everyone's been here for a long time.
• 1:37:54
  You know, we just all know each other and we go away.
• 1:37:57
  It's a family.
• 1:37:57
  We have fun.
• 1:37:58
  And I guess that's what, you know,
• 1:37:59
  you know, Gary was about is make sure you, you know, you live life to the fullest and you have fun.
• 1:38:03
  And, you know, we do that.
• 1:38:05
  I mean, obviously we're serious there with, you know, racing, but it's just, yeah, what he was about.
• 1:38:09
  So describe him when he, you know, came into the office, was he a whirlwind with a gazillion ideas and, and what, what in that working environment was it like being around him?
• 1:38:22
  It would probably depend on the day, what he's got going on.
• 1:38:26
  Some days you sort of tried to avoid him and other days you were good.
• 1:38:29
  Yeah, like, you know, I've been trying to explain things to him.
• 1:38:32
  Like he was not great on the technology side of things.
• 1:38:35
  So often it'll be like, Sal, this isn't working on my phone or can you send this message or can you do that or –
• 1:38:40
  You know, I can't get this working.
• 1:38:41
  So it was always, I always ran for cover every time he got a new phone or iPad because it meant it was going to be like a whole day of setting it up.
• 1:38:48
  So, but mind you, he did floor me this year when I heard him use Siri to make a phone call.
• 1:38:53
  I was like, what is going on, Gaz?
• 1:38:55
  What are you doing?
• 1:38:55
  Yeah.
• 1:38:57
  Awesome.
• 1:38:58
  So that was, yeah, I was very proud of him at that moment.
• 1:39:01
  I was like, wow, that's good.
• 1:39:02
  So, yes.
• 1:39:03
  Excellent.
• 1:39:04
  Yeah, but, you know, his text message, he was a demon.
• 1:39:08
  He loved his text messages and his emojis.
• 1:39:10
  So that'll be one of the big things that, yeah, you'll certainly miss.
• 1:39:13
  That you miss.
• 1:39:14
  Absolutely.
• 1:39:14
  And especially the ones like, you know, most weekends during the IndyCar season, is Scotty racing this weekend?
• 1:39:19
  You know, all the time.
• 1:39:21
  How did he go?
• 1:39:22
  Yes, Gaz, he's here.
• 1:39:23
  Yes.
• 1:39:24
  Or this track or whatever.
• 1:39:26
  Yeah, so that's, yeah.
• 1:39:27
  That's the main things.
• 1:39:28
  Have you got a couple of yarns, a couple of memories?
• 1:39:32
  Maybe it might be trips to racetracks or something in the workshop.
• 1:39:37
  Give us a couple of Gary yarns.
• 1:39:38
  I mean, the Bathurst road trips and the gridwalk things, I mean, that's the main things that sort of stand out.
• 1:39:42
  And I think the one year, well, the Volvo year when we went there, and it was the first time we had the Volvo partnership.
• 1:39:49
  So we got the big bus and we went there and we all just wanted to get there.
• 1:39:53
  And we had a million stops in the way.
• 1:39:54
  And that's when Gary dressed up as Priscilla.
• 1:39:57
  Scotty and everyone dressed up.
• 1:39:58
  It was just, you know, I felt like it took three days just to get to Bathurst that year.
• 1:40:03
  But, yeah, we did some good things along the way.
• 1:40:05
  Awesome.
• 1:40:06
  We talk about him being, you know, a giant of the supercars pit lane and much missed and so on.
• 1:40:13
  And that's because he's the sum of many parts.
• 1:40:14
  I mean, you've rattled off a bit of the character that he had there, but he was so...
• 1:40:19
  So passionate about something succeeding, whether that's, you know, his involvement in supercars or TCR or Trans Am and so on.
• 1:40:29
  Definitely.
• 1:40:29
  Like he was always, I mean, even, you know, the last year we had him sort of gone to any race, he's always like, what was the results?
• 1:40:34
  What was happening?
• 1:40:35
  He always wanted to know what was going on.
• 1:40:37
  And, yeah, like I think, you know, obviously, you know, he always wanted to pick the young drivers and get them in.
• 1:40:42
  Some he got right, some he didn't.
• 1:40:43
  He probably got more right than he didn't.
• 1:40:45
  And we always had a little saying, like, every time, like, one did well, the first time we're like, oh, they sprayed the champagne, now they're going to change.
• 1:40:52
  So, yeah.
• 1:40:54
  He said that?
• 1:40:54
  Did he say that?
• 1:40:55
  Well, that was our little joke that we're like, oh, God, now that one's going to change.
• 1:40:58
  He sprayed the champagne.
• 1:41:02
  How will you remember him?
• 1:41:03
  Because, I mean, you've had this more than 15 years within the organisation and that means you've become a part of that family that you talked about before.
• 1:41:13
  You'll miss him, I know, but how will you best remember him?
• 1:41:17
  I think it's just all the...
• 1:41:19
  It's going to be hard.
• 1:41:20
  Like, it'll be all the little things, but I feel like we won't really get too much of a chance to forget him.
• 1:41:24
  I think that's going to remind us for a long time.
• 1:41:26
  Like, every time we walk in here, there's, you know, it's the Gerram legacy in the building.
• 1:41:30
  So it's going to take a fair bit to, you know, not have him around and sort of not think, oh, I'll tell Gaz that.
• 1:41:36
  And we're like, oh, I can't.
• 1:41:37
  Yeah.
• 1:41:38
  But yeah, I think it will take a while to sort of forget and then sort of think, well, how are we going to remember him?
• 1:41:42
  What are we going to do?
• 1:41:43
  Yeah, I think he'd want us to be eyes forward.
• 1:41:46
  I think that's one of the things that's come.
• 1:41:47
  100%.
• 1:41:48
  Someone said the other day, like, oh, are you going to cancel that meeting?
• 1:41:51
  I was like, no, no.
• 1:41:51
  Gaz would be like, keep business going.
• 1:41:53
  We've got to keep the money coming in so we can't cancel appointments.
• 1:41:55
  So, yeah.
• 1:41:57
  What was he sort of in the office there?
• 1:41:59
  Maybe he's proud of all of it, but you've got lots of great memories of the successes that the team's had over the years from Bathurst 1000 to 24 Hours to you name it.
• 1:42:10
  Give us a sense of his pride in that stuff that GRM achieved.
• 1:42:15
  I think, honestly, I think the 24-hour race was his proudest one.
• 1:42:18
  That's one he always used to come back to.
• 1:42:19
  So in having the Monaros, we've actually got two of them here at the moment, so that was good for him to see both of those here.
• 1:42:24
  He loved that race and just what the team did and, you know, how they turned around.
• 1:42:29
  That was just always his favourite memory.
• 1:42:30
  Obviously, winning Bathurst was special to him and, you know, unfortunately it only happened once.
• 1:42:34
  We came very close, you know, a few more times.
• 1:42:37
  But I think he would have loved seeing, you know,
• 1:42:40
  Jimmy having a go the other week as well at Bathurst, I think that would have brought a smile to his face as well.
• 1:42:45
  And, you know, see him making that pass, even though it didn't work out, he didn't die wondering, which is the main thing.
• 1:42:50
  Exactly.
• 1:42:51
  Yeah.
• 1:42:51
  It's been awesome to talk with you today, and I'm so pleased that you're still there and smiling brightly and powering on because that's exactly what he would have wanted, Sally.
• 1:42:59
  Yes, definitely.
• 1:43:00
  We'll go out and get a couple more race wins at the end of the year, and that'll make him more happy, and we'll go to the pub and have a beer.
• 1:43:04
  So...
• 1:43:08
  There are many, many more people we could have interviewed for this special episode.
• 1:43:12
  I mentioned the Barguanas, Ben and Jason earlier.
• 1:43:15
  Michael Caruso is another.
• 1:43:17
  They're all in our library and there are some nice memories of Gary in those conversations and indeed in other motorsport podcasts out there like my colleague Aaron Noonan, the V8 sleuth who James Warburton mentioned.
• 1:43:29
  I thought I'd get some final words, though, from Lee Holdsworth.
• 1:43:33
  We spoke in recent days and Gary's passing, as it has for so many in the pit lane, has hit hard.
• 1:43:39
  MUSIC
• 1:43:41
  It's probably difficult to sum up the impact that someone like that has on, you know, yourself, Lee, and Michael Caruso was there in that same period and so on because he was such a larger-than-life character, wasn't he?
• 1:43:54
  Oh, he was such a great person.
• 1:43:57
  And, like, I get all emotional talking about it because he was such a huge part of my life and my career and just such a great person to have a part of your life in so many different ways, you know.
• 1:44:12
  He added so much value to my life and he instilled a lot of values in me that I'll keep for the rest of my life.
• 1:44:21
  But, you know, he was the sort of guy that was always up for a laugh.
• 1:44:27
  I got plenty of good stories about him through the days, but I think, you know, one of the ones that really is the funniest is how my contract came about.
• 1:44:39
  And it was...
• 1:44:41
  It was back in 2005.
• 1:44:43
  I had to move down from Queensland.
• 1:44:45
  We had a handshake agreement to say, yes, you've got a five year deal.
• 1:44:51
  He rang me when I just moved back because I thought, I'm not going to get this drive.
• 1:44:56
  So I moved back to Queensland with Alana.
• 1:44:58
  We'd packed all our gear.
• 1:45:00
  And sitting there up at the family home in Queensland about, you know, a week later and Gary, the phone calls and Gary says, right, you're starting next week.
• 1:45:09
  You've got a five-year contract.
• 1:45:11
  Get down here next week.
• 1:45:13
  You're going to be in the workshop full-time and driving full-time.
• 1:45:16
  So obviously a huge moment for me.
• 1:45:18
  But I said to Gary, I said, you know, just so I feel a bit more comfortable with this, are you able just to send something through?
• 1:45:27
  Like, can you send me a contract?
• 1:45:29
  He said, yep, righto.
• 1:45:30
  He said, I'll get something to you in five minutes.
• 1:45:34
  So he writes a handwritten fax and no legals about it at all.
• 1:45:40
  He writes a fax.
• 1:45:42
  And that to this day was my first contract.
• 1:45:45
  It was two pages long.
• 1:45:47
  Actually, probably one page.
• 1:45:48
  I think I've still got it in the cupboard somewhere.
• 1:45:51
  But I've got a few more great stories about Gary.
• 1:45:56
  And he was always up for a laugh and just enjoyed life.
• 1:46:01
  And so...
• 1:46:03
  It was sometimes to others' expense, and Caruso was the victim in this story.
• 1:46:12
  But he had a little Mazda 121, which was absolute pride and joy for him.
• 1:46:18
  And one day Gary decided that it was time for a makeover of that car.
• 1:46:23
  So he wrapped the whole thing in a full race livery.
• 1:46:28
  And when I say full race livery, I'm talking full promo, ready to start the race at Bathurst promo in a Mazda 121.
• 1:46:37
  And obviously Caruso is absolutely filthy.
• 1:46:41
  So Caruso drives around for about a week with this livery and he goes to peel the stickers off and all the paint comes with it.
• 1:46:53
  So he was furious with Gary, but he is Gary thought it was the best thing ever and absolutely got his kicker out of it.
• 1:47:03
  Um, yeah, so, uh, he, he did some funny stuff, but you know, we all laughed.
• 1:47:08
  Caruso didn't.
• 1:47:09
  I think Caruso sees the funny side in it now.
• 1:47:12
  Now.
• 1:47:12
  Yeah.
• 1:47:13
  Yeah.
• 1:47:14
  One other story.
• 1:47:15
  I think these, these are the, uh, probably two more, sorry.
• 1:47:19
  I'll, I'll quickly get through them, but, um.
• 1:47:21
  No, go for it.
• 1:47:22
  Another one.
• 1:47:23
  Uh, I had James Small as my engineer in 2007.
• 1:47:26
  Um.
• 1:47:28
  And, uh, at GRM obviously.
• 1:47:29
  And, uh, and it was James's first attempt or first year of being a race engineer.
• 1:47:36
  And, um, he was obviously brilliant and absolute weapon and so good in fact that he got poached by Paul Morris Motorsport pretty quickly, um, that year and, um,
• 1:47:47
  But James had just finished up pursuing a career of his own in race driving.
• 1:47:52
  So his next move was obviously to engineer a car, and he did that very successfully in 2007 with me.
• 1:48:01
  But in true Gary fashion, Gary offered him to stay, offered him a co-driver role with me, his driver, for the next year.
• 1:48:14
  Yeah.
• 1:48:15
  And I thought to myself, who's going to engineer the car?
• 1:48:23
  So anyway, he did some funny stuff.
• 1:48:27
  Sometimes it didn't make sense, but he always had –
• 1:48:31
  the best intentions in mind and had a very, you know, it was always heartfelt what he had in mind.
• 1:48:38
  But, yeah.
• 1:48:40
  And one thing that really stands by that and sort of leads me into this is that he wasn't all –
• 1:48:50
  It's okay, mate.
• 1:48:51
  It's okay.
• 1:48:51
  Sorry, it's crazy.
• 1:48:53
  He wasn't all jokes.
• 1:48:54
  He wasn't all jokes.
• 1:48:57
  He came to my granddad's funeral all the way out in Cobram.
• 1:49:04
  And I remember, like, my family just was absolutely over the moon that he would show such respect.
• 1:49:11
  And, yeah, I mean, he's just a great guy, a great guy.
• 1:49:16
  loving family man and just an awesome person that motorsport has dearly lost.
• 1:49:24
  And we will be...
• 1:49:26
  you know, we'll forever be in debt to Gary and what he did for the sport.
• 1:49:31
  The funny yarns we'll keep shining a light on because that keeps his character alive, I think, Lee, but in the same breath, that little story you shared about, you know, about family then and the funeral and so on says so much about the person that Gary was.
• 1:49:48
  In injecting the bond into the team and to make the team gel so well, everybody, even beyond the team, really had a nickname.
• 1:49:57
  So Caruso's was Robbo, Robinson Caruso.
• 1:50:00
  I think you were lethal, weren't you?
• 1:50:01
  But there were others too, mate, weren't there?
• 1:50:03
  He was always good for a nickname and it stuck.
• 1:50:06
  It stuck, yeah, it stuck.
• 1:50:07
  And it usually stuck when he knew you didn't like it.
• 1:50:10
  I think I was the only one that walked in and said, he said, Roddo, what's your nickname?
• 1:50:14
  And I said, Lethal.
• 1:50:15
  And he goes, Roddo, that's your nickname.
• 1:50:17
  I said, all right, that's all right.
• 1:50:19
  Robbo Caruso walks in.
• 1:50:21
  He says, what's your nickname?
• 1:50:23
  He says, Carus.
• 1:50:25
  And he goes, Caruso.
• 1:50:26
  Robbo, as in Robinson Caruso.
• 1:50:29
  That's you.
• 1:50:29
  You're Robbo from now on.
• 1:50:31
  And once again, Caruso hated it.
• 1:50:34
  But there were all kinds of – everyone had a nickname at GRM.
• 1:50:40
  There was Gypsy, who anyone that knows GRM knows that Gypsy was part of the furniture there.
• 1:50:47
  Negger, who was negative, the engine man.
• 1:50:54
  Who else?
• 1:50:55
  I mean, there were so many names and that was what made GRM so fun.
• 1:51:00
  You know, he was, it was Gary, it all bled down from Gary.
• 1:51:04
  And they were the best times of my racing career.
• 1:51:08
  Honestly, to this day, they were the most fun years.
• 1:51:10
  I spent six years at GRM and I have so many great memories.
• 1:51:16
  We got some good results, but man, we had some fun.
• 1:51:22
  You ended up on the podium recently at Bathurst.
• 1:51:25
  Maybe you heard from him around that time.
• 1:51:27
  I'm not sure if you did.
• 1:51:29
  And you've gone on, Lee, to pursue business and still do a bit of racing.
• 1:51:33
  But I would imagine some of the things that he taught you about life and about business still apply to what you're doing on a Monday to Friday basis now.
• 1:51:41
  Yeah, 100%.
• 1:51:42
  And, you know, Gary used to say to me, you know, if something went wrong or, you know, times are tough, he'd say,
• 1:51:49
  go on, get up, get on with it, you know, move forward.
• 1:51:52
  Don't look backwards.
• 1:51:53
  It's, you know, there's nothing you can do about that now.
• 1:51:56
  And it was just a, just move on and deal with what is in your control.
• 1:52:02
  And that was always his, the way he went about life and his advice to everyone around him was don't dwell on what has happened, but focus on how you can change that and focus on the future.
• 1:52:18
  And, um, and I've carried that forward.
• 1:52:20
  You know, there were times in racing when I, when I often thought about that, I'd sometimes I'd, you know, you'd have a, have an issue with someone on track and it'd take you a few laps, me a few laps to recover from that and, and really get back into the rhythm.
• 1:52:34
  And, um, and I think Gary's advice through that time really helped me not only with, with that, um, but it was a valuable lesson in life just to,
• 1:52:44
  You know, you can get tied down and bogged down on small things, but it's the ability to bounce back that's the most important part.
• 1:52:55
  That's a great way to wrap this up, Lee.
• 1:52:58
  Thank you for sharing that for the motor racing community and for the fans who are really missing Gary right now.
• 1:53:05
  Yeah, thanks, Greg.
• 1:53:06
  Cheers.
• 1:53:09
  Gary quietly did a few things for me over the course of my career, one of them at a real crossroads too that I'll forever be grateful for.
• 1:53:16
  He rang me and asked me to be a part of the TCR coverage and typical Gary, he said, Gregory, hardly anyone ever calls me that.
• 1:53:23
  I don't want it to be technical.
• 1:53:25
  I want it to be fun and entertaining, right?
• 1:53:27
  Press on.
• 1:53:29
  That was pretty much the brief and the length of the call.
• 1:53:31
  And what followed was a part of my working life that I enjoyed immensely.
• 1:53:36
  And I called him his 80th birthday and said, thank you for being in my corner at times.
• 1:53:42
  And he said, hey, we've done some great things along the way.
• 1:53:47
  to Barry, to the Rogers family and friends, his employees, especially those that bleed GRM who made a life in that organisation.
• 1:53:57
  We are thinking of all of you at this time.
• 1:53:59
  And I hope the sport and perhaps the fans enjoyed a story or two here as we say cheers to a truly great human being who will be missed enormously, but never, never forgotten.
• 1:54:13
  Bye for now, everybody.