Thoughts on Bob Jane

October 1 2018

AUSCAR and NASCAR fans were in mourning last weekend after the death of Bob Jane at the age of 88.

Bob Jane as many readers know was the man who brought NASCAR to Australia by building Calder Park Thunderdome and launching Australia’s own NASCAR series.

AUSCAR was also created which put Ford against Holden several years before the Supercars done it and he also contributed to the increased popularity of the HQ Holdens series when they raced on the Thunderdome too.

Sportsman allowed drivers to compete in a series using early model AUSCARs with several drivers going into AUSCAR and then NASCAR.

Hundreds of drivers got to race on the Thunderdome thanks to his series with many going on to become successful drivers in other categories or raced during other series off time.

Jim Richards, Russell Ingall, John Bowe, Kim Jane, Brad Jones, Greg Murphy, Max Dumesny, John Faulkner, Dick Johnson, Allan Grice, Gregg Hansford and Mal Rose are some of the drivers that spent some time in either AUSCAR or NASCAR and competed in other well known racing categories.

Adelaide International Raceway became the second oval in Australia and both AUSCAR, NASCAR, Sportsman and support categories raced there for several years.

The memories of the AUSCAR and NASCAR series are kept alive by groups such as AUSCAR Racing and Calder Park Thunderdome.

As for Stock Car racing in Australia, Stock Cars Australia keeps things alive by running NASCAR, GTA, NASCAR Trucks (OzTrucks) and hopefully soon AUSCAR if anyone accepts the open invitation.

A lot will be said about Bob Jane’s battles with organizations and personal court battles but fans will never forget what Bob Jane done for the sport and he’ll always be remembered as the Thunderdome remains standing and NASCAR still exists.