Garry Rogers Tribute

A listener production.

I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.

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.

Like all of you, I tended to think of Gary as so much younger than his years.

He was so full of energy and so sharp.

His relatively sudden passing has sent quite a shockwave through our motorsport community.

So I thought a collection of stories 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.

Racer, Hall of Famer, Team Owner, Family Man and someone who's approached to life

we can all continue to learn from.

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.

James, thanks for coming on.

This is a big blow to lots of people but to you especially too, mate, isn't it?

Yeah, I guess these things are never, you're never ready for them

and it certainly has taken a bit of time to process it all and digest

but I guess that's mainly because people that were so close to Gary just thought he'd go forever, really.

And that's more because of how he was, you know, he was going right to the very end.

So that's the character he was and he'll be deeply missed by not just people in the motorist racing industry

but the broader community.

Tell me about the first time you guys 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.

Yeah, you're right there.

Over the last sort of probably four or five years I've been very close outside of racing

with some other business interests together.

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 via Steve Kramer who was the old and shop guru back at the time

but also engineered for GRM in the Supercars Championship.

So I remember being quite young and quite nervous and a little bit intimidated by him to be honest

but he gave me his business card and I still have that business card today.

But nothing ever sort of came of that sort of first meeting with Gary all the way back then

but as time unfolded I ended up finishing my full-time Supercars career driving for GRM in 2016 and 2017

and I look back at that now with great fondness because to represent and drive for GRM is a huge honour and privilege.

I'm glad you've brought up the racing team here.

We're talking to Sally as a part of this podcast as well.

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.

Yeah, absolutely and obviously they're current group or crop of employees at GRM

which there's been a lot of them that have been there for so long.

I think you guys like Gypsy, Lez, Squiddy in the fabrication department,

people like Sally who helps us get to and from the racetrack with all our flights and accommodation

and make sure everything is organised, stiffy our team manager.

You probably catch onto a bit of a theme there that anybody that worked at GRM

copped a nickname very quickly and that was from Gary.

It's funny though when I was driving full-time my nickname within the team was my normal nickname which is Moff

but more recently Gary referred to me as Bobby.

With the building activities that I do outside of racing he quickly came up.

He's the only person that calls me Bobby so I will miss hearing his voice and hearing him say that.

Good stuff. Can we finish with maybe two yarns if you're up for it?

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

and then perhaps something on the business side.

He's been great with life advice for those that he loved and cared for, hasn't he?

Yeah, absolutely. I think probably on the racing side Rusty, the last few years

there's been a lot of special memories spent together.

I'm very fortunate to say that I've been on road trips with himself,

his son Barry, you know, those two, so many people think that Gary and Barry are brothers

which Gaz used to always get a real kick out of.

So not father and son but spending a lot of time on the roads travelling to race meetings

with both Gary Barry but also Gary's grandson Charlie.

They were really special times and a lot of fun, a lot of laughs.

Gaz loved his trivia so we'd always have to stop and get the newspaper

and do the trivia on the road trip.

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 and he got a real kick out of all that sort of stuff

but we were at Tailum Bend last year and staying in accommodation together which we often did

and I had this shaving cream in my sort of toiletry bag and Gary's like,

well, what's this Bobby? And I said, well Gaz, it was a Gillette shaving cream, nothing special.

And he's like, well, what do you do with this? I said, well, you shave and Gary was always cleanly shaved

so I said, well, you would shave every day or every second day, Gaz, so give it a go.

You know, 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.

And he sort of couldn't really wrap his head around the concept of this

so I said, well, give it a go this morning, you know, 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

and this big cheesy grin and he walks into the track later that day, he goes,

Bobby, I've never had a cleaner shave in my whole life.

He thought that it was just the bee's knees so I'll send you that photo, mate.

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.

Great stuff, mate. I mean, that just proves what I mean, enormously successful in business

but so grounded and simple sort of philosophies in life.

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.

No, absolute pleasure, Rusty, thank you for having me on

and, you know, he was a beauty, 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

but as he would have wanted we'd just keep going and get on with things.

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.

Barg's has been on the garage before along with his son Ben

who drove for the team in recent years.

Having that second generation become a part of the GRM family is a very special thing

but as Garth explains, the lessons from Gary for all of the drivers in the team over the years

go well beyond racing.

Garth, it wasn't uncommon for, I mean, I think Cam McConville drove the parts truck

you were probably active on the workshop floor

he made these young racers work for it, didn't he?

He did, yeah, I had to work in spare parts

so that was my job with spare parts

so when I first started I was like, what's this all about seriously?

Yeah, so I started in the warehouse picking orders

so Gary Rogers Nissan was a massive distributor of Nissan spares, Subaru spares

and Daywoo spares, we did a lot of Daywoo because they broke down all the time.

So I was at the back picking parts

and then I sort of got 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

and I was like, hang on a minute, I'm here to be a race car driver, this is just part time

and this whole time, Bargs was there, he was my teammate

and man, he used to just swan off, he was in service because he could sell off to Eskimos

and Bargs was over there swanning doing nothing and I'm working my ass off

so yeah, it was very GRM.

We laugh, we laugh now, was that stuff good for young racers in some way

maybe around commitment, dedication, maybe even just on the business side?

Yeah, I hated it, I hated it at the time, with a passion

and I used to tell him all the time, I hate this

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 that it wasn't just a magic carpet ride, you had to work hard to get ahead

so yeah, at the time I hated it but I was 21 and I wanted to be Peter Brock

but you had to earn your stripes and I learned that later

We are talking now with you having chalked up six Bathurst wins right

but you got to do your first one to win your first one with GRM, with Gary

take us there, what was that like and what did that mean to him?

It meant a lot to him, Bathurst meant a lot to Gary, there was always a lot of build up

I mean that was only my third Bathurst, so the first one I finished and then we won it

but yeah, it meant a lot to Gary, he had 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

and Gary were all very very close and they worked very hard, spent a lot of money

invested a lot of time, effort and funds to get that result

and I guess that was probably the culmination of everything that GRM had done to that point

to basically at the point where GRM really arrived as a race team

Alright, what about a story maybe or two that you can remember from your time with him

they could be funny, heartfelt, beyond that Bathurst win, what else?

Yeah, look hard because you know since we spoke about doing this and you wanted some stories

I'm like far out, pick a story because there's so many

so I'm going to go right back to the very start, the start when Stephen Richards left GRM to go to Nissen

and race in the British Touring Car Championship, got that opportunity so that created the opening at GRM

and I'd never ever spoken to Gary before

and I was never one of those kids to self promote, to call around, to hustle, to try and get it drive

but Mike Excel 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

we watched you in Formula 4 the year before, you need to call Gary

so he gave me Gary's number and I called him but I'd never spoken to Gary before in my life

so I rang him and hello Mr Rogers, my name's Garth Tander, I'm not sure if you know who I am

I won the Formula 4 championship and I hadn't even finished the centre

yes, I know who you are, I know what you did last year

anyone that's spoken to Gary on the phone wouldn't know that, that's how it went down

I know what you're ringing about, I'll call you back

I'm like okay, that's that's that's that done, I'm not getting that right

and Trudy's for me rang you back, this is on Thursday, I remember it was a Thursday

I was working for Fastline Racing, I put the track at Wannary Raceway in the Sheds

and he rang me back that afternoon and said

right, we're testing on Tuesday, you're on a plane Monday

and that was it, that was it, I reckon that I would have spoken

prior to getting on that plane I reckon I had spoken to Gary for less than two minutes

and did the test and

the throttle jammed, speared off, broke the splitter off it and I was like oh that's that done

they won't believe me that the throttle jammed and because Formula 4 you didn't have data

but they looked at the data, yep, throttle jammed, so it calls me on the Wednesday

after the test and he goes how do you reckon all that went, I was like oh I thought it did

really well Gary, I thought it was really good, I was only about a second off bugs and I was like

that's not so bad, and he goes yeah, do you want to race

to Phillip Island this weekend?

What, and I'm like yeah, yes

and that was it, so within eight days

I was gone from a Formula Ford mechanic, never spoken to Gary Rogers to have my first

drive in a supercar at Phillip Island for Gary Rogers' known sport and that's how

Gary operated, so I had no idea how that was

how life was going to play out for the next seven years for when I was there for the first

time, but yeah, it was, I learned a lot

I learned a lot, did you? Well let's finish with that then, 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

what's the thing that you'll cherish Garth?

I cherish a lot the opportunity for sure, 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, like literally I had no options

as a kid that just won the Formula Ford Championship, spent all the money that Mum and Dad had

exhausted all the sponsorship that we could gather

that was it, I was done, so if it wasn't for Gary then

this phase of my life or that direction in my life would not have happened

so absolutely, cherish that and

can never ever be more thankful for that, but even now

today, like in my Royal Grove Racing

where I help with the direction of the race team

with Steven Grove and Brenton Grove, we were looking

at driver options for this year, for 2025 and when

Kai Allen became an option, I was like wow, we're going to have two

kids, we're going to have Matt Payne who's 22 at the time and we're going to have

a 19 year old, you know, and I said to Steven

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 and we built

something pretty cool and that was way back in the early 2000s and I think we can do the same

today, so it was that, 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 and it seems to be working

out okay, so I never got the opportunity to tell Gary that

but that's something that sticks with me today, the opportunity

for young drivers and improve that all the way through, you know, the lifetime

of GRM. Finally mate, we don't need to get into

details of his passing here obviously but was that on your mind

perhaps when you were at Bathurst or maybe you didn't know at that stage

and how did it hit you when you learned about this? I didn't know, so I

was a couple of weeks prior. I did think it was strange

that I hadn't got a text from Gary post Bathurst, like when Luz or Droll

I always used to get a text from Gary post Bathurst and

I didn't get that and I was like that's strange but I know Gary been Gary

that's probably busy at the farm or doing something you know and it was actually

on the Thursday morning of Gold Coast Steve Richards texts me and said

I'm not sure if you've heard the news but Gary passed and yeah I mean

it was a hard weekend at the Gold Coast, really hard weekend obviously Supercars

paid tribute to Gary beautifully on the Saturday and

a lot of people up and down Pit Lane that we worked together at GRM

initially the first time for those first seven years and then when I went back in

2017-2018, a lot of mechanics, a lot of engineers

you didn't have to say anything, you just sort of an embrace and a knowing

look or a smile

yeah it was a tough weekend certainly was and he leaves a big

hole, certainly a massive hole in my life but also

you know the Australian motorsport landscape

GT mentioned Stephen Richards there and the

opening or the almost batten change at GRM between them. 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

Can you remember your earliest interaction Richo

with Gary Rogers? Yeah look I mean probably

Russi 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 of Calder so

I think Gary came up and introduced himself and from there it was pretty tough

for mum and dad back then because they didn't have a lot of money

and they had to buy their first car to get around over there

and Gary got them some finance because they didn't

have the means at the time so the relationship

really getting Gary and his family to a

degree of being lifelong friends of mum and dad

since they moved to Australia and then

so my interactions going back remember things like

Gary's a massive Speedway fan and

one particular time being up one day

in January he was going to the classic down at Warrnambool

and he invited us along he had this really cool

I think a 560 SEC AMG Mercedes

so he comes and picks us up dad and I jump in the car

and he knows all the back roads to Warrnambool

and we're scooting along the back roads at about a

let's say a tad over 200 kilometres an hour

made the short trip

to Warrnambool about an hour shorter than it probably would normally be

so those sorts of things and then of course

I was lucky enough to be a part of the GRM

in fact in some ways probably the foundation of what GRM was

was a full time operation and there were only a couple of us

and the early Oscar days were great fun

and then the other move from

Oscar into what is now V8 Supercarver

so without Gary in reality

my career would have been a lot harder to kick off for sure

there was a couple of key things in that phase

I think of super touring and his commitment to that and where it would take you for a little while in your own career

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? Yeah absolutely

there were two years there where we drove together my first year

full time in V8 Supercars and then in 1997

we were just a small team of people

I think at the time we might have had six full time staff

including me in the workshop

and we had a customer

spec Gibson Motorsport car that really we weren't doing

but we'd started to do a lot of our own development with

and then at Bathurst in 1997 we got over the line to finish second

which at the time was just a massive achievement for such a small team

that we were using customer cars not building our own cars

but we were using customer cars and sort of trying to hot rod them up to suit us

so they were really good times you know I think

96 were the privateers champion

we punched above our weight but Gary's commitment right from

and I just remember the day that he came in and he said

working in the workshop doing the Oscar stuff

there was a bit of stuff going on

with Calder Park and the TV and Valveline weren't particularly happy with

the coverage that they were receiving and you know we thought we were going to

go and try and do something else and obviously we did the Supertours

in 95 and then he came in and he said right

we're going to go have a crack at the V8 program

for me as I think I was a 23 year old at the time

it was like wow that's this

surreal mate what do you think

he would get on the set of television sometimes with crazy outfits

t-shirts funny things he was so good about

ensuring that character was

injected into the sport but character that truly represented you

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 I think for sure when we get up to the Gold Coast

or Lakeside there was always the

colourful shirts and things like that I think

that happened a little bit later but look I was very lucky

through 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 but you know I got to see a side of Gary I think early on where

he's a very very genuine guy very

selfless hard sometimes hard

which was good as well but you know from a professional standpoint

but just the way in which he dealt with

with people you know the people at that point the race team was at the

back of his car dealership Nissan dealership in Glen Lively

and you know we had a huge involvement with the mechanics 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 he knew how to have a good time I remember

a 50th birthday at the dealership and

my wife Ange and I walking up walking we stayed at a

hotel down the road and I was dressed as Plucka Duck

walking down the street but

that was Gary there you go

that was his 50th birthday at the dealership in the showroom

with all of his closest friends and when I go back

in 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

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

and one of Gary's fondest

memories that he brought up quite often we both went

together to the UK to buy the Honda Accord for 1996

so this is late 95 early 96

and we had a trip over there and we had to stop over at Singapore

for about 12 hours and we wandered down through the streets and we found this

that we found this place for dinner we were about to go to

the airport and we found this place it was a

it was like an open restaurant

and all they had in there it was absolutely packed

and all they had was duck and rice that was your option

and it was packed and you walk up the duck and

getting hacked up on the thing and they had Carlsberg beers

and they were in big bottles right about that big and we spent

I think two hours waiting to get a transfer to the airport

and for both of us it's one of the coolest things

we just couldn't believe it here we were surrounded by all these people the atmosphere was unbelievable

we had a duck and he always said remember we had those big

9% Carlsberg beers we were just drinking I think

by the time we got to the airport we were hammered

he responded so I think those for me

the Gary at the racetrack was one thing but

the Gary the person his wife Kay

the Rogers extended family Barry wasn't really much involved back then

he had his car dealerships himself

we just had a great relationship and that continued

on right until the very end

you made the call to Garth 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 how did it hit you how did you feel

yeah look I'd found out

a week or so earlier that he was quite unwell

and I was just quietly didn't

what was trying not to be intrusive but I was just in contact with Barry

and it came

like a shot in the arm really

I wasn't expecting and I was sort of thinking that the Gary that we all knew

he'd bounce back and we'd seem

at some point catch up and then

it was a shock it really was

so you're never ready for these things

but I think you know just

just the respect for the guy as a person that was

a mentor for me and gave me such an unbelievable opportunity but also

as a friend and friend of our families mum and dad

you know their life long

life changing

I sort of said in a post I made Gary was a dream maker

for many many people you know mechanics

engineers drivers you know I think you know people

back as they get older like I do and have a fair

appreciation for what Gary did you know inside the sport

and outside the sport you know long term friends that he has from his car dealerships

going back you know 40 45 50 years

still connected you know messages I've had

over the last few weeks particularly the last week

you know he was just an iconic person

so he's going to be sorely missed

Gary didn't just keep an eye on talent in the usual or standard places

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

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

Jordan great to get you on is there a story around how you

came into contact with Gary Rogers and started to drive for him

there is actually so

it was actually back in the Honda days if some of you might remember

the Honda Civic that ran an improved production

had some good success and 15 minutes of fame with that

at Adelaide and Bathurst and then Gary

was asking about it who's that guy and then turns out I went to

TAFE with one of the mechanics there

and basically Gary invited me into the garage

and Barry as well invited me in the garage at Adelaide and I met them

and I'd never been around a supercar team before I'd only really been around

garage streets and stuff and they showed me all about it and said mate you're doing good keep it up

hope to see you around more and that was that it was a typical

30 second Gary chat to the point yep you're doing well

this is our race team hope to see you around

and then two years later I ended up driving for him in TCR

unbelievable what was he like to work with because he always oozed this incredible positivity

but when you're in you know with the team you're trying to

win and things like that was it just the same what was he like to work with

in that regard oh mate it was a pleasure to work with

probably more my style to the point no nonsense

he was a great

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 a driver was overdoing it you know he'd pick up on it he'd let you know about it

and if you felt as though you're hard done by

which all of us drivers in motorsport always feel as though we're hard done by

he would always he'd call it as it was

and he'd usually say hey you're hard done by there

that was unlucky but get back on the horse see the next one you know he'd always call out whether it was right

or wrong and it was from that point you always knew

sometimes when you're a bit unsure of yourself or unsure of

you know your performances or whatever he was always like to the point yeah that was a good job

or no that wasn't you stuffed up so you run your own

racing and automotive business now he's been successful on

track and offered has it been things that he's helped you with or taught you perhaps

on that side oh definitely so actually you just reminded me

so when when I first started TCR it was

29 and it was yeah so and then 2021 rolled round and the results were

up and down and I sort of backed my abilities and

and I'd sort of also was 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 and

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 you know this is awesome you know I've got the sponsors you know I'm in a great

team I'm in a great environment I'm driving some incredibly cool cars I just want to be a racing car

driver this is awesome and then I said to Gary you know like I've got this business

I've started at the same time and I really you know enjoy doing that though as well and

what do you think I should do you know should I commit to the

the driving side of things he goes and he's incredibly

same again like I said like I said level headed and he just said straight to the point

look motorsport isn't everything in life you know everything's a balance

you know don't ever forget the other side of life as well so you know driving

you're doing a good job but when do you say you keep going but don't ever forget the other side of life and I was like

that is so true so you know basically said you know

you need your business as well if you want to keep some

for some a lot of people you need your business as well and

I decided to stick to that on the side as well which is

luckily I'm fortunate enough the business and

racing and my sponsors I get to go racing on you know I get to do

both at the same time you know well which is

you know I credit his advice for that. Can I finish with how much

this might have impacted you made and the observations you've made around

the pit lane and the impact on motor racing generally how

you know this is a huge loss isn't it? I'm over that doubt look

I sort of mentioned in my sort of social media tribute

posted like it's just the amount of people that you know doing

tributes to him it was so fitting and it was it felt only so

right because he just he appealed to so many people you know like

and he also had people to dealt with him

he dealt with so many people across the years that it affected people

you know in one way or the other and it was incredible to see

you know the reach that he had not just from people

directly associated with him with you know employees or drivers or whatever it

might be but also just the fan base as well and you realized

what he did for Australian motorsport as a whole

realistically mate there's not many people

that have sort of had that sort of effect on motorsport in Australia

and yeah it was sad to see him go mate

there are so many races that drove for Gary and GRM over the years

some only in one-off appearances or for special projects

Greg Murphy spoke about the Halton Monaro 24 hour cars recently

which included the likes of Peter Brock, Jason Brite, Todd Kelly

and many more. 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. Murph did a double take and actually asked

for the message to be repeated. A true racer's racer

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

Aaron he was always this immense supporter of young talent and you're probably

toward the most recent in that queue

how did that come about for you? I actually remember pretty vividly the

when TCR was coming about that first year

I think I called him and it was a very quick conversation with Gary at that stage

and probably like most my phone calls were with him straight to the point

I went in there had a meeting 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

and I think he just wanted to meet me and sort of see where I was at and

I tried to pitch my case and he pretty much told me

no and I'll see you next year or good luck or whatever and it was a no

that first year but then I didn't give up hope I did that year with MPC

and had some success and then I thought it's good I didn't have

anything else to go with so if I didn't call Gary again and give

it a crack and thankfully the next time I went in there he said yep

and again the decision was already made the meeting was just

a formality yeah formality like he was already 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

so yeah I'm forever thankful for the meetings we

had and him helping me pursue my career him Gary

everyone at GRM and especially Barry as well like without that I certainly don't

make it to Supercars at the moment. So what things did you learn

perhaps from him that have helped you on that side mate on the business

side what are the things that you'll take away from those wonderful conversations

with Gary outside the car? I think just everything I take

from my period at GRM with Gary is just about

is just like keep going like obviously I

started in Supercars getting to the main game a lot a few years later than most

so it was just about never giving up waiting for the right opportunity

you never know what's around the corner so it's just

and that's what I've probably yes I use it in my racing but I also use that outside

of life like you just never know what's coming he's got to keep going whether it's about

it this time but it's always just it'll get better and

yeah forever. Forever great form yeah

it's one of the first times I've been emotional about someone actually passing away when I heard about it

last week. Can you share that mate how it made you feel and where you

learned about it and so on? Only if you're comfortable. Yeah I think

I was at breakfast actually with the Blanchard team we're all having breakfast together

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

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 but

yeah certainly there was a few tears at the breakfast table

and just yeah someone like that who's been slow

influential in my career it's just

yeah it was just a it was a pretty shit Thursday it was a pretty shit

Thursday and had a good chat with actually Barry Ryan as well

I think that was on the Thursday of the Friday as well and he showed me that

text message that he'd got from Gary

after he passed away and yeah it's sort of cool

to connect with some people like that have also had a good connection with Gary

For those that don't know that story maybe just share that that sort of

underscores Gary doesn't because the text came through later didn't it?

Yes yeah the text obviously Gary had passed away and then

I think it was the next morning or something like that that the text had come through

and I don't know how that all sort of worked I don't want to know

how it all sort of worked but it was just it's sort of typical sort of Gary

sort of stuff that yeah we all have all had a good

laugh about it now and I think it's been out on the other social media

platforms as well so I'm glad everyone gets to sort of see that.

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? I actually what I've got

on my notes here my probably one of my most

fondest memories is nothing to do with car racing it's about

harness racing we only go for his car racing exploits

all the fame rule that stuff but people might not realise he was he loved this

space too didn't he so keep going yeah I reckon he would nearly like harness

racing more than car racing like he loved his horses

so we and I'm pretty sure the main story I'm talking about

is Bathurst TCR I know I was in the front of the truck

and I think maybe Coxie could have even been there as well

and he would sometimes give us tips on

on the trots that weekend where the trots were what was going on

he'd always call Pencil which I don't know if Pencil was his trainer

or if Pencil was his tip but he'd always

call Pencil and then give me all of the races and where to put my money

on and I think 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 and I remember Moff coming in at the end of one of them conversations and he

reminded me that Aaron

yes Gary loved these horses but his horses may not have been as successful as he would have

liked so maybe don't put all of your life savings on this bet so

yeah but it was just so much fun

some of them sort of chats we had in trucks talking about harness racing

I didn't really understand what was going on but yeah I don't think

I never made a profit out of any of those bets but it was still good

What about a racing moment maybe in the Peugeot or something or other is a little

thing there that you'll you know cherish

I suppose probably one

thing 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 just because you win

one race doesn't mean you're the best guy ever in the world so it was always a focus

of yeah he'd say good job but it was quickly moving on

to there's another race weekend or yeah like it's always

what one win was sort of not never enough

but like it was always straight to the next goal so and that's something for me as

well I'm not a big celebrator of things I just want to keep

getting better and seeing what where it all takes me 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 what's

the element of Gary Rogers that you'll continue to take forward with you here

I don't know I suppose it's probably more from what I

just said about not

over I have this big thing about not over celebrating

I feel like I got a lot of that from from Gary like it's all just

focusing on what you can do what you can do in that moment and

enjoy the moment but kind of be eyes forward and this has come through in

this wonderful collection of stories this is a theme mate

yeah like exactly it is just that enjoy enjoy the moment for what it is but it's not about

yeah when we were never a team to completely celebrate

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 like you just never knew with what was going to be

the next thing at the old GRM workshop

keep boxing on mate and um however that happened I'm thankful and I can sense

you are too that your paths crossed along the way that's really cool

yeah thank you I'm yeah forever grateful

from TCR to Trans Am

Owen Kelly had never formally retired having raced in

NASCAR in the US and supercars back here 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

Owen in later life Trans Am

really grew under the Rogers wing if you will

and there's quite a cool story about him reaching out to you to get involved isn't there

yeah there is um I got a random call

from Gary one day and um obviously

I had his number from testering him over the years wanting to

drive for him you know and he rang and said oh

and in typical Gary fashion a million miles an hour

um like right how are you mate good good

yep good thanks Gary how are you yeah good good we're having this race in Tasmania

and it's uh it's 10 grand a win it's a Trans Am cars and we need a local

bloke and uh you'd be up for that wouldn't you

I said mate I've been trying to drive for you for 20 years of course I'll be

up for it and uh he said right out good sounds good

alright I'll get back to you with the details bang hangs up

and I'm sitting there like what just happened

am I I'm not sure what I just signed up

for but sounds like it'll be fun you know typical Gary then

about um 15 minutes later he um

he rang back and said oh small detail

I forgot to mention you've got to run the car

okay so small detail

I said that's alright those things are built like a NASCAR

I'll um I'll get Ambrose and and uh

you won't get him he's he's not interested and I said no I reckon he'll be in there

I'll get Ambrose and my brother Christian and we'll we'll uh we'll handle that no worries

and um so it was it's

interesting to look back on because it was Gary was really the catalyst to get

Marcus back into racing uh because he was you know up the

the lodge there in the central islands of Tasmania

um hiding under a rock basically and 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 saw

why don't we just say we're doing the whole thing you know we keep doing one more but

um so that's yeah that was um typical Gary though

everything was a million miles an hour and uh and get on with it

what I love about that is that he saw opportunity to bring some

stuff together I mean he had a crack at that from the TCR side he saw something

special in Trans Am I mean this is the thing that filters through

his whole racing career isn't it and he's put

not just money but reputation and people together

for for massive projects like this he has and um

you know you go to and you go right back to like the Thunderdome for instance he had

he had a big investment there with a couple of Oscars right through

all of that supporting all of that and um and then yeah fast forward to

things like um Trans Am and the S5000 and

everything the amount of um

not only money but effort to um that he put into all

of these things like having a V8 supercar team is one thing and that's

a huge undertaking on its own but to branch off into all

these other things um there's not many people

in Australia or in motorsport in Australia that have

backed it and put their money where their

mouth is um as much as Gary and Barry

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 it's not intended to be flashy it's roll

your sleeves up get into it and try and have a bit of fun as you go. Yeah I think that's

that's probably um pretty close to the mark 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 note dickhead policy and

everything he does and um and you know about it really quickly if you are

one and and he gets on with it and um

so now I think um yeah it's probably fair to say but

you know that that was one of the best parts about Gary is just no

bullshit it was straight to the point you knew where you stood and

like he kept saying you know right out press on get on with it

you know and always in a hurry. You summed it up

I think beautifully the other day when we called to tee this up

and that is you know for all of those achievements you know a hall of fame

winning bathists you name it all the stuff that he's done along the way

he would often simply say that these are the good old days right

now wouldn't he? We were standing in the workshop one day and

one of the boys said something about the good old days and Gary said

these are the good old days we're in the good old days now

and that really stuck with me that was a I thought it was a great comment

and he would know wouldn't he because yeah been around for a while

definitely can we finish this mate with maybe a little

something that you'll take away from this 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 what's the thing you reckon you'll take away

from getting to race for him getting to work with him

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? It had been Gary and

Kay would come and watch Hudson race

and when we started the Trans Am thing Hudson was only

you know six or seven or whatever or five and six and seven

and he came to all the races with me

so he's on the rattle gun and Gary just loved that

Hudson was in there working and he's on the

end of the jack handle and doing all those things and whenever

they could Gary and Kay would come just turn

up to the cart races and there they are you know to watch Hudson

race and which was fantastic and

they were 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 that's the other good thing

which I know Gary got a kick out of a lot of people think Barry is Gary's

brother and Gary

enjoyed that more than Barry

but while Barry's around Gary will always be here

won't he? 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

racing, property even events and category management

and more but he never screamed how good am I going

if he created headlines it was to inject a bit of theatre

character into the moment. As Supercars CEO James

Warperton explains Gary loved motor racing but the

show was even more important. James watch

your earliest recollections of Gary Rogers? I always remember a larger than life

character you know watching him in pit lane

growing up you know watching him as a team owner 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, very very intelligent

and you know for me and certainly in those sort of tougher times in 2013

you know in the private equity had come into the sport incredibly encouraging.

You know he always you know had a moment to you know you know and those famous

words can't just talk about it let's get on with it get on with it good plan

and all the stuff that Gary used to say which you know was always

you know so much fun. Yeah 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 I mean you were there in that period too and that was fantastic

for our sport as a collective wasn't it? Yeah 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

it was a very you know odd union in many many

senses but you know the fact is it worked 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

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. They said something they said they were going to do

it you know they did it and they did their very very best to do it and you know

you know I think they achieved everything that they said out to achieve.

They were passionate about motor racing generally weren't they

and supercars in that period where they were there

we benefited from that I would imagine there's probably at times

tough moments too but you grow with that don't you? Yeah and 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 you know to build

the sport and to build the fans 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 and he might have liked it but you know he

he always had that attitude you know it's sort of you know bigger than the sport

you know he was he was all in on the sport as much as you know Gary

you know was you know fierce competitor and everything else from a

GRM point of view he always regarded you know the sport and the series

you know something you know that was incredibly important to him

this little motorbike here in the background you know in 2017

as I was leaving he asked to come and see me and John Bourgetti and obviously

Virgin Australia were sponsors at the time as you'd recall and I had no idea

why and I said to John JB I said man I don't know where he was coming he wants to come and see us and he actually

presented us these things from the shirt workshop and it basically

you know as along the lines of thank you for your energy and your efforts

you know in terms of you know what you've done for Supercast and he you know

had a similar thing you know with John Bourgetti John's was an airplane

which looked bloody terrible John actually didn't know what to do with it but I've

kept that 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 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 not just nice

words but actually recognize and you know go out of their way and build something

quite unique you know just that but that's

that was Gary you know and there's lots and lots of stories and lots and lots and lots of people

you know that he would do it you know I remember at the Gold Coast

because he's an early riser and I'm an early riser by sort of Sunday you're

like ready for you know you're ready for race weekend to Wednesday this week

and I would wander over and our truck was out the back pass where the catering hall used to be

you know and you know GRM was there and we'd always be there

at 6am Sunday and sit down and we'd have some of the most fantastic

conversations you know just just the two of us you know at 6am

6am on Sunday morning because neither of us could sleep because it was so bloody light in Queensland

because of daylight saving you know so they're great yeah just 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

accolades guy. Couple to finish here firstly that outpouring

you've spoken about I mean it was everywhere in the Gold Coast

event not just the paddock at the weekend. Yeah absolutely

I mean you know like the fans he always gave you know he always gave a lot of time to the fans

and as you know you know the team owners and you know many of the engineers

and you know mechanics you know had times as well known

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 you know that goes to

you know whether it's his sauna moment or

his guest appointments it was fun you know and he did

remind us you know I think Aaron Newnan said the words you know

he reminded us that life wasn't that serious at times too

and you know so he put a smile on everyone's face and you know

and he was the first to have a gag. 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

he was like you should do this for all the cars it's like no Gary they want their

sponsors they've got more sponsors so you know so yeah some great memories

I love that. To wrap this up he's a

Supercars Hall of Famer rightly and proudly

there what do you feel like is his legacy I mean he did

some incredible things around promoting young talent for example 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. Absolutely

you know and I think you can see that every single team in pit lane you know virtually

over the weekend had a member that had their start

a GRM Motorsport 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 and I think that says it

all you know and the fact that you know many of those 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 be in a sort of indie car is testament

you know to that and you know exactly

you know who he is and what he's about

We're not done yet on this special edition of the Rusty's Garage

podcast. More stories on Gary Rogers from those who knew him

and loved working and racing for him in just a few moments

Motor racing is a tough business

the lure of winning sometimes overrides good decision making

seriously testing and sometimes breaking friendships

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. Why do you think

he was slightly respected, loved?

Former Network 10 commentator now NBC Sports

broadcaster Lee Diffie recalls how savvy he was

and the trademark loyalty of Gary's

Diffie had a soft spot for the Channel 10 team

didn't he? Yeah he did

He had a soft spot for people that he thought were genuine

and that were really good for the sport

and we're just good people

if you're a clown he didn't really have much time for you

but Gary was able to identify sincerity and authenticity

very quickly and very accurately and then

once you're a friend of Gary's you're a friend forever. 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 and that was around how he

kept his almost blue collar values if you will

despite being enormously successful. You he didn't walk in and

carry on like he just jumped off a ledger did he? No not at all 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

and especially the young guys. 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 racing overseas like Scott McLaughlin

and so I won't name names

but if they watched this they'll know who they are 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 floor 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.

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. You did a bit of business with him too didn't you?

I did and helped him with some drivers

from over here in the US to bring out when supercars had

the International Invitational at the Gold Coast 600

and he would ring and say alright Dave who are we going to use this time

and so I was able to help him out with

Simon Pajano, IndyCar Legend

Indy 500 winner, Patrick Long

sports car superstar and featured in the F1 movie of course

and Patrick's legacy lives long in the sports car world

in the Porsche world especially and then Ricky Taylor

sports car champion and major endurance sports car race winner

the first two went well unfortunately Ricky's journey with GRM

didn't go so great at the Gold Coast 600 and ended up flipping through the air

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 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?

Yeah, his daughter Chrissy 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 and now Chrissy's married herself

Chrissy's a mum and she came and stayed with us at a

time in her life where she was looking what that next chapter was going to be

or what the next adventure or where life was going to take her and Gary was very

appreciative to myself and our family for

welcoming her in and hosting her and treating

her like a family member but you know goes both ways that's what

Gary did for me from a very young age.

The Diffie family heritage is from country Victoria well obviously

initially England but you know when my ancestors came to Australia

they settled in about two hours north of Melbourne

in that Wangaratta, Benella, Shepparton

all around there, that country Victoria area

and I remember once we were doing a race meeting

at Winton and so we were staying in Wangaratta and having

dinner in a restaurant and he invited me to have

dinner with him and I said I can't I've got my arty and my cousins

and my nan is coming and he's like your nan's here well I'd like to meet

Nan and so every year he would always ask about my Nan and ask

about my relatives and because you know Gary was a country guy at heart as well

so 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 he always remembered

something about your life you know. Great stuff mate you've lent into a story

there 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.

Yeah he one of my favourites, one of my favourite

Gary's 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

and James Hinchcliff Hinch who would become my IndyCar booth mate

Hinch was the other driver for GRM there and there was that massive pile up on the

start straight and it was devastating to the drivers

and it was devastating to the team because the crash bill, the crash damage was

was so extensive 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 and Mark Barretta

vividly Mark Barretta interviewing a shell shop Ricky Taylor and

just this junk pile came back to the garage and Gary said alright

and just 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, Diff and I had my mate Nathan

daily with me and Nathan and myself and he said

Diff get Nathan, I'm gonna get Chrissy, we're gonna sit out the back, there's nothing

else we can do 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 at the Gold Coast 600 and had a couple of beers and Gary just said what else are we

gonna do and 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

and that was the last text he ever sent me which was just a short time ago

and he said never give up and we've all got to do that for Gary

To another guest contributing from the United

States now, Scott McLaughlin has just returned to his home there

after a well-earned breakdown under following the 2025 IndyCar season

you may have seen on social Scots reflections

of the part Gary has played in his career

encouraging him to be comfortable with the media and fans

the importance of respect for the guys and girls in the team to build

that tight crew around you and the value in having

a life away from the track all important components

that shape Scott McLaughlin the racer we see today

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. Yeah no like as Rusty

as you know he was such a life off the track as well

as much as he was a fierce team owner

and used car salesman so he's one of those dodgy guys

but he was just a fantastic dude and I met him at

probably the perfect time of my life. I was

18 and moved to Melbourne for the very first time and working

in the shop with him and the guys and

at the time all you wanted to do was be a main game supercar driver

and you're like why am I working on the floor but I look back on those years

and I'm like far out like I'm so glad he made me finish my apprenticeship as a fabricator

I'm so glad he made me work those first couple of years

and learn and respect the tradesmanship goes into racing cars

and how they're built and then the respect that you give

the guys and girls in your team and he was a hard man

but he was a very good man

he looked up for his people and he was loyal to his people

don't worry if you crossed him I'm sure

he'd tune you up from time to time but he was a good man

and someone that even today in America

he was one of the few people from supercars

not few people but I kept in constant contact

with a lot of supercars but I was almost texting Gary

every week and that's up until I was very thankful

I got to speak to him

just before he passed and he was the same old gas

I'm just very thankful for the friendship

thankful for the mentorship

we're going to miss him a lot.

You went on just naturally through career and progression

to get an opportunity with Penske and so on

sometimes that can mean that relationships go through a down turn

but the fact that you've been able to keep the entire way mate says so much

about him doesn't it?

I've never been more nervous going to Gaz's office that day

and going hey I'm not coming back next year

especially after we had a pretty awesome 2016 campaign

and won a couple races

it was probably our best championship to date but he knew the opportunity I had on the horizon

he knew my goals and he was just

amazing through that whole process

obviously deep down 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

but he's constantly losing

these guys because he teaches us the key ingredients

to be a great racecar driver

he was nothing but

complimentary and wanted me to do well and even when

I was battling for that first title in 2017 and he was one of the first people that

texted me when I lost it and he was one of the first that texted me

when I won it so just an amazing

person and we had our ups and downs like everyone does and there's

times that I was like far out like why do I have to dress up like a drag queen right now

but anyway you know

he was such a he's just one of those guys

I'm going to miss him a lot man

Often it's the stuff away from the track too that's the public stuff people see him

crazy ideas and character and things

maybe was there a road trip story or can you remember one or two things that are shareable

about your time with him

he was just so big on the team morale and I have to be honest

I didn't really like those road trips I really hated them

because all I wanted to do I wanted to get to Bathurst and I wanted to just drive

and I was so excited and delayed he always wanted to stop

and all these places but then you look back on it now and you're like far out

like that was such a good idea you know everyone got around it

you know me and you know Robert Dahlgren at the time I had no idea what

he was in for just incredible

and look that brought everyone down at the same level

and then it's the same where we stayed like we stayed in like a hostile

like an old hostile that I swear to God was haunted but we were in the

same we're in the same you know rooms

every year you'd share a shower you know

it was just like it was just very grass root stuff and Gaz loved that

he didn't like the you know he was very

well with his cars he did very well with everything but he didn't like the

you know shine of the

showy stuff he was just that guy and

and I think you know that's why he was so undead by the fans too

and always had the fans at heart always had

his drivers and his team at heart but yeah it was

he was a great guy. How will you best remember him

is there kind of one takeaway for you where you

think you know this is the thing that you didn't mind about Gary forever

just

just I think he was such a good

he never he never pumped you up

you could have the greatest race of all and you know

I'm a winner at Pocacaui for instance and he would he would be like

you know Scott great job great job but hey another race tomorrow

you're only as good as your last race you could be last tomorrow and suck 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 crashed the car tire blew up hit the wall

you know he was always that guy that just kept everyone

level headed and I think it was such a great outlook in life

you know he was just full steam ahead no looking back

and just a great way to look about life and yeah I'm excited for next year

because I just feel like I've got a lot of motivation with him and knowing that he'll be

up there watching me and hopefully giving me some wisdom and we'll see how we go

awesome will you carry a little something with you in that regard mate a little GRM

something I'd like to I've been thinking about what I could do for my helmet next year

and stuff like that you know the Rogers family you know

between Gary but you know Barry Rogers you know

Kay and Michelle and Cassie like you know

Chrissy sorry you know they're just amazing people and I've known them for a long

time you know and Charlie Rogers who's Barry's son he's over here

running right now he's in college and trying to keep in touch with him he's in

Pennsylvania I'm in North Carolina so I just

you know that the family is dear to me and then young I do every bit I can

to you know do the best I can but Gays wouldn't care you'd be like

don't worry about that crap just get on with it and just drive you know that's not going to do anything

right that's just who he would be you know and that's the best

part about him. In recent days in the broadcast and on socials

Marks gave reminded us of the massive contribution that Gary made

to Australian motorsport and supercars over a very long period

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

that distance to David in the UK and for a time in New York

never affected their bond or friendship. Listen carefully

here as David share some insights on James Golding's

dedication and how Gary recognised and rewarded that

plus a shared love for a different kind of horsepower

David you knew him for quite some time

what was the first time you sort of crossed paths and

did you immediately kind of click in a friendship sense

Well Rusty I first met Gary in beginning of

1997 when you and I were involved in the

start of supercars V8 supercars as it was then on Network 10

and I had dinner at the Domain Hotel

with the then board chaired by Tony

James Erskine was there, Larry and I sat next to

Gary 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 and half way through dinner

he said right I missed a television smart ass he said

what are we going to do to make this car racing better

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

yeah okay well you might be alright then

and yeah that was the

start of it so you know it started

of a 28 year really really strong friendship

amazing he was great in a business sense

I mean he clearly loved his motor racing he'd come from that a racer's race I think is some

scapey reflected but he got that it was so much more than that

didn't he? Yeah for sure he was

a very sharp businessman you know 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 and he had

quite a few business interests down there he owns a

hotel down south of Hobart he built a marina down there

he had an industrial state down there and a beautiful

home on the Derwitt River which was the old Harbour Masters

house so you know he loved going down there and of course he

his great love probably his greatest love

outside his family were his horses

and he had several horses down there that used to run

in the trotting meetings around Tasmania he and I actually

at one point owned a horse together and I think

we would both acknowledge it was the slowest one. Did you? Yes on fire night

it's in a can now it was

it was very slow

The impact from your point of view I mean getting to

Siperside him like that 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 what are the things that Supercars

perhaps even now still benefit from having had Gary Rogers involved

Well Gary always

danced to the beat of his own drum you know he

he would play by the rules to the point where that he

didn't think the rules were right and for sure

along the way and this is in no way

a 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 100% correct and

if Gary thought that they weren't then he'd be very vocal 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 so

I think he was very good for the sport in that sense

and probably held management and some of the other teams to account

because of his strong beliefs

He was a character 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? Well we did you know 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

at the first Adelaide 500

you know he got up to all sorts of shanigans on the grid which I think the then premiere of the

time wasn't quite sure what he'd brought to town

but no he

loved his car racing

but more than that he loved the team that were

involved 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 everyone that had been loyal to him for

35 and 40 years still had something to do

even during Covid

there was no car racing for all intents and purposes

he found projects

for the team to do you know building cars

and just made sure that everybody had a purpose

very very very very very caring man

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

That's true

I owned Colin Bond's L34 Holden

dealer team rally car which had quite a great

history it started life as a touring car

it was a bit of a rough old thing

and Gary had a look at it

I took it and showed it to him in Melbourne one day he said ah look he said this is no good

he said it doesn't go as good as it should and it doesn't look as you know he said

you got to get rid of all this rally stuff and turn it into a

really good thing and I said okay I'll do it for you

so I gave him the keys I didn't see the thing for about another six months and it came back

and it was all beautifully painted and had knew this and knew that

and it ran like a clock and it was lovely and I was ever so

happy I said what happened to all the original rally stuff you know the

lights and the fuel tank and wheels

cocky said you don't want all that rubbish so I threw it on the tip

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

I said I think it's on the warrigal tip

but

but for all intents and purposes he

he restored that L34 for me and

it cost me a corned beef and hash

and a couple of beers at the Emerald Hotel unbelievable it was beautifully

done too to finish Ddub 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

what he did for young races especially is a stand

out for me there are countless examples of people that he

he helped along the way I mean you've stated in touch with Scotty McLaughlin for example

doing amazing things in the United States there's lots of stories like that isn't there

well for sure there is you know and again it's been all well documented

but yeah I do stay in touch with Scott

and so did Gary you know Gary

Gary would ring him on the morning of the Indy 500 just to give him a few words of advice

you know not that Scott wasn't getting plenty of

advice from people like Roger Penske at the time but

yeah I know Scott's desperately

sad at his passing and you know just look what he did for

you know James Golding who turned up at his

workshop came in from south of Frankston

on the train as a 16 year old and said I really really want to go car racing

and Gary said well I'll give you a job at you know changing

tyres and cleaning windscreens and see how you go so

James came in on the train every morning as a 16 year old kid

and worked at Gary's behest

Gary partying of course and then as a reward Gary put him in a race car

at a test day at Winton and not

surprisingly you know we saw James's talent for the first time

and you know I know Gary was ever so

ever so proud of you know Scott and Jamie Winncarp

and Stevie Richards and you know and the like

and yeah I mean if there was a legacy then

for sure that's one of his big ones.

He's in the Hall of Fame we've just talked about a bit of legacy there a moment ago

how should we best remember Gary Rogers?

That's a good question Rusty.

He'll always be remembered for what he did right

he'll always be remembered you know he owns all those cars

that'll forever you know stand the test of time

that all his young drivers will stand the test of time

so you know I don't think he'll ever be forgotten but I think

if there's some learnings that everyone should take

it's you know live every day

you know in his 80 years he left nothing on the table

absolutely nothing on the table and you know

one of his favourite things was the smallest

the smallest fish are the sweetest

David he'd say the smallest so when we won $2.50 on bonfire night

he'd ring me and he'd say we're in the money he said we've won $2.50

but he said just remember that your mother used to say

the smallest fish are the sweetest.

That is a perfect way to end this Ddub I wish we were catching up for better reasons

thank you for reminiscing a little bit about the great Gary Rogers. Thanks Rusty good to see you mate.

David kindly steered us in the direction of James Golding

there so let's bring him into the conversation now 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 that podium at Bathurst just a few

weeks ago was very nearly a win is something that no doubt filled

Gary with pride. James Golding if you had

one word to describe Gary Rogers what the heck would it be?

Different probably

probably the best way very unique character as we know.

How did he impact I mean I feel like this is an obvious question mate

but how did he impact your racing life?

Yeah a big way for me joined the team Gary Rogers Motor Support in 2013

when I was racing Formula 4 and Gary really

set me straight when I got there that 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 he gave me the opportunity

to get involved there and learn the craft behind the scenes

and really take his attitude onto

my racing which really taught me

and grounded me for my career to

progress and I can't really thank him anymore for that.

You're proudly wearing a GRM shirt but a premiere

cap so we know where you are currently

in a career sense but I love the pride that you have for GRM mate 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?

Yeah that's right he always come across pretty hard and

made sure that the work was getting done that's for sure but

for me it was a bit of a weird one I think we had a

test or evaluation day at Winton with one of the

co-drivers Alex Primer 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

and that was when I was in Formula 4 and Gary said

do you want to have a go and obviously

I had a big grin on my face and put my hand up straight away

so that was the first opportunity he gave me

to get a feel for a supercar and then obviously that led

to racing Super 2 and at that point in my career I wasn't

really how bent on doing supercars

obviously I was involved in it being part of Go Rogers but

I didn't really know where my career was going to go I was thinking about going to

America and trying to sort of go on that Indy car path but

once Gary gave us the opportunity to do Super 2 it was kind of

it was too good to be true so we took it with both hands.

So in that sense just step me through how he might have helped to guide

you and how important that was? It was definitely important

it's one of them things that early on in your career you can

kind of make or break making the right decision

but he really left it in our court which was a really

great feeling as well he said if you want to go and do that then 100%

back you go and do what you want to do but he wanted

off the opportunity to get into Super 2 and sort of start that pathway

to supercars and that's what I chose to do and obviously really

grateful for that. Did he keep in touch and did you keep in touch?

That's been another kind of reoccurring thing here. He was great with

longevity of relationships, business or you know racing slash personal

wasn't he? Yeah that's right. Gary and I have always kept in touch

pretty closely ever since I started there and then

progressing to other teams and different racing as well

obviously when they pulled out of Super cars it was unfortunate to

stop racing but also kept racing for him at the same time

with the S5000 in other categories so I didn't actually

stop 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.

He enjoyed some fun, he enjoyed the entertainment and a laugh and stuff

if you've got a yarn that you've thought of could be away from the track, could have been

in the pit line or the transporter or something or other, share that with the audience if you can.

Oh there was a couple of moments I do remember pretty

clearly one was when I was working in the team

and I was in sub-assembly. I was

leaning on the bench, 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

one who said, oh nah and he goes, we don't lean on the bench.

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 so

that was one and also again

I did hear a story not from his mouth but from a few different

people that 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.

So that was a funny one.

That was hilarious. He's just one of those guys

that thinks out the box and nothing's

ever a limitation. Exactly. What about

a moment for you in your racing with him that you

got to share that is pretty special I guess to the both

of you? Probably I think

the Super 2 wins with Gary

were really cool. Obviously it

took a long time to get to that point and

just to share success with him was awesome and

also just a few of the drives I had in S5000 and that

sort of thing that really that hard raw racing

and to do that with GRM and Gary was awesome.

There's been a few different points

but even recent times

discussions we've had about good races I've had and

just really enjoyed it and he's always been there to support

good bout or otherwise so it's been great to have him

in my corner as I said it wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today without him.

You're a tough guy mate. How has this impacted you?

Yeah it was pretty tough to take

initially when I first heard about it. I was lucky enough to

see Gary last Sunday

so I was down in Melbourne caught up with him

and it was his chirpy self which is an awesome

thing to take away and remember as the last time I seen him.

He definitely didn't change his character

all the way to the end which is pretty cool but I'll definitely be

carrying him in my mind move forward

for the rest of my racing career

and there's a few things he always said

that I'll carry with me like

Cool Heads will prevail is one. Always I remember here in that one

whenever we went to Bathurst.

It was just awesome to be a part of his life

and also to have him as a part of mine as well.

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.

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. Fittingly we chatted with her at

GRM headquarters this week back to work just as he would have wanted.

Sally what was it like

working alongside the great Gary Rogers at GRM there?

Interesting.

I guess what you see on TV and everything

is what he was like he was fairly much a character.

Always different things on the go and just trying to come up

some way of doing something different but often it was his way and that's the way it had to be.

How long have you been there for now

and how did that first opportunity to go and work there come about?

Probably would be nearly 16 years.

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. I sort of

reached out to Gary and he was like what's your involvement

and my dad actually used to race against Gary in Sports Dance back in the very early 80s.

We obviously are not a race fan but you've grown up around it so you'd

probably be okay. I had a chat and I thought it went all really well 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 to go on my race team. So what changed?

I said to him I said well I can't change that so I said why don't you just give

me a go. He's like oh okay so I think I went along to the last round

at Homebush in 2009 and went along there and the rest

is sort of history from there. And he became a great

support or a great champion didn't he? Yes.

I often remind him of that point as well that he didn't necessarily want me on his team.

He didn't want to go 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 so yes.

On the flip side what did you enjoy so much? I mean you're talking to us from GRM

even now. What do you enjoy so much about working there?

I think we're just looking at something.

We're a family. I guess it's an extended family. We have so many

people. Let me lost people come and go but back in Supercar days

it was a very stable team. Everyone's been here for a long time

we just all know each other and we go away. It's a family. We have fun

and I guess that's what Gary was about is make sure you

live life to the fullest and you have fun and we do that. Obviously we're serious there

we're racing but it's just what it was about. Describe

him when he came into the office was he

a whirlwind with the gazillion ideas and what

in that working environment was it like being around him?

Probably depend on the day. What he's got going on

some days you sort of try to avoid him and other days you're good.

I've been trying to explain things to him like he was not great

on the technology side of things so often it'll be like this isn't working on my phone or can you send

this message or can you do that or I can't get this working so

I always ran for cover every time you got a new phone or iPad because it meant

it was going to be like a whole day of setting it up. But mind you he did

flaw me this year when I heard him use Siri to make a phone call.

What is going on guys? What are you doing?

Awesome. I was very proud of him at that moment. I was like wow

that's good.

His text message he was a demon he loved his text messages

and his emojis so that'll be one of the big things that we missed.

And especially the ones like most weekends during the

IndyCar season. Is Scotty racing this weekend?

How did he go?

Yeah so that's the main things.

Have you got a couple of yarns, a couple of memories, maybe it might be

trips to racetracks or something in the workshop

give us a couple of Gary's. The Bathurst road trips and the gridwalk things

that's the main things that stand out and I think the one year

was the Volvo year when we went there and it was the first time

we had the Volvo partnership so we got the big bus and we went there and we all just

wanted to get there and we had a million stops in the way and that's when Gary dressed up as

Priscilla and we had Scotty and everyone dressed up it was just

I felt like it took three days just to get to Bathurst that year but we did some good

things along the way. Awesome. We talk about him being

a giant of the supercars pit lane and much missed and

so on and that's because he's the sum of many parts. You've rattled off a bit of the

character that he had there but he was so passionate

about something succeeding whether that's his involvement

in supercars or TCR or transam and so on.

Definitely like he was always, I mean even the last

year we had him sort of gone to me race he was always like what was the results, what was happening,

he always wanted to know what was going on and yeah like I think

obviously he always wanted to pick the young drivers and get them in, some he got right, some he didn't

probably got more right than he didn't and we always had a little saying like

every time one did well the first time they're like oh let's spray the champagne now they're going to change

so yeah. He said that did he say that?

That was our little joke that we're like oh god now that one's going to change he's spray the champagne

so. How will you remember him? 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. You'll miss him I know but how will you

best remember him? I think it's just all the

little things but I feel like we won't

really get too much of a chance to forget him I think that's going to remind us for a long time like every time we walk

in here there's you know it's the gerome legacy in the building so

it's going to take a fair bit to you know not having around and sort of

not think oh I'll tell Gaz that and be like oh I can't so

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

what are we going to do? Yeah I think he'd want us to be eyes forward I think that's one of the things

that's coming. 100% someone for the day like oh are you going to cancel that

meeting? I was like no no Gaz we like keep business going we've got to keep the money coming in so we

can't cancel appointments so yeah. What was he sort of in the office

there maybe he's proud of all of it but you got lots of great memories

of the successes that the teams had over the years from

Bathurst 1000 to 24 hours to you name it

give us a sense of his pride in that stuff that GRM achieved

I think honestly I think the 24 hour race was his proudest one that's one

he always used to come back to so and having the Monaro's we've actually got two of them here at the moment

so that was good for him to see both of those here he just he loved that race and just

what the team did and you know how they turned around that was just always his

favourite memory obviously winning Bathurst was special to him and you know unfortunately only

half at once we came very close you know a few more times but I think

he would have loved seeing you know Jimmy having a go the other week as well at Bathurst

I think that would have brought a smile to his you know to his face as well and you know see

making that pass even though it didn't work out he you know he didn't die wondering which is the main thing

so yeah. 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. Yes definitely 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 so.

There are

many many more people we could have interviewed for this special episode I mentioned

the Barguanas Ben and Jason earlier Michael Caruso is

another 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. I thought I'd get some final words though from Lee Holdsworth

we spoke in recent days and Gary's passing as it has for

so many in the pit lane has hit hard.

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

live character wasn't he? Oh he was such a great person

and like I get all emotional talking about it

because he was such a huge part of my life my career and

just such a great person to have a part of your life

in so many different ways you know.

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 so

but you know he was the sort of guy that was

he was always up for a laugh. 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 and it was

back in 2005 I had to move down from

Queensland we had a handshake agreement to say yes you've got a five

year deal. He rang me when

I just moved back because I thought I'm not going to get this drive so I moved back

to Queensland with Alana we'd packed all our gear and

sitting there up at the family home in Queensland about

a week later and Gary the phone calls and Gary says right you're starting

next week you've got a five year contract get down here next

week you're going to be in the workshop full time and driving full time

so obviously a huge moment for me but I said to Gary

I said you know just so I feel a bit more comfortable with this

are you able to send something through like can you send me a contract

he said yep righto he said I'll

get something to you in five minutes so he writes a hand written

facts and no legals about it at all

he writes a facts and that to this day was my first

contract it was two pages long actually probably one page

I think I've still got it in the cupboard somewhere but

I've got a few more great stories about Gary

and he was always up for a laugh

and just enjoyed life and so

it was sometimes to others expense and

Caruso was the victim in this story

but he had a little Mazda 121

which was absolute pride and joy for him and one day Gary

decided that it was time for a makeover of that car

so he wrapped the whole thing in a full race livery

and when I say full race livery I'm talking full promo

ready to start the race at Bathurst promo in a one

Mazda 121 and obviously

Caruso was absolutely filthy 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 so he was

furious with Gary but here's Gary thought it was the best thing ever

and absolutely got his kicker out of it

so he did some funny stuff

but you know we all laughed Caruso didn't I think Caruso sees the funny side

in it now but one other story

I think these are the probably two more

sorry I'll quickly get through them but

another one I had James Small as my engineer in 2007

and at GRM obviously and it was

James's first attempt or first year of being a race engineer

and he was obviously brilliant and absolute

weapon and so good in fact that he got poached by Paul Morris Motorsport

pretty quickly that year

but James had just finished up pursuing a career of his own

in race driving so his next move was obviously

to engineer a car and he did that very successfully in 2007

with me but in true Gary fashion

Gary offered him to stay

offered him a co-driver role with me

his driver for the next year

and I thought to myself

who's going to engineer the car

so anyway

he did some funny stuff sometimes it didn't make sense but he always had

the best intentions in mind and had a very

it was always heartfelt what he had in mind

but yeah and one thing that

really stands by that and

sort of leads me into this is that he wasn't all

it's okay mate it's okay sorry that's crazy

he wasn't all jokes he wasn't all jokes

he came to my grandad's funeral all the way out in Cobram

and I remember like

my family just was absolutely over

the moon that he would show such respect and

he's just a great guy

loving family man and just an awesome person that

Motorsport has dearly lost

and we will forever be in debt

to Gary and what he did for the sport

the funny yarns will 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 family

then and the funeral and so on says so much

about the person that Gary was in injecting the

bond into the team and to make the team gel so well

everybody even beyond the team really had a nickname so Caruso's

was Robo Robinson Caruso I think you were lethal weren't you but there were others too

mate weren't they he was always good for a nickname and it stuck

it stuck yeah it stuck and he usually stuck when he knew you didn't like it

I think I was the only one that walked in and said he said right oh what's your

nickname and I said lethal and he goes right oh that's your nickname

Robo Caruso walks in he says

what's your nickname he says Caruso and he goes

Robo as in Robinson Caruso that's you

you're Robo from now on and once again Caruso

hated it but there were all kinds of everyone had a nickname

at GRM there was Gypsy

who anyone that knows GRM knows that Gypsy was part

of the furniture there. Negar who was negative

the engine man

who else

I mean there were so many names and that was what made

GRM so fun you know it was Gary it all bled down from Gary

and they were the best times of my racing career

honestly to this day they were the most fun years I spent six years at

GRM and I have so many great memories

we got some good results but man we had some fun

it was just such a great time. You ended up on the podium recently

at Bathurst maybe you heard from him around that time

I'm not sure if you did and you've gone on Lee to pursue

business and still do a bit of racing 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. Yeah 100% and you know Gary used to

say to me you know if something went wrong

or you know times are tough he'd say go on get up get

on with it you know move forward don't look backwards it's you know there's nothing you can do

about that now and it was just to just move on

and deal with what is in your control 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 and

I've carried that forward you know there were times in racing when

I often thought about that sometimes you'd have an issue

with someone on track and it would take you a few laps to recover

from that and really get back into the rhythm and

I think Gary's advice through that time really helped me not only

with that but it was a valuable lesson in

life just to 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. That's a great way to wrap this up Lee thank you

for sharing that for the motor racing community and for the fans who

are really missing Gary right now. Yeah thanks Greg cheers.

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 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 I don't want it to be technical I want it to be fun and entertaining

right press on that was pretty much the brief

and the length of the call and what followed was a part of

my working life that I enjoyed immensely and I called him

his 80th birthday and said thank you for being in my corner at times

and he said hey we've done some great things along the way

to Barry to the Rogers family and

friends his employees especially those that bleed GRM

who made a life in that organisation we are thinking

of all of you at this time 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. Bye for now everybody.

Garry Rogers Tribute

About this episode

TCR

Trans Am

Lotus Trophy Series

GRM

Chrysler Country Towns

Subaru

Daewoo

Gary Rogers Nissan

Nissan Rogers Nissan

Bathurst

Valvoline

Cummins

Formula 4

Phillip Island

Formula Ford

supercar

Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC AMG

kilometres per hour

Gibson Motorsport

Honda Accord

Honda Civic

Holden Monaro

Vauxhall Monaro

S5000

Porsche

Holden L34

Mazda 121

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