Concept
TCR
TCR stands for Touring Car Racing, which is a type of car racing that uses cars that are based on regular production models. It's known for exciting and competitive races.
Concept
Trans Am
Trans Am is a type of car racing series in North America where different sports cars compete against each other. It's popular and has been around for a long time.
Car
Lotus Trophy Series
The Lotus Trophy Series is a racing competition for cars made by Lotus. It's a way for Lotus fans to race their cars and enjoy the sport.
Company
GRM
GRM stands for Garry Rogers Motorsport, which is a racing team in Australia. They compete in different racing events and are recognized for their skills in car engineering.
Car
Chrysler Country Towns
The Chrysler Town & Country is a big family van that has lots of room for kids and luggage. It's great for road trips because it’s comfortable and has many features to keep everyone happy.
Brand
Subaru
Subaru is a car brand that makes vehicles known for their ability to handle tough weather and rough roads. Many people like them for outdoor activities.
Brand
Daewoo
Daewoo is a car brand from South Korea that used to make many different types of vehicles. They were known for being budget-friendly but are not as popular now.
Company
Gary Rogers Nissan
Gary Rogers Nissan is a company that sells parts for Nissan cars and other brands. They help keep cars running by providing the parts that need to be replaced when they break.
Car
Nissan Rogers Nissan
The Nissan Rogue is a medium-sized SUV that can carry a lot of people and stuff. It's known for being safe and good on gas, making it a favorite for families.
Concept
Bathurst
Bathurst is a famous car race in Australia that takes place on a difficult track. It's a big deal in the world of racing, especially for touring cars.
Company
Valvoline
Valvoline is a company that makes oil and lubricants for cars. They are popular in racing and support many teams.
Company
Cummins
Cummins is a company that makes engines, especially diesel engines. They are well-respected in the automotive industry and used in many vehicles.
Concept
Formula 4
Formula 4 is a type of racing for young drivers. The cars are similar so that everyone has a fair chance, and it helps drivers learn skills before moving to more advanced racing.
Term
Phillip Island
Phillip Island is a well-known racetrack in Australia where many car and motorcycle races take place. It's popular for its exciting layout and beautiful scenery.
Term
Formula Ford
Formula Ford is a type of racing series that uses small, fast cars. It's often where new drivers start before moving on to bigger races.
Term
supercar
A supercar is a really fast and expensive sports car. These cars are built for high performance and often have special features that make them stand out.
Car
Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC AMG
The Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC AMG is a luxury sports coupe that was made in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It's known for being fast and stylish, combining performance with comfort.
Term
kilometres per hour
Kilometres per hour is a way to measure speed, showing how many kilometres a car can go in one hour. It's often used in countries that use the metric system.
Company
Gibson Motorsport
Gibson Motorsport is a racing team in Australia that works on cars for V8 Supercars. They help make cars faster and more competitive in races.
Car
Honda Accord
The Honda Accord is a well-known car that many people use for daily driving. The 1996 version is one of the older models, recognized for being dependable and comfortable.
Car
Honda Civic
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people drive because it's dependable and gets good gas mileage. It's been around for a long time and has many different versions.
Car
Holden Monaro
The Holden Monaro is a powerful car from Australia that has been used in racing. It's known for being fast and sporty, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
Vauxhall Monaro
The Vauxhall Monaro is a sporty car that looks really cool and has a strong engine. It's popular among car lovers because it's fun to drive and stands out on the road.
Car
S5000
The S5000 is a type of race car used in a special racing series in Australia. It's built to be very fast and is designed for exciting races.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a famous car brand from Germany that makes fast and sporty cars, like the 911.
Car
Holden L34
The Holden L34 is a special version of a car called the Torana, made for racing in Australia. It's famous for its history in motorsport and is popular among car collectors.
Car
Mazda 121
The Mazda 121 is a small car that is easy to drive and park, making it great for city living. It was loved by many people because it was affordable and reliable.
LIVE
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.
About this episode
A heartfelt tribute to Gary Rogers, a beloved figure in Australian motorsport, who passed away at 80. The episode features stories and memories from drivers, team members, and friends, highlighting his impact on their lives and careers. Guests like James Moffat, Garth Tander, and Scott McLaughlin share personal anecdotes, showcasing Gary's mentorship, humor, and unwavering support for young talent. The episode captures the essence of Gary's character, his dedication to the sport, and the deep connections he forged within the motorsport community.
Original notes
Recorded in the days following his passing Rusty is joined by Garth Tander, James Moffat, Steven Richards, Lee Holdsworth, Supercars CEO James Warburton, James Golding, Owen Kelly, Aaron Cameron. Jordan Cox and long time Garry Rogers Motorsport staffer Sally Parkinson.
Leigh Diffey and Scott MacLaughlin join us from the US while former Network Ten Head of Sport David White dials in from the UK.
This special edition of the pod is a collection of fresh conversations from those who knew him well….fun memories, emotional moments and high points of racing careers guided by Garry.
We won’t get to everyone who raced for GRM over the next hour or so (you can find Jason and Ben Bargwanna in our library for example and there’s an awesome episode with Michael Caruso too).
Crack a beer (not if you’re under age or driving) and say cheers to Garry Rogers. Someone who did so much for Australian Motorsport and Supercars. The Hall of Famer will be missed greatly in pit lane but especially by his family and friends. Our thoughts are with them at this time.
Head to Rusty's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and give us your feedback and let us know who you want to hear from on Rusty's Garage.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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