Established in 1989 by local Speedway identity Winston Badcock, the Tasmanian Motorsport Hall of Fame was devised to honour the state’s rich history in racing.
Its establishment came in response to the lack of motorsport representation in the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame, which regularly inducted 10-15 leading sportspeople from the state.
Badcock invited officials, journalists and commentators to form an independent board of directors to select potential inductees.
The first inductee was 11-time state speedway champion Les Redpath, who has followed by an amazing array of names including John Bowe, John McCormack, Tony Edmondson, Robin Best and Marcos Ambrose.
A display featuring all of the inductees is featured in Launceston’s National Automobile Museum of Tasmania, which led to a director of the facility to join the board. Currently, legendary commentator and multiple Targa Tasmania winning co-driver Barry Oliver is the chairman.
One or two inductions are made each year in a prestigious evening event each year bringing together some of Tasmania’s motorsport legends.
Below is just a few of the motor racing luminaries inducted into the Hall of Fame:
Malcolm Campbell – Motorcycling – Inducted 1990
John Bowe – Circuit Racing – Inducted 1991
John McCormack – Open-wheel Racing, Sports Sedans, Engineering – Inducted 1992
Tony Edmondson – Sports Sedans, Engineering – Inducted 1998
Robin Best – NASCAR, Drag Racing, speedway – Inducted 1999
Wayne Cross – Power Boat Racing – Inducted 2000
Paul ‘Hawkeye’ Hawkins – Circuit Racing – Inducted 2004
Ross Ambrose – Circuit Racing, Manufacturing, Team Management– Inducted 2010
John Goss – Circuit Racing, Engineering – Inducted 2011
Gene Cook – Speedway, Circuit Racing, NASCAR, Engineering – Inducted 2012
Garth Wigston – Circuit Racing, Administration– Inducted 2014
Brian Bowe – Circuit Racing, Engineering, Team Management – Inducted 2016
Wayne Mahnken – Circuit Racing, Engineering – Inducted 2017
Bruce Gowans – Circuit Racing – Inducted 2018
Ian Harrington – Patron, Team Management – Inducted 2018
Barry Oliver – Commentator, Administration – Inducted 2019
Greg Crick – Circuit Racing, Mentor, Engineering – Inducted 2019
Kerry Bailey – Circuit Racing, Engineering – Inducted 2020
Graham Parsons – Circuit Racing – Inducted 2021
David Parsons – Circuit Racing – Inducted 2021
Les Walkden – Team Management, Patron – Inducted 2022
Johnnie Walker – Circuit Racing, Engineering, Team Management– Inducted 2022
Marcos Ambrose – Circuit Racing, Mentor, Team Management – Inducted 2022