VALE John Harvey
Australian motorsport has lost one of its greats in John Harvey OAM, who passed away on 5 December, aged 82.
In an era when racing drivers became big time personalities, Harvey was rarely in the spotlight, but was no less capable than any of the “name” drivers he shared racetracks with in the 1970s and ’80s.
A key member of Peter Brock’s Holden Dealer Team, both on the track and with the HDT road car operation, Harvey was just as important to the HSV and HRT ventures that followed.
From dirt to tarmac
Born John Francis Harvey on 21 February, 1938, the Sydneysider’s first signs of brilliance behind the wheel was demonstrated in midget speedcars in the late 1950s. Winning his first speedcar race in 1957, Harvey turned professional a year later and went on to win three NSW speedcar championships, as well as Victorian and national titles.
While he made it through more than half a decade of speedway unscathed, Harvey was inherently aware of the danger of the category, which was one of the factors that led him to switch to road racing in 1964.
Picture shows Harvey in a Brabham BT11A at the Warwick Farm round of the 1968 Tasman Series. photo: autopics.com.au
Gaining his CAMS licence a year later, Harvey was taken on by Ron Phillips and would drive both open wheelers and touring cars for ‘RC Phillips Sports Cars’; a Brabham BT14 in the former and Mini Cooper S in the latter.
Winning the Australian 1.5-litre Championship in 1966, Harvey came close to also winning that year’s Australian Drivers’ Championship, but his debut at the Bathurst enduro in the same year was less stellar, DNFing the Mini he shared with John French.
A move to Bob Jane Racing in 1968 saw Harvey expand his repertoire to sports cars, but that season’s racing was curtailed following a serious accident in a Brabham BT23E at the Easter Bathurst meeting.
In sports cars, the McLaren M6 proved to be a perfect fit for Harvey and he would claim back-to-back Australian Sports Car Championships in the Repco-engined machine in 1971-72. A year later, Harvey took out the Toby Lee Series in a Repco-engined LJ Torana GRT XU-1 when that category switched from series production cars to sports sedans.
Harvey’s credentials as a touring car driver had been firmly established by this stage, too, and would grow through the rest of the decade, including a first race win in a privateer LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 at Symmons Plains in 1976.
The Holden Years
Before the end of 1976, Harvey had joined the Holden Dealer Team and secured a podium at the Adelaide International Raceway round, then runner-up at that year’s Hardie-Ferodo 1000, partnering Colin Bond in a controversial finish that some feel should have been awarded to the HDT pair.
When Bond switched camps to Ford, Harvey became HDT’s lead driver, but that only lasted for the 1977 season before Peter Brock came back to the “factory” team after three years away.
As Brock asserted his dominance, Harvey served as a loyal and reliable No. 2 driver, while still accruing wins and podiums of his own.
Finishing third overall in the 1979 ATCC, Harvey’s touring car highlight was arguably the victory he shared with Peter Brock and Larry Perkins in the 1983 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst after the latter two switched to the No. 25 car when the No. 05 car expired.
At the ’84 Bathurst 1000, Harvey would finish second behind Brock/Perkins with David Parsons, then second again with Neal Lowe in 1986.
At the same time, Harvey was deeply involved in the development, engineering and manufacturing of the ‘Brock Commodore’ road cars produced by HDT Special Vehicles.
Leaving HDT in early 1987, Harvey went racing with Allan Moffat in the World Touring Car Championship (taking a default win at Monza) and was also part of the driver lineup in the GM ‘Sunraycer’ electric car that won the first World Solar Challenge.
In 1988, Harvey rounded out his professional driving career with another Bathurst start, partnering Kevin Bartlett in a VL Commodore SS Group A.
HSV, HRT and OAM
The experience Harvey gained at HDT saw him sought out for a senior role with the Holden Special Vehicles operation that was born out of Brock’s bust-up with Holden. Harvey would also be involved in the new Holden Racing Team that followed.
Credited with the idea and name for HSV’s most successful model, the Club Sport, Harvey was with HSV for more than a decade and remained connected to motorsport even longer, including the occasional start in historic racing.
More recently, Harvey was one of the inaugural inductees into ‘Legend’s Lane’ at Mount Panorama in 2017, followed by induction into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2018. At the 2020 Australia Day Honours, Harvey was awarded with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to Australian motorsport.
Harvey’s lung cancer diagnosis was only made public in late November, days before his passing on 5 December.
John Harvey OAM is survived by wife Bev, children Donna, Lyndall and Gavin, as well as several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
JUST CARS extends is sympathies to Harvey’s family and friends.
