John Goss (OAM)  

John is the only Australian Car driver to have won Australia’s two most prestigious races – the Bathurst 1000 (twice)and the Australian Grand Prix. John first won Bathurst in 1974 partnered by Kevin Bartlett, and again in 1985 with German driver, Armin Hahne.

John’s win in the Australian Grand Prix was in 1976.

Jon was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia in 2018 for services to motorsport.

John was born in Glen Iris, Victoria, but was brought up and educated in Tasmania. His father was a development engineer at General Motors before WWII. After demobbing he returned to GM, but as his mother was Tasmanian and he was a keen sailor, Goss’ father moved the family to the Apple Isle.

"I had a good education but I hankered to get out and do something mechanical," begins Goss. "I was a keen aero-modeler and my father instinctively saw that and, rather than compel me to go on to university, he obtained an apprenticeship for me at the Ford dealership in Tasmania."

"Those days in Tasmania were important because my father was keen on motorsport and he took me to the Longford international meeting where I saw the great Europeans of the day.

"In the late-1950s, when I was still at school and being taken to that event, there were many of the classic front-engined cars including the 250F Maseratis. I remember seeing (Stan) Jones win the AGP in one of those cars, so I have great memories of motor racing at a proper level right from the early days."

While Goss was attending a supporting function to the Longford event at the Warratah Hotel in Hobart one year and "drinking a fair bit of beer as we did as young Tasmanians", he met Brian Higgins who persuaded him to race at Longford.

"(Brian) said he had also taken the precaution of obtaining a late entry for me for Baskerville the next weekend. So we flew into action – we had a lot of work to do on this beautifully-restored early Holden. We took it to Baskerville and I found that I actually had a skill for it. I finished mid-field with a few dents. The only experience I’d had before that was a bit of fairground racing at the Royal Agricultural Show at Hobart, where we would rush around on the grass in our street Holdens.

"(So) I was launched into racing; it was somebody else’s decision and it was just amazing"!