Leo Geoghegan (16 May 1936 - 2 March 2015) was an Australian former racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
car dealer Tom Geoghegan, both of whom become dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s. While his younger brother
Ian "Pete" Geoghegan had much of his success in
touring car racing
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
While the cars do not move ...
, winning five
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
s, Leo spent most of his racing career in open wheel racing cars.
Career
Leo also drove
Group E Series Production Cars and
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
touring cars at the annual
Bathurst 500/1000 endurance race for the
Ford Works Team,
Chrysler Australia
Fiat Chrysler Australia, officially FCA Australia, is the official Stellantis subsidiary in that country, operating as distributor of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Abarth, Alfa Romeo and Fiat vehicles. However, there had previously been a "Chrysler Au ...
and the
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
. This gave him the distinction of being the only driver to race for all three Australian factory backed teams.
Leo and
Ian Geoghegan
Ian "Pete" Geoghegan, (26 April 1939 – 15 November 2003) was an Australian race car driver, known for a quick wit and natural driving skills. Sometimes referred to as "Pete" Geoghegan, he was one of the iconic characters of the 1960s and 197 ...
drove their
Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 in the
1965 Armstrong 500
The 1965 Armstrong 500 was the sixth running of the Bathurst 500 touring car race. It was held on 3 October 1965 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The race was open to Australian assembled or man ...
at Bathurst while wearing business suits as part of a sponsorship deal with a Sydney clothing store. After crossing the line in second place, the brothers were later disqualified for restarting their Cortina during a pit stop. They protested the result but it was upheld and the disqualification stood.
His best finish at
Bathurst for the endurance race was second in
1967
Events
January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 5
** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
driving a
Ford XR Falcon GT with his brother Ian. The pair were flagged in first, but a protest by teammate
Harry Firth
Henry Leslie Firth (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014) was an Australian racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager with first the Ford works ...
saw the brothers relegated to second after a re-count of the lap charts. Unfortunately for Leo and Ian, just two hours after the start their Falcon ran out of petrol after it had passed the pits. Leo, who in the car at the time, was able to drive through the back gate into the pits to be refueled, which led the lap scorers to mistakenly credit the #53 Ford with a lap it did not complete. The race was then awarded to Firth and his co-driver
Fred Gibson. Until his death in 2015, Leo Geoghegan believed that the lap scorers had it correct the first time and that he and his brother should be in the record books as Bathurst winners in 1967.
Leo & Ian won the
1962 Bathurst Six Hour Classic at Mount Panorama driving a
Daimler SP250
The Daimler SP250 is a sports car built by the Daimler Company, a British manufacturer in Coventry, from 1959 to 1964. It was the last car to be launched by Daimler before its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), sold it to J ...
sports car, (that year the 500 mile race for touring cars were held at
Phillip Island
Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...
)
Leo also finished 3rd outright in the
1973 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 (the year the race was extended from 500 miles to 1000 kilometres) co-driving with
Colin Bond
Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...
in a
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
LJ Torana GTR XU-1. Ironically, the HDT was then run by Harry Firth while Leo's older brother Ian won the race co-driving with
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four win ...
in a Ford Works Team
XA Falcon GT Hardtop. Leo later stated that the Torana was one of his least favourite cars he drove at Bathurst.
Other career highlights included victories in the following:
*
1960 Australian GT Championship
*
1962 Bathurst Six Hour Classic
*
1963 Australian Formula Junior Championship
*
1968 Surfers Paradise 6 Hour
*
1969 JAF Grand Prix (
Formula Libre
Formula Libre, also known as Formule Libre, is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the oppor ...
)
*
1970 Australian Drivers' Championship
*
1973 Australian Formula 2 Championship
*
1974 Australian Formula 2 Championship
Leo Geoghegan was the principal driver for
Chrysler Australia
Fiat Chrysler Australia, officially FCA Australia, is the official Stellantis subsidiary in that country, operating as distributor of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Abarth, Alfa Romeo and Fiat vehicles. However, there had previously been a "Chrysler Au ...
during the period (1970–1972) when the company supported Valiant Pacer and
Valiant Charger
The Chrysler Valiant Charger was a two-door hardtop coupe introduced by Chrysler Australia in 1971. It was a short wheelbase version of the concurrent Australian Chrysler Valiant sedan. Introduced within the VH Valiant series, it continued as a v ...
Series Production touring car teams. During this time, Leo and big brother Ian were involved in testing a ute fitted with a 5.6 litre,
340ci V8 engine and with the R/T Charger's wheelbase at the
Mallala circuit in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. The Geoghegan's reported that the extra weight of the V8 gave the car severe understeer and required earlier brake points. As a result, lap times were around 2–3 seconds slower than when the car was fitted with the Hemi six, though it was expected that the long straights and more open nature of the Mount Panorama Circuit would better suit the V8 engined car. The V8 Charger, which Chrysler Australia denied was to be used in Series Production racing, was eventually killed off in the
Supercar scare in mid-1972 along with the
V8 Holden Torana GTR XU-1 and the
Ford Falcon GTHO Phase IV.
In addition to being a multi-Australian championship winning driver, Geoghegan has the rare distinction for an Australian of having won an international grand prix, specifically the inaugural
JAF Grand Prix
The is an auto race held in Japan by the Japan Automobile Federation.
History
The original JAF Grand Prix was set up in year 1969 as to promoting Formula Car events in Japan, which was the highest ranked race other than the Japanese Grand Prix. ...
in 1969 held over 40 laps of the 6 km (3.728 mi)
Fuji Speedway
is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and nati ...
. Driving his ex-
Jim Clark
James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...
Lotus 39
The Lotus 39 was a single-seat racing car produced by Team Lotus. It was originally intended for use in Formula One, to be powered by the Coventry Climax 1.5 litre flat-16 engine. The engine project fell through and the chassis was modified to acc ...
-
Repco
Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialized manufacturing, for which they gained a high ...
V8 in the race held for
Formula Libre
Formula Libre, also known as Formule Libre, is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the oppor ...
cars (which included
Formula 2
Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...
and 1.6 litre cars) by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), Geoghegan was part of a large Australian contingent including
Alec Mildren Racing
Alec Mildren (1915–1998) was active in Australian motor racing as a driver from 1938 to 1961, and subsequently as the owner of Alec Mildren Racing.
Racing career
Mildren began his racing career in an Austin Motor Company, Austin in 1938Mike K ...
with their drivers
Kevin Bartlett and
Max Stewart
Malcolm Clarke Stewart (14 March 1935 – 19 March 1977) was an Australian racing driver. He was known as the "Jolly Green Giant" for his disposition and height.
Stewart was born in Orange, New South Wales. He began his motorsport career r ...
(Bartlett driving a 2.5L
Mildren-
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
V8, and Stewart driving a 1.6L Mildren-
Waggott Waggott Engineering was an Australian automotive engineering company which gained fame for the engines which it produced for motor sport applications from the 1950s through to the 1970s.
The company had its origins in a machine shop opened in 1948 b ...
),
Garrie Cooper
Garrie Clifford Cooper (22 December 1935 - 25 April 1982) was the founder of the highly successful Elfin Sports Cars and a competitive racing driver in his own right, winning the 1968 Singapore Grand Prix, the 1968 Australian 1½ Litre Champi ...
in his own
Elfin 600
The Elfin Type 600 is a Formula car produced from 1968 to 1971 by Elfin Sports Cars in Australia. The model was originally developed to compete in the Australian 1½ Litre Formula but later variants were also produced for other categories incl ...
-Repco, and Glynn Scott driving a
Bowin P3
The Bowin P3 is a monocoque racing car that was produced in 1968 by Bowin. The P3 was designed for the Australian National Formula and the Australian 1½ Litre Formula. After the capacity limit for Australian Formula 2 was increased from 1100 ...
-
Ford Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
. The Australian's all qualified at the front end of the grid, with Geoghegan third. He purposefully made a slow start so as not to strip the new gears in his Lotus and drove a steady race. As others fell out, he passed Stewart to take a lead he was not to lose. Geoghegan also set a new F2 lap record during the race with a 1:52.67 for an average of 119.7 mph.
1969 JAF Grand Prix
/ref>
File:Chrysler VH Valiant Charger Geoghegan.jpg, Geoghegan finished 2nd in Class D in the 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 in this Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E38
File:Birrana 274 of Malcolm Miller.jpg, Geoghegan won the 1974 Australian Formula 2 Championship in this Birrana 274
Death
Leo Geoghegan died on 2 March 2015 at the age of 78 after a long battle with prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
. He was survived by his widow, Del; sister Marie-Louise; two sons, Steven and Shaun; and two daughters Roslyn Naomi; and cousin Warren Geoghegan.
Career results
Complete Tasman Series results
Complete Phillip Island/Bathurst 500/1000 results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geoghegan, Leo
Australian racing drivers
2015 deaths
Tasman Series drivers
Australian Formula 2 drivers
Australian people of Irish descent
1936 births