Pioneers & Icons of Australian Motorsport

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

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The author has captured in words and lavish illustrations (many of his own that have never been seen before), the stories of over one hundred men and women whose personal motor racing journeys paved the way to establish and explode this sport. They did so both locally and overseas, showing that Aussies were as good as the world’s best when it came to not only skill behind the wheel but also in the design and manufacture of the fastest cars, and in organising events of the highest level and regard.Most of these names are extremely well known by all Aussie petrol heads-household names admired around any backyard barbecue. Just the mention of their names brings nods of respect. But you will additionally read accounts of some very significant lives and racing achievements you previously knew nothing about-and some are quite simply amazing.There’s our first woman to race commercially overseas. Just how she got there is incredible. Then you share the exploits of an illegal inter-capital record holder who went to New Zealand to break the land speed record, the farmers whose sons and grandsons became racing dynasties, and the home-grown mechanics and car builders whose designs obliterated all competition.Strap yourself in and hang on. It’s gonna be a bloody wild ride!

You couldn’t get a weirder mix of a bloke than Bill Pearson. Raised at Homebush in what at that time, in the 1960s, was considered the extremities of the Western Suburbs of Sydney, it took only one attendance at a race meeting to set him on the path of lifelong race car follower, participant and motor racing photographer. His jobs included copy boy, newsreel film editor and cameraman, videotape editor and TV workshop manager, ordained Baptist minister serving 14 years in two states (Rev Head), then a full-time professional award-winning taxidermist. (The connection between the last two occupations is life after death!) Next came drug and alcohol counsellor, family community services manager, ending with services manager with a large fiberglass supplies manufacturer.

He taught himself how to do things by himself, sculpt and make his own fiberglass race car parts, all the automotive mechanics those projects involve, and was a skilled photographer with work published on the covers of Auto Sportsman and most other Australian car magazines. He was also a hunter/journalist, becoming a well-known and regular contributing journalist to Australian Sporting Shooter with regular articles and colour covers yet again.

Supposedly retired, he’s just finished building his own two-storey house in the mountains, virtually single-handedly over four years, which has formed just 58 of the over 250 videos uploaded to his WJP004 YouTube channel that is literally watched around the world. Having recently switched from dirt to only tar, his current racing goal is to keep on winning state championships alongside his even more successful son.