Chris Clearihan
| Chris Clearihan | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Australian
|
| Born | Griffith , NSW, Australia |
| Previous series | |
| 1982 1982-88 1984 1987 1992 1993 2003-05 |
Australian Formula Ford Australian Sports Car Championship ATCC WTCC Australian Drivers' Championship Indonesian Grand Prix Aussie Racing Cars |
| Championship titles | |
|
1982, 1985 2008 |
Australian Sports Car Championship Wakefield 300 |
"Christopher Alfred Clearihan" is an Australian motor racing driver and Air Race pilot. Born and raised in the New South Wales town of Griffith, Clearihan began his competitive lifestyle with elite high school football.
Clearihan's first race car was the Canon Bolwell Nagari. It was with this car, previously operated by Terry Spooner, that he showed up to Oran Park, Toby-Lee Series in 1972. With an audience of 20,000 people Clearihan claimed his first win, in his first car, at his first race. He then continued to win a lot of production sports car races in the Nagari, establishing a name for himself. Clearihan then bought a Formula Ford open wheeled Elfin and proceeded to win the TAA Driver to Europe Formula Ford race in raining conditions at Surfers Paradise.
Clearihan won two Australian Sports Car Championships in 1982 and 1985 (while finishing 2nd in 1984 and 3rd in 1983, 1986 and 1988), in addition to various state titles, the Pie Series and Scratch Races at Amaroo Park in Sydney. Finished in the top 10 in the Bathurst 1000, and eighth in the 1988 Indonesian Grand Prix. He competed consistently between 1986–92. After purchasing the Tony Edmondson Alfa Romeo Alfetta-Chevrolet Sports Sedan, Clearihan spent the next 10 year breaking all lap records.
At the 1984 Castrol 500 touring car race at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Clearihan, who was to have co-driven with David Grose in a Mazda RX-7, was excluded from the meeting after qualifying following an altercation in the pits with Allan Moffat in which punches were allegedly thrown. Moffat (also driving an RX-7) and Clearihan had tangled out on the circuit with a confrontation following in the pits. After Clearihan's exclusion, the 1983 Sports Car Champion Peter Hopwood who was driving in the final round of the 1984 Australian Drivers' Championship at the meeting, was given permission to take his place in the RX-7. Moffat went on to take second place in the 500.
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