Jim Richards (racing driver)
| Jim Richards | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Born |
2 September 1947 Otahuhu |
| Related to | Steven Richards (son) |
| Touring Car Masters | |
| Years active | 2008–16 |
| Teams | Jim Richards Racing |
| Car no. | 2 |
| Best finish | 1st in 2010, 2013 |
| Previous series | |
| 1976–1980 1977, 1980–1995 1994–1996, 1999 1995–1999 1996 1999–2006 2001–2003 2003–2006 2009 |
Australian Sports Sedan Australian Touring Car Australian GT Production Australian Super Touring NASCAR Australia V8 Supercar Australian Nations Cup Carrera Cup Australia Australian GT |
| Championship titles | |
|
1985 1985 1986 1987 1990 1991 1995 1996 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2010 2013 |
Australian Touring Car Australian Endurance Champ. Australian Endurance Champ. Australian Touring Car Australian Touring Car Australian Touring Car Australian GT Production NASCAR Australia Australian GT Production Australian Nations Cup Australian Nations Cup Australian Nations Cup Carrera Cup Australia Touring Car Masters Touring Car Masters |
| Awards | |
| 2006 | V8 Supercars Hall of Fame |
Jim Richards (born 2 September 1947) is a New Zealand racing driver who has spent most of his racing life in Australia. While retired from professional racing, Richards continues to compete in the Touring Car Masters series. After seven Bathurst 1000 victories and four Australian Touring Car Championships, Richards was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Australian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2015. He is the father of racing driver Steven Richards, and between them they have achieved 11 Bathurst 1000 wins, most recently in 2015.
Richards first made his mark in Australia at the 1974 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 with a masterful display of wet weather driving during the race, recording faster lap times than any of his opposition in the latter part of the event while driving a V8 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 with fellow Kiwi Rod Coppins which finished in third place. This and other wet weather drives over his career gave Richards the reputation of being a 'rainmaster' which many Australian's cynically attributed to living in rainy New Zealand, though Richards himself believes it is more from the car control he learned early in his career racing dirt track speedway.
In mid-1975 Richards moved to Australia and was quickly competitive in sports sedan races driving his Sidchrome-sponsored Mustang. He was co-driver for John Goss in 1976 at Bathurst.
Then in 1978 Richards began a successful stint at the Holden Dealer Team as Peter Brock's co-driver at Bathurst, netting Richards three Bathurst 1000 titles in a row. Brock later recalled that at the time he only knew Richards as a casual acquaintance and fellow driver, but after the Wanneroo Park round of the 1978 Australian Touring Car Championship, the pair shared a Ford Falcon panel van for the drive from Perth back to Melbourne (which they allegedly covered in approximately 24 hours for what is normally a 2-3 day trip). Upon returning home to Melbourne, Brock suggested Richards for the job of his co-driver for that years Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst. He was hired by HDT team manager John Shepherd and although only driving once a year for the team, the Brock/Richards combination would win Bathurst in 1978, 1979 and 1980.
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