Leo Geoghegan
| Leo Geoghegan | |
|---|---|
Leo Geoghegan in 2011
|
|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born |
16 May 1936 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 2 March 2015 (aged 78) Sydney, New South Wales |
| Retired | 1974 |
| Related to | Tom Geoghegan (father) Ian Geoghegan (brother) |
| Australian Drivers' Championship | |
| Years active | 1963–73 |
| Teams | Geoghegan's Sporty Cars Total Team |
| Best finish | 1st in 1970 Australian Drivers' Championship |
| Previous series | |
| 1960 1962–63 1965–71 1965 1973–74 |
Australian GT Championship Australian Formula Junior Ch. Tasman Series Australian 1½ Litre Champ. Australian Formula 2 Champ. |
| Championship titles | |
| 1960 1963 1970 1973 1974 |
Australian GT Championship Australian Formula Junior Ch. Australian Drivers' Champ. Australian Formula 2 Champ. Australian Formula 2 Champ. |
Leo Geoghegan (16 May 1936 - 2 March 2015) was a former Australian racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former New South Wales 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, winning five Australian Touring Car Championships, Leo spent most of his racing career in open wheel racing cars.
Leo also drove Group E Series Production Cars and Group C touring cars at the annual Bathurst 500/1000 endurance race for the Ford Works Team, Chrysler Australia and the Holden Dealer Team. This gave him the distinction of being the only driver to race for all three Australian factory backed teams.
Leo and Ian Geoghegan drove their Ford Cortina Mk.I GT500 in the 1965 Armstrong 500 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 re-starting 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 driving a Ford XR Falcon GT with his brother Ian. The pair were flagged in first, but a protest by team mate Harry Firth 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.
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