John Bowe

The John Bowe story is remarkable one on many levels, born and bred in Devonport Tasmania into a racing family. John’s dad, Brian was a club racer, car tuner and worked in the automotive trade selling cars before starting his own dealership as a Mazda and BMW franchise back in the seventy’s – Bowe Sheen Motors.

Spending his early childhood following dads racing endeavours was just a way of life – until he sat in his first race car and his life was destined for profound change. His early years were in open wheeler race cars, they just become bigger/faster as the years passed by. Talent can be identified with a keen eye, a few years later Bowe was then racing on the National circuits around Australia as a ‘factory Elfin Driver’ and during his open wheel career he won his first of ten (10) career National Championships times two.

As his success grew, offers to drive other cars followed, and his world changed in 1986 when he arrived for his first Bathurst 1000 for Team Volvo. There began a twenty-two-year career as a Professional Race Driver – an 11-year relationship with Dick Johnson and Team DJR. Unquestionably, that was where his star shone brightest … Johnson/Bowe were the best driver pairing of the era and possible one of the greatest of all time!

Following his supercar career, Bowe purchased his beloved Mustang Sally and raced in Touring Car Masters for sixteen seasons that concluded in 2023 as the most successful driver in the categories long history – setting records across the country that are unlikely to be matched!

He is not quite done with the racing bug just yet – in 2024 he saddled up to drive in the new GT4 Category in a capacity of Driver Coach and teammate to a young up and coming driver. The GT4 Category is a World Category where he drives the latest technology from German Manufacturer BMW.

A remarkable career, John’s driver stats stand beyond any other racer in Australian Motorsport history. His achievements reflect a true craftsman, with the most race starts (over 1250), most race wins, the most pole positions, the most (fastest) race lap records while he still holds lap records at a number of circuits in various categories/machinery.

He has his name on the Winner’s Trophy of the Bathurst 1000 (twice – 89/94) with Dick Johnson and in 1995 he won the V8 Supercar Championship Crown. He too has had success at the Bathurst International 12 Hour race in a Ferrari, winning the event 12 Hour on three occasions. John has been Inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame’ for V8 Supercars and Motorsport Australia. He was recently honoured (in 2021) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services (AM) to Australian Motorsport. He is a former winner of prestigious ABC Sportsman of the Year and Caltex Sportsman of The Year and countless industry awards.

John has been active throughout his career in a technical sense, as Ford Factory Test/Development Driver, a Ford Performance Vehicles Test/Development Driver, the Premcar Holy Grail Development Driver, and Dunlop Tyres Development Driver for many years. He is considered one of the smartest technical minds to sit in a race car and is still sought out for his technical/race car set up knowledge across all disciplines.

Quite apart from his motorsport achievements, John is active in the Men’s Mental Health space aligning with Beyond Blue and the Black Dog Institute promoting the conversation among men and their wellbeing!

Beyond that, John Bowe is dynamic – his interactions are very engaging, and he possesses a deep sense of humour/wit. He weaves an interesting storyline and is quite a skilful raconteur. Given his fifty plus years behind the wheel, he is one of the best students of motorsport with the remarkable ability to talk on motorsport at all levels both domestically and internationally having raced in both the USA and the UK during his five-decade long career.

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