It’s 20 years since Monaro magic hit the Mountain in the form of Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Bathurst 24 Hour beasts.
Winning one year with the yellow #427 Monaro, before adding another the next featuring a driver line-up led by Peter Brock was a superb achievement by GRM, despite the controversy surrounding the entry.
Garry Rogers explains the emergence of the project and how the small team at GRM
“That was an outstanding time,” Rogers explained.
“For the last several seasons before hand we had received minor help from Holden through the Supercars business through John Stevenson and others including Ross McKenzie in the marketing department.
“When they decided to do the Monaro program, they spoke to us and asked ‘could we do it and fit it around what we were doing with our championship activities’.
“I spoke to ‘Shirl’ (Kevin Shawyer) because he was really running the workshop in those days, between he, Mike Exell and Gypsy (Jeff Marshall), who’s still here, they were organising odds and ends.
“We looked at it and said we could do it.
“If I look today and see how unproductive we are compared to then, flat out we wouldn’t have had 12 people. Now today, we have 35 people and computers, which are a downfall because everyone relies on buttons instead of muscle and willpower.
“We spoke about it; would it encroach on our V8 Supercars program? Whilst it would, but we were that keen to do it we thought somehow, we’ll manage. Like I learnt years ago, you’ve just got to keep your head down, bum up and keep the good people energised like you are.
“Make sure you share the good and bad together, which will ensure a good result.
“We pressed ahead with it and I mean I have to say John Stevenson was a big part of Holden’s motor sport for years, and years and years. You had HRT and Larry Perkins as the main Holden teams in the motor sport program, and we were part of it, but not quite to the same extent.
“We designed and built the cars. When I think back now what a mammoth task that was and we still raced in V8 Supercars, it was fantastic.
“I was so fortunate to have a group of workers, who never said die.”