Jack Ahearn inducted into Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame
This year’s inductees into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame included the late Jack Ahearn, who raced in 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc classes across three decades and was runner up in the 1964 500cc World Championship. Vickie Ahearn, Jack’s daughter, accepted his Hall of Fame induction award from Australian touring car legend, Dick Johnson at a ceremony held during the 2024 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Ahearn, who passed away in 2017, aged 93, first raced in Europe in 1954, riding a Norton in the 350cc and 500cc classes. Aussies like Ahearn who were active during the ‘Continental Circus’ era lived hand-to-mouth, selling used tyres to fund travel from round to round and doing most of their own mechanical work.
In 1955, Ahearn scored his first world championship point at the West German GP and raced regularly at the Isle of Man TT (when it was still a world championship round) from 1958 to 1966.
Ahearn’s breakout year was 1964, when he rode a Manx Norton to victory at the Finnish GP, becoming only the second Australian, after Ken Kavanagh, to win a 500cc GP.
Mike Hailwood won the World Championship that year on the all-conquering MV Agusta –, but Ahearn’s win in Finland, along with podiums at three other GPs, saw him finish second that season, ahead of Phil Read and Mike Duff. Aged 39 at the time, Ahearn regarded the FIM medallion he received that year as his most prized possession among the hundreds of cups, sashes and plaques he accumulated over his career.
Locally, Ahearn achieved an Australian land speed record, at Coonabarabran in 1957 and won the Australian TT on three occasions. Although he retired in 1965 to open a motorcycle shop in Sydney, Ahearn returned to Europe in 1966, achieving three more podiums at GP level, with his final international appearance being at the Isle of Man TT in 1974. By that time, Ahearn had moved to Lismore with wife Betty and his two daughters.
This year’s other Hall of Fame inductees included multiple title winning MX racer and team owner Craig Dack, plus others from outside the two-wheel motorsport world - Garrie Cooper (driver and Elfin founder), Bill Barrows (speedway) and Graham Withers (drag racing).