John Bowe (racing driver)
| Supercars Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Car number | 111 |
| Current team | Paul Cruickshank Racing |
| Championships | 1 (1995) |
| Races | 373 |
| Wins | 34 |
| Podiums | 90 |
| Pole positions | 25 |
| position | 23rd |
John Bowe (born 16 April, 1954 in Devonport, Tasmania) is an Australian racing driver.
Bowe is a multiple Australian Champion, having twice won the Australian Drivers' Championship during the Formula Pacific era, before winning the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1995. He has also won the prestigious Bathurst 1000 twice - in 1989 and 1994 - both times as co-driver with long-time friend and team-mate Dick Johnson.
Racing Cars
After graduating from domestic Formula Ford racing Bowe moved into the Australian Drivers Championship in the late 70's, racing Elfin Formula 5000's for the most prestigious team of the era, Garrie Cooper's Ansett Elfin Racing. The pinnacle of his Formula 5000 career was finishing runner up in the 1979 Australian Grand Prix driving one of Cooper's Chevrolet V8 powered Elfin MR8s. After the collapse of Formula 5000 in the early 80's, Bowe continued with open wheelers racing as a front runner in the burgeoning Formula Pacific category, a renamed version of Formula Atlantic. After playing second fiddle to Alfredo Costanzo for several seasons, Bowe broke through for his first Australian Drivers' Championship in 1984, backing it up the following year with his second title in Cosworth powered Ralt RT4.
Touring Cars
In 1985 Bowe joined the Mark Petch backed Volvo 240 Turbo team during the 1985 Endurance season, co-driving alongside New Zealander Robbie Francevic. While the Volvo was fast, qualifying third fastest for the Bathurst 1000 the car was fragile and did not record a significant finish. During the 1986 Australian Touring Car Championship the revamped Volvo Dealer Racing expanded to a second car and Bowe joined Francevic in the team full time for the series fourth round. Francevic went on the win the championship, with Bowe taking eighth place in the series including a pair of third places at Calder Park and Oran Park. Also in 1986 Bowe raced the Veskanda-Chevrolet Sports car owned by Bernie van Elsen and used it to dominate the Australian Sports Car Championship.
Bowe was promoted to lead driver of the Volvo team after Francevic parted company with the team shortly after winning the championship, but once again the Volvo proved fragile and unable to effectively threaten for the 1986 endurance races. The team disbanded at the end of the season leaving Bowe without a drive for the 1987 season. Bowe was picked up by the Nissan Motorsport team for the 1987 endurance season as a co-driver for young sensation Glenn Seton. The pair finished fourth at Bathurst in the Skyline and was later promoted to second after the disqualification of the Texaco Eggenberger Ford team.
For the 1988 season Dick Johnson Racing hired Bowe, replacing Gregg Hansford as the teams number two driver in their fast Ford Sierra RS500s. The team had re-engineered the cars after an embarrassing 1987 endurance season. Bowe won his third race for the team at Winton and would go on to win again at Amaroo Park, finishing second in the championship behind Dick Johnson. The pair salvaged a runner up position at Bathurst in the team’s third entry after their two primary cars failed during the race. The team also visited the British Tourist Trophy at Silverstone in 1988, taking pole position and smashing their opposition until the car failed.
1989 would prove to be more of the same, again finishing runner up to Johnson after taking victories at Amaroo Park and Wanneroo. 1989 Bathurst was a triumph for the duo, seeing off all challengers on their way to victory.
Over the next three seasons the Nissan team surged to the fore-front of Australian Touring Car racing and Bowe's only win would be in 1992 at Sandown.
V8Supercar
DJR fortunes reversed in 1993 with the advent of the V8 based regulations that in 1997 would become known as V8Supercar. The teams new Ford Falcon V8s returned to the front with Bowe winning the first round under the new regulations at Amaroo Park. Bowe would narrowly miss out on second place in the championship. For the 1994 season DJR was initially off the pace until the Sandown 500 where in a race of mixed fortunes Bowe and Johnson won, taking the teams first Sandown 500 win after 13 years of disappointment. Four weeks later in one of the most dramatic Bathurst 1000's of all time Bowe and Johnson held off a pursuing pack of five Holdens late in the race to win, with Bowe memorably fighting for the lead with teenage debutante Craig Lowndes in the final laps.
The team continued their good form into 1995 where not even the destruction of tyre suppliers Dunlop factory in the Kobe earthquake could stop Bowe from winning the Touring Car championship, taking victories at Symmons Plains, a sprint version of Bathurst, Winton and under terrific pressure from Glenn Seton and Peter Brock, the championship finale at Oran Park. The team went on to win back-to-back Sandown 500's but failed at Bathurst 1000.
Bowe continued to race for DJR for the next three seasons, taking a second sprint victory at Bathurst in 1996, Lakeside in 1997 and Winton in 1998, the last of his 15 Touring Car round victories. Bowe also finished runner up in the 1996 Touring Car Championship and Bathurst 1000 to his young rival from two years prior, Craig Lowndes.
Bowe moved on to Caterpillar backed West Australian team PAE Motorsport seeking a new challenge but before the season was out the team had been sold to Queensland car dealer John Briggs. Despite some early promise he was fired from the team after Bathurst in 2001 with just a single race win at Queensland Raceway in 1999 to show for his efforts.
From 2002-2006 Bowe and new team-mate Brad Jones had mixed fortunes. As with Briggs Motorsport early promise faded as the team struggled to find the resources to regularly threaten the front running teams. Always a threat at Bathurst Bowe and Jones finished third in 2004 and won the second race in the 2005 AGP Non championship round.
Announcing his retirement, Bowe raced a final season in 2007 for Paul Cruickshank Racing. In March 2007 Bowe broke the record for most championship races starts when he started in round 2 at Barbagello (213 starts, one more than that of Peter Brock's record of 212 starts). His race was marred with two spins. His prospects for a glorious final season appear limited as PCR is a single car team and under funded compared to the front running teams. In a recent announcement Bowe will make a return to Sports car racing in a Lamborghini Gallardo in the Australian GT Championship.
Career Results
Personal life
John is married to Alice. He has three sons from a previous marriage: James and Nikolas (both 25) and Alexander (19). He lives in Melbourne.
References