Geoghegan, Ian (Pete)

[moffman]

The greatest sedan steerer Australia has ever seen without question.His extraordinary achievements included:Three Sports Car Titles 1963,1965&1976.Five Touring Car Titles 1964,1966,1967,1968&1969.One Bathurst (endurance race) victory 1973.Big Pete as he was known to everyone,was a man with a great sense of humor & car control which had to be seen to be believed.He was also one part(Allan Moffat was the other), of the touring car race which has gone down in folklore as the greatest race this country has ever witnessed (Easter Monday Bathurst 1972).Pete will be sorely missed by all those who ever witnessed him power sliding the Mustang at various racetracks around the country.

R.I.P. big fellah..

[275 GTB-4]

Good one Moff, he was something else in that Mustang and noting the inadequacies of the equipment at the time he really did perform wonders.

At least we can say we saw him race and enjoyed the hell out of it!

[marcus]

I never saw him race or even know that much about him , but his exploits are legendary and will remain that way for a very long time i would imagine.

Its sad when we loose anyone in our choosen sport let alone a legend as Pete Geoghegan one that will surely be missed forever.

RIP Pete.


P.S I do have a question and im sure its not out of line at all , but his name was Ian why and how did he get the nickname Pete ???

[Richard Davis]

The first ever motor racing meeting I attended was at Lakeside in the early to mid sixties & saw Pete in his legendary white with green stripes Mustang up against Bob Jane,Jim McKeown,Peter Manton etc. The Mustang with its flashing headlamps & the front wheels up in the air around corners is a memory which won't be forgotten. Another memory is also Lakeside in the mid-seventies....Pete & brother Leo both in Porsche 911's side by side with one LHD & the other RHD. Pete....you will be greatly missed.

[moffman]

There is a excellent letter in the latest issue of Australian Muscle Car about the great man & the tribute from Mark Oastler is spot on also.

[Formula 5000]

I clearly remember the extreme angles he pushed his early Mustangs to. Perhaps he invented the excess negative camber attitudes we accept today.
He will always be remembered for his competitivness, his quiet acceptance speeches and for never "closing the door" nor punting someone off.
A great racer from a golden era.

[Waz at the Farm]

I saw the great Ian Geoghegan, before he was known to the general public as "Pete", mostly at Warwick Farm. I saw him in many cars Jaguar MkI, Aston Martin Zagato, Cortina GT, Lotus 23s, and in a Lotus Elan chasing Spencer Martin's Ferrari LM250 around the "Esses" at the Farm. But like many I remember him best in those two Mustangs. Ohhhhh, The noise from those cars!
On the warn up lap, down Hume Straight, he always got a standing ovation, with the Mustang, and I'll always remember his smile and his wave.
Those were truly great days.

R.I.P. "Pete"

[Just Do It!]

Ian "Pete" Geoghegan was a man whom I never got to see/remember seeing race.

His history however is part of Australian motorsport folklore and by many he is missed without doubt.

Seeing still pics of his Mustang is spine tingling - not from the fact that it's a Mustang, but rather the fact that it's a driver who is passionate, pushing, and giving it his all.

The closest I can relate to Ian is seeing Peter Brock on TV in the Wellington Street Race in 1987 (or thereabouts??) in the Advantage(??) Commodore going for broke.

Close study of still shots tell a lot about a man we all miss, and who was so humble and appreciative of his fans and followers in an era when motorsport was about purity - muscle to power the car and muscle to turn the beast through the turns.

[spook]

I had the honour of spending a week navigating for Pete in the Jaguar Drivers Club of Australia 1998 Mountain Rally (Mk2 Jaguar). We finished 2nd in class and the highest placed Jaguar. Pete was rapt, his best result ever.

Now a true story from that event. We were late leaving lunch on day four (Yass) due to a technical malfunction (the Jag broke down - "SU" Fuel Pump), and being placed well overall at that time we were both pretty p___d off that our hard earned position was fading away. We decided to forget the open road speed limits (but slowed to the signed limit in towns and at highway crossings) to try and minimise our time lost.

As many of you know Pete had a very bad speech stammer, which often made navigating for him an exercise in forward planning and patience (waiting for the reply/answer), but it mattered nothing to me as he was a legend and I had all week to navigate for him.

During that stage after lunch, I witnessed the most amazing car control and skill first hand from a gifted natural - he never crossed the median line or dropped a wheel off the bitumen. The speeds reached were awesome - but something amazing happened that I will never forget - at speeds over 75MPH, Pete's stammer disappeared, and for around 40 minutes (on and off - we passed a few towns) he gave me a perfectly clear and unbroken (except by my navigation instructions) commentary on driving a Mk2 Jaguar at speed on the open road. Truely a wonderful experience. We left lunch 40 minutes late (Yass), but arrived at the next control (Gunning) only 20 minutes late. I recall we averaged something like 123km/h over the stage via Murrumbateman, Gundaroo, Jerrawa and Dalton (and collected all answers and via point clues en-route).

Until this day the car owner (& Rally Director) did not know what happened that afternoon (but I suspect he thought we might have taken a short cut and bribed the answers from another competitor - but that would have been cheating), now he will find out the truth!

Thanks Pete for that wonderful week in the Jaguar, and all those racing memories at Lakeside and Surfers Paradise in the Mustang.

[Aarrgh8]

I gew up watching Ian Geoghegan race. I didn't miss a meeting at Warwick Farm, Oran Park or Catalina from October 1962 until May 1973. Ian and Leo Geoghegan were at most of them.

I lived in Eastwood from 1984 to 1995, and while walking my dog, I found I had a neighbour nearby (in Yaraan Avenue Epping) who I had admired for years. Ian Geoghegan. I got talking to him on a few occasions, and once he relaxed, that stammer almost disappeared.

IIRC, the 'Pete' part came from Bill Tuckey. Back in the early sixties, the Geoghegan cars were black, and so were the driver's racesuits. There was a cartoon character at the time (Warner Bros, I think) who was a baddie, and was a big dog called 'Black Pete'. Bill reckoned Ian looked like Black Pete when he was in his racesuit and called him 'Black Pete'. The name stuck, even after the cars and racesuits had been white for years.

[Amaroo Park]

I was watching some touring car racing from Warwick Farm today. Pete won of course wished I had got to see him race in person

[275 GTB-4]

Giant of a touring car driver in Australia...mainly Mustang mounted but did Mini, FX, Lotus Cortina, sports cars etc

[275 GTB-4]

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...hegan+Ian+Pete (Now forms part of this thread, above! - JT)

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...hegan+Ian+Pete

[John Turner]

Well done; good find. I'll copy the first of the above threads straight into the Driver Files Forum and then merge this one in.

[edholly]

I feel I should relate a story from long ago and away from the race-tracks about this wonderful man.

As a 17,18 and 19 year old firstly with a sidevalve Morrie, later with a 997 Mini Cooper and lastly a 998 version, I worked for Ian as a detailer for one week of my annual holidays each year from “Which Bank” with a mate, Dennis Harlen. Those were fabulous days in the mid 60s. The cars I got to clean and chamois off every morning I could only dream about. The first 2 years were at Homebush between the factories and opposite Ronny Wards. The last year was at Ashfield opposite Peak Freans.

I think it was the middle year.

There was this Mini and it’s seats were over at Wardy’s and had to be put back in, so Ian said,”Eddie, take the Mini over the road and leave it at Ron’s” at this point I didn’t know it didn’t have any seats. So when I went to get in it, I found out this was the case and went back to Ian and told him. Ian looked around the yard and said “there’s a 4 gallon drum, sit that on the floor and use that. So I get the drum, sit it on the floor, only to find it sits right on top of the 4 inch wide floor strengthening channel.

In I get, put my bum on the top of it start it and push in the clutch, and select first gear.

As the clutch comes out the drum pivots on the edge of the channel, my bum goes backwards and lets out the clutch and it stalls. Now all this is happening right outside “his” office.

Try a second time with more concentration, for the same result.

The third time, guess what, it happens again. By this time I’m feeling about one inch tall when Ian arrives at the doorway, with a beaming great smile. I think his words were,… in fact I know his words were,….. “ Eddie you are a c c c c “ anyway after a number of further stutters he finally gets the word out followed by “of a driver”

I can tell you it didn’t happen a fourth time, and getting across Parramatta Road ( the busiest in the southern hemisphere ) was pretty uneventful after what had just transpired.

You know, in writing this here after all these years, I wonder if Ian didn’t “set me up” I sure wouldn’t put it past him. And I do remember that smile, and maybe that was the giveaway I didn’t think about till now.

I too saw him race, he was definitely a cut above anyone else in Touring Cars.

I also remember him on the Mountain Rallies and when I asked him there once if he remembered driving my Cox, Lotus 30 slot car in the “grand” opening of the Drummoyne Slot Car Club, he said he did remember the evening, and the celebrity race, but not the result, he retorted did I win? …. And the answer was a simple "sure did" … I still have that slot car and it takes pride of place in the model car cabinet.

I remember one event on a Mountain rally was at Moruya Speedway on the dirt, and Ian was in the aforementioned Mk II , now this is a big car to punt around a dirt track oval. compared to the little sports cars etc, guess what, Ian blitzed the whole field, now that is a remarkable effort, and some of the other 100 or so car/driver combos weren’t exactly novices.

I could tell a lot more stories of Big Pete Geoghegan, but the one I share with every one else is how much he is missed.

As to his nickname, Pete, I don’t know where it came from, but I suspect his youth. I do know that I have only ever heard Leo talk of Pete, never Ian. I write Ian above as that is what I always called him, being none the wiser at the time.