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John Bowe recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours
Gulf Western Oil Touring Car Masters champion and Australian Motorsport legend John Bowe has been recognised in the annual Queen’s Birthday honours.
Bowe and fellow Touring Car great Larry Perkins were both recognised as Members of the Order of Australia (AM) in the annual list published by the Governor General on the Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday each year.
Bowe was recognised for ‘Significant services to Motorsport as a Touring Car driver’, while Perkins was recognised for that and also for his role as a team owner.
The Tasmanian racing icon is one of Australia’s most successful drivers with more than 295 race wins coming from nearly 1200 starts at all levels of the sport.
After winning the Australian Drivers’ Championship twice, in 1985 and 1985, Bowe then won the 1986 Australian Sports Car championship before becoming a household name thanks to his lengthy period with Dick Johnson Racing in the Australian Touring Car Championship in the 1980s and 1990s.
That period delivered him the 1995 championship (as well as four runner-up finishes) and Bathurst wins in 1989 and 1994. He has also won the Bathurst 12 hour on two occasions.
After retiring from full-time Touring Car racing, Bowe has continued to succeed in Touring Car Masters with five championship victories to his credit.
He also became the first driver in series’ history, and one of only a few in the history of the sport, to have won 100 races in a single category when he claimed victory in Tasmania earlier this year.
That was promptly followed by his announcement of an ongoing battle with Prostate cancer, with Bowe actively promoting men’s health while at the same time undergoing treatment and continuing racing this year.
The entire Touring Car Masters, Australian Racing Group and Aussie Motorsport community congratulates John Bowe (AM). for the well deserved recognition of a remarkable career!
The full list of 2021 recipients can be found here.