John Sidney

In the decade when the Calder Thunderdome challenged the concept of motor racing in Australia, crew chief John Sidney ruled the sport.

When high speed oval crashes caused chaos, John Sidney introduced pit stop strategy.

Undercut and overcut, refuelling under safety car conditions – all were foreign concepts. Sidney used them wisely and won.

With drivers Max Dumesny and Barry Graham, his state of the art professional team won six NASCAR titles at the Thunderdome, more than any other.

His association with sprint car hero Max Dumesny, already a Hall of Fame inductee, netted them the Australian Championship and three world sprint car series.

As a 17 year old John Sidney started out on the skids, winning regional meetings and then finally state production car titles.

His Chrysler Valiant stock car may have looked rough, but in typical Sidney style it was super tuned with chassis and handling that was class leading.

His mentor was ace development engineer Jack Godbehear.

Sidney embraced early sprint car racing wheel to wheel on the rough hewn regional tracks of Victoria

His CRC sprint car soon grew wings – leading the aero-revolution. But it was in the workshop as an engineer, and on the pit wall as a strategist, that John found his true calling.

He advised and worked with some of the best and most ambitious teams in the country

But it was his own team that became his passion and life’s work.

Aged 80, John closed the doors on John Sidney Racing in 2024. Said he was out of fuel, yet he still sneaks in occasionally to build motors for friends.