Frank Lowndes, Paul Morris handed MA life membership

Phillip East, Stephen Preece, and Lawrie Schmitt were also named life members in a gala ceremony on Sunday night at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre.

Frank Lowndes is the father of seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner and three-time Australian Touring Car champion Craig, but can lay claim to a very special place of his own in Australian motorsport.

Lowndes senior found himself a key figure in the birth of the Holden Dealer Team, after his work as a general automotive mechanic led to a chance introduction with Harry Firth.

He would work for Firth on road cars but also as lead mechanic for the Colin Bond/Tony Roberts Holden Monaro which won the Great Race of 1969, HDT’s first attempt at Mount Panorama.

The other two cars finished third and sixth that Sunday in Bathurst.

Lowndes told Speedcafe in 2020, “The Bathurst win in ’69 was still the most memorable, because nobody gave us a chance in that and my guess was the GT Falcon had come out then and we just had this Monaro which didn’t have any race history at all.”

He guided Craig through the early years of the future legend’s motorsport career – including ingraining mechanical knowledge in his son – and has worked as a Motorsport Australia (then CAMS) official.

Fellow new life member Morris enjoyed a highly successful career as a driver, being the first (of only two so far) to win the Bathurst ‘triple crown’ (victories in the 1000, 12 Hour, and 6 Hour), in addition to four Super Touring championship titles.

However, ‘The Dude’s’ work with the next generation is arguably his greatest contribution to motorsport, fostering talent such as Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki, as well as providing expertise and – before the initiative grew – a workshop for the Racing Together programme which promotes Indigenous participation.

Preece last year clocked up 50 years of volunteering at the Bathurst 1000, while Schmitt’s contribution includes roles on the Australian Motor Racing Commission and FIA GT Commission on top of Race Direction, and East has been featured in every event since the Australian Motorkhana Championship was formed.

Among the other notable gongs to be handed out at the Motorsport Australia National Awards were the Membership of Honour to Dick Johnson and the Peter Brock Medal to Kostecki.