Betty Klimenko received her Member of the Order of Australia medal at a special ceremony today.
Earlier this year, the Erebus Motorsport owner and Dick Johnson Racing Executive Chairman and co-owner Ryan Story were made Members of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours.
Klimenko was bestowed the honour for significant service to motorsport and to charitable organisations.
She was presented with the award at a ceremony before rushing to Bathurst to watch her team, who nominated her for the honour, on track.
“I was very humbled by it,” Klimenko said.
“My team were the people who nominated me.
“I must admit, I shed a little bit of a tear, because I sat in those seats and watched my father receive it.
“He’s been gone for 25 years, but that pride came up.”
A trailblazer in the Australian motorsport, Klimenko is a strong promoter of female involvement in industry.
“The fact I’m a woman and representing motorsport… I was dumbfounded,” she expressed.
“I actually curtsied, I didn’t think I’d do it.
“Everyone there really deserved it.”
Klimenko was the first female team owner in the Australian GT Championship and Supercars, going onto become the first female team owner to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2017.
She was also the founder of the Erebus Academy, as well as the owner and co-founder of Erebus Medical.
She has served as the ambassador of various organisations including Dare to be Different, Blue Datto, and the Women in Auto Trades Campaign, as well as the benefactor of the Steve Waugh Foundation, Cure for Caner Foundation, Feel the Magic, and Hogs for the Homeless.
In the mid-2010s, she also served as the Governor and Supporter of the Taronga Zoo and Taronga Conservation Society Australia.
Klimenko’s Erebus Motorsport returns to the track tomorrow for Practice 3 at 10:10 local time/AEDT.
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