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Cattach joined Dick Johnson Racing as its CEO in 1992 and enjoyed Australian Touring Car Championship success with the team.
Just two years after joining, the team won 1994 Bathurst 1000 with Johnson and John Bowe. A year later, Bowe won the 1995 drivers’ championship.
After a successful stint with DJR, he was shoulder-tapped to join Supercars in 2000 where he was CEO alongside chairman Tony Cochrane.
Cattach walked away from the sport briefly in 2008 but returned after the team’s championship success in 2010 after the team suffered financial difficulties.
Cattach died on Thursday morning, Dick Johnson Racing confirmed.
In the wake of Cattach’s passing, Johnson issued the following statement:
It is with profound sadness that I learned of the passing of Wayne Cattach this morning.
As CEO of DJR, he changed our team. As CEO of V8 Supercars, he changed our sport.
You wouldn’t believe it, but after joining the team as our major sponsor through an agreement that we made on the back of a drinks coaster, the head honchos at Shell stepped in at the start of 1992 to tell me that to take the team forward, we really needed to appoint a CEO.
That lightbulb moment changed my life, and set a new course for Dick Johnson Racing.
Following a stellar career with Shell that saw him at the peak of his craft both here in Australia and in the UK, Wayne joined DJR.
He was instrumental in the leadership of the Touring Car Entrants Group and then to the formation of V8 Supercars. Wayne lured Ross and Jimmy Stone to DJR and helped us win Bathurst in 1994 and JB to win the championship in 1995. He was savvy commercially as he was in setting up the team’s future, building 10 Emeri Street in Stapylton in 1998 as the first purpose built motorsport factory in Australia.
Wayne joined Supercars as CEO after I hung up the helmet in 1999. He was the powerhouse behind Tony Cochrane, who as the ultimate ideas and sales man, needed the yin to his yang. A bloke who could get it done and make sure the trains would run on time. In Wayne, there was no one better.
Coming from a background of working at DJR as well as Shell, he understood teamland and truly made him the enormous success he was in Supercars.
He was a dear friend. Jillie and I share our heartfelt condolences to all his family and friends. But most of all, today of all days, I have tremendous gratitude to a bloke who changed my life. Someone who came from outside motorsport to truly become a cornerstone of it.
In Tasmania, our Mustangs will pay tribute to the memory of Wayne Cattach, a fellow former Nasho – a great man, fearless leader and true friend.
