Jason Eric Bargwanna (born 26 April, 1971) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

motor racing driver. Best known as a Supercars Championship competitor, Bargwanna raced in the series for 25 years, the pinnacle of which was winning, with

Garth Tander Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineer ...

, the 2000 Bathurst 1000 in a

Garry Rogers Motorsport Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...

prepared Holden Commodore. Bargwanna was the Driving Standards Observer for the Supercars Championship from

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

until

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Career history

Bargwanna commenced his racing career in the late 1980s, initially competing in the

Formula Vee Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Brazil and Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, E ...

category. He made his

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...

début while still a teenager in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and won the 1992 Bathurst 1600 cc class at 20, with his cousin Scott, however a lack of funding limited his motor sport participation for the next few seasons and he pursued a career in the financial sector. His career finally started to move forward in 1995, racing in the

Australian Formula Ford Championship The Australian Formula Ford Championship is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992 it was a national series and from 1993 until 2013 the series was sanctione ...

. He impressed in his seven-year-old

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

, racing against younger drivers with the latest cars from

Van Diemen Van Diemen International, Ltd. was a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The company had a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula Fo ...

and

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

and against drivers of the caliber of Jason Bright and Mark Webber. His 1995 showing allowed him to attract the budget to run a campaign with late model equipment in 1996 and he finished second in the championship to Van Diemen's factory supported driver,

David Besnard David Besnard, (born 21 January 1977 in Sydney, Australia) is a retired professional racing driver. Career history Starting in karts in 1991, he quickly proceeded into Formula Ford in 1995. After initial success, he had a major accident at Easte ...

. He also represented Australia in the EFDA Nations Cup in both

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and 1996. A move to

Formula Holden Formula Holden was an Australian open wheel racing category introduced in 1989. History Known during its development as Formula Australia, it was initially for chassis constructed from aluminium only, running a 3.8-litre Buick V6 engine a ...

resulted in second place in the 1997 Australian Drivers' Championship with SH Racing.

V8 Supercars

As a member of the Holden Young Lions

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

program in 1997, he surprised many by taking provisional pole position in the #97 Holden Commodore at the Bathurst 1000 Classic only to damage the car beyond repair in a race day warm up accident. His career further advanced in 1998 with a move full-time to

, where he stayed for five years. Bargwanna is best known for winning the 2000 Bathurst 1000 with

for that team. He also scored two round wins at the Winton event in 1999 and 2000 and at the inaugural championship round supporting the

Gold Coast Indy 300 The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had sever ...

, the V8 Supercar Challenge, in 2002. In 2003, Bargwanna switched to

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and drove for

Larkham Motor Sport Larkham Motor Sport was a motorsport team contesting the V8 Supercar Championship between 1995 and 2005. History Larkham Motor Sport was formed in 1990 with the intent of furthering Mark Larkham's career after he won the 1989 Australian Formu ...

from 2003 to 2005. In 2006, Larkham Motor Sport merged with WPS Racing, the team folding immediately prior to the 2008 season and leaving Bargwanna without a full-time drive. He did however co-drove a

Holden Commodore (VE) The Holden Commodore (VE) is an executive car that was produced by Holden from 2006 to 2013. It was the first iteration of the fourth generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VE) and Holden Calais (VE ...

for

Rod Nash Racing Rod Nash Racing is a Supercars Championship racing entity, owned by Rod Nash. Nash co-owns Tickford Racing and since 2018, Rod Nash Racing has run under the Tickford name. Racing history Privateer entry Rod Nash first appeared in the series in ...

alongside Tony D'Alberto in the 2008

Phillip Island 500 The Phillip Island 500 was an annual motor racing event, last held for Supercars at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Phillip Island, Victoria. The race had three distinct eras; from 1971 to 1977 as an endurance production and later Austra ...

and the

endurance races. Bargwanna joined

Tasman Motorsport Tasman Motorsport was a V8 Supercar racing team. It was formed in 2004 out of what was Lansvale Racing Team V8 Supercar team and was associated with Greg Murphy Racing as a satellite operation. Tasman Motorsport entered the series in 2004 ...

for 2009 and, following the closure of that team at the end of the season, he joined

Kelly Racing Kelly Grove Racing (formerly known as Kelly Racing and Nissan Motorsport) was an Australian motor racing team which competes in the Supercars Championship. The team made its debut in 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2009, and raced Holden ...

for 2010. He was also voted in the top 50 all time Australian Touring car drivers in 2010. In 2011 Bargwanna drove a

Brad Jones Racing Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...

Commodore alongside his junior open-wheel rival, Jason Bright. In

, Bargwanna was appointed as the Driver Standards Observer for the Supercars Championship. Bargwanna left the post at the end of

New Zealand V8

In late 2011, Bargwanna left the V8 Supercars Australia and joined the New Zealand V8. He resulted runner-up in the 2011/12 season behind Angus Fogg, collecting a round win and podiums in the six rounds driving a Tulloch Ford Falcon. The team switched to a Holden Commodore for the 2013 season. The driver won nine out of 15 races and got the TLX title.

TCR

In 2020, Bargwanna was to make his debut in the TCR Australia and

TCR Asia Pacific Cup TCR may stand for: Arts and entertainment * ''TCR'', the musical project of Robin Moulder and TC Smith * "TCR", a single by Prolapse (band), Prolapse * The Comic Reader, a comics news-fanzine 1961–1984 Businesses and organizations * TCR (record ...

driving a

Peugeot 308 The Peugeot 308 is a small family car produced by French automaker Peugeot. It was unveiled in June 2007, and launched in September 2007. The 308 replaced the 307, and positioned below the 508 and above the smallest 208. The 308 is followed by ...

. Both series were cancelled due to the Corona Virus Pandemic. In 2021, he and his son Ben, debuted in the series. Jason scored his first win at Phillip Island

Personal life

Bargwanna is married to Debra and has two children Jake and Ben and lives in

Nar Nar Goon Nar or NAR may refer to: Music * ''Nar'' (album) by Sahrawi musician Nayim Alal * ''Nar'', album by Mercan Dede * New Alliance Records, an American punk, spoken word, music-label, active from 1980 to 1998 * , an Italian record label founded in ...

, Victoria. His father, Harry Bargwanna, himself an Australian racing driver, owns and operates a mechanical repair shop in the Southern Sydney suburb of

Engadine Engadine may refer to: Places *Engadin, Engadin(e), a valley region in Switzerland *Engadine, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia *Engadine, Michigan, unincorporated community in Michigan *Engadine (Candler, North Carolina), a building l ...

. His uncle Alf and cousin Scott are also national level race drivers. Bargwanna attended Heathcote High School in Sydney. Bargwanna owns four

Red Rooster Red Rooster is an Australian fast food restaurant chain founded in 1972 that specialises in roast chicken, chicken burgers and fried chicken. Their product range includes whole roasts, half roasts, wraps, burgers, salads, beverages and desserts ...

franchises in Hampton Park, Fountain Gate,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and Pakenham West.

Career results

Holden VE Commodore of Jason Bargwanna at Calder Park

† team result

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

TCR Australia results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Driver DataBase profileRacing Reference profileNews articles, pictures & videos on Motorsport.comNews Articles on Speedcafe.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bargwanna, Jason 1972 births Supercars Championship drivers Formula Ford drivers Formula Holden drivers EFDA Nations Cup drivers Sportsmen from New South Wales Living people Bathurst 1000 winners Toyota Racing Series drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers Racing drivers from Sydney Australian Endurance Championship drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Kelly Racing drivers