Larry
Perkins

Larry Perkins grew up on a farm in the Mallee region of Victoria, Australia, and his father Eddie was also a racing driver. In 1970 he joined the Holden Dealer Team as a mechanic and driver. He won the TAA Formula Ford Driver to Europe Series in 1971 and the Australian Formula 2 Championship in 1972, both in an Elfin 600. In Europe he took the 1975 European Formula Three Championship.

His Formula One appearances were spread across 1974, 1976 and 1977. At the 1974 German Grand Prix he stepped into the Chris Amon Racing AF101 in place of the team's regular driver, but he failed to qualify after crashing in practice. In 1976 he drove for the newly formed Boro team. He finished 13th in Spain and eighth in Belgium. After Boro withdrew, he took over a Brabham for the last three races of the year and finished 17th in Canada. In 1977 he finished 15th in South Africa for BRM, then moved to Surtees and came 12th in Belgium. In total he started 11 Grands Prix.

Back in Australia, he won the Rothmans International Series in 1979 in an Elfin MR8, as well as the Australian Rallycross Championship in a Volkswagen Beetle. He made his Bathurst 1000 debut in 1977, finishing third with Peter Janson, and went on to win the race six times: in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995 and 1997, with co-drivers Peter Brock, John Harvey, Gregg Hansford and Russell Ingall. He never won the Australian Touring Car Championship, his best results being three fourth places. In 1988 he finished fourth in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Tom Walkinshaw Racing.

Perkins retired from driving in 2003. He was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2008 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2021 for his service to motorsport. His son Jack Perkins won a V8 Supercar race.

Source: Wikipedia, “Larry Perkins”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.