JASON RICHARDS - Rest In Peace

[Scrut]

Just announced on SEN radio.

Jason has failed in his battle with cancer, and passed away today.

Rest in peace, you will not be forgotten.

[Pro Racer]

RIP Jase. one of the best blokes you could ever meet and one of the great driver's and personalities in pitlane.

such a shame he couldn't spend one more christmas with his lovely kids.

taken to young with a young family left behind....

[GTRMagic]

Speedcafe Confirmation

Thoughts go to family and friends during this impossibly difficult time

[Retired Racer]

RIP Jase your cheerful smile has always been an inspiration to all. our condolences to Charlotte and the kids. Gods Speed, keep the rubber spinning.
Peter And Margaret

[FordCosworthPanoz]

This has become such a sad year for motorsports, Rest in Peace Jason, and my condolences to his family and friends.

[ford71]

Bloody hell.

Even when you knew it was coming.........

My most heartfelt condolences to his family and closest friends.

You will be remembered Jason.
RIP

[St00ge]

RIP

[ford71]

So the other thread is discussing a mix up. (?)

Not cool.

[Nicholosophy]

You just hoped beyond hope that he might make it. But it was not to be.

RIP fella. You fought hard and how it's time to rest. Thoughts are with this family.

[sizzle]

Jason my friend, I am so glad I was able to get to Homebush to say g'day. Your attitude and demeanour has been an inspiration for so many people. Rest in peace my friend. To Charlotte and the kids, Dave and family I can only say I am a better person for having known Jason.

[kittle]

My heart goes out to the whole family. Such a nice bloke and always a smile.

You will be missed.

RIP Jason Richards.

[bluesport]

Noooooooooooo!!!

[deeks6]

What a bloody awful day. An ugly disease cuts down a young bloke in his prime, its just not right. Just one of the nicest young guys you'd ever meet too (and you can ask anyone that). Heartfelt sympathy for all the family. We'll miss him too.

[marcus]

RIP Jason..

I will remember you not only as a great driver but despite the adversity whenever we saw you on TV there was a huge smile and a love for life , that smile and passion will be my enduring memory of you

[Rob Bailey]

Bloody disease,RIP never heard anyone have a bad word to say about Jason.

[gossie]

RIP Jas. Your in a better place now after the battle.

[mountainstar]

Strength, Honor, Toughness, Positive Attitude

He had a lot of great qualities and will be missed.

His run at Melbourne earlier this year was impressive under the circumstances.

My condolences to his family and close friends. RIP.

[pplater]

Such sad news. Brilliant man leaving a young family behind.

The first really good chat I had with Jase was at the Sydney Opera House for an announcement that Super Cheap Auto would be the naming rights sponsor at Bathurst. He was the same friendly and humble bloke that you see on TV and absolutley burning with desire to land a result at bathurst. Come October, trackside at Mount Panorama, I was pretty damn pleased to see him lead the race and take a popular podium.

I spoke with him dozens of times after that and he was always one of the most honest and approachable blokes on pit lane.

My last lengthy conversation with him was back in 2007. He was holding Sienna, his tiny firstborn daughter. We were discussing his season - Tander's championship year - when this huge smile wrapped in a bushy beard turned up. It was right after John Bowe's final championship race, and he dropped in to say a goodbye of sorts. Bowey made a crack about how the little one had "her father's shifty eyes" and the pair cackled away like the oldest of mates.

I couldn't stop thinking about that moment again at Bathurst this year.
I ran into Jason, who looked like a hollow shell of himself but the fire still burned. He was to spend Sunday watching the Great Race from the Team BOC pits, but that didn't stop him having a crack at the mount.

In a Holden HQ borrowed from Tony Hunter, Jason took on the Touring Car Masters. He finished fifth in race one, and third in race two. A good result in the final race would put him on the overall podium for the round.

It was 7am and the track was slick with dew. Glenn Seton ran away with the race, but Richards worked his way up to second. He was soon caught by a black and yellow Mustang driven by a committed Taswegian.

Bowe could have blown past.

His Mustang is one of the quickest gadgets in the field, and he was fighting for the championship (which he eventually won).
But Bowe didn't do it. He couldn't.
He stuck like a magnet to that old HQ's bumper and wound down the laps, making sure that his mate would stand on the Bathurst podium one last time.
I bet they had one last great laugh together.

We'll miss you Jase.

[Muznik]

R.I.P Jason.

The world is truly a poorer place today.

Not too many participants in any professional sport, let alone one as cut throat & competitive as motor racing, could have been as much liked by all fans, commentators & fellow peers. The words "no one had a bad word against him" really do ring true.

Your family, whilst sad now, should be so proud of not only the person you were but your attitude & conduct in the face of great adversity.

A champion right to the end!

Vale

[Rob Bailey]

Terriable news,to think he was playing golf on wednesday and passed away the next night,failure of a major organ?

[davelise]

Very sad. A real racer who will be missed. Fcuk Cancer.

[brown dog]

So long pal, it has been a privilege knowing you,you were a true champion, and I am going to miss you.

Conrad Timms

[Reload]

A heroic man amongst men and a class act.

[Razor]

Jason Richards, a personal account by Greg Barton.

When I first think of the name Jason Richards, I am not drawn to what he did in his car nor record books, but I'm always drawn to the person that was and is Jason "Jase" Richards.

I first heard his name in 2003 with Team Dynamik when he rolled his Holden VY Commodore at Pukekohe. It wasn't until at the Sandown 500 when he caught my attention battling with Mark Skaife in a wild and wet Sandown 500. My 13 year old brain thought "This guy can handle himself against one of the V8 titans" and even though he eventually stopped in the sand trap, Jason won in my eyes.
At the start of 2004, I picked up a copy of a magazine called Street Machine and they had an interview with Jason about moving from Team Dynamik to the newly formed team Tasman Motorsport. This interview was the catalyst of me following the softly spoken Kiwi. The way he spoke in the interview that was transfered to ink on gloss paper got me hooked. I started to follow the orange and black with a silver Kiwi fern VX and later on VY Commodore.
In 2005, Tasman Motorsport brought out a car that is still one of my favioute paintschemes, The black and white with orange highlited Dodo liveried VZ Commodore. Jase looked brilliant in the new car wih a fresh faced kid named Jamie Whincup in his second season of V8 Supercars as his team mate. I watched in sadness his crashes at Clipsal, Shanghai and the gymanistic piroutte he did at his least favioute track Queensland Raceway to watching in estacy with his 3rd at Sandown and 2nd at Bathurst behind Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly.
Over the years that were 2006, 2007 and 2008 I watched in both sadness when he found the sand or concrete (like the time when he tried to emulate Dukes of Hazzard when his steering failed and his car jumped at 300km/h at The Chase at Bathurst in 2006) happyness of his first race win at Winton Raceway again in 2006 to grabbing a podium at the Indy support race in 2007 in the his #3 VE Commodore to another podium at Bathurst with Greg Murphy in the blue VE Commodore in 2008.
In 2009, my good friend Brad Jones announced that Jason would be moving to his Team BOC outfit. Even though at first I told Brad flatly that the livery I didn't like (I thought it was a bit plain from a graphic designer's point of view) I quickly came round and really liked it. It reflected Jason and the persona of Jase Richards, it wasn't in your face, no ego "look at me" personality and was a very humble look. I celebrated at home with Jase's first pole and another 2nd place at Bathurst.
In 2010, my father and I went up to Queensland Raceway for the V8 Supercars. I quickly ran into the BJR guys at a poster signing and Jase and I quickly got chatting to Jase. I spotted his beard he was trying to grow and said with a giggle "Mate, what's with the beard, you look like Johnny Bowe with it!" Jase and Jason Bright both looked at one another than to me and both laughed out loud and Jase stroked his "beard" and said "Mate, I wish I had some of JB's driving talent." The way he spoke and portrayed himself gave me the reasons why I liked this guy, he was a funny bloke with no ego, no negativity and would give up his time to have a yarn and a joke or two, mostly at his own expense. When it was announced that Jase was diagnosed with cancer, to say I was devestated was a gross understatement. Many phone calls and texts went to the Brad Jones with constant updates about Jase
In this year (2011), I was sad but not shocked to see Jase was going to sit out the V8 Season (with the exception of the Aus Grand Prix support race in the #14 white BOC Commodore), when Jase grabed a podium at the AGP, I was damn nearly put to tears with the rest of the field. When I went down to Bathurst for the 1000 race, I ran into Jase down there. He signed my Polo shirt and hat. I told him "Mate, I want to do something for you and your cancer battle, so in your honour, this shirt is for Bid4Jase." He stood there for a sec, a lump in the throat and a tear welled up in his eyes and he shook my hand and said "Thanks mate." Over the days, I got two photos with him. When I told all the drivers, CEO of V8's and the Ch 7 crew that this shirt was for Jase, all were happy to sign. (plus a few were brought to near tears that I was going to great lengths to help out my mate)

When I was told Jason had passed, I thought it wasn't right. I told the person who posted his message up that it was a different Jason Richards that died over in Asia and he thought it was our much loved Kiwi Jase. This person didn't think much more as he told me it was a rumor, nothing more. When it was confirmed that our Jase had gone up into the great racetrack in the skies, I was saddened but thought "He's at peace now, he didn't die, he was released from the pain of his illness." The shirt that was destined for his charity will now be going to his family so that his wife and children have something from their husband and Dad's last ever Bathurst.

RIP Jason Richards, you will always be loved and missed by your family, friends and fans. As a fan and a friend, I will always cherish everything you gave me but most of all your time with me. We all love you mate. I hope you give Peter Brock, Marco Simoncelli, Dan Wheldon, Mark Porter, Possum Bourne and Ayrton Senna to name a few a run for their money up in the great race track in the sky.

Jason Richards, lover and liver of life, driver of drives. 1976-2011. - Greg Barton.

[GTRMagic]

Golf on Wednesday of this week... still smiling!