The motorsport world is in mourning after veteran racer and administrator Geoff Leeds passed away at age 77 after a short battle with cancer.
Leeds has spent his entire life around motor racing, growing up at Bathurst, racing for over three decades before a long stint as a category administrator and official.
He remained active in the sport until his diagnosis earlier this year having spent the last four seasons as the Driving Standards and Prosecuting Officer for the TA2 Muscle Car Series.
Leeds was “highly respected by all” within the category as he was “perfect for the position” while his son Ben helped engineer Jett Johnson to the title last year.
“Gentleman Geoff Leeds will be truly missed by everyone whose life he connected with, especially the TA2 family who he loved so much,” said TA2 Series owner Peter Robinson.
“Race Hard and Race Fair were the last words he’d say to all at the track briefings, I will never forget those words.
“RIP Geoff and condolences to Sandra and the family.”
Leeds was destined to live a life around motorsport growing up just 3km from the famous Mount Panorama circuit.
Despite living nearby, he still had to find a creative way to drive his first Great Race in 1966.
“I was desperate to race at Bathurst no matter what, but to get a CAMS licence you had to have a parent’s signature if you were under 21 and I knew Mum wouldn’t do it, so I forged her signature,” Leeds once said.
Despite the secret start, Leeds soon became a regular fixture as a local racer at the October classic racing everything from Mazdas to Toranas across 23 straight starts from the 1970s to the 1990s.
He recorded a number of solid top 15 finishes and a class win across more than two decades of taking on the Mountain.
Leeds’ best finish was P8 with the “king of the privateers” Terry Finnigan after the pair rose from 24th on the grid and held off the Glenn Seton and Gregg Hansford Sierra.
However, the most remembered car will be the Craven Mild Mazda RX3, which Yoshimi Katayama sent flying down the escape road at the end of Conrod Straight and Murrays Corner.
The owner of that team, Allan Grice said Leeds was a great motorsport man.
“Geoff was very active in touring cars and raced for my Craven Mild Team a number of times in the late 70’s,” Grice said.
“He raced with Yoshimi Katayama in a Mazda RX3 at Bathurst in 1977, Katayama was regarded as a demi-god in Japan and they were doing well until Yoshimi turned the Mazda into sushi spectacularly at the end of Conrod Straight.
“Geoff was very well respected by all in the sport, he just got on with the business of racing with no fuss.
“He never gave me any grief on track, and I returned the favour! Guys like Geoff are sadly missed from the sport.
“My condolences to his family.”
Leeds finally hung up the helmet after a stint in the Aussie Racing Cars series, but this did not stop him from staying involved in motorsport.
In 2002 he became the investigating and prosecuting officer for V8 Supercars and also spent two years as the driving standards advisor in the development series.
His last role was with the TA2 Muscle Car Series as the Driving Standards and Prosecuting Officer’s role.
Leeds’ son Ben will keep the family name within the category, working for PBR Distributions, which deliver and service PBR Spec TA2 race cars.
AUTO ACTION offers its condolences to Leeds’ family and friends.
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