Bathurst 1000 winner and ‘Tru-Blu’ legend John French dies
1981 Bathurst 1000 winner and one of the great characters of Australian touring car racing John French passed in his sleep overnight aged 94.
In the early years he was famous behind the wheel of a Mini Cooper S, racing on tracks all over Australia, but also in 1966 when Mini Coopers swept the field, and dominated the Bathurst 1000.
French at Bathurst 1966
French not only drove himself into Great Race history alongside Dick Johnson in the Tru-Blu XD Falcon, but was a touring car veteran from the sixties to the eighties.
In addition to his time at DJR, he became a household name by racing the works Ford Falcon GTHOs alongside Allan Moffat, while he also won the 1962 Australian GT Championship.
Apart from racing, French was a well-known car dealer of Alfa Romeos in his native Brisbane; the marque which featured most prominently in his professional racing career.
The business also included sales and service on Subaru, Peugeot and Renault vehicles. He retired from the car business in 2006, but he regularly stuck his head in the door on a weekly basis “just to keep an eye on things”.
French was born in Millaa Millaa, Queensland back in 1930.
He took part in the very first Phillip Island 500 in 1960 where he recorded a strong top five finish with Norm Beechey.
His first crack at the mountain was 1964 where he finished fifth with Ron Hodgson and he returned in Morris Coopers and Alfa Romeos before his first Ford factory drive in 1971 where he recorded his best ATCC result of sixth.
French got three drives in the Falcon at Mount Panorama and the closest he got to victory during that period was 1972 when he led the Ford brigade and finished second only to Peter Brock in the iconic wet race.
After that followed a string of five DNFs in an era where it was an achievement to greet the chequered flag, but in 1974 he did start his connection with Johnson in his own Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV.
Six years later they renewed their partnership, now at Dick’s team and the rest is history.
After hitting the rock in heartbreaking fashion in 1980, the pair achieved the ultimate glory a year later.
French had six more cracks at the Great Race and only finished one of the them, but his place in history was undisputed.
The first national championship he competed in he won, being the 1960 Australian GT Championship where he drove a Centaur Waggott to glory around Lakeside. That was a Holden-engined special, with a Waggott-designed twin-cam cylinder head!
Found a couple of pics of French in the Centaur Waggot.
He had 21 Bathurst starts, his last being in 1987 in a Mitsubishi Ralliart Starion turbo with Gary Scott and Japanese driver Akihiko Nakaya. He qualified the car but did not get the chance to drive.
French quit full-time racing at the end of that race and made one of his few public appearances in a race car at the Pirtek Legends event on the Gold Coast in 2009 and 2010.
At age 79, French drove Allan Moffat’s 1973 XY GTHO Phase 3 Group C touring car, loaned to the event from the Bowden Family on the Sunshine Coast.
“It was good to get the opportunity to drive such an iconic Australian race car,” said French at the time.
“It really took me back to why I enjoyed racing those types of cars all those years ago. Plus I looked around and saw the likes of Dick Johnson, Kevin Bartlett, Colin Bond and Jim Richards all out there with me."
John French was an unusual race driver. He was tenacious, patient, consistently fast, and determined – but at no time was he boring, aggressive, domineering, nor a pain in the backside. Everyone loved his company, his racing personality, and his thorough gentlemanly behaviour towards his competitors.
Off the track he was jovial, convivial and helpful to anyone who needed a favour.
Dick Johnson passed on F1 champion out of loyalty to his ‘little mate’
Australian touring car legend Dick Johnson has told of how he passed up an opportunity to drive with the reigning Formula 1 champion Alan Jones for his famous 1981 Bathurst 1000 victory in favour of his “little mate” John French
The US Grand Prix was originally to be held at Watkins Glen on October 4, the same day as the Bathurst 1000, but the track was dropped from the calendar in May due to the circuit’s financial difficulties and replaced by the Ceasars Palace Grand Prix as the season closer on October 17.
This freed up Jones for his Bathurst debut before heading to Las Vegas for the final round of the F1 championship two weeks later.
French had driven with Johnson the previous year when their Tru-Blu XD Falcon hit a rock early in the race in one of the most famous incidents in the history of Mount Panorama.
“John Crawford was looking after AJ and suggested that he should drive with me at Bathurst,” Johnson said
“I said ‘Why would I want a world champion when I have my little mate ‘Frenchy’?’ 
“We had been through everything together the year before and to be honest, I was never going to have anyone else in the car with me.
“As it turned out, it was the right move and to this day we still enjoy everyone talking to us about that victory and that car.
French still remains the oldest Australian driver to win the race (Kiwi Jim Richards was the oldest race winner when he won in 2002 at the age of 55 and 41 days) and I still believe he is one of the most underrated drivers ever to be produced in this country.”
Jones did make his Bathurst debut in 1981 with Warren Cullen in a Commodore, but the car was out of the race after Lap 48. The race was red flagged and declared after 120 laps because of a major accident at McPhillamy Park.
French was at the wheel of the Johnson Falcon when the race was stopped.
Johnson recounted the Jones’ story as a personal tribute to French,
John French pushing a works Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase 3 to the limit at Sandown. He partnered with Allan Moffat to win the Sandown 500(?) in 1969 (I think it was the Sandown 3 hour or 250 mile in those days)
When John French turned 90, many of his close friends in Queensland got together for a very happy celebration of his birthday at the brand-new Gold Coast Motor Museum, just west of Coomera, on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately it was in the Covid restricted times when Interstate travel was forbidden, keeping many away. The birthday event was a coming together for not only his ‘old mates’, like former teammates Dick Johnson and Kevin Bartlett, but also younger personalities including one the sport’s most popular and accomplished ambassadors for motor sport, Craig Lowndes.
