Jim Read
Early on Jim decided to become a plumber but he was also fascinated with racing, especially drag racing, and in 1966 he completed building a car to compete at Castlereagh Dragway in Sydney in the modified sedan class. Jim won the first race he entered and was hooked by the feeling that came with that win. Like most racers, it didn’t take long for Jim to want to go quicker and faster so he moved up from the modified sedan ranks into a junior fuel dragster followed by a top fuel dragster and a fuel funny car.
By 1974 Jim was competing as a full-time professional drag racer; that year he became the Aussie Top Fuel Champion. That same year Jim had the privilege of successfully competing against his hero from the states, Don Garlits. In the coming years Jim would continue to successfully compete against most of the touring USA racers including Gary Beck, Jeb Allen, Jon force, Marvin Graham to name a few along with New Zealand champion Garth Hogan.
At the Australian Nationals in 1976, Jim was the first drag racer to not only compete in both top fuel dragster and funny car classes, but to win them both at the event. Since then Jim has gone on to win over 300 titles including 17 Australian Championships. In 1974 Jim was able to put together a sponsorship package with Rothman’s of Pall Mall Tobacco Company under the Chesterfield banner (later changed to Winfield) that sponsorship lasted for 21 years until the Australian government passed legislation in 1995 banning tobacco sponsorships for automobile racing.
In 1979 Jim purchased the Good, Bad & Ugly top fuel dragster and began traveling to the USA more and more. These trips allowed him to build many long-lasting friendships, learn more about what the racers here were doing and benefit from a lot of the experience they were compiling. 1982 saw Jim fulfill a long-time dream, he entered the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona. Competing in a borrowed car and on a very limited budget he became the first Australian to qualify at an NHRA event in a top fuel dragster with a 5.69 ET. Jim won his final top fuel event as a driver at the June 2004 Australian Winternationals retiring from driving shortly after that.
In 1981 he was honored as the only motorsport competitor to receive an Advanced Australia Ambassador Award and in 2000 Jim was awarded an Order of Australia from the Australian Prime Minister for his dedication to his field of motor sport and received the Australian Sports Metal from her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II. Jim is currently awaiting his second entry into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest sponsorship firstly with Rothman’s of Pall Mall (Chesterfield and Winfield) and Wynn’s Australia for over 43 years of continuous sponsorship.
Jim’s love and involvement with the sport expanded even further when in 2004 he was able to return championship drag racing back to Sydney, after seven years, by negotiating with the New South Wales government to construct a purpose built drag racing venue in Sydney, Western Sydney International Dragway where he is still the chairman of the board. He is also still very active on the racing side as the owner of his family owned and operated Jim Read Racing Top Fuel 2 car team with his son Phil driving one car. Jim’s other son, Bruce, is the crew chief of the team. So far, this new team has produced three Australian Top Fuel Championships 2006, 2007, and 2008 missing out in 2009.