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I have found Jason's passing probably more emotionally affecting personally than others, and it seems I am not alone. Perhaps it is because of his overall demeanour and the attitude with which he approached this awful sickness.FloP wrote:What an emotional read, what a tragic loss! RIP Jason, your legend will live on!
Amazingly, being a golf lover, Jason was determined to meet a commitment to play in a Pro-Am event last Wednesday. He practised on the Tuesday played the event on the Wednesday..... and then passed away Thursday.
Talking of an emotional read, this is from John Bowe, probably one of the least emotional, hardest nosed and most uncompromising of Motor Racing professionals that one would ever have seen. Competes now in his retirement in his own Camaro for the Touring Car Masters (The current Champion I am pretty sure), and is certainly one of the greatest all time locals... he was a multi category champion over the last few decades, from Touring Cars to Sports Sedans, Big (Can-Am equivalent) Sportscars, to Aus F1 and F2 open wheelers. He is also a multiple Bathurst 1000 klms winner.
John has opened up about the passing of Jason Richards – his neighbour, rival and friend. The Richards family live on the same street as Bowe in Melbourne’s Bayside area. While Richards and Bowe spent the first years of their relationship as rivals in the V8 Supercars arena, they quickly developed a strong friendship that was solidified when the pair became neighbours.
John Bowe wrote:Bowe says that he and other close friends of Richards were praying for a miracle cure to his rare and aggressive form of cancer – adrenal cortical carcinoma.
While the cure never came, Bowe says his mate fought until the very end.
“I knew the degree of his illness, as his inner-circle did, and we all hung on to this hope of a miracle drug,”
“He tried everything. He researched around the world, he went to America. He was about to start a new drug that was developed in Sydney. It was just going through ethics committee.
“Every time something else came up, we all had the hope that it was going to be the one to stem his bloody terrible illness. He just fought on and on.”
When Richards was diagnosed with the disease in November 2010, it became clear very quickly that the Kiwi was not going to let it stop him enjoying his life.
Despite the debilitating nature of the cancer, he continued to play an active role with both of his families – at home and at the race track.
Richards competed in two V8 Supercars races earlier this year while on a break from chemo, plus a number of selected races in other classes.
Every time he sat in a race car, he was competitive, remarkably winning on debut in the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series at the Clipsal 500, before finishing second in Race 2 of the Albert Park 400 main series event a week later. As highlighted in my previous post, Jason came very close to winning a couple of races at Bathurst driving in the Touring Car Masters support event only last month. He did win in September, when he piloted the Holden Dealer Team A9X Torana to an incredible win in the Muscle Car Masters (not to be confused with Touring Car Masters ) in front of a packed Eastern Creek.
One of Richards’ favourite sayings during his illness was that competing in a motor race was his own personal treatment.
When his body became too weak to race, he turned to his other sporting love – golf.
Jason Richards (far left) on Wednesday during the Australian Masters Pro/Am with Golfer Richard Green, Geelong footballer Tom Hawkins and NRL’s Sydney Roosters rugby league star Braith Anasta. Green had specifically asked to be in the group with Richards, with the pair being close friends.
Anasta said Jason was a "golf tragic", but could play too. "His short game was immaculate and he was still hitting the ball really well," Anasta said.
"My heart really goes out to his family. What a great bloke."
Bowe says that his golf gave him a competitive outlet in his final days. “On Tuesday, he spent the day practicing his golf, and then on Wednesday, he played with Richard Green, a good mate of his, in the Pro/Am Masters,” said Bowe. "Greeny and Jason were perfect for each other. One wanted to be a racing driver and one wanted to be a pro golfer.
"Greeny used to ask him what sort of driver he thought he'd make. Jason used to joke about the equivalent of a 15-handicapper.
“That was one of his goals. He loved golf and he got out there and did it.
“At the end of the day, he was absolutely stuffed, but I could tell that it was mentally helping him.” Jason used a buggy throughout most of the round but he seemed to cope well....
"It will take some time for the Australian and international motorsport communities to come to terms with Richards’ passing." Even for Bowe, who knew the full extent of JR’s fading health, his mate’s passing is hard to fathom.
“I’m devastated, but I’m not as devastated as his immediate family,” said Bowe.
“He’s an amazing bloke. I spent a lot of time with him. I saw a resilience, a determination and a passion that is very rare. I feel so much for his little kids, and for him, that he’s not going to see them grow and do all the things that a father should.
“There’s no words that do the situation justice. I’m still in shock. It’s just very tragic and very sad.
“I have awesome memories of our time together, as most do, because he was a hard bloke not to love. He was one very amazing individual.”