Robert Frederick Jane was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon.
24 Facts About Bob Jane
1.
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Bob Jane was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2000.
3.
Bob Jane grew up in Brunswick, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne.
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Bob Jane, driving for the Ford works team, won a further two Armstrong 500s at the new venue, the first with Firth in 1963 and the second in 1964 with George Reynolds as co-driver.
5.
Bob Jane won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1962,1963,1971 and 1972.
6.
Bob Jane was forced by a rule change to replace the 427 engine with a 350 cubic inch engine for the 1972 championship but the Camaro still managed to beat the opposition, which included Allan Moffat's Ford Boss 302 Mustang, Ian Geoghegan's Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III, and Norm Beechey's Holden HT Monaro GTS350.
7.
Bob Jane won the 1963 Australian GT Championship at the wheel of a Jaguar E-type, and the Marlboro Sports Sedan Series, in both 1974 and 1975, at his own Calder Park Raceway driving a Holden Monaro GTS 350.
8.
Bob Jane retired from competitive motor racing at the end of 1981 due to sciatica.
9.
Brock raced the car in 1982 and 1983 before Bob Jane sold the car in early 1984 to Re-Car owner Allan Browne.
10.
Bob Jane remains an independent, family-owned business to this day; Bob's son, Rodney Jane, is the current CEO.
11.
In 2011,81-year-old Bob Jane resigned as chairman of T-Marts citing difficulties in the relationship with his son Rodney.
12.
From 1984 To 1997 Bob Jane formed a cross shareholding partnership with Ian Diffen.
13.
Bob Jane operated in Queensland and Ian Richard Diffen operated Ian Diffen's World of Tyres and Mufflers in Western Australia.
14.
From 2002 to 2004, Bob Jane T-Marts held the naming rights sponsorship for the Bathurst 1000, the race Jane dominated early in his career.
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Bob Jane held the naming rights to the former Bob Jane Stadium, home of South Melbourne FC.
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Bob Jane T-Marts is the only major tyre retailer in Australia who do not sell retread tyres.
17.
From 1980 to 1984, the Australian Grand Prix was held at his Calder Park Raceway in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Bob Jane taking over the promoting and staging of the Grand Prix in the hope of Calder Park being granted a round of the Formula One World Championship.
18.
From 1981 until 1984 the races were run under Formula Mondial regulations and Bob Jane succeeded in attracting many of the best Formula One drivers of the era.
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Bob Jane is credited with bringing stock car racing to Australia.
20.
Long resistant to oval racing, Australian motorsport fans finally had their own NASCAR-style high banked superspeedway when Bob Jane spent A$54 million building the Thunderdome on the grounds of Calder Park Raceway.
21.
Bob Jane owned the Adelaide International Raceway which features the only other paved NASCAR type oval in Australia with its half mile Speedway Super Bowl, which, unlike the Thunderdome, is a permanent part of the road circuit.
22.
Bob Jane accused her of threatening to shoot him and threatening him with a kitchen knife.
23.
Bob Jane met Laree when he performed Grand Marshal duties for the 1986 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst.
24.
On 28 September 2018, Bob Jane died from prostate cancer, 21 years after his diagnosis.