11 Facts About Jason Richards

Jason John Richards was a New Zealand motor racing driver.

Jason Richards died at the age of 35, just over a year after being diagnosed with cancer.

Jason Richards started his motor racing career at the age of eight in 1985, driving in karting events in his home country of New Zealand.

Jason Richards made his move out of karting in 1993 after 35 championship titles, entering the Mini 7s.

Jason Richards moved to the new South Australian Team Dynamik in 2003, putting in some strong results, including a narrow failure to snatch victory in the Sandown 500 from Mark Skaife in the race's dying stages.

Jason Richards then made the decision to move to the newly formed Tasman Motorsport outfit in 2004 and has developed into a driver who believes he is capable of standing on the top step of a V8 Supercar podium.

Jason Richards secured his first V8 Supercar pole position at Hidden Valley Raceway in 2009.

In November 2010 it was revealed that Jason Richards was admitted to hospital on 16 November and was later diagnosed with an adrenocortical carcinoma.

Jason Richards immediately stepped away from racing to devote his energies to fighting the illness with Andrew Jones substituting for the balance of the 2010 season.

Jason Richards continued to race sporadically with guest appearances in the second-tier V8 Supercar series, Australian GT Championship, Touring Car Masters and continued testing with Brad Jones Racing into the second half of 2011.

Jason Richards died on 15 December 2011 at his home.