Tasmanian Motorsport Hall of Fame

TASMANIAN MOTORSPORT HALL OF FAME DAVID “Skippy” PARSONS (Inducted 2021) David “Skippy” Parsons started his motorsport career as a teenager, on a trials bike in 1975. He had a natural talent and won the Tasmanian championship the following year. It was to be his first of an amazing nine consecutive championships through until 1985. David also contested three Australian championships, which in the 1970s and 1980s usually attracted fields of nearly 300 riders from all over Australia and overseas, finishing ninth in 1985. While excelling on two wheels, David was also starting to make a name for himself on four wheels, winning his class in club days in his father Graham’s Holden Torana SLR5000 L34. He also set a course record at the Highclere Hillclimb, in the State’s North-West, which stood for many years, so when Graham retired from racing in 1977, it was only natural David move up to touring cars. After several seasons, which included a class record at Symmons Plains, David upgraded to a Holden Commodore - and always looking for more power - he purchased a second-hand motor from John Harvey of the Holden Dealer Team in 1982. David finished fifth in the Symmons Plains round of the national championship before going on to record four top-five results to finish 12th in the championship and winning Rookie of the Year. His efforts didn’t go un-noticed and he was recruited by the Peter Jansen Cadbury Schweppes Team to race a Commodore at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 endurance events. David and Peter finished fourth in David’s first appearance at Mount Panorama, qualifying third on the grid the following year and running as high as second before a blown engine ended their day. In all, David Parsons made 18 consecutive starts in the Great Race, continuing through until 2000 and racing for a variety of teams in Holden Commodores, Ford Sierras and BMW M3s. In 1984, he was recruited by Peter Brock for the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team and co-drove with John Harvey, finished third at Sandown and second at Bathurst that year. He also co-drove with Peter Brock in the 1987 Pepsi 250 at Oran Park, finishing second, and overall competed in the Australian Touring Car /V8 Supecars championship 10 times between 1982 and 1999, racing for a number of teams. He also contested rounds of the world and Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championships in 1987 and 1988, as well as the famous Spa 24-Hour Race in 1987. Other noteworthy results included winning the Sandown 500, co-driving with Geoff Brabham in a Ford Falcon in the wet in 1993, and finishing second with Glenn Seton, also in a Falcon, in 1996. However, his biggest triumph came in 1987, racing with the Holden Dealer Team and winning the Bathurst 1000, co-driving with Peter Brock and Peter McLeod, as drivers were allowed to cross-enter in both team cars at the time. Their Holden Commodore crossed the line in third, but after a protest and a long-drawn out legal process, the two Ford Sierras which had finished first and second, were disqualified four months after the race, elevating the Commodore crew to race winners. Racing at the top level for the best part of two decades, David was competitive with the best and his career was dotted with a number of what would have been major wins, but for mechanical failures and other factors. David retired from racing on the national scene in 2000, but continued to race occasionally in Commodore Cup and HQ Holden events up until 2017, also winning a Tasmanian HQ championship in 1996. In the 1998 edition of Targa Tasmania, David and co-driver Vaun Guthrie finished second outright in a Mazda RX-7, behind winners Jim Richards and Barry Oliver, but were later disqualified over an illegal air cleaner. Profile by Martin Agatyn .

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