Ian Harrington was born in Melbourne and transferred to Launceston in 1965 as state manager of Emoleum and after a short return to Melbourne, eventually settled in Tasmania, setting up his own business, Roadways Asphalt Services, in Hobart, with just two other employees.

At the time of induction, the Ian Harrington Group had over 100 employees and four businesses.

Following a meeting at Baskerville in late 1973 with Garth Wigston, the then-president of the Hobart Sporting Car Club, to provide a quote for repairs required to the race track, Ian began a long friendship with Garth and an even greater obsession with motorsport.

During the conversation with Garth, Ian asked how to get into “this motor racing game,” and after an explanation and many subsequent discussions with Garth, a brand new Holden L34 Torana was purchased.

Garth ended up with the driving duties, initially in Tasmanian state events and Roadways Racing was born.

Preparation of the car was handed to Gown Hindaugh in Melbourne, starting another long association with Bruce Hindaugh, who beside having the task of preparing the car, was also co-opted for co-driver duties at Bathurst in 1976 and 1977.

The team’s first race meeting was at Baskerville in February of 1975 but things didn’t get off to a good start with a major blow up and the end of the back straight.

The team went on to compete in the Australian Touring Car Championship and all major endurance races from 1976 until 1985, expanding to a two car team with a pair of Holden A9X Toranas in 1978 and 1979, before changing to a single Commodores in 1981 with Ian’s son Steven behind the wheel and again expanding to two cars in the 1983 and 1984 seasons.

STP became major sponsors for the endurance races in 1982 and in 1983.

Alan Grice joined the team and at Bathurst that year, with the team’s two cars finishing third and fourth.

In 1986 Roadways signage adorned the front of the race-winning Chickadee Commodore.

Ian and his wife Kara, married in 1959, had three sons Steven, James, and Samm and a daughter Jencie.

All three sons enjoyed racing karts with Ian and Roadways heavily supporting the Southern Tasmanian Kart Club.

Steven went on to race street cars, sports sedans, touring cars, British Formula 3 and AUSCAR.

Both James and Samm competed successfully in Formula Vee. 

Ian was a great supporter of the street car class in Tasmania and made a couple of appearances in one of his own Holden A9X Toranas in 1978 at Baskerville.

Ian supported many drivers through Roadways Racing including Garth Wigston, Bruce Hindaugh, Charlie O’Brien, Wayne Negus, Bruce Gowans, Daryl Wilcox, Steven Harrington, Alan Grice, Colin Bond, and James and Samm Harrington.

Ian was President of the Hobart Sporting Car Club in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982.

When the Baskerville property came up for sale in 1983, Ian along with Don Elliott, Ralph Bottomley and the HSCC formed a partnership to purchase the circuit - a move which protected the track from property developers. 

Ian fought very hard during his association with the track to try and secure a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship for Baskerville but, even as the owner of a professional touring car team, he found this to be a fruitless task.

Roadways has carried out general track maintenance at Baskerville since that first discussion back in 1973 and in 2016 the company completed the first total resurface of the track since it’s original construction in 1958.

Ian Harrington passed away in 1997, but the Tasmanian motor racing community will for ever be indebted for his hard work and dedication to the sport

Written by Andrew Lamont