The Tasmanian Motorsport Hall of Fame was established in 1989.

The idea was originally conceived by former Carrick Speedway promoter Winston Badcock. Winston was also somewhat of an entrepreneur and some of his promotions at the speedway were legendary. In 1989 he had the idea of staging a motoring and motorsport expo at the Launceston Silverdome, which was called the Tasmanian Autosports Expo. While the event was primarily a commercial venture for Winston, he also wanted to acknowledge the achievements of Tasmanians in various forms of motorsport. At the time, the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame had been going for some time and regularly inducted 10-15 Tasmanian sportsmen and women on an annual basis. But despite Tasmania’s proud history of achievement in motorsport, not one single motorsport identity had been inducted. So, Winston struck on the idea of forming a hall of fame, specifically for motorsport. Winston also wanted it to appear totally independent and not favouring people with whom he had been associated with through his various motorsport interests. So, he invited officials from various forms of motorsports, journalists and commentators to form a totally independent board of directors, tasked with the duty of selecting inductees.

The first inductee was speedway sprintcar legend Les Redpath, an 11-times State champion (in various divisions) and a well-known and respected competitor on the national scene. Les has since been joined by many other legends of Tasmanian motorsport. Winston had negotiated to have the display of inductees housed at the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania in Launceston, which seemed a logical venue. Later, a representative of the museum board was invited to join the Motorsport Hall of Fame board as a director, a practice which continues today, as the Hall of Fame is still housed at the museum, decades after its establishment. Winston continued as chairman for several more years and the inductions were made at the Expo, until he unexpectedly departed the State. The remaining directors met and decided the Hall of Fame concept was too good to let die with Winston’s departure and elected Mr G B (Paddy) Baker as its new chairman. Paddy was at the time the State manager for the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and was one of the original directors invited to join in 1989. He remained chairman of the board until his passing. With Paddy’s passing another original board member, commentator and multiple Targa Tasmania winner Barry Oliver, was elected chairman and had remained in the position ever since.

With the demise of Autosports Expo, the inductions ceased to be public affairs for several years, simply announced through a media release and subsequent publicity. Then with the advent of the annual Tasmanian Motorsports Awards dinner, the Hall of Fame was invited to announce its inductees at the dinner, which continued for a number of years until the inductions became a stand-alone event in 2021. Over the years nominations were sought from various motorsports bodies, plus the input and knowledge of Hall of Fame directors. As the prestige of induction is reserved to one or two recipients each year, the board now has a comprehensive list of nominations held over from previous years. However, public nominations are still called for from time to time and forms are available at the museum to obtain criteria and guidelines for anyone wishing to make a nomination. While the list of inductees only scratches the surface of the magnificent achievements of some of Tasmania’s great motorsport exponents, it also provides a snapshot of the wealth of talent which has graced the world of motorsport from our tiny island. In researching some of the profiles of inductees, directors have been amazed to learn just what some of them had achieved and often at a time when Tasmania was much more isolated from the rest of Australia and the world than we claim it to be today. We trust you will be equally enthralled and impressed by the achievements of the people on these pages..