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Croz’s Toughest Rival

Submitted by on August 21, 200916 Comments

Graeme Crosby encountered a number of hell men when he first ventured to Australia in the mid-’70s, namely Jim Budd, Roger Heyes and later Rob Phillis, the late Roy Denison and Dennis Neill.

But Croz reckons one rider trumps them all in the tough guy stakes.

“I would have to say Gary Thomas. He was a magnificent rider who proved himself against the best riders of the era. He was aggressive and talented, but luckily I was a year too late and he had faded away a bit from general competition. Anyone who saw him race the Kawasaki Z1300 at Bathurst in ’79 would agree that he could ride the wheels of anything. I do not recall racing against him on a similar mount, which is lucky for me because I certainly would have been scared. I heard so many stories of him on a [Kawasaki] H2 proddie bike with the ‘bars welded to the chassis to prevent the head lifting due to compression he was running! Whether that’s true or not, I don’t care, because the thought of it made me take notice. Thommo would take no shit and definitely no prisoners.”

Croz will be happy to hear that former fire-brand Thommo recently partook in the 40th anniversary of the Alpine Rally in Australia’s Snowy Mountains, riding to the famous winter event on a…scooter.

Darryl Flack

Photo captions:

Photo 1: Croz on the Captain Snack Yamaha TZ350 at a 2+4 meeting, Oran Park in 1978. In the final race on the last lap while going for the win, Croz highsided the bike big time at this very point in BP Corner live on ABC-TV.

Photo 2:  Croz dons the gloves before heading out for the epic 1979 Unlimited Grand Prix at Bathurst, where he duelled furiously with Ron Boulden’s Yamaha TZ750 and John Woodley’s Suzuki RG500.

Photo 3:  A very grainy twilight shot of Gary Thomas muscling the imposing six-cylinder Kawasaki KZ1300 through The Dipper in the 1979 Arai 500. Note the trail of sparks. According to Croz, “Thommo took no shit, and no prisoners.”

Read Feature stories from Darryl Flack here

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  • Jim Scaysbrook

    Yes, I agree with Croz, Gary Thomas was a real hard charger. More significantly, he was a true all-rounder – an A grade Trials rider Short Circuit rider and road racer and a handy motcrosser. He turned up at Amaroo Park (dir track) one day with a new Hagon Sand Track racer that he had bought in England and blew all the established stars away – I think it was the only time he rode the bike. Gary got the first TZ350 Yamaha and broke the outright lap record at Amaroo Park (tar circuit) and won the programme. And of course, he was gearless on the big production bikes. The shot from oran park is piognant for me – I owned the TZ350 (Snack) Yamaha that Croz stuffed into the wall. I loaned the bike to Tony Hatton while I was away at the Isle of Man, and Tony subsequently delegated (without permission) the seat to Croz for Oran Park.

  • retromotor

    Jim, what did you say to Tony when you found out that Croz had crashed your bike?

  • Jim Scaysbrook

    To Retromotor:

    It was a bit difficult as I was racing in the Isle of Man at the same time. Tony said he would fix the damage and by the time I got home the bike had been patched up, although the fuel tank was a write off. Still, I couldn’t really complain as I had an obligation to the sponsor (Snack, an Amatil brand) to run the bike in the major NSW events and Croz had at least done well before he crashed it. I broke my collarbone before I even had a chance to ride the bike and Warren Willing rode it at the NSW Championships at Amaroo Park and broke the lap record, so that was a good result too.

  • http://www.graemecrosby.com Graeme Crosby

    Jim –
    Bugger did I not say thanks for the experience of that TZ350. Belated as it might seem but I couldn’t see past the rev counter when it come to negotiating rides soooo without further ado Thanks very much Jim. It’s a pity you were not there to see me almost make it through the day without incident. I did however collect 86 cans of tooheys beer in the back of the oran park ute on my victory lap – Cheers Croz (hic!)

  • Dave sheldon

    This little bit of banter reminds me why croz will always be remembered as one of the greats. He was a man of the people who clearly loved to ride! More stories from croz please!

  • Brian Bennett

    The very first bike race I ever attended was Amaroo Park in (I think) 1977???? There was a great race long dice involving a couple of guys on 2 stroke Grand Prix bikes and Croz on a beast of a road bike that looked as though it had no right being out there. Croz won by half a wheel on the line, awesome stuff and I was hooked. Thanks Croz.

  • charles green ex bankstown honda

    well what can i say my greatest privelidge in life to have had Croz ride for us before he ventured to europe there r so many stories i could tell of croz that would have u all in stitches for years in the time croz rode for us it was a pleasure as he did not damage bikes i did seev a letter written by the late mike haillwood for croz to get a start at bol dor & in it he described croz as the best motor cycle rider her had seen well crozo my great friend the memories last for ever regards to u & helen crozo

  • Andrew Coffey

    I hung around Amaroo, Oran and Bathurst for a few years in my late teens, primarily through Willoughby District Motor Cycle Club. I got to be a flag marshall at Bathurst on the last hump on the old Conrod Straight before I was old enough to get my L’s, catching trains out to Bathurst with my mates and camping up on the Mountain, wagging school to ride travelling marshall bikes out to Amaroo at Castrol 6 Hour time and generally just having the best of times whilst working in a bike shop after leaving school. I got to see many of the famous names, Australian, Kiwi, British, American, Japanese and European – World Champions, Ex-Champions, all of the Legends – but I will always rate Graeme Crosby as the most talented and friggin awesome rider that I ever saw…. period. I loved watching him entertain the crowds – a wonderful method of warming up tyres going up Bitupave Hill at Amaroo, beautiful to watch coming down over Skyline and onto Conrod. I also enjoyed Jim Scaysbrook and (?)Craig Brown putting a couple of Kawasakis round Dunlop Loop sideways and that bloke with the Chevy 454 motorbike doing runs from the end of the straight up the Hill.

    The BBQs after racing were great, I felt I was in the company of Gods when in the pits, the hot dogs on toasted buns made by the ladies at the top shop were fantastic – a great period to grow up in.

    To Croz, you deserve eternal happiness for the pleasure you gave so many of us mere mortals…

    I’m 51 these days and

  • Andrew Coffey

    …seemingly unable to finish a post without buggering it up.

    Cheers!

  • Ross Hannan

    I agree with Graeme and all above. Not only was thomo a great rider but also a great guy and motor cycle clubman/official. Garry rode for my 6hr race team with Tony Hatton what they did with a greatly underpowered Honda was sensational even getting to 3rd outright at one time. In later years Gary has operated the speed lane camera for motoGP at Phillip Island. I sat with him one year when he booked a Italian rider who was much over the speed, the guy later abused him in Italian Gary smiled and said in good aussie talk “just doin my job mate” I have seen and worked with most of the great riders however my list of great is very small thomo is right there.
    Rosko

  • Brian Lawrence

    I commentated Croz’s first race meeting and have had the pleasure to share some truely memorable racing moments with him and the Australians that came to NZ. Would we do the Marlboro Series again – you betcha and in a heartbeat!!!! It beats me why we don’t have a similar series stil running, both countries have produced worldclassriders and Croz was up there with them all. If some drivers and riders had the personality of Croz, professional motor racing would be a better place. Croz, you still are one hell of a guy, thanks so much for the great memories. BL.

  • Karen

    Looking for Brian Bennett that I met in 1997. We met on a dating website and met once in Chelsea. He lived in the lansing area at the time. Hoping to re-connect.

  • Rex

    Does anyone know the whereabouts of Carmen Hannan? Haven’t seen her in around 35 years

  • Matt Noon

    I’ve got a similar history to Andrew Coffey above,but another yarn
    about Croz and Gary Thomas.I started in the industry working at the
    NSW Kawasaki distributor where Myles Stivano was sales mgr.Now Myles
    mightn’t have been everyone’s cup of tea,but I found him OK,anyway he did the commentary at Amaroo,Bathurst etc,everyone knows who
    Myles was,he always rated Thomo as one of the best pedallers,and he saw a few over the years.I didn’t appreciate him until Bathurst 1979,and THAT scrap on the 1300 with Tony Hatton who rode a Honda CB900F.This was the Unlimited “Production”race,but that Honda could
    overtake the 1300 going up Mountain straight,but Hatto was foxing
    until the last few laps.But that was the year that he also built 2 CB900′s for the Arai 500 with Honda RSC parts.Hmm. Later on,the talk
    in the paddock was of Thomo sliding the 1300 on the exhausts,sparks
    everywhere-great stuff.Not many know it,but there was a 1300 there
    for Croz if he wanted it,but he was concentrating on the KR750,his
    scrap with Ronny Boulden and John Woodley was later in the day,and
    has now gone into history.I know because I rode the 1300 up there,on
    Myles Stivano’s say so. Don’t worry about what Croz wrote about Myles in his book-he loved Croz. Indulge me a little longer,Croz and
    the Castrol 6 hour in ’79 when he rode the black Z1R,I was hanging
    around his crew,and during a lull in proceedings,I said to him-”You
    still got those old Belray leathers”in a derogatory way(I was a snot)meaning that Kawasaki didn”t stump up for new leathers.Well if
    looks could kill I’d be dead,sorry Croz.He rode the wheels off that
    Z1R for no result,his little japanese mate Kiyo crashed it trying to match Croz’s times-fat chance of that!

  • Mark Griffiths

    Hi great memories there , I was a fan of all you guys in the 70′s and 80′s went to nearly all the Bathurst bike races in that era , Croz was my hero back then and I got to meet him once in Orange many years later when he was bringing tours over for the Bathurst car races at a pub I worked at called the Hotel Canobolas ,great memories of Oran Park and Amaroo as well ,does anyone remember a guy who raced back then called Rocket Rod Reiner at all .

  • http://www.halfofmylife.com Phil Hall

    How well I remember Croz’s demolition of the Captain Snack bike. He arrived at Oran having never ridden a TZ before, frightened the daylights out of all the other riders during practice and qualifying and then, trying to pass Stu Avant on Dick Hunter’s RG500 ON THE OUTSIDE at BP corner, FOR THE LEAD in the Senior race, smashed it into the wall. I was photographing down in the gully inside BP at the time and was actually filming the race with a Super 8 movie camera (I still have the film). Croz got off the bike (the remains of it), hopped up on top of the wall and walked over to the fence where an enthusiastic spectator ran down and shoved a can of beer into his hand which he accepted. He then turned to me and said, “Did you get that?”