Harrop receives special Performance Automotive Industry honour
Former racer and longtime engineer Ron Harrop has been honoured with the 2024 Performance Automotive Industry “Australian of the Year” award.
Harrop has been a big player in the motor racing industry for more than six decades and this award recognises his services to the sport and industry.
He joins John Crennan (2018), Rob Herrod (2019), Paul Gover (2020), Kees Weel (2022) and Larry Perkins (2023) on the honours board.
Harrop started his motorsport journey in 1968 when he worked with greats such as Norm Beechey and Bob Jane as he joined his father’s Harrop Engineering business where he did lots of machining and fabrication work.
Soon he was racing himself after success in Calder Park drag racing driving a FJ fondly known as “Harrop’s Howler”.
By the 1970s Harrop joined forces with Harry Firth and the Holden Dealer Team and in addition to technical support, even got some Great Race drives himself.
Harrop teamed up with Charlie O’Brien in 1977 and finished a strong fifth.
Ron Harrop’s Performance Automotive Industry “Australian of the Year” award.
Driving the 1978 Bathurst winning Torana A9X a year later with John Harvey, Harrop suffered a scary brake failure at Griffins Bend, which sent the #26 flying over the barrier before coming to rest only after hitting a power pole.
Unfortunately this started a run of DNFs in his final four attempts at the Great Race in an era where it was extremely difficult just to finish all 1000km.
During this period Harrop was also a big name in Sports Sedans racing his own EH Holden that he built himself.
Two years after his last attempt at Bathurst, Harrop competed in his final race in 1986 to focus on engineering.
Seven years later Harrop returned to Bathurst with Holden’s flagship team.
In 1993 he joined the Holden Racing Team to provide some technical assistance after being approached by Tomas Mezera.
The following season Harrop became a bigger part of the team, helping HRT rise into a championship-dominating powerhouse across the next five years.
By the time he left in 1999, HRT had won three of the last four championships.
Over the years Harrop Engineering had cemented relationships and supplier status with Holden and Ford, their subsidiaries HSV and FPV plus Toyota and Lotus.
It had become a go to for many in the motorsport industry, even fulfilling last minute jobs for McLaren during the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Harrop eventually sold the business in 2008 and left in 2013.
Image: Auto Action archives
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