Doohan his thing
A champion motorcyclist’s son also has a driving ambition, but in involves four wheels, not two
A FIVE-year-old Jack Doohan was tearing around on a PeeWee 50 when, just like his famous dad Mick, a crash left him with a badly broken leg.
Even though at one point Mick faced the prospect of having his leg amputated after crashing in the 1992 Dutch Tourist Trophy, and had to hang up his helmet entirely after breaking the leg again during a qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix in 1999, it’s clear that it was his son’s injury that hurt Mick more.
“The bone almost penetrated the skin,” he says.
“There were a few kids running around on the dirt bikes and two of them came together and hit Jack.
“For a little boy, especially a five-year-old, I’m surprised that didn’t make him gun shy.”
So while racing around on a motorbike was swiftly ruled out of the question for young Jack, there was nothing that could put him off the thrill of the chase and now he is chasing his dream on four wheels. The target? Formula One. Speaking from their apartment in Monaco, the 14-year-old says it was slow and steady at first, but now it is a sprint to the finish line.
Father and son, who are coming home to the Gold Coast to catch up with family and friends next month, have committed to spending at least a second year in Europe so Jack can concentrate on his opportunity with Red Bull, the same place where Australia’s Formula One success story Daniel Ricciardo started.
“When I was young I was really into my rugby but then as I raced more they couldn’t rely on me to be on the team,” Jack says. “At first I was on my BMX pushbike but then I had a mate who was into go karts so I thought I’d give it a try and I just got more and more competitive.
“I never saw my dad race. I wasn’t even born until four years after he retired. I don’t really know where all of this has come from because to me he’s always just been my dad.”
For those who suspect any child of Mick Doohan, the winner of five consecutive 500cc World Championships, must have been brought up watching reruns of his dad’s greatest races, the record is quickly corrected.
Although Jack’s obviously aware and proud of his dad’s achievements, they were not exactly the topic of dinner table conversation.
“It bored the hell out of him,” Mick says.
“To him I’m just his dad and I’m happy to be just his dad. “We don’t have a lot of memorabilia just lying around the house. I have a small room, I guess you could say a museum, but you have to go in there to be surrounded by it – it certainly wasn’t in the kids’ faces.”
He may not have witnessed Mick during his heyday but it seems Jack nevertheless has fuel running through his veins.
After Jack won three consecutive Australian Kart Championship titles, Mick and his wife Selina, with the support of big sister Allexis, 18, decided in January that it was time to go up a gear and move to Europe.
It’s been a big adjustment for Jack who lived a fairly low-key life on the Glitter Strip despite his father’s profile.
The former The Southport School and Aquinas College student went from having a surfboard under his arm to hanging out in the south of France, albeit in little-known rural areas where karting events are held.
But cruising under the radar is par of the course for Jack who never blinked an eye at the parade of A-listers who his dad named as his inner circle.
Not even when then Hollywood power couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard took up residence in his dad’s Coomera mansion during filming for Pirates of the Caribbean did Jack ever brag to his school mates.
“Well I’m home schooled now,” Jack says.
“It was cool but you also don’t want to go to school sounding like an idiot saying, ‘I know this guy and this guy’.”
It turns out head space could be even more important than genetics when it comes to the making of a successful motorsport man. While Jack hits the gym regularly, it’s the mental game that he considers crucial.
“Dad works with me on how to be calm and show no emotion on the track,” he says.
“He says a lot of his success came down to being prepared mentally so he’s trying to teach me how to think.”
Jack may be a calm competitor but the same can’t be said for Mick, who has to keep it together on the sidelines.
“Look, I try to play it cool but I’m his father so I get nervous of course,” Mick says.
“He certainly knows how to drive. He knows what he’s doing out there.
“But like in any motorsport incidents can happen. I try to let him deal with it as best as I can and if I see something crop up I try to gently say something to him afterwards about how to avoid it in future.”
That future is about to rev up considerably thanks to Jack’s newly inked Formula Four contract with Red Bull.
He got the good news just before he competed in the Commision Internationale de Karting World Junior Championships near Nottingham in England last month.
Jack had qualified fourth overall for the event and was considered a good chance of winning but crossed the line in sixth spot.
Despite his disappointment at what was still a stellar result, Jack is focused full throttle on what’s ahead.
“To be part of the Red Bull Junior Team is an amazing opportunity and I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of a Formula Four car,” he says.
“The dream for nearly every young kart racer out there is to make it to Formula One. I’d really love to make a career in motorsport and for me this is the next step in this process.
“I will be training hard and focusing on doing the best job I can possibly do next year with the Arden team as I make the next step in my career in Britain.”
By the time Mick was 23 he’d won the Superbike World Championship and the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. If Jack is to follow in his dad’s hot laps, it’s time to put his foot down.
I never saw my dad race. I wasn’t even born until four years after he retired. I don’t really know where all of this has come from because to me he’s always just been my dad