Starting at the top
Jeff Grech (pronounced ‘greck’) was born with oil in his veins. His father, who raced dirt bikes in the 1950s, had a mechanical engineering workshop and service station next to the family home in Melbourne’s Avondale Heights, and young Jeff spent every waking moment there tinkering with cars and bikes.
He followed his dad into motorcycle racing, and at age 15 won the 1974 Victorian 80cc scrambles title. But knew he was never going to be a champion. “I wasn’t the born motocross rider,” he confesses.
Jeff also wanted to be a mechanic, but his dad had higher ambitions for his eldest son and sent him off to do architectural drafting, which he hated. So he surreptitiously gained an apprenticeship with Melford Motors (whose training centre in North Melbourne became the base for HDT Special Vehicles, where Jeff later worked). His mum signed his papers, but they were sprung one day and Jeff had to come clean. His dad tore strips off him, but eventually got over it and was proud his son had chosen his profession.
Colin Russell, one of the legendary mechanics at Lot 6, Ford’s factory race team, was one of Jeff’s teachers at trade
school. Russell also worked for drag racer Larry Ormsby and, knowing Jeff loved racing, asked him to help out and go to events. Jeff ended up running Ormsby’s Top Fuel car and went with him to the US.
Returning to Australia, Grech responded to a job advertisement and found himself working for the great Peter Brock at HDT Special Vehicles building road-going Brock Commodores. Then one day Larry Perkins asked the youngster to join the race team – initially after hours alongside Marty Watt, Neil ‘Part’ Burns, Graeme ‘Mort’ Browne and Andy Bartley. Grech was given the nickname ‘Hog’ because he rode a Harley to work.
After a year helping out after hours and attending race meetings – his rst Bathurst in 1983 resulted in victory – Jeff joined the permanent crew.
“I just loved being there full-time, getting paid. It was lengthy hours, but I just loved being at work and loved being at the race team.”