Wayne Gardner

Wayne Gardner is an Australian former professional motorcycle and touring car racer, born in Wollongong, New South Wales, and nicknamed The Wollongong Whiz. He began racing in 1977 aged 18 on a second-hand Yamaha TZ250, earned a ride with Honda after strong results on Moriwaki Kawasakis in Britain, and competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1986 to 1992, mostly for the Honda factory team. In 1987 he became the first Australian to win the 500 cc World Championship, winning seven of sixteen races, which sharply raised the popularity of Grand Prix racing in Australia. He raced touring cars from 1993 to 2002, and his sons Remy and Luca are also motorcycle racers.