Jason Bargwanna

Jason Bargwanna (born 26 April, 1972 in Sydney) is an Australian racing driver.

Bargwanna, nicknamed 'Bargs', started his career back in the late 1980s, initially racing in Formula Vee. He made his Bathurst 1000 début while still a teenager in 1990 however a lack of funding limited his early career progress to sporadic forays for the next few seasons and he pursued a career in the financial sector.

His open wheel career finally started to move forward in 1995, racing in the Australian Formula Ford Championship making a splash in his seven year old Reynard racing against younger drivers with the latest cars from Van Diemen and Swift and against drivers like Jason Bright and Mark Webber. His 1995 showing allowed him to attract the budget to run a campaign with late model equipment in 1996 only to lose the series to Van Diemen's factory supported driver, David Besnard.

A move to Formula Holden in 1997 beckoned however and he ran to runner up spot in the series with SH Racing, again behind Jason Bright. He represented Australia in the 1995 and 1996 EFDA Nations Cup. A member of the Holden "Young Lions" programme in 1997 he surprised all by taking provisional pole in the #97 Commodore at the Bathurst 1000 Classic only to damage the car beyond repair in a race day warm up accident. His career further advanced in 1998 with a move full time to Garry Rogers Motorsport, where he stayed for five years.

Bargwanna is best known for winning the 2000 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander for Garry Rogers Motorsport.

He has raced V8 Supercars with the Holden Young Lions Team (1997), Garry Rogers Motorsport (1998 to 2002). In 2003, he switched to Ford and joined Mark Larkham and his team, Orrcon Racing (2003-2005). In 2006, Orrcon Racing merged with WPS Racing and immediately prior to the 2008 season the team folded leaving Bargwanna without a drive. In the 2008 endurance races the Phillip Island 500 and the Bathurst 1000 he will be driving a Holden Commodore for Rod Nash Racing alongside Tony D'Alberto.

Bargwanna is married with two children and lives in Victoria. His father, Harry Bargwanna, himself an Australian champion racing driver, owns and operates a mechanical repair shop in the Southern Sydney suburb of Engadine. Bargwanna attended Heathcote High School.

Incidents

In 2002's Phllip Island round, he crashed heavily in a tyre bundle, rolling the car and the force of the crash was enough to rip off the front and rear axles. He blamed Greg Murphy for forcing him to go off and losing control of his car. Both Bargwanna and Murphy had to be physically restrained so they wouldn't have more of a fight.

Also at the 2006 Winton round, he was tapped in the rear four times by Fujitsu Racing's Warren Luff and was again tapped by Luff and was forced to touch Russell Ingall's car, making Bargwanna's car to go off the track. After the race was finished, Bargwanna stormed to Luff and started a punch up between him and Luff. Both were fined $5000 AUD for the incident.

Career results

External links

* [http://www.orrconracing.com.au/di_bargwanna.asp Barwanna page on Orrcon Racing official site]