FORTY-SIX years ago, Megan Foster was sitting on the couch, intently watching as an errant rock brought Dick Johnson unstuck in the 1980 Bathurst 1000.
Foster’s father was a fan of Johnson and Allan Moffat. Based out of Wellington, 150km northwest of Mount Panorama, the family often would make the trek down to be trackside for the Great Race – but not this particular year.
“Dad has been taking me to Bathurst since I was about five,” Foster told V8 Sleuth.
“If you didn’t go down, you’d be watching it on TV for the whole day. As a farmer, that would be the only day Dad stayed inside.”
Fast forward to now, and Foster today started as Dick Johnson Racing’s new CEO.
Besides being a lifelong fan, Foster has extensive experience in the commercial, corporate and leadership spheres.
She has for some time been connected to the Supercars industry through stints as executive general manager at Viva Energy Australia (which sponsors DJR via Shell V-Power) and then Bapcor (which sponsors Tickford via Autobarn).
Now, she’s in the hot seat at Supercars’ most historic team.
“My sort of strength is I build high-performance teams and I do turnarounds,” Foster explained.
“I’m not here to drive the cars, I’m not here to engineer them.
“My job is to really support Mark (Fenning, team principal) and the boys in what they need and work with the shareholders around what their deliverables are. So obviously we have the four shareholders: the Ralph brothers, Dick, and Ryan (Story).
Pic: Matthew Paul Photography
“I’m competitive. I love to win. I love the feeling.
“But it’s not just about the win: I’m all about the ‘how’. The ‘what’ is the winning, but it’s also about the ‘how’ – how we get there.”
Foster is clear that she doesn’t underestimate the responsibility of leading DJR.
“It’s a bit overwhelming, the legacy,” she said.
“There’s no legacy in pitlane like DJR, and the fact that Dick still turns up with Jillie, Kelly is out in the merch stand, it’s very family-based. So that’s really special.
“For me, coming from working for big corporates, to come into something that has meaning and the fans love, it’s quite purposeful.”
DJR will hit the track tomorrow at Queensland Raceway for a shakedown of Brodie Kostecki’s brand-new #17 Shell V-Power Mustang.
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