Jessica Dane has sold her stake in Triple Eight Race Engineering, ending her family’s involvement in the title-leading Supercars team founded by her father, Roland Dane, in 2003.
Earl Evans, CEO of wealth management firm Shaw and Partners, and Steve Blackmore, CEO of Southern Cross Truck Rentals, has bought Dane’s 30 per cent share.
Both businesses are former Erebus major sponsors but pulled their backing during the off-season over the team’s handling of the Brodie Kostecki contract crisis.
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Both men will join the company’s board, with Dane stepping down effective immediately.
Dane’s decision follows her taking up the role of General Motors motorsport integration manager in the United States, having moved stateside with NASCAR-bound partner Shane van Gisbergen at the end of last year.
“This has certainly been one of the most difficult decisions of my life,” Dane said.
“I’m incredibly proud of what Triple Eight has achieved over the years and honoured to have been able to play a small part along the way.
“However, I know it’s the right decision. While I’ve lived in the US, I’ve hated that I can only give a fraction of my time, energy and capacity to a team that means so very much to me.
“Additionally, I need to be able to give my all to settling into life in the US, and every obligation I have in Australia detracts from that, which I don’t feel is fair for Triple Eight.
“I am delighted that two such passionate people in Earl and Steve are joining Triple Eight. While their business experience is undoubtedly an asset for the board of directors, I felt very strongly that the team deserves people who care about the success and longevity of motorsport as a whole.
“I am very grateful to them for this opportunity to hand 30 per cent of Triple Eight over to people who I know in my gut want the best for the sport as well as every single member of the team, present and past, who has contributed to some of my very best life memories.”
Jessica Dane’s divestment ends an almost 16-year personal association with Triple Eight dating back to a work experience stint as a subassembly mechanic in 2008.
She rejoined the team in 2012 as media manager after three years of study in the UK and later rose to the rank of team co-ordinator and communications manager and eventually co-owner, taking a stake in the business in 2015 that increased to 30 per cent following the company’s major restructure in 2021.
Managing director Jamie Whincup paid credit to Dane’s legacy at the team.
“We can’t ignore Jess’s enormous contribution to the team over her incredible tenure,” he said. “She has been an invaluable member of the Triple Eight family since day dot working in all facets of the business.
“We understand Jess’s commitment to her career aspirations in the US, and we know she will always remain connected to the foundations her father RD [Roland Dane] built.”
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The sale means no member of the Dane family will have a stake in the team for the first time in its 21-year history, with Roland Dane having sold his remaining shares to Whincup at the end of 2021 as part of his succession plan.
The company founder will stay on as non-executive chairman.
Tony Quinn remains the team’s largest shareholder, having acquired a 40 per cent stake in 2021. Whincup owns the remaining 30 per cent of the business.
Evans and Blackmore join Triple Eight fresh off three-years associations with Erebus, with both severing ties with the reigning teams champion earlier this year following news that Kostecki would sit out an indefinite number of races for reasons that at the time were hotly contested and that have remained publicly undisclosed.
Blackmore blasted the “disingenuous” attempts at media management by both Erebus and Supercars as the reason behind him pulling his brand from the team.
“It leaves a bad taste in your mouth, because at the end of the day we’re trying to make commercial decisions, and it makes us look really bad … like we’re jumping ship at the first sign of troubled waters. And that’s not the case,” he told Speedcafe in February.
“People are making commercial decisions because we’re fully aware that there’s a lot more to the story, and if things do come out, they are potentially damaging to other people’s brands.”
Kostecki and Will Brown, who likewise left Erebus to join Triple Eight this year, have counted both brands as sponsors during their forays into the United States racing scene in the last 12 months.
Brown’s June NASCAR Cup Series debut featured both Shaw and Partners and Southern Cross Truck Rentals on his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry.
Nine has reported that Dane, Evans and Blackmore struck the deal to exchange shares on the sidelines of that race at Sonoma Raceway in California.
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Blackmore said driver sponsorship had “fuelled [his] desire to purchase an equity stake in a team”.
“I had been looking for an opportunity to transition from sponsor to investor in the sport, and the opportunity at Triple Eight was both a perfect opportunity and fit,” he said.
“Triple Eight is without peer in the sport, in my opinion, and it has a proven track record of delivering results that are consistently the best in motorsports in Australia.
“The opportunity to invest is achievable as the company is self-sufficient with its existing structure, processes and systems and I’ll be able to enjoy participating as a part owner whilst the business not being dependent on me to operate.”
Evans added that his and Blackmore’s positions would be to bolster the current company hierarchy rather than shake things up.
“Our job will be to sit on the board, and my role will be to support the current structure that’s been wildly successful in whatever way I can, whether that be in the commercial space, my business experience or other ways,” he said.
“Essentially, I will be there to support Jamie and the team to continue with its success — that’s my vision.
“I’ve been in business for 35 years and have a lot of contacts, so hopefully I can break open my rolodex to help the team whoever might be needed.
“5000 per cent you will see my face at plenty of Supercars races into the future. I’m so excited to get stuck into it.”
Triple Eight, which has raced with Red Bull sponsorship since 2013, has won 10 drivers championships and 11 teams titles in the Supercars, including seven and eight respectively during Dane’s time working with the team.
Van Gisbergen was the team’s last drivers champion, winning his third title in 2022.
The Banyo factory has conquered the Bathurst 1000 a total of 10 times, most recently last year with Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway behind the wheel.
Triple Eight sits atop the 2024 teams standings with a championship margin of 851 points over Walkinshaw Andretti United.
Will Brown and Broc Feeney are locking out the top two places in the drivers standings, with 78 points between them and a further 96 points to Chaz Mostert in third.
The Supercars season continues with the Sydney SuperNight on 19–21 July, at which both Evans and Blackmore will make their first appearances as co-owners.
Source Agencies
