In 1977 a new star suddenly burst onto the road racing scene in NSW. His name was John Macdonald and none of us had ever heard of him. He set the “C” Grade scene alight, riding and immaculate red TZ350 with the number 86 on it. A quick bit of research disclosed that he came from Wollongong and was the son of “Mac” Macdonald the manager of the workshop at Kevin Cass’s motorcycle dealership.
John plowed through “C” Grade and then “B” Grade and was upgraded to “A” Grade in a record time for the era and, like some how seem to follow this career path, it seemed he could do no wrong. Tall, well over six foot high, and skinny, he seemed to have several physical limitations when it came to wrapping himself around a little TZ, but it didn’t seem to matter, he was a star.
For several seasons he dominated the scene, though life got a bit tougher once he had the magic “A” next to his name. All the same, we got used to him winning. And he hardly ever crashed, either. Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he announced his retirement with the world seemingly at his feet and vanished into the blue, at least as far as road racing was concerned. There is no doubt that financial constraints played a part in his decision, even then it was getting very hard to get the good rides without corporate sponsorship.
And so, John became one of those riders who would have if he could have and the sport moved on.
When I came back to Wollongong to live in early 2004 I reestablished contact with many of the Wollongong “identities”. Ron Sumskis was running a Hyosung dealership in Fairymeadow, Kevin Cass had retired. Alan Simpson was battling a degenerative disease that was soon to claim his life and the universally loved Johnny Zammit had passed away a few years before in a motorcycle accident. And there, in the midst of all this, riding road racing for Brooke Henry’s VeeTwo outfit out of WA, was Johnny Macdonald. Like he had never been away, John was manhandling the Ducati around with the same verve and enthusiasm as he had shown 20 years before. He was paying the bills running an accountancy business and road racing like he was a kid with a new toy. He was very miffed when he was upgraded to “B” grade again but it didn’t seem to slow him down one bit. The VeeTwo bus was a fixture at meetings where the BEARS competed and Johnny was in the thick of it.
Not long after I came back to the ‘Gong, John took me out to lunch. And it was while we were chatting that he told me of his latest project. As a partner with one of the big companies in Port Kembla, John was working on a deal to set up manufacturing and importing of Zincalume products into Thailand where they would be used to help build low-cost housing for the poorer people of that country. It seemed like an intriguing project and John was hoping to combine this venture with involvement in the rapidly expanding road racing scene in that country. John even brought a couple of local riders over here to race and gave them some guest rides on the Ducatis.
How did it work out? I do not know. John raced for a coupe of seasons and then, true to form, he abruptly retired and disappeared yet again. The last I heard was that he was actually living and working in South East Asia somewhere so maybe the project was a huge success after all.
Wherever he is I wish him well. He was a gregarious and fun person to be around and he electrified the road racing scene in both chapters of his road racing career. If someone can add more info, then please contact me, I’d love to be able to put a bit more flesh on the bones.