Supercars: Jamie Whincup pays tribute as last of the Dane family leaves Triple Eight racing team

Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup has described the “end of an era” with new ownership at the powerhouse Supercars squad officially ending the Dane family’s financial stake in the team.

Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup has described the “end of an era” with new ownership at the powerhouse Supercars squad officially ending the Dane family’s financial stake in the team.

The championship frontrunners confirmed a new ownership structure with businessmen Earl Evans and Steve Blackmore purchasing Jessica Dane’s share in the squad following her move to the United States.

Evans and Blackmore have acquired a combined 30 per cent stake in the business and have both joined the board of the championship-winning team.

Whincup retains his 30 per cent ownership in the team, while businessman Tony Quinn also holds onto his 40 per cent share.

Dane, the daughter of Triple Eight founder Roland Dane, had been a co-owner of the team since 2015 before her move stateside alongside her partner, former Supercars champion-turned NASCAR racer Shane van Gisbergen, at the end of 2023.

Triiple Eight founder Roland Dane and Shane van Gisbergen in 2020. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Dane has taken up a role as motorsports integration manager at General Motors in the US, making it hard for her to commit the time she wanted to the team back in Australia.

“Jess’ situation is that she moved to the US with SVG at the end of last year and has decided – a big decision for her – to sell her 30 per cent in the business her father founded back in the UK in 1996, but here in Australia in 2003,” Whincup said.

“She went out to market to find some good investors, ones that can work with me and help continue to grow the team and she found that in Earl Evans and Steve Blackmore.

“They’ve got a wealth of knowledge that will no doubt be able to help me continue to grow Triple Eight .... what I regard as Australia’s biggest race team.”

It’s the start of a new era at the Triple Eight racing team with Earl Evans, Jamie Whincup & Steve Blackmore making up the ownership group.

While there is no longer a Dane family financial involvement, Roland Dane will continue as the non-executive chairman of Triple Eight.

“On paper, it is the end of an era,” Whincup said.

“As much as RD has sold out (of the business), so to speak, he is still a constant visitor at the workshop and obviously at the race meetings as well.

“He is the founder, the Godfather, so he will always be a part of Triple Eight in some way, shape or form.

“But it is the end of an era because officially the Dane family does not own any share of Triple Eight Race Engineering.”

Evans is the chief executive of Shaw and Partners Financial Services and Blackmore is the CEO of Southern Cross Truck Rentals – both companies which had previously sponsored Supercars rivals Erebus until the start of this year.

Whincup detailed plans to expand the engineering capabilities of the Triple Eight business with the support of the new ownership.

“Everybody knows Triple Eight as the race team that goes Supercars racing and GT racing, but we’re much more than that,” Whincup said.

“We are an engineering company first and foremost with quite substantial manufacturing capability and we really want to expand that manufacturing branch of the business and these guys are going to be able to help us in that regard to expand the business to be able to future proof it for the long-term.”

Triple Eight teammates Broc Feeney and Will Brown. Picture Kerry Marshall/Getty Images)

Dane, who had previously held various roles at Triple Eight, said the call to sell her share in the team had been “one of the most difficult decisions of my life”.

“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,” Dane said.

“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.

“I am delighted that two such passionate people in Earl and Steve are joining Triple Eight.”

Both Evans and Blackmore said they had been seeking to invest in a Supercars team and deemed Triple Eight the perfect fit.

“I was looking for an equity stake in a Supercars team and a business of large scale and size that excelled outside of Supercars, in this case Triple Eight’s engineering and manufacturing entity,” Evans said.

“Obviously, the team’s success was an added attraction, and there’s certainly a challenge ahead to maintain that success, but at the end of the day it was a perfect fit for me.”

Blackmore added:

“In recent years I had been involved as a personal sponsor of athletes in the sport and teams through my numerous businesses, which fuelled my desire to purchase an equity stake in a team,” Blackmore said.

“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”

Originally published as Supercars: Jamie Whincup pays tribute as last of the Dane family leaves Triple Eight racing team