MOTORSPORT: Racing legend battling dementia
Facing diminishing health, Allan Moffat’s future looks to be subject to the outcome of court proceedingsMotorsport legend Allan Moffat is living in respite care in Melbourne as he battles Alzheimers Disease.
Three years after being diagnosed with the early stages of dementia, Moffat’s situation has become public thanks to a legal battle over his legacy.
Moffat is being supported by a group of former race rivals and team mates led by Larry Perkins and Fred Gibson, as well as his elder son Andrew and his long-term helper, Phil Grant.
“He is in the biggest race of his life,” said Perkins.
Moffat is still making regular public appearances and visiting Romeo's, his favourite lunch restaurant in Toorak Village, but is no longer living with Andrew at his home.
His future is likely to be decided by a judge, who will rule on legal proceedings between his estranged partner Susan McCure and Perkins, who is acting as Moffat’s legal administrator.
In official documents from the Supreme Court in Melbourne, Perkins has asked that a will is made which “reflects the intentions of Allan George Moffat would be likely to be, or what his intentions might reasonably be expected to be, if he had testamentary capacity”.
The request reflects Moffat’s diminished mental capacity and his stronger reliance on his support group, which has become more obvious over the past year, particularly when he is out in public.
Moffat is now 79 and many of his toughest race rivals, including Peter Brock, Bob Jane and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan have died.
He won four times at Bathurst and also took four touring car championships, as well as national titles in sports cars and sports sedans, and was Ford’s frontline fighter until Dick Johnson hit the big time.
Ironically, after dabbling with Mazda and turning its RX-7 into a touring car contender, Moffat answered a call from Brock and became his Holden Commodore co-driver.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the arrival of his most famous racecar, the Coca-Cola TransAm Ford Mustang, a car which has just been recreated in a homage by Tickford using the current showroom version of the Mustang.
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