Career
While most well known as a journalist, specifically as a motoring writer, McKay was also a prominent figure in motor racing as both a driver and a race team owner. That team, Scuderia Veloce, was the first Australian-based professional racing team, and in addition to furthering McKay"s own racing career also furthered the careers of many young racing drivers including Spencer Martin, Brian Muir and Greg Cusack amongst others McKay drove a Cooper T51-Climax FPF in the Grand Prix.
McKay was also responsible for the first ever factory backed Holden team in 1968 when he formed the Holden Dealer Racing Team.
The team ran 3 brand new Holden Monaro GTS 327"s in the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Mount Panorama, Bathurst. Jim Palmer and Philosophy West finished 2nd outright behind the winning Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland.
McKay also organised a separate team of Holden Monaros to contest the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon. The cars were prepared by Holden, entered under the "Sydney Telegraph" name, and sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, a Sydney newspaper for which McKay was a motoring writer
McKay failed to finish, Ferguson finished 12th while Whiteford finished 14th.
McKay"s career as a writer began in 1949 and he worked for the Sir Frank Packer owned newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph from 1956 to 1975, first as a writer and later as the motoring editors lieutenant was while working for Packer that McKay convinced him to co-sponsor the London-Sydney Marathon, as well as the Monaros McKay would run in the race. McKay died of cancer on 26 December 2004.
He was 83.
