curated by GRRL! updated: January 28, 2026

Bio Excerpt: Betty Ann Klimenko rewrote the rulebook when she became the first female team owner to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2017, delivering a knockout punch to motorsport’s boys’ club with purple hair and zero tolerance for being underestimated. The Australian businesswoman founded Erebus Motorsport in 2011,... (full bio below ↓↓)

Betty Klimenko

Touring racer

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Betty's Socials:

Starting a team and setting up everything was not easy or cheap but we did it in record time

I wouldn’t change it to fund a supercar team; it takes sponsors and it’s hard to find them

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1959 (≈67)

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Touring racing

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Pro

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LATEST Betty NEWS:

(1) news stories

DEB MYERS Hits 10.67 Quarter Mile as Women Break Barriers in Motorsport

August 15, 2025

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YouTube VIDS about Betty:

Episode ONE – Inside Line: A Season with Erebus Motorsport [FULL EPISODE] | Supercars 2020 | Betty Klimenko

May 14, 2020 / views: 51342 / run: 00:43:42

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Betty's full bio:

(last updated 2026-01-26

Betty Klimenko is the Australian businesswoman who became the first female team owner to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2017, smashing through one of motorsport’s most stubborn glass ceilings with her Erebus Motorsport squad—and she did it with purple hair, tattoos, and zero apologies.

EARLY YEARS

Born in 1959, Betty Ann Klimenko’s story begins with the kind of odds that would make most people quit before they started. She was an orphan, adopted by John Saunders, the late co-founder of the Westfield shopping empire alongside Frank Lowy. But being adopted into wealth didn’t mean smooth sailing—far from it. Klimenko has opened up about the untold pain of her early years, revealing a complicated relationship with her adoptive father that only reconciled after she gave birth to her son. Following Saunders’ death in 1997, she received a share of his fortune, which included five family-owned properties and a foundation for her eventual leap into motorsport.

At 19, she met her husband Daniel Klimenko in a pub in The Rocks during what she’s called “the good old heydays of smoking and drinking.” They married young, and while the relationship between Betty and her adoptive father was strained for years, becoming a mother changed everything. That reconciliation would prove pivotal—not just personally, but for the trajectory of her entire career.

OTHER INTERESTS

Despite owning one of Australia’s most successful V8 Supercar teams, Klimenko’s favourite car isn’t one of her high-octane racing machines—it’s a sporty 1959 red Chevrolet Corvette. The little red Corvette is pure nostalgia and style, a reminder that for all her business acumen and competitive fire, she’s a gearhead at heart.

Beyond the track, Klimenko is deeply involved in philanthropy. She’s an ambassador for the Blue Datto Foundation and the bereavement charity for children, Feel the Magic. She’s also a global ambassador for the Australian arm of Dare to be Different, an initiative promoting women in motorsport led by former Williams Formula 1 test driver Susie Wolff. In 2022, she was named ambassador for Auto Skills Australia’s “Women in Auto Trades” campaign, aimed at addressing the shortage of women in automotive trades. Her commitment to breaking down barriers extends well beyond her own racing empire.

EARLY SUCCESS

Klimenko’s involvement in Australian motorsport began in 1998, initially dipping her toes into Formula 3 racing. But it was her bold 2011 entry into GT racing that put her on the map. Erebus Motorsport was born under her guidance, with the team quickly making a name for itself both domestically and internationally. In 2013, she won the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with a Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3, a victory that announced her arrival in a big way.

That same year, Erebus took the leap into the Supercars Championship, purchasing Stone Brothers Racing and joining the series with Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG machinery. It was a gutsy move—Klimenko became the first female team owner in both the Australian GT Championship and Supercars. The early Supercars years were rocky, with the team eventually switching from Mercedes to Holden Commodores, but Klimenko never wavered. She was in it for the long haul, and her persistence would pay off spectacularly.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

2011: Founded Erebus Motorsport, entering GT racing.
2013: Won the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour with a Mercedes-Benz SLS GT3.
2013: Became the first female team owner in Supercars, entering the championship with Erebus Motorsport.
2017: Made history as the first female team owner to win the Bathurst 1000 when Erebus drivers David Reynolds and Luke Youlden took the checkered flag.
2022: Awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her contributions to motorsport and women in racing.
2023: Erebus Motorsport captured both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships, with Brodie Kostecki claiming the Drivers’ title.
2024: Secured a second Bathurst 1000 victory as team owner, with Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood winning the race.

INSPIRATIONS

Klimenko’s drive comes from a place of defiance and determination. As someone who faced rejection and hardship early in life, she’s been fueled by the desire to prove people wrong and carve out her own identity. Her story has been told multiple times—on 60 Minutes in 2013, in various documentary series about Erebus Motorsport, and in countless interviews—but the core message remains the same: follow your dreams against all odds. Her love for speed and racing is obvious, infectious even, and it’s that passion that has inspired a new generation of women to enter motorsport and automotive trades.

REPUTATION

Klimenko is a self-described non-conformist, and it shows. She swears, she smokes, she has a lot of tattoos, and she rocks purple hair without a second thought. Jane Cadzow of The Age once described her as “outspoken and unconventional,” which is putting it mildly. With her penchant for all-black clothing and an aesthetic that defies every stereotype of a team owner in the buttoned-up world of motorsport, she’s made herself impossible to ignore.

But beyond the colourful exterior, Klimenko is respected for her business savvy, her loyalty to her team, and her unwavering commitment to seeing Erebus succeed. After years of being seen as underdogs—”squashed bugs,” as she once put it—her team rose to become Supercars champions in 2023. The emotional weight of that achievement was palpable, and Klimenko didn’t hide her tears. She’s the kind of owner who runs to the trackside fence with her heart racing, who zip-ties trophies to cars for fun, and who isn’t afraid to speak her mind when things aren’t right. In 2024, she made headlines again with a controversial stunt involving the Peter Brock Trophy after her drivers left for Dick Johnson Racing, proving once more that she plays by her own rules.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

Ahead of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship season, Erebus Motorsport confirmed a series of leadership appointments, reflecting Klimenko’s focus on building a sustainable, values-driven team for the future. The appointments signal her commitment to having the right people in place to support the team’s continued success. With documentary series like “Inside Erebus” continuing to showcase the highs, the chaos, and the behind-the-scenes drama of the team, Klimenko shows no signs of slowing down. She remains a vocal advocate for women in motorsport and continues to push for greater representation and opportunity across the industry.