Sanjay Sharma, affectionately known as ‘Hardy’ is no more. He died on Feb 11, 2026 in the afternoon, following a complication post a heart surgery. He was 61. For many years, he was the Head-Corporate Communication & Motorsport at JK Tyre & Industries. Single handedly he took the company’s motor racing, rallying and go karting involvement to dizzy heights. He was a true motorsport champ in every sense. Sanjay’s role at JK Tyre for promoting motorsport in the country was extremely fruitful, effective and critical.
I have extremely fond memories of Sanjay. He was always smiling, always cracking some naughty jokes, and always pulling your leg. That was Sanjay Sharma. In fact, I got close to him when I started Motown India magazine in the year 2000. And as we all know, every magazine survives on corporate advertisements. I remember meeting up with him with my team for an advertisement from JK Tyre. He immediately signed up with Motown India and what followed was years of advertisement from JK Tyre. For that I am eternally grateful and indebted to him.
As our friendship grew, he genuinely grew fond of me. I remember he once asked me whether I was interested to be part of the ICOTY jury team that has JK Tyre as its primary sponsor. JK Tyre has been the presenting partner and primary sponsor of the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) and Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) awards since their inception. I said no to him. My friends thought I was mad. For an automobile journalist it’s a big thing to be part of ICOTY or IMOTY. They say when you are a jury member for ICOTY or IMOTY, your market value goes up and a lot of freebies come your way. At the 2026 ICOTY award ceremony, a jury member was seen holding a huge packet (obviously a gift) at a hotel lobby. I was told that another auto journalist who was not a jury member, felt betrayed for being left out of the gift list and literally sat on dharna in the hotel lobby for the same gift. Such is today’s world!
Hardy smiled when I refused his offer. He knew I was a crazy bloke who was not ready to compromise on my self-respect and my values.
My good friend RK Dhawan (Tutu) who is a car expert, a leading car restorer, a former motorsport rally champ told me about his long and fruitful relationship with Hardy.
At the end of the day Hardy was like a son to me. He came chasing me in the 1980s, as a fan boy going all around the mountains tailing me, that’s how we met. He was like a son to my family. Today I have lost my son. Seven- eight years back he had a kidney failure. He got a kidney from his wife and he survived. Now he went in for a heart operation. While his heart operation went off well, his kidney started giving up. And finally he got infection in his blood, septicemia. That took him. He was 61.
It was the December of 1992 that I got a call from Vikrampati Singhania where he wanted someone to look after his motorsport division and he took Hardy’s name. At that time Hardy was with me. I won’t say he was working with me, he was one of my associates in my workplace. Restoration of cars was not his forte, his forte was motorsport only. For whatever time he spent with me, which was around 10 years, he was more inclined towards motorsport. When he was with me, they opened up a club from 1984 onwards. They made me the chairman, and the young boys took it forward for seven-eight years. After that everybody found better opportunities, and they all went their way. He was like a brother to my daughters. Not only me, but my family, my children, they are all in a state of shock.
RIP Sanjay Sharma aka Hardy. The heavens too need a motorsport champ. Your time starts now!
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