Career summary
McLean began his career in karting at the age of 14. Sometime thereafter, he graduated to car racing, culminating in him winning the Queensland Sports Sedan Championship in 1994. The following year, he would win the 1995 Australian Sports Sedan Championship in a BMW M3 for Greenfield Mowers Racing.
In 1996, McLean moved into the Australian Super Touring Championship, running as a privateer. In Australian Super Touring Championship and Australian Super Touring Championship, McLean won the TOCA Challenge Independents Cup. His 1998 campaign was his most successful with eleven podiums and finished fourth overall in the drivers standings.
In 1999, McLean and Greenfield Mowers Racing made the step up to the Shell Championship Series in an ex Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon EL. Initially struggling with the car setup, McLean's season was highlighted with notable results, including a sixth-place finish in the opening leg of the Adelaide 500 and was on course for a top five finish at the Bathurst 1000 before a front upright exploded and sent the Falcon into the wall nearly 20 laps from the finish.
Midway through the Championship Series, McLean, along with a consortium of three others, purchase Greenfield Mowers Racing to create Pragon Motorsport. Budgetary issues led to the team missing select rounds during the year. To bridge the gap, McLean signed on as a co-driver for Dick Johnson Racing. The campaign proved successful with McLean securing sixth place in the 2000 Queensland 500 with Paul Radisich and fourth in the Bathurst 1000 with Steven Johnson.
In 2001, McLean was slated to sign with Glenn Seton Racing to replace the outgoing Neil Crompton. However, as a consequence of Craig Lowndes' shift from the Holden Racing Team to Gibson Motorsport, the Ford outfit elected to sign the recently-exiled Steven Richards and forced McLean to return to Paragon Motorsport. Issues pertaining to budget persisted and, in anticipation of the Queensland 500, had brokered a sponsorship deal with VIP Petfoods. However, a legal juncture saw the car towed from the venue and forced McLean to sit out the weekend. Ahead of the Bathurst 1000, McLean signed to drive alongside Greg Ritter at Dick Johnson Racing. The car showed good pace all weekend and had briefly led the race after McLean pulled an audacious pass on leader Mark Skaife up Mountain Straight late in the race. However, after being bulked by Paul Morris and losing time in the pitlane, McLean and Ritter wound up finishing fourth on the road that day.
Paragon continued to struggle through 2002 and despite a good showing at Bathurst, the team folded before the year was up. This left McLean in limbo and was relegated to part-time drives in the series. For 2003, the co-drove in the endurance events with Andy Priaulx at Kelly Racing. The pairing struggled for results and their Bathurst event was almost immediately ended after contact on the first lap with Steve Owen.
For 2004, McLean would sign with Stone Brothers Racing to race in the endurance events with Russell Ingall. At the Sandown 500, McLean secured his first and only V8 Supercar podium by way of finishing second. The pairing would finish sixth at the Bathurst 1000. To keep race fit, he would also compete full-time in the Konica Minolta V8 Supercar Development Series for Howard Racing. He enjoyed a modestly successful season with four podiums to finish seventh in the driver standings. The next season, McLean would move to Ford Performance Racing to co-drive with Greg Ritter in the endurance events. He also competed in the Australian Carrera Cup Championship which was most notable for his spectacular rollover crash at Queensland Raceway.
By 2006, McLean's racing had reduced to a part-time schedule. For the Sandown 500, he drove for Ford Performance Racing alongside Matt Halliday, and in the Bathurst 1000, he raced for Garry Rogers Motorsport alongside Greg Ritter. He also competed in the New Zealand V8 series held over the summer break for Tony Richards Motorsport. He would return to the series over the next two seasons, achieving at least one podium each year.
Heading into the 2007 season, McLean re-signed with the Garry Rogers outfit to race alongside Ritter in the endurance events. In the Bathurst 1000, the pairing had enjoyed a decent showing throughout the majority of the race. However, with a handful of laps remaining, rain had started to descend upon the circuit. Most of the drivers remained on the circuit with warm slick tyres while Ritter elected to pit for wet tyres. Initially, the gamble appeared to pay off as he began to rapidly climb through the field. But as the rain began to dissipate, the track dried and the tyre advantage - along with their chances for victory - evaporated. Following this race, McLean elected to walk away from competitive V8 Supercar racing to devote more time toward his family and business ventures.
Australian
