SupercarXtra Magazine Issue 118

1972 BATHURST FEATURE: BROCK’S FIRST WIN SUPERCAR XTRA ISSUE 118

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BATHURST FLASHBACK FEATURES: THE DOMINANT RUNS AT THE MOUNTAIN > THE GREATEST DAY FOR GARRY ROGERS THE RISE OF THE HOLDEN RACING TEAM THE ORIGINAL GREAT RACE WINNER 17/09/2020 2:31:28 PM

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BROCK ’72

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THE RACE THAT MADE A LEGEND

When Peter Brock was killed in a tarmac rally in Western Australia in 2006, motorsport in Australia lost more than just a racing car driver. Brock was an icon of the sport and a hero to many. We all have our favourite memories of Brock. Exactly which race or moment that is usually depends on how old you are. Over a career that spanned more than three decades, Brock had many great races; but, there is no arguing that the race that made the legend was his first Bathurst endurance race victory in 1972. Brock drove that 500-mile race solo – which was not uncommon in those days – and the images of him standing on the Bathurst winners’ podium have become almost as legendary as Brock was himself. Following is an edited version of an interview where Brock recalled that great day in 1972.

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P

eter Brock won 10 Bathurst endurance races. Many motorsport purists will argue that the final one doesn’t count because it wasn’t a true touring car Bathurst 500-mile or 1000-kilometre race. It was a 24-hour production car race, and Brock drove one of Holden’s all-conquering sevenlitre Monaros that had little, if any, real competition that year. But regardless of how many Bathurst victories you believe Brock won, there is no arguing that he was the ‘King of the Mountain’.

The iconic touring car event which would become the Great Race that we know today was only seven years old when a young Peter Brock made his Bathurst debut – ironically that year he also drove in a Monaro, with experienced driver Des West. West and Brock finished a credible third, but it wasn’t until 1972 when Brock won the Great Race for the first time in a little six-cylinder Holden Torana LJ XU-1, that Australian racing fans knew they were about to witness a very special era.

“It was the victory that changed my life; there is no doubt about that,” admitted Brock.

The race favourite was Allan Moffat in the awesome Ford Falcon XY GTHO, but this race was destined to be the one where a new legend was made.

The rivalry between Brock and Moffat had been building when Brock started winning a few races in 1972.

“There were a number of ingredients which are timeless… there were two guys representing Holden [Brock and Colin Bond] and almost one guy representing Ford… I suppose there was a couple of Ford guys – Fred [Gibson] and Allan Moffat – but Allan was the man with the mantle on his shoulder,” Brock explained.

“It had been building for some time: this whole

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rivalry thing. I had started winning a few races in ’72. There was a bit of a feeling around that it would be Brock versus Moffat [at Bathurst], that this young up-start would give Moffat a bit of a go.

“I didn’t know I could do it, not being an established race driver, just a kid really. I felt a bit out of my depth, thinking I am sharing the track with these people who are truly professional, truly established and internationally renowned.”

The stage was set for an exciting battle. But it wasn’t just a battle between two men – this was also a duel between two very different cars. The XU-1 Torana was light and nimble, but not as powerful as the big V8 Falcon GTHO. The Holden was supposed to be extremely reliable and would not be as heavy on fuel, or as hard on brakes, but were they as bulletproof as they thought?

When Holden developed the Torana LJ XU-1 it was thought that the engines were bulletproof, but they hadn’t been tested for the ‘Brock factor’. The two cars were driven back to Melbourne from the factory in Elizabeth, Adelaide, by Brock’s father Geoff and brother Phillip.

“When the guys pulled the engines apart back in Melbourne they discovered that the pistons were cracked.

“They thought, ‘My God, we have a production problem,’”Brock said.

“They thought these engines were going to be bulletproof, and all they had done was come from Adelaide to Melbourne and the pistons were already cracked, but what they didn’t realise was that Phil and Dad had got to about Nhill and thought, ‘Well let’s open these things out and have a bit of a dice.’

“Of course the engines didn’t have any piston clearance, not being properly ran in, so they had nipped up a bit…”

THE PRESS TAKES NOTICE After Bathurst 1972 the Australian press started to take the Brock name very seriously indeed.

“All of a sudden when the press rated who would be the favourites for an upcoming race or race series my name was elevated into that level rather than it being ignored. All of a sudden I was the man to beat, or Moffat and I were going to have a hammer and tongs battle with each other,” Brock said.

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RACE FOR THE PASSION

Motor racing was simple back in the 1970s. There were no big fancy transporters or hospitality suites, but that’s just the way they liked it. “Budgets weren’t high and everything we had went into the car or the process,” Brock said. “We didn’t care about any of the trappings. It wasn’t a case of thinking we should be treated better. As far as I was concerned I was just totally focused, to a degree that you could label it selfish and it would be quite an apt adjective to use, nothing else mattered as much as driving. I just had a passion, an obsession for getting behind the wheel of a car and I was just loving it. I didn’t have a long-term plan which said I had to be champion by a certain date. I just wanted to race at the Mountain. I wanted to race there in Holdens because I had been brought up with them, and I just wanted to race them as often as I possibly could.”

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When Brock and co. first started to race the XU-1, they thought they were developing a bit of a lemon.

“The cars were not a success; the 202 LJ XU-1, straight off the production-line, just wasn’t a winner,” Brock said.

“We pressed on and we got to about April or May or something like that and some genius at the advertising agency, George Paterson, thought that this fluorescent sign writing on a silver car reminded everyone of the Philadelphia experiment, where they made a ship disappear.

“Well we reckon we made a car disappear, because, you couldn’t pick the race car either in a photo or on the track.

“We had this silver car with fluro writing, and all you could see was the background of flag-waving marshals and crowd, but you really couldn’t see the car.

“So the agency came up with this new paintscheme. It was quite revolutionary for its time.

It was red, white and black. I remember we painted my car and dropped it down on the ground and cleaned the mag wheels up and stood back and thought this is the best looking race car we have ever seen in our lives.”

Brock was convinced that the new livery changed the destiny of the XU-1, turning it from a lemon to a race winner.

“It coincided with a little bit of tyre development, but I believe primarily it was the fact that we had totally changed our opinion on the car… we went straight out and immediately started winning races,” Brock said.

“It defies logic. Nothing much mechanical had changed, it just looked good. You looked at the car and thought, ‘That car is going to win races!’

“There were some tyre changes and maybe some other things you could quantify it with, but as far as we are concerned a coat of paint and it was sensational. We got ourselves pretty primed up so far as reckoning that we could do the job.

“It was bloody quick, small and nimble and its power-to-weight ratio was very, very good. It would do about a 2 minute 38 lap if you were going absolutely flat out around Bathurst.”

Back in the ’70s there were no big transporters to take the race cars up to Bathurst. Instead, the actual racing cars were driven up from Melbourne on public roads.

“I remember [engine builder] Ian Tate and I drove the cars up the highway, and in those days, in the outback of New South Wales, there was no speed limit, but you had to prove you could drive safely.

We drove fairly carefully, but we did get to one stage there, down near West Wylong, where we decided to open them out a bit just to see how they went,” Brock recalled with a cheeky grin.

“We got to around about Cowra as night began to fall and there were some road works. I was just sitting behind Tatie and all of a sudden my headlights disappeared and he thought, ‘Brocky’s playing funny

8/09/2020 10:54:11 AM

buggers; he has switched his headlights off – I’ll fix him.’ So he gets stuck into it and he is roaring along trying to lose me.

“But I had no lights whatsoever because he had gone through these road works, thrown up a spray of gravel and absolutely wrecked the headlights and the blinkers on my car.

“Finally he realised I was in trouble and backed off. So the first thing we had to do the next morning in Bathurst was organise to get my car to the local Holden dealer to get it cleaned up.”

The XU-1 struggled to hold a candle to the Falcon GTHO in qualifying, with Moffat claiming pole and Brock nearly three seconds behind in fifth, but as race day dawned the gods decided that the time had come to create a new legend.

Steady but constant rain fell as the cars lined up on the grid to start the race and it didn’t ease until well into the race.

Brock knew that the little XU-1 would be much better suited to the wet and slippery conditions than Moffat’s big, grunty GTHO.

“The race played into our hands; there was no doubt about that. If ever I had a chance of knocking off Moffat around there I needed everything going for me,” Brock said.

“It rained, which I wasn’t too happy about at first, but then I told myself, ‘This is good, the wetness is good, because I will be able to hang right in there.’”

Tyre choice for the day was the talking point in pitlane, with Brock choosing to use a set of hand-cut slicks, with three zig-zag grooves, while his Holden Dealer Team teammate Colin Bond opted for a set of Goodyear RR12s – the standard Goodyear wets.

Brock’s choice was the right one as Bond ended the race on lap three after a massive roll at Reid Park.

Peter Perfect believed he and then HDT team manager Harry Firth developed a new tyre on that day.

“I just ran on them all day... they were just fantastic,” Brock explained.

“Harry cut them that morning and it had never

“IT WAS THE VICTORY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE; THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT.” – PETER BROCK ON BATHURST 1972

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been done that way before. It became a bit of a favoured tread pattern. Everyone used to think that was the tread pattern to have.”

With the GTHO having much more straight-line speed, even in the wet, Brock knew he had to drive a tactical race if he was going to beat Moffat.

“Moffat was holding me up going over the Mountain, so I kept on attacking him,” Brock said.

“A few times I passed Moffat, but I knew I had to pass him by a certain point [on the circuit] to get enough distance on him so that he couldn’t pass me down Conrod and I never managed to do that.

SX118 Brock feature.indd 8

“I was just hounding him and hounding him.

I guess it was more than an hour into the race – we had pretty big fuel tanks in those days, from memory we only did two pitstops, over six hours and I didn’t change drivers, so I was busting for a pee and things like that, but you just press on.

“By this time Moffat and I had cleared off a bit because it was partially dry, but it was still wet in places, with puddles.

“We came into Reid Park, the same corner where Bondie had crashed earlier, and I was down the inside. I put it up the inside just playing. I

17/09/2020 2:26:43 PM

THE RACE OF LASTS The 1972 Bathurst was a race of lasts.

It was the last time any driver was allowed to complete the entire race distance solo – as Brock did. And it was the last race for series production cars and it was the last time the Bathurst event was held over 500 miles, as it became a 1000 kilometre event from 1973.

NO TIME FOR A “PITSTOP”

had no intention of passing him there. I was just pretending.

“I could see Moffat’s eyes in his mirror as he glanced up to see what I was doing, and the next thing he was about half a tyre width off the line, and he spun. As he spun in a big long gyration, I lifted off and went down the inside of him and I reckon you could have just fitted a feeler gauge between the right-hand side of my car and the front and rear bumpers of his car as he was spinning around and I went by.”

As Moffat pulled the big Falcon up on the side

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of the road before gathering things together and rejoining the race, Brock took off like a scolded cat.

“Immediately my lap times picked up because I wasn’t held up anymore,” Brock said.

“I put as much of a gap between myself and him as I possibly could. I drove flat out, even though it was damp conditions, gapping him.”

Moffat tried his hardest over the next few hours to reclaim the lost ground, but struggled with tired brakes on the big Falcon. To add salt to his wounds, he copped a one-minute penalty for allegedly starting his engine before re-fuelling was complete

With no co-driver Brock was behind the wheel for six hours at Bathurst in 1972. And while today racing car drivers have experts to ensure they are re-hydrated, there was no such luxury in 1972. “I remember signalling to Harry and the guys for a drink [at a pitstop], but they wouldn’t give me one because they thought it might make me want to have a pee and upset my concentration. So I finished the race totally dehydrated.”

17/09/2020 2:26:55 PM

Scan to watch footage from the 1972 BATHURST 500.

during one of his stops, and finally a late-race blown tyre put paid to any chance he had of closing the gap.

All this allowed Brock to drive to his first Bathurst victory. However, there was still one more drama to be played out. Brock was also given a oneminute penalty for a pitlane infringement during his last stop.

“An official reckoned that I had started the engine before the filler cap was put on, although we reckoned we hadn’t,” Brock explained.

In the wash-up the penalty didn’t really matter

1972 BATHURT 500 TOP 10 # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Drivers Peter Brock John French Doug Chivas/Damon Beck Leo Geoghegan Don Holland Bob Forbes Paul Gulson/Ray Gulson Ray Kaleda/Paul Pressler Allan Moffat Murray Carter

as Brock won the race by enough that it wasn’t a concern.

“Once I had succeeded in that area I guess your understanding of who you are and what you can achieve and where you place yourself in the pecking order of things changes,” he said, reflecting on what the victory meant to him.

“It’s not a matter of being over-confident. It’s just a sense of thinking, ‘Hang on, I can play this game.

I’m allowed to be out here and I’m allowed to be out here participating with these people’ – and that was the major turning point in my life!”

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THE VIEW

WORDS Ian Tate as told to Allan Edwards IMAGES Autopics.com.au

FROM THE PITS

Ian Tate was Peter Brock’s lead mechanic at Bathurst 1972 – the race widely recognised as the one that set the King of the Mountain on his way to legend status. Here, Tate recalls that great day in his own words.

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I

AN TATE: The lead up to that year’s Bathurst was hectic.

If I remember rightly we had a disastrous Sandown. The pistons weren’t chemically heat treated, unbeknownst to us, and we lost both our cars with piston failure and most of the other Toranas suffered piston failure at Sandown

as well.

We weren’t looking all that good. We had a reasonably fast car, but we didn’t have reliability, and one thing you need at Bathurst is reliability.

We pulled the engines apart after Sandown and we found the problem. We had a new batch of pistons made and they were supplied to all the people racing Toranas at Bathurst. We then went about building new engines for both Colin Bond and Brock’s car.

Peter would come down every day… it was probably a little bit unfair the way Peter was treated in those days, in my opinion.

Peter lived in Melbourne and he was expected to come to work most days and do something. But Peter being in the workshop

SX118 Tate feature.indd 13

would cost us time because all the mechanics would talk to Peter instead of working, and that’d get team boss Harry Firth infuriated. Colin was living in Sydney and he wasn’t expected to come down and be part of the team every day, so he got away with being a driver, but poor old Peter was expected to be a driver and a mechanic and an errand boy and whatever.

But he was enormously focused in ’72. We’d been to Phillip Island the year before and he had raced wheel-to-wheel against Allan Moffat, passing and re-passing each other for most of the race. We did have a little problem down there during the race, but when Peter was going strong down there he was racing side-by-side, passing and re-passing Moffat every lap, and at that stage he grew a lot of confidence in his driving style. In my opinion, ’72 was going to be his year and he’d done exceedingly well in the lead-up to Bathurst.

He’d come to work every day and he would sit in his car for half the day just sitting there holding the steering wheel, changing gears – there was no gearbox in the car.

17/09/2020 2:28:48 PM

Peter and I drove the two cars to Bathurst. Peter wanted us to do a lot of high-speed running. He wanted to slipstream, and I would be doing 125 miles an hour and he’d be behind and he’d pull out to get the effects of slipstreaming and then we’d reverse places, and this went on most of the way to Bathurst. It was a very quick trip to Bathurst.

I was in front of him at one stage and I came across a bit of unmade road and looked in the rear vision mirror, and there were no headlights so I kept on going. I slowed down after a couple of miles and Peter was behind me. The stones had taken out both his headlights and had broken his windscreen.

We got to Bathurst the next morning and changed the headlights and windscreen before Harry woke up to what was going on.

Race day was wet and we lost Colin’s car early in the race because of poor tyres on his car, and he was very, very lucky not to get hurt.

He, in his own style, came back to the pits and said, ‘Oh I could’ve really driven it back to the pits if I had’ve been able to get out of where it was.’

Well, when we saw the car later, it was pretty much destroyed. We got pinged during the race, if I remember rightly, for Peter starting the engine before the pitstop was completed, and I think we got a minute penalty, so Harry wound him up a bit tighter and he caught that minute back.

There was no drink bottle in the car in those days.

During the pitstop someone would hand Peter a can of Coke; he’d have a couple of mouthfuls of that and throw it out the window. Harry never believed in

giving a driver drinks because if he wanted a drink he’d want to go to the toilet.

The only real strategy that we had was for Peter to drive as hard and as fast as he dared. You certainly had to drive a little bit differently in those days because they were stock standard road cars with a lot of careful preparation to them. You got a car from General Motors; you didn’t buy a body shell like you do these days from General Motors.

You had a car, which you pulled apart and then you modified it. We bolted a roll cage into the cars; it was an eight or 10-point fixture; it wasn’t a cage to strengthen the body shell. You were allowed to do certain modifications to the car – all the wheels, the axles, rear brake drums, the front discs were balanced; the gearbox and diff, and the engine was blue printed and a lot of other parts – like the alternator, starter motor, generator etc – were pulled apart and put back together to make sure everything was spot on. Shocks and brake pads were free, so that’s the area where your development went into.

Allan Moffat was a fair old threat to us, and in those conditions the way Allan handled that bloody monster Falcon was unbelievable, and he slipped off and had a spin and got back on, but he certainly was a threat to us during the middle part of the race.

A lot of people say that Peter only won because it was wet, but the XU-1 was a very competitive racing car and I still think that Peter would have given Allan a real run for his money even if the race had been dry. Peter was very focused on that win and that race transformed him.

Brock in the Holden XU-1 Torana.

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PETER BROCK’S

BATHURST RECORD BATHURST 500/1000 RACE RESULTS YEAR 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

TEAM Holden Dealer Team Hol den Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Gown –Hindhaugh Team Brock Bill Patterson Racing Holden Dealer Team Holden Dealer Team Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Marlboro Holden Dealer Team

1984 1985 1986 1987

Mobil Holden Dealer Team Mobil Holden Dealer Team HDT Racing P/L Mobil 1 Racing

1988

Mobil 1 Racing

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Mobil 1 Racing Mobil 1 Racing Mobil 1 Racing Mobil 1 Racing Mobil 1 Racing Holden Racing Team Holden Racing Team

SX118 Brock stats.indd 16

CO-DRIVERS Des West Bob Morris

Doug Chivas Brian Sampson Brian Sampson Phil Brock Phil Brock Jim Richards Jim Richards Jim Richards Jim Richards Larry Perkins John Harvey Larry Perkins Phil Brock Larry Perkins David Oxton Allan Moffat Peter McLeod David Parsons Jon Crroke Neil Crompton Jim Richards Andy Rouse Andy Rouse Andrew Miedecke Manuel Reuter John Cleland Tomas Mezera Tomas Mezera

CAR Holden HT Monaro GTS350 Holden LC Torana GTR XU–1 Holden LC Torana GTR XU–1 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU–1 Holden LJ Torana GTR XU–1 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Holden LX Torana SS A9X Hatchback Holden VC Commodore Holden VC Commodore Holden VH Commodore SS Holden VH Commodore SS

POSITION 3rd 37th 8th 1st 2nd DNF 1st 3rd 4th 1st 1st 1st 21st 1st 1st

Holden VK Commodore Holden VK Commodore Holden VK Commodore SS Group A Holden VL Commodore SS Group A

1st DNF 5th 1st

BMW M3

DNF

Ford Sierra RS500 Ford Sierra RS500 Holden VN Commodore SS Group A SV Holden VP Commodore Holden VP Commodore Holden VP Commodore Holden VR Commodore

DNF 4th 7th 27th 17th DNF DNF

8/09/2020 10:56:25 AM

1996 1997* 1997 2002 2004

Holden Racing Team Vauxhall Sport Holden Racing Team Team Brock Holden Racing Team

Tomas Mezera Derick Warwick Mark Skaife Craig Baird Jason Plato

Holden VR Commodore Vauxhall Vectra Holden VS Commodore Holden VX Commodore Holden VY Commodore

5th 6th DNF 23rd DNF

*Super Touring Bathurst 1000

RECORDS

Most wins – 9 (1972, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987) Most pole positions – 6 (1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1989) Most fastest laps – 6 (1974, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984) Most sandown–bathurst doubles – 5 (1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984) biggest winning margin – 6 laps (1979) EQUAL MOST WINS IN SUCCESSION – 3 (1978–1980, 1982 –1984) EQUAL MOST POLES IN SUCCESSION – 3 (1977–1979) EQUAL Most wins FROM POLE – 2 (1978, 1979) SECOND MOST STARTS – 32 SECOND MOST STARTS IN A ROW – 30 (1969–1997) SECOND MOST PODIUMS – 12 (9 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds) EQUAL SECOND for BATHURST–CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES – 2 (1978, 1980) equal third for SHOOTOUT APPEARANCES – 17

SX118 Brock stats.indd 17

8/09/2020 10:56:37 AM

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AUSTRALIA-WIDE DELIVERY 14/09/2020 4:23:51 PM

ISSUE 118 SUPERCARXTRA.COM.AU 8 ANALYSIS: THE LONG ROAD TO THE MOUNTAIN How Supercars met the requirements for a season despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.

10 ANALYSIS: LOOKING TO 2021 A change of free-to-air television partners headlines the changes to Supercars in 2021.

12 ANALYSIS: DAVISON’S RETURN Will Davison’s wild ride from being sidelined to a Bathurst contender in 2020.

16 WINTERBOTTOM COLUMN Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom on the challenges of being on the road for most of the 2020 season.

18 LOWNDES COLUMN Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Craig Lowndes on gearing up for the only endurance event of 2020.

22 FEATURE: TRUE-BLUE LEGEND Dick Johnson recounts his tangle with a rock at Mount Panorama in 1980 and his love of the Bathurst 1000.

28 FEATURE: DJR/DJR TEAM PENSKE’S 40 DEFINING MOMENTS FROM 40 YEARS Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske’s journey from its foundation in 1980 to the present day.

38 FEATURE: THE HONOUR ROLL/RECORDS The numbers, names, milestones, records and more from Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske’s 40 years.

40 FEATURE: THE DOMINATORS The drivers and combinations who went on winning runs in the Bathurst 500/1000.

46 FEATURE: THE BATTLERS Garry Rogers Motorsport’s greatest moment, winning the 2000 Bathurst 1000.

52 FEATURE: THE UNDERDOGS Holden Racing Team’s surprise and defining win in the 1990 Bathurst 1000.

58 FEATURE: THE ORIGINAL Tracking down the first winner of the Great Race from the 1960 Armstrong 500.

66 FROM THE ARCHIVES The last time full-time main-game drivers teamed up in the Bathurst 1000.

SUPERCAR XTRA

SX118 p03 Contents.indd 3

3

14/09/2020 10:12:36 AM

No visit to Mount Panorama is complete without a stop at the National Motor Racing Museum, right beside the track at Murray’s Corner. Don’t miss the constantly changing array of racing cars and motor bikes that have made their mark not only on Mount Panorama, but across Australian motor racing history.

Inside the museum you’ll see many of the dominant machines that ran in Australian touring car, open wheeler, rally, motorcycle and speedway races.

The stories of drivers and events are told through original trophies, race suits, leathers, race footage and photographs.

Check out the spectacular Immersive Room for a virtual lap around the historic Mount Panorama circuit, pick up a souvenir at our Museum shop and take in the Peter Brock statue & playground.

Open daily from 9.00am - 4.30pm, closed Tuesdays.

400 Panorama Avenue Mount Panorama T: 02 6332 1872 E: museums@bathurst.nsw.gov.au Facebook: National Motor Racing Museum web: museumsbathurst.com.au

2020 NMRM Ad.indd 4

15/09/2020 9:47:26 AM

2020 NMRM Ad.indd 5

15/09/2020 9:18:21 AM

/SupercarXtra @SupercarXtra @SupercarXtra

THE GREAT RACE FINALE

T

he interrupted 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship season will end with the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 endurance classic at the Mount Panorama Circuit.

It looked like the COVID19 pandemic would derail the 60th anniversary year of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars, yet the series has prevailed in delivering a championship season with a title winner and Bathurst 1000 victor to be crowned on the same day for the first time in 20 years.

This edition of SupercarXtra Magazine, which will also be incorporated in the 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 program, celebrates the history of the event and some key milestones.

It’s 40 years since Dick Johnson and his Dick Johnson Racing team became household names when crashing out of the lead of

the 1980 Bathurst 1000 after hitting a rock. The support generated from the heartbreak saw Johnson bounce back with a championshipBathurst double in 1981.

Johnson recalls that historic event and his journey since in the cover story of this edition. We also celebrate Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske’s 40th anniversary with a look back at 40 defining moments from the team’s history, in addition to their records, achievements and driver honour roll.

To mark the anniversary of dominant wins by Allan Moffat, Peter Brock, Craig Lowndes and more at Bathurst, we celebrate the drivers and combinations who went on crushing runs at the Mount Panorama Circuit.

We also reflect on the Holden Racing Team’s shock win at Bathurst in 1990, Garry Rogers Motorsport’s victory in the last Bathurst season finale in 2000 and celebrate the first winners of

the Great Race from its original location at Phillip Island in 1960.

The print edition of this issue also includes a pullout poster commemorating Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske’s 40th anniversary and Peter Brock’s first Bathurst win in 1972.

Elsewhere, we analyse the latest news in our ‘Analysis’ section, while Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom share their thoughts in their columns.

We also remember the last time full-time main-game drivers teamed up in the Bathurst 1000 in 2009 in our ‘From the Archives’ section.

Visit us at SupercarXtra. com.au for the latest news and to shop at our online store, or keep in touch with us on our social media channels on Twitter and Instagram (both @SupercarXtra) and on Facebook (Facebook. com/SupercarXtra).

Enjoy!

– Adrian

INCORPORATING V8X MAGAZINE PUBLISHER Allan Edwards Raamen Pty Ltd trading as V8X PO Box 225, Keilor, VIC 3036 publisher@supercarxtra.com.au EDITOR Adrian Musolino editor@supercarxtra.com.au SUB EDITORS Krystal Boots, Amanda Salmon ART DIRECTOR Thao Trinh CONTRIBUTING JOURNALISTS John Bannon, Andrew Clarke, James Crocker, Craig Lowndes, Ryan Story, Mark Winterbottom PHOTOGRAPHERS Peter Norton, Autopics.com.au, Glenis Lindley, James Baker, Ben Auld, Justin Deeley, Mark Horsburgh, P1 Images, Paul Nathan, Scott Wensley, Danny Bourke, Matthew Norton ADVERTISING Fran Mitchell Phone: 0427 664 888 advertising@supercarxtra.com.au EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Phone: (03) 9372 9125 Fax: (03) 8080 6473 office@supercarxtra.com.au ACCOUNTS Bookkeeper: Mark Frauenfelder accounts@supercarxtra.com.au MERCHANDISE & SUBSCRIPTIONS Phone: (03) 9372 9125 office@supercarxtra.com.au Published by Raamen Pty Ltd trading as V8X. Material in Supercar Xtra is protected by copyright laws and may not be reproduced in full or in part in any format.

Supercar Xtra will consider unsolicited articles and pictures; however, no responsibility will be taken for their return. While all efforts are taken to verify information in Supercar Xtra is factual, no responsibility will be taken for any material which is later found to be false or misleading. The opinions of the contributors are not always those of the publishers.

6

SUPERCAR XTRA

SX118 p06 Ed's Desk.indd 6

14/09/2020 10:14:10 AM

2019 BATHURST 1000 THE LEGEND OF AUSTRALIA’S ICONIC MOTOR RACE This is the latest edition of our Bathurst book series chronicling Australia’s favourite car race. It is a must-have for all race fans and collectors.

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14/09/2020 4:22:40 PMpm 11/06/2020 4:01:12 20/1/20 4:08

THE LONG ROAD

TO THE MOUNTAIN

Bathurst will host the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship season finale, concluding a remarkable season that will have had 11 rounds across five states and territories despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

W

hen the Australian Touring Car Championship/ Virgin Australia Supercars Championship title winner and Bathurst 1000 victors are crowned at the Mount Panorama Circuit on October 18,

8

2020, it will mark the end of one of the most extraordinary seasons.

The season came under threat when the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 was cancelled as COVID-19 spread throughout Australia.

After a three-month hiatus, the restarted season also

looked set to be derailed when a second wave of the virus in Melbourne forced the Victorian teams to relocate to New South Wales and Queensland for more than three months to keep the campaign going.

After the season-opening Superloop Adelaide 500 and the cancelled Beaurepaires

Melbourne 400 (which was still classified as a round as qualifying sessions had already taken place), Sydney Motorsport Park, Hidden Valley Raceway (Darwin), the Townsville Street Circuit and The Bend Motorsport Park hosted two rounds each before the season-ending Supercheap

SUPERCAR XTRA

SX118 p08 Analysis Bathurst.indd 8

14/09/2020 12:24:21 PM

Auto Bathurst 1000.

Therefore, the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship met Motorsport Australia’s requirement to have had at least six rounds across a minimum of four states or territories to award the Australian Touring Car Championship title.

The circuits that missed rounds in 2020 included Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, which was due to host Supercars for the first time in place of Pukekohe Park Raceway, the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, the Newcastle Street Circuit, Winton Motor Raceway, Sandown International Raceway, Symmons Plains Raceway and Barbagallo Raceway, while Queensland Raceway and the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit were left off of the original calendar.

The 2020 Supercheap Auto

Bathurst 1000 will be the only endurance event of the season, marking the first time there will be a solitary endurance race in the championship in the Supercars era.

Bathurst hosted the championship season finales in 1999 and 2000 in November, before the race moved into its now traditional October date.

Twenty years on, the 2020 Bathurst 1000 and Supercars champions will be crowned on the same day yet again.

“Most other sports, their grand final is the biggest event of the year, so I think it works,” says Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s Jamie Whincup.

“I can understand why we don’t finish a normal season at Bathurst and we keep pushing through to a place like Newcastle, but I think this year makes complete sense.”

DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin adds: “It’s such a reward when you go well there and there is a big swing in the championship regardless.

“We always come out of Bathurst thinking, ‘Where are we [in the points]?’ And then you go on with the championship, but to have the final there in a year that’s been completely crazy, I think is a great decision.”

The Bathurst date was pushed back by a week to accommodate the doubleheader at The Bend Motorsport Park, concluding the 2020 season that also marked the 60th anniversary of the Australian Touring Car Championship.

Bathurst hosted rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1995 and 1996 before the Bathurst 1000’s

inclusion in the championship from 1999.

“This is our marquee event... and this year it will also be our series decider, making it an even more memorable occasion,” says Supercars CEO Sean Seamer.

“We looked at all options beyond Bathurst as well as the best options for our Victorian teams, who will have been on the road for over 100 days by the completion of the event.

“Getting those drivers, team personnel and officials home to loved ones was at the forefront of this decision.

“The October 18 date change was made to allow all teams adequate time to prepare for the biggest event of the year... a grand finale at our most iconic circuit, a fitting farewell for our 60th year of racing.”

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SX118 p08 Analysis Bathurst.indd 9

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14/09/2020 4:20:16 PM

LOOKING TO 2021 Supercars will have a new free-toair television broadcaster in 2021.

YOUNG HOPEFUL. HE HAD ALREADY EXPERIENCED A THIRD PLACE AT BATHURST IN 1969 CO-DRIVING

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ON DISPLAY

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OWS YOUR “NO ONE KN N S.” KE SHANNO PA S S I O N L I

IN THE EARLY 1970S PETER BROCk WAS LITTLE MORE THAN

W

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THE DAY…!”

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14/09/2020 12:30:23 PM

After a disrupted 2020, Supercars will be looking for a more stable season in 2021 with a new free-to-air television partner headlining the changes.

T

he 2021 Supercars season will remain a work in progress with COVID-19 making any long-term planning difficult heading towards the new year.

The Superloop Adelaide 500 won’t open the Supercars season for the first time since 2011, with a later date allowing event organisers to build and prepare the circuit with more security around potential crowd numbers.

The cost and time associated with preparing street circuits saw the Gold Coast and Newcastle events called off in 2020, following the cancellation of Melbourne’s Australian Grand Prix round in March.

Permanent circuits hosting

back-to-back rounds gave Supercars the opportunity to complete its 2020 season. And in 2021, the likes of Sydney Motorsport Park, Barbagallo Raceway and Hidden Valley Raceway, with their lighting options, give the category more flexibility in terms of event dates and times.

Supercars will also have a new television partner in 2021 with the Seven Network set to take over the free-to-air component of the deal next season. While Fox Sports Australia will remain as the main broadcasting partner of Supercars, Seven will show more live racing than Ten did in recent years.

Seven broadcast the Great Race at Bathurst from its formative years to 1996, when

Don’t blow your licence!

the loss of the event’s rights to Network Ten led to the creation of a rival Bathurst 1000 with Super Touring cars in 1997 and 1998. After a 10-year stint on Ten between 1997 and 2006, Supercars returned to Seven from 2007 to 2014. From 2015 to 2020, Fox Sports Australia became the home of Supercars with Ten taking on the free-to-air component with a limited amount of live racing.

The most notable change to Supercars in 2021 will be the absence of Holden, following General Motors’ decision to retire the Australian brand.

While the current Holden ZB Commodores will race on, Holden branding will be taken off the cars. The new General Motors Specialty Vehicles

operation will be established, selling a range of specialist General Motors vehicles in Australia.

Supercars continues to work on the Gen3 rules for 2022, planning to complete a prototype of its next-generation car by the end of March 2021.

Meanwhile, Repco will replace Virgin Australia as the naming-rights partner of Supercars.

The series will become known as the Repco Supercars Championship, with Repco signing a five-year deal to become naming-rights partner in addition to title sponsor of the Bathurst 1000.

Visit SupercarXtra.com.au for the latest news regarding the 2021 calendar, driver movements and more.

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SX118 p10 Analysis TV.indd 11

11

14/09/2020 12:30:52 PM

DAVISON’S RETURN

After losing his drive following the demise of 23 Red Racing, Will Davison returns to Supercars as endurance co-driver alongside Cameron Waters at Tickford Racing with the opportunity to cap his crazy year with a Bathurst win.

W

ill Davison opened the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship with two top-five placings at the Superloop Adelaide 500, and looked like a possible championship contender in 23 Red Racing’s Tickford Racingrun Ford Mustang. Then the pandemic hit, and owner Phil Munday withdrew the entry from Supercars.

Davison went from fifth in the championship standings to sitting on the sidelines, left without a drive for the first time since 2005. Now, the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and championship runner-up returns to partner Cameron Waters in the #6

Tickford Racing entry, with the aim of showing why he belongs in Supercars in a combination to watch at Bathurst.

“It’s been hard to be on the sidelines, but to know I have such a great partner and team for the big one at Bathurst is pretty huge for me; it’s something I’m counting down the days for,” says Davison.

“I know Cam well, obviously, I know everyone here at Tickford incredibly well, so I couldn’t be more excited to do my part in helping Cam and the team get a big result at Bathurst.

“Obviously, we started the year so strong, so I’ll be able to settle into the car very quickly, with no real test days planned at all. And the way this year’s unfolding, just to settle into

a familiar environment, a familiar car, and hopefully hit the ground running will put us in very good stead.

“I think it’s a win-win for all of us. I’ve got a lot of time for Cam; he’s a great young driver.

I really enjoyed teaming up with him last year. We pushed each other really hard as competitors, but we really worked together well as team mates, so to be his co-driver is going to be different for me, but I’m certainly excited to do what I can for the team.”

Davison drove the #6 Tickford Racing entry when it was Ford Performance Racing from 2011 to 2013, scoring pole position at Bathurst in 2012 and finishing in third place in the championship in 2013.

“I have awesome memories with car number 6, very fond memories,” says Davison.

“I got so close at Bathurst in 6; I was on pole, I feel like a few of my greatest ones that got away were in Car 6, so let’s make sure we get it this year.

“I know Cam’s been incredibly unfortunate the last few years.

“He’s always fast there, and the last two or three years he’s had unfortunate accidents, so I think it owes him a big result as well, and I’ll certainly do anything to get my third, and be a part of Cam’s first big one would be absolutely everything for me.”

Visit SupercarXtra.com. au for the latest news around the 2020 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Will Davison and Cameron Waters team up at Tickford Racing.

12

SUPERCAR XTRA

SX118 p12 Analysis Lineups.indd 12

7/09/2020 3:11:05 PM

SUPECARS 2019: THE STORIES OF THE YEAR

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EXPERT INSIGHT

BEYOND THE WHEEL Column by Mark Winterbottom

THE TOUGHEST SEASON

B

eing away from our homes in Melbourne has been hard on everyone in Team 18 and the other Victorian-based Supercars teams.

While the back-to-back rounds in Sydney, Darwin, Townsville and Tailem Bend have kept us all busy, the hard part has been being on the road and waiting for the next round, unsure when we will be able to go home and see our families.

When I left Melbourne, our youngest son Elliot had just started crawling. Now he’s walking and running and changed massively. It’s been hard to miss that and only have over the phone or online interactions. Also, it’s been hard to see Renee and the kids living through the stage four restrictions in Melbourne.

It’s been really difficult and sad. Throughout this whole time away, I’ve been really homesick. And everyone in the team has missed their families, key anniversaries and more. It’s really tough on everyone, and that’s why, not just for the drivers but the whole team, you’ve had to try and stay positive in a really tough situation.

The team has had a heavy workload in preparing the cars on the road and without the resources that are back at the workshop, on top of the burden of being away from home.

Normally the guys get to go home, do what they do, and 16

then come back. Without the chance to go back and reset, there’s been some tough days without the normality of family and home.

We’re all very close and they’re a really good bunch of guys, so we’ve all been in it together. We tried to keep each other in a good frame of mind, staying happy and motivated, and getting the most out of what we are doing.

It’s still a relatively new team, in our first season running multiple cars, so it’s a learning curve. And without the development that would ordinarily happen back at the workshop, each team is being forced to maximise what they have.

Our progression as a team this season is the evolution of expanding to two cars, in addition to having a good working relationship as a customer team of Triple Eight Race Engineering.

We also have to thank the likes of Ross Stone, who opened his doors to us in Queensland to make it as seamless as possible for when we’ve been on the road.

We’ve been doing a good job with what we’ve got, but we need to be doing it consistently and take that next step to challenge for podiums at each round.

It’s also good to be on an upward trajectory heading to the Mount Panorama Circuit for the Bathurst 1000. I’m looking forward to going there not only because of the pace we’ve shown this year but also

as we have a really good codriver in James Golding.

It’s a strange feeling going into Bathurst with the restrictions around the crews and as the season finale. I’m sure the intensity will still be there and the event will be as significant as ever, with the potential of an even greater television audience given the crowd limit.

Sometimes two cars in the one team at Bathurst hurts

with strategy and track position. Sometimes, though, they work together and complement one another, so we’ll see where we are at.

At the end of the day, it’s still the one to win; still the big race that you’re looking forward to even though a lot is going to go on. Come Sunday morning at Bathurst, you feel crook and nervous as it’s still the big one.

– Frosty

“IT’S BEEN REALLY DIFFICULT AND SAD. THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE TIME AWAY, I’VE BEEN REALLY HOMESICK. AND EVERYONE IN THE TEAM HAS MISSED THEIR FAMILIES, KEY ANNIVERSARIES AND MORE.”

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EXPERT INSIGHT

RIGHT ON TRACK

Column by Craig Lowndes

THE GREAT RACE CHALLENGE

I

t’s been a crazy year, so credit to Supercars, the teams and everyone involved for racing on through all the developments over the course of 2020.

It’s going to be a different Bathurst 1000 this year as the only endurance event of the season and also as the championship finale. Without a lead-in event and limited time in the car ahead of Bathurst, the pressure will be immense on the co-drivers and could be a telling factor.

Thankfully, Jamie Whincup and I have plenty of experience driving together and working with the team. But, even still, it’s been important to work closely with him throughout the year to see the direction in which they’ve gone with car set-up and be familiar with the ergonomics of the car, for example with the GT-style steering wheel Jamie is now using.

This season, more than ever, getting the little fundamental things right will be so important and could be the determining factor in the race. I’ve got to do my part by being the best prepared I can be in terms of fitness and knowledge of where they’re at with the car.

If I can do that well, then I can try and put Jamie in a position where he can fight for a victory at the end of the race.

Obviously, it’s been disappointing to miss out on the other endurance events at The Bend Motorsport Park and the Gold Coast, especially for us as the winners of the PIRTEK 18

Enduro Cup last season.

It would have been great to take part in an endurance event at The Bend Motorsport Park given the incredible job they’ve done with that facility and the challenge the circuit provides, while the Gold Coast is one of the toughest race tracks that we go to.

Bathurst as the season finale provides another challenge. I’m one of the few drivers who raced in the last Bathurst 1000 to end a season in 2000.

It’s great that through all that’s happened this year, they’ve maintained the Bathurst legacy by having it around its traditional date and within the championship.

Back in 1999, I was disappointed when the Bathurst 1000 was included in the championship calendar as we wanted to go all out for the

win rather than worry about points. However, now I’ve become a fan of its inclusion as it adds an extra dimension to the biggest race of the year with the extra bonus of a championship finale this season.

It’s also vindicated the change 10 years ago in splitting the main drivers from teaming up in the endurance events. Again, it was a disappointment at the time as it forced Jamie and I apart and broke up the great partnership we had in the winning run at Bathurst from 2006 to 2008.

What it has done, though, is added to the depth of competition throughout the field at Bathurst. With teams no longer able to put all their eggs in the one basket by pairing their main drivers, there is a larger spread of entries

that could win with the added benefit of split strategies and having more leading contenders fighting for victory in the final stint.

With championship considerations even more of a factor this season, it could lead to one of the most intense Bathurst finishes and a great way to end what’s been such a topsy-turvy year.

Obviously, it won’t be the same without the usual crowd number at Mount Panorama.

The atmosphere generated by the crowd at Bathurst is second to none, and it’s what makes that event so special.

Nevertheless, it’s so important that the Bathurst 1000 remained on the calendar, and it’s a remarkable achievement

by Supercars to complete this season at its showpiece event given the circumstances.

– Craig

“THIS SEASON, MORE THAN EVER, GETTING THE LITTLE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS RIGHT WILL BE SO IMPORTANT AND COULD BE THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN THE RACE.”

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1980 BATHURST 1000

TRUE–BLUE WORDS Motorsport Legends Magazine IMAGES Autopics.com.au

LEGEND

22

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The Dick Johnson legend was born at Bathurst in 1980. The heartbreak of hitting a rock while leading the Bathurst 1000 and the support it garnered built the foundation of success that followed over the four decades.

D

ick Johnson is the epitome of a true-blue Aussie battler. He won over the heart of the nation following the now infamous incident with a rock in 1980, which led to a public appeal and his first Bathurst win a year later.

“There’s a lot from 1980 that attributes to the win in 1981,” explains Johnson, who created Dick Johnson Racing in 1980

following the demise of his former team, Bryan Byrt Racing.

“We went to Bathurst in 1980 with a car that we built from a second-hand ex-police car and we had one race prior to that, which was at Amaroo.

“Amaroo was a pretty good thing for us; we were leading most of the race until right near the end the back tyre wore out and I had a spin and ended up coming second.”

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In light of the good result at Amaroo, the team was ready to take on the Mountain, even though a Holden had won the last two races there.

“We went to Bathurst and we were fairly confident the car was going to go well there because it had been a long time since a Ford had been up front, let alone leading the race,” says Johnson.

“Anyway we went there and pole position was worth 10 grand and second was worth nothing.

“We missed pole position by about a tenth of a second or something to Kevin Bartlett.”

Johnson’s team had plans to run the car “pretty hard” early in the race.

“Unlike today when you can run the cars flat out all day, you had to be a little conservative with these things because they weren’t as technologically advanced as what the cars are today,” he explains.

“We ran around there at a fairly hot sort of pace and pretty much broke the field up.”

When Johnson’s two main rivals, Peter Brock and Bartlett, struck trouble, his Tru-Blu Falcon appeared to be the likely winner, even though it was still in the first stint of the race.

“We were then looking really comfortable, just cruising around, when I came around through The Cutting and saw the white flag out saying there’s a slow moving vehicle there,” he reflects.

“That was in the days when they had tilt tray trucks picking up all the broken down and crashed cars. And I just rounded the corner and at the crest you can’t see much, but what I saw was the truck, and once I really got over the top of the hill I saw there was a rock in between the truck and the bank.

“I really had nowhere to go, so I tried going up the bank and ended up hitting the rock.”

What happened next not only saved his career, it also set the foundations for the success of Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske that followed over the next four decades.

“It was the best thing that happened,” reflects Johnson.

“At the time, it was the worst thing, but it turned out to be the best thing.

“We’d put an awful lot on the line to get to there and it seemed like it was going to be the end, but because of one of the callers to Channel Seven (who launched a fundraising appeal), what happened saved us.

“Seven’s switchboard was absolutely jampacked with people ringing in to donate money to get us back on track, and one of the callers was Edsel B Ford II (Ford Motor Company heir and then assistant managing director of Ford Australia).

“Edsel said that for every dollar donated he would match it one-for-one – and he did.

“He may have thought it was only going to be four or five grand, but 78 grand later, he’d given us a pretty good budget to do the full season the 24

following year, which I needed really bad. In a sense, that put an awful lot of pressure on me.

“I’m not one to let people down, so it made me, not try harder, but it made it more important for me to get out there and make sure I did the best job for all the people who supported us.

“That was a lot of money in 1980. But we never really did it easy because there was only the two of us. It was (Dick’s brother) Roy and I. We were building the car together, and I was building the engines and gearboxes.

“Roy and I used to drive the truck everywhere and we’d live in the truck. We didn’t have the budget to stay in motels. There were some interesting times, I’ll tell ya.”

Fast forward to 1981 and Johnson had a brandnew car and won the first of five Australian Touring Car Championships.

“It was an absolute blinder of a championship because it was one that came down to the last race between Brock and myself and there was only one point in it,” he recalls.

“It was a race around Lakeside and we were wheel-to-wheel for the entire duration of the event.

“Fortunately, I won, which meant it was the first championship, and then to go to Bathurst that year was really something special.”

Johnson was again confident of winning the Great Race, but this time it was with the public wholeheartedly backing him.

“We had a really good, strong car; we had a good combination in (John French) Frenchy and myself, and the car was really strong leading the race quite easily,” he says.

“And it just so happened that we did everything right during the day, and I think it was about lap 121 where there was a big shunt on top of the Mountain, and it was between Bob Morris and Christine Gibson, and that sort of blocked the track a fair bit because a lot of cars came around unaware of what was in front of them and completely blocked the track.

“So they red flagged the race and because the race had done more than 75 percent, they declared us the winners.

“They went back a lap and actually Bob Morris, who was second at the time, ended up coming second even though his car had crashed, so that’s obviously what the rules were all about.

“It was a hell of a relief for me because all those people had really stuck their faith behind us back in 1980, and to come back the following year and not only win the championship but win the race (Bathurst), which was pretty cruel to us the year before, was special.”

Johnson believes he still would have won the 1981 race even without the fateful rock incident the year before, which in turn led to him driving the brand new car in the race.

“The same as 1980, I had no doubt our car was

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more than capable of winning the event even though a lot of people said, ‘Oh, but in ’81 it was leaking oil.’

“It was only when the engine was turned off because it was on a suction pipe that the oil was leaking.

“When the engine was running it wasn’t leaking oil at all. And that engine went in another car for Surfers Paradise, and it would have well and truly done Bathurst (had the race not been called) without any problems at all.”

Johnson described his next win in 1989 with John Bowe as “really special” because of his “trick” Ford Sierra.

“We led every single lap of the race, which was something that is pretty much unheard of these days,” he says.

“That was a real awesome motor car. We made all the right decisions at the right time and made the right calls as far as strategy goes and put the right tyres on etcetera, etcetera, and it just worked out very well for us.

“Bowie and I just trucked around there and it was just a pleasure to drive.”

But Johnson said his favourite car to drive around the Mountain was the EB Falcon, which won him and Bowe the race in 1994.

“We’d been battling the car during practice earlier in the week and it was a bit of a dog to drive,” he observes.

“It wouldn’t respond to what we were trying to achieve and it was very nervous.

“And then we made one change to the rear of the car with the shock absorbers, and all of a sudden this car, without a doubt, was the nicest thing to drive and you could do anything with it.

“When you get in a car that’s like that it’s just so easy to drive because you can drive it at 110 percent and it wouldn’t really matter because it’s not going to bite you. It was very predictable and it just did everything right.

“I think it would have had to have been one of the best cars I have driven around there.”

Johnson said his team made all the right strategy calls, but a certain rookie driver in a Holden Racing Team Commodore nearly derailed his third Bathurst win.

“We were almost 30 metres from putting a lap on Brad Jones and Craig Lowndes before they had

“IT WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED. AT THE TIME, IT WAS THE WORST THING, BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE THE BEST THING.” DICK JOHNSON ON THE ROCK SUPERCAR XTRA

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a safety car and caught back up,” Johnson says.

“And bugger me dead, with about 12 laps to go Lowndes passes John Bowe and I got on the radio to John and I said, ‘You are kidding me, you’re not going to let some snotty-nosed kid beat you, for crying out loud!’

“That sort of hyped Bowie up a bit more and he put his head down and really dug deep and got back.”

Johnson said Bowe had to really fight to ensure the EB crossed the line first.

“Brad Jones was in the car when I was doing my stints and I didn’t have any trouble with Brad.

“He was driving his backside off to try to nail me, but he couldn’t get near me and Bowie got in for the last stint against Craig and it was a bit of a nail-biter.

“And our car was really, really strong and it went to the end of the race and it was fantastic; it was a really good win.”

Johnson says he has plenty of memorable Bathursts.

“I can assure you,” he laughs.

“Especially in 1983 when we went through the trees in qualifying in the shootout and getting the car ready overnight and starting the next day.

“It was just the spirit of the team. We’ve always had a good team and the backbone of any race team is its people.

“The most disappointing result I’ve ever, ever had in my entire career was at Bathurst in ’92 when we had the Sierra and we were up against the might of the Nissan GT-Rs and the weather was just changing like you wouldn’t believe it.

“It went from wet to dry to intermediate. And if you have to say have you ever done a perfect race that would have been it,” Johnson, who put his Sierra on pole that weekend, recalls.

“Then the weather sort of changed. You only had to be one lap out to come in and put certain tyres on for the conditions and it was history.

“And that’s what actually happened to the Nissan and a lot of other cars too.”

Johnson remembers what are some of his most painful motorsport moments.

“We came in and actually put wet tyres on right at the right time and went back out and the Nissan (driven by Jim Richards and Mark Skaife) crashed going up the hill and then ran across the Mountain with one wheel hanging off.

“It got to Forrest’s Elbow and it fired off the road and crashed into a bunch of other cars that were crashing too while we kept plonking on and they were very difficult, very trying conditions because it was so wet.

“You had to actually look out the side window to see where the side of the road was going down the straight because the spray was horrendous.

“Anyway we crossed the finish line and we thought we had sort of won it and they put the red flag out, but they went back two laps not one, which put us second so that was in itself very, very disappointing to be beaten in that way after we’d fought so god-damn hard. But they’re the rules...”

Johnson cannot talk highly enough of the circuit which has given him both the most devastating career lows and yet exhilarating career highs, including victory as a co-owner in 2019.

“For anyone who’s driven around Bathurst to say they don’t enjoy it doesn’t deserve to be there,” he frankly states.

“I would even say that a lot of the overseas drivers would class Bathurst in the top three in the world.

“It is the most awesome piece of road.”

DICK JOHNSON HONOUR ROLL

1981 Australian Touring Car Championship 1981 Bathurst 1000 1982 Australian Touring Car Championship 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship 1989 Australian Touring Car Championship 1989 Bathurst 1000 1994 Sandown 500 1994 Bathurst 1000 1995 Sandown 500 26

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DICK JOHNSON RACING/ DJR TEAM PENSKE

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WORDS Adrian Musolino IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Justin Deeleey, Peter Norton

DEFINING MOMENTS FROM 40 YEARS

With Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske set to celebrate its 40th anniversary at Bathurst in 2020, we look back at the 40 defining moments from the team’s incredible journey over the last 40 years.

^ 1980 GOING HIS OWN WAY

1980 THE ROCK

Queenslander Dick Johnson was making a name for himself with semi-regular championship and Bathurst appearances in the 1970s, initially in privateer Holden Toranas and then with Ford outfit Bryan Byrt Racing. Following Byrt’s death and the demise of the team, Johnson had two choices: giving up on racing and focusing on his day job running a Shell service station, or setting up his own racing outfit. Johnson bought the car and equipment off Bryan Byrt Racing and formed what became known as Dick Johnson Racing (DJR).

“There’s a chance if we can do this right we can win a few races, so we stuck everything we had into the race car and it went from there,” said Johnson. It would prove to be worth the risk.

The unfancied Johnson and co-driver John French were controlling proceedings at Bathurst in an impressive run for the new outfit, when the entry encountered a football-sized rock heading up Mount Panorama on lap 17. “I just couldn’t believe my bloody eyes with these galoots up there that just throw boulders; that was enormous,” he said post-race. “This was our big shot; we had sunk every bob into this. With our car the way it was, it was more than capable of winning the race – and doing it easily!” But rather than being a crushing blow, the incident led to an outpouring of support. As Johnson later admitted, winning Bathurst that year would not have given him the amount of exposure that he received following the crash.

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Scan to watch footage from the accident.

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1981 CHAMPIONSHIP SUCCESS The outpouring of support for Johnson following the Bathurst incident was immense. More than $70,000 was donated by the public and Ford Australia to get him back on track for the following season, with Edsel Ford matching the public donations. Johnson built a new Falcon XD and won his first championship race at the 1981 season opener at Symmons Plains. He went on to win the championship over Peter Brock following a thrilling finale on home soil at Lakeside. “It was a real duel for the entire race, from the moment the flag dropped to the chequered flag,” said Johnson.

Brock would later describe the win as a “turning point” in Johnson’s life, giving him the self-belief and confidence as the Blue Oval’s new leader.

1981 BATHURST REDEMPTION After the bitter 1980, Johnson headed back to Mount Panorama with the momentum of a

championship win. He qualified in second place and overcame the challenge of Brock and Kevin Bartlett, leading on lap 121 when a multi-car pileup ended the race early. “You wouldn’t believe the feeling of relief after we won, firstly the championship and then Bathurst,” he said. It was a fitting climax to an incredible 12-month journey.

1982 CHAMPIONSHIP NUMBER TWO Johnson went back-to-back with a second championship triumph in 1982. But squabbling over technical infringements between the governing body and the Holden Dealer Team marred the championship fight and would hand Johnson the win. Brock’s Commodore was deemed to be running illegal inlet manifolds, though the argument between the Holden driver and CAMS dragged into the courts and was only settled a month after the championship wrapped up. Johnson said: “1981 was no fluke, but to win my second championship in this way sucked. Big time.”

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^ 1984 FALCON’S WINNING FAREWELL The 1984 season was the curtain call for the Group C era, as the Australian Touring Car Championship geared up for the introduction of the international Group A formula the following year. This meant Johnson would have to farewell the Falcon. And after a challenging season in 1983, Johnson was a force to be reckoned with in 1984. Though he would only win one race at Surfers Paradise, he finished each event on the podium. Johnson won the championship comfortably, with nearest rival Brock missing two rounds due to racing commitments in Europe.

Scan to watch the accident.

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^ 1983 BATHURST BITES BACK

^ 1985 MUSTANG SALLY

Johnson was gunning for a first Bathurst pole position in the Hardies Heroes Shootout when he pushed too hard on the exit of Forrest’s Elbow. He brushed the wall and broke his steering on a tyre bundle, which sent him into the trees. “I remember knocking down a couple of trees but once I got out of the car I don’t really remember much more, even though Peter Brock gave me a lift back to the pits,” said Johnson. The team spent all night converting Andrew Harris’ privateer Falcon into a DJR Falcon, which made it onto the grid only to be halted by a mechanical failure in the early stages. Yet again a Bathurst incident had confirmed Johnson’s status as an Aussie battler.

The Group A regulations forced Johnson to look beyond the Falcon. The team had two Blue Oval options: a five-litre V8 Mustang or the Merkur XR4Ti. The Mustang was the cheaper option, while the Sierra would soon replace the Merkur. Johnson had a consistent season with the Mustang, scoring eight podiums on his way to second in the championship and a win at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix support race, but it was no match for the BMW 635 CSi over the course of the year. “I suppose Boris Becker couldn’t win Wimbledon with a ping-pong bat either, could he!”

Johnson said jokingly about the under-performing Mustang.

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^ 1987 SHELL SIERRA DEBUTS

1988 SILVERSTONE INTERLUDE

The 1987 season would be a big season of change for DJR: new car, new title sponsor and new entry. The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth replaced the Mustang, though regular blown turbos set the team back before the much-needed arrival of the updated RS500 later in year. The team expanded to two cars with the #18 for Gregg Hansford, while Shell stepped in as title sponsor in an association that continues to this day. Johnson won at Adelaide International Raceway and later at the non-championship Australian Grand Prix support race, though there was heartache at Bathurst, where the international brigade of entries who competed at the event as part of the World Touring Car Championship crushed the local Sierra runners.

Eager to prove Johnson’s claim of having the fastest Sierras in the world and wanting to “stick it to those guys” in Europe following the embarrassment of Bathurst 1987, DJR headed to the Silverstone TT touring car event to race against entries from the leading championships in Europe. Johnson claimed pole position by more than two seconds, and he and Bowe looked on course for victory before a water-pump failure ended their chances.

“Other than that they wouldn’t have seen which way we went, which made them stand up and think these guys aren’t as stupid as we thought they were, which was a good feeling,” said Johnson.

1988 BOWE ARRIVES DJR recruited the highly rated John Bowe in 1988.

Bowe had starred in the open-wheeler and sportscar domestic scene and impressed in a Volvo 240T in touring cars. He arrived at a time when DJR had turned the RS500 into the dominant package, with Johnson and Bowe recording the team’s first ever one-two finish at the second round of the season at Symmons Plains. Johnson won his fourth championship with a 38-point advantage over Bowe, a perfect start for the new dream team.

Johnson and his team dominated in 1988 and 1989, winning both championships and Bathurst in the latter.

1989 DOMINATION ^ DJR continued its dominant form into 1989, with Johnson and Bowe yet again crushing the opposition with another one-two finish in the championship. Johnson yet again led the way with a 13-point advantage over Bowe, another back-toback one-two finish for the team before the Nissan Skyline GT-R would arrive and distort the competition. DJR maintained its speed at Bathurst, where Johnson and Bowe stormed away from the field to give Johnson his second Great Race win (and his first to go the full distance) and Bowe’s first win. It was a near-perfect year for the team.

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1989-1990 NASCAR SOJOURN Not content with dominating Australian touring cars, Johnson and his team undertook the massive task of an assault on NASCAR in selected events across 1989 and 1990. With the help of long-time sponsor Palmer Tube Mills, through its Redkote brand, Johnson drove a Ford Thunderbird in seven Winston Cup races with a best finish of 22nd. The cameo appearances added to Johnson and DJR’s appeal, as well as strengthening his ties with the Ford brand.

was stopped. However, the results were taken from two laps back as per international regulations, handing the Nissan the win. “The disappointment was so great that it went on for weeks, something you don’t get over,” said Johnson.

1993 FALCON RETURNS “The V8s were back – big, bold and loud. Bloody brilliant,” said Johnson. The Falcons returned in the new five-litre V8 formula in 1993. There were initial setbacks, though. CAMS rejected DJR’s first Falcon EB for its sports sedan-like shape, though the one that raced had a strong debut with Johnson winning the first race and Bowe the opening round at Amaroo Park. “Although it was a tough, trying and challenging period, it was great to be back in a Falcon,” said Johnson.

1994 SANDOWN BREAKTHROUGH Scan to watch the drama.

^ 1992 BATHURST THAT GOT AWAY DJR’s Sierra appeared to have no hope of beating the dominant Nissan Skyline GT-R at Bathurst in 1992, though the team was bolstered by the arrival of brothers Ross and Jim Stone as team manager and chief engineer respectively that season. The team made the right strategy calls to stay in contention and were first to cross the line when Jim Richards’ Skyline fell victim to the rain as the race

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Victory at the Sandown endurance race had proved elusive for DJR. Brock won the event nine times, shutting out his great rival. But that changed in 1994. Off the back of a winless championship season, Johnson and Bowe won the event for the first time despite a back complaint for Johnson and a lowly qualifying position (15th). Bowe stormed into the lead on lap 30, going on to win in front of six Holdens to take the record of the lowest grid position for a winner in the event’s history. It would kick-start a dominant 12-month period for the team.

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Scan to watch the late–race battle.

^ 1994 BEST BATHURST WIN

1998 FATHER & SON TEAM UP

The Sandown win was the perfect lead in to Bathurst, where Johnson and Bowe were looking to overcome the bad luck of the most recent Bathurst campaigns and capitalise on the speed of their Falcon EB. From 10th on the grid the pair survived the very wet early race conditions to lead in the final stint. The Holden Racing Team’s rookie sensation Craig Lowndes provided a surprising challenge in the closing laps, though. “John, there’s no way you’re going to let some snotty-nosed kid beat you,” said Johnson to Bowe on the radio. Indeed, Bowe would emerge on top for his second and Johnson’s third Bathurst win. Johnson described the car as “the most perfect we ever had at Bathurst”.

Steven Johnson had followed in his father’s footsteps and made the odd appearance with DJR in third entries and at the endurance events from 1994. He would team with his father for the first time at Sandown and Bathurst in 1998, bringing an end to the 10-year partnership between Johnson and Bowe. Though the Johnsons retired at both events, it was nevertheless a special moment for the tight-knit family team. The senior Johnson described it as “maybe the proudest moment of my life”.

1995 BOWE’S SUCCESS Bowe had emerged as the form driver at the end of the 1994 season, winning the non-championship Sandown, Bathurst and Australian Grand Prix support races. Now he had eyes on the title. Bowe won two of the opening three rounds of the 1995 season at Symmons Plains and Bathurst (sprint round) and went on to record seven podiums from the 10 events for a comfortable championship win.

It was his reward for consistent performances over the years, including the runners-up finishes.

1998 LAKESIDE FAREWELL ^ Johnson’s home track at Lakeside was the scene of his first championship win in 1981, and a track that was second only to Bathurst as his favourite.

The circuit hosted its final round in 1998 and DJR was a force to be reckoned with. Bowe and Johnson locked out the front row, an impressive debut for Johnson’s new Falcon EL. Bowe won the first race from Johnson after the latter was slowed in a tangle with a backmarker. While the pair lost out to Russell Ingall over the round with Johnson in second, a podium was an emotional farewell for the latter at his home fortress.

1998 BOWE DEPARTS Bowe shocked DJR when he announced he was leaving at the end of the 1998 season to lead a Caterpillar-backed Ford entry. It was a blow for the team to lose its established driver at a time when Johnson was on the brink of retirement.

“It hurt like hell,” said Johnson. “I thought he was the future of the DJR team and rated him highly as both a person and a driver. My retirement also depended on him being part of DJR, and Shell hit the roof when they found out.”

1999 RADISICH ARRIVES DJR needed a big name to replace Bowe, especially with Johnson approaching retirement. Paul Radisich fit the bill, an experienced Kiwi who had previously driven for the team at the endurance events and enjoyed a successful career in European Super Touring, including two world title wins. Johnson had his doubts, preferring to see son Steven get the drive and describing Radisich as hard on the equipment, though there was no doubting his speed. Radisich looked set to repay that faith after dominating at Bathurst that season, though contact with a backmarker damaged the car and ended his race. He bounced back with a career-best 2000 season, in which he finished fourth in the standings and second at Bathurst.

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1999-2000 DICK’S FAREWELL Johnson conceded that he should have retired following the 1994 Bathurst triumph, though he pushed on till his farewell season in 1999. “Mentally I was fried,” he said. “My motivation had gone, and in my head I was struggling. I couldn’t pinpoint one driving skill I had lost.” Johnson finished a respectable 10th in the standings in his final season and fourth alongside Steven at Bathurst. He would make one more appearance as co-driver with his son at the 2000 Queensland 500 before hanging up his helmet for good.

2000 JUNIOR TAKES OVER #17 Steven had been waiting in the wings since 1994, shaping up as the obvious replacement for his father. He had turned down an offer from Garry Rogers Motorsport in order to wait for an opening at DJR, having to bide his time when Shell demanded a star name (Radisich) to replace Bowe.

So six years after his series debut and with five Bathurst top 10s already to his name, the 26-yearold took over the #17 entry made famous by his father from 2000, starting a 13-year full-time stint in the entry. But was he forced to wait too long for his full-time chance? “I honestly think he would have become a champion had he been given a full-time drive in 1995,” said Dick. “It is one of my greatest regrets to this day.”

2001 CONQUERING CANBERRA Father and son Dick and Steven Johnson teamed up at Bathurst in 1998 and 1999.

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The 2001 season was without doubt Steven’s strongest, confirming Dick’s theory that his son was well and truly ready for a full-time Supercars stint by the time he was handed the keys to the #17 entry. Johnson had a breakthrough weekend on the

Canberra street circuit (pictured below), converting pole into victory in the opener. He backed it up with 12th in the reverse-grid race and third in the finale to win the round. In that one weekend Johnson had claimed his first career pole position, first race win and first round win – and Ford’s 100th race win in the series. He was fifth in the championship standings at the end of the season, his highest-finishing position in his Supercars career.

2001 VICTORY IN THE GRAVEL TRAP Johnson and Radisich capped off their strong 2001 season with victory on home soil at the Queensland 500 endurance event, although in quite unusual circumstances. The #17 was leading with five laps to go but stuck on slicks as a downpour sent cars spinning off in all directions. Radisich fell victim too and was beached in the gravel trap, handing the lead to the Larry Perkins/Russell Ingall entry.

But the red flag would dictate that results went back a lap, handing the win to the beached #17 entry. Nine years after the red flag rule deprived DJR of a Bathurst 1000 win, Steven described the Queensland 500 win as “almost like karma coming back to us”.

2006 SELF-FUNDING THE TEAM After a barren few seasons following the 2001 successes, Shell ended its long-time title sponsorship of the team at the conclusion of 2004. Finance company Westpoint stepped in as title sponsor for 2005, though went bust in the first year of a three-year deal. Dick, desperate to find a long-term alternative after losing two title sponsors in two years, agreed to self-fund the team through his own business ventures, FirstRock Mortgage Centre and V8 Telecom. “It would later result in me losing $9.1 million,” he reflected.

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^ 2007 JIM BEAM SIGNS ON In desperate need of funds to keep the race team going as the FirstRock Mortgage Centre and V8 Telecom businesses were collapsing, DJR signed Jim Beam as its new title sponsor from 2007 on a $700,000 per year deal. It was off the back of rival Jack Daniel’s signing with Perkins Engineering the previous season and gave DJR a new look. Johnson would later admit, though, that it was a “paltry” deal in terms of value to the team, but it helped at a time when results were hard to come by. Crucially, too, former Formula 1 sporting director Adrian Burgess had joined the team, which had completed a deal with Triple Eight to receive technical support and cars from the emerging powerhouse. The team was rewarded with a podium at Bathurst following a mad-dash final stint in wet conditions. It was DJR’s first Bathurst podium in seven years and a vital result following some uncompetitive seasons.

2008 DICK & CHARLIE

By March 2008 the weight of the FirstRock and V8 Telecom failures looked set to cost Johnson his personal and business assets as he faced creditors and an uncertain future. With a $4 million debt and a struggling team that had lost factory funding from Ford, Johnson sought to sell a share of DJR to secure its future. Enter Charlie Schwerkolt, forklift business owner, a friend of Johnson and minor sponsor of the team since 2003. “I wanted Charlie to help resurrect my Roman Empire,” Johnson wrote in his autobiography. For $2 million Schwerkolt picked up a 50 percent share of the team (including the #18 entry), helping keep the business afloat.

^ 2008 DAVISON’S BREAKTHROUGH

Davison celebrates victory with Johnson at Eastern Creek in 2008.

DJR had struggled to fill the void left by Radisich’s departure. Max Wilson, Warren Luff and Glenn Seton had a season each in the #18 entry from 2003 to 2005, with little success. Then came Will Davison, a young-charger with plenty of talent. Davison had played his part in the Bathurst podium in 2007 and beaten his more experienced teammate and co-driver Johnson in the championship that year.

By 2008 he had emerged as a rising star of the series and claimed his maiden victory at Eastern Creek in the second race of the second event of the season. It was the team’s first win since 2001, at a time when the financial hardship of the self-funded years was still being felt. Dick described the win as blowing the sense of doom and gloom away. “After years of pain, I finally cried tears of joy,” he said.

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2009 COURTNEY ARRIVES Davison left DJR at the end of 2008 to join the Holden Racing Team, paving the way for James Courtney to reunite with his friend Burgess and continue the #18 entry’s revival. However, Schwerkolt had signed Courtney without, allegedly, Dick’s approval, which would spark the friction that soon grew between the co-owners. After struggling to fill the void left by Marcos Ambrose at Stone Brothers Racing, Courtney was looking for a fresh start at DJR and made an immediate impact with race wins at the Townsville and Sydney street circuits.

^ 2010 CHAMPIONSHIP SURPRISE

Scan to watch the title win.

The stars aligned for DJR in 2010. Courtney swept the Queensland Raceway and Winton rounds and was benefitting from teething troubles for Triple Eight after its switch from Ford to Holden. But internal squabbles looked set to derail the championship charge. Co-owner Schwerkolt and Johnson had fallen out and a split was on the cards. With the team in disarray and Courtney and Burgess looking to leave, somehow the #18 emerged from a chaotic season finale in Sydney with the title. “I can’t speak enough of the guys, this championship belongs to every one of the guys that works at Dick Johnson Racing,” said Courtney.

2011-2012 SETBACKS

Scan to watch the surprise race victory in 2013.

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Courtney and Burgess both walked away from DJR following the title success while Schwerkolt retained ownership of the #18, leased back to DJR for 2011 and 2012 before being run elsewhere from 2013.

“2011 and 2012 were always going to be horrible years,” said Johnson. “We didn’t have the budget to compete with the big teams and were treading water. We did what we could to find cash to make

the cars as fast as possible. But nothing worked and we were a shadow of the team we used to be.” With the unsustainable expansion to four entries for 2012, the loss of key investors and title sponsors Jim Beam and Norton, and the late media rights deal costing the team a sponsorship deal with Hungry Jacks, it all looked to spell the end for DJR.

2013 VICTORY FOR THE SURVIVORS Backing from Wilson Security and a technical alliance with Ford Performance Racing helped get two new-generation DJR cars onto the 2013 grid, though the team was uncompetitive until the arrival of Chaz Mostert. Mostert debuted at the fourth event in Perth and was immediately on the pace.

At the eighth round at Queensland Raceway he put in a mature drive to win, an emotional victory on home soil no less. “To be quite honest, I knew we would win again, but I didn’t know when that would be,” said Johnson. “The wonderful thing about life is that it can go from the worst to the best in an instant. I have had the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs. I feel pretty high right now.”

^ 2014 THE BIRTH OF DJR TEAM PENSKE Dick Johnson Racing became DJR Team Penske with American giant Team Penske taking a controlling stake in the team in September 2014.

Not only would Team Penske inject new life into the team, it recruited two-time champion Marcos Ambrose for its sole entry in 2015. Though Ambrose’s comeback lasted just one round, replaced by Scott Pye, the Penske influence would set DJR Team Penske on an upward trajectory.

“The opportunities here are endless with the technical expertise that we can get from Penske,” said Johnson. “To integrate with the team we currently have and the facility we have I think will be nothing short of spectacular.”

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2016 RESETING AT TWO CARS After a challenging season running just one entry in 2015, DJR Team Penske expanded to two cars for Fabian Coulthard and Pye in 2016. There were pole positions and podiums for both drivers, but it was a rebuilding year with the foundations being built to challenge for the championship under the leadership of Ryan Story and with the acquisition of Scott McLaughlin and engineering guru Ludo Lacroix.

2017 MCLAUGHLIN ARRIVES The McLaughlin-Lacroix dream team made an immediate impression on DJR Team Penske, challenging for the championship in their first season with the team. While they lost out to Whincup and Triple Eight Race Engineering following a last-lap tangle between McLaughlin and Lowndes in the final race in Newcastle, victory in the teams’ championship in a season in which Shell returned as title sponsor legitimised DJR Team Penske as a contender.

2018 CHAMPIONSHIP SUCCESS McLaughlin fought back from the disappointment of 2017 to win his first championship in 2018, while also scoring the team’s 100th win. It was not only the first for the team under the DJR Team Penske name but also the final championship win for the Falcon. Fittingly, it was the 17th championship win for the Falcon, courtesy of the number 17 made

famous by Ford legend Johnson. “I’m a loyal person and I’ve seen the way the team has risen from the dead to where we are,” said Johnson. “I’ve been there through the good times and the bad times, but if you sit by the stream long enough, things come around.”

2019 MUSTANG RETURNS Thirty-three years after parking the Group A Mustangs, the team returned to racing Ford’s pony car.

The two-door coupe Supercar jumped out of the gates with McLaughlin winning the opening four races of the season. McLaughlin won a total of 18 races over 2019, setting a new record for most wins in a season, on his way to a sweep of the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ championships. “It is hard to compare against eras, but I reckon he has me,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t do some of the things that he is doing. He has extraordinary talent. He will break all the records if that is what he wants to do.”

2019 BATHURST BREAKTHROUGH DJR Team Penske’s near-perfect season included victory in the 2019 Bathurst 1000, with McLaughlin and Alexandre Prémat taking the win. It was the first victory for the Mustang in the endurance classic at the Mount Panorama Circuit and the first for the team in 25 years at the event. “It’s an extremely proud moment, more so for the team,” said Johnson. “It’s been a long time for me, 25 years. I’m not going to wait 25 years for the next one, I can tell you.”

Scan to watch race highlights.

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DRIVER HONOUR ROLL: 1980 – 2020 1980

Dick Johnson John French*

1981

Dick Johnson John French*

1982

Dick Johnson John French*

1983

Dick Johnson Kevin Bartlett*

1984

Dick Johnson John French*

1985

Dick Johnson Larry Perkins* Neville Crichton^

1986

Dick Johnson Gregg Hansford* Neville Crichton^

1987

Dick Johnson Gregg Hansford Neville Crichton* Charlie O’Brien* Neal Lowe^

1988

Dick Johnson John Bowe John Smith* Alfredo Costanzo* Neville Crichton* Robb Gravett*

1989

Dick Johnson John Bowe Jeff Allam* Tony Noske* Robb Gravett*

1990

Dick Johnson John Bowe Jeff Allam* Paul Radisich*

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1991

Dick Johnson John Bowe Terry Shiel* Paul Radisich* Kayne Scott* Gregg Taylor*

1992

Dick Johnson John Bowe Terry Shiel* Greg Crick* Paul Radisich^ Michael Preston^

1993

Dick Johnson John Bowe Paul Radisich* Cameron McConville*

1994

Dick Johnson John Bowe Steven Johnson#* Allan Grice*

1995

Dick Johnson John Bowe Steven Johnson#* Charlie O’Brien*

1996

Dick Johnson John Bowe Steven Johnson* Charlie O’Brien* Tommy Kendall*

1997

Dick Johnson John Bowe Steven Johnson* Craig Baird*

1998

Dick Johnson John Bowe Steven Johnson#* Cameron McConville*

1999

Dick Johnson Paul Radisich Steven Johnson#* Steve Ellery*

2000

Steven Johnson Paul Radisich Dick Johnson* Cameron McLean* Jason Bright*

2001

Steven Johnson Paul Radisich Paul Stokell* Greg Ritter* Cameron McLean*

2002

Steven Johnson Paul Radisich Greg Ritter* Alan Jones*

2003

Steven Johnson Max Wilson Warren Luff* David Brabham*

2004

Steven Johnson Warren Luff Owen Kelly* David Brabham*

2005

Steven Johnson Glenn Seton Dean Canto* Will Davison*

2006

Steven Johnson Will Davison Alex Davison* Grant Denyer*

2007

Steven Johnson Will Davison Alex Davison* Andrew Thompson*

2008

Steven Johnson Will Davison Steve Owen* Warren Luff*

2009

Steven Johnson James Courtney Jonathon Webb* Warren Luff*

2010

Steven Johnson James Courtney Jonathon Webb Marcus Marshall* Warren Luff* David Russell* Dario Franchitti+ Sebastien Bourdais+

2011

Steven Johnson James Moffat David Besnard* Matt Halliday* Dirk Muller+ Joey Hand+

2012

Steven Johnson James Moffat Dean Fiore Steve Owen Allan Simonsen* Alex Davison* Matt Halliday* Paul Morris* Max Papis+ Peter Kox+ Gianni Morbidelli+ Boris Said+

2013

Tim Blanchard Jonny Reid Chaz Mostert Dale Wood* Ashley Walsh*

2015

Marcos Ambrose Scott Pye

2016

Scott Pye Fabian Coulthard Tony D’Alberto* Luke Youlden*

2017

Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Alexandre Prémat* Tony D’Alberto*

2018

Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Alexandre Prémat* Tony D’Alberto*

2019

Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Alexandre Prémat* Tony D’Alberto*

2020

Scott McLaughlin Fabian Coulthard Tim Slade* Tony D’Alberto* * Endurance co-driver ^ Co-driver at non-championship New Zealand events at Pukekohe and Wellington # One-off or part-time championship start(s) + Gold Coast international co-driver

2014

David Wall Scott Pye Steven Johnson* Ashley Walsh* Marcos Ambrose#

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RECORDS & ACCOLADES CHAMPIONSHIP WINS

BATHURST 1000 WINS

1981 Dick Johnson/John French

1981 Dick Johnson

Tru-Blue Ford Falcon XD

Tru-Blu Ford Falcon XD

1989 Dick Johnson/John Bowe

Shell Ultra-Hi Racing Ford Sierra RS500

1982 Dick Johnson

1994 Dick Johnson/John Bowe

Tru-Blu Ford Falcon XD

Shell-FAI Ford Falcon EB

1984 Dick Johnson

2019 Scott McLaughlin/Alexandre Prémat

Greens-Tuf Ford Falcon XE

Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang

1988 Dick Johnson

SANDOWN/QUEENSLAND 500 WINS 1994 Dick Johnson/John Bowe

Shell Ultra-Hi Racing Ford Sierra RS500

Shell-FAI Ford Falcon EB

1989 Dick Johnson

1995 Dick Johnson/John Bowe

Shell Ultra-Hi Racing Ford Sierra RS500

Shell-FAI Ford Falcon EF

2001 Steven Johnson/Paul Radisich

1995 John Bowe

Shell Helix Racing Ford Falcon AU

Shell-FAI Ford Falcon EF

ACHIEVEMENTS

2010 James Courtney

Most drivers’ championship wins – 9 Most race wins in a season – Scott McLaughlin, 18 (2019) Most pole positions in a season – Scott McLaughlin, 16 (2017) Most Bathurst Shootout appearances – Dick Johnson, 21

Jim Beam Racing Ford Falcon FG

2018 Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X

2019 Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang

CHAMPIONSHIP TREND LINE 1st 5th

1

1

1

6

1 2

1

1 3

6

6

10th

4 7

3

2

1

2 4

5

5

5

7 10

9

10

2

15th

16

20th

1

6

10

12 14

1

12 15 17

17 19

19

1981 D JOHNSON 1982 D JOHNSON 1983 D JOHNSON 1984 D JOHNSON 1985 D JOHNSON 1986 D JOHNSON 1987 D JOHNSON 1988 D JOHNSON 1989 D JOHNSON 1990 D JOHNSON 1991 j bowe 1992 j bowe 1993 j bowe 1994 j bowe 1995 j bowe 1996 j bowe 1997 j bowe 1998 j bowe 1999 D JOHNSON 2000 P RADISICH 2001 S JOHNSON 2002 S JOHNSON 2003 S JOHNSON 2004 S JOHNSON 2005 S JOHNSON 2006 S JOHNSON 2007 W DAVISON 2008 W DAVISON 2009 s JOHNSON 2010 j courtney 2011 s JOHNSON 2012 s JOHNSON 2013 c mostert 2014 s pye 2015 s pye 2016 f coulthard 2017 s mclaughlin 2018 s mclaughlin 2019 s mclaughlin

25th

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1970, 1980 & 2010 BATHURST 500/1000

THE DOMINATORS IMAGES Autopics.com.au, Supercars

The 1970, 1980 and 2010 Bathurst 500/1000s were part of dominant runs for Bathurst legends Allan Moffat, Peter Brock, Jim Richards, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. These are the drivers and combinations that went on a winning run in the Bathurst 500/1000.

BOB JANE & HARRY FIRTH Jane and Firth were the original endurance dream team, combining for two wins in the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island in 1961 and 1962. Their winning form continued when the race moved to the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst in 1963, claiming victory in a Ford Cortina Mk.I GT. The combination split in 1964, though both drivers added to their tallies with Jane winning in 1964 and Firth in 1967.

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ALLAN MOFFAT Moffat went back-to-back at Bathurst in 1970 and 1971, remaining the only driver to go solo to win consecutive events.

Moffat won with the Ford XW Falcon GTHO Phase II in 1970, leading home a factory Ford team one-two finish. Moffat upgraded to the Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III in 1971, recording a pole-time 11 seconds faster than the previous year and winning the race by a lap. He added a third victory in the first Bathurst run to 1000 kilometres in 1973, for three wins in four years.

PETER BROCK & JIM RICHARDS The most dominant partnership in the history of the Bathurst 500/1000 was the first combination to claim three consecutive wins at the Mount Panorama Circuit between 1978 and 1980. Following Ford’s crushing one-two formation finish in 1977 and after Brock’s return to the Holden Dealer Team in 1978, the Brock-Richards combination won in their first Bathurst outing together. The 1979 victory remains the biggest winning margin with a six-lap advantage cemented

by Brock recording the fastest lap on the final lap of the race.

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1970, 1980 & 2010 BATHURST 500/1000

PETER BROCK & LARRY PERKINS After missing out on victory in 1981, Brock returned to the top step of the podium with new co-driver Perkins in 1982. It was the start of another three-peat for the Holden Dealer Team’s lead driver, which included a mid-race car swap in 1983 and a one-two formation finish for the team with the famed Holden VK Commodore in 1984. It was a fitting end to the Group C era, in which Brock won seven of the 12 Bathurst 1000s run.

JIM RICHARDS & MARK SKAIFE The Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R dominated in the final years of Group A, winning three consecutive titles between 1990 and 1992. Richards and Skaife split those championships between them and combined for a winning run at Bathurst, starting with a crushing victory by a lap in 1991. Victory in 1992 was a closer affair following a controversial red flag and late-race stoppage, resulting in Richards’ infamous podium tirade to the unhappy fans.

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LARRY PERKINS Perkins was already a three-time Bathurst winner before he created Perkins Engineering, with which he added a further three victories to his tally. The 1993 Bathurst 1000, the first of the V8 era, saw Perkins win alongside Gregg Hansford with a Perkins Engineering-developed Holden V8. Perkins teamed with Russell Ingall for victory in 1995 and 1997, the former with a storming drive from the rear of the field.

STEVEN RICHARDS Richards went on an unprecedented run of results at Mount Panorama between 1997 and 2000. Factoring in the two Super Touring races in 1997 and 1998, he amassed five consecutive podium finishes. This included wins in the V8 version of the race in 1998 and 1999, becoming the first driver to win the event in both a Ford and Holden, in consecutive years, no less.

MARK SKAIFE Skaife’s rule in 2001 and 2002 was complete with back-to-back championship and Bathurst 1000 sweeps with the Holden VX Commodore. Skaife teamed with Tony Longhurst to overcome a late-race charge by the Brad Jones Racing entry of Brad Jones and John Cleland in 2001.

Skaife reunited with Jim Richards in 2002 to complete the double, confirming his and the Holden Racing Team’s domination.

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1970, 1980 & 2010 BATHURST 500/1000

GREG MURPHY & RICK KELLY Kmart Racing took the title of Bathurst dominators from sister operation, the Holden Racing Team, with its own run of consecutive wins at the Mount Panorama Circuit. Murphy and Kelly won in 2003 with the former’s Shootout qualifying effort the highlight of the event. Murphy and Kelly successfully defended their title in 2004, with a notable switch of entries from Murphy’s #51 to Kelly’s #15.

CRAIG LOWNDES & JAMIE WHINCUP Lowndes followed in the footsteps of mentor Peter Brock with his own hat-trick of consecutive wins between 2006 and 2008. And, fittingly, it started in 2006 in honour of the then recently-departed Brock. Lowndes and Whincup were unstoppable in those years, overcoming the challenge of competitive fields and a late rain shower in 2007. After their bid for a fourth win in a row failed in 2009, the rules that split lead drivers resulted in a Lowndes-Whincup one-two formation finish in 2010.

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15/09/2020 4:46:14 PM

2000 BATHURST 1000

THE BATTLERS

The 2000 Bathurst 1000 was wet, very wet, but at the end of a soggy day it was the battlers of Garry Rogers Motorsport that were spraying the champagne.

A

s the fog cleared on top of Mount Panorama on race day morning at Bathurst in 2000, rain continued to fall. But this wasn’t just any rain – it was pelting down! And it was obvious that any potential winner of the Bathurst 1000 that year was going to need more than the usual mix of skill, speed and a little luck; they were going to need absolutely everything going for them to be still in one piece at the end of 1000 kilometres.

While the big boys at the factory-backed end of pitlane checked their equipment and telemetry, there was a tight-knit group further down pitlane that looked to the skies.

Garry Rogers took part in his normal blessing of his cars and all those taking part in the race. There was nothing new about that. Rogers had been giving his blessing before the start of every Bathurst for the previous two decades or so. But there was another member of the small Garry Rogers Motorsport team who had a feeling of calm that year, despite the atrocious weather conditions and the potentially dangerous race that lay ahead.

Jason Bargwanna could be forgiven for believing he had a point to prove at the sacred Bathurst circuit. He could have still been haunted by an incident a few years earlier when he had hung his Commodore off the fence during warm-up for the Great Race. But this was the furthest thing from his mind when he completed the formation lap and took his place on the starting grid for the 2000 Bathurst 1000.

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2000 BATHURST 1000

Bargs was at peace with the world and had an inner calm that he says he had never felt before, nor since, at Mount Panorama.

The opening laps of the 2000 event were like some kind of ice racing smash-up derby with cars crashing and sliding off everywhere. But Bargwanna ‘kept his head’ and just stayed circulating, and fast, without putting a wheel off line.

“I felt confident all week. I felt good about the car. I felt good where we were in the wet, and it was just, kind of like, an inner peace,” Bargwanna explains.

“I just knew what I had to do, and for me it was just corner after corner; lap after lap, and it didn’t matter where we were on the track. All I knew is that I went out there, stayed on the black stuff and kept overtaking cars.”

Garry Rogers Motorsport had been having a good season in 2000. Bargwanna’s teammate, Garth Tander, was fighting the highly-fancied Mark Skaife for the championship, and even before that race started Bargwanna felt the little team from the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley had a big shot at the race.

“Garth had a good chance for the title and we had the big bosses from (sponsor) Valvoline in the USA out here, so there was a bit of pressure on everybody, but it was good pressure,” says Bargwanna.

“I remember walking out from the Queensland 500 thinking we should have won it; only to have a brake pad jam in a pitstop. With the confidence that we had, knowing we could win that race, we turned up at Bathurst with an air of confidence in everyone that we could do it that week; it could be our week.”

Tander agrees that Bargwanna set the tone for the race with his brilliant opening stint.

“We started 10th after I went off in the torrential rain in the Shootout, so he did a good job to put the car up the front, which was obviously important in those conditions because the closer you are at the front the better the visibility and less drama to get involved in. He did a good job then when it was probably the wettest of the day, to get us out of the pack and out of trouble,” says Tander.

The 2000 event was incident-packed and it was one of those days where an entire team’s fortunes could be made or broken in the blink of an eye. Late in the race the three main contenders were Tander, Tony Longhurst in a Stone Brothers Racing Falcon and Paul Radisich in a Dick Johnson Racing Falcon.

Longhurst was leading the race and appeared to be opening up a lead when disaster struck as he hit a lapped car.

It was the opening Garth had been looking for, and he grabbed it with both hands and headed to the chequered flag. However, even when Garth fell behind Longhurst, Bargwanna was comfortable that somehow he would get the lead back.

“It just didn’t matter what was being thrown at us, and everything was thrown at us at the time! I just remember thinking we were going to win the 48

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race that day. That was the feeling I had. So, when Longhurst got past Garth on the restart, Garth stayed with him and I didn’t think it would be too much of a drama.

“We looked at the weather. We knew where we were at with the tyres, with fuel. Tony was in front, Radisich was closing towards the end… but I still had that same feeling that, together, we could pull this off,” says Bargwanna.

“The thing that I remember particularly well that week was the unified feeling of the team. Even dinner on the Saturday night I remember feeling part of one and everybody was one.”

Tander also says he didn’t panic when Longhurst took the lead.

“I think there was a safety car restart with about 15 laps to go and I was in front of Tony, and Tony passed me and was taking a lot of risks, like a lot of risks,” Tander explains.

“The track was sort of ‘dry lined’ but it was still wet off line, and he took a lot of risks going through lapped traffic when we were cautious.

“When he went out I knew very well that same thing could happen to me. Radisich wasn’t very far behind and he was catching me; he was probably a bit quicker than me in those conditions and I was driving a bit cautiously because at that stage then we were leading Bathurst with about eight or 10 laps to go.”

However, Garth didn’t share his teammate’s confidence.

“At no stage, really not until we crossed the line, did I think we had it won,” says Tander.

“With the track the way it was and Radisich catching us, I thought I only have to have traffic at the wrong point across the top and three seconds would turn to nothing very quickly.

“Certainly in those days, I think there were

“IT WASN’T EASY BUT I CERTAINLY DIDN’T APPRECIATE THE MAGNITUDE AND HOW MUCH THE PLANETS HAVE GOT TO ALIGN FOR YOU TO WIN THAT RACE. WE FELT WE WERE IN FOR A SHOT THAT WEEK, AND WHEN WE DELIVERED I THOUGHT, ‘WELL THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO GO.’” – GARTH TANDER 40-odd cars in the race at that stage. The speed difference across the top of the mountain was massive between the fast cars and the slow cars. If you didn’t come across a lapped car in the right spot, you were in trouble.”

Tander was just 23 years old in his third year of Supercars and says he didn’t truly understand at the time what he had achieved.

“It wasn’t easy but I certainly didn’t appreciate the magnitude and how much the planets have got to align for you to win that race. We felt we were in for a shot that week, and when we delivered I thought, ‘Well that’s how it’s supposed to go,’” he says.

However, now having won three Bathurst 1000s, he is reluctant to say that 2000 was his best win.

“It’s hard to judge,” he says. “With any of them you have to rate them on their own merit. People often ask me what the best was: I’ll be honest and say probably the last one, 2011… but the 2000 win is very close behind it. The first one will always have a special memory in your heart.”

Bargwanna and Tander were the classic ‘odd couple’ when it came to pairing up for endurance races. Bargwanna is 169cm tall while Tander measures a more lanky 192cm.

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2000 BATHURST 1000

This presented a major problem with finding the optimum driving position. The answer was two sets of seatbelts and a ‘dickie seat’ insert that Bargwanna used.

While the driving position for neither driver was perfect, they both made it work.

The idea for the ‘dickie seat’ actually goes back to Rogers’ Thunderdome days at Calder Park.

“I used to use one of those when I raced at the Thunderdome because I had a really crook back, and I could never get the seat to fit properly,” Rogers explains.

“It actually helped my back. That wasn’t the case with this: we had to quickly make a bigger or smaller seat. It wasn’t really to do with any aches or pains, but it certainly worked.”

Seeing Tander win the Great Race in one of his cars was particularly pleasing for Rogers because when Garth first came into the sport he was widely criticised as a kid out of control for his aggressive driving style.

“Glenn Seton got a petition going to have him banned!” Rogers reveals.

“I remember going to a meeting with all the team owners and Channel Ten, and everyone was simply saying, ‘You can’t do that; all he wants to do is win and maybe you’re a bit too old and stale; lighten up a bit.’ Look, he did cause a bit of chaos early on and that’s why he won a lot of races. Garth was, and still

is, extremely talented and very dedicated to win.”

Following Bathurst 2000 – his team’s only Bathurst 1000 victory – Rogers was extremely emotional.

“We were a small group of blokes, with a few of them that had come out of the workshop at the Nissan dealership and others who’d helped me in my speedway days,” he explains.

“We had great car speed that year, and finished second in the championship.

“I’d been watching Bathurst all my life and I’d been racing there since ’76. I just gave my best every day. I didn’t think about if we could or couldn’t win it. Our cars were good and our boys worked well and it was always just a case of, ‘Let’s give it a go!’ I probably don’t show a lot of excitement, but I get enormous satisfaction. I certainly did that year.”

The 2000 victory holds a special place in Rogers’ heart and of all his former race cars as both a driver and team owner, the Bathurst-winning VT Commodore is the only car he has kept.

“It’s sitting here; I can see it from my office window,” he says.

“I was offered a very good price for it, straight after the race. And in those days you needed every single cent you could get because you really had to sell a car to get the budget for the next season, basically. But for some reason I thought, ‘No, I really want to hang on to this one.’ While the money was important, there are things that have become more important.”

2000 BATHURST 1000 TOP 10

50

#

Drivers

Team

Car

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Garth Tander/Jason Bargwanna Paul Radisich/Jason Bright Steven Richards/Greg Murphy Steven Johnson/Cameron McLean Nathan Pretty/Todd Kelly Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife Craig Baird/Simon Wills Dugal McDougall/Andrew Miedecke David Parsons/Darren Hossack Jason Plato/Yvan Muller

Garry Rogers Motorsport Dick Johnson Racing Gibson Motorsport Dick Johnson Racing Holden Young Lions Holden Racing Team Stone Brothers Racing McDougall Motorsport Gibson Motorsport Holden Racing Team

Holden VT Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VT Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VT Commodore Holden VT Commodore Ford AU Falcon Holden VT Commodore Holden VT Commodore Holden VT Commodore

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1990 BATHURST 1000

THE UND

WORDS Adrian Musolino, Andrew Clarke IMAGES Autopics.com.au

The Holden Racing Team was born out of the Holden Dealer Team’s demise following the ugly divorce between Holden and Peter Brock. While the second iteration of the Holden factory team went on to great success, it was a difficult formation that was salvaged by an unexpected win at Bathurst in 1990 and the eventual return of Brock in 1994.

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ERDOGS

I

t all started with Peter Brock, when he went from meat pies, kangaroos and Holdens to polarisers and enough out-there concepts for Holden to dump its superstar. In the process, Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) formed to take over the road-car business and with a plan to create the Holden Racing Team.

HSV was formed in 1987 as a joint venture between Holden and Tom Walkinshaw Racing, just a few months after Brock was cut free by the manufacturer. John Crennan was sent

into the venture to look after Holden’s interests, working with Walkinshaw to build one of the most successful car companies in Australia.

Under Brock the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) had been producing some homologations and other models of the Commodore for Holden. They sold well and the dealers loved them, so when that all disappeared Holden needed to keep its dealer body happy. They also knew that to be successful there needed to be a track link, but that was to come later in an official sense.

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The Holden Racing Team’s VL Commodore SS Group A SV defied the odds in defeating the numerous Ford RS500 Sierras at Bathurst in 1990.

54

“We knew racing was always going to be an important funding mechanism for the road cars, but the whole idea at the outset was to get Holden Special Vehicles going first,” Crennan explains.

“Everyone wanted us to wait two years before we went racing, but it was only three months before someone at Holden said we needed to be in motor racing.

“Holden Special Vehicles as a name was a bit cumbersome, so we needed a logo to make it easily recognisable… we needed a logo to become all embracing. It needed to be different to Holden and marketable.”

At that stage the vehicle operations didn’t even have a well-established home, let alone the facilities to start a race team. So some lateral thinking was needed and a deal was struck with Larry Perkins to run a team in 1988 under the Special Vehicles banner while a new race car was developed. The existing Group A machine developed by HDT was getting thumped by the Ford Sierras, so something radical was required.

What popped out was the Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV, with its front bumper so low it was made in two parts so you could take part of it off for road use and, of course, that raised rear bootlid.

The wild nature of this car was all purpose and went part way to entrenching the new racing car in the hearts and minds of Holden fans. And when the Holden Racing Team was formally created for 1990, it was on its way to success in one of its core reasons for existence, popularity. But before that, the team needed to survive two years with Perkins at the helm. Not that having Perkins run the show was a bad thing, but he and Walkinshaw just didn’t get along that well.

In 1988 Perkins ran an ‘old’ Commodore while waiting for the new car to be developed and then homologated via the sale of 500 cars. He scored one podium during the season at Lakeside, the only podium for a Holden driver that season.

Bathurst was a similar wipeout for Holden and the joint venture, with the team’s cars failing to finish. Not that they didn’t make headlines. Walkinshaw lodged a protest against the Australian-built Ford Sierras that required them to be pulled apart for inspection. They were all ultimately cleared and claimed a clean sweep of the podium, but he had upset the apple cart.

Dick Johnson decided to protest the modifications to Perkins’ car, and they were found to have illegal steering racks, so had they finished the race they would have been disqualified. It left a bitter taste for the Scotsman, as if he needed a reason for more angst with Perkins.

The deal with Perkins was a year only, and when the championship kicked off in 1989, it did so with the Special Vehicles team and not the promised Holden Racing Team, which was still taking shape.

For the endurance races, Walkinshaw and Crennan again turned to Perkins, who ran cars for the first time under the HRT banner. Both cars lumbered three laps off the pace.

“The clashes between Tom and Larry meant that arrangement was only ever going to be temporary, and it didn’t end well either,” says Crennan.

“There was the possibility of litigation over money and who owned what equipment, and emotions ran pretty high at the time. In hindsight, it was all pretty silly, and I’m pleased we listened to some of the people at Holden who told us just to solve the problems.

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“Then we had to get things such as a workshop and other facilities to run the team all in one place.

I was going to be involved to a certain degree, more on marketing and branding; Tom was going to look after the contracts and other parts of the team; and Win Percy was brought in to run the show.

“The relationship between Win and I was not a good one. Win was quite a character in many ways. Tom always referred to him as ‘Wobbly Win’, because he was so hot and cold.

“One minute he was mad about being Australian, the next he wanted to go home. It got off to an awkward start and Holden didn’t need to see that.”

After that brief reunion with Perkins, the Holden Racing Team proper commenced with that clumsy management structure in 1990.

It was no match for the turbocharged cars from Ford and Nissan. But Bathurst was a different story; the planets aligned on that day and Percy and Allan Grice came away with a hard-fought victory. Some performance boosts through some rule changes helped, but in the end it was nine months of unending work and a spot of luck.

In the championship sprint races, the Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV had no hope against the turbos. Percy finished eighth in the championship with just one podium. But what the VL lacked in pace it made up for in reliability. And at Mount Panorama, survival is key.

Grice had won at Mount Panorama in the Chickadee privateer entry in 1986; an unlikely success for the General in the Group A era.

The Sierra RS500 looked the favourite to claim three wins in a row at Mount Panorama in 1990 with 16 entries, including defending champions Johnson and John Bowe, Holden refugee Brock and international polesitters Klaus Niedzwiedz and Frank Biela, while the Nissan camp had the all-new all-wheel-drive GT-R for Jim Richards and Mark Skaife.

Nevertheless, the VLs surprised with top-10 pace leading into the race and sixth on the grid for Grice, the best of the rest behind five Sierras.

Race day, however, saw a spectacular series of failures for the Sierras, caught up in their own battles given their strength in numbers across so many leading teams.

There were incessant tyre problems for the Sierras; a blown head gasket for Tony Longhurst; clutch failure for Glenn Seton; differential failure for the polesitters and the GT-R; and turbo failure for Johnson.

Grice, who remained in the car for the final stint in drizzly conditions, held off Dick Johnson Racing’s second entry of Paul Radisich and Jeff Allam and the VL Commodore of Perkins and Tomas Mezera for an unlikely win.

Bathurst had legitimised the Holden Racing Team as the General’s factory team. Despite further struggles in the championship, including a part-time effort in 1992, Bathurst delivered that debut win and second and fifth in 1991 and 1992 respectively.

“Aside from that win at Bathurst, it was an awful time,” says Crennan.

Grice and Percy celebrate their unexpected Bathurst victory.

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“Tom wasn’t committed and he wanted to pull out, then we did it part-time which was embarrassing after the promises we had made to sponsors.

Normally a Bathurst win for a young team would be enough, but the next few years were tough. After Percy decided to return to England at the end of the 1992 season, Walkinshaw cracked it and the team almost ended at that time.

“It was all over the place and Tom was running out of patience,” says Crennan.

“Then Tom decided not to run all the races despite the win at Bathurst. In fact, Tom wanted to close it down, but I put my foot down.

“At the end of 1993 I had written a three-year plan about how we needed to be the most popular team, the best Holden team and the team winning races and championships.”

The saviour was, ironically, Brock, who would return to the factory-backed Holden fold from 1994, helping them to build the foundations for the success that followed.

“The turning point was when we got Brock – we clearly lacked the presence of a Brock if we were going to be the most popular, and I fought hard to get him,” says Crennan.

“Rob McEneiry, who was the marketing director at Holden, said there was no way that was going to happen while he was there… and then he got moved to Sweden and we started working on Brock.”

Brock joined HRT in 1994 and stayed until his full-time retirement at the end of 1997, coming full circle with the manufacturer and setting the team on its way to the top.

The 1990 success was the first of seven Bathurst 1000 wins for the team. And together with six championship wins, including five in a row between 1998 and 2002, the persistence in the formative years paid off.

1990 BATHURST 1000 TOP 10 # Drivers

Team

Car

1

Win Percy/Allan Grice

Holden Racing Team

Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

2

Jeff Allam/Paul Radisich

Dick Johnson Racing

Ford Sierra RS500

3

Larry Perkins/Tomas Mezera

Perkins Engineering

Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

4

Peter Brock/Andy Rouse

Mobil 1 Racing

Ford Sierra RS500

5

Brad Jones/Neil Crompton

Holden Racing Team

Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

6

Kevin Waldock/Mike Preston

Playscape Racing

Ford Sierra RS500

7

Andrew Bagnall/Robbie Francevic

Playscape Racing

Ford Sierra RS500

8

Bill O’Brien/Brian Sampson

Everlast Battery Service

Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV

9

Chris Lambden/Greg Crick

Chris Lambden

Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R

10

Klaus Niedzwiedz/Frank Biela/Pierre Dieudonne

Allan Moffat Racing

Ford Sierra RS500

56

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14/09/2020 10:26:50 AM

1960 ARMSTRONG 500

THE ORIGINAL

WORDS Cameron McGavin IMAGES Cameron McGavin, Autopics.com.au

The history of the endurance classic we now know as the Bathurst 1000 dates back to Phillip Island in 1960 and the first running of the Armstrong 500. We tracked down an exact replica of the 1960 Armstrong 500-winning Vauxhall Cresta and spoke to driver Frank Coad back in 2015. This is their story.

58

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T

race your finger back through the results of every Great Race and you’ll end up at 20th November, 1960, and the Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island. The winning car? A Vauxhall Cresta driven by Frank Coad and John Roxburgh.

Well, say hello to that car. Actually, it’s not the exact same Cresta because it no longer exists. It is, though, a fastidious re-creation. And the person who carried out the work and still

owns it is the very same Frank Coad whose name sits above the Brocks, Moffats, Johnsons, Whincups and Winterbottoms in the Great Race winners’ list. Short of time-machining the original back into existence, this is as close as you’re gonna get to the real thing.

The first Great Race might have lacked the weight of history that made later editions so prestigious, but it clearly wasn’t just any race.

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1960 ARMSTRONG 500

The 49-car field included nine factory-supported teams and some of the biggest names in Australian motor racing, from David McKay, Bob Jane, Harry Firth and Lex Davison to Doug Whiteford, Norm Beechey and the Geoghegan brothers (Ian and Leo). Even Larry Perkins’ father Eddie was there in a Volkswagen Beetle, which seems kind of appropriate.

It was billed as the world’s richest touring-car race and prize-money totalled £5625, a more than handy sum in 1960.

It piqued the interest of Coad, then a Phillip Island foundation club member who’d been racing for more than a decade in a succession of different cars, enjoying a successful run in a Vauxhall Special sports car.

When he and good friend Roxburgh heard about this fascinating new race, they immediately set about working on a way to get on the grid.

“We heard about this event starting down in Phillip Island, so we went out looking for a sponsor,” says Coad.

“We went to see Cheney’s (Vauxhall/Chevrolet/ Bedford distributors and dealers) and Old Mr Cheney (SA Cheney) said, ‘Yeah, I’ll support you.’

And that was how it all started.

“He called in his service manager, who was Colin Passmore, and said, ‘I’ve decided to support these boys in this production-car race.’ Col said, ‘Well, what do want me to do, sir?’ and the old man said, ‘Win it, man, win it.’ And that was what Col did. He did all the work; we just had to drive.”

A lot is made of modern professionalism and how everything was so quaint back in the old days.

But Vauxhall’s 1960 Armstrong 500 attack was employed with utter seriousness.

“We tried the Cresta out, took it up to the

Dandenong ranges and thrashed the hell out it! And it did really well,” says Coad.

“We took it down to Phillip Island about four or five times to run it and weed out the problems. A fortnight before the race we did 500 miles, with all the crew, timekeepers and lap charts, just so we could get everything right. It was a very professional team that we put up.

“We even had a booklet made that told each of us what our job was. Everybody had a job to do and they had to do it properly. They used to practice their wheel-changing down the workshop at Cheney’s after they’d all finished work. It was a professional race team created to win the race and it did.”

The only thing that seems quaint now is how the Cresta and not some other Vauxhall came to be the chosen entry for the race. It all came down to colour and a nicely run-in engine.

“We looked at all these Vauxhall demos and they’d all done about 500 miles,” says Coad.

“Then we looked at Old Mr Cheney’s personal chauffeur-driven Cresta and it had done 6000 miles, so that was ideal. And it was light blue, which was a good colour for television. That’s how it came to be the Cresta, not a Velox.”

The Cresta fought for Class D honours in the race (for cars with an engine capacity between 2001cc and 3500cc). It had speed, durability and drivers with local knowledge, but they weren’t the favourites.

“The Benz coming over from Tasmania, John and Gavin Youl, that was the car to beat,” says Coad.

“The Cresta was a quick car. In those days your regular Vauxhall was good for 85mph. Well, we were doing 105 in ours! Its roadholding was a big, big advantage and it had good brakes for the day. You

“IN THOSE DAYS YOUR REGULAR VAUXHALL WAS GOOD FOR 85MPH. WELL, WE WERE DOING 105 IN OURS!” - FRANK COAD

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Coad and Roxburgh at the 1960 Armstrong 500.

The replica Vauxhall Cresta.

could leave it in top gear and do very good times.”

When the track conditions on race day deteriorated and the Benz fell over (literally), Coad and Roxburgh kept on circulating without troubles to the Class D win and were the first to complete the full distance, knocking off the 167 laps in eight hours, 15 minutes and 58 seconds at an average speed of 60.96mph.

“Most teams didn’t know what the conditions at Phillip Island were like,” says Coad.

“The conditions weren’t flash. The interstaters did have an idea of how abrasive the track was on tyres, but it would tear the things to pieces. Then you had potholes to contend with, other cars and also dead cars around the circuit.

“For us it was a very straightforward run. John did the first stint, I did the next, he did the next and I did the finish. Once the Benz turned over it was home and hosed.”

While there was technically no outright winner of that first Great Race, the Cresta is down in the record books as the first victor.

Not without some dispute, though, as some would later claim that Class C winners Geoff Russell, David Anderson and Tony Loxton in a Peugeot 403 had actually covered the 500 miles in a quicker time, owing to the class starts being separated by 10 seconds and the Class C runners starting 10 seconds later than those in Class D. Coad, not surprisingly, never bought that story.

“In 1960, once we crossed the line after 167 laps, well, the race was over,” he says.

“We were four laps ahead of it all, but Geoff Russell put the story around that he could see the Vauxhall and he should have won it because of the 10-second gap. But that 10 seconds didn’t make any difference.

“In the words of Graham Hoinville, who went through all the results 20 years ago after they rehashed it and I went crook, the only way Geoff could see the Vauxhall was in his rear-vision mirror as it was about to pass him for the fourth time!”

The significance of what they’d achieved couldn’t be fathomed, but they knew they’d done something great.

“We were very proud of ourselves; there was a big do at the Isle of Wight on the Sunday night and a big, gold thing presented, which Cheney has,” says Coad.

“Of course, we didn’t realise what it all would mean.”

Coad and Roxburgh’s Great Race win in the Vauxhall proved to be a crucial first step in the ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ culture that would fuel the local racing scene through the decades and deliver classic cars like the Cortina/Falcon GTs, Torana XU-1/A9X and more.

“GM, of course, didn’t race in those days,” says Coad.

“They didn’t want us to run and they threatened to take the Vauxhall franchise off Cheney if he ran. But who went and advertised the win in the Melbourne papers on the Monday?

General Motors!

“After that they couldn’t get enough Crestas; they were coming in CKD (complete knocked-down form for local assembly) and they hadn’t brought enough in, so they ran out.

“GM realised the business potential after that; they’re not stupid, and they soon got involved. When Harry Firth went over to Ford and brought the little Cortinas out, that’s what really got it all started.”

Coad and Roxburgh backed up to defend their title in 1961 in a Velox (a cheaper version of the Cresta). They were frontrunners in the race until Roxburgh had a major spin and had to pit for repairs. They ended up second in Class A (the classes were restructured compared to the previous year) and third outright behind the winning Bob Jane/Harry Firth Mercedes 220SE and Studebaker Lark of David McKay and Brian Foley.

“The previous year we had Col running everything like a tight ship, and I think we let things go a bit in 1961,” says Coad.

“The problems John had that year were down to him getting a bit loose the night before! He did a 360-degree spin in mid-air at the first turn, landed on the left-hand front and it bent everything under.

“We were very competitive. Once Jane had his tyre troubles it was ours because we could round up the Studebakers. But it got SUPERCAR XTRA

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1960 ARMSTRONG 500

away from us. We were stopped for two and half laps getting it straightened up, and that buggered us up!”

Coad and Roxburgh returned again in a Cheneyentered Cresta for 1962’s final Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island, but fell prey to the brutal track conditions that contributed to the race location’s demise.

“We just kept breaking tie-rod ends; I broke one on the right-hand side going around Southern Loop and had to repair it myself to get it back,” he says.

“Then a bit later I was coming around Lukey Heights and it did the left one! I was able to get it back but by then we were down about six laps, so we retired it.”

Coad didn’t race at the inaugural Armstrong 500 at Bathurst in 1963 or through most of the 1960s events.

“We were busy trying to get our lives and business sorted out,” says Coad, who ran Holden dealerships in Victoria’s Mallee before making a switch to freelance plane sales (he started flying in 1949). “Racing was becoming more of a part-time thing.”

In 1969, though, he accepted an offer from his old mate Roxburgh to drive for the Datsun Racing Team in the nation’s biggest race and punted his Datsun 1600 to fifth in class and 27th outright.

Coad ran again in 1970 for the same outfit in a Datsun 1200 but DNF’d.

Coad says: “1970 was the last time I ran in anger.

After that I hung up the boots and just said no.

Then any time I went out on a track was purely for fun.”

As time went on, Coad started to wonder what happened to his Armstrong-winning Cresta and in 1992 set about tracking it down.

“It was my wife’s idea; she suggested I should do something about it,” he says.

“I tried to find the original car but found out it

had gone; it had been in an accident and destroyed.

So I got another shell, made some framework with little wheels so I could move it around, stripped everything out and rebuilt everything, right down to the locks and the window winders. A friend of mine did the paintwork and bodywork and another friend did the engine.”

The reborn Cresta is a dead-ringer for the original, right down to the number, signwriting and regulation rear mudflaps (required for the race).

The only differences are mandatory modern safety kit (mirrors, seatbelts) and the 138ci six-cylinder engine being bog-standard rather than religiously optimised as engines were in the production-spec racing days.

“It doesn’t have the high state of tune the race car of 1960 had,” says Coad.

“That one was standard specs but optimised; the very best one you could put together. Col went out to Dandenong and they went through 62 heads that they had in stock to find the best one!”

The reborn Cresta had some teething problems during its first public appearance in 1996’s Bathurst Legends Rally but has since performed faultlessly.

It’s still used by Coad and his family to get to various motoring events and for general use.

“It is a good old car to drive and it brings back the memories,” says Coad.

“I get a lot of people coming up and saying, ‘I saw that thing win in 1960!’”

You can sense more than a little pride at finding himself in such a significant position in the history of Australia’s most celebrated motorsport event.

“None of us could have ever envisioned back in 1960 what it’s all become,” he says, pointing to a poster on his wall showing every winner of the Great Race, with his old Vauxhall sitting right at the top of them all.

1960 ARMSTRONG 500 TOP 10 # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

62

Drivers Frank Coad/John Roxburgh Geoff Russel/David Anderson/Tony Loxton Doug Stewart/Bill Murray/Murray Galt Peter Manton/Barry Topen George Spanos/Leo Taylor Jack Nougher/Lionel Marsh Jack French/Norm Beechey Bob Holden/Ken Brigden Brian Muir/Jim Smith Bob Brown/Michael Lempriere

Car Vauxhall Cresta Peugeot 403 Simca Aronde Morris Major Austin Lancer Simca Aronde Vanguard Peugeot 403 Morris Major Simca Aronde

Scan to watch newsreel from the 1960 Armstrong 500.

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Chevrolet Chevrolet Camaro Camaro is is a a proven proven effortlessly effortlessly offering offering as as low low as as 3 3 ready ready to to go go Cost Cost $8.5k $8.5k new new Fuel Fuel pump. pump.

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Ambruzi Ambruzi th400 th400 carpets are in good condition, Quaife LSD - Registered and Eligible to compete in AGT buyer includes: * Build 2 of 3 front-runner... front-runner...

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NEXT ISSUE ON SALE

DECEMBER 2020

FROM THE ARCHIVES

DRIVER SPLIT

It’s a decade since Supercars precluded full-time drivers from pairing up in the endurance events. And with the rule now well established, the 2009 Bathurst 1000 marked the final hurrah for varying strategies in driver combinations.

T

he Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Will Davison were the last full-time drivers to team up to win the Bathurst 1000 in 2009. Two months after their victory, Supercars introduced a new rule that would force drivers to remain in their own entries for the endurance events.

The rationale behind the rule change was to have more competitive entries in contention in the final stages of the endurance events and also so the championship race wasn’t nullified by contending teammates scoring the same amount of points.

Previously, teams would either split or partner their

full-time drivers, often depending on sponsorship arrangements for their cars, championship considerations or the strength of their codrivers. By 2009, though, the preferred strategy was to pair up the full-time drivers.

The top-three finishers at the 2009 Bathurst 1000 were full-time combinations – Tander and Davison, Brad Jones Racing’s Cameron McConville and Jason Richards, and Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Lee Holdsworth and Michael Caruso.

Tasman Motorsport bucked the trend and kept its fulltime drivers in their own cars, allowing Greg Murphy to partner former teammate Mark Skaife in the season after the

latter retired from full-time driving. They just missed out on the podium after a bold strategy call.

The Tasman entry finished ahead of the Triple Eight Race Engineering duo of Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, with the latter’s fifth place after a troubled run ending their domination of the event following three consecutive wins from 2006 to 2008.

The teams that did pair their lead drivers went for varying strategies in their second cars. Triple Eight Race Engineering ran internationals Allan Simonsen and James Thompson, but, for the most part, other teams opted for combinations of former fulltimers, regular co-drivers or

young up-and-comers. The best of the part-timers was Garry Rogers Motorsport’s David Besnard and Greg Ritter, who finished ninth having led earlier in the race.

The introduction of the new co-driver rule received mixed feedback. Tander described it as “an absolutely stupid rule”, while regular co-driver Steve Owen was in favour saying it meant he could “go to Bathurst and realistically win the race”.

In the first season with the new rule at the Mount Panorama Circuit in 2010, Triple Eight Race Engineering completed a one-two formation finish with Lowndes and new co-driver Skaife leading home Whincup and Owen.

The podium finishers at the 2009 Bathurst 1000.

66

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