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Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
team competing in the
Supercars Championship
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
. The team currently fields the #11 and #17
Ford Mustang GTs for
Anton de Pasquale
Anton De Pasquale (born 14 September 1995) is an Australian motor racing driver. He currently drives the No. 11 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship ...
and
Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
respectively. Founded by
Dick Johnson, the team's drivers have won ten
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
titles (five of them by Johnson himself) and the team has taken four victories in Australia's premier race, the
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
.
The team was initially based out of Johnson's family home in
Daisy Hill in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
's southern suburbs, before moving to facilities within sponsor Palmer Tube Mills' factory. In the late 1990s it relocated to a specialist workshop in
Stapylton.
In September 2014 it was announced that American motor racing team owner
Roger Penske
Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur involved in professional auto racing and a retired professional auto racing driver. He is most famous for his ownership of Team Penske, DJR Team Penske, t ...
had taken a 51% shareholding interest in DJR, rebranding it as DJR Team Penske with former V8 Supercar champion and NASCAR regular
Marcos Ambrose
Marcos Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 and 2004.
In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the Un ...
joining the team at the final event of the 2014 season ahead of a full 2015 program. It was the first time that
Team Penske
Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...
expanded its involvement to a non-US based championship since their days in
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
.
In October 2020, it was announced that Penske would sell its stake in the team to Ryan Story returning its name to Dick Johnson Racing.
History
Early years and Group C
![Johnson-xd81](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Johnson-xd81.jpg)
The longest-established motor racing team in Australia, Dick Johnson Racing was founded in 1980. The team was originally based out of Johnson's home in
Daisy Hill in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
's southern suburbs.
During the 1970s, Johnson was only a sporadic competitor in the
Australian Touring Car Championship
The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...
(ATCC), but a regular competitor, and victor in the Queensland Touring Car Championship driving a
Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1
The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from an word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 19 ...
backed by petroleum giant
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
, and later by prominent Brisbane
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
dealership, Zupps. Johnson's national profile increased with the formation of Bryan Byrt Racing with Johnson as lead driver late in 1976, giving Johnson his first drives in a
Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop
The Ford Falcon (XB) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1973 to 1976. It was the second iteration of the third generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XB), the luxury-oriented version.
Overview
The ...
. The team folded at the end of the 1979 season, but Johnson was able to use some of its resources to establish his own team for the following season with financial hold from Johnson's long time friend Ross Palmer and his Brisbane-based business Palmer Tube Mills.
After briefly investigating running a
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.
...
, Johnson came to the fore when a change in regulations introduced the
Ford XD Falcon
The Ford Falcon (XD) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1979 to 1982. It was the first iteration of the fourth generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XD)—the luxury-oriented version. to the series. Johnson debuted his new Falcon at a non-championship meeting at
Lakeside
Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to:
Places Australia
* Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria
* Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia
* Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria
* Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...
in June,
[Mark Oastler, XD Falcon, The Weighting Game, Australian Muscle Car, Issue 50, July/August 2010, page 54] and then finished second in the car in the 1980 CRC 300 at
Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including t ...
in August. Johnson served notice of his and the XD's arrival to a delighted
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...
when he led the
Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
VB Commodore early in the race and it was only tyre troubles that dropped him to second behind the Commodore. Brock was delighted as other than
Kevin Bartlett's
5.7L Chevrolet Camaro Z28
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sh ...
(which had proved its speed, but its drum rear brakes were not up to the job), his HDT Commodore had proven near unbeatable in 1980 and Johnson and the new model Ford Falcon provided a welcome new challenger.
[
The largely unheralded Johnson then surprised everyone when he qualified on the front row for the 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 alongside Bartlett's Camaro and in front of Brock (who had qualified on pole for all 12 races touring car races he had entered to that point of the year). Bartlett had been the fastest in official qualifying, but Dick matched his time by the 1/100th of a second. When the flag dropped to start the race, the Camaro bogged down and Johnson took off, quickly building a large lead over the first sixteen laps of the race, including putting a lap on four time and reigning Bathurst champion Brock after the Dealer Team ]Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore, a ...
had to pit for minor repairs. On the seventeenth lap after just having lapped Brock, Johnson collided with the wall coming out of The Cutting after running over a large rock in the road. Coming out of The Cutting (in the days before the use of the Safety car), Johnson found a tilt-tray tow truck that was retrieving a mechanically failed car from the circuit on one side of the road and a basketball sized rock sitting right on the only path past the truck. The Falcon ran over the rock with its left wheels and caused Johnson to impact the wall which was enough to all but destroy the car. In the aftermath of the crash, as Johnson was standing beside the car as it lay across the track (partially blocking it and leaving only one line through), he was almost cleaned up by the 3rd placed Falcon of Bob Morris who was forced to lock his brakes in a successful bid to avoid hitting Johnson after apparently not paying attention to the yellow flags.
The tale of Johnson's battle with the rock at Bathurst in 1980 is still remembered, and some AU$
The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island s ...
72,000 was donated by the Australian public who pledged money through the race broadcasters, the Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
after watching the crash and a subsequent TV interview with Johnson conducted by visiting American commentator Chris Economaki
Christopher Constantine Economaki (October 15, 1920 – September 28, 2012) was an American motorsports commentator, pit road reporter, and journalist. Economaki was given the title "The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism." (with a visibly moved Johnson thanking both Seven and the Australian public). The amount pledged by Channel 7 viewers was matched by dollar for dollar by then Ford Australia
Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited (known by its trading name Ford Australia) is the Australian subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford Motor Company. It was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Comp ...
boss Edsel Ford II
Edsel Bryant Ford II (born December 27, 1948) is the great-grandson of Henry Ford I, grandson of Edsel Ford I, and the only son of Henry Ford II. He served as a member of the board of directors of Ford Motor Company for 33 years before announci ...
who recognised the significance of Johnson's performance at Bathurst in keeping Ford at the sharp end of touring car racing. The overall donation of $144,000 plus the sale of the crashed Falcon to fellow Queenslander John Donnelly who repaired and returned it to racing, was enough to get Johnson back on track with a new XD Falcon for 1981.
Inspired by the support and feeling a great sense of debt to the Australian public, Johnson went on to win the 1981 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1981 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1981, Conditions for Australian Titles, page 94 The championship, which was the 22nd running o ...
in a thrilling duel with Peter Brock which went down to the last race of the series at his home track of Lakeside
Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to:
Places Australia
* Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria
* Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia
* Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria
* Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...
in Brisbane. There Johnson led from the front and just managed to win by a second from Brock in what many believe to be one of the best touring car races seen in Australia with both drivers praising each other (and winning universal praise) for a clean race in which Brock had many chances to actually punt the Tru-Blu Falcon off the road but resisted the temptation to do so. After leading early in the Hang Ten 400 at Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...
in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, a couple of spins thanks to a new suspension set up that was not working handed Brock his seventh Sandown endurance race win in a row. The suspension problems were fixed by the time the team got to Bathurst for the James Hardie 1000 and Johnson again put the Falcon on the front row alongside Bartlett's Camaro. There, alongside veteran co-driver John French they becoming the first Queenslander's to win the event. With Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four win ...
becoming a factory Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
driver, Johnson became Ford's lead driver and 'folk hero'. The 1981 race is remembered not only as DJR's first win at The Mountain, but also because the race was red flagged on lap 121 of 163 because of a crash at McPhillamy Park on lap 122 which blocked the track. As the Johnson/French car was leading at the end of lap 121 and the race had travelled more than ⅔ distance, the race was declared with Johnson and French the winners. It was the first time in the races history that the race had been declared short of the required distance.
Johnson won the touring car championship again in 1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
in the Tru Blu XD Falcon, though he had actually finished second in points behind Peter Brock. However, Brock was disqualified for the use of yet to be homologated engine parts and the subsequent loss of points gave Johnson his second ATCC championship win. At Bathurst, DJR had the new model Ford XE Falcon
The Ford Falcon (XE) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1982 until 1984. It was the second iteration of the fourth generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (XE)—the luxury-oriented version.
Histor ...
, but they had been overtaken in speed by the lighter Holden Commodore SS'. Despite running strong all day and having no major troubles other than a broken front sway bar late in the race which slowed the car by approximately one second per lap, the No. 17 Falcon finished in 4th place on the road (although three laps down on race winners Peter Brock and Larry Perkins
Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.
Biography Early years
Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Eddi ...
in their Holden Dealer Team Commodore), but was disqualified after post race scrutineering for illegal engine modifications. In his biography, Johnson maintains that they were legal, over the counter Ford parts but that the team did not have the money to fight the ruling. The 1982 race was the first time that Johnson's car carried Channel 7's Racecam unit which brought television viewers footage from inside the car. It was the start of Johnson's long run with Racecam and made him more popular with the Australian public, even with Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
fans, thanks to his quick wit and seemingly endless number of one-liners while driving in races.
The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1983 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Group C Touring Cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1983 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 91-95 The title, which was the 24th Australian ...
was a disappointment as the heavy (approximately ) XE Falcon was not competitive against the lighter (by around ) Commodores, the Nissan Bluebird turbo
The is a compact car with a model name introduced in 1957. It has been Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, in multiple body styles, and is known for its dependability and durability. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehic ...
or Allan Moffat's Mazda RX-7 which won the title. To help fix the problems with the Falcon, Johnson enlisted the services of former Williams Formula One mechanic Wayne Eckersley, who was now based in Brisbane. Eckersley's work with the cars suspension, plus new parts (including 19" rear wheels, up from the previous 10") in the August homologation saw the Falcon back as a competitive car, as displayed by Johnson when he easily led the Valvoline 250 at Sydney's Oran Park Raceway
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was designed and started by George Murray and Jac ...
before a slow pit stop dropped his car, now painted Green to promote major sponsor Palmer Tube Mills' latest product "Greens-Tuf", back to second behind the Bluebird of George Fury
George Fury (born 31 January 1945, in Hungary) is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Aust ...
. The Falcon was also on the pace at the 1983 Castrol 400 The 1983 Castrol 400 was an endurance race for Group C Touring Cars held at the Sandown Park circuit in Victoria, Australia on 11 September 1983.Wayne Webster, ''Endurance Championship Round Three - Sandown Park'', Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1 ...
at Sandown where the long front and back straights suited the over of the 351
__NOTOC__
Year 351 ( CCCLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magnentius and Gaiso (or, less frequently, year 1104 ''A ...
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
. Dick qualified the car in 2nd place behind Brock's HDT Commodore (also benefiting from the August homologation) and won the jump at the start. However, his charge would only last only a few hundred metres and before the first turn the Falcon's clutch shredded itself, ending his race. Johnson attributed the failure to the condition of the pit paddock which had been turned to mud following a couple of days of heavy rain, with Dick claiming it was mud in the clutch that had caused the problem.
Then came the 1983 James Hardie 1000
The 1983 James Hardie 1000 was a motor race for Group C Touring Cars contested at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia on 2 October 1983. It was the 24th "Bathurst 1000" and the third to carry the James Hardie 1000 ...
where Johnson's Falcon was one of the favourites to claim pole position. Johnson also had a new co-driver in 1983 with 1974 race winner Kevin Bartlett replacing John French who was driving for the factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
backed Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
team. During qualifying it was again the Commodore of Peter Brock which had set the pace, with Johnson a close second and predicting that the Falcon could go even faster. During the Hardies Heroes Top 10 runoff on the Saturday morning, Johnson had his second major accident at Bathurst. On his lap for pole, Johnson ran slightly wide at Forrest's Elbow, with the rear of the Falcon clipping the wall on the exit of the corner. The car then hit tyres which were protruding from the edge of the wall which tore the right front wheel to the right and broke the cars steering. The Greens-Tuf Falcon was destroyed as it ran through a grove of trees. While the car was a write-off, Johnson thankfully emerged from the wreck with little more than a headache and a small cut over his left eye, though he has no memory of the crash, or the lift back to the pits with Peter Brock who was on his warm up lap for his second run.
In a very generous move, fellow Falcon runner and reporter for ''The Mike Walsh Show
''The Mike Walsh Show'' was an Australian variety daytime television series. Hosted by Mike Walsh, the show ran from 1973 to 1984 for 90 minutes each weekday afternoon.
History
The program was launched on the 0-10 Network and moved to the Nine ...
'', Andrew Harris, approached Johnson's wife Jill in the pits shortly after the crash and offered his car to the Johnson team if a replacement car could not be found for him (Harris reasoned that the fans on the hill would have wanted to see the popular Johnson racing more than they would himself). Johnson's sponsor and friend Ross Palmer leased the Harris Falcon, while also buying the Barry Lawrence / Geoff Russell Holden Commodore for Harris to drive (Palmer would sell the car back to Barry Lawrence after the race).
The Harris Falcon, which was actually the then Alan Jones owned, Bob Morris XE Falcon that had crashed in practice at Bathurst in 1982 and could not be repaired in time to take the start, was converted by Dick's and the TAFE
Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...
smash repair team overnight in a marathon rebuild which included help from other leading teams (including the HDT's sign writer), while the Commodore was re-painted in the colours of Harris' sponsors which also included a Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
Ford dealer. Unfortunately for Johnson and new co-driver Bartlett, the hastily rebuilt car (which was allowed to start tenth and was only completed moments before the start) was to only last 61 laps before being withdrawn with terminal electrical trouble (not before Johnson went on television and said that the car was ''"such a dog we should have tied it to the fence"''). Better luck fell on Harris and co-driver Gary Cooke, who would finish tenth outright in the car dubbed as a "Falcodore" by its new team (although the car ran a 5.0L V8, the team cheekily placed the Falcon's 5.8L badge on the car), with Harris winning the "Wynns Rookie of the Year" award. Despite their troubles, the Johnson Falcon was the fastest recorded car on Conrod Straight during the race, hitting a reported .
The troubles for DJR didn't finish at Bathurst though. On their way back to Brisbane after the race, the car towing the trailer with the crashed Falcon actually crashed and inflicted even further damage to the wrecked race car. The Falcon, dubbed "Greens Stuffed", was later broken up and used as paperweights.
Dick Johnson Racing then built a new XE Falcon to run in the 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1984 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned Australian motor racing title for Group C Touring Cars.Conditions for Australian Titles, 1984 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 88–93 It was the 25th running of the Australian ...
. Johnson's consistent run saw him finish no lower than third at each round while winning in the wet at Surfers Paradise. This saw Dick Johnson win his third ATCC and the final ATCC to be run under the locally developed Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
rules. During the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's coverage of the final round at the Adelaide International Raceway
The Adelaide International Raceway (also known as Adelaide International or AIR) is a permanent circuit owned by Australian Motorsport Club Limited under the auspices of the Bob Jane Corporation. The circuit is located north of Adelaide in So ...
where Johnson finished a close third behind race winner Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver of ...
(Commodore) and Peter Brock, commentator Will Hagon noted that following the championship trail in 1984 had seen the Johnson team cover more than 20,000 km. Although Johnson won the championship, and pointed to the cars reliability, he did acknowledge that other top contenders not running the full series (Allan Grice didn't have enough money, Peter Brock missed rounds while racing at Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
, Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
missed rounds chasing development, and defending champion Allan Moffat suffered a bad crash at Surfers in which he was injured and missed the remainder of the series) did help his championship cause.
Group A
Mustangs
With no local Ford product suitable following a change to international Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...
touring car regulations at the end of 1984 as Ford Australia
Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited (known by its trading name Ford Australia) is the Australian subsidiary of United States-based automaker Ford Motor Company. It was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Comp ...
were not interested in homologating the XE Falcon for Group A racing, Johnson ventured to Germany and purchased a pair of Zakspeed
Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit.
1973 to 1981: Saloon and s ...
constructed Ford Mustangs for the 1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
and 1986 seasons. While the Mustang years brought limited success, reliability and good-handling in the underpowered cars enabled Johnson to claim runner-up in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Touring Cars. It was the 26th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the first to be contested using regulations based on the ...
, while his one and only victory aboard the Mustang was in the Group A support race at the 1985 Australian Grand Prix
The 1985 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on a street circuit in the city of Adelaide on 3 November 1985. The sixteenth and final race of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship, it was the 50th running of the Austral ...
in Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. The Mustang, like almost all other cars in the ATCC, was outclassed by the JPS Team BMW
JPS Team BMW is a former Australian motor racing team that ran from 1981–1987. The team's main focus was touring car racing but also ran in sports sedans and GT cars as well. The team, under the management of former British Touring Car Cham ...
635 CSi of Jim Richards who won seven of the championships ten races. The team had actually entered and qualified one of the Mustangs at Bathurst in 1984 (painted white with #71) in the new Group A category, but it was only there for a shakedown run and insurance should there a repeat of 1983 and was withdrawn after Johnson had put the XE Falcon onto fourth on the grid.
When the team purchased the Mustangs from Zakspeed, the engine power was quoted as . However, the car the team took to Bathurst in 1984 was described as 'sluggish' by both Dick Johnson and his co-driver John French with Johnson's best time being 5 seconds slower than the class leading V8 Rover Vitesse
Vitesse may refer to:
* Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company
* Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band
* Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car
* Rover 216 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car
* Rover 800 Vitesse, a car
* Triumph Vites ...
and some 14 seconds slower than his Group C Falcon. In the weeks following the race the team put the 5.0L Ford V8 engines on the dyno and found them to be only producing approximately . Extensive rebuild and development of the engines at Johnson's Brisbane Engine Centre before the start of the 1985 ATCC saw power figures back to what was originally quoted.
While the Mustang struggled to match the pace of the Richards BMW in the ATCC, the August homologation (which also increased power to around brought the car back into winning contention. Dick dominated the Valvoline 250 at Oran Park and was heading for an easy win until an axle broke causing a wheel to fall off the car, ironically handing the win to Richards. The Mustang had received larger axles as part of the homologation package and the team had the new parts available, but had simply run out of time to fit them before the Oran Park race.
In mid-1985, Johnson signed triple and defending Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
winner Larry Perkins to be his co-driver for the Castrol 500 at Sandown and the James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Johnson led early at Sandown until a broken axle saw the team lose many laps in the pits repairing the car. At Bathurst, the team entered both Mustangs but only Johnson and Perkins as drivers. After the 1983 Hardies Heroes crash, the second No. 18 car (Johnson's ATCC car) was entered as an insurance policy in case something happened to the No. 17 Mustang. Ironically Johnson and Perkins qualified both cars for Hardies Heroes, though the No. 18 car was withdrawn before the race started. Against the might of Tom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.
The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring car r ...
's three V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to:
Aircraft
* Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter
* Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft
* Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project
* Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...
Jaguar XJS
The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, w ...
', Johnson qualified fourth and ran strongly until the cars oil cooler broke a weld and had to be bypassed on lap 16, losing the team three laps. Johnson was unhappy as the oil cooler had actually split the day before when the car was going over the speed humps in the pit lane. Before he left the circuit that night he left instructions for his crew to replace the cooler, but returned on race morning to find it had only been repaired and not replaced (ironically the split occurred not at the repaired weld, but on the opposite side of the cooler). With no time left to change it the car was forced to start with the repaired cooler which subsequently failed. From then Johnson and Perkins drove as hard as they could with the engine temperature "off the clock" and were rewarded with a seventh-place finish, though Perkins' first lap of the race was a slow one as the left front wheel had not been secured properly with the wheel nut spinning off in the braking area at the top of Mountain Straight. Perkins then managed to get the car back to the pits without the wheel falling off the car.
Rumours had floated around the Bathurst pits that DJR had toyed with the idea of actually running both Mustangs in the race with the second car to be driven by Belgian jeweller Michel Delcourt and none other than former Ford hero Allan Moffat who was without a drive for the year thanks to Mazda pulling out and was actually commentating on the race for Channel 7. Moffat indeed drove the Mustang during practice, but this had only been part of his duties as an expert commentator to evaluate the leading (Australian) contenders. Delcourt was entered in the race in Graham Moore's Mitsubishi Starion
The Mitsubishi Starion is a two-door, turbocharged Inline-four engine, four-cylinder rear-wheel drive four-seat hatchback sports car manufactured and marketed by Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi from 1982-1989 — with badge engineering, badge en ...
Turbo, but the car was withdrawn following practice. Larry Perkins reportedly stopped DJR from fully entering the second car, rightfully (according to Johnson) reasoning that the team was not set up to race both cars.
With the arrival of the first truly competitive Group A Holden Commodore
The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endin ...
, the new VK SS Group A, and the new turbocharged Nissan Skyline DR30 RS
The is a brand of automobile originally produced by the Prince Motor Company starting in 1957, and then by Nissan after the two companies merged in 1967. After the merger, the Skyline and its larger counterpart, the Nissan Gloria, were sold in ...
, plus the continued development of the Volvo 240T
The Volvo 200 Series (or 240 and 260 Series) is a range of mid-size cars produced by Swedish company Volvo Cars from 1974 until 1993, with more than 2.8 million total units sold worldwide. Like the Volvo 140 Series (1966 to 1974), from which it ...
, the Mustang quickly fell behind its rivals in 1986 and Johnson could only finish sixth in the ATCC with a best finish of 4th in the opening round at Amaroo Park. For Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
and Bathurst the team signed former Grand Prix motorcycle star and Moffat team driver Gregg Hansford
Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 – 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian tour ...
to be Johnson's co-driver. After failing to finish at Sandown, extra development work saw the Mustang competitive at Bathurst where Johnson qualified the car in sixth place, though the car was still out paced by the Nissans and Commodores. Before Hardies Heroes Johnson actually tripped while exiting the traditional breakfast and broke a bone in his foot, though he still drove in the runoff. Johnson and Hansford drove a steady race to finish in fourth place outright despite the 302 cui Ford V8 engine running low oil pressure throughout thanks to a crack in the engine block that was only discovered when the team stripped down the car and engine after Dick had raced it in the Group A support race at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix
The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1986 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, Australia. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship. The race decided a three-wa ...
meeting in Adelaide. The Mustang also had a cracked windscreen from which had been there since before Hardies Heroes, and like 1985 before he left the circuit for the night Johnson instructed the team to change the windscreen. Upon returning to the circuit on race morning an angry Johnson found the cracked windscreen still on the car with no time to change it before the race, though thankfully the crack did not spread during the race.
Johnson's last drive in the Mustang came in the Group A support race for the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. After qualifying 8th, he failed to finish the 32 lap race.
Sierras
In 1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
the team switched to the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...
and began a 17-year run of naming rights sponsorship with petrochemical company Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
. It expanded to a two-car effort for the first time with Gregg Hansford becoming Johnson's first full-time teammate. The new , turbocharged Sierra's were plagued with reliability problems, usually blown turbos (according to Johnson in a 2015 interview with ''Australian Muscle Car'' magazine, DJR went through some 37 turbochargers in testing and race meetings in 1987), and this let the team down considerably, with only one win recorded in the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship was a motor racing competition which was open to Touring Cars complying with regulations as defined by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport and based on FIA Group A rules. The championship, whi ...
at the Adelaide International Raceway (Dick's first ATCC win since 1984), though significantly this was the first Group A win anywhere in the world for the RS Cosworth. Following the ATCC, the Ford Sierra RS500
The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth is a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra that was built by Ford Europe from 1986 to 1992. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in ...
was homologated which addressed most of the car's shortcomings. The RS500 was more powerful ( in 1987) with larger turbos and was also more reliable.
The team's poor run continued at the Sandown 500
The Sandown 500 (formally known as the Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The event's name, distance – and the category of cars comp ...
, where Johnson easily qualified his new Sierra RS500 on pole but the car blew its engine in the race morning warm up and was withdrawn, and Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
where both team cars were out of the 161 lap race before the end of lap 4 (Neville Crichton
Neville Alexander Crichton is a New Zealand businessman who was also a competitor in Australasian motor and yacht racing.
Biography
Born in New Zealand in 1945, Crichton left school aged 14 and entered the automotive industry. In 1972, he open ...
crashed the No. 18 Sierra he was to share with Charlie O'Brien
Charles Hugh O'Brien (born May 1, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Oakland Athletics (1985), Milwaukee Brewers (1987–90), New York Mets (1990–93), Atlanta Bra ...
on the 3rd lap with the Commodore of Larry Perkins which the Johnson / Hansford car suffered differential failure a lap later). Qualifying at bathurst also proved controversial for the team with the two Sierra's excluded from the results of Hardies Heroes when they failed a post runoff fuel check. While the fuel was found to be a lower grade and actually produced less power, the rules had been broken. But the year ended well, with Johnson again winning the Group A support race in Adelaide at the Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...
in November. Johnson, who was suffering fuel feed problems late in the race, just held on for his first win in the RS500 from the fast closing Nissan Skyline of George Fury
George Fury (born 31 January 1945, in Hungary) is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Aust ...
.
In 1988 John Bowe replaced Hansford in the team and began an eleven-year stint as the driver of DJR's second car. With the team having overcome the reliability problems of the previous year and team manager Neal Lowe having come to grips with the engine management system earlier than his Australian counterparts (to the point where Lowe and the team were the first in Australia with the expertise to burn EPROM
An EPROM (rarely EROM), or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of programmable read-only memory (PROM) chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. Computer memory that can retrieve stored data after a power s ...
chips for the Sierra's), Johnson and Bowe finished an easy first and second in the 1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
and 1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
championships. Dick Johnson would later claim that he and his team were on a mission in 1988 after having been embarrassed at 1987 World Touring Car Championship
The 1987 World Touring Car Championship season was the inaugural World Touring Car Championship season. It commenced on 22 March 1987 and ended on 15 November after eleven races. The championship was open to Touring Cars complying with FIA Group A ...
round at Bathurst by the Ford Europe
Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
History
Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...
backed Eggenberger Motorsport
Eggenberger Motorsport was a Swiss motor racing team that competed in the European Touring Car Championship in the 1980s.
History
In 1982, Eggenberger Motorsport won the 1982 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) with Umberto Grano and Helmut ...
Sierra's which not only proved faster but far more reliable (the Eggenberger cars would finish 1–2 on the road at Bathurst but would later be disqualified for technical infringements). He would also claim in the interview with ''Australian Muscle Car'' magazine in 2015 that another part of his motivation was that he had originally tried to buy an EPROM chip burning machine from British Sierra expert Andy Rouse
Andrew Rouse (born 2 December 1947) is a British racing driver, most notably in the British Saloon Car Championship. He won the BSCC in 1975, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Andy Rouse is one of the most successful drivers ever to appear in the BSCC. His ...
in 1987, but Rouse had refused to sell one and that a chance meeting with one of the engineers involved with the Ford RS200
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, four-wheel drive sports car that was produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologation ...
rally car project led to the purchase of the machine as well as Lowe travelling to the United States to learn how to use it.
After the differential failure which had put the No. 17 Johnson car out of the 1987 Bathurst 1000 on just lap 4, Johnson took it upon himself to solve the problem of the Sierra's weak drive train. In April 1988 after working with Melbourne-based Harrop Engineering (run by former racer / engineer Ron Harrop), DJR successfully homologated a modified version of the Ford 9-inch differential for the RS500 Sierra. Although the Sierra was a European car, the near bullet proof differential was seen as vital to Sierra runners in Australia due to the standing starts used in Australian racing rather than the rolling starts used overseas. Later in 1988, Ford also released their own official, lighter version of the 9-inch diff, but the DJR unit would prove to be popular due to its lower cost. During 1988 Johnson also managed to homologate the Australian designed and built Hollinger gearbox for the cars which proved more reliable than the German built Getrag
Getrag (), stylized as GETRAG, was a major supplier of transmission systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The company was founded on 1 May 1935, in Ludwigsburg, Germany, by Hermann Hagenmeyer; as the ''Getriebe und Zahnradfabrik ...
gearboxes that were common in most Group A cars at the time.
In August 1988 the team air-freighted Johnson's ATCC winning car to England to compete in the RAC Tourist Trophy
The RAC Tourist Trophy (sometimes called the International Tourist Trophy) is a motor racing award presented by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to the overall victor of a motor race in the United Kingdom. Established in 1905, it is the world's ol ...
at Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
which was a round of the European Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World T ...
. Johnson easily qualified on pole, almost half a second ahead clear of the leading Eggenberger Motorsport and Andy Rouse Sierras, and went on to an early race lead. The car was eventually slowed by a lengthy stop to replace a failed water pump and would ultimately finish the race in 21st place, but they had proven that the DJR Sierras were now the fastest in the world after also claiming the touring car lap record with the fastest lap of the race. The speed of the DJR Sierra created interest and at the end of 1988 Robb Gravett
Robb Gravett (born 10 May 1956 (sometimes noted as 2 May 1956) is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British cha ...
of British team Trakstar purchased two DJR Sierras to supply his team with his Sierra RS500s, winning four races to finish the 1989 season 2nd in class and 4th overall (Gravett, thanks to his Shell sponsorship in the British Touring Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA
TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...
through its Gemini Oils brand, had driven for DJR at Bathurst in 1988 and 1989). In 1990, Robb Gravett won the championship with nine race wins.
After the two lead cars suffered mechanical troubles, Johnson and Bowe commandeered the John Smith / Alfredo Costanzo
Alfredo Costanzo (born 3 January 1943, in Calabria, Italy) is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won four Australian Drivers' Championships in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 t ...
car (the oldest and slowest of the three entered being Johnson's 1987 Bathurst and Bowe's 1988 ATCC car) to finish second in the 1988 Bathurst 1000
The 1988 Tooheys 1000 was a 1000 km endurance motor race for Group A Touring Cars.[Tony Longhurst
Anthony Lawrence Longhurst (born 1 October 1957 in Sydney) is an Australian racing driver and former Australian Champion water skier. He is most noted for his career in the Australian Touring Car Championship and V8 Supercar series.
Longhurst is ...]
and his co-driver Tomas Mezera
Tomas Mezera (born 5 November 1958 in Czechoslovakia) is a naturalised Australian racing driver. Mezera won the 1988 Bathurst 1000, and for many years was a member of the Holden Racing Team as both a driver and team manager. Mezera's sporting c ...
, before winning in 1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
after leading every lap despite a late race loss of turbo power. Johnson claimed his first pole position at Bathurst in 1988, and again sat on the front row in 1989 alongside Peter Brock, who was now Sierra mounted. Brock won the start of the 1989 race, but in a show of power, Johnson blasted past the No. 05 Mobil 1 Racing Sierra on Conrod Straight into a lead that he and Bowe would not lose.
In 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
Johnson narrowly lost the ATCC to the Gibson Motorsport
Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1981 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Series ...
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R
The is a sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range. The first cars named "Skyline GT-R" were produced between 1969 and 1972 under the model code KPGC10, and were successful in Japanese touring car racing events. This model was followed by ...
of Jim Richards (who also drove the previous model Skyline HR31 GTS-R until the car dubbed "Godzilla" arrived late in the series). The team's second car with Englishman Jeff Allam
Jeffrey Frank Allam (born 19 December 1954 in Epsom, England), is a former British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as Head of Business for Allam Motor Services in Epsom which are a Skoda sales and service and V ...
and Kiwi Paul Radisich
Paul Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New ...
finished second at the 1990 Bathurst 1000
The 1990 Tooheys 1000 was a motor race held on 30 September 1990 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The event was open to cars eligible under CAMS Group 3A regulations, commonly known as Group ...
. Dick Johnson recorded two wins during the series in round 2 at Symmons Plains and again in round 3 at Phillip Island
Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...
. The win at the Island (another 1–2 with Bowe finishing 2nd) would prove to be Dick Johnson's 30th and last ATCC race win.
In the 1991 ATCC, the DJR team were outpaced by the Nissans of Richards and Mark Skaife
Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bath ...
with Bowe finishing sixth and Johnson ninth, with the Tooheys 1000 at Bathurst proving no different. In 1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, a team restructure saw Ross Stone appointed team manager with Lowe concentrating on building the first 1993-spec Ford EB Falcon
The Ford Falcon (EB) is a full-sized car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1991 to 1993. It was the second iteration of the fifth generation of the Falcon and also included the Ford Fairmont (EB)—the luxury-oriented version. It launche ...
V8. Bowe finished fourth and Johnson eighth in the ATCC. The Shell Sierras showed more speed in 1992 which both Johnson and Bowe attributed to the CAMS imposed 7,500 rev limit on the Sierra's (this was also applied to the V8 Holden Commodore
The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endin ...
's), and against the GT-Rs which had turbo and weight restrictions placed on them by CAMS, Bowe won the round at Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
, before Johnson claimed pole at Bathurst with the fastest ever time recorded by a Sierra on The Mountain of 2:12.898, undercutting the previous Sierra best time set in 1990 by German driver Klaus Niedzwiedz
Klaus Niedzwiedz (born February 24, 1951 in Dortmund, Germany) is a former professional race driver and motoring journalist.
Driver
His greatest success came in the 1980s as a driver for Ford.
Niedzwiedz rose to prominence when driving a Ford C ...
by over a second. In the wet, crash shortened race, Johnson and Bowe finished second behind the GT-R of Richards and Skaife despite the Nissan crashing after the red flag was shown.
The final races for the DJR Shell Sierras came in the Group A support races for the 1992 Australian Grand Prix
The 1992 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 8 November 1992. It was the sixteenth and final round of the 1992 FIA Formula One World Championship. The most significant moment was a collision between Ayrton Senn ...
in Adelaide in November where John Bowe finished both races in second place behind Jim Richards. Johnson debuted the team's new EB FalconV8, the first Falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
built by the team since 1984. Despite trouble over the interpretation of the new 5.0L V8 rules which saw Johnson start from the rear of the grid, he finished the first race in a strong eleventh place before improving to ninth in the second.
Ford Falcon and V8 Supercars
1990s
For the new all V8 era, DJR switched to Ford EB Falcons. Aside from John Bowe winning the opening 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
round at Amaroo Park
Amaroo Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including t ...
the team remained winless until it won both the Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
and Bathurst endurance races in 1994, as well as the season ending Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...
support races. In 1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
Bowe won the championship. A repeat victory at Sandown
Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake, Isle of Wight, Lake in between. Together ...
that year augured well for another Bathurst win until an incident with Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn star ...
forced the number 17 Falcon from the track while leading.
At the end of 1995 team manager Ross Stone and chief engineer Jim Stone left to form Alan Jones Racing
Alan Jones Racing was a motorsport team contesting the Australian Touring Car Championship. At the end of 1997 Alan Jones sold his share of the team to Jim and Ross Stone who renamed it Stone Brothers Racing.
History Formation
At the 1995 Sa ...
. While the Holden Racing Team
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
dominated the 1996 season, Bowe finished the championship in second and combined with Johnson to finish second at Bathurst. Consistency in the 1997 championship enabled Bowe to again claim the runner-up position in the championship. DJR's only win in 1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
was by Bowe at Winton. For the endurance races Johnson and Bowe drove separate cars for the first time since 1988 with Steven Johnson joining his father.
At the end of 1998, Bowe left DJR after eleven years to join PAE Motorsport. Paul Radisich
Paul Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New ...
was hired as his replacement. While the team struggled in the 1999 Australian Touring Car Championship
The 1999 Shell Championship Series was a motor racing series for V8 Supercars which began on 28 March 1999 at Eastern Creek Raceway and ended on 14 November at the Mount Panorama Circuit after 13 rounds. The Australian Touring Car Championship w ...
developing new Falcon AUs, the team was competitive at the Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
with Radisich and Steven Ellery
Steven Ellery (born 22 August 1974 in Melbourne) is a retired Australian racing driver known from V8 Supercars.
Racing history Early career
Ellery started racing in karts before graduation to Formula Ford in 1992. After running near the front of ...
leading most of the race until making contact late in the race with a slower car. In his final race, Dick Johnson finished fourth with son Steven.
2000s
In 2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
Steven Johnson took over the number 17 Falcon from his retiring father. Radisich teamed with Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
to finish second at the Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...
. In 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
, Johnson won the Canberra 400
The Canberra 400 was a V8 Supercars event on the Canberra Street Circuit in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The race only had a short life, running from 2000 to 2002 over the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend in June.
Back ...
and teamed with Radisich to win the 2001 Queensland 500
The 2001 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland, Ipswich in Queensland, Australia on 26 August 2001. The programmed race distance was 161 laps (approx 500 km) h ...
. This would be the team's last win for seven years.
In 2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
a third car was entered at selected events for Greg Ritter
Greg Ritter (born 20 February 1973, in Victoria) is an Australian racing driver. He was the winner of the 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for ...
. At the end of 2002 Paul Radisich left the team. Max Wilson
Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage.
Racing career
Junior formulae
Wilson started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. He moved into single-seaters in 1993, when he was o ...
, Warren Luff
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...
and Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn star ...
would each complete one year stints as the driver of the second car between 2003 and 2005. At the end of 2004, Shell brought their 17-year naming rights sponsorship of the team to an end.
For 2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
sponsorship from Westpoint Corporation
Westpoint Corporation was the head company of the Western Australian based Westpoint Group of Companies ("Westpoint Group") which was primarily engaged in property development. It was placed into receivership
In law, receivership is a situat ...
was secured. However, by the beginning of 2006 Westpoint was in receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...
. Sponsorship for the 2006 season came from two of Dick Johnson's own business ventures, FirstRock Mortgage Centre and V8 Telecom with Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
driving the second car. The ventures were not successful and by the end of the year, the team's long term viability was in doubt. As a result, businessman and sponsor Charlie Schwerkolt bought a 50% shareholding in the team.
For 2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
sponsorship from Jim Beam
Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...
was secured with the year highlighted by a third place at Bathurst. At the Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
round, Johnson finished third and Davison fourth. In 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, Davison won the Eastern Creek
Eastern Creek is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eastern Creek is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the Blacktown local government area and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
E ...
round, the team's first win since the 2001 Queensland 500
The 2001 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, Queensland, Ipswich in Queensland, Australia on 26 August 2001. The programmed race distance was 161 laps (approx 500 km) h ...
.
In 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, James Courtney
James Anthony Courtney (born 29 June 1980) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 5 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. ...
replaced Davison. Two Triple Eight built Falcon FGs were purchased with Courtney winning at the Townsville 400
The Townsville 500 (formally known as the NTI Townsville 500) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held on the Reid Park Street Circuit in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The event has been held since 2009.
The event was known as t ...
and Sydney 500
The Sydney 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Coates Hire Sydney 500) was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Homebush Street Circuit in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. The event was a regular part ...
.
2010s
In 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, James Courtney won the series. A third customer entry was prepared for Tekno Autosports
Tekno Autosports was an Australian motor racing team, established in the 1990s initially for the motor racing activities of Stephen Webb, and later his son Jonathon Webb. The team competes in the Supercars Championship using two Holden ZB Commo ...
, driven by Jonathon Webb
Jonathon Webb (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian former professional racing driver and team owner of Team Sydney, who once co-drove alongside Fabian Coulthard in the No. 19 Holden ZB Commodore for the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
In 2016, Webb and ...
. By mid-season owners Dick Johnson and Charlie Schwerkolt were reported to no longer be on speaking terms, and the team became fractured. Team manager Adrian Burgess announced he would join Triple Eight in 2011, and as a result of a clause in his contract giving him an 'out' if Burgess left, Courtney also left at the end of 2010 after winning the series.
At the end of 2010, Johnson and Schwerkolt dissolved their partnership. Scherkolt retained ownership of one Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) which was leased back to DJR for 2011 and 2012.
For 2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, James Moffat was signed to replace Courtney.
For 2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, the team expanded to a four car team, preparing customer cars for Triple F Racing
Triple F Racing was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 2009 and 2013. The team was based on the Gold Coast in Queensland but continued to have strong links with the team's origi ...
with Dean Fiore
Dean Fiore (born 1 December 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver. Fiore competed in the 2022 Bathurst 1000 for Brad Jones Racing as a co-driver alongside Bryce Fullwood in the No. 14 Holden Commodore (ZB).
Racing career
Fiore is o ...
driving and Paul Morris Motorsport
Paul Morris Motorsport, also known as its business name of Nemo Racing, is an Australian motor racing team that competed in V8 Supercars between 2000 and 2012. The team also won the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 and four Australian Super Touring Cha ...
with Steve Owen. At the end of the year, Jim Beam elected not to renew it sponsorship, the REC leased from Team 18
Team 18 (formerly known as Charlie Schwerkolt Racing) is an Australian motor racing team currently competing in the Supercars Championship, running two Holden ZB Commodores. The team's current drivers are Mark Winterbottom and Scott Pye.
Histor ...
was returned, while the Paul Morris Motorsport
Paul Morris Motorsport, also known as its business name of Nemo Racing, is an Australian motor racing team that competed in V8 Supercars between 2000 and 2012. The team also won the 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 and four Australian Super Touring Cha ...
REC was sold to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport
Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. The team was sold to Phil Munday and re-branded as 23Red Racing at the end of 2017.
Background
Lucas Dumbrell comes f ...
.
A sponsor was lined up for 2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, but it was conditional on V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
confirming its television arrangements by the end of 2012. As this did not happen, the deal lapsed and again DJR's future appeared in jeopardy. A last minute sponsorship with Wilson Security was secured and the team appeared with two entries for Tim Blanchard
Tim Blanchard (born 30 June 1987) is an Australian racing driver.
Blanchard has raced in several other motor racing series, including the British Formula Ford Championship, and was the winner of the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship.
...
and Jonny Reid
Jonathan Ross Reid, more commonly known as Jonny Reid, (born 18 October 1983, in Auckland) is a New Zealand racing driver.
Career
Early career
Reid started his career in karting at the age of 8. In 1996, Reid won his first title, the New Z ...
, with Steven Johnson moving into position of General Manager. Wilson Security remained with the team as title sponsor for the remainder of 2013. Reid was replaced by Chaz Mostert
Chaz Mostert (born 10 April 1992) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 25 Holden ZB Commodore for Walkinshaw Andretti United. Mostert was the winner of the 2021 ...
before the Wanneroo Raceway
Wanneroo Raceway, currently known as CARCO.com.au Raceway for naming rights reasons, is a motorsport circuit located in Neerabup, approximately north of Perth in Western Australia. It was built by the WA Sporting Car Club.
The circuit was ...
round of the championship. Mostert won a race at the Queensland Raceway
Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located at Willowbank in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The circuit did host Supercars Championship until 2019, drifting as well as club level racing and ride days.
Qu ...
round.
For 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, Scott Pye
Scott Robert Pye (born 8 January 1990) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, and drives the No. 20 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18.
Racing career Early days
Pye started out in ...
and David Wall were recruited to drive. The REC leased from Triple F Racing was returned and another purchased from Paul Morris Motorsport.
DJR Team Penske
In September 2014, it was announced a 51% stake in the team had been sold to United States businessman and racer Roger Penske
Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is an American businessman and entrepreneur involved in professional auto racing and a retired professional auto racing driver. He is most famous for his ownership of Team Penske, DJR Team Penske, t ...
, who is the Australian distributor for MAN Truck & Bus
MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, ) is a subsidiary of Traton, and one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MAN Truck & Bus produces vans in the range from 3.0 to 5.5 t ...
, Western Star Trucks
Western Star Trucks Sales, Inc. is an American truck manufacturer headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of the Germany-based Daimler Truck.
History
In 1967 ...
, MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a German manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909. Wilhelm Maybach was the technical director of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), a predec ...
, and Detroit Diesel
Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the mulitinational Da ...
. The remaining 49% is retained by Johnson, Steve Brabeck and Ryan Story. The team was renamed DJR Team Penske.
In 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, the team scaled back to one Ford Falcon FG X
The Ford Falcon (FG X) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia. Introduced in 2014, it is a restyled second and final iteration of the seventh generation Falcon FG. While external and drive train changes were significant, the inte ...
with Marcos Ambrose
Marcos Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 and 2004.
In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the Un ...
to drive. Prior to Round 2 Ambrose stepped aside from full-time driving, handing the duties of Car No. 17 to Scott Pye. Ambrose returned as the team's co driver for the Pirtek Enduro Cup
The Enduro Cup (formally known as the Pirtek Enduro Cup for sponsorship reasons), was an award given out to the highest points scorers over the three endurance events in Supercars Championship, Supercars; the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and the Gol ...
. The team scored one race podium in 2015, for Pye at the 2015 ITM 500 Auckland, and finished 12th in the Teams' Championship.
In 2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, the team expanded to two cars, with Pye returning and Fabian Coulthard
Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United ...
joining the team. They scored two podiums each, with Coulthard finishing 12th in the Drivers' Championship and Pye finishing 15th. DJR Team Penske ranked fifth in the Teams' Championship.
In 2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, Scott McLaughlin
Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won ...
replaced Pye, joined by new engineer Ludo Lacroix. Having operated a rotating sponsorship model for the previous two seasons largely with Penske Corporation
Penske Corporation, Inc. () is an American diversified transportation services company based in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Roger Penske is the chairman of the privately held company, and Rob Kurnick is the president.
Holding ...
subsidiaries, in 2017 Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
returned as the team's full-time title sponsor. After losing the Drivers Championship title to Jamie Whincup in the last race of the 2017 season after he was given a penalty for colliding with Craig Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin won the Drivers Championship in 2018 in Car No. 17 after a closely contested season-long battle with Shane van Gisbergen. In 2019, the team along with Tickford Racing homologated the Ford Mustang GT, replacing the retiring Falcon.
In October 2020, it was announced that Penske would sell its stake in the team to Ryan Story with it to be return to being named Dick Johnson Racing.
DJR performance cars
DJR had various attempts at building road cars, with the XE Grand Prix and BA DJR 320 being the most successful models. Johnson planned on building a XF Falcon, but like the XE before it, Ford showed no interest in it, meaning that only one prototype XF was built. Johnson tried again with a model built upon the EA in an attempt to draw attention from Ford, who were looking for a performance partnership in 1990. Tickford won out the contract, and again, only one EA DJR was completed.
XE Grand Prix
In 1982, Johnson partnered up Turbocharging expert David Inall, to produce a turbocharged performance version of the 4.1 litre six. The idea was to create a performance arm for Ford Australia in the style of Holden Dealer Team
The Holden Dealer Team (HDT) was Holden's semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1986, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and Sports Sedan races during the 1970s. From 1980 the Holden Dealer ...
, in the wake of Ford's waning interest in performance cars and the discontinuation of the V8. Ford, unwilling to warrant the modifications however, declined to invest in the product.
The result was the Grand Prix Falcon that came with 190 kW, and was capable of mid 14-second 1/4-mile times. All came in distinctive "Tru Blue" paintwork, and a styling kit consisting of fender flares and Front and Rear spoilers. The interior and drive train featured parts from the European Sports Pack options that were available for the Falcon at the time.
DJR320
In 2003, DJR joined with Herrod Motorsport to build the DJR 320, a performance car based on the BA XR8 falcon. A body styling kit was added to the existing XR parts, consisting of new side skirts, and front and rear spoiler lips. Herrod retuned the ECU, installed DJR camshafts, high-flow dual exhaust system with twin tailpipes and a cold-air intake; this increased the engine output from 260 kW to 320 kW. Suspension was improved by the use of adjustable dampers, and larger brakes rounded off the package. Only 14 were built.
Other interests
The Dick Johnson Group also ran financial, real estate, and telecommunications services, which have since been sold.
DJR is based in Stayplton on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
. The factory also housed a museum of the team's history. In 2006 Johnson sold his museum racing vehicles to car collector David Bowden. By arrangement with Bowden, a selection of Bowden's significant racing cars will rotate through the museum in DJR's workshop.
Australian Touring Car and Supercars drivers
The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Australian Touring Car Championship and Supercars Championship, in order of their first appearance. It also includes drivers who drove for the team in the Bathurst 1000 before it became a championship event. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics.
* Dick Johnson (1980–2000)
* '' John French'' (1980–82, 1984)
* '' Kevin Bartlett'' (1983)
* ''Larry Perkins
Larry Clifton Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia.
Biography Early years
Growing up on a farm in Cowangie in the Mallee region of Victoria, Larry, the son of racing driver Eddi ...
'' (1985)
* Gregg Hansford
Gregory John "Gregg" Hansford (8 April 1952 – 5 March 1995) was an Australian professional motorcycle and touring car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1978 to 1981 and in Australian tour ...
(1986–87)
* ''Neville Crichton
Neville Alexander Crichton is a New Zealand businessman who was also a competitor in Australasian motor and yacht racing.
Biography
Born in New Zealand in 1945, Crichton left school aged 14 and entered the automotive industry. In 1972, he open ...
'' (1987–88)
* ''Neal Lowe'' (1987)
* ''Charlie O'Brien
Charles Hugh O'Brien (born May 1, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Oakland Athletics (1985), Milwaukee Brewers (1987–90), New York Mets (1990–93), Atlanta Bra ...
'' (1987, 1995–96)
* John Bowe (1988–98)
* ''Alfredo Costanzo
Alfredo Costanzo (born 3 January 1943, in Calabria, Italy) is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won four Australian Drivers' Championships in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 t ...
'' (1988)
* ''John Smith'' (1988)
* ''Robb Gravett
Robb Gravett (born 10 May 1956 (sometimes noted as 2 May 1956) is a British retired racing driver and team owner from London. He started his motorsport career on two wheels, racing Moto Cross at the age of 12. By 15, he was already British cha ...
'' (1988–89)
* ''Jeff Allam
Jeffrey Frank Allam (born 19 December 1954 in Epsom, England), is a former British racing driver who made his name in Saloon Car racing. He now works as Head of Business for Allam Motor Services in Epsom which are a Skoda sales and service and V ...
'' (1989–90)
* ''Tony Noske
Tony Noske is a former Australian motor racing driver and transport company proprietor.
Motor Racing
Having competed in sprintcars, Tony Noske entered four rounds of the 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship with a Perkins Engineering built H ...
'' (1989)
* Paul Radisich
Paul Radisich (born 9 October 1962, in Auckland) is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New ...
(1990–91, 1993, 1999–2002)
* ''Terry Shiel'' (1990–91)
* ''Kayne Scott
Kayne Scott (born 21 June 1968 in Hamilton, New Zealand) started his motorsport career by competing in motocross at the age of 12. Scott is a five time New Zealand Trans-Am Series, Trans-Am champion and won the 2005/06 New Zealand V8s series. He ...
'' (1991)
* ''Gregg Taylor'' (1991)
* ''Greg Crick'' (1992)
* ''Cameron McConville
Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville ...
'' (1993, 1998)
* ''Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver of ...
'' (1994)
* Steven Johnson (1994–2012, 2014)
* ''Tommy Kendall
Tommy Kendall (born October 17, 1966) is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his IMSA GT Championship and SCCA Trans-Am Series career.
Racing career
Son of race driver Charles Kendall, Kendall began his ...
'' (1996)
* ''Craig Baird
Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australian Supercars Championship.
Honours
In the 2010 New Year Honours, Baird was appointed a Member of the New ...
'' (1997)
* ''Steven Ellery
Steven Ellery (born 22 August 1974 in Melbourne) is a retired Australian racing driver known from V8 Supercars.
Racing history Early career
Ellery started racing in karts before graduation to Formula Ford in 1992. After running near the front of ...
'' (1999)
* ''Cameron McLean'' (2000–01)
* ''Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
'' (2000)
* ''Paul Stokell
Paul Stokell (born 8 March 1968 in Tasmania) is an Australian racing driver. Highly decorated in every category he has competed, Stokell has been a race and multiple championship winning driver in open wheel, sportscar racing and tarmac rallyin ...
'' (2001)
* ''Greg Ritter
Greg Ritter (born 20 February 1973, in Victoria) is an Australian racing driver. He was the winner of the 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship
The 1999 Australian Formula Ford Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for ...
'' (2001–02)
* '' Alan Jones'' (2002)
* Max Wilson
Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage.
Racing career
Junior formulae
Wilson started his motor racing career in 1985 in go-karts. He moved into single-seaters in 1993, when he was o ...
(2003)
* Warren Luff
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...
(2003–04, 2008–10)
* ''Owen Kelly
Owen Kelly (born 12 March 1977) is an Australian professional racing driver. Son of Chas Kelly, he has competed over the course of his career in V8 Supercars and NASCAR among other series.
Racing career
Kelly started his circuit racing career ...
'' (2004)
* ''David Brabham
David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...
'' (2004)
* Glenn Seton
Glenn Seton (born 5 May 1965) is an Australian racing driver. He won the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1993 and 1997 while driving for his own team. Although he never won the Bathurst 1000 like his father Barry did in 1965, Glenn star ...
(2005)
* ''Dean Canto
Dean Justin Canto (born 24 September 1980) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver. Best noted as a Supercars driver, Canto was the inaugural winner of the second-tier V8 Supercar development series in 2000, and the fir ...
'' (2005–06)
* Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
(2006–08, 2021–present)
* ''Alex Davison
Alexander Davison (born 3 November 1979) is an Australian racing driver. He won the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup Championship. As part of the Davison motorsport family, he is the older brother of Will Davison, grandson of Lex Davison and cousin ...
'' (2006–07, 2021–present)
* ''Grant Denyer
Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter.
In 2018 ...
'' (2006)
* '' Andrew Thompson'' (2007)
* '' Steve Owen'' (2008)
* James Courtney
James Anthony Courtney (born 29 June 1980) is an Australian racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 5 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Tickford Racing. ...
(2009–10)
* ''Jonathon Webb
Jonathon Webb (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian former professional racing driver and team owner of Team Sydney, who once co-drove alongside Fabian Coulthard in the No. 19 Holden ZB Commodore for the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
In 2016, Webb and ...
'' (2009)
* ''Marcus Marshall
Marcus Marshall (born 25 November 1978) is a former Champ Car driver from Australia.
Biography
He began racing in British Formula Three, where he was generally a running outside the top ten, but took a hard-fought win in a wet race. He contes ...
'' (2011)
* ''Dario Franchitti
George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion ( 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indiana ...
'' (2010)
* ''David Besnard
David Besnard, (born 21 January 1977 in Sydney, Australia) is a retired professional racing driver.
Career history
Starting in karts in 1991, he quickly proceeded into Formula Ford in 1995. After initial success, he had a major accident at Easte ...
'' (2011)
* '' Matt Halliday'' (2011–12)
* James Moffat (2011–12)
* ''Joey Hand
Joseph F. Hand (born February 10, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who competes in sports car racing as a Ford factory driver. A former champion of the Star Mazda Series, Hand is the co-winner of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona drivin ...
'' (2011)
* ''Allan Simonsen
Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...
'' (2012)
* '' Dirk Müller'' (2012)
* Tim Blanchard
Tim Blanchard (born 30 June 1987) is an Australian racing driver.
Blanchard has raced in several other motor racing series, including the British Formula Ford Championship, and was the winner of the 2007 Australian Formula Ford Championship.
...
(2013)
* ''Jonny Reid
Jonathan Ross Reid, more commonly known as Jonny Reid, (born 18 October 1983, in Auckland) is a New Zealand racing driver.
Career
Early career
Reid started his career in karting at the age of 8. In 1996, Reid won his first title, the New Z ...
'' (2013)
* Chaz Mostert
Chaz Mostert (born 10 April 1992) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Repco Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 25 Holden ZB Commodore for Walkinshaw Andretti United. Mostert was the winner of the 2021 ...
(2013)
* '' Dale Wood'' (2013)
* ''Ashley Walsh
Ashley Daniel Walsh (born 11 January 1988) is an Australian racing driver who currently drives for Brad Jones Racing as a co-driver alongside Jack Smith in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Not to be confused with the beast Ash Walshe, world record hold ...
'' (2013–14)
* Scott Pye
Scott Robert Pye (born 8 January 1990) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, and drives the No. 20 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18.
Racing career Early days
Pye started out in ...
(2014–16)
* David Wall (2014)
* ''Marcos Ambrose
Marcos Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 and 2004.
In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the Un ...
'' (2014–15)
* Fabian Coulthard
Fabian "Fabs" Coulthard (born 28 July 1982) is a British-born New Zealand professional race car driver, currently competing in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving as an endurance co-driver for Chaz Mostert with Walkinshaw Andretti United ...
(2016–20)
* ''Tony D'Alberto
Antonio 'Tony' D'Alberto (born 9 December 1985) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.11 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing as a co-driver in the Bathurst 1000.
Racing career
Formula Ford
D'Alberto began ...
'' (2016–present)
* ''Luke Youlden
Luke Youlden (born 28 January 1978) is an Australian Supercars series racing driver. He is the son of two-time Australian Production Car champion Kent Youlden. Youlden currently drives for Kelly Grove Racing as a co-driver alongside David Rey ...
'' (2016)
* Scott McLaughlin
Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won ...
(2017–20)
* ''Alexandre Prémat
Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, d ...
'' (2017–19)
* ''Tim Slade
Tim Slade (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the Repco Supercars Championship. Slade currently drives the No. 3 Ford Mustang GT for Blanchard Racing Team.
Early career
Slade first appeared at a national level ...
'' (2020)
* Anton de Pasquale
Anton De Pasquale (born 14 September 1995) is an Australian motor racing driver. He currently drives the No. 11 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship ...
(2021–present)
Results
Car No. 11 results
Car No. 17 results
Super2 drivers
The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in the Super2, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics
* ''Tony Ricciardello
Tony Ricciardello, (born 19 March 1979), is a multiple-championship winning Australian race car driver.
Son of Sports Sedan racer and team owner Basil Ricciardello, Tony was brought up into the Western Australian racing scene. He eventually repl ...
'' (2003)
* ''Warren Luff
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...
'' (2003)
* Owen Kelly
Owen Kelly (born 12 March 1977) is an Australian professional racing driver. Son of Chas Kelly, he has competed over the course of his career in V8 Supercars and NASCAR among other series.
Racing career
Kelly started his circuit racing career ...
(2004)
* Jose Fernandez (racing driver), Jose Fernandez (2004)
* Dean Canto
Dean Justin Canto (born 24 September 1980) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver. Best noted as a Supercars driver, Canto was the inaugural winner of the second-tier V8 Supercar development series in 2000, and the fir ...
(2005)
* Grant Denyer
Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter.
In 2018 ...
(2005-2006, 2009)
* ''Will Davison
William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathur ...
'' (2005)
* ''Marcus La Delle'' (2006)
* Andrew Thompson (2006)
* ''Luke Youlden
Luke Youlden (born 28 January 1978) is an Australian Supercars series racing driver. He is the son of two-time Australian Production Car champion Kent Youlden. Youlden currently drives for Kelly Grove Racing as a co-driver alongside David Rey ...
'' (2006)
References
External links
Team website
{{Team Penske
Australian auto racing teams
Team Penske
Sports teams in Queensland
Supercars Championship teams
1980 establishments in Australia
Sporting teams based on the Gold Coast, Queensland
Auto racing teams established in 1980