The big wet
It was the big wet one, as well as the end of the era of the privateer battler. Our look back at the 2000 Great Race shows just how different it all was 20 years ago
The Great Race is not what it used to be. In today’s highly polished Supercars circus there’s no room for the once-a-year privateers that for so long were such a colourful presence in the race – in fact, there doesn’t even seem to be room for more than about 25 cars these days. There hasn’t been a Great Race grid of more than 40 in 20 years – when 55 cars faced the starter on memorably wet weekend. With the benefit of two decades’ hindsight, that 2000 Bathurst 1000 was arguably the last old-style Great Race. It wasn’t quite the end for the colourful, rag-tag privateer entrants, but from then on into the ‘naughties’ the race really began to step away from its roots as stand-alone annual production car enduro. It’s been a gradual transition that’s culminated in today’s festival-style Bathurst 1000 extravaganza: it’s still the biggest race of the year but now just one of a series of races, which are contested by much the same field of Supercars, which themselves now bear almost nothing in common with the road cars they’re supposed to be representing on the track.
As far as sporting events go, everything in 2000 was going to be overshadowed by the Greatest Olympics Ever, featuring our Cathy, Thorpedo and little Nicky Webster. A shame, because the 2000 Bathurst 1000 was one of the toughest races, with one of the most unlikely endings, in its history. It’s also the last of its kind, in a sense, as the race began its move from the all-comer event to the closed shop, professional championship round that it is today.
Indeed, this would be the nal Bathurst 1000 with a full entry of 56 cars, made up of a combination of the full time drivers, second cars driven by either international guests or nonregular touring car drivers, the regular privateer entries, and nally the once-a-year warriors who cobbled together a car and a budget with some volunteers to make the trek to Bathurst. Included amongst this collection were 19 rookies.
Then, just for added difficulty, the entire week was wet. The constant drenching meant the out eld was a bog, nearly as bad as the campsites and car parks, so there was no such thing as a harmless off-track adventure.
It was no better in the pits, with the teams operating out of the old 1987-built pit garages that had rain pelting in, rivers running through them and mud trekked in from the paddock. There was nothing glamorous about our premier racing event in November, 2000.
For the leading teams, Thursday was effectively a non-event. The opening practice was wet, the second session was cancelled due to the weather.
But for those at the other end of the pit lane, it was do or die as they faced off in pre-qualifying. With 56 entries for 55 spots it seemed positively cruel to send out 18 cars to eliminate one. But as it turned out, the unlucky one out wouldn’t even get to turn a lap.
After its crew worked until 3.30am to get the car nished for practice, the Trevor Crittendon Motorsports Commodore, driven by Kiwi Chris Butler, was thwarted by an electrical issue and came to a stop 200m into its out lap. Needing only to better a 3m01s lap time to secure a spot,
they tried again, tting a new battery with ve minutes remaining – but it was to no avail. They’d be the rst Bathurst hard-luck story that year, but de nitely not the last.
The TAFE Smash Repair Team are part of Bathurst folklore and, while these days the Supercar teams tend be self-reliant when it comes to repairing accident damager at the track, 20 years ago many of the smaller teams would not have made it to the grid without them. And on day one they had two major repair jobs to do.
The rst was Ross Halliday’s ex-DJR Falcon. This car had been prepared by a team of four apprentices and their teachers, as part of a deal with the MTA Group Training Scheme. A far cry from today, where nearly every team has 30-plus employees, they would have their work cut out for them when co-driver Adam Wallis understeered off at the Chase, requiring work to the right front. But while their car was xed overnight, an even bigger repair job was required for one of the several last-minute entries. The second UltraTune car of Dean Lindstrom and Melinda Price (above) was heavily damaged after the latter hit a puddle of standing water on Mountain Straight and aqua-planed off and into the wall. This car wouldn’t be seen again until Sunday morning warm-up.
Thankfully by qualifying a dry line was appear and slicks came out for the rst time. For a moment it looked like there could be a major upset as the Ultra-Tune Commodore driven by privateer Mick Donaher hit the top of the timesheets, just as the rain started falling. But it was only a light drizzle, not enough to force the eld to wets.
Donaher, while not ultimately claiming an unlikely provisional pole, was still the fastest privateer in an outstanding 14th place – a boost for the team with the second car still in the TAFE garage.
Mark Skaife, who only needed to nish 17th to deny Garth Tander the championship, went an astonishing two seconds faster than Russell Ingall mid-session to claim provisional pole. Eventually Paul Radisich would get that down to a 0.13s as the track dried out further, but it was an amazing lap from the championship leader.
After the session there were the tales of what-ifs, and of woe about baulked laps and traffic interference. None, though, were as blunt or as public as Russell Ingall, who at the post-qualifying media conference remarked: “We seem to have a lot of drivers out there from Planet Mork. There are so many dickheads and wankers out there I can’t believe it. Out of the number of years I’ve been here, this is the worst.”
That outburst cost Ingall $10,000 for comments ‘likely to bring the sport into disrepute’ as well as an angry encounter with Richard Mork – the long-time privateer racer and a colourful character who was considered a bit of a folk hero among some fans.
Mork was unimpressed with Ingall’s comments and their hour-long, frank exchange of views was eventually broken up by the CAMS Driving Standards Advisor Colin Bond.
But the concern over the speed differential was growing, and the following years would see continued tightening of entry criteria, eventually eliminating the ‘run-what-you-brung’ weekend racer entrants. It wasn’t solely about safety, though; V8 Supercars Australia was already headed well down the path of turning the series (and Bathurst) into an F1-style franchise-only affair, with the same eld of (professional) teams competing at each race. The old-style rough-andready privateers did not t in this vision splendid.
Talk of prequalifying on Thursday seemed a quaint notion by Friday’s end – because of the weather conditions, more than half of the eld had not actually quali ed (under the 107% time cut-off)! The officials chose a simple and pragmatic solution: they simply waived the 107% rule.
The 2000 race would also feature the nal ever morning Top 10 Shootout. While the iconic
run-off, started in 1978 as Hardie’s Heroes, wouldn’t move to the afternoon until 2003, the 2001 and 2002 editions made the unpopular (and unfathomable) move to 15 drivers.
On Saturday morning a dry line had appeared toward the end of the warm-up but persistent drizzle afterwards dashed any hope of a dry event and it only got heavier throughout. And after three of the four Holdens in the shootout ran off the track, it was left to Mark Skaife to salvage the Lion’s pride.
Indeed, so desperate to avoid an all-Ford front-row were the Holden teams that the HRT’s manager Jeff Grech went into the Perkins garage to ask Russell Ingall to provide some insights into the track conditions. Incredibly, they agreed to help their arch enemy to try to beat their common foe.
But the Lion’s collaboration and a truly epic lap from Skaife in the worst of the conditions weren’t enough as the championship leader could only manage third. Ford owned the front row. Steven Johnson’s rst front row start was newsworthy enough. But that was overshadowed by Wayne Gardner taking pole position. The former touring car owner/driver, who was making his rst Supercar start for the year, claimed pole by an astonishing 1.3 seconds in the Ford Tickford Racing Falcon.
The traditional Saturday afternoon session, dubbed ‘happy hour,’ was the last chance for teams to prepare for the race, road components (which had been difficult to do in the wet sessions) and, for quite a few teams, iron out any gremlins still afflicting them. Trying to nd a set-up was almost a non-event, the changeable weather putting paid to the thought of an ideal set-up for a six-hour plus race when track conditions were changing so much within a practice session.
Four cars were missing and a few others had dramas. From sticking throttles to broken ones, a few offs leading to visits to the TAFE repair crew, after such a weather-interrupted week nobody could really feel 100 percent comfortable that they were ready for the big one on Sunday.
More apprehensive than any of them was Melinda Price and Dean Lindstrom in their repaired Ultra-Tune Commodore. The car was
nally xed from Thursday’s crash and the plan was to nally get some laps. But the car needed some more spanner work to get it ready which they couldn’t nish in time for Saturday afternoon, so they would only get the 20-minute warm-up on Sunday morning to shake the car down, get their eye in and prepare for the biggest race of the year.
While the 150 car had a trouble-free race morning warm-up, the Perkins/Ingall Castrol Commodore of Larry Perkins required an engine change after they discovered a bent pushrod. The swap took 35 minutes at!
As the 10am start time came closer it was obvious that the rst part of the race would be
in the worst conditions. Persistent heavy rain continued and the start would see heavy spray behind them.
Steven Johnson took the lead in the 17 Falcon at the start, to the roars of the sodden Ford fans across the top. However, there was no stopping Wayne Gardner who passed him and drove away from the eld to not be headed again in his opening 35 lap stint. But even before he handed over to Neal Bates, Gardner knew his day would be short. The clutch was failing and they were done soon after.
The race would be a battle of survival and the rst two thirds were predictably unpredictable. The rain would come, then a dry line would appear, teams would try and predict the best time to switch to slicks, then the rain would come again and drivers would tiptoe back to the pits for wets or, as often happened, get caught out and in the wall or bogged at the Chase.
Throughout all of this, it was looking like the #1 HRT Commodore could be on track for the championship/500/1000 treble – a feat which had only been achieved by Peter Brock and Craig Lowndes.
Pre-race there had been questions about whether Lowndes, who had not recommitted to the HRT for season 2001, would be as focused on ensuring Skaife’s championship as on Bathurst glory. After all, he was out of contention, and he and Skaife that year had a difficult working relationship.
Whether that played a part in Lowndes,’ shall we say, aggressive approach in his opening two stints, who’s to say? But whatever the reason, Jeff Grech repeatedly instructed Lowndes to be more careful as he charged through the eld.
In spite, or because of, his aggressive style, he handed the car over to Skaife in the lead. And while the 1 HRT Commodore was the clear pace setter, it was still difficult to pick a winner.
One car that wouldn’t be challenging was the Perkins/Ingall Commodore. They were done and dusted by half distance, the car’s second engine for the day also failing. With the team’s second car’s motor also calling it quits, three engines in a single day was a very un-Perkins like Bathurst.
With Perkins gone, the Murphy/Richards Kmart Commodore had been the nextbest, despite struggling with overheating issues which was robbing them of power. But they were continuing on, driving smart and safe and were leading at the half-way mark, although not con dent of being able to complete the 161 laps.
Both the Shell DJR Falcons had pace, but some questionable strategy calls had hindered – and led to Dick Johnson swapping team managers late in the race! Allan Horsley, the Mazda Motorsport guru, was brought in to make the pit calls, making the DJR garage a very tense place to be.
The most likely to thwart an HRT treble was their rival Ford factory entry of Glenn Seton and Neil Crompton. As they approached the nal stops, Crompton was ahead of Skaife and they both could make it to the end on one more stop. Nearly all the other front-runners would need an extra fuel stop, making their battle the effective race for the win.
But then on lap 114 Englishman Matt Neal, driving the Big Kev Commodore with Paul Morris, tried to unlap himself at Hell Corner. He and Crompton tangled, spinning the FTR Falcon into Skaife’s rear guard, while Skaife clipped the
following 34 Valvoline Commodore with Garh Tander at the wheel.
Crompton was now out of contention; Skaife’s guard started rubbing on the tyre, causing a blow-out. The collision had also caused a sticking throttle. Two pit stops in four laps to repair the damage dropped him to 14th, still in a position to win the title, but with a damaged car. It would be a very tense last third of the race.
This now threw the race wide open. And remarkably, one of the contenders was the Caltex-backed Stone Brothers Falcon of Tony Longhurst and debutante David Besnard. They had completed eight stops so far, one of which included a fuel re, and been as far back as 52nd position. But with 30 laps to go they were leading and the 1988 winner increased the margin over Tander.
Then, with nine laps to go, on the approach to Forrest’s Elbow, Longhurst was attempting to lap the Faulkner/Macrow Commodore when the two touched. The right front upright of the Caltex Falcon was broken. Longhurst got it back to the pits, but they couldn’t continue. He was devastated, the stunned SBR crew looked at the broken front in disbelief. From 52nd to rst, with a record nine pit stops and a debutante co-driver – this would have been a comeback to rival Perkins’ famous last-to- rst 1995 victory.
This elevated Tander in the lead, and the 23 year-old was unshakeable, holding off Paul Radisich and driving to a scarcely believable but well-deserved rst Bathurst victory for himself, Jason Bargwanna and team owner Garry Rogers. Radisich and Jason Bright were second while Greg Murphy and Steven Richards were third, while Skaife nished sixth to wrap up his fourth title.
Incredibly, an early sticking throttle and a rear tie rod end were the only issues for the repaired second Ultra Tune car of Dean Lindstrom and Melinda Price. Their trouble-free run earned them a top 20 nish. Having not turned a wheel since Thursday morning, it was one of those iconic Bathurst stories of the past: overcoming all odds and expectations, where 20th place and 11 laps down can feel like a win. In fact, after such a tough day, where only 29 of the 55 cars were classi ed as nishers, making the chequered ag was an achievement in itself. And claiming that 29th place, 28 laps down, was Richard ‘Planet’ Mork.