Looking Back is a new regular feature by Will Dale, telling the stories, the successes, the trials and the tribulations of a racing life now in its seventh decade and a team deep into its fifth. Dick Johnson might never look back. Lucky for all of us, Will does.
JOHNSON and Perkins are two of the most iconic surnames in Australian motorsport history.
And, for a few months, they were united under the same roof.
The 1985 season marked Australian touring car racing’s first featuring international Group A rules, and it triggered a big change for Ford faithful.
The V8 Falcon – which wasn’t homologated to race in Group A – was pushed to the sidelines, its place taken in the ‘blue oval’ brigade by the return of the Mustang.
Johnson impressed in the championship rounds and found the Mustang sweet-handling albeit underpowered.
At the same time, Larry Perkins elected to end his multiple Bathurst 1000-winning partnership with Peter Brock and resigned from the Holden Dealer Team midseason.
While he fully intended to set up his own operation to build, sell and race Group A Commodores, that wouldn’t be set up in time for the 1985 edition of the ‘Great Race’.
Johnson, who’d been without a team manager since George Shepheard’s amicable exit, got to talking with Perkins at the Amaroo Park ATCC round.
They agreed to a short-term marriage: Perkins would take on the roles of team manager, mechanic and co-driver for DJR’s 1985 endurance race campaign.
The double A-grade pairing lined up together just twice: at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Johnson qualified their #17 Mustang third on the grid for the Melbourne enduro, but he roared past the front row-starting Holdens to lead into the first corner. The green machine held sway for 22 laps until an axle broke, putting them out of contention before Perkins could turn a lap.
The ‘Cowangie Kid’ eventually got behind the wheel of the left-hand drive machine after repairs, only to be delayed further while a broken distributor drive was rectified. They rejoined to take the chequered flag 19th, 37 laps down on the winning BMW of Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst.
Bathurst proved just as tantalising – but just as disappointing, too.
Johnson and Perkins both qualified for the Top 10 Shootout: DJ in the #17 car, Perkins in the team’s backup #18 Mustang. Both ran in the one-lap session but paired for the race in #17, with the spare car withdrawn.
Johnson and Perkins were the best of the Aussie contingent in third on the grid and well-poised to take advantage if the dominant Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguars struck trouble.
But while all three ‘cats’ encountered trouble during the race, so too did the Mustang.
The first snag was a cracked oil cooler, which forced a long delay in the pits while it was bypassed. Then, when Perkins hopped aboard for his first stint, he had a front wheelnut part company on his outlap at Griffins Bend. LP somehow got the car back to the pits without the wheel itself departing, but four more laps were lost before the car resumed.
The car ran the rest of the race trouble-free to the chequered flag in seventh place.
Got a story you’d like to hear? A topic you’d like explored? A race or car you want to know more about? Email will@djr.com.au and it might just become a future feature story on Looking Back.
