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.
DICK Johnson is regarded as the king of Brisbane’s Lakeside Raceway but, despite that status, home-track wins didn’t come easily.
He had cut his teeth at the fast but unforgiving venue through the 1960s and 1970s. He dominated local track championships and the state-based touring car title and was often a contender whenever the AustralianTouring Car Championship came to town.
One of the greatest wins of his career came in Lakeside’s championship round in 1981, an enthralling scrap with Peter Brock that ended with the Tru-Blu XD Falcon ahead at the chequered flag. The popular victory secured Johnson his first title win in what is now known as the Repco Supercars Championship.
But after that? Johnson’s fortunes ebbed and flowed like the water level of the adjacent Lake Kurwongbah.
The rise of rotaries and turbocharged cars kept him winless for the remainder of the Group C era, while Johnson led the early laps of the circuit’s first Group A round in 1985 before being run down by the dominant BMW of eventual champion Jim Richards.
The reverse was the case in 1987, when Johnson’s new Sierra RS Cosworth blasted through his rivals to take a clear lead … until its turbo expired.
Johnson’s now RS500-spec Shell cars were the ones to beat in 1988 and he claimed an emphatic pole on home soil, only for his Lakeside hoodoo to strike again. A clutch issue caused the #17 Sierra to creep before the lights went green; under the rules of the day, that drew an immediate one-minute time penalty. He crossed the line first but was awarded second in the final results.
The drought finally ended in 1989 – although it was far from a straightforward triumph.
Firstly, Lakeside’s round had to be postponed for two weeks due to heavy rains that caused the lake to flood the circuit.
Then, Johnson led the early stages from pole position until the race was red flagged due to an apocalyptic, fiery multi-car crash.
The clean-up and repairs to damaged guardrails held up proceedings for a couple of hours. Originally scheduled for a one-hour duration, the delayed race finally restarted close to sunset over a reduced half-hour runtime.
Johnson won the re-run race in a canter, taking the chequered flag amid the encroaching twilight some five seconds ahead of Tony Longhurst with Shell teammate John Bowe completing the podium.
Johnson went on to claim two more championship race wins at Lakeside in 1993 and 1994, along with the final pole position of his ATCC/Supercars career in 1996, before the circuit fell off the schedule after the 1998 season.
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.
