The 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 was the 21st running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 5 October 1980 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race was open to cars eligible under the locally developed CAMS Group C Touring Car regulations with four engine capacity based classes.
Peter Brock and Jim Richards won their third consecutive Bathurst 1000 debuting the Holden Commodore for the Holden Dealer Team. In taking a one lap win over Peter Janson and Larry Perkins, Brock won his fifth Bathurst 1000, breaking the record for most wins in the history of the race. Janson and Perkins finished second for the second successive year and finished three laps ahead of Ian Geoghegan and Paul Gulson as Commodores filled the first seven positions.
The race is most famous for the retirement of the Ford Falcon of Dick Johnson on lap 17. The 1980 Australian Touring Car Championship had featured one of the smallest fields in its then twelve years as a multi-race championship. The championship was dominated by Brock, with only two or three other cars competitive, including the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Kevin Bartlett. The emergence of hard charging Ford privateer Johnson into a race winning threat just one month prior to Bathurst at Amaroo Park's CRC 300 where he qualified on the front row with Brock and even led him for a number of laps before his tyres went off, revitalised interest (and pleased Peter Brock the most. Now the owner of the HDT, Brock knew the value of having a competitive Ford opponent and Johnson provided that). Interest was up even more so when Johnson qualified on the front row of the grid, alongside the pole-setting Camaro of Bartlett, and ahead of Brock. Johnson ran away from the field at the start and Brock dropped a lap behind Johnson after a clash with a back-marker Holden Gemini. Less than 30 seconds after lapping Brock going up Mountain Straight, Johnson crashed heavily into the wall just after the Cutting on lap 17 after clipping a large rock (which Johnson later described as being at least the size of an overnight bag) on the track when presented with no other options as a slow-moving tow truck carrying a dead-car blocked the other side of the track.
During an interview on Channel 7 with visiting pit reporter Chris Economaki, a distraught Johnson stated he had dedicated all of his finances in a final shot at the winning the race after ten years as a competent mid-fielder. Mike Raymond then interrupted the interview from the commentary booth to inform a visibly moved Johnson that their switchboards around the country were flooded with calls from people pledging money to get Johnson and his Ford back racing with a total of AU$ 72,000 raised. This total was matched dollar for dollar by the then boss of Ford Australia, Edsel Ford II, who quickly saw the value of having Johnson keeping Ford at the front of touring car racing despite the company having pulled out of racing at the end of 1978. Johnson would go on to repay the faith shown in him by Edsel Ford and the Australian public, using the $144,000 he received (along with the proceeds of selling the 1980 Bathurst car to fellow Queensland based racer John Donnelly) to build a new Falcon in which he would go on to win the 1981 ATCC and the crash shortened 1981 James Hardie 1000.
The 1980 win by the HDT Commodore saw Holden become the first manufacturer since Ford in 1963, 1964 and 1965 to win three consecutive races on The Mountain.
Class structure
3001-6000cc
The class featured a battle between: 8 Ford XD Falcons (with V8 motor) 3 Chevrolet Z28 Camaros (with V8 motor) 4 Holden VB Commodores (with V8 motor) + 9 Holden VC Commodores (with V8 motor) + 1 Jaguar XJ-S (with V12 motor) +.
+ Holden Commodore was racing at Bathurst for the first time + Jaguar XJ-S was racing at Bathurst for the first time
2001-3000cc The class featured a battle between: 5 Ford Capris: (with V6 motor) 3 Mazda RX-7s: (with rotary motor) 1 Holden VB Commodore. (with in line 6 motor) +
+ Holden Commodore was racing at Bathurst for the first time
1601-2000cc The class featured a battle between: 2 Alfa Romeo Alfettas (with in line 4 motor) 2 Ford Escort 1.6Ls (with in line 4 motor) 6 Ford Escort RS2000s (with in line 4 motor) 1 Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L coupe (with in line 4 motor) 2 Triumph Dolomites (with in line 4 motor) 3 Toyota Celicas (with in line 4 motor) 1 Toyota Corollas. (with in line 4 motor)
Up to 1600cc The final class featured a battle between: 1 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti1.5 (with in line 4 motor) 2 Ford Escort 1.6GLs (with in line 4 motor) 1 Holden Gemini TE (with in line 4 motor) 5 Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedans (with in line 4 motor) 1 Mitsubishi Lancer (with in line 4 motor) 1 Toyota Corolla (with in line 4 motor) 1 Volkswagen Golf GTi. (with in line 4 motor)
Hardies Heroes Pos No Entrant Driver Car Time Pole 9 Nine Network Racing Team Kevin Bartlett Chevrolet Camaro Z28 2:20.972 2 17 Palmer Tube Mills Dick Johnson Ford XD Falcon 2:21.117 3 05 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Holden VC Commodore 2:21.815 4 25 Marlboro Holden Dealer Team John Harvey Holden VC Commodore 2:23.005 5 6 Craven Mild Racing Allan Grice Holden VC Commodore 2:23.650 6 7 Channel 7 Breville Racing Bob Morris Ford XD Falcon 2:23.850 7 10 Roadways Gown-Hindhaugh Charlie O'Brien Holden VC Commodore 2:24.038 8 4 Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Larry Perkins Holden VC Commodore 2:25.505 9 1 Federation Insurance - Unipart Allan Moffat Ford XD Falcon 2:26.596 10 16 Greater Pacific Finance Coy Garry Rogers Holden VC Commodore 2:27.452
Results Pos Class No Entrant Drivers Car Laps Time/Retired Qualifying Pos 1 3001-6000cc 05 Holden Dealer Team Peter Brock Jim Richards Holden VC Commodore 163 3 2 3001-6000cc 4 Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd Peter Janson Larry Perkins Holden VC Commodore 162 +1 lap 8 3 3001-6000cc 21 Stockton Coin & Bullion Exchange Pty Ltd Ian Geoghegan Paul Gulson Holden VB Commodore 159 +4 laps 13 4 3001-6000cc 15 Re-Car Consolidated Industries Alan Browne Brian Sampson Holden VC Commodore 158 +5 laps 15 5 3001-6000cc 10 Roadways Racing Charlie O'Brien Garth Wigston Holden VC Commodore 157 +6 laps 7 6 3001-6000cc 16 Greater Pacific Finance Coy Garry Rogers Fred Giessler Holden VC Commodore 157 +6 laps 10 7 3001-6000cc 6 Craven Mild Racing Allan Grice John Smith Holden VC Commodore 156 +7 laps 5 8 2001-3000cc 35 Don Smith Barry Seton Don Smith Ford Capri Mk.III 156 +7 laps 22 9 3001-6000cc 26 Re-Car Consolidated Industries Ron Wanless Greg Wright Holden VC Commodore 154 +9 laps 26 10 3001-6000cc 14 Wayne Negus Wayne Negus Trevor Hine Holden VC Commodore 153 +10 laps 19 11 3001-6000cc 9 Nine Network Racing Team Kevin Bartlett Bob Forbes Chevrolet Camaro Z28 152 +11 laps 1 12 1601-2000cc 51 Chickadee Chicken Graeme Bailey Doug Clark Toyota Celica 148 +15 laps 30 13 2001-3000cc 32 Masterton Homes Steve Masterton Colin Bond Ford Capri Mk.II 147 +16 laps 16 14 1601-2000cc 45 Graham Mein Graham Mein Geoff Russell Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 142 +21 laps 41 15 Up to 1600cc 54 Terry Finnigan Racing Team Terry Finnigan Peter Dane Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedan 140 +23 laps 46 16 Up to 1600cc 57 Scottune Ian Burrell Rob Shute Mitsubishi Lancer 139 +24 laps 45 17 2001-3000cc 37 Trend Windows P/L Terry Daly Peter Hopwood Ford Capri Mk.II 138 +25 laps 24 18 3001-6000cc 2 Ron Dickson Ron Dickson Bob Stevens Chevrolet Camaro Z28 138 +25 laps 12 19 1601-2000cc 40 Rex Monaghan Ray Cutchie Ray Farrar Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 135 +28 laps 32 20 Up to 1600cc 65 Formula Ford Australia Bob Holden David Earle Ford Escort Ghia 1.6 135 +28 laps 51 21 1601-2000cc 42 Warwick Henderson Warwick Henderson Graham Harrison Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000 135 +28 laps 44 22 3001-6000cc 19 Tom Heard Neville Bridges Sue Ransom Holden VB Commodore 134 +29 laps 40 23 Up to 1600cc 64 Ray Gulson Ray Gulson Paul Jones Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti 134 +29 laps 51 24 1601-2000cc 52 B&G Meyers Leyland Terry Wade Brian Reed Triumph Dolomite Sprint 131 +32 laps 37 25 Up to 1600cc 58 Bernie McLure Bernie McClure David Langman Holden Gemini TE sedan 130 +33 laps 53 26 1601-2000cc 43 Allbrells Auto Care Centres John Faulkner Gary Dumbrell Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 129 +34 laps 36 27 2001-3000cc 34 Scotty Taylor Holden Alan Taylor Kevin Kennedy Holden VB Commodore 128 +35 laps 48 28 1601-2000cc 62 Alexandra Surplice Alexandra Surplice John Gates Toyota Corolla Levin 127 +36 laps 57 29 Up to 1600cc 61 Ken Harrison Ken Harrison Ian Wells Ford Escort 1.6 Mk.II 126 +37 laps 55 30 2001-3000cc 29 Capri Components Lawrie Nelson Tony Farrell Ford Capri Mk.III 121 +42 laps 29 31 1601-2000cc 53 Bathurst Light Car Club Tony Mulvihill Brian Nightingale Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 120 +43 laps 56 32 2001-3000cc 31 Masterton Homes Bruce Stewart Cam Worner Ford Capri Mk.II 120 +43 laps 28 33 Up to 1600cc 55 CARS Gemini Racing Team Ken Price Steve Jonas Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedan 116 +47 laps 50 34 Up to 1600cc 56 CARS Gemini Racing Team Allan Gough Colin Spencer Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedan 111 +53 laps 43 DNF 3001-6000cc 11 Citizens Watches (Aust) Pty Ltd Gary Cooke Warwick Brown Holden VB Commodore 155 11 DNF 1601-2000cc 44 Peter Williamson Pty Ltd Peter Williamson Mike Quinn Toyota Celica 129 Alternator 27 DNF 1601-2000cc 49 Jagparts Racing Team Gerald Kay Martin Power Triumph Dolomite Sprint 116 39 DNF 1601-2000cc 41 Roger Cartwright Roger Cartwright Rod Stevens Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 112 31 DNF Up to 1600cc 60 Country Dealer Team Jim Faneco Peter Boston Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedan 111 Rollover 52 NC 3001-6000cc 18 Murray Carter Murray Carter Graeme Lawrence Ford XD Falcon 106 14 NC 2001-3000cc 39 Darrell Lea Chocolate Shops Lty Ltd Barry Jones Geoff Leeds Mazda RX-7 105 25 DNF 3001-6000cc 12 Ron Dickson Dick Barbour Sam Posey Chevrolet Camaro Z28 91 18 DNF 3001-6000cc 7 Ron Hodgson Motors Bill O'Brien Bob Morris Allan Moffat Ford XD Falcon 88 Engine 6 DNF 3001-6000cc 25 Holden Dealer Team John Harvey Ron Harrop Holden VC Commodore 78 Engine 4 DNF 2001-3000cc 30 McLeod Mazda Peter McLeod Mal Brewster Mazda RX-7 65 33 DNF Up to 1600cc 63 Lennox Motors Chris Heyer Peter Lander Volkswagen Golf GTi 63 Fire 42 DNF 3001-6000cc 20 Gibson Motorsport Joe Moore Fred Gibson Ford XD Falcon 51 20 DNF 1601-2000cc 46 Formula Ford Australia Stephen Brook Wally Storey Ford Escort RS2000 Mk.II 45 34 DNF 3001-6000cc 22 Jim Keogh Jim Keogh Ross Mathiesen Ford XD Falcon 42 21 DNF 3001-6000cc 8 Garry Willmington Garry Willmington Rod Donovan Ford XD Falcon 24 23 DNF 3001-6000cc 23 Phil Lyon Phil Lyon Bill Stanley Holden VB Commodore 23 11 DNF 2001-3000cc 28 Precinct Performance Pty Ltd Allan Bryant Terry Shiel Mazda RX-7 19 38 DNF 1601-2000cc 50 Cinzano Team Garry Leggatt David Seldon Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L coupe 18 60 DNF 3001-6000cc 17 Dick Johnson Racing Dick Johnson John French Ford XD Falcon 17 Crash 2 DNF 1601-2000cc 48 Brian Foley Pty Ltd Phil McDonnell Derek Bell Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2000 16 35 DNF 3001-6000cc 3 John Goss Racing John Goss Ron Gillard Jaguar XJ-S 14 58 DNF Up to 1600cc 59 Country Dealer Team Gary Rowe Geoff Wade Isuzu Gemini ZZ/L sedan 12 Crash 49 DNF 3001-6000cc 24 Robert Muir Motors Pty Ltd Bob Muir Kingsley Hibbard Ford XD Falcon 7 17 DNF 3001-6000cc 1 Allan Moffat Racing Allan Moffat John Fitzpatrick Ford XD Falcon 3 Engine 9 DNF 1601-2000cc 47 Wally Scott Walter Scott Peter Walton Toyota Celica 3 47
Statistics Provisional Pole Position - #9 Kevin Bartlett Pole Position - #9 Kevin Bartlett - 2:20.972 Fastest Lap - #17 Dick Johnson - 2:22.2 Average Speed - 148 km/h Race Time - 6:47:52.7
Further reading Australia's Greatest Motor Race, 1960–1989, page 310
References
External links CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles www.touringcarracing.net race results Autopics Bathurst images