Dick Johnson
Johnson signing autographs in 2006
Nationality	Australian
Born	Richard Johnson (1945-04-26)26 April 1945 (age 80) Brisbane,Queensland, Australia
Retired	1999
Related to	Steven Johnson (son) Jett Johnson (grandson)
Australian Touring Car Championship
Years active	1970–1999
Teams	Bryan Byrt Racing Dick Johnson Racing
Starts	202
Wins	22
Best finish	1st in1981,1982,1984,1988 &1989 Australian Touring Car Championship
Previous series
1982–91 1989–90 1990	Australian Endurance Championship NASCAR Australia NASCAR Cup Series
Championship titles
1981 1981 1982 1984 1987 1988 1989 1989 1994 1994 1995 1995	Australian Touring Car Champ. Bathurst 1000 Australian Touring Car Champ. Australian Touring Car Champ. South Pacific Touring Car Championship Australian Touring Car Champ. Australian Touring Car Champ. Bathurst 1000 Sandown 500 Bathurst 1000 Eastern Creek 12 Hour Sandown 500
Awards
2001	V8 Supercars Hall of Fame

Richard Johnson (born 26 April 1945) is a part-owner of theV8 Supercar teamDick Johnson Racing and a formerracing driver. As a driver, he was a five-timeAustralian Touring Car Champion and a three-time winner of theBathurst 1000. As of 2008 Johnson has claimed over twenty awards and honours,^{[citation needed]} including theV8 Supercars Hall of Fame into which he was inducted in 2001.

In 2009 as part of theQ150 celebrations, Dick Johnson was announced as one of theQ150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".^[1]

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As a teen, Johnson attendedCavendish Road State High School in Brisbane, Australia^[2] and it was in this area ofCoorparoo that he first started driving with his father as a young child. Cavendish Road State High School has named one of their school houses Johnson, in his honour. The house colour is blue.

After leaving school, Johnson was drafted into theAustralian Army at the age of twenty and began his two-year National Service in 1965. Although they did not know each other at the time, both Johnson and future touring car rivalPeter Brock were stationed together at theBlamey Barracks nearWagga Wagga inNew South Wales from 1965 to 1967.

Despite becoming synonymous with drivingFords, Johnson raced in his early days in a succession ofHoldens. Johnson's first race car was aHolden FJ, his first race being atLakeside International Raceway in November 1964. In 1968 and 1969 he raced hisHolden EH and from there progressed to aHolden Torana GTR for 1970, scoring his firstAustralian Touring Car Championship points atLakeside in that year. The GTR was upgraded to XU-1 specifications in 1971. Johnson's first drive in theHardie Ferodo 1000 was in Bob Forbes'Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 in1973 when they placed fifth. Johnson then had a single race for theHolden Dealer Team at theSurfers Paradise round of the1974 ATCC where he finished third driving a GTR XU-1. He later purchased the ex HDT Torana in which Peter Brock had won the Bathurst 1000 in 1972 from Barrie Nixon Smith and campaigned the car until his switch to Ford in 1977.^[3] The Torana was sold to Kerry Cox who raced it in the QLD Touring car championship in a close rivalry with Dick, with Cox winning in 1977 and Dick getting the title in 1978.

In 1980, during theBathurst 1000 he started second and led for the first seventeen laps before his car was spun off the track after hitting a football-sized rock that had been, according to an eye-witness in 2012, accidentally kicked onto the track by one of a pair of inebriated men.^[4] The resulting public support where people from around Australia rang their localChannel 7 television station (the race broadcaster) and pledged money to help the team get back on its feet. Eventually the sum ofA$72,000 was donated to help rebuild the car. Led by its CEOEdsel Ford II who saw the value of the goodwill in the press surrounding Johnson's crash, theFord Motor Company of Australia provided a new car shell and promised to match the donation dollar for dollar, resulting in the team receiving $144,000 to help get back into racing.

Johnson's close friend Ross Palmer, the owner of Palmer Tube Mills of Brisbane, became his primary sponsor in 1981 (with Bryan Byrt Ford also still a major sponsor), and with the donated money allowed him to return the next year to win both theAustralian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and the Bathurst 1000 (withJohn French). Johnson won the ATCC in a famous race-long duel withPeter Brock at theLakeside International Racewayround.^[5] He won the ATCC again in 1982 (the Tru BluXD Falcon), 1984 (Greens TuffXE Falcon), 1988 (Ford Sierra RS500) and 1989 (Sierra RS500). He also won Bathurst in 1989 (in a Ford Sierra withJohn Bowe) and 1994 (in an EB Falcon, also with Bowe). The names Tru Blu, and Greens Tuff, as well as Red Roo (seen in late 1982 only), were product names of Palmer Tube Mills.

With much larger budgets required in the racing industry, Ross Palmer helped negotiate forShell to be the team's primary sponsor from1987. The larger budget allowed the team to expand from just one car for Johnson, to a secondFord Sierra RS Cosworth for his then teammateGregg Hansford.

In 1989 and 1990, prompted by Palmer Tube Mills who assisted him in receiving multiple sources of sponsorship and through the company's American offshoot Redkote, Johnson made a brief foray into theNASCAR Cup Series driving aFord Thunderbird, entering a total of seven races with a best start of eleventh atSears Point Raceway in his first race, and a best finish of 22nd atPocono Raceway.^[6] Johnson also drove a Thunderbird in the first NASCAR race held in Australia, the1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500 at theCalder Park Thunderdome inMelbourne. Unfortunately for Johnson he was involved in an early race crash which put him out of the event.

Dick Johnson retired from racing at the end of the 1999 season, though he remains in charge of DJR. He did however make a one-off final appearance in front of his home crowd at the Queensland 500 in 2000 with his sonSteven who had taken over driving Dick's famous Number 17 and continued to for over a decade after.^[7] Johnson has twice written his autobiography as well as contributing to a third biography.^[3][8][9]

In 2014, DJR announced that 51% of the team was sold to legendary team ownerRoger Penske establishing DJR-Team Penske, which fields two cars in V8 Supercar racing. In 2019 Scott McLaughlin and Alexandre Premat scored Johnson his first Bathurst 1000 win in any capacity since 1994. Penske later sold his share in the team back to Johnson at the end of the 2020 Supercars Championship and the team reverted to Dick Johnson Racing.^[10]

Johnson's laconic nature and quick wit were put to good use by longtime Bathurst 1000 TV broadcasterChannel 7 when they first put one of theirracecam units in his Tru-Blu Ford Falcon for the1982 James Hardie 1000. Johnson and co-driver John French were also wired for sound so the commentary team could talk to the drivers while racing around the track. From then on Johnson's cars were rarely without a TV camera sitting where the passenger seat usually was, especially when Seven was televising the race. His laconic commentary and a seemingly endless list of one-liners quickly became a favourite with Australian race fans, even those who normally followed Holden drivers such as Peter Brock and Allan Grice, both of whom also became exponents of using racecam.

Some of Johnson's quotes while on racecam were:

• "I've got one blackBMW in front of me, one behind me.Frank Gardner and hisAll Blacks" –1985 ATCC, Round 5 at theAdelaide International Raceway while he was sandwiched between the blackJPS Team BMW's ofNew ZealandersJim Richards andNeville Crichton. Gardner was the JPS team manager.
• "The oldVolvo must have its truck suspension in" –1986 ATCC, Round 4 at Adelaide International. IronicallyRobbie Francevic's Volvo emerged as the race winner.
• "This race is like the Irishman who won theTour de France I tell ya. He had to go on a lap of honour" –1986 James Hardie 1000
• "This is where I lose so much time. I mean, this part of the track is just so boring" – 1986 Bathurst referring to hisV8Ford Mustang's lack of grunt compared to his competitors on the run upMountain Straight.
• "It's missing and carrying on like an old sheila" –1988 ATCC, Grand Finale atOran Park Raceway after turbo boost problems with his championship winningFord Sierra RS500 saw him relinquish the lead mid-race to teammateJohn Bowe. With the opposition nowhere in sight, Bowe later slowed enough to allow Dick to win the race and followed him across the line in a 1–2 form finish.
• "Winton? Its like running a marathon around your clothesline" –1990 ATCC, Round 4 atWinton afterChannel 7 commentator Mike Raymond asked him what the definition of Winton was.
• "ThenBrock got past me would you believe, unfortunately, and that thing of his like, I nearly choked to death onMobil 1. It looks like the last train to Ferny Grove" – 1990 ATCC, Grand Finale at Oran Park after problems with the Sierra saw him drop out of race winning and championship contention. He was referring to the Peter Brock Sierra's habit of belching black oil smoke out of its exhaust whenever he lifted off the accelerator.
• "The Sierra on one cylinder has got as much grunt as theCommodore" –1991 ATCC, Round 5 at Winton after his misfiring Sierra had been passed by theV8 Holden Commodore ofLarry Perkins.
• "You've got to be joking" –1995 ATCC,Round 3 atBathurst. Channel 7 had just crossed to Johnson with Mike Raymond asking "Are you lonely?". Johnson's quote came just seconds before he spun hisFord EF Falcon into Caltex Chase, seemingly distracted by Raymond's interruption. However, as the TV camera's soon picked up, the rear wing of the Falcon had collapsed at over 280 km/h (174 mph) as he was turning into the fastest corner on any Australian race circuit, at the same moment that Seven crossed to talk to him.^[11]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Ford Sierra RS500	MNZ	JAR	DIJ	NUR	SPA	BNO	SIL	BAT Ret	CLD ovr:13 cls:9	WEL Ret	FJI	NC	0

† Not registered for series & points

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1984	Re-Car Racing	Chevrolet Monza	MON	SIL	LMS	NUR	BHT	MOS	SPA	IMO	FJI	KYL	SAN DSQ	NC	0
1988	Bernie van Elsen	Veskanda C1Chevrolet	JRZ	JAR	MON	SIL	LMS	BRN	BHT	NUR	SPA	FJI	SAN DSQ	NC	0

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1988	Redkote Racing	Ford Sierra RS500	MNZ	DON	EST	JAR	DIJ	VAL	NUR	SPA	ZOL	SIL 21	NOG	NC	0

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	DC	Points
1988	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Ford Sierra RS500	BAT 2	WEL Ret	PUK	FJI	N/A	15

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1973		Bob Forbes	Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1	D	154	5th	5th
1974	John French Pty Ltd	John French	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV	1301 – 2000cc	71	DNF	DNF
1976	Bryan Byrt Ford	Graham Moore	Ford Capri Mk.I RS3100	2001cc - 3000cc	154	10th	2nd
1977	Bryan Byrt Ford	Vern Schuppan	Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop	3001cc – 6000cc	124	DNF	DNF
1978	Bryan Byrt Ford	Vern Schuppan	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	A	153	5th	5th
1979	Bryan Byrt Ford	Gary Scott	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	A	24	DNF	DNF
1980	Palmer Tube Mills	John French	Ford XD Falcon	3001-6000cc	17	DNF	DNF
1981	Palmer Tube Mills	John French	Ford XD Falcon	8 Cylinder & Over	120	1st	1st
1982	Palmer Tube Mills	John French	Ford XE Falcon	A	160	DSQ	DSQ
1983	Palmer Tube Mills	Kevin Bartlett	Ford XE Falcon	A	61	DNF	DNF
1984	Palmer Tube Mills	John French	Ford XE Falcon	Group C	107	DNF	DNF
		John French	Ford Mustang GT	Group A	-	DNS	DNS
1985	Palmer Tube Mills	Larry Perkins	Ford Mustang GT	C	159	7th	7th
		Larry Perkins	Ford Mustang GT		-	DNS	DNS
1986	Palmer Tube Mills	Gregg Hansford	Ford Mustang GT	C	162	4th	3rd
1987	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing Team	Gregg Hansford	Ford Sierra RS500	1	3	DNF	DNF
1988	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	A	22	DNF	DNF
		John Smith John Bowe Alfredo Costanzo	Ford Sierra RS500		160	2nd	2nd
1989	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	A	161	1st	1st
1990	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	A	94	DNF	DNF
1991	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	1	123	DNF	DNF
1992	Shell Ultra Hi-Tech Racing	John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	A	143	2nd	2nd
1993	Shell Racing	John Bowe	Ford EB Falcon	A	96	DNF	DNF
1994	Shell FAI Racing	John Bowe	Ford EB Falcon	A	161	1st	1st
1995	Shell FAI Racing	John Bowe	Ford EF Falcon		110	DNF	DNF
1996	Shell FAI Racing	John Bowe	Ford EF Falcon		161	2nd	2nd
1997	Dick Johnson Racing	John Bowe	Ford EL Falcon	L1	17	DNF	DNF
1998	Dick Johnson Racing	Steven Johnson	Ford EL Falcon	OC	60	DNF	DNF
1999	Dick Johnson Racing	Steven Johnson	Ford AU Falcon		161	4th	4th

• Dick Johnson Racing official website
• Dick Johnson's Elaborated Biography
• Dick Johnson driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Dick Johnson career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1945 births
• Australian Touring Car Championship drivers
• Bathurst 1000 winners
• Living people
• NASCAR drivers
• Racing drivers from Brisbane
• Sportsmen from Queensland
• Supercars Championship drivers
• World Touring Car Championship drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• Australian Endurance Championship drivers
• Dick Johnson Racing drivers
• Racing drivers from Queensland
• Australian National Servicemen
• 20th-century Australian sportsmen

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