Famous Falcon has links to the Wide Bay

A Ford once raced by Dick Johnson at the Bathurst 1000 could have been driven at one stage in Bundaberg, it has been revealed in a podcast.

ICONIC: Dick Johnson in his Tru Blu Ford Falcon at Bathurst 1980. The car has links to Wide Bay.

MOTORSPORT: One of Australia’s most famous racing cars has links to Wide Bay.

Dick Johnson’s Tru Blue Ford Falcon that raced in the 1980 Bathurst 1000 originally came from the region, it has been revealed.

The XD Falcon and Johnson made national headlines when the car hit a rock while he was leading the great race on lap 17.

Johnson, who was financially struggling to keep his motorsport dream alive at the time, was then funded from fans to keep him racing.

The incident ignited Johnson to a long career in the sport with multiple Bathurst wins and Touring Car titles and his own racing team, which still races today.

Johnson revealed on the V8 Sleuth podcast, run by respected motorsport journalist Aaron Noonan, that the car didn’t start as a race car.

Instead, it was a car that could have at one stage been driven in Bundaberg.

“The actual car itself was a 302 automatic, which was a highway patrol car up around Maryborough,” Johnson said.

“(John) Harris bought it at an auction.”

Harris was the owner of the Ford dealership Bryan Byrt in 1980 after taking over from Byrt who died in 1978.

The dealership was already familiar to Johnson as he was sponsored by them until the end of 1979.

Harris had the XD Falcon in his dealership and Johnson wanted to get the vehicle as he thought he could have success racing the car. “The deal was that he’d give me the two door Falcon (XD), and all the bits and pieces that they had, all the spare parts and engines, and I paid a figure for it,” he said.

Johnson raced only three times in the car, finishing fifth in a 300km race at Amaroo Park and racing at Lakeside before his famous race at Mount Panorama.

The car was then sold to others racers with the car involved in another four Bathurst 1000 races from 1981 to 1984.

The car is now privately owned.

You can listen to the interview with Dick Johnson here.