Australian race fans know Dick Johnson started his touring car career in Holdens, but there was a key shift in 1977 for the Queenslander set to impact the remainder of his career.
In honour of Johnson’s 80th birthday and Ford Australia’s 100th anniversary, here’s the story of how the two came together.
Johnson enjoyed moderate support at the start of his career and was a leading privateer contender in Queensland for when the Australian Touring Car Championship came up for its regular visits.
In fact, Johnson received some minor support from the Holden Racing Team during the time and purchased the Holden Torana GTR XU-1 to win Bathurst in the hands of Peter Brock.
An alliance came in 1976 when Dick Johnson received an opportunity from Bryan Byrt motorsport to grow his program.
Dealer owner Byrt was a motoring enthusiast and used this to support various drivers up until his death due to cancer during the late-1970s.
One of those drivers to be supported by Byrt was John French, who had just received a six month ban from CAMS in 1976 due to an illegal Alfa Romeo leading to the suggestion of Johnson to drive for the dealer.
It proved a massive change for Johnson by starting a long relationship with the Ford brand, which continues to this day.
Byrt and Johnson raced an XA Falcon Sports Sedan first before making a big tilt at various ATCC rounds in 1976, which included a pole at Lakeside in what proved a to be an unreliable XB.
However, a few results including the pole encouraged Byrt to increase his motorsport involvement by bringing successful endurance racer Vern Schuppan to co-drive, but engine problems led to retirement.
Byrt continued his investment by building a new XC Hardtop in 1978, but it was crashed early in the season leading to the purchase of Jim Richards’ Melford example.
Podiums at Oran Park and Calder Park led to 10th in the ATCC in what was a limited campaign, but Bathurst backed up these strong performances as Johnson finished fifth alongside the returning Schuppan.
There was no time to celebrate as the patriarch of the team was battling cancer and was in America during the race getting treatment, passing away four days post-event on the way back home.
With this development, Johnson’s racing career was back at the crossroads as the new dealer manager was not a supporter of the program and it ran on a shoestring for 1979 ending in a disappointing season.
Bryan Byrt Ford provided the underpinnings of Johnson’s 1980 attack when it sold its race package to him and was a small sponsor on the XD Falcon he built.
Support from Ross Palmer came after lowering the lap record at Lakeside and success at Amaroo Park led to a dominant performance before encountering a rock.
And we all know what happens next…