An infamous moment in the early V8 Supercars era occurred on the Gold Coast in 1997 when two long-term teammates collided in controversial circumstances.
Dick Johnson and John Bowe were competing in their 10th season together at the iconic Shell-backed squad. The duo had won three championships and two Bathurst 1000 titles during this time as both shared tremendous success whether it be the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s in the early days or the Ford Falcons.
The Gold Coast event slotted in between the opening two Australian Touring Car Championship rounds back then and teams were already using spare chassis for the non-championship event where carnage was almost guaranteed.
It was proven in the opening race.
Greg Murphy was on pole in the Holden Racing Team VS Commodore alongside Ingall, with Bowe and Alan Jones making up Row 2 as Johnson was back in seventh.
All kicking off at the second chicane, Seton’s Falcon had a stuck throttle to slide into the tyre wall leading to a pile-up also involving Steven Richards, Steven Johnson (driving the Alcair Commodore), Terry Finnigan and Steve Reed.
A red flag was required to clean up the mess, before the race was resumed and Murphy took full advantage to take the lead after a slow start prior to the race stoppage.
However, the trouble for the Dick Johnson Racing Falcons began at Turn 4 on lap 8 when Bowe was held up by Larry Perkins before at the next corner, he was further baulked leading to a slight tap from Johnson in the rear.
Johnson got a better launch off Turn 5 to move alongside Bowe heading into Turn 6, but not all went to plan… Under brakes, Johnson tipped Bowe into the wall on the inside, while the team boss rode the outside concrete leading to significant damage to the pair of Shell Falcons.
John Smailes had the unenviable task of tracking down the DJR drivers for a chat, which was refused and instead Team Manager Les Laidlaw revealed.
“We’ve got to wait to really look at the video replay to see what exactly happened,” Laidlaw said.
“John’s a bit upset; we’ll see what happens. We’ll speak to Dick when he comes back around here. It’s a long race and it was going to be a race of attrition as well; we just didn’t want it to be our cars.”
Murphy went on to take victory from Ingall and Jones, but in Race 2 the HRT Commodore retired with transmission problems.
Ingall led a Castrol Perkins Racing 1-2 ahead of team boss Larry Perkins as Wayne Gardner took third for Coca-Cola, just a month after winning the opening touring car round at Calder Park.
Johnson failed to make the start of the second race as Bowe finished 13th, but he enjoyed a strong ATCC campaign to finish second to Seton.
