Dick Johnson (Australian auto racing)
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Dick Johnson is a former Australian racing driver, now V8 Supercar team owner.
He started out as a battling back-marker in the 1970s. In 1980, during the Bathurst 1000, his car was destroyed after hitting a rock that had fallen (or been thrown) onto the track. The resulting public support—AU$70,000 was donated to help rebuild the car—threw Johnson into the big time. The Ford motor company promised to match the donation dollar for dollar. He returned the next year to win both the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and the Bathurst 1000 (with John French. He won the ATCC again in 1982 (the Tru Blu XD Falcon), 1984 (Greens Tuff XE Falcon), 1988 (Ford Sierra RS500) and 1989 (Ford Sierra RS500). He also won Bathurst in 1989 (in a Ford Sierra with John Bowe) and 1994 (in an EB Falcon, also with John Bowe).
In 1989 and 1990, Johnson made a brief foray into the Nascar Winston Cup, entering a total of seven races with a best start of 11th at Sears Point Raceway in his first race, and a best finish of 22nd at Pocono Raceway.
Dick Johnson retired from racing at the end of the 1999 season. He remains in charge of the team, but his son Steven has taken over driving Johnson's famous Number 17.
Despite becoming synonymous with driving a Ford, Johnson raced in his early days in a Holden Torana.
| Teams contesting the 2006 V8 Supercar Championship Series | |||||||||
| Stone Brothers Racing | Holden Racing Team | Tasman Motorsport | Ford Performance Racing | Jack Daniels Racing | WPS Racing | ||||
| 1 Russell Ingall 4 James Courtney | 2 Mark Skaife 22 Todd Kelly | 3 Jason Richards 23 Andrew Jones | 5 Mark Winterbottom 6 Jason Bright | 7 Steven Richards 11 Paul Dumbrell | 8 Max Wilson 10 Jason Bargwanna | ||||
| Team BOC | Toll HSV Dealer Team | Dick Johnson Racing | Paul Cruickshank Racing | Fujitsu Racing | Garry Rogers Motorsport | ||||
| John Bowe 14 Brad Jones | 15 Rick Kelly 16 Garth Tander | Steven Johnson 18 Will Davison | 20 Marcus Marshall | 25 Warren Luff 26 Jose Fernandez | 33 Lee Holdsworth 34 Dean Canto | ||||
| Team Sirromet Wines | Supercheap Auto Racing | Autobarn Racing | Team Betta Electrical | Team Kiwi Racing | |||||
| 39 Fabian Coulthard | 50 Cameron McConville 51 Greg Murphy | Steve Owen | 88 Jamie Whincup 888 Craig Lowndes | 021 Paul Radisich
| |||||
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