Saturday Sleuthing: The Shell Sandown 500 Winner
With the Wilson Security Sandown 500 almost upon us, Saturday Sleuthing this week winds the clock back 20 years to focus on the car that won the Melbourne endurance classic in 1994.
Today's featured car is Dick Johnson and John Bowe's Shell-FAI EB Falcon (chassis EB4) that the dynamic duo drove to an emphatic victory in that year's race.
Johnson and Bowe started the race well back in 15th place after showers during Saturday's qualifying session shook up the grid order, but the #17 Ford wouldn't stay there for too long. Bowe took the start and by the end of the opening lap had already moved into the top 10.
The Tasmanian produced a devastating opening stint to charge to the lead by lap 30, with Johnson taking over for the middle stint.
The DJR pairing controlled the remainder of the 500km race, and Bowe greeted the chequered flag comfortably ahead of the Gibson Commodore of Mark Skaife and Jim Richards.
That victory created a Sandown 500 record that still stands given it remains the lowest-ever grid position for a winning car in the race's history.
After many years of trying, the 1994 victory was Johnson and Bowe's first in the Sandown 500 and the perfect lead-up to the Bathurst 1000, which they would also go on to win, albeit in a different chassis to the Sandown winner.
Our featured car was built in early 1994 and was Johnson's car throughout the 1994 Australian Touring Car Championship.
After its Sandown success, it became #18 for Bathurst, where it was shared by Dick's son Steven (on his Bathurst 1000 debut) and Allan Grice. Dick also drove it in the Australian Grand Prix support races in Adelaide.
For 1995, it was upgraded from EB to EF specification and was again Dick's car for the ATCC. Dick recorded his last ever ATCC race win in this car, at the Bathurst sprint round in March 1995.
Dick famously suffered a snapped rear wing on the same day in Race 2, sending him into a high-speed spin at Caltex Chase, right as he was chatting to Channel 7's Mike Raymond on RaceCam!
For the final ATCC round at Oran Park, Dick stepped into a new chassis and our featured car was run as a third DJR entry for Steven, carrying #19 and sponsorship from Digital computers.
It became the #18 Shell-FAI car for the Sandown 500 with Steven partnered by Charlie O'Brien. The pair finished third and Steven actually drove this car in the Thundersports support races on the same weekend before he and O'Brien finished seventh at Bathurst.
It then became a spare chassis for 1996 but was brought back into service after John Bowe destroyed his regular car - which was actually the 1994 Bathurst winner - in a huge accident at Phillip Island.
Bowe drove this car from the Calder round until the season finale at Oran Park but it was not raced in the enduros.
It was a spare once again in 1997 and updated to EL specification, and it is thought that this is the car Johnson drove at the Gold Coast Indy support races where he infamously collided with Bowe.
Johnson again raced it very briefly in early 1998 before it re-appeared at Phillip Island as the #95 'Racing For Life' Falcon driven by son Steven for the remainder of the ATCC.
DJR held onto the car throughout 1999 as a spare but it never raced, and in 2000 was sold to privateer racers Neil Schembri and Gary Quartly of Gearbox Motorsport.
Gearbox bought this chassis as a shell without engine or running gear and kept it as a spare for another ex-DJR Falcon they had also purchased and then raced.
Both of these cars were sold to Englishman Mike Newton in 2001, who raced the other, complete ex-DJR car until it was crashed and the running gear out of that car was installed into our featured chassis.
Newton entered it in the Britcar 24 Hour race at Silverstone in 2006, partnered by Tommy Erdos, Adam Wiseberg and Philippe Hesnault.
Despite clutch dramas, the Falcon finished the 24-Hour race, which was regarded as a shakedown as it was the first time the car had run since being rebuilt!
Newton retained the car until late 2012, when it made its way back to Australia after being purchased by collector Dean Montgomery.
Montgomery retains this car and the other ex-Newton DJR chassis, and has plans to restore both of them to their DJR glory days. We look forward to seeing the '94 Sandown winner back out and about soon.
Fittingly, the memorable colours of the 1994 DJR Falcons will be celebrated at this year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with DJR running a retro livery on the #17 car of David Wall and Steven Johnson to mark the 20th anniversary of its last Bathurst victory.
Saturday Sleuthing will take a break next week for the Wilson Security Sandown 500 but will return on Saturday September 20 with a unique, colourful and eye-catching privateer Commodore from the early to mid 1990s.
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