Defining Moment: Lowndes' Incredible Comeback
Craig Lowndes was leading the V8 Supercars Championship coming into Calder Park. He won the first race of the weekend, for the second he lined up next to teammate Mark Skaife on the front row of the grid. And chaos unfolded.
Our Defining Moments countdown continues, today looking at 1999 and Lowndes’ remarkable recovery from this crash, to win his third title.
It all happened in the second race.
There was contact as cars pounced from the start-line and Lowndes’ Holden Racing Team Commodore was on its roof, then barrel-rolling as if it would never stop.
Competitors immediately abandoned their race cars to help 25-year old Lowndes.
It was later confirmed the racer required a knee reconstruction and would not be fit to fight for his Championship at the next round at Symmons Plains – the ninth of 13 events that season.
Cameron McConville subbed in for Lowndes, in the spare1996 Bathurst-winning VS Commodore, replacing the damaged car that had been new for the round.
But despite missing the event in Tasmania – which Lowndes watched from home and said he had no desire to be at, given the pouring rain – he triumphed for his third and most recent Championship at the end of the 1999 season, during which the Bathurst 1000 was the finale. He and McConville paired together finished second in the enduro.
Lowndes spoke to v8supercars.com.au about the enormous Calder crash, his recovery and getting back in the car – clearly why he believes ’99 to be one of his more memorable years.
“1999 was going to plan – it was a great year,” Lowndes began.
“We actually had a brand new car – HRT had built a brand new car (to race) at Calder Park.
“We won the first race, got a bad start to the second race, which obviously got caught up in other people’s incidents and ended up on our roof and upside down and all over the shop.
“At that point, from memory it was about three quarters of the was through the Championship. I think we had a healthy lead at that point, I got a left knee reconstruction, missed the round – Cameron McConville filled in for me.
“My spot at Tasmania, which was the following round, I remember sitting at home watching the race and it was teeming down with rain so I was quite happy not to be there!
“Then again of course we needed to be back in the car as quick as we could.
“At that stage we were doing rehab, doing everything we could to fast track – we were doing hyperbaric chambers, the whole lot. We were fortunate enough that between races back then… (I was) able to get back into the car.
“First race back after the accident was Winton and right through to practice, qualifying and the first race I was a just a little bit uneasy, having other cars around me, contact and everything else, so I struggled at the beginning of the weekend.
“As the weekend went on I got a little bit more comfortable, and by the end of the week I was back to my normal self.
“We went on to obviously win the Championship – for me that was one of the memorable ones because of all the things going on with the accident, rehab, and everything.”
Lowndes remembers his fellow competitors coming to his aid after the accident and named Greg Murphy, Neil Crompton, Johnny Faulkner, Garth Tander and Larry Perkins as being immediately on the scene – “Larry Perkins was there but looking at the underside of the car,” he noted.
“There were a lot of people worried and concerned at the time… I radioed to the crew to say I was ok but of course I’d worn out the aerials so nothing worked.
“I’d undone the seatbelts, turned myself around, Murph was trying to open doors and get access into the car.
“Once we got through all that my left knee was throbbing, which turned out to be the re-co and my left elbow was sore. Maybe somewhere along the line my elbow had come free or loose and hit the concrete or the bitumen.
“Luckily we had window nets at that point, otherwise my arm probably would have been out the window. We didn’t have the HANS device so one of the reasons for taking my hands off the steering wheel and putting them on my head was to protect my neck and back.”
How did he feel the first time he watched the footage and saw his Commodore continue to pirouette in the air?
“It looked worse than what it felt like inside the car.
“I was amazed how much the car withstood, but the same token I was amazed how fierce the rollovers were, because inside the car it didn’t feel that bad. It felt like a bad roller-coaster ride, but not that bad.
“Once the car was upside down I was actually quite comfortable because we were going in one direction.
“When it started to barrel roll that’s when I started to worry about which direction I was heading because where we were in relevance to the track and I was very lucky looking at the replay again of the last couple of rolls where I rolled on and over to the concrete barrier – didn’t actually come to a sudden stop.
“All of that was a little bit of fortune and luck went my way, that’s for sure.”
Now, 14 years later, Lowndes is in the hunt to win his next title.
Will he do it at the Sydney NRMA Motoring and Services 500? We’ll have to wait and see – but if you support Lowndes in this year's Championship use #WHOWILLWIN and spread the word on Twitter. Tickets are still available for next week's grand finale, so book your ticket through Ticketek now.
You can vote for his 1999 victory and recovery as your favourite Championship Defining Moment by clicking here.
If you’re curious as to where Lowndes’ crashed Commodore from Calder Park has ended up, visit www.v8supercars.com.au to find out in Saturday Sleuthing tomorrow as Aaron Noonam details its history.
