1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000

It was held on 5 October 1980 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia.

The championship was dominated by Brock, with only two or three other cars competitive, including the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Kevin Bartlett.

The emergence of hard charging Ford privateer Johnson into a race winning threat just one month prior to Bathurst revitalised interest, more so when Johnson qualified on the front row of the grid, alongside the pole-setting Camaro of Bartlett, and ahead of Brock.

During an interview on Channel 7 with visiting pit reporter Chris Economaki, a distraught Johnson stated he had dedicated all of his finances in a final shot at the winning the race after ten years as a competent mid-fielder.

Johnson would go on to repay the faith shown in him by Edsel Ford and the Australian public, using the $144,000 he received to build a new Falcon in which he would go on to win the 1981 ATCC and the crash shortened 1981 James Hardie 1000.