NUMBER 1 – A HISTORY IN THE ATCC AND SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Race numbers, much like the design of race helmets, can be a very personal thing. In many Motor Sport Championships around the world, the previous year’s winner takes the No 1 number on his or her car. For some, it is a choice, for others it is mandatory. A personal decision where the option exists.  

Australian Touring Car Racing, in its many classes and formulas, is over 65 years old. An unbroken run, making it one of the world’s oldest national series. 2026 is the sixty-sixth running of the now Supercars badged Championship. In forty-five of those years, the winning driver has carried the Number 1, but there were some interlopers and strange outcomes.

Race Press plots the course of those who used the famous number, those who stuck to their personal ‘lucky number’, and those who cared little for its importance.

The 1960 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned event for drivers of Appendix J Touring Cars. The title, which was the inaugural Australian Touring Car Championship, was contested over a single 20 lap, 75-mile race held on the 1^{st of} February 1960 at the Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit near Orange in New South Wales. The race was won by David McKay driving a Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 Litre. He carried the Number 71.

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The next year Des West in a Morris 850 was recorded as running Number 1. In 1964 Bob Jane ran the Number 1 on his Jaguar Mark 11 4.1, but at the ATCC meeting at Lakeside it had the normal Jane #7 on its flanks.

The real acknowledgment of the ATCC Champion taking the coveted number occurred in 1965. Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan ran the Number 1 in the 1965 race at Sandown as the 1964 champion. So began one of the longest runs by a driver with Number 1 on their cars as ‘Pete’ dominated the single race format until the first multiple Championship Series in 1969.

It is, during this six-year run of Geoghegan carrying the Number 1, that the first anomaly appears. Norm Beechey landed the first racing Ford Mustang in Australia in 1965 and bagged the Championship at Sandown. He chose to continue with his signature Number 4 as his chosen number in 1966, where Geoghegan again carried the Number 1.

Beechey stopped the run of archrival Geoghegan by winning the 1970 ATCC and replacing the famous Number 4 with Number 1 for 1971, on his legendary Holden Monaro GTS 350.

With Bob Jane sticking to his Number 7, there was no Number 1 in 1971, but Geoghegan again had it on the side of his factory Super Falcon GTHO for several rounds but carried No 10, when it ran in the famous 1972 Bathurst round. Fred Gibson entered his No 1 Road & Track Ford Falcon GTHO Series Production car in that round.

The next few years were strange to say the least. Between 1971 and 1976 no ATCC winner carried the Number No 1 into the following year. The number was run however by Pete Geoghegan, Peter Brock and Colin Bond – none of which were the current ATCC Champion of the day.

Alan Moffat got it back on track after winning the 1976 Championship in his XB Falcon and reverted to the Number 1 in 1977. This of course leading to the iconic 1 – 2 Bathurst finish with Colin Bond. He carried it again in 1978.

The Number 1 was not seen on a Championship winners’ car for the next seven years as Peter the winners retained Brock’s 05 and Dick Johnson’s 17.

The run of Brock, Johnson and Alan Moffat was stopped in 1986 by Jim Richards carrying No 1 on the JPS BMW 635i. Richards won the inaugural Group A ATCC the year before and took up the coveted number for his 1986 defence.

‘Richo’ was the only person to run Number 1 on his BMW’s and Nissan’s up until 1992. He handed the baton to Nissan teammate Mark Skaife who won the first of his five Championship in 1992.  

The balance of the 90’s saw each driver including Skaife, Glenn Seton, John Bowe and Craig Lowndes carry the Number 1.

The 2000’s brought the longest unbroken run of the Championship driver taking the Number for the following year. Under the V8 Supercars category, Craig Lowndes celebrated his 1999 win and kicked off the decade in his now No 1 HRT Commodore.

For seventeen years between 2000 and 2016, one driver captured the Number 1 on eight occasions. This was the era of Jamie Whincup as he smashed through every race win, pole position and ultimately ATCC/Supercars Championship records.

The Triple 888 champ saw his 2008 win have the Number 1 on the doors of the Falcon BF, but even though he won again in 2009, all his other victories were displayed the following season on the T888 Holden Commodores.

As teams go, Stone Bros Racing had three Number 1 celebrations with Marcos Ambrose winning in 2003 and 04 and teammate Russell Ingall capturing his only Supercars Championship in 2005. SBR made sure the field was aware of their Championship status in each ensuing year with the Ford’s proudly running the No. 1.

Other single Championship winning drivers in this period also took up the No. 1 option. Rick Kelly in the HRT Dealer Team Commodore wining in 2006, Garth Tander from the same garage in 2007 and James Courtney upsetting Whincup’s run in 2010.

The 2010 Supercars Championship ended in the most spectacular circumstances when a deluge hit the Olympic Park race track and the top protagonists Courtney and Whincup crashed, along with half the field, but managed to get their stricken Supercars back to the pit lane.

Adrian Burgess, then Technical Director at Dick Johnson Racing, read the play perfectly and ensured that Courtney left the pit lane in a hastily cobbled up Jim Beam Falcon to gain critical points. Whincup was too late out of the pits and was not qualified as a finisher. Courtney banked 60 points to almost guarantee him the trophy the following day.

But DJR were not to savour the Number 1 on their Ford’s as Courtney pulled up stumps, moved to the Holden Racing Team and rolled out with Number 1 on his Holden Commodore. A stylised #17 and #18 were run by DJR on their Jim Beam ‘The Team’ Fords at the Supercars test day in 2011 but they were told to cease and desist!

Looking back at Jamie Whincup’s amazing run of success up until 2016, the Number 1 has only been seen once since. Whincup again ran it in 2018 after his 2017 Championship victory.

So, we once again move into an era where the Number 1 is absent from the championship-winning driver Supercar. Scott McLaughlin won three titles on the go between 2018 and 2020, but such was the passion around the reborn DJR Team Penske and Scott’s delight in winning in the famous No 17 he ran it every year.

And that then brings us to triple champion, Shane Van Gisbergen. He first won the title in 2016 in his Number 97 Tekno Commodore and backed it up again in 2021 and 2022 in the Red Bull Ampol Commodore ZB and Camaro. His number of choice, #97, stayed with him in every title defence up until he departed for the USA and a NASCAR career.

In 2023, first-time winner Brodie Kostecki guided his Erebus Camaro to both the Drivers and Teams titles. The team could not wait to roll out the Number 1 in 2024. So too, Will Brown’s win in 2024. It put the #1 back on a Triple 888 machine.

In 2025, a very popular Chaz Mostert gave Ford its first win for many years. With a change to Toyota in 2026, Mostert pained over letting go of his #25 this year, but ultimately the GR Toyota Supra rolled out with the Championship number.   

Turning to the number of times drivers have acknowledged their Championship win by running the No 1 and we see almost a mirror of their victories. The big multiples are:

Jamie Whincup – 7 times

Ian Geoghegan – 6 times, plus several ATCC events in 1972

Mark Skaife – 5 times

Jim Richards – 4 times

The likes of Alan Moffat, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes, Marcos Ambrose, Brode Kostecki, Will Brown and current champ Chaz Mostert have all displayed the No 1 on one or more occasions.

On the flipside, eight ATCC/Supercars Champions have never taken the opportunity to run the number 1. David McKay, Bill Pitt, Bob Jane (on four occasions), Bob Morris, Dick Johnson (also four times), Robbie Francevic, Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen either chose to stay with their favoured number or did not compete the following year.

Finally, some drivers carried the Number 1 without signifying a Championship title. In 1973 Peter Brock carried the Number 1 as Bob Jane deferred to Number 7, and the following year HDT teammate Colin Bond picked it up as reigning Champion Alan Moffat continued with his famous Number 9.

Over the last three seasons, we have seen a strong endorsement of drivers wanting to celebrate their Supercars Championship winning status and running the #1.  

So, for now, the Number 1 remains a status symbol proudly shown off by those who can.   

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