Nice and Juicy

In the late 1970s and early eighties most privateer Bathurst 1000 entrants dreamt of scoring big results in the October classic. Yet most had to be content with having their entry accepted, making the 60-odd car field for Sunday and, if they were lucky, limping to the line to record a finish celebrated by a post-race barbeque and beerfest.

Hitting the jackpot for the vast majority of these weekend warriors was scraping into the top 10 by race’s end. On these rare occasions the volunteer crew had one helluva headache to deal with as they packed up and headed home the next day.

Ralph Radburn was a classic example of an infrequent, businessman racer who returned to the mount year-after-year, mostly to meet with frustration and disappointment. In his first year, 1976, his car completed just 14 laps before an engine failure. For his second crack, the team failed to qualify. Attempt number three was going much better... until electrical gremlins robbed him of a top 10 finish in sight of the chequered flag.