The early 1990s were bright and beautiful for Australian superspeedway racing. Road racers and speedway experts alike hit the high banks of the unique Calder Park Thunderdome, dueling one another at 150mph, mostly in American beasts, with a few Australian-built stock cars in the mix. Luminas took on Grands Prix, Cutlasses dueled Ford Falcons, and Commodores versed Thunderbirds, all on a unique speedway near Melbourne. America’s starts and cars came down to – and won in – the Land Down Under on three occasions, in February and December 1988 and in February 1990, with a few more on-and-off visits from select racers throughout the early 1990s. However, there was one more crossover race for the American steel chariots – the 1994 USA Vs. AUS 200.
The three exhibition races, won by Neil Bonnett, Morgan Shepherd, and Terry Labonte, saw huge grids and several major racers from both the Winston Cup and the Winston West tours. Michael Waltrip, Ron Esau, Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, and Harry Gant all took on the big Australian names including Kim Jane, Allan Grice, Dick Johnson, and Terry Byers. Unfortunately, by the mid-90s, things were a little different, and NASCAR was not so interested in their Australian second cousins. They were still going, however, and the crowds and stars showed up at Calder Park, the half-mile Adelaide Int’l Raceway, and the occasional road race in droves.
24 drivers, a solid grid for the series, showed up to the track for the December 10, 1994 event, round three of the 1994/95 Australian Superspeedway Series season. The schedule that season mostly consisted of races at Calder Park, with one round a piece at the Adelaide International Raceway half mile, the venerable Oran Park Raceway, and the tight and twisty Surfers Paradise.
Four Americans came down to the speedway. Busch Series regular Tracy Leslie appeared with his Busch car, veteran stock car racer Jimmy Hensley raced in a car fielded by longtime owner Denzil Mead, stunt car driver and occasional NASCAR participant Brad Noffsinger ran in a car fielded by Dick Midgley, and Morgan Shepherd also took part in a John Nissen entry.
For the 1994-95 season, old cars like the Pontiac Aero and original Chevy Monte Carlo had been prohibited, so competitors were using more modern bodies. Many Cup teams had sold off their Oldsmobiles, leading to a high influx of them in the Australian series. Many competitors used Cutlasses, and several more used Pontiac Grands Prix and Chevy Luminas. The occasional Ford Thunderbird and Australian built Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon also made a few appearances.
Tracy Leslie scored the pole for the 110 lap event with a lap at 147.714 miles per hour. It was a Lumina lockout of the front row as George Elliot of Camden, NSW lined up second. Queenslander Charlie O’Brien started third in a T-Bird, with the Dick Midgley-owned Pontiac of longtimer Jim Richards lined up fourth. Walter Giles, who would later contribute to Marcos Ambrose’s NASCAR effort, started fifth, with Morgan Shepherd sixth. Hensley lined up 11th, and Noffsinger was at the tail end of the field. All Chevy users brought out Luminas, Olds users ran Cutlasses, Pontiac runners brought the Grand Prix, and Ford was represented by the T-Bird with the exception of Gene Cook, who instead used an EB Falcon.
Leslie, whose car was, according to racer Tony Southwell, the fastest to ever hit the high banks of Calder Park, led the field to the green, and he and George Elliot pulled out to an early lead, dueling back and forth frequently as they did. Morgan Shepherd worked his way up through the field to reach the two Luminas.
The first caution flew around lap 20, as Ken James spun the Agip Cutlass out at one end of the track. Around the same time, Jim Richards was forced to the pit lane with a downed wheel, forcing him down a few laps.
Caution two flew around lap 35 as Col Robinson suffered a suspension failure and put his #98 Itex Trade Exchange Pontiac into the wall. Robinson joined Walter Giles in the garage, Giles’ race had barely lasted three laps before a mechanical failure.
Ian Thomas led the field to the green in the #2 Palm Royale Cairns Lumina after the leaders hit the pit lane for new American Goodyears, but another caution flew sometime later and the lead went to Brad Jones in the #8 K-Mart Auto Lumina. He and Max Dumesny traded the lead a few times in a clean and beautiful fight. The leaders ground their way through the traffic, and as some of them, including Barry Graham and even Jim Richards, fell by the wayside and out of the race, it was a thrilling show for the Australian crowd. Eventually, Dumesny was able to pull away, with Jones running second and Leslie in third. With about 25 laps to go in the 110 lap event, Leslie made a brave divebomb on the New South Walesman and had just solidified the pass on lap 91 when he lost control of the #72 Detroit Gasket Lumina and backed it hard into the wall. A blown wheel had taken the fastest car in the race out of the competition. Jimmy Hensley barely avoided the carnage, while Ian Thomas and Charlie O’Brien spun in response. Thomas suffered some damage, and O’Brien was mostly unscathed.
Max Dumesny led on the restart, but the caution flew a lap and a half later due to the race’s largest accident. Something broke on Ian Thomas’ car and the #2 Palm Royale Cairns Chevy Lumina struck the turn 2 wall. Two-time Australian NASCAR champion Robin Best, running what would ultimately be his last race in the series, attempted a dive-bomb on the apron to get by the incident, but ended up losing it and colliding with Neville Lance, who was coming on scene at full speed, sending Lance’s Thunderbird rather hard into the wall. Ken James and Gene Cook got together while attempting to avoid the mess, and Rowan Harman backed the #08 Preston Motors Pontiac into the wall and collected John Woodlands in the #28. The race was over for Thomas and Lance, and Best suffered severe damage.
The field restarted with three to go. The lapped Morgan Shepherd got a great jump and boosted the #21 Ireland’s Hydroponics Pontiac ahead of the field, and Jimmy Hensley began to set up a pass on Brad Jones. Hensley pulled off the pass on the outside of turn one on the last lap, as the field came across the crippled and dying car of Robin Best, but simply ran out of time to overtake Dumesny. The Australian sprint car legend put Shepherd back a lap down and held off the #85 to bring the #5 Valvoline Australia Olds Cutlass across the line in first.
1994 USA VS. AUS 200 RESULTS
1. #5 Max DUMESNY (110 Laps)
2. #85 Jimmy HENSLEY
3. #8 Bradley JONES
4. #15 Charlie O’BRIEN
5. #27 Kim JANE
6. #21 Morgan SHEPHERD (-1)
7. #13 Gene COOK (-1)
8. #46 John FAULKNER (-2)
9. #12 Robert TINWORTH (-3)
10. #01 Ken JAMES (-4)
11. #44 Adam PAY (-7)
12. #09 Brad NOFFSINGER (-7)
13. #28 John WOODLANDS (-9)
14. #08 Rowan HARMAN (-9)
15. #2 Ian THOMAS (-12, crash)
16. #14 Neville LANCE (-12, crash)
17. #11 Robin BEST (-14, crash)
18. #72 Tracy LESLIE (-19, crash)
19. #55 George ELLIOT (-28, mechanical)
20. #7 Barry BLAKE (-42, retired)
21. #1 Jim RICHARDS (-51, retired)
22. #3 Barry GRAHAM (-53, retired)
23. #98 Col ROBINSON (-78, suspension)
24. #91 Walter GILES (-107, mechanical)
This would be it for NASCAR’s ventures down under, as they began focusing their eyes on Japan. The Australian stock cars would continue at the Thunderdome and a few other tracks until early 2000, when major organizational issues, decreasing fan interest, smaller grids and sponsorship problems caused the series to collapse. A revival tour under new ownership called the V8 Power Tour was started in 2001 and lasted a season and a half, but stock cars would only truly return in 2012, when Stock Car Australia took its first green flag. Bob Jane, the man behind bringing stock cars down under, died in 2018.
Nowadays, Calder Park’s primary focus is drag racing, with mostly regional racing occurring at the road course. The Thunderdome is mostly abandoned, but it has seen a few demonstrations throughout the years, and while its glory days are behind it, there have been occasional rumblings of some sort of revival, and as of 2023, they appear to be taken seriously…
Sources:
Tony Southwell
The programme for the USA Vs. AUS 200
Influential Moments in Racing 