Oran Park was one of Australia’s premier circuits until its demise in 2010 and hosted a special endurance race during the late-1970s named the Rothmans 500.
The Rothmans 500 was a brutal endurance event lasting 222 laps around the Oran Park layout for the first time in 1977 and was repeated the next year only to disappear after just two editions.
In fact, the 500km moniker was 88km short of what the race distance actually was and Rothmans provided significant prize money for the time together with national television coverage ensured all the top touring car stars contested the event.
There were some oddities to the event compared to regular touring car events highlighted by the Rothmans 500 conducting a rolling start.
Victorian privateer Warren Cullen partnered by previous Bathurst winner Brian Sampson won the first event in their Pioneer Electronics-backed Holden Torana SL/R 5000 L34 from the similar entry of Sydney’s Bob Forbes and Formula 5000 ace Kevin Bartlett, which was a lap down.
Third was the Lakis Manticas and Doug Chivas Ford Capri V6, with the first Falcon fourth shared by Murray Carter and Bob Forbes.
The top 10 finishers were covered by 10 laps, while 20 of the 40 entries greeted the finishing line though some were more than 100-laps behind.
Big names including John Goss, Allan Moffat, Peter Brock, Fred Gibson, Allan Grice in a Torana partnered by Jack Brabham and Dick Johnson, who was paired alongside Jim Richards all failed to finish.
For Johnson, it was a short event after failing to finish the opening lap due to hitting the wall.
Another 40 entries fronted up for the final edition in 1978 in what was a more than five hour race of attrition.
Just like the first event, many big names struck trouble including the race winning Holden Dealer Team combination of John Harvey and Charlie O’Brien.
Unthinkable today, but Harvey ran out of fuel on the circuit and was forced to jog to the pit lane, pick up a jerry can of juice before then sprinting back to his stopped Torana A9X.
Losing five laps in the process, the high attrition rate of the race allowed the duo to get back into contention and score the unlikeliness of victories.
Tasmanian pair Garth Wigston and Bruce Gowans were runner up in a similar A9X Torana from long-time privateer pairing Scotty Taylor and Kevin Kennedy, which completed a Holden 1-2-3.
Fourth was another class entry in the form of Peter Williamson’s Toyota Celica, which was co-driven by the reigning winner Sampson.
Brock was an early casualty in his HDT A9X, Moffat struck engine dramas while in the lead, Grice was another to retire (when leading the event by four laps!), Johnson was last of the finishers in 19th, Carter was unable to replicate his top placing, Peter Jansen, Garry Rogers, Bob Morris, Goss, Brabham partnered by son Geoff and many other all failed to make the chequered flag.
The event failed to return in 1979, although the touring car scene was being dominated by the A9X and was about to go through a seismic change heading into the 1980s.
Oran Park continued to host long distance events as part of the Australian Endurance Championship including the Pepsi 250 during the Group A era.