The Holden Dealer Team achieved a first in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1978 when it locked out the podium at Wanneroo Raceway as local Wayne Negus followed Peter Brock and John Harvey to clearly demonstrate the superiority of the factory squad at the time.
Negus was a legend of the West Australia motor racing scene and remains revered despite his passing in 2016 after a long racing journey.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree for Negus as he followed in his father Syd’s footsteps in motor racing. Syd was regarded at one time as being the most successful racing driver in Western Australia’s history, which provided a fair platform for his son to build on.
Replacing his father in the highly successful Plymouth Special after his retirement, Negus moved onto a Repco-Wesn clubman built using parts found in the family’s various racing stores situated around Perth.
This proved unsuccessful, but a lightweight Mini followed and rose Negus to prominence quickly around not only Wanneroo, but the Caversham circuit. When Negus was unable to find a buyer for the Mini, he converted it for speedway use where he became a thorn in the side of the traditional Holden and Ford combatants.
It wasn’t long until Series Production attracted Negus back to Wanneroo driving a Holden Torana GTR XU-1, which opened the door to cross the Nullarbor and race at Bathurst.
Partnered by Neville Grigsby, Negus challenged the established teams briefly until crashing out at the end of Conrod Straight.
The next thing for Negus to do was to stay on the eastern seaboard, which he did by getting a job at the Melbourne-based Holden Dealer Team as a mechanic where he hoped to get an occasional drive.
Although he didn’t get a seat at HDT, Negus instead joined leading privateer Bob Forbes in 1974 to narrowly miss victory at the Mountain.
A drive with HDT came at Bathurst 1976 alongside Charlie O’Brien where the duo finished fourth, while the next year he partnered John Harvey as the duo retired after 91 laps.
Negus returned to his native West Australia when it became apparent he wasn’t going to receive a full-time drive, so instead ran ex-HDT Toranas locally culminating in him running third to Brock and Harvey in a HDT lockout at Wanneroo’s ATCC round.
A hired gun after returning home, Negus competed with Roadways before finishing 10th in his final Bathurst 1000 driving a self-entered Holden Commodore alongside Trevor Hine.
Negus ran a successful automotive business in Perth and this began to consume his time leaving his touring car appearances limited.
Negus played an underrated role at HDT and was an agent for the team in Western Australia.