Wayne Gardner was a star on two-wheels and was the first Australian to win the World 500cc Motorcycle Championship in 1987, but years later made the first steps toward a career in both touring and sports cars.
Gardner’s first dabble in four-wheels came in a support race at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix on the streets of Adelaide in a Shrike. Gardner raced what was a chassis designed and produced by students assisted by teachers at the since demolished Croydon Park Institute of TAFE situated in the suburbs of Adelaide.
The debut proved to be fraught for Gardner as he spun on coolant dropped by another competitor’s car and his stint in the Australian Drivers’ Championship ended when another rival did the same, severely damaging the Shrike.
Gardner returned to four-wheels in the German DTM series by contesting the final two rounds at the Nurburgring and Hockenheim, which coincidentally were split by his Bathurst debut.
It was a tough introduction to racing at Mount Panorama in 1992 thanks to the storms during the race, which ended the race early for only the second time.
Veteran Graham Moore enlisted Gardner to co-drive with him entering a Holden Commodore SS Group A leased from leading team Bob Forbes Racing and sponsored by Strathfield Car Radios.
Qualifying 21st, Gardner endured the tough conditions first after it had threatened to hit the circuit during the opening stints.
To add to the woes of Gardner, the Commodore’s demister had stopped working causing the windscreen to fog up limiting vision in already challenging conditions.
Despite all this, the pair managed to finish 26th in the crash-shortened event.
Soon, Gardner was snapped up by the Holden Racing Team for the 1993 season in which the regulations changed to Group 3A making the Australian Commodore and Ford Falcon the stars.
The nickname ‘Captain Chaos’ was crudely given to Garnder due to the number of incidents he was involved in during those early years of the V8 formula.