Racing numbers can be decided by a few factors including championship position, the time an entry was submitted, personal preference or sponsorship requirements, with the latter being the focus for this story.
Many racing numbers in the Australian Touring Car Championship have been decided by the sponsor or even in the most famous case of Peter Brock, a campaign that became much more due to its infinity with the driver.
Starting with Brock, of course his famous race number 05 was introduced at Sandown in 1975 to highlight the lowered blood alcohol level to driver, which had just recently changed at the time.
The Victorian Road Safety & Traffic Authority granted the use of the number in recognition of Brock’s work in campaigning for road safety in addition to creating awareness surrounding what was (and continues to be) an important cause.
It came at an important time from Brock after he was flicked from the Holden Dealer Team at the end of 1974 and became a privateer, so the funds provided by running 05 aided his campaign led by Gown-Hindhaugh to win Bathurst that October.
When Brock returned to the Holden Dealer Team in 1978, the second entry run regularly by John Harvey featured the number 25 and this was to highlight the amount Marlboro cigarettes available in a packet.
This can be said for many of the cigarette brands at the time including Glenn Seton’s 30 Peter Jackson entry, Benson & Hedges 25 with Tony Longhurst and many others.
Most recently, the factory Nissan primarily driven by Michael Caruso ran 23 when the Japanese manufacturer backed Kelly Racing.
In fact, Nissan runs it all across the world as two in Japanese is ‘Ni’ and three is ‘San’ with success coming for Caruso at Darwin using the number.
There have also been many cases of drivers using a number to highlight a sponsor’s anniversary since being founded or a special occasion, but generally in Supercars during the past 30-years numbers have been connected to RECS or the the Team Racing Charter as it has become.
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