The 1987 Australian Touring Car Championship round from Sandown was one of the strangest broadcasts by Network 7.
As to why, a strike following the sacking of 78 HSV-7 staff resulted in a widespread disruption to the Melbourne station, while its sister ATN-7 network based in Sydney also protested in support.
Network Seven was entering a transitional period as its individual state-based operations all merged into one ownership structure after Fairfax purchased it for an estimated $320 million.
Many of the Melbourne-centric HSV-7 programming such as World of Sport, current affairs show Day by Day and the late news were replaced with offerings from Sydney, while the Hello Melbourne station ID was also removed.
These moves left HSV-7 trailing in the ratings and after its initial outlay to purchase the station, Fairfax needed to cut further costs.
In the midst of all this drama, the Australian Touring Car Championship was evenly poised heading to Round 7 at Sandown using the infamous 3.8km layout.
The Nissan Motorsport team of Glenn Seton and George Fury got off to a hot start, but Jim Richards in a newly upgraded BMW M3 was closing the margin.
Holden had not won a round yet, despite strong performances from Allan Grice in a new VL Commodore and Larry Perkins driving his VK version.
Dick Johnson won in Adelaide, but there were early development troubles for his team with its new Ford Sierra RS Cosworths.
The new OXO Supercubes team led by Andrew Miedecke was another contender, but again development was hampered when the squad was disqualified from three rounds due to the size of the turbo impellers.
Colin Bond was also continuing his improvement in the Alfa Romeo 75 as a big field arrived at the historic venue.
However, Network 7 did not.
What the industrial action led to was a fragmented broadcast featuring Mike Raymond and Neil Crompton doing their best to update the viewers on what was going on.
The commentators had only two racecams to try to tell the story in Seton’s Skyline and Grice.
Although it was a tough proposition, the commentary pair completed the task as Seton greeted the flag ahead of teammate Fury, with Perkins third.
In fact, Fury had led the race since the start and moved aside to give Seton maximum championship points.
Richards had been battling Grice for fourth, but the Commodore’s racecam captured the slowing BMW heading into retirement due to an engine failure on the final lap.
Seton now held the ascendency heading to Amaroo Park, but the short Annangrove venue was a BMW paradise.
As for the HSV-7 strike, Fairfax sold its Network 7 interests to notorious entrepreneur Christopher Skase for $780 million. Skase and his Qintex company returned more Melbourne-themed programming to HSV-7.