Rivalries were at fever pitch during the 2000s and at Darwin this was amplified through a famous incident.
It was a strange V8 Supercars season in 2004 as the Holden Racing Team fell into a form slump it never really came out of leaving its sister Kmart Racing squad to do the winning against the Stone Brothers Racing duo of Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall.
Skaife was winless arriving in Darwin for Round 4 of the championship and frustration was looming for the five-time title winner.
When Skaife scored pole at Hidden Valley, he was determined to score his first victory of the season.
Key rival Ambrose had meanwhile clocked up three wins already in his title defence and with Ingall backing the Tasmanian up, being successful again was strong odds.
Skaife shared the front-row of the opening race with teammate Todd Kelly, but it was the boss leading into Turn 1. The HRT duo collided at Turn 6 dropping Kelly back and leaving Skaife to fight off the advances of Paul Weel Racing’s Jason Bright.
A mistake by Bright at Turn 10 let through the Stone Brothers pair of Ambrose and Ingall to attack Skaife.
Ambrose waited for the last lap at the final corner to dive up the inside of Skaife, who wasn’t expecting the move having taken the normal racing line.
Contact was made and damage caused both entries to leave the track gifting the win to a bemused Ingall.
Skaife vented his frustration post-incident and Ambrose validated the reasons why the move was on.
At the end of 2004, Skaife took two wins for the season and finished 12th in the standings, while Ambrose secured back-to-back titles.