In 1994, the V8 power of Holden and Ford first burbled around the Gold Coast Street Circuit in support of the IndyCar circus as the upcoming round marks 30 years since this event.
Albeit, technically its 30 years 7 months due to the IndyCar event being set in March rather than its later October date it still currently holds despite the fact the American open-wheelers don’t race and the circuit has been shortened.
The birth of the Gold Coast event was a political storm thanks to growing hostility between Formula 1 and IndyCar, with the Australians caught in between.
Although threats of the inaugural 1991 event being cancelled never occurred it did come close to reality.
It wasn’t until the fourth event in 1994 when the stars of the Australian Touring Car Championship finally acted as support to IndyCar.
The timing of the event was far from perfect as the ATCC was already three rounds deep having began at Amaroo Park on February 25-27 before heading to Sandown on March 4-6, followed by Symmons Plains on March 12-14 as the Gold Coast was then a week later.
It was a massive effort just to get there and more than 20 showed including the big guns.
Dick Johnson Racing, Gibson Motorsport, Glenn Seton Racing, the Holden Racing Team, LoGaMo, Perkins Engineering, Wayne Gardner Racing in addition to leading privateers Bob Jones, Lansvale Smash Repairs and Terry Finnigan.
Gibson Motorsport’s Mark Skaife entered the vent having dominated the title so far being unbeaten in three rounds.
However, Dick Johnson Racing’s John Bowe gave Skaife a taste of his own medicine by dominating Race 1. The Winfield Racing driver collided with a back marker in his pursuit of Bowe.
Alan Jones led the way in Race 2, but another Ford in the form of Kevin Waldock’s Komatsu entry hit the wall heavily on the start-finish line as the pace car entered the circuit to slow the field. Believed to be the first pace car for a sprint race after being used at Bathurst since 1987.
Jones made a mistake by touching the inside wall at the back chicane leading to damaged suspension and retirement as Bowe once again took the victory.
Skaife charged through the field to finish fourth.
The Group 3A touring cars became a staple on the Gold Coast, becoming a championship round in 2002 and the main act in 2009.