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1989 Tooheys 1000

The 1989 Tooheys 1000 was the 30th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 1 October 1989 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, Australia. The race was held for cars eligible under International Group A touring car regulations with three engine capacity classes.

The race was won by the Dick Johnson Racing Ford SierraofDick Johnson and John Bowe. The pair lead almost the whole of the race and was only seriously threatened by the Allan Moffat run Sierra of German drivers Klaus Niedzwiedz and Frank Biela. Third and fourth places were awarded to the official factory Nissan team entries with the Nissan SkylineofJim Richards and Mark Skaife finishing third.

The Tooheys Top Ten runoff for pole position was notable for Peter Brock discharging his Ford Sierra's engine bay Halon gas fire extinguisher which was angled across the intercooler substantially boosting the power of the engine in the crucial drive up the mountain straight. As this was not technically against the rules the scrutineers did not find any misconduct, but the Entrants Association levied a $5000 fine on Brock for a moral infringement of the rules.^[1]

Cars competed in three classes^[2] defined by engine capacity.

Class 1 (Over 2501cc)^[2] featured the turbocharged Ford Sierras, Nissan Skylines, Toyota Supras and Mitsubishi Starions, the V8 Holden Commodores and BMW 635CSis.

Class 2 (1601 to 2500cc)^[2] comprised BMW M3s and a Nissan Gazelle.

Class 3 (Up to 1600cc)^[2] was contested exclusively by various models of Toyota Corolla.

The Tooheys Top Ten was contested on the Saturday by the fastest ten cars from Friday to determine the final positions for the first five rows on the grid.^[3] For the first time since the advent of the Top Ten in 1978, television broadcaster Channel 7 aired the runoff in a one-hour package on the Saturday afternoon rather than the half-hour package of previous years. The extra time meant that each lap was shown in full for the first time rather than just sections of the laps run.^[4]

Pos	No	Entrant	Driver	Car	TT10	Qual
Pole	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock	Ford Sierra RS500	2:15.80	2:16.60
2	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson	Ford Sierra RS500	2:16.79	2:16.58
3	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra RS500	2:16.98	2:16.98
4	10	Allan Moffat Racing	Klaus Niedzwiedz	Ford Sierra RS500	2:17.42	2:17.02
5	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones	Ford Sierra RS500	2:19.09	2:18.20
6	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke	Ford Sierra RS500	2:19.88	2:18.14
7	2	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Jim Richards	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	2:20.09	2:18.86
8	30	Peter Jackson Racing	Glenn Seton	Ford Sierra RS500	2:20.52	2:19.06
9	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Alan Jones	Ford Sierra RS500	2:20.63	2:19.06
10	8	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Bagnall	Ford Sierra RS500	DNF	2:19.10

* Peter Brock's only ever pole position at Bathurst where he didn't drive a V8 powered Holden. It was his first Bathurst pole since 1983 (and the last he would set himself), and his first front row start since 1984. It was also his record 6th Bathurst pole having been fastest qualifier in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1979 and 1983.
* Andrew Bagnall crashed his Ford Sierra RS500 on top of The Mountain during the runoff and was allowed to start from 10th position, much like Dick Johnson who crashed his Ford XE Falcon in the runoff in 1983. Unlike Johnson in 1983 however, Bagnall's car was able to be repaired and did not need to be replaced.
* 1989 was the first time that a V8 Holden had not qualified for the Top Ten runoff. The fastest Holden was the #16 Holden Racing Team VL Commodore SS Group A SVofLarry Perkins and defending race winner Tomas Mezera in 11th with a 2:19.11 set by Perkins, missing out by only 0.01 seconds to Bagnall's Sierra.
* 1989 saw the only time between 1981 and 2003 that a car in which Larry Perkins was listed as a driver did not feature in the runoff.
* 1989 saw the first and so far only time where every car in the Top Ten runoff was powered by a turbocharged engine, with nine Sierra RS500's and the lone factory Nissan SkylineofJim Richards making up the 10 runners.

Pos	Class	No	Entrant	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos
1	1	17	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Dick Johnson John Bowe	Ford Sierra RS500	161	1	2
2	1	10	Allan Moffat Racing	Klaus Niedzwiedz Frank Biela	Ford Sierra RS500	161	4	4
3	1	2	Nissan Motorsport Australia	Jim Richards Mark Skaife	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	160	7	7
4	1	3	Nissan Motorsport Australia	George Fury Anders Olofsson	Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R	160	13
5	1	20	Benson & Hedges Racing	Alan Jones Denny Hulme Tony Longhurst	Ford Sierra RS500	158	8	9
6	1	16	Holden Racing Team	Larry Perkins Tomas Mezera	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	158	11
7	1	7	Holden Racing Team	Win Percy Neil Crompton	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	158	18
8	1	18	Shell Ultra Hi Racing	Jeff Allam Robb Gravett	Ford Sierra RS500	158	12
9	1	105	Mobil 1 Racing	Brad Jones Paul Radisich	Ford Sierra RS500	153	6	5
10	1	15	ICL Racing	Allan Grice Peter Janson	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	153	19
11	1	37	Brian Callaghan	Brian Callaghan Barry Graham	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	152	22
12	1	55	Playscape Racing	Kevin Waldock Bryan Thomson	Ford Sierra RS500	152	23
13	1	12	Lansvale Smash Repairs	Steve Reed Trevor Ashby	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A	151	29
14	1	22	Lusty Engineering	Graham Lusty Alfredo Costanzo	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	146	24
15	1	34	Ray Gulson	Ray Gulson Graham Gulson	BMW 635 CSi	143	39
16	2	52	M3 Motorsport	Peter Doulman John Cotter	BMW M3	142	42
17	3	33	Toyota Team Australia	Mike Dowson Neal Bates	Toyota Corolla FX-GT	141	48
18	1	44	Sutherland Mitsubishi	Gary Scott Kevin Bartlett Terry Shiel	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	141	26
19	3	32	Toyota Team Australia	John Faulkner Peter McKay	Toyota Corolla FX-GT	140	46
20	1	30	Peter Jackson Racing	John Goss Glenn Seton Tony Noske	Ford Sierra RS500	140	9	8
21	1	60	Scotty Taylor	Alan Taylor Roger Hurd	Mitsubishi Starion Turbo	139	44
22	1	54	Clive Smith	Clive Smith Paul Trevathan	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	137	47
23	3	78	Team Madison Racing	Geoff Full Michael Adcock	Toyota Corolla[2]	136	53
24	2	49	David Sala	Ross Burbidge Steve Williams	Nissan Gazelle	134	50
25	1	38	Mulvihill Motorsport	Tony Mulvihill Graham Moore Glenn McIntyre	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	133	37
26	1	4	Caltex CXT Racing Team	Colin Bond Bruce Stewart	Ford Sierra RS500	131	16
27	1	48	Mistic Mould Destroyer	Wayne Park John Giddings	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	130	27
NC	1	28	Joseph Sommariva	Joseph Sommariva Warren McKellar	BMW 635 CSi	118	45
DNF	1	45	Lester Smerdon	Lester Smerdon Gary Hinton Marty Turpin	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	112	43
NC	3	13	Bob Holden Motors	Bob Holden Joe McAndrew Tim Hall	Toyota Corolla[2]	108	54
NC	1	69	Garry Willmington Performance	Ray Lintott Reda Awadullah	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	106	51
DNF	3	51	Bob Holden Motors	Dennis Rogers Marc Ducquet Richard Vorst	Toyota Corolla	103	56
DNF	2	50	Bryce Racing	Brett Riley Ludwig Finauer	BMW M3	101	28
DNF	2	57	Sax Racing	Craig Turner Kent Baigent Lou Vandermeer	BMW M3	98	41
DNF	1	8	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Bagnall Graeme Crosby	Ford Sierra RS500	97	10	10
DNF	1	35	Peter Jackson Racing	Tony Noske Glenn Seton Alain Ferté	Ford Sierra RS500	92	17
DNF	1	24	Jagparts	Gerald Kay Alf Grant	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	91	38
NC	1	68	Garry Willmington Performance	Garry Willmington Tom Watkinson	Toyota Supra Turbo	91	49
NC	1	23	Chris Lambden	Chris Lambden Greg Crick	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	90	25
DNF	2	56	Sax Racing	Graham Lorimer John Sax	BMW M3	82	36
DNF	1	05	Mobil 1 Racing	Peter Brock Andy Rouse	Ford Sierra RS500	81	2	1
DNF	1	41	Leeson Civil Engineering	Bob Tindal Des Wall John Leeson	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV[5]	79	55
DNF	1	43	Everlast Battery Service	Bill O'Brien Brian Samspon	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	65	33
DNF	1	19	Caltex CXT Racing Team	Ken Mathews Garry Rogers	Ford Sierra RS500	50	20
DNF	1	21	Bob Forbes Racing	Mark Gibbs Rohan Onslow	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	44	21
DNF	1	46	Reithmuller Pentecost Racing	Llyndon Reithmuller Ian Green	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	43	34
DNF	1	31	Toyota Team Australia	John Smith Drew Price	Toyota Supra Turbo A	35	35
DNF	1	9	Allan Moffat Racing	Gregg Hansford Pierre Dieudonné	Ford Sierra RS500	30	14
DNF	1	96	Barbagallo Motorsport	Tim Slako Damon Smith Geoff Leeds	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	28	30
DNF	1	25	Benson & Hedges Racing	Tony Longhurst Neville Crichton	Ford Sierra RS500	27	3	3
DNF	1	27	Mark Petch Motorsport	Robbie Francevic Gianfranco Brancatelli	Ford Sierra RS500	14	15
DNF	1	40	Terry Finnigan	Terry Finnigan Geoff Leeds	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	14	31
DNF	1	14	Murray Carter	Murray Carter John Mann	Ford Sierra RS500	10	32
DNF	1	42	Matt Wacker	Matt Wacker Frank Porter Mike King	Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV	4	40
DNF	1	6	Miedecke Motorsport	Andrew Miedecke Charlie O'Brien	Ford Sierra RS500	0	5	6
DNS	3	39	David Sala	David Sala Richard Vorst	Toyota Corolla

• Provisional Pole Position – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:16.58
• Pole Position – #05 Peter Brock – 2:15.80
• Fastest Lap – #17 Dick Johnson – 2:19.12 – Lap 2
• Average Speed – 154 km/h
• Race time of winning car – 6:30:53.44

1989 Australian Touring Car season

• Tooheys 1000 Bathurst 1989, www.touringcarracing.net
• "Tooheys 1000 – Mount Panorama, Bathurst – 1st October, 1989", www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au
• Images from the 1989 Tooheys 1000, www.autopics.com.au