1967 Gallaher 500

1967 Gallaher 500
Previous:	1966	Next:	1968

File:Ford XR Falcon GT of Kris Argento.JPG

A "race replica" of the winning Ford XR Falcon GT

The 1967 Gallaher 500 was the eighth running of the Bathurst 500 production car race. It was held on 1 October 1967 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. Cars competed in five classes based on purchase price (Australian dollars) of the vehicle.

In a seminal moment for the race, the first Australian built V8 muscle cars appeared in the first Ford Falcon GT. In a race long duel against three dealer entered Alfa Romeo GTVs, the Ford Works Team raced home for a one-two finish with Harry Firth and Fred Gibson acknowledged as race winners after some confusion over lap scoring briefly left question marks over the result. Brothers Leo and Ian Geoghegan finished second with the two Alec Mildren entered Alfa Romeos of Doug Chivas / Max Stewart and Kevin Bartlett / Laurie Stewart all finishing on the same lap. It was Firth's fourth victory, equalling Bob Jane's record.

The confusion over the result stemmed from the Geoghegan's first pit stop. Driving the opening stint, Leo Geoghegan's pole winning Falcon almost ran out of fuel coming past the pits. As he could not reverse into pit lane without being disqualified, Leo went in through the back gate to the pits located on Mountain Straight, and came back into pit lane through the paddock gate. Although he had not completed the lap, as he crossed the finish line in pit lane (located before he got to his pit bay) he was mistakenly credited with completing the lap. Firth, who knew this, was livid with the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) when the Geoghegan car was flagged in first, despite finishing 11 seconds behind Gibson (although he knew that he'd completed his 130th lap, Gibson completed another lap as he had not yet been shown the chequered flag). Firth, known as "The Fox", immediately protested the result and it was not until later that evening that he and Gibson were installed as race winners. Firth's protest led to long standing animosity between himself and the Geoghegan Team who were team mates for the race, with Leo contending until his death in 2015 that he and his brother won the race.

Class structure

Class A

The smallest class was for under cars the cost less $1,800. It was made up of Datsun 1000 and 1300, Hillman GT, Holden Torana and Toyota Corolla.

Class B

The $1,801 to $2,100 class featured Ford Cortina, Hillman Arrow, and Morris Cooper and 1100S, Renault R8 and Toyota Corona.

Class C

The $2,101 to $3,000 class was dominated by the Morris Cooper S, but also contained Fiat 124 and 850, an automatic gearbox Ford Falcon, Holden HD X2 and Prince Skyline.

Class D

The $3,001 to $4,500 class featured the debut of the 'Australian V8's which would dominate the history of the race, represented by, Ford Falcon GT, but also contained a single, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Audi Super 90, Studebaker Lark, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122.

Class E

For the first time an unlimited class, for cars over $4,500, was included and while many exotic cars were rumoured the class contained Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV and a single Dodge Phoenix TD2.

Top 10 Qualifiers

The 1967 Gallaher 500 was the first time the grid was decided on qualifying times, regardless of class. Prior to 1967 the cars were gridded according to practice times but in their respective classes with the fastest class starting at the front of the grid and so on.

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Qual
Pole	53	Ford Australia	Ian Geoghegan	Ford XR Falcon GT	3:03.0
2	52	Ford Australia	Fred Gibson	Ford XR Falcon GT	3:03.2
3	61	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Kevin Bartlett	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	3:03.5
4	60	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Doug Chivas	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	3:05.2
5	54	Ford Australia	Bob Jane	Ford XR Falcon GT	3:05.2
6	62	M.W. Motors	Paul Hawkins	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	3:05.7
7	51		Des West	Ford XR Falcon GT	3:06.0
8	49		Mike Savva	Ford XR Falcon GT	3:06.8
9	50		Greg Cusack	Ford XR Falcon GT	NA
10	55	Needham Motors	Warren Weldon	Studebaker Lark	NA

Results

Pos	Class	Class Pos	No	Team	Drivers	Car	Laps	Qual Pos
1	D	1	52	Ford Australia	Harry Firth Fred Gibson	Ford XR Falcon GT	130	2
2	D	2	53	Ford Australia	Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan	Ford XR Falcon GT	130	1
3	E	1	60	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Doug Chivas Max Stewart	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	130	4
4	E	2	61	Alec Mildren Alfa Romeo	Kevin Bartlett Laurie Stewart	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	130	3
5	C	1	30	BMC Works Team	Tony Fall Bob Holden	Morris Cooper S	128	14
6	C	2	37	C Smith	Charlie Smith Barry Seton	Morris Cooper S	127	15
7	C	3	29	BMC Works Team	Timo Makinen John French	Morris Cooper S	127	12
8	C	4	28	BMC Works Team	Paddy Hopkirk Brian Foley	Morris Cooper S	126	11
9	E	3	63	STP	Arthur Davis Paul Mander	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	126	20
10	C	5	40		Damon Beck Lakis Manticas	Morris Cooper S	125	18
11	D	3	55	Needham Motors	Warren Weldon John Hall	Studebaker Lark	124	10
12	C	6	45		John Millyard Anndy Frankel	Morris Cooper S	124	16
13	D	4	49		Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson	Ford XR Falcon GT	124	8
14	C	7	36		Peter Brown Bob Cook	Morris Cooper S	123	21
15	D	5	58		Bill Burns Chris Brauer	Alfa Romeo Giulia Super	122	23
16	D	6	57	Scuderia Veloce	David McKay George Reynolds	Audi Super 90	122	25
17	D	7	50		Greg Cusack Bill Brown	Ford XR Falcon GT	121	9
18	D	8	54	Ford Australia	Bob Jane Spencer Martin	Ford XR Falcon GT	118	5
19	E	4	64		Barry Sharp Lindsay Derriman	Dodge Phoenix TD2	118	29
20	C	8	42	Scuderia Veloce	Bill Tuckey Max Stahl	Fiat 124	118	31
21	C	9	27		Fred Sutherland Allan Mottram	Ford XR Falcon Automatic	117	22
22	D	9	48		Bob Young Bob Sorrenson	Triumph 2000	117	33
23	A	1	2	Datsun Racing Team	John Roxburgh Doug Whiteford	Datsun 1000	117	38
24	C	10	47		Bill Daly George Murray	Fiat 124	117	37
25	E	5	62	M.W. Motors	Paul Hawkins Syd Fisher	Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV	117	6
26	A	2	12	AMI Toyota	Dick Thurston Bill Buckle	Toyota Corolla	116	44
27	B	1	30	Gordon Stewart’s Sports Car Centre	Don Holland Peter Cray	Morris Cooper	116	36
28	A	3	1	Datsun Racing Team	Kunimitsu Takahashi Hideo Oishi	Datsun 1000	116	40
29	C	11	41	Scuderia Veloce	Mike Kable John Smailes	Fiat 124	115	32
30	A	4	8		Jack Nougher David O'Keefe	Hillman GT	114	42
31	A	5	9		Bob Edgerton David Toshack	Hillman GT	114	51
32	B	2	24	Shorton Motors	George Garth Geoff Westbury	Hillman Arrow	114	47
33	C	12	35		Gary Cooke Trevor Meehan	Fiat 124	113	30
34	C	13	31		Carl Kennedy Jack Murray	Prince Skyline GT	113	39
35	B	3	15	A Treloar	Doug Macarthur Arthur Treloar	Hillman Arrow	111	48
36	B	4	25		Jane Richardson Midge Whiteman	Morris 1100S	110	58
37	B	5	18		David Frazer Bernie Breen	Renault R8	109	57
38	C	14	34		Lynn Brown David Bye	Fiat 850	109	55
39	B	6	13		Clyde Hodgins Kevin Nipperess	Morris 1100S	108	56
40	D	10	59		Bruce McIntyre Ken Stacey	Ford XR Falcon GT	106	13
41	A	6	5		Chris Cronan Steve Parkes	Holden HB Torana	103	60
42	A	7	6		Bruce Darke Bill Ford	Datsun 1300	102	59
43	B	7	20		Lindsay Adcock Mike Schneider	Morris Cooper	100	35
44	A	8	3	Datsun Racing Team	Jim Smith John Colwell	Datsun 1300	100	52
45	B	8	17		Bill Stanley Digby Cooke	Morris Cooper	96	43
46	B	9	19		Jeff Thompson Bob Romano	Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500	96	49
47	D	11	56		Gerry Lister David Seldon	Volvo 122S	86	26
48	C	15	44		Don Smith Herb Taylor	Holden HD X2	75	27
DNF	A		7		Lindsay Little Stan Pomroy	Hillman GT		53
DNF	A		4	Datsun Racing Team	Barry Tapsall Bevan Gibson	Datsun 1300		50
DNF	B		22		Glen Mackinnon John T. Smith	Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500		54
DNF	B		23	Varsity Auto Centre	Rick Radford John Prisk	Morris Cooper	64	28
DNF	C		33		Mal Brewster Bob Skelton	Morris Cooper S		17
DNF	C		32		Murray Bailey John Hicks	Prince Skyline GT		34
DNF	C		46		Gary Hodge Glyn Scott	Morris Cooper S		24
DNF	C		26		John Leffler Les Carne	Morris Cooper S	116	19
DSQ	D		51		Bob Beasely Des West	Ford XR Falcon GT	128	7
DSQ	A		11	AMI Toyota	Barry Ferguson Brian Sampson	Toyota Corolla	117	45
DSQ	A		10	AMI Toyota	Bruce Hindhaugh Peter Macrow	Toyota Corolla	116	46
DSQ	B		21		Peter Williamson Alex Macarthur	Toyota Corona	116	41

Statistics

• Pole Position - #53 Ian Geoghegan - 3:03.0
• Fastest Lap - #52 Fred Gibson - 3:03 (lap record)
• Average Speed - 116 km/h
• Race Time - 6:55:08

Further reading

• Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, 1977, pages 191-192

External links

• CAMS Manual reference to Australian titles
• www.touringcarracing.net
• race results
• Autopics Bathurst images