The 1967 Gallaher 500 was a motor race for Production Saloon CarsOfficial Programme, The Gallaher 500, Bathurst, 1st October 1967 held at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia on 1 October 1967. The race, which was the eighth running of the Bathurst 500, was organised by the Australian Racing Drivers Club Ltd and promoted by Gallaher International (Aust) Ltd.
Each competing car was required to be a production saloon competing in standard specification as laid down in the manufacturer's standard workshop manual.Extra Class in Gallaher '500', Australian Motor Manual, July 1967, page 27 Optional extras and open exhausts were not permitted. To be eligible to compete, a car had to be an Australian built or assembled model of which 200 examples had been registered in Australia by 30 September 1967, or a fully imported model of which 100 examples had been registered in Australia by the same date.
In a seminal moment for the race, the first Australian-built V8-powered Ford Falcons competed in the form of seven Falcon GTs and a Falcon automatic. In a race long duel against three Alfa Romeo 1600 GTVs, two entered by Alec Mildren Racing and one by M.W. Motors, the Ford Motor Company-entered Falcon GTs achieved a one-two finish with Harry Firth and Fred Gibson acknowledged as race winners after confusion over lap-scoring briefly left uncertainty over the results. Brothers Leo and Ian Geoghegan finished second with the two Alec Mildren Racing Alfa Romeos of Doug Chivas / Max Stewart and Kevin Bartlett / Laurie Stewart all finishing on the same lap as the winning car. It was Firth's fourth Phillip Island 500/Bathurst 500 victory, equalling Bob Jane's record.
The confusion over the result stemmed from the Geoghegan brothers' 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 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, 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 teammates for the race, with Leo contending until his death in 2015 that he and his brother won the race.Mount Panorama Bathurst - The Great Race - 1967 highlights
Class structure Cars competed in five classes based on the purchase price of the vehicle in Australian dollars.
Class A The lowest class was for under cars retailing for less $1,800. It comprised 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 GT.
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 single entries of 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 ultimately contained four Alfa Romeo 1600 GTVs and a single Dodge Phoenix TD2.
Practice results For 1967, race regulations were changed such that all grid positions were decided on practice times, regardless of class.Bill Tuckey, Australia'a Greatest Motor Race, The Complete History, 1981, page 122 Prior to this, the cars were gridded according to practice times but within their respective classes with the highest class starting at the front of the grid and so on.
The first ten places were as follows: Pos. No. Entrant Driver Car Qual. 1 53 Ford Motor Company Ian Geoghegan Ford XR Falcon GT 3:03.0 2 52 Ford Motor Company Fred Gibson Ford XR Falcon GT 3:03.2 3 61 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Kevin Bartlett Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:03.5 4 60 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Doug Chivas Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:05.2 5 54 Ford Motor Company Bob Jane Ford XR Falcon GT 3:05.2 6 62 M.W. Motors Pty. Ltd Paul Hawkins Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 3:05.7 7 51 J. & B. Motors Des West Ford XR Falcon GT 3:06.0 8 49 M. Savva Mike Savva Ford XR Falcon GT 3:06.8 9 50 Gregory's (Motors) Pty. Ltd. Greg Cusack Ford XR Falcon GT NA 10 55 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Warren Weldon Studebaker Lark NA
Race results
Pos Class Classpos No Entrant Drivers Car Laps QualPos 1 D 1 52 Ford Motor Company Harry Firth Fred Gibson Ford XR Falcon GT 130 2 2 D 2 53 Ford Motor Company Ian Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan Ford XR Falcon GT 130 1 3 E 1 60 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Doug Chivas Max Stewart Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 130 4 4 E 2 61 Alec Mildren Racing Pty. Ltd. Kevin Bartlett Laurie Stewart Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 130 3 5 C 1 30 British Motor Corporation 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 British Motor Corporation Timo Mäkinen John French Morris Cooper S 127 12 8 C 4 28 British Motor Corporation Paddy Hopkirk Brian Foley Morris Cooper S 126 11 9 E 3 63 S.T.P. Scientifically Treated Petroleum Australia Arthur Davis Paul Mander Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 126 20 10 C 5 40 Marque Motors Damon Beck Lakis Manticas Morris Cooper S 125 18 11 D 3 55 Needham's Motors Pty. Ltd. Warren Weldon John Hall Studebaker Lark 124 10 12 C 6 45 Martinz Place John Millyard Andy Frankel Morris Cooper S 124 16 13 D 4 49 M. Savva Mike Savva Bob Wilkinson Ford XR Falcon GT 124 8 14 C 7 36 Baulkam Hills Service Station Peter Brown Bob Cook Morris Cooper S 123 21 15 D 5 58 Bill Burns 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 Gregory's (Motors) Pty. Ltd. Greg Cusack Bill Brown Ford XR Falcon GT 121 9 18 D 8 54 Ford Motor Company Bob Jane Spencer Martin Ford XR Falcon GT 118 5 19 E 4 64 Barnard Auto. Spares 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 Victorian Police Motor Sports Club Fred Sutherland Allan Mottram Ford XR Falcon Automatic 117 22 22 D 9 48 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. 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 John Caskey Pty. Ltd. Bill Daly George Murray Fiat 124 117 37 25 E 5 62 M.W. Motors Pty. Ltd. Paul Hawkins Syd Fisher Alfa Romeo 1600 GTV 117 6 26 A 2 12 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Dick Thurston Bill Buckle Toyota Corolla 116 44 27 B 1 16 Gordon Stewarts 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 Eiffel Tower Motors Pty. Ltd. Jack Nougher David O'Keefe Hillman GT 114 42 31 A 5 9 B.P. Olympic Service Station (Cowra) Bob Edgerton David Toshack Hillman GT 114 51 32 B 2 24 Sharton Motors (Maitland) George Garth Geoff Westbury Hillman Arrow 114 47 33 C 12 35 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Gary Cooke Trevor Meehan Fiat 124 113 30 34 C 13 31 C. Kennedy 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 Everybody's Magazine Jane Richardson Midge Whiteman Morris 1100S 110 58 37 B 5 18 D. Frazer David Frazer Bernie Breen Renault R8 109 57 38 C 14 34 Frank Crott Motors Pty. Ltd. Lynn Brown David Bye Fiat 850 109 55 39 B 6 13 C. Hodgins Clyde Hodgins Kevin Nipperess Morris 1100S 108 56 40 D 10 59 Wright Ford Motors Bruce McIntyre Ken Stacey Ford XR Falcon GT 106 13 41 A 6 5 C. J. Cocran Chris Cronan Steve Parkes Holden HB Torana 103 60 42 A 7 6 Dependable Motors (Sales) Pty. Ltd. Bruce Darke Bill Ford Datsun 1300 102 59 43 B 7 20 Marque Motors 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 Vaughan & Lane Pty. Ltd. Bill Stanley Digby Cooke Morris Cooper 96 43 46 B 9 19 J. Thompson Jeff Thompson Bob Romano Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 96 49 47 D 11 56 British & Continental Cars Pty. Ltd. Gerry Lister David Seldon Volvo 122S 86 26 48 C 15 44 H. Taylor Don Smith Herb Taylor Holden HD X2 75 27 DNF A 7 Dunbier Motors Pty. Ltd. Lindsay Little Stan Pomroy Hillman GT 53 DNF A 4 Datsun Racing Team Barry Tapsall Bevan Gibson Datsun 1300 50 DNF B 22 Rural Motors Pty. Ltd. Glen Mackinnon John T. Smith Ford Cortina Mk.I 1500 111David Greenhaigh, Thomas B. Floyd & Bill Tuckey, Australia's Greatest Motor Race 1960-1999, page 522 54 DNF B 23 Varsity Auto Centre Rick Radford John Prisk Morris Cooper 64 28 DNF C 33 Gordon Stewart's Car Centre Mal Brewster Bob Skelton Morris Cooper S 121 17 DNF C 32 M. Bailey Murray Bailey John Hicks Prince Skyline GT 34 DNF C 46 Denis Geary Motors Pty. Ltd. Gary Hodge Glyn Scott Morris Cooper S 44 24 DNF C 26 J. Leffler John Leffler Les Carne Morris Cooper S 116 19 DSQ D 51 J. & B. Motors Bob Beasley Des West Ford XR Falcon GT 128 7 DSQ A 11 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Barry Ferguson Brian Sampson Toyota Corolla 117 45 DSQ A 10 Australian Motor Industries Ltd. Bruce Hindhaugh Peter Macrow Toyota Corolla 116 46 DSQ B 21 Peter Williamson Pty. Ltd 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
References
Further reading
Evan Green's World of Motor Sport, 1977, pages 191–192
External links 1967 Gallaher 500 race results 1967 Bathurst images, autopics.com.au