Race numbers, much like the design of race helmets, can be a very personal thing. In many motorsport championships around the world, the previous year’s winner takes the number one on their car. For some, it is a choice, for others, it is mandatory.

Here, our in-house numerology guru Dale Rodgers takes a deep dive into the history of the sport’s leading numeral in our premiere touring car competition.

Through its many classes and formulas, Australian Touring Car Racing has completed 61 seasons; an unbroken run making it one of the world’s oldest national series. In 42 of those years, the number one has been carried by the previous season’s winning driver, but there were some interlopers and strange outcomes along the way.

The 1960 Australian Touring Car Championship was a CAMS sanctioned event for Appendix J Touring Cars machines, contested over a single 20 lap, 75-mile race held on the 1st of February 1960 at the Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit near Orange in New South Wales. The race was won by David McKay driving a Jaguar Mark 1 3.4 Litre. He carried the Number 71.

The next year Des West in a Morris 850 was recorded as running number one. In 1964 Bob Jane ran the number one on his Jaguar Mark 11 4.1, but at the ATCC meeting at Lakeside, it had the normal Jane number seven on its flanks.

The first real acknowledgment of the ATCC Champion taking the coveted number occurred in 1965. Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan ran the number one in the 1965 race at Sandown as the 1964 champion. So began one of the longest runs by a driver with number one on their cars, as ‘Pete’ dominated the single race format until the first multiple Championship Series in 1969.

It is, during this six-year run of Geoghegan carrying the number one, when the first anomaly appears. Norm Beechey landed the first racing Ford Mustang in Australia in 1965 and bagged the Championship at Sandown, however chose to continue with his signature number, four, as his chosen number in 1966, where Geoghegan again carried the number one.

Beechey stopped the run of arch-rival Geoghegan by winning the 1970 ATCC and replacing the famous number four with number one for 1971, on his legendary Holden Monaro GTS 350.

There was no number one in 1971, With Bob Jane sticking to his number seven, Geoghegan again had numeral Uno on the side of his factory Super Falcon GTHO for several rounds – although it sported number ten when it ran in the famous 1972 Bathurst round.

Fred Gibson entered his number one Road & Track Ford Falcon GTHO Series Production car in that round.

The next few years were strange to say the least. Between 1971 and 1976 no ATCC winner carried the number one into the following year. However, the number was run by Pete Geoghegan, Peter Brock, and Colin Bond – none of which were the current ATCC Champion of the day.

After winning the 1976 Championship in his XB Falcon, Alan Moffat got it back on track and reverted to the number one in 1977, which led to the iconic one-two Bathurst finish with Colin Bond. He carried it again in 1978.

The number one was not seen on a Championship winners’ car for the next seven years as Peter Brock’s 05 and Dick Johnson’s 17 were retained by the legendary winners, so linked to their famous digits.

The run of Brock, Johnson and Alan Moffat was stopped in 1986 by Jim Richards, who carried number one on the JPS BMW 635i. Richards won the inaugural Group A ATCC the year before and took up the coveted number for his 1986 defence.

This one had a tough ending…

The balance of the ’90s saw each driver, including Mark Skaife, Glenn Seton, John Bowe and Craig Lowndes all carry the number one following their respective championship victories.

The 2000s brought the longest unbroken run of the Championship driver taking the number for the following year: Under the V8 Supercars category, Craig Lowndes celebrated his 1999 win and kicked off the decade in his now number one HRT Commodore.

HRT Commodores were synonymous with the number one. PICS: Mark Walker

For seventeen years between 2000 and 2016 only one driver captured the number one on eight occasions. This was the era of Jamie Whincup as he smashed through every race win, pole position and ultimately ATCC/Supercars Championship record.

As teams go, Stone Brothers Racing had three number one celebrations with Marcos Ambrose winning in 2003 and ‘04 and teammate Russell Ingall capturing his only Supercars Championship in 2005. SBR made sure the field were aware of their Championship status in each ensuing year, with their Ford’s proudly running the number one.

Other single Championship winning drivers in this period also took up the number one option. Rick Kelly in the Holden Dealer Team Commodore won in 2006, Garth Tander won from the same garage in 2007 and James Courtney upset Whincup’s run in 2010.

There were a mixed bag of champions in the mid-’00s…

The 2010 Supercars Championship ended in the most spectacular circumstances when a deluge hit the Sydney Olympic Park race track, causing top protagonists Courtney and Whincup to crash – along with half the field – only to manage to get their stricken Supercars back to the pit lane.

Adrian Burgess, then Technical Director at Dick Johnson Racing, read the play perfectly and ensured that Courtney left the pit lane in a hastily cobbled up Jim Beam Falcon to gain critical points. Whincup was too late out of the pits and was not qualified as a finisher, while Courtney banked 60 points to almost guarantee himself the trophy the following day.

But DJR were not to savour the number one on their Fords as Courtney pulled up stumps, moved to the Holden Racing Team and rolled out with number one on his Holden Commodore.

A stylised 17 and 18, with an emphasis on the one, were run by DJR on their Jim Beam ‘The Team’ Fords at the Supercars test day in 2011, but they were told to cease and desist!

Outside of Whincup, Winterbottom claimed the single digit prize following his 2015 title success.

Since then, however, we have moved into an era where the number one is absent from title-winning Supercars the following season.

Scott McLaughlin won three titles on the go between 2018 and 2020, but such was the passion around the reborn DJR Team Penske and Scott’s delight in winning in the famous number 17, he continued to run it every year.

And that brings to the current champion, Shane Van Gisbergen. He first won the title in 2016 in his Commodore, repeating the feat in 2021. His number of choice is 97, and that is what we will see him defend his title with in 2022.

Turning to the number of times drivers have acknowledged their Championship win by running the No 1, we see almost a mirror of their victories. The big multiples are:

• Jamie Whincup – 7 times
• Ian Geoghegan – 6 times, plus several ATCC events in 1972
• Mark Skaife – 5 times
• Jim Richards – 4 times

The likes of Alan Moffat, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes and Marcos Ambrose have all also displayed the number one on multiple occasions.

On the flip side, eight ATCC/Supercars Champions have never taken the opportunity to run the number one. David McKay, Bill Pitt, Bob Jane (on four occasions), Bob Morris, Dick Johnson (also four times), Robbie Francevic, Scott McLaughlin and Shane Van Gisbergen, either chose to stay with their favoured number or did not compete the following year.

Finally, some drivers carried the number one whist not actually signifying a Championship title. In 1973 Peter Brock carried the number one as Bob Jane deferred to number seven, and the following year HDT teammate Colin Bond picked it up as reigning Champion, while Alan Moffat continued with his famous number nine.

When will we see the number one feature in the Repco Supercars Championship again? With Jamie Whincup now running the Red Bull Ampol team, 97 looks like a hot favourite to remain front and centre. However, the 11 of Anton De Pasquale, the 17 of Will Davison, the six of Cam Waters and the number 25 of Chaz Mostert, plus a host of others, have their eyes fixed on the ultimate prize.

But for now, the number one remains absent from our premier motorsports championship.