lobby groups and whingers all over the
place.
“The Holden teams had started com-
plaining about our Falcons, saying we had
some sort of advantage. They were better
at this game than Glenn and Dick Johnson,
who was leading the other competitive
Falcon team.
“So what happened was if you spent
enough time complaining instead of
working on your car, you could get the
rule-makers to help you out. They killed our
car mid-season. We lost some of the front
undertray and the Holdens were given
some other little tricks to boost them.
“The effect for us was immediate, we lost
speed and we lost front downforce, which
meant we started to work the front tyres
too hard. The Holden teams eventually got
on top of their changes and the pendulum
swung the other way. Glenn put on just
enough points to win the title and I was
second, but no-one was listening to us
about what they’d done to our cars.
“For the next season, 1994, both brands
of car had new aero packages, and we were
still a little off the pace but it was nowhere
near as bad.
“It was enough for me to finish fifth in
the championship, which I thought was a
pretty amazing result. Glenn and I were the
only two Fords in there.
“There were issues starting to grow
inside the team. Glenn and his father Bo
were arguing and it was affecting the team,
and particularly my car. As things were
bubbling away, the guys at Philip Morris
were getting pissed off. At Sandown I ran
to a retirement with Parsons, and then for
Bathurst I was paired with Allan Grice.
“My relationship with the Philip Morris
people was really good, and the guys there
offered me a bonus if I finished on the
podium. Glenn had that race in his control
and then the engine died with nine laps to
go, and that gave us the famous footage of
him and the talk he gave to the TV while
sitting in the car, I really felt for him that
day. We saw a lot about the character of
Glenn Seton that day – the failure was
ripping his heart but he still sat there in the
car doing a TV interview. Bo was in tears in
the pits.
“I was a little bit pissed off at the team
because I was actually leading at one stage
and my brakes were starting to go. I was
changing down early and probably, if any-
thing, slightly over-revving it, going into
the corners, using the engine as a brake.
“I didn’t realise that, of all people, Larry
Perkins was catching me at a great rate of
knots. They weren’t giving me that infor-
mation. Before I knew what was going on
in that final stint, he was right up my arse,
out-braked me and went on to win.
“If they had told me what was going on
I would have pushed a bit harder. I was a
bit disappointed in that. I think they’d just
forgotten they had a second car out there
while Glenn was leading.
“So I was in the car at the end and I was asecond or two behind Larry when Glenn’s
car stopped.”PACK LEADER RACING
“The relationship issues between Glenn and
Bo were having a big impact on the team and
Philip Morris was looking at exiting the team.
“They approached me to see if I would
be interested in running a team. I made it
very clear that, yes, I would be, but I didn’t
want to be seen to be pulling the rug from
under Glenn. I would only do it if they were
definitely not going to sponsor Glenn. They
guaranteed me that was the case and we
formed Pack Leader Racing.
“I think Glenn knew what the deal was,
so we didn’t really have any issues. Since I
was in charge of getting as much money as
possible for the team, I went to talk with
the CEO of Ford Australia, who offered me
sweet FA, probably because of the way the
media were portraying the set-up of the
new team as shafting Glenn.
“Everyone in Australia thinks I’m a Ford
man – I’m not. It’s just purely coincidental
that every single team, with the exception
of the BMWs, was either a Ford SierraJones went his
own way with Pack
Leader Racing.