The Supercar Championship Series comes from the old Australian Touring Car Championship. In the early days of that Championship, the winner was decided by one race. However, in 1969, they decided to create a series of races to determine the Champion. In 1999 the series became more commonly known as the Australian V8 Supercar Championships. The last decade has been intense with many winners being crowned Champion multiple times. It also gives a bit of insight into what might come in the next decade.
2000-2002
For three years straight the V8 Supercar Championship title went to driver Mark Skaife of Holden Racing Team. In 2000 he drove the Holden VT Commodore and switched to the VX Commodore in 2001 and 2002. Prior to these wins, he had several other wins in the Touring Car Championships. But, in 2008 he announced his retirement from full time racing. However, unable to stay completely away, he still competes in the endurance events of the championship to satisfy his need for speed on a part time basis.
2003 – 2004
Marcos Ambrose of Stone Brothers Racing became the new V8 Championship winner in 2003. He held his title again in 2004 and is credited for bringing back a Ford win after five years of Holden dominating the sport. During the time of those two Championships, he drove a Ford BA Falcon and has been rated by V8X magazine’s journalists as the best ever V8 Supercar driver. He has since left supercar racing after coming in 3rd place in the Championship in 2005 to join NASCAR in 2006.
2005 – 2007
In the following three years after Ambrose’s reign, there were three different V8 Champions, as none was able to defend the title a second time. In 2005 Russell Ingall of Stone Brothers Racing, also known as the ‘Enforcer’ won the title, marking his first and only Championship win. In 2006, the title went to Rick Kelly of the Toll HSV Dealer Team. This marked the end to Ford’s reign on the V8 Championship, as Kelly drove a Holden. In 2007, Garth Tander, also driving a Holden won the title again for the Toll HSV Dealer Team.
2008 – 2009
In 2008 Jamie Whincup, of TeamVodafone (also known as Triple Eight Race Engineering) did what he threatened to do the year prior and won the Championship. He had come in 2nd place in 2007, but took the title for Ford again in 2008 with a Ford BF Falcon, and defended the title in 2009 while driving a Ford FG Falcon. However, 2010 would see his entire team switch to the new Holden model, so any future wins he might secure would no longer be scored for Ford.
Fortunately for Ford, the new decade started out with a new Champion, James Courtney of the Dick Johnson Racing Team. Whincup came in second place in his new Holden Commodore, and is determined to win the 2011 Championship in that same car in order to secure the V8 Championship title under both vehicles. James Courtney also switched to a Holden team in 2011, so unless a completely new Champion emerges this year, the news looks bad for Ford.