The 1981 James Hardie 1000 contained more sensations surrounding Dick Johnson, but this time, the Queenslander came out a winner. Mind you, a huge pile-up on the top of the mountain had the race finish after 120 of its scheduled 163 laps — the shortest Hardie ever held!

A new set of classes was instituted for the '81 classic, the first held directly under the James Hardie banner. The normal 'cc' classes were replaced by cylinder classes — 8 and 12 cylinder; 6 cylinder and Rotary, and 4 cylinder. Early entries drew great interest with Allan Moffat's switch to Mazda being overshadowed by news that Formula-One world champion, Alan Jones, had agreed to drive a Commodore with Warren Cullen.

As usual there were a few international drivers, including Derek Bell with Moffat, John Fitzpatrick back with Bob Morris in a Falcon — the pairing that won the 1976 race. Vern Schuppan joined the Holden Dealer Team, while the newly-formed Datsun Bluebird team imported two Japanese drivers, Haseimi and Hoshino.

With nearly $10,000 hanging on pole position the battle for places in the top ten was fierce. Bartlett (Camaro) and Johnson (Falcon), both on 2.21.0, with Brock on 2.21.8 looked set to fight it out for pole. But the Saturday brought rain and thoughts of a l00 mph lap disappeared for another year. In the wet, it was a veteran Kevin Bartlett who took his second Top Ten in a row, ahead of Johnson, Brock, Morris and Moffat.

Race day was fine and cold and a perfect start saw Johnson take the early lead from Bartlett, Brock, Morris and John Harvey, in the second HDT Commodore, with Moffat well back in the pack after a poor start. Bartlett hit the front as the race settled down to a three-make battle. Bob Morris was well placed in fourth with Garry Rogers in fifth then Harvey, Garth Wigston and Ron Dickson in his Camaro.

The drama was not late in coming. Brock pushed through to take the lead coming up Mountain Straight for the fourth time. In doing so he and Bartlett touched and within minutes Brock was into the pits where it was found the rear axle assemblies needed replacing. Last year's winner was out of contention.

The duel in front continued, lap after lap at a blistering pace, as Bartlett and Johnson out-paced Morris and Harvey, leaving the rest of the field struggling. But there were plenty of dramas down the line. The Muir/Geoghegan car pitted to have a sump gasket replaced; Charlie O'Brien's Commodore motor let go; Rusty French had problems and the Cullen/Jones Commodore was having handling problems and, apparently, electrical troubles, too.

The great dice up front finally came to an end on lap 23 when Bartlett touched a slower car. A tyre deflated, but the flailing rubber tore out the brake lines, putting the Camaro out of contention. That left Johnson well clear of Morris who, in turn, had a comfortable lead over Harvey, with Rogers and Wigston running steadily.

By now, the smaller cars had consolidated their positions, with Grice in the BMW just ahead of the Moffat Mazda.

Next of the front runners to go was John Harvey who ran over some stones at the top of the mountain and ran off the road with a flat tyre at The Dipper. He bounced off the fence right into the Graeme Bailey Celica, putting both cars out. Morris pitted early, handing over to Fitzgerald, which left Wigston in second spot, but far enough behind Johnson so that the Queenslander could pit a few laps later without losing his lead.

The pace was telling on the machines. The Cullen car came in failing and Alan Jones got only one and a half laps under his belt before is gave up the ghost. Wigston lasted only to lap 53 when his engine tripped a valve, while Fitzpatrick and Rogers swapped second position as they made their pit stops. Allan Grice had spun the BMW out of contention, getting stuck in the sand at Murray’s Corner for several laps, but Allan Moffat, circulating with the minimum of fuss, had moved into a lovely fourth spot.

Then, past half distance, the pressure came onto Johnson. He pitted about the same time as Fitzpatrick, and Rogers took the lead. But the Johnson pit stop was longer than expected as mechanics battled to fix a minor oil leak, letting Fitzpatrick into the lead on lap 103. Then came lap 121. Morris and Christine Gibson came together at McPhillamy Park. The two Falcons spun and crashed. Garry Rogers plowed into the cars. Tony Edmondson hit Morris, and Bartlett piled into the melee.

The red flag was produced, and as more that 60 per cent of the race had been run, the organisers had no alternative than to declare the race. Johnson was first, Morris second, Moffat third and Garry Rogers fourth. Second place in the 6-cylinder class went to Grice, six laps behind Moffat, while the Peter Williamson Celica took out the 4-cylinder class.