and Dick getting the title in 1978. In 1980, during the Bathurst 1000 he started 2nd and led for the first 17 laps before his car was spun off the track after hitting a football-sized rock that had been, according to an eye-witness in 2012, accidentally kicked onto the track by one of a pair of inebriated men. The resulting public support where people from around Australia rang their local Channel 7 television station (the race broadcaster) and pledged money to help the team get back on its feet. Eventually the sum of A$72,000 was donated to help rebuild the car. Led by its CEO Edsel Ford II who saw the value of the goodwill in the press surrounding Johnson's crash, the Ford Motor Company of Australia provided a new car shell and promised to match the donation dollar for dollar, resulting in the team receiving $144,000 to help get back into racing. Johnson's close friend Ross Palmer, the owner of Palmer Tube Mills of Brisbane, became his primary sponsor in 1981 (with Bryan Byrt Ford also still a major sponsor), and with the donated money allowed him to return the next year to win both the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and the Bathurst 1000 (with John French). Johnson won the ATCC in a famous race-long duel with Peter Brock at the Lakeside International Raceway round. He won the ATCC again in 1982 (the Tru Blu XD Falcon), 1984 (Greens Tuff XE Falcon), 1988 (Ford Sierra RS500) and 1989 (Sierra RS500). He also won Bathurst in 1989 (in a Ford Sierra with John Bowe) and 1994 (in an EB Falcon, also with Bowe). The names Tru Blu, and Greens Tuff, as well as Red Roo (seen in late 1982 only), were product names of Palmer Tube Mills. With much larger budgets required in the racing industry, Ross Palmer helped negotiate for Shell to be the team's primary sponsor from 1987. The larger budget allowed the team to expand from just one car for Dick, to a second Ford Sierra RS Cosworth for his then teammate Gregg Hansford. NASCAR In 1989 and 1990, prompted by Palmer Tube Mills who assisted him in receiving multiple sources of sponsorship and through the company's American offshoot Redkote, Johnson made a brief foray into the NASCAR Cup Series driving a Ford Thunderbird, entering a total of seven races with a best start of 11th