History
Sandown International Motor Raceway was opened in 1962 with the staging of the Sandown International Cup, but it wasn’t until 1984 with that the infamous Sandown 500 was born. The new international circuit of 3.9 kms was used for the first time, and the race became known as The Castrol 500. The move to an endurance event saw the addition of compulsory driver changes for the first time at Sandown. Peter Brock and Larry Perkins took out the 1984 Sandown 500 in their Holden VK Commodore.
The 1985 event was taken out by the Jim Richards/Tony Longhurst combination in their BMW 635Csi, with George Fury and Glenn Seton winning the 1986 race in a Nissan DR30. The 1987 race was won for the second year running by rally refugee George Fury with Terry Shiel.
ENZED took over Naming Rights to the 1988 race, which saw Allan Moffat and Gregg Hansford win the event in a Sierra RS500. In 1989, up and coming youngster Mark Skaife joined Jim Richard to claim victory again for Nissan in a race called the .05 500; while without sponsorship in 1990 it reverted back to the Sandown 500, won by Glenn Seton and George Fury's in their Sierra.
In 1991 and 1992, the classic changed its name to the Drink Drive Sandown 500 with sponsorship from the Transport Accident Commission who used the event to promote its aggressive but effective Drink Drive message. Victories in 1991 was Mark Gibbs and Rohan Onslow in a Nissan GT-R and Larry Perkins and Steve Harrington in a Commodore in 1992.
For 1993, 1994 and 1995, the race continued to be known as the Sandown 500 with the event being won in 1993 by Geoffrey Brabham/David Parsons in a EB Falcon and consecutively in 1994/95 by Dick Johnson and John Bowe in the Shell sponsored EB and EF Falcons.
In 1996 the race was eventually won by Craig Lowndes who past Glenn Seton's Falcon with only four (4) laps to go. In 1997 in front of the largest crowd in twenty (20) years, Murphy and Lowndes drove superbly in appalling conditions to win from Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall. The 1998 race saw Larry Perkins win his third 500 with co-driver Russell Ingall.
The event was not held in 1999 and 2000.
In 2001, the 500 was narrowly won by John Bowe and Tom Waring in their Ferrari F360 in what was a sensational finish. In 2002 the event was won by Paul Stokell and Anthony Tratt in their Lamborghini Diablo by a 3 second margin from Jim Richards and Tony Quinn in a Porsche GT3.
In 2003, as part of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly came away winners in extreme weather conditions after holding off off a late charge from Team Dynamik driver Jason Richards on the second last lap.
In 2004 it was& Marcos Ambrose and Greg Ritter that led from start to finish in an incident-packed race to win the Betta Electrical 500 in varied weather conditions and a plethora of Safety Cars.
In 2005, perirenal crowd favourite, Craig Lowndes brought the Triple Eight Team Betta Electrical Ford Falcon to the chequered flag in a thrilling finish. Skill, speed and strategy. All these ingredients combined to secure a memorable victory for Lowndes and his French co-driver Yvan Muller. From the moment that 161-lap race began, Lowndes had the field covered in terms of pace, while co-driver Muller coped admirably under intense pressure.
Lowndes reeled in and passed Mark Skaife to snatch the lead away just three laps from the conclusion of an absorbing event. And fans in the packed Sandown grandstand rose to their feet to cheer on their hero in one of the most thrilling finishes to a race for some time.
The 2006 event was yet another exciting racing spectacle, with Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom holding off the Kelly brothers to take out the chequered flag. It was a dramatic conclusion to the Betta Electrical 500 with just 0.158 seconds separating the winning team in their FPR Falcon from the runners-up in their Toll HSV Commodore.
Over the concluding stages Bright and the younger Kelly waged a thrilling battle for supremacy that was settled only by an incisive pass on lap 138 when the pair rubbed panels.
A bungled brake pad change sent championship leader Craig Lowndes a lap in arrears. However, Triple Eight Engineering duly fought back in a race highlight, to eventually redeem third place for Lowndes and co-driver Jamie Whincup.
