1998 – “Winning the BIG One”
Stone Brothers Racing is established, Ross and Jimmy Stone combine to form their own team after a long career working in the sport with other teams including Dick Johnson Racing, Benson and Hedges Racing, Miedecke Motorsport and Alan Jones Racing.
SBR opens the doors of its new Arundel workshop with 15 full-time staff on board.
Jason Bright is named driver for SBR in the Pirtek Hoses and Assemblies backed EL Ford Falcon.
SBR also prepares Mitre 10 Falcon for Mark Larkham under customer program.
SBR achieves its first-ever pole position with Bright posting the fastest time at the Hidden Valley, Darwin round.
After a spectacular crash in the Friday practice session at Bathurst the SBR team work around the clock to fix the seriously damaged Pirtek Falcon. The car is reapaired just in time to start from 15th on the grid for the race on Sunday.
Against all odds SBR win the Bathurst 1000 with Jason Bright and Steven Richards.
Overall Position 9th
Co-Driver Car #4 Jason Bright/Steven Richards
Comments from Ross
The crash on the Friday practice at Bathurst was caused more by frustration at not getting a clean lap we knew the car was capable. The team worked hard to get the car back on the track for the start of the race (15th) – winning at the end of the weekend was thrilling and something that Jimmy and I will never forget.
“We took a big risk and outlaid a lot initially when starting out – the prize money of $100,000 for winning Bathurst was unexpected but went a long way towards developing the team for the future.
When we started there were a lot of experienced campaigners the likes of Perkins, J. Richards, D. Johnson, Skaife and Bowe all well established in the championship – it was a leap of faith going with a rookie, however, we had the belief in Jason having seen his progression in Formula Ford and Formula Holden.
Our naming rights sponsor was in place but after a meeting in Sydney the company declared they would only commit with an established driver rather than the run risk with a rookie. We weren't about forego our racing decision for a business one – we didn’t sell out and backed our call and it worked. I left the meeting and Glenn Duncan from Pirtek who was also in the meeting at the time expressed his interest in supporting the team and a rookie driver. In less than 24hr the deal was done, Pirtek Racing was established and the result was the beginning of a long term relationship.”
