Meet the Australian Legends of Supercars

The Australia Post Australian Legends Award is presented annually by Australia Post to honour a living individual or group of individuals who have excelled in a particular field of endeavour. These outstanding Australians have shaped the social and cultural life of the nation, exemplifying traits such as tenacity, perseverance and compassion. In recognition of the honour, each recipient is depicted on a postage stamp and is presented with a 24-carat-gold replica of the stamp on which they appear.

Supercars racing is the top category of Australian motorsport and a unique one, given Australia is the only place in the world where these cars compete. Born out of touring car racing, Supercars racing demands versatile, skilful, athletic drivers capable of handling powerful machines, which can reach speeds of 300 kilometres per hour on the fastest straights in Australia.

The retirement of the Holden brand, and the subsequent end of the famed Holden versus Ford racing rivalry, paves the way for the much-anticipated arrival of Gen3 cars in Supercars racing.
With a new era about to dawn, today we announce this year’s Australia Post Australian Legends Award winners: four living legends of Supercars racing – Allan Moffat OBE, Dick Johnson AM, Mark Skaife OAM and Craig Lowndes OAM – whose record-setting achievements are inspiring the next generation. Not only have these racing drivers achieved excellence on the track in the Bathurst 1000, the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and the Repco Supercars Championship, but they have also made significant contributions off the track, through industry involvement, advocacy, education and charity work.

The stamp designs present a portrait of each Legend during their racing career, with an iconic car placed in the background: Allan Moffat’s Ford XC Falcon, driven during his 1977 Bathurst win; Dick Johnson’s Ford XD Falcon, driven during his 1981 Bathurst victory; Mark Skaife’s Holden VX Commodore, from his triumph at Bathurst in 2002; and Craig Lowndes’ Holden VF Commodore, from his conquest of Bathurst in 2015.

Allan Moffat OBE

Born in Canada, in 1939, Allan Moffat OBE moved to Australia as a teenager with his family in the 1960s and went on to become one of the most successful drivers the country has ever seen.

Moffat started racing in a Triumph TR3, but he made his name racing Fords at race tracks across Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a “driver to beat” in the local touring car scene. He won the ATCC four times. He drove Ford Falcons to clinch victory in 1973, 1976 and 1977 and won a fourth title, in 1983, at the wheel of a Mazda RX-7.

However, Allan Moffat really cemented his name as a champion at Bathurst, and his battles, during the 1970s, with Holden driver Peter Brock were legendary. Moffat made his Bathurst debut in 1969 and won the famous race four times. He won in 1970, again in 1971 and added further victories in 1973 and 1977, the latter notable for being a 1-2 form finish, as he and teammate Colin Bond famously swept across the finishing line alongside one another.

Awarded an Order of the British Empire, in 1978, for services to motorsport, Allan Moffat was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame in 1999, into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2016, and became a Sport Australia Hall of Famer in 2018. Moffat was named as a Dementia Australia ambassador in 2020, in the wake of his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease a few years earlier.

Dick Johnson AM

Born and raised in Queensland, in 1945, Dick Johnson AM is one of the most famous faces in the history of Australian motorsport. The former service station proprietor started racing in his home state in the 1960s, in a variety of Holdens at the Lakeside circuit. He made his ATCC debut in 1970, and in 1973 drove a Holden Torana XU-1 in his first of 26 Bathurst 1000 starts, before making a swap to racing Fords in the mid-1970s.

Johnson famously hit a stray rock that had rolled onto the track at Bathurst in 1980. His car was destroyed, and sympathetic television viewers and race fans donated funds so he could build a new car, which he used to win both the ATCC and Bathurst 1000 in 1981. Dick Johnson went on and won four further championships (in 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1989) and the Bathurst 1000 two more times (in 1989 and 1994). Johnson retired from full-time V8 Supercar racing at the end of 1999 to focus on running his famous Dick Johnson Racing team.

Dick Johnson was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame, in 2001, and was inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2016. Johnson became a Member of the Order of Australia, in 1997, for his services to motorsport and to charitable organisations, which includes acting as an ambassador for children’s cancer charity Camp Quality.

Mark Skaife OAM

Originally from the Central Coast of New South Wales, Mark Skaife OAM (b. 1967) remains one of the most successful drivers in Australian motorsport history.

A six-time Bathurst 1000 winner, Skaife started racing in karts and progressed into car racing in the mid-1980s. His talents were recognised by Nissan team boss Fred Gibson, who placed Skaife within his team and gave him the tools to develop his craft.

Skaife won his first Bathurst 1000 with the legendary Jim Richards in 1991 and backed it up the following year, the same year he also won his first ATCC and the Australian Drivers Championship for open wheelers – a unique treble unlikely to be achieved again.

Skaife won the ATCC again in 1994, at the wheel of a Gibson-run Commodore, and became a banner figure for Holden from that point on. He and the Holden Racing Team blitzed their opposition to win the V8 Supercars Championship three years in a row, from 2000 to 2002, and they won three Bathurst 1000s together in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

Skaife retired from full-time racing at the end of the 2008 season, though continued a as a co-driver for three more years. He won his sixth Bathurst 1000, in 2010, sharing a Commodore with Craig Lowndes.

Awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2004 for his services to motorsport and the community, Mark Skaife was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame in 2014 and into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2017. His charity work has included support of Ronald McDonald House. Mark Skaife has stayed involved in the motorsport industry through roles in administration, consultancy and commentary.

Craig Lowndes OAM

Craig Lowndes OAM (b. 1974) is often referred to as the “people’s champion” of Australian motorsport. Following in the tracks of his mentor and teammate Peter Brock, the 1993 Australian Formula Ford Champion burst onto the wider racing scene in 1994, by finishing a close runner-up in that year’s Bathurst 1000 on debut.

Lowndes won his first “great race” at Bathurst in 1996, the same year he also won his first Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), driving for the official Holden Racing Team. Lowndes led a youth movement during the late 1990s, as Australian race teams opted to give more emerging drivers opportunities in top-performing cars. He raced in Europe, in 1997, in the International Formula 3000 Championship, in a bid to crack Formula 1, but returned home to win further championships in 1998 and 1999 and cement himself as a V8 Supercar fan favourite. A seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner and six-time winner of the Sandown 500 in Melbourne, Lowndes has also won the Bathurst 12 Hour for GT cars twice, in 2014 and 2017.

Craig Lowndes was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia, in 2012, for his success in motorsport and for his contribution to the broader Australian community, particularly through contributions to road safety programs and charitable organisations. Lowndes’ charity work has included ambassador roles and fund raising for various organisations, including the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. A five-time Barry Sheene Medallist, for the best and fairest drivers in Supercars, in 2019 Lowndes was inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame and into the Supercars Hall of Fame in 2022.

View our previous Legends

The Australian Legends of Supercars stamp issue is on sale now, online, at participating Post Offices and via mail order on 1800 331 794, while stocks last.