- Star had a stellar career that lasted 16 years.
- He died earlier this week after becoming a household name.
Australian motorsport is mourning the loss of Grand Prix and Drivers’ Championship winner Johnnie Walker, who died earlier this week aged 79 after a brilliant career that made him a household name in his heyday. .
Walker won the Australian Drivers’ Championship in 1979, when it was the premier competition for open-wheel cars in Australia, and also finished second in 1973 and 1975.
He also won the Australian Grand Prix in 1979, beating other Australian motorsport greats such as John Bowe and Larry Perkins to take victory in the race, which at the time was an entirely local affair and not part of Formula One. .
At the time, he was one of only four drivers to have won both the Grand Prix and the Championship title.
Walker is shown driving his Matich A50 during the 1972 Australian Drivers’ Championship, in which he placed fourth before taking the title in 1979.
Walker’s career began in the early 1960s and by 1968 he had placed second in the Australian Formula 2 Championship.
He competed in his first Australian Grand Prix in 1970 and moved up to the Formula 5000 category in 1972, but he also starred in the country’s most famous race in 1975.
That year he and Colin Bond drove a Holden Dealer Team Torana SL/R to third place in the Bathurst 1000, which was then known as the Hardie Ferodo 1000.
Three years later, he and Warren Cullen finished seventh in the big race in their Holden LX Torana.
In 1981, he achieved fourth place in the Australian Sports Car Championship with his Porsche 911 Turbo, the last great result of his career.
Once he finished driving competitively, Walker opened a panel shop which was later taken over by his son once he fully retired.
He died on Monday, aged 79.
