Remember when: Ford’s Mustang last raced in Touring Cars

The Holden and Ford rivalry is entering its next phase. 

Ford Australia has this week confirmed it is returning to the top flight of Australian motorsport after it left the Supercars competition in 2014. 

Both the Tickford and DJR Penske teams will ditch the FG X Falcon and instead race the blue oval's most iconic car, the Mustang, that will take on the new imported Holden ZB Commodore and Nissan Altima. The Mustang is one of Ford's best selling cars locally and is the top selling sports car in Australia.

However, this isn't the pony car's first gallop around Australian race tracks in top-flight racing, although it hasn't been sighted since the mid 1980s. 

And it is no coincidence that the Ford Mustangs piloted in the Australian Touring Championship in 1985/'86 seasons were by Ford legend, Dick Johnson, who is one of the shareholders of DJR Team Penske or Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske. 

Johnson decided to race the Mustang in Group A racing in 1985 after Ford Australia decided not to homologate the XF Falcon following a rule change. 

The Ford Mustang experienced minimal success in 1985 though. Johnson was in position to win several races but incidents including a broken axle at Oran Park derailed his chances. 

However, no one really had much of a look-in during the 1985 season as Jim Richards dominated with his BMW 635 CSi winning 7 out of the 10 races along with four of the five endurance races. 

Johnson did manage to drive the Mustang to one victory in 1985 at the Grand Prix support race in Adelaide, which was not part of the championship. 

While Johnson's Mustangs were competitive in 1985, 1986 was a different story as the likes of the Holden VK Commodore SS Group A, Nissan Skyline DR30 and Volvo 240T racers caught up to the BMW of Richards and left the Mustang far in the rear view mirror. 

Johnson's best finish in 1986 was a fourth place at Amaroo Park, but the Mustang was always off the pace and couldn't match it with the superior machines, eventually finishing sixth overall for the season after 10 races. 

The Ford Mustang's 5.0-litre V8 engine used during the '85/'86 seasons originally produced 231kW before it was upgraded to 254kW later in 1985. 

Johnson eventually ditched the Mustang for the 1987 season and stepped in to the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 which after a few early hiccups would bring DJR much success. 

Before Johnson's mid-80's effort, the Mustang was a force in the early years of the Australian Touring Car Championship with Norm Beechey winning the 1965 title in a Mustang before Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan scored four consecutive championships between 1966-1969. Perhaps the most famous Mustang to race in Australia was Allan Moffat's 1969 Boss Mustang, which dominated the local Trans-Am series, winning 101 of 151 races.

The last Mustang to race in top-flight competition locally was driven by John Bowe in the GT Production series in 2001.

The new Mustang Supercar could be revealed as soon as this year's Bathurst 1000, with Ford Performance already undertaking development work with DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing to homologate the current Mustang for the Supercars series. 

It is believed that Ford will utilise its V8 engine instead of a twin-turbocharged V6 used in other Ford racers. 

1986 time capsule 

Average price of unleaded petrol – 52.57 cents 

Highest grossing movie – Top Gun 

Top of the charts - "Chain Reaction", Diana Ross 

NRL premiers – Parramatta Eels 

AFL premiers – Hawthorn Hawks