Graeme Bailey

Graeme Bailey
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1943-07-11) 11 July 1943 Ourimbah, New South Wales, Australia
Retired	1986
Related to	Derek Bailey (son), Simon Bailey (son)
Australian Endurance Championship
Years active	1979-86
Teams	Chickadee Racing
Best finish	10th in 1986 Australian Endurance Championship
Previous series
1979-82	Australian Touring Car Championship
Championship titles
1986	Bathurst 1000

Graeme Alfred Bailey (born 11 July 1943 in Ourimbah, New South Wales^[1]), is a retired Australian racing driver, best known as co-winner of the 1986 Bathurst 1000.

Career

Group C

Bailey's Group C Celica

Bailey's career emerged in the late 1970s, becoming a front runner in two-litre touring car racing in Toyota Celicas, usually driving the car raced the year prior by factory supported Sydney based Toyota racer, Peter Williamson. In 1980 Bailey won the two litre class at the Bathurst 1000 and finished 12th outright.

By 1983 small capacity class touring cars were falling out of favour, and at Bathurst the two litre class was merged into the three litre class. Bailey spent the next few years out of racing himself, although he did co-drive with Peter McLeod at the 1983 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst in McLeod's Mazda RX-7 where they finished 5th outright. The race was run as part of the 1983 Australian Endurance Championship, which McLeod would go on to win.

Bailey again teamed with McLeod at the 1984 Castrol 500 at Sandown in Melbourne, but the RX-7 was retired after just 57 laps. The 1984 James Hardie 1000 wasn't much better for the pair, despite reportedly having the most powerful RX-7 in the field. After a troubled practice, the car was retired with overheating problems on just lap 39.

Group A

With the advent of Group A in Australia for the 1985 season, Bailey considered competing in the open class and together with regular partner Peter McLeod, the pair entered a Holden VK Commodore in the James Hardie 1000. After a strong run which had seen them rise from 22nd on the grid to the top 10 by mid-morning and into the top 5 by mid race, the near standard Commodore (as they were in 1985) was retired with a broken gearbox on lap 126.

In 1986 he sold the Celica and acquired a Holden VK Commodore SS Group A from the Roadways team for the 1986 season. Teaming up with Allan Grice in a Les Small built Commodore, he took the Commodore to Europe to race in the 1986 FIA Touring Car Championship (while also commuting back to Australia to run his business and race a Les Small built Commodore in the 1986 ATCC). Bailey, who readily admitted he was not on the same level of driving as was Grice, struggled in Europe and in both the first and second rounds of the series at Monza and Donington Park respectively, he ended the Commodore's race when he spun off into sand traps causing the cars retirement from both races. Budgetary problems saw the team return to Australia earlier than they had hoped, but with renewed confidence, though teamed with Peter Brock's two car Holden Dealer Team, the team won the "Kings Cup" prize at the Spa 24 Hours race on the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium (although Bailey was present, he did not drive).

At the 1986 James Hardie 1000, Grice and Bailey dominated the race, finally giving Grice a long deserved Bathurst victory. Bailey only drove the 30 lap lunch time stint during the race, but with Grice in career best form he admitted that was their best chance of victory, though a measure of his progress as a driver was shown when he was able to hold a 5-10 second gap to the HDT Commodore of four time Bathurst winner Allan Moffat (though Moffat was hampered by a very sore wrist after having crashed the car in qualifying). From there Bailey drove his Bathurst winning Commodore in the Group A support race at the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, finishing a close 7th behind the Nissan Skyline DR30 RS of young charger Glenn Seton (Grice won the race in another Roadways built Commodore).^[2]

Bailey's career wound down at that point, choosing to concentrate on the successful family business, Chickadee Foods, of which he was and still is (as of 2014) the Managing Director.^[3]

Bailey's son briefly raced in Sports Sedans in the mid-2000s, racing a Chevrolet powered Nissan 300ZX.

Career results

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 Results

Year	Pos	Class	No	Team	Co-Drivers	Chassis	Laps
						Engine
1979	DNF	C	61	Brian Hilton Toyota	Doug Clark	Toyota Celica	46
						Toyota 18R 2.0 L 4 cyl
1980	12	1601-2000cc	51	Chickadee Chicken	Doug Clark	Toyota Celica	148
						Toyota 18R 2.0 L 4 cyl
1981	DNF	4 Cylinder	51	Chickadee Chicken	Steve Land	Toyota Celica	34
						Toyota 18R 2.0 L 4 cyl
1982	DNF	B	61	Chickadee Chicken	Steve Land	Toyota Celica	65
						Toyota 18R 2.0 L 4 cyl
1983	5	A	50	Petrolon Slick 50	Peter McLeod	Mazda RX-7	158
						Mazda 12A Rotary
1984	DNF	Group C	50	Petrolon Slick 50	Peter McLeod	Mazda RX-7	39
						Mazda 13B Rotary
1985	DNF	C	4	I.M.B. Team Wollongong	Peter McLeod	Holden VK Commodore	126
						Holden 308 5.0 L V8
1986	1	C	2	Chickadee Chicken Roadways Racing	Allan Grice	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	163
						Holden 304 4.9 L V8

References