Asian Motor Sports

Motor racing legend Dick Johnson has been forced to auction off car parts and sell investment properties after his racing company collapsed with a $6 million debt.

The three-times Bathurst winner and five-times Australian Touring Car champion will face creditors at a meeting next week, where he will put forward a rescue package to pay back a portion of the debts.

Johnson is set to walk away with about $4 million of personal debt, and he has been flogging off car parts on the Dick Johnson Racing website so he can pay his creditors, which include car part suppliers and former staff.

The collapse of Nanterra Pty, formerly known as Dick Johnson Group Pty Ltd, was triggered after 2005 major team sponsor and property company Westpoint collapsed. Retired driver Johnson was one of 4300 investors who lost a total of $300 million due to the collapse of Westpoint.

Things worsened soon after, with Johnson’s own business ventures FirstRock Mortgage Centre and V8 Telecom imploding and leaving him with the massive debt crisis.

Nanterre Pty administrator Korda Mentha yesterday told The Daily Telegraph about 50 creditors would receive Johnson’s proposal this week.

“Dick Johnson has put forward a proposal to creditors which we recommended they accept,” KordaMentha’s Robert Hutson said.

“We believe it will provide the best outcome for them.”

Team owner Johnson, who was in Sydney yesterday preparing for the second round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek, refused to comment.

He has been forced to sell investment properties, his own car museum on the Gold Coast and is now auctioning off parts of cars driven by his son Steve.

A few short days after Johnson’s V8 team returned to the penthouse at Eastern Creek the team faces at best an uncertain future.

Dick’s son Steven points out the lowest point was mid-2007 when the team wasn’t “sure what was going to happen and it was real tough times for our family. We had 50 odd people working for us and it was in real trouble.”