Monday's announcement from General Motors' that the Holden name will cease to exist at the end of the year has sent shock waves through the Australian motorsport community.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The nation's premier racing category, Supercars, has been the dominion of Holden for more than 50 years.
The marque was first represented in the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1967 by the Monaro and has been steeped in success ever since, with Toranas and Commodores winning Championships, as well as the iconic Bathurst 1000, at the hands of legends, Peter Brock, Colin Bond, Mark Skaife and more recently, seven-time champion Jamie Whincup.
ALSO IN SPORT:
On the Border, Brad Jones Racing has run Commodores in the Supercar series since 2005 and team owner, Brad Jones, was circumspect when asked about his feelings.
"It only happened yesterday (Monday), so it's still pretty raw really," Jones said.
"It's a sad day for all of Australia to lose an icon like Holden.
"It doesn't happen often, which is a good thing, but it reminds me of when we lost (Australian airline) Ansett, it's just a real shame for everybody."
Jones will have four Commodores on the grid for the start of the 2020 season this weekend in Adelaide, but is not too worried about his team's future or the future of the Supercars series despite the unexpected news.
It only happened yesterday (Monday), so it's still pretty raw really. It's a sad day for all of Australia to lose an icon like Holden.
- Brad Jones
"For us, they had announced already that they were going to cease importing the Commodore at the end of this year anyway, so we were planning on running these cars until the end of next year and we'll stay the course with that plan," Jones said.
"We may run Camaro's, I'm not sure.
"We'll see what options we have over the next year, there's no need to rush anything. Supercars won't be stopping.
"Before 1967 when Norm Beechy turned up with a Holden Monaro, the series was run with all imported Mustangs and Camaro's, so we would be returning to the roots of Australian motorsport if it turned out that way.
"We'll just take our time with it, its funny how change like this works out for the better, so we'll look forward to an exciting future."
Out of the 24 cars in this year's Supercars series, 16 are Commodores, with the remaining eight Ford Mustangs.
Six of the championships from the past decade went the way of Holden, with Whincup winning five and Triple Eight Race Engineering teammate Shane van Gisbergen victorious in 2016.
The season commences this weekend with the Superloop Adelaide 500.
