Team racing in Australia as it celebrates major milestone

Winners of the Mainland Muscle Car Championship Round at Highlands Motor Sport Park 2024. (Photo: Supplied)

As it celebrates 25 years, the Wallace Racing team from Dunedin will be competing at Bathurst this weekend.

Along with racing in the Touring Car Masters at the huge event, they’ll also be joining the New Zealand Muscle Car team to compete against Australia in the Trans-Tasman Challenge Trophy at Sandown in mid-November.

The Australian excursion is a fine way to mark a quarter of a century of Wallace Racing, which was founded by father and son Colin and Michael Wallace in 2000.

Both had a plenty of national and international experience with karting, including winning a lot of titles. Colin had also built a Holden Commodore for saloon car racing in the Trans Am - Light Racing Class.

The Commodore had a baptism of fire during its first outing in the Yellow Pages 500km, with Michael performing well but having to withdraw near the end of the race.

Wallace Racing Team Development head Murray Dixon writes that the engines were stretched to the limit in those early days, which often caused failures. ‘‘On one occasion we had run out of engines and had to send a couple of volunteers to Dunedin from Christchurch and back, and fit the new engine overnight and ready to race the next day.’’

Colin, who died in 2022, was known for his exceptional skill and inventive thinking. He had taken over the engine builds before they were later outsourced when the team became more competitive.

Colin (left) and Michael Wallace with the team’s Commodore at

While sponsorship was hard to get in the early days of the team, Cooke Howlison came on board right at the start and they have remained a loyal sponsor since.

To save money during that initial period the team would often camp in the race car truck at the track, enjoying each other’s company.

The team currently includes Mike Wallace, Murray Dixon, Conrad Frew, Kevin Thompson, and Ross Wilson.

‘‘The cohesiveness of the original team has all the makings of a high performing team,’’ Murray writes. ‘‘We all have different strengths, but also cross-overs in our secondary strengths. This together with a reliable technical package makes the team a mature and united unit.’’

Wallace Racing’s Commodore was driven by Michael in the NZV8s, in fields of up to 40 cars. It was incredibly competitive at that top level, with often just 0.2 of a second covering the top 20 cars in what was an extremely popular event for spectators.

While the budgets for some of the teams were up to $1 million, Wallace Racing competed strongly with substantially less during their last season in 2008. Against many fully professional teams they came a highly creditable 13th out of 37.

With the cost involved and changes in the competition, the team had some gap years, but still stuck together to go to various race meetings each year.

And as Murray says, the unofficial motto of Wallace Racing is ‘‘never give in’’, so it was no surprise when the team’s new era was initiated. That began when Mike was offered some laps in a newly built Chevy Monza owned by the Knights at a Highlands CMC race in 2015. He found the car exceptionally fast and was inspired enough to make plans for a new race car.

Colin spent almost three years building the car, a 1976 Chevy Monza with a Hendrick Motorsport Nascar 410 cubic inch engine.

With a top speed in excess of 290kmh, the Wallace Racing Monza was hot out of the box. In his first race in the car at Pukekohe, Mike placed top five out of more than 30 cars, and in 2019 it was voted the Best Engineered Car in the Mainland Muscle Car Championship.

There has been a lot of success since, both domestically and in Australia.

The Wallace Racing Chevy Monza in September 2025. (Photo: Supplied)

‘‘Behind all of this the team has a dedicated family who support the team and Mike at every point,’’ Murray notes. ‘‘Mike’s mum Rose is a stalwart at all events and is part of the team fibre especially on race days, providing us all with eats and support for Mike’s race gear which is always ready to go.’’

Now, a quarter of a century after Michael launched Wallace Racing, it still has the same level of commitment that he instilled. Celebrating that anniversary and embarking on another Australian odyssey, the team thanks all the sponsors who have supported it along the way.

‘‘We have a strong belief in goal and objective directed achievement, under-pinned by ‘fun’, ‘fairplay’, and ‘fast’,’’ Murray writes. ‘‘We want our sponsors and supporters to not only come to watch the racing but be part of the whole experience and come racing with us.’’ 

Special thanks to Wallace Racing supporters: