It’s a funny old business, car racing. I thought Bathurst was a 1000-kay endurance race, where drivers were to take their time moving to the front.

The only two drivers who seemed to recognise this were Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly. Not surprisingly, they ended up winning the thing.

Young Todd certainly has a wise head on old shoulders. He was prepared to let other cars go by during his first stint, so the opposition could launch themselves at the scenery like lemmings determined to walk over a cliff.

Todd’s great drive means that no longer does his brother Rick have the ultimate comeback during friendly arguments of "yeah, yeah, Todd, whatever, but I’ve won Bathurst and you haven’t...".

The big chat after the race was what possessed the Stone Brothers Racing boys to ditch their flameproof headwear. Stories emerged post-race of other drivers who weren’t wearing their balaclavas. So why did were the SBR drivers singled out?

Could it have something to do with the fact that officials were given a tip off from a rival team? Seems likely. In any case the conspiracy theorists had a field day with the 1000.

Still, not wearing a full kit of fireproof underwear was a basic error, and officials were right to penalise them. It just seems unfair that other drivers got off scot-free.

How unlucky was old Rusty Ingall. Fancy getting back spasms at the end of his stint. Lucky young Luke Youlden was ready, with his balaclava, to take over.

And I’d love to get the number of the physiotherapist or chiropractor that sorted Russell’s back out so swifty. I suggest that this person is voted ‘Health Professional of the Year’. Ingall’s back didn’t really seem to give him much grief in that final stint as he was the fastest car on the track.

One poor bloke who probably needs to visit a health professional of another kind is Mark Larkham.

The former driver and now full-time team boss saw his boys Frosty and Bargs run a brilliant race. They were looking good for a podium finish, getting as good fuel economy as anyone, when a diff broke. When this was fixed, the car was an innocent bystander in the massive Ambrose/Murphy clash at The Cutting.

Post-event, all Orrcon Racing had to show from #20’s fine showing was a destroyed Falcon. But Larko’s car was about the only Ford squad I felt sorry for.

Last year Ford teams were a tad unlucky not to win Bathurst, but in 2005 the vast majority of Falcon squads got their just desserts results-wise.

With many wondering pre-event if Yvan Muller could eliminate errors, nobody considered that Craig Lowndes would be the one to make the driving error.

But can someone tell me what Yvan Muller said to his countrymen when asked by Network TEN to give a message in French to those watching on MotorsTV?

How do we know that Muller didn’t say something like "these Aussies they are driving me up the wall"?

Just kidding Yvan... can I stay at your joint when I go over to Frogland for next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours?

Another good thing about Bathurst is that it out-rated the Johnny Walker Super Series cricket.

You see, there’s a lesson for sports marketers: you can’t manufacturer drama in sports. Unlike the cricket, Bathurst was real; the drama is ever-present and you just don’t know what is going to happen next.

And it meant something to win it. Which is why Todd Kelly was as pleased as punch to be the 35th member of the exclusive Great Race winners' club. – Jason