Leigh Watkins raced in AUSCAR throughout the categories existence and entered the record books as the first and only driver to win the AUSCAR championship in a Ford as well as being the last person to win an AUSCAR championship.
He finished 33rd in points in 1988, 17th in 1989-90, 23rd in 1990-91, 20th in 1991-92, 16th in 1992-93 and 14th in 1993-94.
By the end of the 1993/94 season, Leigh was one of the most experienced drivers in the field with 32 starts out of the 38 held at that time making him the third most experienced driver in AUSCAR history behind Brad Jones and Marshall J Brewer.
Leigh finished the 1996/97 AUSCAR season in fifth place with a points total of 886 which was also the total of Eddie Abelnica, Leigh could of secured fourth spot to himself had Eddie not finished fourth ahead of Leigh in fifth in the final race of the season.
1998/99 was Leigh’s moment of glory in the sport as he held off Matthew White to win the championship by a narrow margin and delivered Ford its only AUSCAR championship.
AUSCAR fans in October 2018 were treated to video taken onboard the #47 as it made practice laps on the Thunderdome in the early 1990’s.
Zen Garage listed Leigh’s 1997 Ford Falcon AUSCAR at #10 on their ‘CARSALES JUNKIES – TOP 10 RACE CARS‘ list.
Leigh in 2022 provided AUSCAR racer Cole Davis with a Dry Break Fuel Coupling so Cole could continue to restore the #77 Ford Falcon in order for it to compete in Stock Cars Australia’s Australian Stock Car Championship.
The championship winning #47 was put up for auction in 2022, it was unreserved and the final price was $25,000.
Car numbers used
#47
Aussie Stock Car News 