The Toby Lee Series was an Australian motor racing series run at Oran Park Raceway

Oran Park Raceway

Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from 1962 to 2010....

 in Sydney, between 1970 and 1975.

In 1970 Oran Park, with backing from sponsors Toby Lee (a brand of shirts) and department store Grace Brothers, launched a new series of races for Group E Series Production sedans

Group E Series Production Touring Cars

Group E Series Production Touring Cars was an Australian motor racing category for production based sedans competing with limited modifications. It was current from 1964 to 1972....

. The "Toby Lee Series" usually featured a 100 lap final round and quickly became very popular, attracting large crowds to Oran Park.

The series featured a number of leading Sydney-based drivers, such as Holden Dealer Team

Holden Dealer Team

The Holden Dealer Team was Holden’s semi-official racing team from 1969 until 1987, primarily contesting Australian Touring Car events but also rallying, rallycross and sports sedans during the 1970s...

 driver Colin Bond

Colin Bond

Colin John Bond is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team...

, emerging Ford privateer John Goss

John Goss (race driver)

John Goss is the only Australian racing driver to win Australia's two most prestigious races, the Bathurst 1000 , and the Australian Grand Prix .-Early career:...

, Ford stalwart Fred Gibson

Fred Gibson (motor racing)

Fred Gibson is a former Australian racing driver and race team owner.-Competitor:After a career that began in small production sports cars, first an MGA, and later the first Lotus Elan to run in Australian competition , Gibson quickly moved up into the touring car ranks...

 and Chrysler

Chrysler Australia

Chrysler Australia is the importer of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles for sale in the Australian marketplace. However, there had previously been a "Chrysler Australia Ltd" which had operated as a vehicle manufacturer in Australia from 1951 until 1980....

 drivers Leo Geoghegan

Leo Geoghegan

Leo Geoghegan is a retired Australian racing driver.Geoghegan is the elder of two sons of New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, who went on to become two of the dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s...

 and Doug Chivas

Doug Chivas

Doug Chivas was an Australian rally and racing car driver. Chivas drove the first Lotus Mark 6 in Australia in the early 1950s winning many races....

. The Toby Lee played its part in popularising production sedan racing and in establishing the passionate Holden-Ford rivalry that would endure for decades to come.

After three years of racing under Series Production regulations (1970–1972) the Toby Lee Series switched to sports sedans

Australian Sports Sedan Championship

The Australian Sports Sedan Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for drivers of cars complying with Australian Sports Sedan regulations...

 during the 1973 and 1974 seasons. 1973 saw competitive racing with big fields. Leading contenders included John Harvey

John Harvey (motorsport)

John Francis Harvey is a retired Australian racing driver. He was a top speedway driver for many years in the 1950s/1960s winning many championship races including NSW Championship 3 successive years, Victorian Championship twice.After switching from speedway to road racing, Harvey drove cars...

 and Colin Bond in Torana Repco V8s, Bill Brown and Jim McKeown

Jim McKeown (racing driver)

Jim McKeown was an Australian racing driver who competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1964 to 1972, with a best finish of 2nd in the 1970 title...

 driving Porsche Carrera

Porsche Carrera

Carrera is a trademarked name exclusively used by Porsche for its models to honor the company's success in the Carrera Panamericana race.The following vehicles have been called Carrera:* Porsche 356* Porsche 904* Porsche 911...

s, Leo Geoghegan's Porsche 911S, and Allan Moffat

Allan Moffat

Allan George Moffat, OBE is an Australian racing driver known for his four wins in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four wins in the Bathurst 1000...

's famous Trans-Am Mustang

Boss 302 Mustang

The Boss 302 Mustang is a high performance variant of the Ford Mustang originally produced in 1969 and 1970, but revived in the 2012 model year. It was produced for the Trans Am racing series, while the Mustang Boss 429 which was produced the same years was built around a larger engine.-First...

. But when John McCormack

John McCormack (racing driver)

‎John McCormack is a former Australian racing driver. Originally from Tasmania McCormack became one of the leading Formula 5000 racers in Australia during the 1970s....

 rolled out his highly modified Ansett Charger Repco V8 in 1974 it dominated the series. This led to a lessening of interest in the series and the fields dwindled in the second half of 1974.

For its final year of 1975 a radical switch was made away from sedan racing altogether and the Toby Lee became an open-wheeler Formula 5000

Formula 5000

Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula...

 series. Max Stewart

Max Stewart

Malcolm Clarke Stewart was an Australian racecar driver....

's Lola T400 won the 1975 series from the Matich A53 of John Goss.