Dick Johnson established his own team in 1980 after the dissolution of Bryan Byrt Racing, with financial backing from friend Ross Palmer and his Brisbane-based Palmer Tube Mills business. Johnson had been a sporadic national competitor during the 1970s while regularly winning the Queensland Touring Car Championship, but his prominence surged following the 1980 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst, where he led convincingly before a rock on the circuit caused a crash that destroyed his Ford XD Falcon. Public donations and a matching contribution from Ford Australia raised enough money to get him back on track for 1981.
Johnson converted that public goodwill into results, winning the 1981 Australian Touring Car Championship in a closely fought duel with Peter Brock that went to the final round at Lakeside. He also claimed the 1981 Bathurst 1000 alongside co-driver John French, becoming the first Queenslander to win the event. Further ATCC titles followed in 1982 and 1984, the latter being the final championship run under the locally developed Group C regulations.
With Australian regulations shifting to international Group A rules after 1984, the team initially raced Ford Mustangs sourced from Zakspeed in Germany with limited success before switching to the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth in 1987. That year also marked the beginning of a 17-year naming rights partnership with Shell, which would define the team's identity for decades.
The Sierra years produced sustained success. Johnson and teammate John Bowe, who joined in 1988, finished first and second in the 1988 and 1989 Australian Touring Car Championships. In 1989 the pair won the Bathurst 1000, leading every lap of the race. The team developed notable technical solutions during this period, including a homologated version of the Ford 9-inch differential better suited to the standing starts used in Australian racing, and the locally built Holinger 6-speed gearbox — both of which became widely adopted across the field.
A trip to the 1988 RAC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone demonstrated the global competitiveness of the DJR Sierras, with Johnson qualifying on pole ahead of the leading European teams, though a mechanical failure ultimately prevented a strong result. British team Trakstar subsequently purchased two DJR Sierra RS500s and used them to win the 1990 British Touring Car Championship title.
The team transitioned to Ford EB Falcons for the new all-V8 era beginning in 1993. John Bowe won the 1995 ATCC championship, and the team claimed Sandown and Bathurst victories in 1994. Bowe remained with the team until the end of 1998, recording consistent results across eleven seasons as the second driver.
After several difficult mid-2000s seasons following the end of Shell's first naming rights period in 2004, the team's fortunes were transformed in 2014 when American racing businessman Roger Penske acquired a 51% stake. Rebranded as DJR Team Penske, the team expanded its technical resources and attracted high-calibre drivers. Scott McLaughlin joined in 2017, the same year Shell returned as full-time naming rights sponsor and the team was again known by the Shell V-Power Racing Team name. McLaughlin narrowly lost the 2017 Drivers Championship on the final lap of the season but secured the title in 2018, then defended it in 2019 and 2020 as the team switched from the retiring Ford Falcon to the Ford Mustang GT — a model the team co-homologated with Tickford Racing.
Roger Penske divested from the team in October 2020, with his stake passing to Executive Chairman Ryan Story and the team formally returning to the Dick Johnson Racing name. Brett and Shaun Ralph, through the Melbourne Aces Baseball Club, became majority shareholders in January 2023, while Dick Johnson and Ryan Story retained significant shareholdings and continued in day-to-day operational roles. The team continues to race under the Shell V-Power Racing Team banner with Ford Mustang GT machinery at Stapylton.
Dick Johnson Racing's history spans every major era of Australian touring car racing, from Group C Falcons through Group A Sierras to the modern Supercars category. Its Bathurst record — four victories including the 1981 and 1989 editions — reflects consistent excellence at Australia's most prestigious race. The team's engineering innovations during the Sierra era, including the homologated 9-inch differential and Holinger gearbox, had an influence that extended well beyond its own garage. With ten ATCC and Supercars titles, it stands as one of the most successful operations in the history of Australian touring car racing.