I suppose it’s a bit of an honour to have something named after you.

Queensland Raceway has got the Dick Johnson Straight. Lakeside had the Dick Johnson Media Centre – even if it was just an old container. And now there’s the Johnson Cup, one of the titles on offer in the new Mustang Cup Australia category.

I had the chance to see it all first-hand for the first time at the recent Queensland Raceway round.

It’s always an honour to be a part of something like this, especially because the whole Johnson clan was involved. My daughter Kelly waved the green flag to start the formation lap, and my son Steven drove the Safety Car to lead the field to the grid. Of course, my wife Jilly was there with us too, while at the end of the day I handed over ‘my’ trophy to race winner Oli Wickham.

It was nice that Ford invited us all to take part in the day because our whole family has always been involved in going motor racing. Not only in my career, but also with Steven’s and with his son Jett’s careers too.

Jett hasn't been racing much lately, but if he does get back into it, I think Mustang Cup Australia would be the way for him to go. In fact, I’d recommend any young driver that really wants to get to Supercars to get their backside in a Mustang Cup Australia car.

Normally they’ll come from go karts and get into a small-capacity car first, but then it’s a really big jump in performance if you want to take the next step. The Dark Horse R used in Mustang Cup Australia fills that gap well as the final stepping stone before getting into a Super2 car or even a Trans Am car.

One of the things that I think is good about them is that the Dark Horse R is a pretty old-school kind of car. You’ve got a naturally-aspirated V8 under the bonnet, a H-pattern gearbox in your hand and no traction control under your foot.

It’s certainly a lot more like the cars that I used to race, like the Group C Falcons or even the Group A Mustang. They didn’t have any driver aids at all, and they never had any data coming out of them. The only data was what you felt from the seat of your pants.

The H-pattern gearboxes are terrific too. They tend to make you more precise and not rush changes. But it also means that you can make mistakes too, which then makes for better racing in my opinion.

All of those things teach you how to drive, rather than becoming reliant on electronics to help you. It means these young drivers have to think about what the car is doing and how they’re going to overcome it. Whether that’s through setup or skill, it’s up to them; not a computer.

That makes Mustang Cup Australia a great classroom for any young kid dreaming of one day being on the Bathurst 1000 grid.

Dick Johnson is a racing legend and co-owner of Dick Johnson Racing.