Richards first made his mark in Australia at the 1974 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 with a masterful display of wet weather driving during the race, recording lap times fifteen seconds faster than the leaders in the latter part of the event while driving a V8 Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 with fellow Kiwi Rod Coppins. Driving with essentially standard showroom kit, by the end, their front brakes were gone, but through attrition finished a very credible third place, five laps behind the winner John Goss. This and other wet weather drives over his career gave Richards the reputation of being a 'rainmaster' , and he was called the "web-footed Kiwi", Many Australians humorously attributed it to living in rainy New Zealand, though Richards himself believes it was more from the car control he learned early in his career doing dirt track speedway.