Latest / Rusty's Garage / Jeff Grech (Part 2)

Transcript

Jeff Grech (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:19
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with respected supercars team boss, Jeff Gregg.
• 0:26
  If you haven't heard part one, you've got to check it out.
• 0:28
  From his early years racing motorcycles, working in drag racing, on the tools for Peter Brock and Larry Perkins, to the factory Nissan team and his early years at HRT.
• 0:40
  I begin this second instalment by talking about the drive for young talent at the Holden Racing Team, unearthing the likes of Craig Lowndes and promoting Greg Murphy, a move that was a masterstroke but came with some challenges.
• 1:00
  Initially, when we tested Craig on the quiet,
• 1:04
  I mean, it probably stems from me.
• 1:06
  Personally, you know, I was a young guy and I wanted to go racing and I struggled.
• 1:12
  You know, obviously I did the motorbike thing but would have loved the car thing.
• 1:16
  And I was always looking for, you know, give a young guy a break and let's try and find a Peter Brock or Mark by then was doing well and I'd had the experience with the Jim Richards, Mark Schoeth thing.
• 1:30
  So...
• 1:31
  I thought I need to replicate that and get everyone on board with it.
• 1:36
  But it was, I mean, you've got commercial responsibilities.
• 1:41
  You've got major sponsors, the factory, you know, the Holden component.
• 1:47
  And then you say, right, we've got Peter Brock and everyone wants two stars in there.
• 1:53
  And when you go, I want to put a young guy in, obviously I was young then and I was bullish and I just tried to take no prisoners other than if John Crennan definitely said no, I would definitely not do that because I wanted to do what...
• 2:11
  he wanted me to do, but he gave me enough rope to, and he always knew when it got to the knot that was going to hang me, he'd pull me up and go, Jeff, you know.
• 2:20
  Enough.
• 2:21
  But he let me run with Craig.
• 2:23
  John Harvey actually was, John was then motorsport manager
• 2:30
  when we had Hold Motorsport on the side and John had come to the test.
• 2:34
  I invited John out and John was a bit of a confident as far as the driving side of things and he agreed, you know, Craig just within a day, Craig had got the hang of it.
• 2:46
  Like he was just ripped, tear and bust.
• 2:49
  You just couldn't believe that, you know, I think the second day he was matching and probably bettering times of our regular drivers.
• 3:00
  So just share a little bit more there, Geoff.
• 3:02
  So this is a pretty key moment when you realise...
• 3:05
  you know, you've got something special.
• 3:06
  Where were you?
• 3:07
  Where did you take him testing?
• 3:09
  So it was all Calder.
• 3:10
  It was all Calder initially.
• 3:13
  And not many of the team initially knew we were doing it.
• 3:17
  I just a few select.
• 3:18
  And look, he, I guess, Greg, it's like a young Olympian or, you know, when someone does something in their sport and you know the sport, like, so you've got times of your regular drivers that ran the same circuit.
• 3:34
  And when someone jumps in and goes bang and within a short time they're past them, you go, well, you know what the other athletes are doing to get what they do?
• 3:44
  And this young bloke comes in and smashes them.
• 3:46
  You just go, wow.
• 3:48
  And we just did.
• 3:48
  We went.
• 3:49
  I mean, I was excited.
• 3:50
  I just couldn't help myself.
• 3:52
  I just thought, well, we've got a young guy and you know what Craig's like.
• 3:56
  You know, it was, ah.
• 3:57
  You know, he was a dollar a minute doing everything and we just couldn't believe it.
• 4:04
  And once that happened, it was just...
• 4:08
  you know, we've got to get him in a car.
• 4:10
  We've got to have him on our team.
• 4:11
  And it wasn't just me, you know, we're all a young team.
• 4:15
  So, I mean, initially talking to John, John was not...
• 4:20
  He backed me, but obviously he was getting... Once we sort of made it official that he was going to come on board and tear, you know, officially, because he'd already worn the car out three times and Mort was the other one.
• 4:35
  Mort was... Mort...
• 4:37
  because Mord had sneak out all the Bridgestone tyres out the Calder and...
• 4:42
  He recalls very fondly, Jeff, the learnings from Craig, how he soaked everything up and how quickly he adapted in the manner that I think you're reflecting now.
• 4:52
  Oh, absolutely.
• 4:55
  Obviously, he'd be fast and the back tyres come in rooted.
• 5:00
  So Mort would go, hey, mate, just whoa, you're fast, but if you want to make them live, do this and that.
• 5:07
  So there was all that experience around our team.
• 5:12
  And Craig just loved it.
• 5:13
  And to his credit, he took it all and just run with it and run a thousand mile an hour.
• 5:20
  And we were the, you know, everyone says, oh, HRT made Craig Lowndes.
• 5:26
  And I've said this before, Rusty, Craig Lowndes made HRT, you know.
• 5:32
  Together with Peter, but he, with respect, he was just awesome and, you know, it was a great journey.
• 5:39
  It was a great journey.
• 5:40
  His growth curve was massive.
• 5:42
  I mean, you've reflected about how much 96 means to you from a bath of success with Craig and Greg Murphy.
• 5:52
  the championship success.
• 5:54
  And then he decides to venture off to Europe for a crack at F3000.
• 5:58
  And was there ever an attempt to sort of talk him out of it or was it about encouraging his dream?
• 6:04
  Oh, no.
• 6:06
  Well, obviously when he wanted to do it, I in one sense wanted him to be, you know, I wanted him to be Formula One.
• 6:13
  You know, at that stage, you know, I'd always admired Ayrton Centre and the props to that.
• 6:21
  And in my heart, genuinely, I thought Craig will go over there and not knowing the pathway to...
• 6:30
  in Europe, but I just dreamt that he'll be Craig Lowndes as good as Antin Centre.
• 6:36
  That was initial.
• 6:37
  And then the second one was, oh, shit, he's leaving us.
• 6:40
  But then we had Greg Murphy then.
• 6:43
  So it wasn't a real, oh, that doesn't matter, we've got Greg.
• 6:47
  And at the end of the day, I felt it was the right thing for Craig and for Australia for him to go over and have a crack.
• 6:56
  I was going to say Greg Murphy talks too about the fact that when you first called him to involve him, another young bloke in the squad, is it true, Geoff, that he thought it was a piss-take phone call and he either hung up or he wasn't convinced it was really you?
• 7:09
  I can't remember because of my age, but I think I ended up having to ring Kevin, his dad, and say, hey, I just rang Greg and he's pissed me off, you know?
• 7:20
  So I'm trying to get hold of him because we'd like to get him in the car.
• 7:25
  You made his dream come true.
• 7:26
  You put him in Brock's car at Calder.
• 7:28
  Is that right?
• 7:29
  That was, I think, his first run.
• 7:30
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:32
  And Rusty, he did exactly what he emulated what Craig done.
• 7:37
  Went in there and bang, you know.
• 7:39
  And so when Craig went over early to start the end of the year, we had the New Zealand races.
• 7:46
  John said, don't worry, Geoff, let him go to Europe and we'll use Greg because we had the success at Bathurst.
• 7:54
  So we went over there and, mate, he drove... My fondest memory of Greg was at the Wellington Street Race and down the front straight they had a chicane and it was...
• 8:04
  So you went on one side, you were driving down the right-hand side and you crossed over onto the left-hand side and he was behind... And he had a shunt in practice, or, yeah, I think it was practice.
• 8:16
  And, look, he was down, and I said, mate, it's only gravel rash.
• 8:19
  We'll be right.
• 8:20
  So I think George and Dennis from Denco were over there, and they were wizards, you know, before too long.
• 8:27
  You know, it looked as straight as a die.
• 8:29
  And so that race, Paul Radisic was in front, and I remember he went –
• 8:34
  through the chicane past Paul Radisic sideways and then flicked it and past him.
• 8:40
  And it was just like I remember watching all the people hanging out the buildings, just the yelling.
• 8:46
  When he was sideways I thought, oh, shit, he's going to hit the wall again.
• 8:49
  He's actually passed him sideways.
• 8:51
  Amazing.
• 8:52
  So not a conventional.
• 8:53
  It was and I remember John and I, John Crenn and I, and,
• 8:58
  And Kenny Schell, he was a sponsorship manager.
• 9:01
  And we'd had a few beers that night afterwards.
• 9:04
  And we were just, hey, Craig's over there.
• 9:07
  He'll be out in centre.
• 9:08
  And we've got Greg Murphy.
• 9:09
  He'll be the next new guy.
• 9:11
  And we just thought it was just fantastic.
• 9:14
  The level of scrutiny, perhaps, because of all the great success that you'd had and because of all the energy behind HRT, that perhaps in Greg's case, the level of scrutiny was always going to be tougher than Craig in some respects, wasn't it?
• 9:27
  Again, mate, timing's everything, you know.
• 9:30
  Mark wasn't, well, the Gibson Motorsport thing was running out of money and Mark was looking for, you know, we approached Mark a couple of times and it was no and then we decided, you know, we had a chat with him about could he leave Gibson Motorsport early and do the, and partner with Brock.
• 9:49
  in 97 and that was a disastrous year.
• 9:51
  You know, it was a disaster.
• 9:53
  Again, I copped a lot of flack, but you have to wear it.
• 9:57
  You know, I tried to keep it away from the team because obviously Craig had the off and obviously that finished that car for the race.
• 10:05
  And then we had the airbox fire and it was Peter's last, you know, it was his swan song.
• 10:10
  And just on that particular race, that really, I mean, that affected me personally because I remember,
• 10:19
  Not Peter so much, but they thought, you know, we weren't trying hard enough to get the car back out, but we lifted the airbox off and all the wiring was melted and we didn't know at that stage how the airbox fire was happening.
• 10:33
  We do know now, like we knew afterwards, it was with the way the fuel injection sequencing was happening.
• 10:42
  I panicked because I thought if we patch it up,
• 10:45
  We get it back out and there is a fire not in pit lane and people get hurt.
• 10:52
  I was thinking of Peter himself.
• 10:54
  You know, I had the envious task of saying we're pulling the car.
• 10:58
  So both HRT cars were out.
• 11:01
  We had the young lines.
• 11:02
  You know, obviously Jason put in the fence in the warm-up.
• 11:05
  Yep.
• 11:06
  So it wasn't a good look and, you know, again, I went to John when we got home and said, look, I'll fall on my sword if I have to.
• 11:15
  And, you know, he, again, it was another time he backed me and said, look, Jeff, you know, go and have a week off with your wife and kids and shake yourself up and get back.
• 11:28
  So, yeah.
• 11:29
  But, yeah, for Greg, personally, I wanted him to have a cracking, you know, keep him on.
• 11:36
  But Mark, you know, Mark had arrived.
• 11:39
  Holden got involved on driver selection, which never really used to happen, but it did.
• 11:47
  So, unfortunately, you know, Mark got the gig in 98 and Greg didn't.
• 11:53
  If you turned back time, what would you do again?
• 11:55
  Well, you only got to look at...
• 11:57
  Mark and Craig, you know, they had a lot of success.
• 12:02
  I genuinely think with Craig and Murph would have had the same, but, you know, history's painted now.
• 12:11
  You can't unpick the Picasso, so... No.
• 12:14
  But, look, one thing we did do, and all credit to Johnny, recognised Greg's talent and efforts and obviously got him back into Kmart and he was a bloody awesome driver and really proved that, you know, he was worthy of the 98 season in HRT, but it didn't happen.
• 12:39
  Jeff, I've got some questions from fans on Facebook here, which we'll get to in a minute.
• 12:43
  But firstly, you've been very candid in this discussion here about how you've kind of put your hand up on occasion when things didn't necessarily go right and would you, to use your own words, fall on your sword or leave or whatever.
• 12:58
  In that period, not the bad days, the good days and the good years when there was so much success happening, were there ever overtures from other teams to try and lure you away from HRT?
• 13:09
  Yeah, there was.
• 13:10
  I guess I would never move.
• 13:13
  I mean, there was offers, but I would, you know, as long as John Crennan was my boss, I was there until he didn't want me, basically.
• 13:22
  I guess when the 2003 TWR Empire crashed, that really unfortunate, you know, and I guess privately, I know John wasn't.
• 13:35
  I was never together, but we were in tears because we just won Bathurst in 2002 and the championship, and we were brought into the woes of TWR Group UK, which to this day Geoffrey Brown, who was a director of
• 13:51
  TWR Australia then, really thinks that we, you know, there was, I guess there was evidence where we, you know, that shouldn't have happened.
• 14:00
  But I know John had had it going on for 18 months and he was worn out and I was myself because I was a director as well.
• 14:13
  But I know John bore the brunt of all that collapse and,
• 14:19
  unfortunately, and I guess that changed life, and I won't go into how and why it all happened.
• 14:27
  It was, that's another podcast, but there was some pretty dirty stuff
• 14:35
  And so 2000 then turned into, as you know, they individualised the assets from HRT and Kmart and what have you and Holden Motorsport was formed again.
• 14:48
  And then Craig Wilson, Tom had a guy who was an expat, Craig Wilson had come over and basically there was two of us anointed to do the one job and it didn't work.
• 15:03
  I was unhappy.
• 15:03
  Yeah.
• 15:05
  Tom, by that time, had started reinventing himself because he managed to hang on to HSV.
• 15:12
  And I guess at that time, I knew I wasn't wanted there, mainly because of Craig.
• 15:18
  He had his ideas of how to run a ship and it wasn't how I wanted to run it.
• 15:25
  And so there was an offer actually from DJR.
• 15:30
  Wow.
• 15:31
  So Dick, I met with Dick and Chalks, yeah.
• 15:37
  And we got pretty serious, but they had some – it got serious to the point.
• 15:44
  Then they had some sponsorship issues and what have you.
• 15:48
  So I didn't go.
• 15:49
  And then obviously Tom and I had the big powwow and things weren't –
• 15:56
  Things weren't blossoming there as far as a relationship, and I ended up, we shook hands and decided to depart.
• 16:04
  So it's a shame, really, because I know John and Mark Curtis were very upset.
• 16:11
  And especially for John and I, we had some stuff mapped out for 2010, you know, and I know nothing ever stays the same, but it was sad.
• 16:23
  It sort of broke me a little bit, to be honest, Rusty, you know.
• 16:29
  How badly, Geoff?
• 16:29
  Emotionally, oh, well, you know, bad enough to, I don't want to go into details, but it was pretty bad, you know.
• 16:38
  It was bad.
• 16:38
  I started questioning myself and...
• 16:41
  At that stage I had Jane on board, you know.
• 16:43
  Mm-hm.
• 16:46
  Jane and I were together and, you know, luckily that was the case because sort of she calmed me down a little bit and we just tried to get on with life.
• 16:55
  But probably other than that, and I don't want to change course too much, probably the other, the biggest regret was not only that but probably when Craig went to Ford.
• 17:06
  Mm-hm.
• 17:07
  That was a big moment for me.
• 17:09
  And look.
• 17:11
  I don't think I handled myself well at all in that.
• 17:15
  And it got messy, obviously, with, you know, with contracts and stuff like that.
• 17:20
  But I took the side of the team and the blokes and I probably didn't handle it anywhere near as well as...
• 17:29
  As a matter of fact, you know, for a lot of years I didn't have contact with Craig and not because I didn't want to, it just we sort of departed and we never really had a one-on-one with each other over a beer or something and I know he did it for good reasons and there's no two ways about it, you know, forward forward.
• 17:53
  Ford wanted him and Ford got him and that's how, you know, that's how sporting entities happen.
• 17:58
  You know, people come along and this team, you know, snavels that guy.
• 18:05
  I was disappointed in the way that I knew he had a long life with Holden, which, believe it or not, it's done the full circle because... Circle, yeah.
• 18:13
  Yeah, because now Roland's HRT and now, you know,
• 18:20
  Craig is still recognised as a Holden guy and he's got Ford fans.
• 18:25
  There's no two ways about it.
• 18:27
  Everyone loves Craig for Craig, not what he drives, but...
• 18:32
  To me, having the Holden halo back around him, he and Lara, I think is a great thing for him, especially now he's sort of semi-retired.
• 18:44
  Are you talking a bit more now?
• 18:45
  Oh, yeah, you know, we bumped into each other.
• 18:48
  You were there at Mort's 60th.
• 18:51
  Yeah.
• 18:52
  Anyway, and it was a privilege.
• 18:55
  You know, that was when I met Lara for the first time and,
• 18:59
  And we've really connected.
• 19:02
  I'm pleased.
• 19:03
  Which was great because we had that period where I think I felt a bit lost because I sort of hadn't been in touch with Craig.
• 19:12
  So it was good.
• 19:13
  It was good and I really appreciate him and Lara taking the time to reconnect.
• 19:20
  It's been a bit of a highlight of my later years, to be honest.
• 19:24
  I'm pleased, Geoffrey.
• 19:35
  The circuit at Winton Motor Raceway has a combination of long fast straights and twisty tight bends.
• 19:41
  It is also known as Australia's action track.
• 19:44
  Dick Johnson once described the circuit being, like running a marathon around your clothesline.
• 19:50
  Here's a couple of questions for you if you're comfortable.
• 19:52
  Firstly, Craig Miles.
• 19:55
  He says, can you compare the eras, HRT, 888, now DJR, Team Penske?
• 20:01
  But what he's asking is, what's required, in your opinion, to stay on top for long periods?
• 20:07
  I think it comes down to staff.
• 20:09
  I had three main goals that I always worked on and in no way I'm disclaiming the importance of the whole three, but firstly it was staff.
• 20:20
  You had to have the best staff.
• 20:23
  Then number two was the equipment.
• 20:25
  And then number three was the driver.
• 20:27
  So that order doesn't reflect on the importance of each of them.
• 20:32
  It's just unless you get the team, your staff right, it doesn't matter what equipment you got or what driver you got.
• 20:39
  You know, you've got to have that team all the best you can get and all pull in one way.
• 20:46
  Here's another one from Billy Hickey.
• 20:49
  How does it make you feel knowing that 2020, the Bathurst 1000, is the last for Holden in an official capacity?
• 20:56
  Holden's been a big part of your life.
• 20:58
  I never thought we'd see this day, Geoff.
• 21:00
  Easy did I, Rusty.
• 21:01
  I've got to say, and it'll be hard, but I'll probably shed a tear
• 21:08
  Look, you know, that's how it's unfortunately happened that way.
• 21:13
  I'd like to think Holden is a long memory.
• 21:16
  Actually, I've been fortunate.
• 21:18
  As you know, I'm working at Winton for the Bonalla Auto Club and we've actually made a...
• 21:24
  we've come up with an idea of called the Holden Last Lap and the Benalla Club, the Benalla Auto Club, the executive have actually licensed that name.
• 21:37
  So what we're going to do with our two venues, both Wakefield and we'll always keep the memory of Holden burning for sure.
• 21:44
  That's...
• 21:45
  And I've been lucky enough that the BAC have backed that idea, which is great.
• 21:50
  That's terrific.
• 21:50
  We'll talk more about Wynton shortly.
• 21:52
  Here's one from Graham Largalo.
• 21:55
  He says, you've worked with some very different personalities over time.
• 21:59
  He's talking drivers here now.
• 22:01
  How do you go about managing some of those?
• 22:04
  Say, for example, Mark Scaife and Craig Lowndes.
• 22:07
  I mean, I think you and I have spoken at times.
• 22:09
  It's a bit like Days of Thunder there for you on occasion, wasn't it, with those two boys?
• 22:13
  It was super competitive.
• 22:14
  Yeah.
• 22:15
  Mate, I mean, that was, you know, we talked about 96 with Craig and Greg winning, but I've got to tell you the excitement and I guess the purple patch for me was those two drivers and when they were driving together because they were, I'd come home and honestly,
• 22:38
  You talk about a couple of beers, but there was times there was more than a couple.
• 22:42
  I don't want to go into it and I don't promote it.
• 22:46
  But those two blokes were a handful, but, boy, did they lift the team.
• 22:53
  I mean...
• 22:55
  There wouldn't have been a day gone by when those two were in the workshop that there was not a positive come out of any negative.
• 23:04
  But absolutely, as a team manager, that's when the hair started receding.
• 23:11
  and one beer a night turned into a couple.
• 23:13
  Here's one from Greg Crellin, I think it is.
• 23:16
  Have you got a view on supercars in the wake of Holden's exit and the fact that they're looking to the future?
• 23:23
  And, you know, Jeff, if you had some input, what would you perhaps like to see the next phase of supercars become?
• 23:31
  That's an interesting run, Rusty.
• 23:33
  I honestly think that,
• 23:37
  And it's probably more – what's probably accelerated it more is the whole COVID world at the moment.
• 23:45
  Just as a general chat, I was talking about Wynton and I was having a chat with Roland, you know, and a few other – you know, my ex-team, Charlie Schwerkholdt, Team 18.
• 24:01
  And I think there's going to be a big reset.
• 24:03
  There has to be because –
• 24:06
  Now everyone's seen the COVID world and people have had to cope with it.
• 24:12
  I think it's affected motorsport and it's affected supercars in a way where they're going to have to do a reset.
• 24:20
  I think the first thing they're going to have to do is get costs out of it.
• 24:23
  And the second one is they're going to have to...
• 24:26
  The entertainment's got to be paramount.
• 24:29
  And I don't like false entertainment.
• 24:32
  You and I, Rusty, have been around racetracks.
• 24:34
  We like the gun-ho, the best team and the best cars win.
• 24:39
  But within... You'll always have the best team and the best car be there, but I think they're...
• 24:46
  There's got to be a change off the top of my head.
• 24:49
  They've got to entice the amount of cars that are on the grid to stay there and possibly more and allow – and I think they've played with a couple of things this year that have mixed it up with tyre choice and, you know, the amount of tyres and whether you go soft or hard –
• 25:09
  I think they've probably got to do more of that for the entertaining and give everyone a chance because the first time in, I mean, Scotty McLaughlin, I mean, he is as good as a Peter Brock, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Wincup.
• 25:26
  There's no two ways about it.
• 25:27
  The guy, you can see the guy, they come along.
• 25:34
  of them.
• 25:35
  But there's certainly got to, for supercars to keep everyone interested, there's a fair bit of work to do.
• 25:43
  And I don't know what that is, and take cost out of it.
• 25:47
  Carl Phillips, he's asked about what it was like to work with Jason Richards, because you spent some time at Tasman Motorsport, obviously.
• 25:54
  And were there along the way, because you've done some great things with young drivers, Geoff, were there a couple of others that you perhaps made overtures to that...
• 26:01
  maybe you didn't get to see come on board, maybe some other young drivers that you'd hope to help along the way?
• 26:07
  Certainly Jason.
• 26:09
  Jason was a ripper young bloke.
• 26:13
  I guess in modern times, I mean, I think that Tom Randall, those guys coming up, young Golding,
• 26:25
  Even, look, I know and I want to get into the politics of it all, but even young blokes like the Hearns who, I mean, he's missed out on a drive at Bathurst, but I think we've got to, the sport's obliged to keep young blokes in and, and,
• 26:43
  And this is me and it's an opinion, but I think, you know, the way for the present way is you do super three, super two, and then you accumulate your points or your experience or whatever.
• 27:00
  But I saw young...
• 27:04
  young Hearn drive when he was up here testing in Gary's and I've seen him in his TA2 car.
• 27:10
  So I think the category, supercars, is they don't want to box themselves.
• 27:17
  I know they've got their own method that they come through the ranks, but I think they've got to broaden that and allow...
• 27:23
  other young blokes from other categories.
• 27:25
  I mean, Craig had never gone to a supercar in his... Like, he did Formula Ford and was... had a little bit of a stint in a Formula Holden.
• 27:37
  And we put him in the car and exactly what we talked about before, everyone, like, it was the most stupid act put to me that I'd ever done, you know, but look where he is now.
• 27:50
  We've just got to give young guys a bit of a break.
• 27:53
  And look, it doesn't always work.
• 27:56
  I remember, and no criticism, but I remember at Sandown, Dick parked on the side of the road on the radio saying young Craig Lounge, you know, he's this and that, he shouldn't have been on the track.
• 28:10
  And you'll always get that.
• 28:11
  A young guy's got to learn, so he might get in the way or he might do the wrong thing, but that's how they learn.
• 28:18
  And if we don't start thinking like that,
• 28:22
  and recognising some of the young guys that are around now that your viewer just asked for, we're going to have old...
• 28:31
  drivers with no succession plan.
• 28:34
  And that's not good for the sport.
• 28:36
  You've got to have that excitement.
• 28:38
  You've got to have the lounges and the ingles and scaife winning is a bit younger and all that.
• 28:45
  Where's the next, you know, you can't wait.
• 28:48
  You've got to look outside some of the areas that they're looking for now, they're looking at now.
• 28:55
  for sure.
• 28:56
  Mark Pickley, he's dived back to Bathurst 2002 here.
• 29:02
  Scaifey won that day.
• 29:03
  Jim Richards chalked up number seven, but the car was overheating, Jeff.
• 29:07
  How close did it go to blowing up that day?
• 29:09
  How nervous were you toward the end?
• 29:12
  Mate, I remember I went to hop off a seat and I pulled the cover off the seat with my arsehole.
• 29:17
  So, mate, it was...
• 29:21
  It was close.
• 29:23
  I mean, you could see the footage with the pressure had blown the cap off and it was leaking out the back over the overflow.
• 29:33
  I've got to say...
• 29:36
  That race was won by one person and that's Mark Scaife.
• 29:40
  I mean, when you look at the data, he knew it was overheating and he knew we were gone for all money.
• 29:46
  Honestly, the engine blokes, we just thought, shit, you know, it was do we get him in and save the engine or do we just leave him?
• 29:54
  That was the banter around the garage and I just said, look, just, and I'm trying to think and I couldn't, to be honest.
• 30:02
  but going up the hill, he was in front and not by a lot, but he just, you could see the engine revs come up and the temperature come up and he'd lift off that 10% off the throttle and glide and then coming down the hill, he'd come right off and managed to get down to Forest Elbow and then instead of thumping the throttle down, he just picked it up and that saved that car and that won the race.
• 30:30
  Yeah.
• 30:30
  Absolutely.
• 30:31
  To this day, if they had a, my belief is, and you know, you've been around Scafie more than I have, his brain, how it works in a car when you're at 10 tenths, he is a, I've never seen a bloke like it.
• 30:47
  And he was reading that.
• 30:49
  engine temperature absolutely down.
• 30:52
  He was driving it to the gauge.
• 30:54
  And managing it.
• 30:55
  And managing it.
• 30:56
  And that's, I've never seen it before and I probably won't see it again, to be honest.
• 31:01
  Final question from a listener here.
• 31:04
  In fact, a couple of them have asked it actually and I think it reflects on 2003, what could have been a three-peat of Bathurst winds.
• 31:11
  And I think there was a, was it a black flag, Geoff, in relation to a door or something or other?
• 31:15
  And people can vividly recall seeing your face and how...
• 31:19
  how livid you were, just to sort of recap on that one.
• 31:22
  Oh, yeah, it was.
• 31:23
  I mean, look, it was the umpire's call and you accept it, but it wasn't dangerous and, you know, same thing.
• 31:36
  Coaches don't accept umpires, but they end up have to.
• 31:40
  So without being too rude, we were pissed off.
• 31:44
  You know, that's the one that got away, but then...
• 31:46
  Then Kmart got it anyway.
• 31:48
  So to be honest, while I was pissed off, mate, I knew the sister team had won.
• 31:53
  So, you know, I had to look sad as far as HRT, but then Kmart won.
• 31:58
  So don't worry.
• 31:59
  I went and had a Kmart beer that night.
• 32:02
  I can give you the tip.
• 32:03
  Happy days.
• 32:03
  It's an always evolving game, technically.
• 32:06
  You've talked about some of the young blokes you've brought through, which is tremendous.
• 32:10
  Is there an innovation in all the many years that you've done this, one where you went...
• 32:16
  holy hell, this is bloody special, or something that was a significant leap forward that you'll always remember?
• 32:24
  Well, the thing that...
• 32:28
  It turned into a bit of a political animal.
• 32:30
  So we had a guy working for us.
• 32:33
  He's now part owner of Albans Off Road, Steve McDonald.
• 32:36
  Stretch.
• 32:38
  He's a big guy.
• 32:39
  And he...
• 32:39
  Tall guy, not big, but...
• 32:42
  Anyway, he come up with the idea and Steve was a clever engineer and thought outside the square.
• 32:51
  He worked for us at Nissan Motorsport, so I got him to come over when we just had a little one lathe and we ended up, as you know, we had a fairly big machine shop which he ran.
• 33:02
  But he came up with the idea of putting air behind the piston, the brake pistons, on a brake pad change and pushing the pistons back.
• 33:10
  So we got away with that for three years.
• 33:14
  And bloody Robbie Starr, I mean, because the front guys would try and race each other.
• 33:21
  So we'd practice it.
• 33:23
  Look like you're pushing the pistons.
• 33:24
  Like, look like you're pushing the pistons back.
• 33:28
  When it was Fred on the air jack and he had a little tap, so he just tapped it and the pistons just shot straight back.
• 33:34
  Reset, done.
• 33:36
  Reset.
• 33:38
  So Robbie would go, open the gate and go, and then drop the pliers and pull the pads out.
• 33:43
  And obviously before too long...
• 33:46
  We got found out.
• 33:47
  But that innovation, that was something I'll never forget.
• 33:52
  It was, as I said, we got away with it for so many years.
• 33:56
  I mean, we used to have to time ourselves not to do the pit stop too quickly.
• 34:00
  Too fast.
• 34:03
  Mate, I love it.
• 34:05
  I love it.
• 34:05
  Yeah.
• 34:06
  You've made a tree change, as you talked about, which I think is awesome, Jeff.
• 34:11
  Benalla now, Winton, of course.
• 34:13
  Just explain for people that don't know what your role is there and the changes you've already made to the facility too.
• 34:19
  Yeah, no, look, I was very fortunate, or Jane and I were, mate.
• 34:24
  We got the opportunity to get, I got the opportunity to get the job at Winton, which had come up, and so we decided to migrate out of, which in COVID times, mate, we couldn't have picked it better.
• 34:41
  But so I'm operations manager up here.
• 34:46
  Again, got a great team of people right throughout the organization.
• 34:52
  So, you know, Benalla Auto Club is quite a healthy club.
• 34:57
  It's got it's got the Wakefield facility run by Dean Chapman and his team.
• 35:05
  I run Winton with my team and
• 35:09
  The Badal Auto Club's got a very strong committee with a strong executive, really good guys.
• 35:17
  My boss is obviously Chris Lewis-Williams, CEO.
• 35:23
  He's a forward thinker, as is the executive of the committee.
• 35:26
  So we want to try and future-proof, because it needs it.
• 35:33
  We want a future-proof team.
• 35:35
  Winton and Wakefield for the next 50 years because, you know, it's an important part of economy and income for the region.
• 35:46
  So we're forever improving.
• 35:48
  We've got some exciting plans that obviously can't disclose over a podcast, but, you know, maybe a new pit lane we want to extend
• 35:59
  we would like to extend the track and bring in a fast element, like a hay shed style of corner.
• 36:07
  Fantastic.
• 36:08
  Yep.
• 36:09
  At Phillip Island.
• 36:10
  Phillip Island.
• 36:12
  A new pit lane facility, which is a really – I've had some plans drawn up.
• 36:19
  And if we can get some of that, we'll need a hand.
• 36:24
  We'll need some government money to help.
• 36:26
  But again, the executive of the auto club have got talented people on there and we'll plan it right.
• 36:36
  I hope in my tenure some of that plan gets through and we're cleaning the place up as well, doing all the mundane stuff.
• 36:46
  But as you know, Rusty, you know, with the COVID thing,
• 36:52
  Permanent circuits, you know, they're looking better than some of the street circuits because of the cost.
• 37:00
  But we need to have the permanent circuits up to scratch and that's our ambition at Winton to try and do that.
• 37:09
  Great stuff, mate.
• 37:10
  Great vision.
• 37:11
  I love that.
• 37:12
  The thing that's become so obvious throughout this whole chat, Jeff, you reflected at the beginning about the wonderful affinity you had with your dad and working in the engineering shop and the mechanical side of it.
• 37:24
  But for you, for the great success you've had in racing, it's really been about people management at the same time, hasn't it?
• 37:31
  And learning to work with all different types and get the best out of them.
• 37:34
  Yeah, it is.
• 37:35
  It is.
• 37:35
  And, look, I've been more than fortunate that, and still are with the people we've got at Whinton, I'm more than fortunate to be privileged to work with those people, you know, and you don't always get it right.
• 37:53
  Sometimes, you know, in earlier days I was always known as being a bit abrupt and stuff and I've tried to learn not to, but, you know,
• 38:04
  Part of that success story is more attributed to the people that have been around than any one person.
• 38:13
  And I'm very grateful for that journey and still on a journey, you know, that I've enjoyed and shared that with people that I work with.
• 38:23
  Great stuff.
• 38:24
  Two questions to finish.
• 38:26
  Firstly, fans of the podcast love a great Barry Sheen story.
• 38:32
  You tend to think of stars like Barry as only ever, you know, hanging with movie stars or James Hunt or whatever it might be.
• 38:41
  But he actually had...
• 38:43
  a nice relationship, a good friendship with you, and you'd occasionally have dinner together and things like that when we were working at the races.
• 38:49
  What was he like?
• 38:51
  Can you share a little yarn or two about Baz?
• 38:53
  For what Barry achieved in his life is, in motorcycling, was second to none, and then in commentary, you know, but he was like everyone else.
• 39:03
  He wanted to be a bloke and he wanted to have a beer and whatever.
• 39:06
  And we'd often, you know, if we were up there, like I don't
• 39:10
  Earlier on in the weekend, we'd catch up for a meal and, um,
• 39:15
  He was very helpful to my brother-in-law.
• 39:19
  We'd just got onto the subject of chronic fatigue syndrome, which he had, and I told him, oh, my brother-in-law's been dying, and he actually rang Andrew up and actually helped him.
• 39:32
  But the thing, and I just, there's a couple of things I probably can't talk on air on, but the one that really,
• 39:43
  So remember in Adelaide when Craig had a crash, he hit Osborne off and we got a big fine.
• 39:51
  He started back at the grid.
• 39:53
  Anyway, Craig won the next day.
• 39:57
  he would really ghost you into saying stuff that you wouldn't normally say.
• 40:02
  Anyway, he's come down pit lane and we were absolutely, we'd had a tough weekend and Craig won.
• 40:08
  It was just fantastic.
• 40:11
  And he'd come up and he said, oh, Jeff, you know, after the weekend, what do you reckon you're going to do?
• 40:16
  And he didn't, he had the bar, it was just like a normal chat.
• 40:21
  And, of course, I didn't know we were on air.
• 40:22
  I said, oh, mate, I'm going to go home and have breakfast.
• 40:24
  Fucking VBs, you know.
• 40:27
  And as I've said that, he's lifted the microphone.
• 40:31
  Wow.
• 40:32
  Mate, I had Peter Hanenberger, who was then the chairman of Holden, people ringing up because their kids were watching and I'd sworn and said VBs.
• 40:41
  And I tell you, I was in more...
• 40:44
  I was in more shit than a Werribee duck, I can give you the tip.
• 40:50
  So, and I went red and he dropped the virus and he said, ah, got you, asshole.
• 40:57
  And then...
• 40:59
  Oh, shit.
• 41:00
  And I knew I was in...
• 41:01
  I didn't need the phone calls that night or in the morning because I knew John Creanin was the first on the phone, obviously.
• 41:08
  Ripped me a new arsehole and then it proceeded from there, so... And if I know Baz, he would have had a laugh with you that night about it.
• 41:15
  He wouldn't have worried Baz in the sliders, would he?
• 41:17
  Yeah, no, no.
• 41:18
  He thought it was great TV.
• 41:19
  He said, we've got to do more of that.
• 41:20
  I said, Barry, you ever do that to me again?
• 41:23
  You know, a cat's only got nine lives and I used up 81 hit.
• 41:27
  Yeah.
• 41:29
  fabulous story jeff i love it final one final one if we can mate um can we finish with the car for you over all the years some people that that have come on the podcast it's it's a tool for the job and it's about the success the car has for others there is a passionate attachment is there one over your entire time and all the great things that you've done that you look back on and you go well you know that one that was a special car
• 41:56
  It'd have to be the VK84 big banger.
• 42:00
  Yep.
• 42:00
  Yeah, 05, 05, yeah.
• 42:03
  Amazing.
• 42:03
  That was, I mean, as a young bloke and I had, you know, LP at that stage had confidence in me that with the rest of the guys, with Mort and Part and all that, we all had our, it was only...
• 42:17
  I mean, full time there was five blokes.
• 42:19
  So, you know, he let me do work on and construct a lot of stuff on the car and then we got the one too.
• 42:28
  As a young bloke, that was a piece of me, you know.
• 42:30
  I thought, Jesus, that's, that was just phenomenal.
• 42:33
  So that's always stayed in my heart, that car.
• 42:36
  And it always will be, to be honest, Greg.
• 42:38
  Yeah.
• 42:39
  Very special.
• 42:40
  Bathurst won too at such a young age and a car that is looked upon today by all sorts of generations as just iconic, Geoff, isn't it?
• 42:49
  Yeah.
• 42:49
  And probably the iconic finish to that weekend was when I'd had too much to drink and I threw up on the chairman of Holden's table with his wife, Chuck Chapman.
• 43:01
  Yeah.
• 43:04
  And it wasn't a good look, I can tell you, but anyway.
• 43:09
  Mate, you've done some phenomenal things, Geoff.
• 43:12
  I hope you have had a moment to pause and be proud because you should.
• 43:18
  You've worked with some incredible teams, some incredible drivers, and been a part of some real significant achievements.
• 43:25
  Thank you for sharing a bit of that.
• 43:28
  And I know people will really have enjoyed what you've been able to chat with us about.
• 43:32
  Thank you.
• 43:33
  No, I really appreciate it, Greg.
• 43:35
  And, look, it's been a great journey.
• 43:38
  It's been a great journey with you, you know, in Pit Lane.
• 43:40
  We've had ourselves had a lot of laughs and a lot of gags.
• 43:44
  And, look, I appreciate the chat.
• 43:46
  It's just a pity we were out together having a few beers and carried on with it.
• 43:51
  But, no, it was great.
• 43:52
  Thank you.
• 43:59
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 44:03
  Series producer and editor is Alex Mitchell.
• 44:06
  Audio production by Darcy Thompson.
• 44:09
  I'm Greg Rust.
• 44:10
  Enjoy the drive, but drive safely.