Latest / Rusty's Garage / Owen Kelly - Part 3

Transcript

Owen Kelly - Part 3 · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:20
Hi, it's Rusty here, all strapped in for part three of my podcast with Owen Kelly.
0:25
Before you fire it up, if you haven't heard parts one and two and you've somehow landed here, make sure you jump back to the garage and give them a listen.
0:32
There's recollections of a frightening crash early in his career and his absolute determination to get back behind the wheel.
0:40
buying Peter Brock's road car and getting advice from the great man around the dinner table.
0:45
Plus, sponsorship guidance from Mark Scaife, meeting Dale Earnhardt Jr. and how that moment was the beginning of a US chapter filled with great stories and adventure.
0:57
Plus, turning up to compete in John Faulkner's supercar with only a handful of spares but enjoying every minute of the journey.
1:06
We begin this final instalment, which...
1:08
Fittingly, was recorded at a pub in Melbourne at the start of the off-season with memories of telling Dale about that late model win and how most in the pit lane thought there was no way an Aussie could do it.
1:22
What were Dale's words?
1:23
You weren't supposed to do that.
1:25
We got packed up and... You've got to remember, it's only me and... We had a couple of guys there that weekend, but generally only me and one other bloke.
1:33
But we got...
1:38
Got packed up and I remember we got in the truck and I called him and before I could say anything he goes, Yep, I've already heard.
1:45
Amazing.
1:45
He said, Now get home and let's go and have a beer and tell me all about it.
1:49
And so got back to the farm and we went down and had a beer and he said, Well, you're not meant to win.
2:00
I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about?
2:01
That's what I'm here for.
2:03
I've been going there every week trying to win.
2:05
You know, like it's freaking hard.
2:07
And he'd already, at the start of the year, and honestly I didn't, I should have listened to him or believed him, but...
2:15
He said to me, he said, listen, I've ran 150 or 165 late model races.
2:20
I only ever won three of them.
2:22
He said, it is harder to win in a late model than it is to win in Cup.
2:26
Wow.
2:27
And you think, ah, can't be, can it?
2:29
You know?
2:29
And, but he's right.
2:32
And like, it is insanely hard.
2:34
And he said, you're not meant to win.
2:37
I said, why not?
2:39
I said, well, your stuff's old.
2:41
And, you know, those guys, they know shit that you don't know.
2:43
You know?
2:44
I said, well...
2:45
For once, we got our car to turn, and that was the difference.
2:50
But being able to string together 250 laps, you've just got to be millimetre perfect every lap.
2:59
And that goes down as the coolest win out of anything.
3:04
Really?
3:05
Of all?
3:05
Oh, 100%.
3:07
Well done.
3:07
100%, yeah.
3:08
Well done.
3:09
Tell people about life in that part of the world because it is this amazing motor racing hub.
3:16
I've only had the, you know, like a rare visit.
3:21
Lee Diffie took me around.
3:22
He was kind of tour guide.
3:24
I went to Roush.
3:25
I mean, Roush is like going into a suburb, mate, isn't it?
3:27
Like there's cul-de-sacs and here's paint over here and here's engine shop down here.
3:32
And I mean, people that have not been
3:35
and experience that would be blown away, mate, wouldn't it?
3:38
And then the polar opposite of that is some of the old school stuff that you've talked about too, isn't it?
3:42
Yeah, no, 100%.
3:43
And it's such a cool place to live, that town, because Moresville, it's a small town.
3:49
90% of the teams are there.
3:52
So everywhere you go, they work in racing or their partner works in racing or it's just racing everywhere.
3:58
Everywhere you turn, it's racing.
4:01
Where I'm going here, even beyond that, at lunchtime, you would go into like a little cafe or something or other.
4:08
And as is you, because of the knowledge you have of the sport, sometimes you'd recognise a couple of like legends that were just sitting around having coffee, having whatever.
4:20
There was one that sticks out was Bobby Allison.
4:24
So, growing up, I was a Davey Allison fan from quite small.
4:28
And his dad, Bobby Allison, still lives in the area.
4:33
Yeah.
4:35
We used to, so the program was we would go, we would race Saturday night.
4:40
And by the time we got home, before a.m., whatever, you know, get up at 10 or 11.
4:46
And so you only had Sunday afternoon off.
4:48
And I'd go and pick Ace up and we'd go to the Waffle House or Cracker Barrel for breakfast.
4:55
And Waffle House was the better option because if you went to Cracker Barrel, church had just got out and it was just dominated by churches.
5:03
You're a very religious owner, aren't you?
5:10
So this one time we went to Cracker Barrel and I look over and there's Bobby Allison sitting over there.
5:15
And I'm like, man, I'd love to go and get an autograph of Bobby Allison.
5:19
That'd be really cool.
5:21
And I thought, nah, you know, he's just come out of church.
5:23
Sunday morning.
5:24
I don't want to be that guy.
5:25
I don't want to be a pest.
5:27
And I didn't.
5:27
I walked out and I thought, I should have got an autograph of Bobby Allison.
5:32
Only a week or so later, I'm in the post office trying to send something home and there's two queues and it's almost out the door.
5:40
And I finally got to the front of the queue and I got this big box and I'm trying to explain what I need to do.
5:44
And I hear this voice.
5:46
I'm like, I know that voice.
5:48
I look over and it's Bobby Allison standing there.
5:50
Beside you.
5:51
Sending the mail.
5:53
And I turned around to the people behind.
5:56
He walked out.
5:56
And I turned around to this queue and I said, I'm really sorry about this, but I have to go and get that man's autograph.
6:03
Can't miss it twice.
6:04
I'm not missing out.
6:06
So I went out and stopped him at the car and took a couple of selfies with him and had a chat to him, it was really cool.
6:12
Well done.
6:13
Okay, we're darting around a little bit here.
6:16
Marcus is in the States and you guys have known each other for some time, both from Tasmania and so on.
6:27
an opportunity to do some things with him, isn't there?
6:31
And I think you got talking about assisting him at one particular race and you said, hey, I better learn this track.
6:39
Show me some stuff on YouTube.
6:41
Was it Montreal?
6:42
Where were you?
6:42
Where were you going to?
6:43
So he's, it was 2011.
6:48
And so 2010, I had a ride.
6:50
My first nationwide race was at Road America.
6:53
Amazing.
6:54
And so I had that one under my belt.
6:56
We ran fifth.
6:57
And... Little pinch yourself moment there, mate.
6:59
That's pretty... Yeah, no, 100%.
7:01
It was in NASCAR.
7:02
Everything's measured by wins, top fives and top tens.
7:05
Mm-hmm.
7:06
It doesn't matter if it's 7th or 8th or 6th.
7:08
You were in the top 10.
7:09
It's a top 10.
7:09
It doesn't matter if it's 3rd or 5th.
7:11
It's a top 5.
7:11
It's a 5, yeah.
7:12
That's all it is.
7:14
And that was an interesting day too because it was my own fault.
7:21
I cut a tyre down and went to the back and had to fight back through and I got to the, you know, I think I took the white flag and I'm saying to the team, are we 5th or 6th?
7:33
I knew we were one or the other and they weren't answering me.
7:36
And I didn't have an answer, so I had to make sure I was fifth.
7:41
Well, yeah, I'm just going to assume I'm sixth.
7:44
And so the minute that old mate in front of me blocked me on the last lap, the show was on, you know, all right then.
7:54
For fifth.
7:54
Yeah, for fifth.
7:55
And, you know, sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do.
7:58
Because that...
8:00
I've got a bit of paper at home.
8:02
At that time, there was only 20-something drivers in the history had finished in the top five in their first Bush Series slash nationwide race.
8:14
And it's, you know, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Bodine.
8:16
It's all these unbelievable names.
8:20
But yeah, going forward to Marcus, he rang and said, oh, can you practice and qualify my car at Montreal?
8:31
Because I'll be at Michigan with the Cup car.
8:34
I said, yeah, I can, but I'm still trying to get a ride.
8:37
So if I get a ride, I'm going to take it.
8:40
Just say no.
8:41
Like if I can race, you know.
8:43
And he said, no, that's fine.
8:46
That's fine.
8:46
But all right, let's do it.
8:47
So...
8:49
We lock all that in.
8:50
And so this is at Richard Petty Motorsports, which was, they were getting equipment off Roush.
8:57
And so Roush's R&D team were going to run, this was sort of a one-off in the Nationwide, and they're going to run the car.
9:05
And so I went over there and we...
9:10
sat in the car and did everything.
9:11
And it was really cool.
9:13
Met Richard there while I was sitting in the car.
9:15
Far out.
9:16
I don't know why.
9:17
I just ended up with about 20 minutes where it was just him and I in the shop or in that part of the shop.
9:22
And it's funny.
9:23
We talked about all sorts of stuff.
9:25
But somehow IndyCar came up and I said, so do you ever drive an IndyCar?
9:29
And he said, have you seen the size of these feet?
9:31
LAUGHTER
9:33
The guy's got hands on him.
9:35
He's got these mitts on him.
9:36
Huge.
9:38
And then you look at his feet and it's like, yeah, you're not fitting in an IndyCar.
9:42
He said, I wanted to, but he had opportunities with STP, but he could never get his feet in one.
9:48
Squeeze him in.
9:48
Okay.
9:49
Yeah.
9:50
Yeah, we did all that and we went...
9:52
So I went around to Marcus's office and... And you know what Marcus is like, he's, you know, can't sit still.
9:57
And I said, now listen, he'd been and raced at Montreal, I'd never seen the place.
10:03
And I said, now, just get YouTube up and give me a quick lap and... Talk me through it.
10:09
Just talk me through what kerbs or not and whatever.
10:14
So he gets to the second corner and then he just shuts the laptop.
10:17
He says, oh, you'll be all right.
10:19
Yeah, thanks.
10:20
Okay.
10:20
You know this is for you too, right?
10:22
Yeah, that's right.
10:25
Quite a mission in all of that for him.
10:27
Like, I was with Carl Edwards, wasn't it?
10:30
And they jumped in a plane.
10:32
Yeah, yeah.
10:33
Mate, it was literally minutes.
10:35
And if he didn't make it, you were in.
10:36
You were going to do the race.
10:37
Weirdest feeling because you've got to prepare yourself to race.
10:42
So you've got to get your head right that you're going to go out and do this race.
10:46
Knowing that he's probably going to turn up and you're not doing the race.
10:49
But he might not turn up, so...
10:52
You will be doing the race.
10:53
Yeah, yeah.
10:53
And so it was quite a...
10:55
Odd feeling.
10:56
...hard thing to get your head around.
10:57
But the whole lead-up into it was they had to... And the logistics of it, I wish somebody had followed them with a camcorder and did a doco on it because it would have made a really interesting doco.
11:17
But they finished practice in the cup car, or happy hour,
11:23
straight in a golf cart, straight to a helicopter, straight over to Carl Edwards' plane.
11:28
So it was Trevor Bain, Carl Edwards and Marcus.
11:32
Carl flies his own jet.
11:35
So they're still in their fire suits.
11:37
So how cool would a doco look of Carl Edwards flying in his own jet at the helm?
11:45
So then they've got to land at this regional airport and there were some restrictions in the area with different things, but then they had to helicopter...
11:55
There was a boat involved too, wasn't there?
11:56
Yeah, they had to helicopter... Because the tracks on the old 1956 or 52 rowing course or whatever...
12:04
at the Olympics, and they had a helicopter over to this jet, not jet boat, a wakeboard boat.
12:12
Get on that and come, because the pits were right on the back of the rowing course.
12:16
Get this boat over to the pits, straight over to the track.
12:19
And it was so close that, and there's a funny rule that whoever qualifies the car has to do the parade lap.
12:25
So you did the parade lap?
12:26
Yeah, there's a couple of funny things there.
12:27
So Boris said they're, you know, egging me on.
12:30
Well, not egging me on, ribbing me about, you know, what are you doing here?
12:34
You're not even racing.
12:36
Or, you know, hope they get a flat tyre.
12:40
Wait, it was touch and go.
12:42
I think something happened with...
12:43
There was a 20-minute window if it went perfectly.
12:45
Right, so... Danica Patrick...
12:47
I'm standing there in the Stanley fire suit with the Stanley hat on, my glasses on and everything, and Danica Patrick comes up and gives me a hug and a kiss...
12:55
And then goes, oh shit, you're not Marcus.
12:56
You're not Marcus.
12:59
That's okay.
13:00
I got in the bag of this.
13:01
We qualified ninth, I think.
13:03
I had to, because it wasn't in on points, if you didn't get in on speed, like if I binned it, they weren't racing.
13:10
Okay.
13:11
Literally.
13:11
Okay.
13:12
And so I couldn't give it a full-on lap, you know, just a safe lap.
13:17
I think we were ninth.
13:18
But it didn't matter because of the driver change, he had to start in the rear.
13:22
You just had to get it in the race.
13:24
And so I got in the back of this truck with Patrick Carpontio.
13:28
Yeah, who?
13:29
He's a former IndyCar driver.
13:30
Yeah, and he's in the Napa car, so he doesn't know me.
13:34
And I'm acting like I don't know him, and there's like a sea of blue Napa T-shirts now and all the grandstands.
13:41
Every corner you come around, all the crowd.
13:45
I said, geez, you're lucky you're with me here today, mate.
13:48
I wouldn't be responding like that if I wasn't here.
13:51
You said that to him, did you?
13:52
I'm just kidding.
13:53
He's looking at me like, who's this moron?
13:55
I said, I'm just kidding.
13:57
I know exactly what's going on.
14:00
So there's a bit of that going on.
14:01
And then we got...
14:03
So I still haven't seen Marcus.
14:04
So literally it's the parade lab.
14:06
So the next steps are getting the car ready to race.
14:09
So we got back and he's not there.
14:15
And I'm like, oh, shit, maybe I'm... On?
14:17
Maybe I'm on here.
14:18
And then...
14:19
And two minutes later, he turned up and I said, oh, shit, I can't say I'm glad to see you.
14:25
I was looking forward to that.
14:27
But he went out and won the race.
14:28
Race, I know.
14:29
It was good.
14:29
So you played a part in that, mate.
14:31
I know you'd probably downplay that, but you did play a part in that.
14:35
Can we bounce around a little bit of cup stuff here in different phases?
14:41
Your son, Hudson, has...
14:45
Very special hat, monster hat.
14:48
You've got some great relationships in that paddock, mate.
14:52
And one of them that springs to mind is Joe Gibbs Racing.
14:55
Tell me about that.
14:56
That's amazing.
14:57
So that all started out of that first year with Marcus.
15:01
So at the time, because it was a Ford team race,
15:07
Mike Beam, who's been around forever, and I've known who Mike Beam was.
15:12
He's been around in the Cup Series since the early 80s, if not before.
15:17
And somehow he's still not that old.
15:19
I said to him when I got to know him, I said, you must have started this when you were 12 because you're not that old.
15:26
He was Carl Edwards' crew chief that day.
15:29
Yeah.
15:29
And so they had other, you know, relief drivers, if you want to call it that, like me, practicing qualifying.
15:38
And so all the Ford crew chiefs would get together.
15:42
And we were kind of going in this direction and they were going in the other direction.
15:46
But we were the best on speed.
15:48
So I learnt later that, I don't know Carl Edwards.
15:53
I hadn't met him at that point.
15:57
I learnt later that Mike told me that Carl had rung and gone, how's it all going?
16:03
And he's in Michigan looking at the times.
16:06
And they said, oh, well, you know, we're doing this.
16:09
But he said, well, what's the nine car doing?
16:13
And he said, well, they're going down this road, but our guys think that's too loose and they don't like it and blah, blah, blah.
16:18
And he said, well, it doesn't look like it on the times, so give me whatever Owen's got.
16:23
and set up wise because they were sharing all that information and which I thought was cool coming from Carl Edwards.
16:29
And then so then fate would have it.
16:34
Mike left Roush and went to work for Kyle Busch and they're having a meeting the next year.
16:41
And he said they're sitting there and like, right, we need to get somebody to practice and qualify at Montreal.
16:50
And I didn't know Mike.
16:52
And I knew of him, but I didn't know him.
16:54
And he said, oh, what about that guy from Australia that Marcus had?
16:58
He did a good job.
16:59
Let's get him.
17:01
And so then Rick Wren at the time was the team manager, and he called me and said, hey, can you do this?
17:07
Like, yeah, I can do that.
17:08
Are you in Australia or in Charlotte at the time?
17:11
I was in Australia, yeah.
17:12
And I always, although I'd moved back here officially, I'd always kept my American phone and kept it on just because I found with them, if you weren't sitting in front of them, it was too hard.
17:24
Okay.
17:24
And I always said to them, I'm 24 hours away.
17:28
Okay.
17:28
Okay.
17:29
If you need me, I'll be there tomorrow.
17:32
And so he'd called and said, yeah, I can do that.
17:37
And then that turned into, went over there and he said, oh,
17:45
That's right.
17:46
Kyle was running the Bush program, the Monster program out of his shop at KBM that year.
17:53
He said, you know, this is what we're going to do.
17:57
You do Montreal, blah, blah, blah.
17:58
I'll see how it all goes.
17:59
Yep, no worries.
18:00
So we went and did it.
18:03
I'll tell you what, talk about, like everyone knows Kyle Busch is awesome.
18:06
But sometimes those...
18:11
Those things are, you know, you go to a road course, it's not their bread and butter.
18:15
But I've always believed that a good race car driver can do anything.
18:19
And then there's some freaks like Karl Larson, Karl Busch.
18:24
Like, you could put Karl Busch in a Formula One car, no problem.
18:27
He'd have no problem with it.
18:29
Or with Kyle Larson.
18:34
So we qualify the car.
18:35
He turns up and I snuck a GoPro in there in practice to give him some vision to watch on the plane.
18:44
and then I wrote a quick one page or just some notes with a track map and just sit right hit that use all that curb don't touch that just real quick and you literally had three minutes to tell him this while he's getting in the car and in five laps he's doing the lap time you know just turns it off never been there and so then after that we went back to actually I nearly got stranded there they they
19:12
because I wasn't officially living there, so I'm not on a visa, right?
19:16
And we're in Montreal, and we're flying on...
19:20
They've got tough borders there too, mate, I think.
19:22
Oh, yeah, well, I found that out.
19:24
So, Beam's the crew chief, and there's...
19:28
They all sailed through, did they?
19:29
And then you're on your own.
19:30
You had to, when you're on a private plane, you had to stop in the nearest port, which I think was Buffalo, New York.
19:38
So we land there and we've got to get off the plane, go through this little office.
19:41
And I'm just standing in the queue with everyone and hand over my Aussie passport.
19:44
And they're like, well, what are you doing here?
19:46
Well, I'm just here helping, you know, like from Melbourne, Australia.
19:52
Yeah.
19:53
Well, what did you do, though?
19:55
Well, I'd practice the car.
19:57
Right.
19:58
And...
20:00
How much money did you make doing that?
20:04
Or something about a V. Oh, no, I'm not on a V. How much money?
20:07
So straight away, oh, no, no, no.
20:09
It wasn't, you know.
20:10
Just an opportunity.
20:11
Just an opportunity, yeah.
20:12
And it's like, well, so you're telling me that you flew all the way from Australia just to practice this car?
20:18
Melbourne, Astrid.
20:19
And I'm like...
20:21
Yeah.
20:21
Well, dude, it's Kyle Busch, wouldn't you?
20:23
Yeah.
20:23
I mean, seriously?
20:24
And he's like, well, and so he calls his colleagues over, and I'm thinking, oh, these guys will give me a hand here.
20:31
Beaming all them just disappeared.
20:32
You're on your own, pal.
20:34
They're on the other side.
20:35
If you're customs, they're gone.
20:36
See ya.
20:36
So now I'm holding the plane up, so they're getting the shit.
20:40
And 20 minutes later, these guys are having a little conference about it, and I'm thinking, well, Montreal was pretty cool.
20:45
I suppose I could get stuck there.
20:47
It wasn't a bad place.
20:50
Yeah, that was a bit sketchy.
20:52
And then we got back to the shop that week, and standing there with Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Rick Wren, Mike Beam, and Kyle said, well...
21:05
And, you know, really appreciate your help.
21:07
Did a really good job.
21:08
I want you to come and do the races next year.
21:10
You can do both road courses.
21:11
Fantastic.
21:12
Yeah, so that's how that – well, I'm like, awesome.
21:16
That's great.
21:17
And then that turned into – Rick Ren called and said, we want you to do a truck race at the other road course in –
21:26
Canada and I want you to do that too I'm like yep fine no problem and um then that one went away cause a kid come and bought a bunch of races and that was one of them or whatever but um and he called so that was in um late 2012 sort of August-ish 2012 and so I knew about it so middle of next year we're on you know so I had plenty of time to be super fit um
21:55
So we got into Damo, who had met at Kelly Racing and who became a really good mate, still is.
22:02
Good trainer.
22:03
Really good trainer.
22:04
Awesome guy and really clever.
22:06
Righto, Damo.
22:06
Here's the deal.
22:07
We've got to make sure this opportunity, like this is in my little world, this is as big as it gets.
22:13
This is Formula One for you kind of thing.
22:15
And we've got to...
22:17
make sure that we leave we look back on this no matter what happens and we go right we left no stone unturned and that we're you know we can look back and go couldn't have done any more and um so we said about like a six day a week program of training that um from that day and got right into it and uh
22:40
which was really, really cool.
22:42
And went and did... Oh, then come December, we've had a few months of training.
22:50
December, Rick Rencourt's... Oh, there's been some changes.
22:54
I thought, oh, yeah, here we go.
22:55
The old...
22:57
The management.
22:58
That deals off, yeah.
23:01
Well, the program's not run out of Coles anymore.
23:03
They're going to run the monster car out of Joe Gibbs Racing.
23:05
Yeah.
23:06
And I'm like, oh, even better.
23:08
Because their stuff was, you know, and still is, you know, top notch in nationwide.
23:16
And so...
23:18
Probably amazing leader, coach.
23:22
Oh, yeah.
23:23
Yeah.
23:23
So, you know, so we went over there and did those.
23:27
We did the first one at...
23:30
road america and so generally the gibbs cars and the penske cars are the at the front in the road course stuff and um uh so i knew i knew we had a good car um almond dinger was in the and he's he's bloody fast you know in the penske car so it was going to be tough but
23:50
And, you know, you've got Nelson Piquet Jr. and a bunch of other guys in there that were Max Pappas.
24:00
We got there and I think we qualified.
24:02
Yeah, we qualified on the front row for that one.
24:04
And Adam Stevens was the crew chief.
24:08
There's another name.
24:09
He went on to become...
24:13
two-time cup champion with Kyle Busch and so on, and a great bloke.
24:17
It was his first road course race.
24:22
And Road America is longer than Bathurst, so it's strategy-wise and fuel, and there's a fair bit going on.
24:30
So we get going and we're running at the front and everything's good, and then we lead a bit of it there somewhere.
24:38
And then the thing stops, and I'm like, shit, I'm out of fuel.
24:44
coming down into the hard left down in the middle of the circuit there.
24:47
And I got on the phone and said, I'm out of fuel.
24:51
They're like, you can't be.
24:52
I'm like, well, there's no fuel pressure and the motor's off, so I don't know what it is, but I think we're out of fuel.
24:58
And they're like, shit.
25:00
So I rolled up the hill and I thought, well...
25:04
I'm not just going to pull off here.
25:05
We've got to try and make something happen.
25:07
So I stopped where they'd have to throw a yellow.
25:11
And I waited, rolled down the hill and waited until I could see one of those tow trucks and just stopped there half on the tracks where they couldn't let it go green.
25:20
And before we lost a lap, this tow truck pushed me in at 80 mile an hour.
25:25
And I'm like, jeez, calm down, D. You're going to knock the rear bumper off this thing.
25:30
And then, yeah, we got...
25:35
We got a can of fuel in it, got back out just in front of it, literally a foot in front of the pace car, I think it was, got around, got the other can in, got tyres, but by now I'm 30-something, and there's 12 to go or something.
25:50
And we got back to fourth and we had to get our elbows out a bit.
25:55
And don't worry, I copped it plenty myself.
25:59
And actually, at the end of the race, I thought maybe I should have been more aggressive.
26:03
But fourth was awesome.
26:06
I was a top five.
26:07
And Adam was stoked because...
26:10
You know, we were looking like being Captain Nowhere there.
26:12
And later that week, we had Road America, Mid-Ohio, to come after that.
26:20
And Watkins Glen was in between that.
26:23
And that's when I got a call from Nick Harrison about driving the...
26:33
the phoenix car in the cup race at watkins glenn and um nick uh he's no longer with us unfortunately nick great dude like southern as they come and the funniest bloke you've ever come across and i knew him a little bit already and um he's like hey man um james finch owns the car been a car owner for i don't know 35 years in cup and um uh hey james happened to watch that race on the weekend and um
27:01
He'd like to ask if you could drive the cup car at Watkins Glen.
27:04
He said he doesn't care if you just don't come back with the steering wheel.
27:09
He liked it.
27:09
And I'm like, okay.
27:11
Well, I mean, yeah, that's awesome, but I can't be woofing Jeff Gordon off the road, you know.
27:17
And just the way the TV had...
27:21
been shown it looked like i was super super aggressive and there's a few blokes on the receiving end but what they didn't show was the uh few times that i was copping it you know so it made me look bad but you know made me look overly aggressive and uh which i've probably been accused of before anyway but um
27:43
Yeah, so that led into doing the cup race, which was another surreal experience out of there.
27:50
Tell me about that, because you weren't...
27:51
I mean, the likes of Gordon, I mean, we've got a little note here about the Geoff Gordon story, but you weren't afraid to get the elbows out there and to, you know...
28:00
In that environment, right, like...
28:02
I tried to explain this to my kids, you know, if you get the opportunity to meet your hero like that, you make the most of it.
28:10
But in that environment where it's a contest...
28:13
You also can't be daunted by those people.
28:15
You've got to tackle that guy.
28:16
You've got to tackle that guy.
28:17
Totally, totally.
28:17
So what was all that like?
28:19
It is a hard thing to do.
28:22
In the lead-up, there was a couple of weeks, and they said, oh, come to the brickyard at Indy and meet James and so on, and then we've got a two-day test Monday and Tuesday at Watkins Glen.
28:35
It's a Chevy test and it was a... Quote, unquote.
28:40
Quote, unquote, Hendrick...
28:42
Sorry, Phoenix racing test.
28:45
But...
28:47
But may or may not have been Jimmy Johnson's car wrapped in Phoenix colours as a Hendrick test.
28:54
Which, because they had X amount of test days they could have or whatever.
28:58
Yeah, yeah.
28:59
What was it like plain white?
29:02
It was white with a 51 on it and Phoenix on the side.
29:06
But.
29:07
So while the – and they said that Jan Magnussen's going to do the driving because he's a Chevy guy.
29:14
We were Pratt & Miller in the IMSA stuff or whatever.
29:19
Yeah.
29:20
So I spent a week and a half trying to get Dale Jr. to talk to Rick Hendrick, to rouse Magnuson out of the thing, go, well, he's not even racing.
29:30
Like, I should do the test.
29:32
Just let me do it.
29:33
And that didn't work.
29:35
And Dale Jr. did try.
29:39
But that didn't work.
29:41
And he said to me, just go, take your helmet, you just don't know.
29:45
Okay.
29:45
Okay.
29:45
So it was Nick and their Aussie shock guy who was on my side too and myself went with the team.
29:58
And while the, you know, the Phoenix truck took the car there and we got there and the hood's up, so I snuck a couple of photos around the wrap where the Lowe's blue, you know, because nobody's going to believe this if I get to drive Jimmy Johnson's car.
30:14
At that time, you know, he's dominating carp.
30:18
Vettel's dominating Formula One in the Red Bull.
30:21
If you could pick two race cars to have a drive of, it would be either Vettel's car or Jimmy Johnson's.
30:26
And how about it under the sort of cloak of secrecy?
30:28
Yeah, yeah.
30:30
And you're there doing it and you're in it and all that, but you're like, it's one of them stories that you try to tell them, people are like, yeah, right, you know.
30:38
So I made sure I snuck a couple of photos of the...
30:42
The true colour.
30:43
Yeah, the true colour of the thing.
30:44
But...
30:46
We stood around there all day the first day and did nothing.
30:51
And Magnuson's like, hey, man, would you mind going over to the S's and taking some video with my phone?
30:56
Because my kid loves this and he thinks it's the coolest thing ever.
31:00
And this is Kevin Magnuson.
31:01
Kevin, yeah, yeah.
31:02
Like, yeah, I can do all that.
31:03
No worries.
31:04
A few other selfies in there, you know.
31:06
And then on the second day, the rec stump that was running the test for Hendrick came over and he said,
31:20
We're going to call Chad, Chad Knauss, crew chief at the time of Jimmy Johnson.
31:23
We're going to call Chad and just see if he's okay with giving you a couple of laps.
31:28
And I thought, and Chad was like super serious, like just meaner than, you know, like I'm screwed here, there's no chance if Chad's involved.
31:36
He'd be like, who's that guy?
31:37
I've never heard of him.
31:38
You're not, you know.
31:40
And he comes back and he said, all right, Chad said you've got 10 laps.
31:45
I'm like, awesome.
31:47
Can I do it in two lots of five?
31:49
He's like, nope.
31:50
Okay.
31:52
I've been standing around for a day and a half.
31:53
You know, you always find something on that second run, you know.
31:58
And he's like, no, you've got ten laps.
32:00
He said, you better just make sure you fit.
32:02
And I'm like, trust me, I fit.
32:03
I'll fit somehow.
32:05
Yeah.
32:05
Yeah.
32:06
And, uh, because Magnussen's a little guy, you know, and he's insert and all that.
32:10
And, um, so I got my gear on, got in the thing and, uh, drove it out.
32:14
And this was when cup cars still had 900 and something horsepower.
32:18
They were just animals.
32:19
And you think NASCAR on a road course, hard to turn and all that, but...
32:24
It's not.
32:25
They've got a Detroit locker in them, so they turn good.
32:28
And the power, you can make it do anything.
32:30
And it's just... And that car on that day, like, it was unbelievable.
32:36
So...
32:38
We sort of, you know, just kept getting better and better every lap.
32:41
And then the ninth lap had a bit of a breather and then busted off as best I could on the final one.
32:49
But before I went out, he's like, now before we do this, you've driven here, right?
32:52
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:53
I've driven lots of things here.
32:55
And that.
32:56
he didn't ask whether that was in iRacing or real life or, um, he didn't specify.
33:01
So, uh, I didn't, didn't tell a lie there.
33:04
I'd driven lots of things at Watkins Glen.
33:08
Um, so yeah, that was, that was a, uh, massive tick in the box for, um, you know, in your little, in your, in my mind anyway, to drive Jimmy Johnson's car.
33:17
And then, um, yeah, we went back and did the cup race and the bummer was most of practice got rained out and, um,
33:27
So we didn't get a lot of time to work on it, but the old Phoenix car, so it was sort of a semi-Hendrick car, meant to be the same stuff, but it certainly didn't turn like Jimmy Johnson's car did.
33:39
But we all, it was ironic, we all qualified.
33:43
There was Casey Kane, Jimmy, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. and myself, we're all somewhere like 19th to 23rd-ish, somewhere in there, and Dale Jr. starting right behind me, which was, that was a bit of a...
33:57
that was ironic you know that after after everything but um
34:02
Yeah, it was a...
34:05
When you're living there every week and you're racing a late model or something, come Sunday, by the time you'd finished at Waffle House, it was like, well, where are we going to watch the cup race?
34:13
And here you are, you're in it, mate.
34:15
I was coming down that last straight before the last S's for the green flag, and I thought, where are we going to watch the cup race?
34:22
I'm going to watch it from the race today.
34:25
Yeah.
34:27
So, no, that was really...
34:30
really cool but I had a great race with Jeff Gordon in there that we mentioned earlier which he'd gotten to the back of me and he had a faster car but I sort of made sure I was you know he couldn't get me under brakes anywhere and then he's way better in the carousel so get him all backed up and he's he's hitting me and I just get him to hit me early so I could keep it under control and then go again and is managing to keep me behind him and then
35:01
anyway he never got past me and then later on um uh i was just hanging on like it was qualifying laps every lap particularly on the brakes just to hang you know just to stay there and um and
35:16
Later that week or early the next week, they show all the radio and all the pissed off drivers and everything that happened.
35:23
I'm sitting there watching it and here's a picture of me sideways and Gordon saying, tell the 51 when I get to him I'm going to dump his ass.
35:31
So I took that as a compliment.
35:38
Then the next week was mid-Ohio.
35:42
So we went and ran the monster car again.
35:45
And we raced there and we were... Last restart, I think we started back in third or fourth and on the white flag, Hornish took me out.
35:56
And we were sort of right in the mix there with him and Almendinger and that was a bummer.
36:01
And anyway, I'd organised on the Monday or Tuesday to go down to Phoenix and pick up a couple of things and Steve said...
36:13
And he worked with Gordon when he first came into NASCAR.
36:16
I'd known him his whole career.
36:18
And he said, I was at wherever they were racing Cup that weekend and they were sitting in the bus watching poker and watching the Nationwide race.
36:25
And he said, I've got an attaboy for you.
36:27
And I'm like, a what?
36:28
He's like, an attaboy.
36:29
You know, like a pat on the back.
36:30
And I said, oh, what's that?
36:34
And he said, well, I'm sitting there playing poker with Gordon.
36:36
And he goes, see that guy in that 54?
36:38
He said, I don't know, last week at Watkins Glen.
36:42
He said, I don't know how he can brake so late and still get his car to turn.
36:45
He said, I don't know how he's doing it.
36:48
If he had seen my eyes like dinner plates, he would have realised.
36:51
MUSIC PLAYS
37:00
Hi again.
37:02
If only I was there to lead the way to the airport over there in America.
37:05
I would have had our guest eating pizza on the plane with his team in no time.
37:10
That's all about to make sense.
37:11
It is still to come in this really fun chat.
37:14
Take it away Rusty.
37:17
Rental cars, airports, and the race from Watkins Glen and places like that back there.
37:25
You had sweat pouring off you at one point in time, thinking you'd taken all the best back routes, and the team still beat you, didn't they?
37:32
Yeah, I did some research before Watkins Glen, because you've never seen...
37:36
So everyone's flying on a private plane.
37:38
So as soon as that plane's full, that thing's gone and it's home and everyone's home early, you know.
37:43
And so you've never seen people get packed up and out of a racetrack quicker than NASCAR people.
37:49
It's amazing.
37:50
And I got out of the car at Watkins Glen and I said to Whitney, Right.
37:56
I'm going to get changed, be ready, we're going.
37:58
This is your wife you're talking about.
37:59
Yeah, and I'd done some prior research, and I think it was Rick Wren said to me, there's a back road out of here, take that tunnel on the other side there, go down there, take a left, do this, do this, that.
38:10
You'll be at the airport.
38:11
You'll be there.
38:12
And it was a ways away.
38:13
I was in Ithaca, but you've got to get out of the place is the biggest thing, you know, all them people trying to leave.
38:19
And we got out of there and took all that, everything worked brilliantly.
38:24
And I'm like, there's no way I'm going to be one of the first ones there.
38:28
Flying into this regional airport, dive out of this rental car, race over to the plane, throw our bag in the back.
38:35
get up on there he's the whole team eating pizza i give up yeah yeah i give up i'm sweating yeah yeah so it's it's funny there's two races on race day there's the race on the track and then the race to the airport on the flip side of that you did you mentioned boris said before i think you drove the marsh corvette with him at montreal one time and didn't you i may not have i'm not not joining the dots right here but
39:00
It's French, for a start, so roads are in French.
39:03
Oh, yeah.
39:03
And you've got to bolt from the airport to get to the first practice or something.
39:06
So it was the year that, yeah, you're right, it was the year that we went up there to qualify Marcus's car that first time.
39:15
And two days before, Boris called and he said, hey, you're going to Montreal, aren't you?
39:19
I said, yeah, yeah, I'm driving Marcus's car.
39:21
And he said, well...
39:22
He had a ride in the Nationwide race as well.
39:26
He said, I'm driving the Corvette with Eric.
39:31
I can't think of Eric's name, but Eric's broke his toe or something.
39:35
Can you drive it?
39:36
Sure.
39:37
Yeah, I'll be there.
39:37
Yeah, no worries.
39:38
He goes, I told him they had to give you five grand.
39:41
Is that all right?
39:41
Yeah.
39:43
Oh, we can make that work.
39:44
Just this time, I guess.
39:47
And so he's like, well, we practice Thursday.
39:52
And I'm like, oh, look at this.
39:54
We're flying with Roush because it's been run by Roush.
39:56
And yeah, well, this plane gets in there and that's about an hour and a half later.
40:00
Yeah, no, we'll make that work, I think.
40:02
That'll be fine.
40:02
Yep.
40:03
He's like, yeah, that'll be all right.
40:05
I said, well, my helmet and everything's already gone in the NASCAR truck, but I'll be able to get that out because they're not on until Friday, see?
40:10
The NASCAR guys, they're not in a hurry.
40:12
They're not on until Friday.
40:13
And so we're not looking like being able to land.
40:16
It's foggy.
40:17
They have a couple of go-arounds at trying to land, and this is just at this little airstrip where Avis literally will come and dump all the cars in the paddock next door.
40:26
And we finally land, race over to the rental car,
40:33
get in, I drive out, and it's just me and Whitney, and I get to the end of the street, and I look up, and I'm like, oh, shit.
40:39
She's like, what?
40:40
I said, all the signs are in French.
40:41
I never gave her the thought that it's French-Canadian, and never even thought about it.
40:48
So half got lost trying to get to the track.
40:50
No sat nav, nothing, you know.
40:52
Before all that.
40:53
Yeah, and finally find the giant, and I can't...
40:59
Can't find my way in there.
41:01
And we finally find the gate.
41:02
And then I get in and I'm trying to get to the NASCAR truck to, I've already organised with the truck driver, where do you hide the key and all that.
41:09
Got to get my helmet.
41:10
Their pits are different to where the Corvette's going to be.
41:12
Yeah, it's miles away.
41:12
It's like Albert Park.
41:13
There's a pit at one end and there's something right at the other.
41:18
walk up to someone hey man where's the NASCAR pits no English no one wants to know about it so I end up ringing Boris and I'm standing next to some statue looks kind of like this and no one wants to talk to me about it you have to get a golf cart and come and get me he comes and gets me we go and get my helmet back down to the car there's 20 minutes before the start of the session and they're like you're out first
41:43
put this fire suit on and, uh, literally got enough time.
41:46
Like, Hey, how you going on my own?
41:48
And meet everybody.
41:50
Got in the car, adjusted the seatbelts, right?
41:52
What can you adjust in this thing?
41:53
You know, well, any roll bars are here.
41:55
Started here.
41:56
Brake biases there.
41:58
Good luck.
41:59
Shut the door, put the wind in it up.
42:00
It was literally that fast.
42:02
And, um,
42:04
I thought, well, it's a good opportunity to learn the track before I drive the NASCAR and whatever.
42:08
And it's a...
42:09
The Whalen Corvette, the 31, was a well-known car, and it's a good ride.
42:14
And...
42:16
So we went out and got going and sort of spent five or six laps learning the circuit and then laid down a lap near the end and came in and, oh, what did you think?
42:28
They're not telling me anything on the rodeo.
42:30
What did you think?
42:30
So I'll be all right next time.
42:33
I didn't really, I sort of half spun out there and then definitely lost four tenths there and I think you can break later there and, you know, just trying to work my way around it.
42:42
Where were we?
42:43
You know, were we in the top ten?
42:44
I'm like, well...
42:47
With P1.
42:48
I'm like, oh, well, that's not right.
42:51
The session's still going.
42:52
I said, they'll be putting tires on or something.
42:54
That can't be right.
42:55
And then, I don't know, I can't remember where we ended up in the very end, but at the time we were right there amongst it.
43:02
And I thought, what a great, it's a great example of not getting caught up in, I need to move the seat five mil or two mil.
43:12
Okay.
43:12
Matt, I love this stuff for the podcast for the young ones listening.
43:16
So this is your message here is get in and rag it sometimes.
43:19
Just rag it.
43:20
Rely on your instincts and just, it's a race car.
43:23
It's got a steering wheel, a gas pedal, a brake and four tyres.
43:27
Don't overthink it all.
43:28
Don't overthink it.
43:29
I'm not smart enough to overthink it to start with.
43:31
I've got to keep it simple and...
43:33
just rag it it's going to understeer it's going to oversteer and just rely on your instincts and time time prevented you from doing all that that other worry didn't it all that other that's right and it um so it was good to um that was a cool experience with with boris awesome as is your way mate this has become clear in the conversation right the the relationships that you fostered and
43:56
significant people i know from your dad that roger penske has you on a first name basis right you're very respected there and that's not just to do with the trucking side of things um you know you talked about joe gibbs there for you know we've mentioned boris said there you've kept that relationship the aussies in the game the expat aussies were kind of close to kenny cabal was a part of things for a while too mate wasn't he
44:17
Yeah, I did.
44:18
I went and helped Kenny with, he was driving at Watkins Glen.
44:23
I didn't have a ride in that particular race, so I went with him and was a spotter and sort of, you know, driver coach, I suppose, type of role.
44:35
And Kenny's a great bloke.
44:37
Really successful in business over there and was having a crack.
44:42
And we raced Formula Ford back in the day together.
44:44
So it was funny bumping into him over there.
44:47
But, yeah, he's gone on to do amazing things.
44:52
In business.
44:52
In business, yeah.
44:53
Can we tell a funny story here in the going, to-ing and fro-ing between Australia and America and what have you?
45:00
The Kellys run a fitness camp at one stage up at Mount Buller.
45:05
And Rico reminded me of this when I cornered him for a bit of stuff for this chat.
45:10
So he thought he'd organised a kayak down the river that would take three hours, nine to midday, they'd be done.
45:19
We are lucky that someone wasn't lost forever that day.
45:23
I think Dave Russell ended up in the drink, mate, didn't he?
45:26
Oh, no, it was more than that that ended up in the drink.
45:28
But, no, that was sketchy.
45:31
I thought they had me sold on that.
45:33
So Damo was sort of leading this charge with Rick.
45:38
It was those two.
45:39
And they're like, right, this is what we're going to do.
45:41
And Damo's very serious and matter of fact.
45:44
And I'm like, he knows what he's doing.
45:46
And we're going to kayak down this river and we're going to meet Broomy for lunch and then we're going to kayak the rest and we're going to get out here and this is how we're going to do it.
45:57
To set the scene, it's full of snow-melted water, so it's freezing.
46:02
It was eight degrees, the water.
46:04
And there's trees.
46:05
I think there was fallen trees.
46:07
So here's what we rock up in this Mercedes van full of kayaks.
46:11
There's Murph, myself...
46:13
Dave Reynolds.
46:14
Todd and Rick.
46:14
Dave Reynolds, which is Coit.
46:16
Russell Coit.
46:18
And, yeah, Reynolds and Tim Blanchard.
46:21
The only bloke missing was Alan Simonson.
46:23
Uh-huh.
46:24
And he was still overseas.
46:26
Yeah.
46:27
And so we put these kayaks in the water.
46:31
And I'm like, geez, that water is freezing.
46:33
I am not going in there.
46:34
I don't care what happens.
46:36
And then we go around the first corner in the first two minutes.
46:40
And there's a tree across the river.
46:42
And you had to be over to the left and completely laid flat to make it under there.
46:46
And you'd touch your nose on the tree going under it, right?
46:49
And to the right, the water was sort of swirling pretty good and sucking them in there.
46:54
And this is two minutes into it.
46:58
And Damo's one of the first ones down there.
47:00
He completely cocks it up, hits the right-hand side, goes upside down.
47:04
And it hit me then.
47:05
I went, he hasn't got a clue what he's doing here.
47:08
This whole thing's...
47:11
And then what they didn't know was how many trees were down.
47:16
Yeah.
47:17
And we didn't make it till... We didn't make it and we didn't even make it to where lunch was supposed to be.
47:26
Until sunset, basically.
47:27
We didn't make it there.
47:28
We didn't make it there at sunset.
47:29
Sunset, we got to the first point of being able to actually get out of the river.
47:33
And we left at like 8.30 in the morning.
47:36
And Ricco had to run 7Ks to get to a phone reception point.
47:38
Yeah, but before that, it got to where...
47:43
Blanchard come past at one point upside down.
47:45
I thought, he's given up.
47:46
He's happy to drown.
47:47
It was that bad.
47:50
Todd went upside down in a sort of a waterfall-ish kind of deal and we couldn't even get over to him to help him.
47:57
Sugar.
47:58
And he was under there for a fair while and I'm like... We're laughing here.
48:01
That's actually quite serious.
48:02
Oh, no, there were some really serious moments and then there was other moments of Murph going to wrap his oar around certain people's ears.
48:10
and then uh we've you would go around the corner and be like it's got to be around the next corner it's around the next corner because we're all disoriented and we're out of energy bars and you know um rick rick i reckon you took a bag of nuts and one little bottle of water yeah that's
48:26
And half of them went down the river when you went upside down.
48:29
And then you, like, literally get out and have to climb up all this shrubbery and throw a kayak over the other side and then scupper over there yourself to get over these trees.
48:40
There's, like, 25 of those.
48:41
Oh, wow.
48:42
So this, we're all... What's that show on chat?
48:45
Ninja.
48:45
It's like you're doing the... That'd be easy compared to this.
48:48
And then I'm like, no one's going to believe this.
48:50
No one is ever going to believe this story.
48:53
And when we got there, there was this campsite.
48:57
When we got to where the first point of getting out, there was this campsite and this old couple in a van.
49:02
And they just looked at us like, because it was dark.
49:05
what in the heck are you guys doing yeah and then rick got his um gear off and started sprinting and he ran like seven or eight k's to where broom he was and broom he said i got there broom he's just laid back with his feet crossed having a cigarette he's the chef yeah and uh he's like yeah i thought you guys were going i've rang the cops they're probably they're sending someone out
49:30
And when we got in phone reception, the Wangaratta police had left a message on Rick's phone that we were about to come out looking for you.
49:38
But it was seriously sketchy.
49:39
And then the next day, we had some other things with some big packs on and some hiking and whatever.
49:46
And this is two weeks before the Sandown 500.
49:48
So whatever that muscle is beside your knee down there, I've done something to that.
49:53
So at the Sandown 500, once I was in the car, I was all right, but I'm hobbling around like I nearly needed crutches.
50:00
You and Murph took the mickey out of Reynolds too, I think, didn't you, during this pop?
50:05
He would sneak off to go and get phone reception somewhere, wouldn't he?
50:07
So he was trying to do a deal with FPR to go and drive there and get out of his deal at Cali Racing.
50:16
He'd be like, oh, I'm just going to call mum, you know?
50:19
And he'd get back and I'm like, how's Tim, mate?
50:22
Was he having his dinner?
50:25
Murph had a few pot shots in there too, but yeah, we were giving it to him.
50:29
I'm sure, I'm sure.
50:30
He says, Murph, that it's very entertaining with you when you co-drove together, that you know you're shit, these are his words, clever with understanding the race cars and that you brought some sanity to the...
50:46
arrangement when you got to drive with him.
50:48
And I think that's a bit of that yin and yang stuff you talked about before.
50:50
You know, he might get out and have a one-word answer about how things were in relation to the car behaviour, and then you could...
50:57
because you understood him, take that into a space and work with it.
51:02
Yeah, try and turn it into something else an hour later.
51:06
That's a pretty cool endorsement from him.
51:08
Yeah, no, it is for sure.
51:09
And it was really cool being able to do it with him.
51:15
And actually the result doesn't show it, but the...
51:21
I'd suggest that that was probably the best I'd ever driven at Bathurst in that car.
51:25
You won't see it on paper, but... What you had to do to... Yeah, and just the way we had to drive the thing all day long, and just comparing yourself to him was... And he dragged you along too, because he's always so helpful that...
51:44
You can drive with some people that are against you almost, so they won't help you.
51:49
Whereas he gets it that it's for the good of the car and the result.
51:54
One other supercar story, if you don't mind the indulgence.
51:57
Dick Johnson, Adelaide, an argument, I think while you're walking to the ambulance or something.
52:02
Is this right?
52:03
Yeah, well, not really an argument, but I was driving there in the Fujitsu series, the Fujitsu-sponsored car in 04,
52:13
And it was the first, second, yeah, it was the second round of the championship, I reckon, and I had a bad flu, and I was really crook, and races weren't super long, but it was really hot, and I was sick as.
52:30
But, you know, we got InXS were there with us that weekend.
52:34
Oh, fantastic.
52:34
Sponsoring the team and, like, and I'm a fan of theirs.
52:36
Yeah.
52:37
And, like, we'd been to dinner with those guys and I'm trying to act like I'm not sick, but I'm not missing going and sitting at dinner with InXS.
52:43
InXS, yeah.
52:43
You know, really cool.
52:45
And...
52:47
we did all that and we won the first race and then and it was all I had, I was knackered and then we won the, got going in the second one and then I sort of built enough of a lead that I could try and relax a bit and I was just spent just had nothing left and just this flu you know and just knocks you around and but we managed to win the second race as well and then
53:15
I came in and I could barely, well, time the adrenaline, you know, it's all on adrenaline, isn't it?
53:19
And I could barely get out of the car.
53:21
And then I got out and I got back into the pit.
53:24
And they, I'm like, you know, just get my boots off.
53:30
I need my boots off.
53:31
I'm just trying to get gear off and what have you.
53:33
And someone went and got the ambos or the...
53:37
you know, the doctors or whatever, and I just need some ice and, you know, I'm just looking to cool down.
53:45
And you're driving for Dick Johnson.
53:46
Like, he's a legend.
53:47
Yeah.
53:49
And he's not a, you know, he's a man's man, Dick, isn't he?
53:52
You know, he doesn't take any bullshit.
53:54
And so he's there and he's cool as well.
53:57
Really, really enjoyed my time with them.
53:59
And especially when you stay at his house.
54:01
Like, he's not a bloke that's going to stick you in a motel.
54:05
Like, you go and stay with him.
54:06
Yeah.
54:08
really, really good family.
54:09
And they're trying to get all this gear off and I'm trying to cool down.
54:15
And then the ambos are there, like, you know, checking this and checking that.
54:18
And I'm like, I'm all right, I'm just really hot, you know, and I've got the flu.
54:21
So I'm just knackered.
54:23
And I'm like, all right, well, just come with us and we'll put a drip in you, you know, and we'll just put a bag or two, three, and you'll be good.
54:29
I'm like, yeah, it's a good idea, but I'll just get this gear off.
54:32
And then...
54:35
I get up and they're like, no, no, you're going to have to get on the stretcher.
54:38
And I'm like, I ain't getting on that stretcher.
54:41
Dick Johnson's standing there.
54:43
I'm not going to get carted off.
54:44
Carted off out of here.
54:46
You reckon Dick Johnson's going to lay down on a stretcher?
54:49
And they're like, no, no, you have to.
54:51
I'm like, no, I don't.
54:52
I'll walk to the ambulance or I ain't going.
54:55
And I'm like, I'm not getting on that stretcher.
54:58
Now I've got the pig in me, and then in the end, I think Dick's like, for fuck's sake, just get on the stretcher.
55:06
Really?
55:06
Excellent.
55:07
Oh, jeez.
55:08
Excellent.
55:08
I didn't articulate it right in the lead up to that point.
55:10
Good stuff.
55:12
Your relationship with Marcus has kind of come full circle.
55:15
The secret sauce is the pair of you...
55:17
work together on the Trans Am that you now race.
55:20
Your brother Christian is on the car as well, Dwayne Priest.
55:23
I mean, it's a good little crew there.
55:26
Are you enjoying that?
55:27
And will you continue to do it in 2023, mate?
55:29
Yeah, I am enjoying it.
55:31
It's been good fun.
55:32
And those cars are, you know, they're an American car.
55:37
So they're very NASCAR-like.
55:40
And so that appealed to me.
55:43
And I wasn't actually out there looking to do it.
55:45
Gary Rogers called a couple of years prior and said, oh,
55:49
I'm doing this one-off race in Tassie, and we want to get a Tassie guy in there.
55:54
Would you do it?
55:55
And I said, yeah, yeah.
55:58
I didn't know what it was.
55:59
I just said, yeah, I'll do it.
56:01
And he said, well, the catch is you've got to run the car.
56:04
I said, yeah, well, that's all right.
56:05
I can do that.
56:05
And I said, I'll get Ambrose.
56:06
He's bored.
56:07
I'll get him to come and do it.
56:08
And he said, no, you won't get him.
56:10
and nah he'll be alright he's bored out of his brains down there he's renovating his house or whatever and so I rang him and said hey these cars this is what they are blah blah blah there's two races we can do there's this 10 grand to win show at Baskerville and then the first round of the championship at Simmons we'll just do the pair of them
56:31
one week apart and um we'll just old school it we'll just stick it on a trailer and no laptops no wiggly lines just we'll just do it and um he's like oh yeah that sounds good so then um we went and did that and we went good and we um i think we won one of the races and then second in the the big race at baskerville and then he's like
56:55
He talks on the radio like he's a spotter, like a crew chief, mate, doesn't he?
56:59
It's awesome.
56:59
It's awesome.
57:00
Oh, yeah, I know.
57:00
It's full on.
57:01
Full on.
57:02
And then it all worked really, really well.
57:04
And we're having a good time doing it.
57:07
And we're not taking it too – we're there to win, but we're not, you know.
57:10
Super secret sauce is the fun.
57:12
Yeah, yeah.
57:13
And then it's like, oh, shit, well, we got really close there.
57:16
We better do another one.
57:17
So, you know, we need to finish this off with a win.
57:19
We can't be coming second.
57:22
And then we went to Phillip Island, we won the first race, and then we broke a steering box, and then it's like, well, I didn't really finish that off, we'd better do another one.
57:32
And this kept happening, we had these issues, we were running really good and we were fast, and then it was...
57:40
Where are you now?
57:41
Like Bathurst or something?
57:42
Eastern Creek or somewhere.
57:43
I'm like, can we just say we're going to do the whole thing?
57:45
Let's just say we're going to do it all because, you know.
57:47
Yeah.
57:48
And there's three to go or something.
57:50
And then that's turned into, well, we better get a new car and then we better, you know.
57:54
A couple of championship series.
57:55
Now he works for Gary and he's like, oh, no, you won't get him.
57:58
Now he's working there half the time.
58:00
And so, no, it's been really good fun and doing it with Christian and just doing our own.
58:06
We run the car at the meetings.
58:08
Yeah.
58:08
JRM prep it and everything and it's been good.
58:12
Good stuff.
58:13
On the kind of importation side you are bringing some stuff into the country that is cart slash speedway orientated that people may not be aware of.
58:23
Just tell people a little bit about that.
58:25
Yeah, the outlaw karts.
58:26
So I got amongst those in America a bit.
58:31
And there's a guy in Sydney sort of started it a little bit.
58:34
And then they got going in Perth a little bit.
58:36
And they're popping up around the country.
58:39
And, yeah, so I ended up...
58:44
Not sure if it's a good idea or not sometimes, but we ended up doing a deal over there and a couple of container loads of them later.
58:54
We've got this cart shop or this online cart shop and running these outlaw carts.
59:00
um it's really about the kids mostly and uh the the big ones are great fun for adults what's the what's the power plant in them i'm trying to remember 450 dirt power plant so they're just yeah way overpowered which is what you want and um but the kids ones are really good and uh great for them and um so yeah it's been good fun trying to get that up and running and you're doing a super job mate can we finish with a with a couple of things if we can this has been super and i know there's a lot more that we could probably cover off here
59:27
Firstly, the car, the moment for you.
59:32
Was it that late model race you recounted before?
59:34
What's the moment that you kind of sit back and say about it?
59:38
And I know you well enough to think that you'll downplay the fact that, oh, well, it's not like...
59:43
An Ambrose journey to NASCAR, or it's not like a Greg Murphy Bathurst record or whatever, right?
59:48
But there's still some really impressive things that through sheer hard work, through, as Lee Diffie told me, reminded me here, through the hustle, mate.
59:57
You hustled that you got the opportunity to do those things, you know?
1:00:00
Yeah, it's...
1:00:03
It's probably a couple of things.
1:00:05
It's definitely that late model win.
1:00:08
And particularly after what Dale Jr.'s comments, in his eyes, and he said it again recently.
1:00:16
I read somewhere how tough that is.
1:00:20
So it's definitely that, driving Jimmy Johnson's car at Watkins Glen and just doing that cup race at Watkins Glen, you know, just racing Jeff Gordon, swapping paint with Jeff Gordon, being able to do that kind of thing and Kyle Larson in the Xfinity races.
1:00:40
You know, there's some...
1:00:42
They don't get any...
1:00:42
In my little world, anyway, your Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson's and so on, it doesn't get any better than that.
1:00:47
Yeah.
1:00:48
What about the car, the moment?
1:00:49
Is it the monster machine, mate?
1:00:51
Is that the one you've got a close sort of affinity with, or is it something else?
1:00:53
Yeah, that's probably the one that I was the most comfortable in, had the most speed in, if you like.
1:01:01
and it's probably the one that most people remember the most, you know, that was a good, you know, those races in that car were definitely entertaining.
1:01:11
Yeah.
1:01:12
And now, mate, you know, maybe Hudson might...
1:01:17
Your dad drove in Speedway.
1:01:19
You've done a Christian racer too.
1:01:21
Maybe Hudson might have a crack.
1:01:23
He's just started, huh?
1:01:25
Yeah, he's mad for it.
1:01:27
Is he?
1:01:28
Yeah.
1:01:31
His knowledge of things already is he pays attention.
1:01:35
Can I paint a picture for the audience here?
1:01:37
I saw him at the Bathurst International.
1:01:40
He's running around.
1:01:40
How old is he?
1:01:41
How old is he?
1:01:41
He just turned seven.
1:01:42
He's running around with a clipboard and...
1:01:46
Mate, he properly loves it, doesn't he?
1:01:49
Keep going.
1:01:49
I'm no surprise.
1:01:50
One funny story at Bathurst.
1:01:54
We need to turn a tyre.
1:01:56
I flat-spotted a tyre on it, so what we'll do here, buddy, we'll get Max Dumsney.
1:02:01
And I might add that most of them Trans Am blokes, we run on Hoosier tyres that Max brings in.
1:02:06
Most of those guys don't realise that there's absolute legend down there changing their tyres.
1:02:10
Tyres.
1:02:11
And he's literally, mate, with the tyre-changing kit.
1:02:13
He's doing it, isn't he?
1:02:14
He's changing them.
1:02:15
Keep going.
1:02:16
I said to Hudson, look, what we'll do, it's probably a bit early for Max.
1:02:20
He's not an early riser.
1:02:23
But when he gets here, we'll take this tyre down and we'll spin it on the rim and we'll get that flat spot on the outside and we'll put it on the left rear.
1:02:31
And he's like, yep, righto.
1:02:34
And then...
1:02:36
It was a boys' trip that weekend, and he'd disappear for an hour and a half and wouldn't see him, you know, but I knew he was fine.
1:02:41
He was just wondering, he knows what to do, and I hadn't seen him for a while, and I thought, I'd better go and surf Max's here.
1:02:48
I go down there, and Hudson's walking out with a tyre that he's had Max spin on the rim.
1:02:55
And I'm thinking, shit, I think I saw that tyre back in the pits.
1:02:59
LAUGHTER
1:03:00
I said, what have you got here, buddy?
1:03:03
So he was on the right track.
1:03:05
He just picked up the wrong wheel.
1:03:06
I said, sorry, Max, you've got two more to do now.
1:03:10
But, yeah, he's on to it.
1:03:13
No, look, he's been – so he started – he got a go-kart for his seventh birthday.
1:03:19
Found him a second-hand Cadet 9 to go and have a run around in on the circuit stuff.
1:03:24
And I told him if he's good, he can drive for me in a box stock in the Outlaw Cards.
1:03:33
So there's a bit there for him to do.
1:03:35
I'm not going to push him, though, if he wants to do it.
1:03:38
So far, he's mad about it and wants to go as soon as he can.
1:03:43
Great stuff.
1:03:44
Final one.
1:03:45
A couple of punters have messaged in with different things along the way in this chat.
1:03:51
I think I've tried to answer as many of them as I can throughout the course of the conversation.
1:03:55
One that might be a little funny one to end on
1:03:59
True or false?
1:04:00
You drove a Ferrari F40 through a McDonald's drive-thru at some point.
1:04:06
Is this true?
1:04:08
Yeah.
1:04:10
That is true.
1:04:10
It's a bit confusing for him when the steering wheel's on the other side.
1:04:17
Yeah, no, that did happen.
1:04:18
Awesome.
1:04:19
Murph and I may or may not have driven that same F40 back from the Grand Prix with a bit of smoke coming out the back of it once or twice.
1:04:30
Mate, fabulous chat.
1:04:31
Thank you.
1:04:31
I love the insights.
1:04:33
I love a little bit of inspiration for the next generation in relation to just go and hustle it.
1:04:39
I love the comeback from an unbelievably heavy crash.
1:04:43
Thank you for sharing that.
1:04:44
I know that's not something you open up on.
1:04:46
be proud of what you did stateside in lots of different ways and from my side mate I love the passion, the connection the love of the sport over there and how much you know about it and the fact that you were able to just through sheer hard work get some opportunities there I reckon that's a super cool story, congratulations appreciate it, thanks very much
1:05:18
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
1:05:22
Series editor and producer is Ed Gooden.
1:05:26
Audio production by Link Kelly.
1:05:28
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1:05:32
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1:05:33
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