Latest / Rusty's Garage / Charlie Schwerkolt - Part 2

Transcript

Charlie Schwerkolt - Part 2 · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:21
G'day, it's Rusty here.
0:22
All set for part two of my podcast with Supercars team owner, Charlie Schwerkolt.
0:27
If you've arrived here without giving part one a listen, here's a drive-through penalty for you.
0:32
I'm kidding.
0:33
Jump back to the library and I hope you find it interesting.
0:35
From the Schwerkolt family emigrating to Australia generations ago, the mark they made through sheer hard work...
0:43
to Charlie getting the reins and bravely taking the business to a whole new level, plus getting into motorsport and applying his business skills to it as a team owner, being part of a title win and the breakdown of a friendship with one of the sports legends.
1:00
Coming up, rowing his own boat in the supercars pit lane and some seriously cool cars that are parked around us in the garage here where we recorded.
1:09
We begin part two by looking back on his decision to bring out a champ car and IndyCar star for the season of endurance in 2015, and how I joined them to cover the build-up.
1:24
A couple of things that I have a personal recollection of.
1:29
You very kindly, I think we went to, what airport was it?
1:35
We went to Moorabbin.
1:37
You picked me up in a chopper.
1:39
There was myself, you, Sebastian Bourdais, and we flew to one of the handful of times I've been in a chopper.
1:46
I loved it.
1:46
A great chopper.
1:47
And we flew to Winton because Bourdais was going to run the Enduros.
1:51
And he'd done some supercars driving and we had kind of high hopes.
1:55
Where I'm going here, you weren't afraid to experiment with some stuff like that.
2:00
No, look –
2:02
Look, you've got to take a punt on things and some work, some don't.
2:06
But, yes, you've got to have a go.
2:08
And Sebastian, Adrian introduced me to Sebastian when he did a – when we had those international races at the Indy and he did one.
2:18
He's a real deal and he can do it.
2:20
So I rang Adrian wherever he was.
2:23
He wasn't going to use him but you had to get him out and the whole thing.
2:26
And from the US, he lives in Florida in St. Pete.
2:31
And I had to get him out and test days.
2:34
It was hard.
2:35
It was really hard.
2:37
He was great.
2:37
I think one of his posters are up here on the wall somewhere and he was a great guy.
2:43
Mad Frenchman, but he was good.
2:47
But you can have a go.
2:48
And I just don't want to do the same old boring thing and say, yeah.
2:53
I have vivid memories of 2016, Darwin, and a massive crash for Lee Holdsworth.
2:59
Can you take us there?
3:01
What are your recollections of that day and so on?
3:07
Yeah, so I remember at the start of the race, and I reckon we didn't qualify.
3:13
Lee didn't qualify real.
3:14
I reckon he qualified 16, 17, 18, somewhere around there.
3:18
And then...
3:20
And off he goes down the star and then I heard a massive crash and you couldn't quite see from the garage.
3:24
You're watching on telly and all this dust and everything and, yeah, sure enough, it was Lee.
3:29
And he actually afterwards, we found out, I think it was Courtney, he went into Bright and then Bright tapped Lee and he slid him straight into the wall, turned him around and straight into the wall sideways.
3:45
There was no tyres there at all straight into the concrete barrier.
3:49
And I can't remember how many Gs it was.
3:51
It was massive G, but it bent the roll cage really bad.
3:54
And I think Lee did – he went to hospital.
3:57
He did his pelvis and a few ribs.
3:59
And he was in a bit of a bad way.
4:01
And it was shocking.
4:02
It was –
4:04
You know, you never want a driver injured and, you know, concerned, very concerned.
4:08
Never been to the medical centre before and never been to Darwin Hospital before.
4:12
But, yeah, it was tough.
4:14
It was really, really tough.
4:15
And, of course, it was our only car we had and we had to work out another plan.
4:20
But first and foremost was Lee's safety and health.
4:23
But, yeah, it was pretty ugly.
4:26
He's an amazing guy.
4:28
Have you got a thought on now that he's a Bathurst winner and his career in the sports change?
4:34
He's a part-time and enduro guy now rather than he's off doing other things in a work-life sense.
4:40
What was he like to be around and the influence you kind of had on each other?
4:44
Yeah, he's a good guy, really good guy and I like Lee a lot.
4:48
It's a shame he never got a good result for Lee.
4:50
It was just circumstances.
4:53
I get older equipment, the car, I don't know.
4:58
He just clicked.
5:00
It all worked well.
5:02
But we just never got that result.
5:03
And, of course, he left.
5:04
And then I think he went to Groves, I think, and then started getting a couple of results.
5:08
They had better equipment.
5:09
Maybe who knows.
5:10
I don't know.
5:10
But equipment wasn't bad.
5:12
But he's a good guy.
5:14
We always say hi to each other.
5:16
But, yeah, that crash was – there was a big crash.
5:18
What about Darwin?
5:19
So you go to the low that you've just described there and how frightening that was.
5:24
And then you've had podiums and then more recently wins there as well, haven't you?
5:29
What is it about Darwin?
5:30
And people tell me that you were almost a little bit emotional when you walked into the corporate suite there in Darwin, particularly after Frosty's effort this year.
5:39
Yeah, something always happens in Darwin.
5:41
I don't know.
5:41
It's the heat, I think.
5:42
I don't know what it is.
5:43
I've got my own Waverley Forklifts up there now, so really proud of that in Darwin.
5:47
But I really do – I think Darwin's a fantastic place to race, you know, obviously corporate-wise.
5:52
We're always having a great crowd up there, but –
5:56
And yeah, Scotty Pies had one, two, three podiums there.
6:00
And that was really, that was great to get those first three.
6:04
And that was COVID.
6:05
Always disappointed we could never have a proper podium and spray some champagne or anything during those years.
6:12
But obviously this year...
6:15
Frosty getting that win was exceptionally special and it meant everything to me.
6:20
It was for that hard, hard slog of getting that win done and as you know, Frosty's always said, I'm going to get you a win, there's no dramas about that.
6:29
It's just when it happens, it'll happen, don't worry.
6:31
Decade of work went into that, Charlie.
6:33
Yes, a lot of work, I can assure you.
6:35
I'm looking at that poster down there, Team 18's, Frosty signed it, and that's number 18 of 18 posters.
6:41
And, yes, I was emotional about it.
6:44
Yeah, really emotional.
6:45
It was big.
6:47
It was a lot of work.
6:48
Let's just come back a little fraction here in the timeline.
6:51
Big step in 2017, you relocate the team from Dandenong to be closer to Waverley, don't you, to be a part of the Waverley umbrella, if you like?
7:00
Yeah, it was moved down to Dandenong and go to Mount Waverley where the forklift operation is, which is really good.
7:08
So I can go and do a leadership meeting or something with my team and then go down and do a bit of a tour with some potential sponsors or be with the team.
7:19
So it was great.
7:19
They're only 200 or 300 metres apart.
7:21
So that's really good, a really great facility there.
7:24
So that was a big thing for sure.
7:26
Bruin Beasley, you mentioned before, I saw him over summer floating around with the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and so on.
7:32
I mean, he's a one-off many, I know, in the operation, but to now be getting, I guess, that kind of calibre of people behind the scenes in your operation is important, isn't it?
7:43
It is.
7:44
He's a racer.
7:44
He's a winner.
7:45
He wants the team to succeed so bad.
7:49
He really does.
7:50
Do you butt heads at all at times or are you on the same wavelength?
7:54
No, we don't butt heads, no.
7:55
Does that get back to your ethos about you kind of fundamentally let him do his thing?
8:01
Yeah, I don't get in his way and he doesn't get in mine.
8:05
And I'm not one of those people to micromanage, what are you doing here, what are you doing there?
8:09
I like all my managers and the whole group to inform me what's going on, only to –
8:14
for interest sake or if I can help.
8:16
But no, he runs his own show.
8:18
He's got a good right-hand man with Dennis Hoser.
8:21
He's a good Kiwi there and he's a very smart man and they're building a good, solid team.
8:29
But no headbutting there with Bruin as far as I know.
8:32
He told me I think he's going to do the Twitter series again, I think.
8:35
But no, he's doing a good job and we're 100% on the same page.
8:41
Good communication.
8:42
That's what it's all about.
8:43
How did you lure Mark Frosty Winterbottom away from FPR?
8:48
Because, you know, having won a Bathurst, having won a title for them, you could be people, fans could be forgiven for thinking, well, he's a lifer there.
8:56
And now he's been with you, I think, since 2019.
8:58
Maybe the convo started in 18 or before then, I don't know.
9:01
But it's been a great addition for you, hasn't it?
9:04
It has, yeah.
9:05
No, look, it's a pivotal time frame with Team 18 then.
9:11
Obviously, I was a customer at FPR Tickford back in 13 and 14, got to know him a little bit, liked him, pretty focused, very exceptional driver and good family man as well.
9:25
And I thought,
9:28
I've got to lift the profile and get some people to come in and help me with this team.
9:34
And so we started chatting in 2018 and he wasn't really happy there.
9:41
He was, you know, he was...
9:44
he was out of the 10 for a little bit.
9:45
I think he was driving the bottle car in the end and he was just out of the 10.
9:48
He wasn't, he wasn't at home.
9:50
He just wasn't feeling right.
9:52
And, uh, so we had a chat on a plane and, uh, another plane trip.
9:56
And, uh, but we were going to Perth and, uh, I said, I'm pretty keen to have a bit of a chat.
10:01
And he said,
10:02
Yeah, let's sit down.
10:03
We had a bit of a chat and try and work a bit of a plan out.
10:06
And then I had the interview from Renee.
10:13
That was a bigger interview.
10:14
That was at Talam Bend.
10:15
Now, why would Mark want to come with you?
10:17
What's going on?
10:19
And strangely enough, I didn't have a sponsor.
10:22
I didn't have a sponsor.
10:24
Preston High, we're moving on.
10:26
Well, they were one of the people that I was looking at, but I had no sponsor.
10:29
And I said, Renee, you've got to believe in me.
10:31
I will get a sponsor.
10:32
There's no drummers.
10:33
I've got a few on the go.
10:34
There's no issues.
10:36
I back myself.
10:37
I always back myself of getting really good corporate partners and –
10:42
performance people she wanted to know everything she she was the boss and in a nice way she's a lovely person and and very very good friends but uh i had to convince her to convince mark so got that done ticked the box and uh they agreed to come on board which is great and uh
10:59
And here they are today.
11:01
And he's a, he's, he's a legend of the sport.
11:04
He's in a very happy spot.
11:06
Obviously got the win.
11:07
He's 10th or 9th in the championship.
11:09
And I think he's been 10 every year at least and still driving really well.
11:14
In that timeframe since, since 19, you know, you're still growing as this, this, as your own operation in, in a racing landscape.
11:24
He's a competitive guy having ticked a number of, you know, very important career boxes.
11:29
Were there moments where you sort of had to go, you know, in that belief manner you talked about a moment ago to stay with me?
11:34
We're going to get here.
11:35
We're going to get to the point where we can win that Darwin race and so on.
11:39
Yeah, look, there's never been like, what am I doing here or anything like that.
11:42
There's never been of that.
11:43
We've just got to build.
11:44
We've got issues there.
11:45
We've got issues there.
11:46
And we've got to solve these issues with people.
11:49
And he's very respected in Pit Lane with all the staff and people.
11:53
Why don't we look for him?
11:54
Why don't we, you know, and he's always got his team hat on.
11:58
And to make the team work, he's not a quitter or anything like that.
12:01
And he's not going to, you know, because he's...
12:04
For some reason, he's down the back of the team screwed or anything like that.
12:08
He's a worker.
12:09
He's a hard, hard guy for the team.
12:12
And he's always had my back and I've always had his.
12:15
So he loves it and I love having him on board.
12:18
It's really special.
12:19
It's really good.
12:20
Nice.
12:21
So we have podiums.
12:22
You've talked about that.
12:24
We have a poll in Tasmania.
12:25
We have a win in Darwin, among other success stories.
12:29
What's next, Charlie?
12:31
It's a little thing called Bathurst coming up as you and I sit here and talk, isn't it?
12:34
Yeah, there is.
12:35
Look, obviously that second weekend, I think it is now in October, that hasn't been the kindest place for me.
12:42
When COVID was on, I think there was a race there.
12:44
We got a fifth and a sixth with Scott and Mark, but it hasn't
12:50
uh, Sebastian Bordet and, and Lee, we got an eighth or a ninth.
12:53
That was, that was, um, that was good.
12:56
But a lot of the time we've had little gremlins, something goes wrong.
12:59
The last year's race, there was a nose to tail, both my car and, and both cars of mine didn't nose to tail after the car spinning around.
13:07
So.
13:07
It's been a bit of a tough one, but yes, it's certainly the one to win.
13:11
I would love to win that more than anything.
13:13
It would be just fantastic because, you know, it's such a special place.
13:18
Has there been in the build of this a driver signing potentially that got away?
13:25
Did you have conversations with someone else?
13:28
that you've ultimately got Frosty, which is a huge credit to you and obviously a big driver of what you wanted.
13:36
But was there another at all along the way that you tried to get?
13:39
Yeah, look, you mentioned him before, and there's a couple of helmets up.
13:41
You tried for Marcus?
13:44
Yeah.
13:44
So Marcus had a sponsor, which was children, which is part of the Stegbar windows and Corinthian doors business.
13:51
And I said to Nigel, his contract was due in 14.
13:57
I think this got to go back to my end of his time in NASCAR.
14:00
Yeah.
14:01
So I, when we raced in Austin, I stayed with Marcus and to go through the whole thing, try and work a plan together of trying to get Marcus on board because he, you know, the Geraldman side of things.
14:13
And then we got pretty close.
14:16
It was really, really close there for a little while.
14:18
And we needed another good backer.
14:21
I remember the two backers at the time were, the others were going to come on board were Caterpillar at the time.
14:27
And yeah.
14:28
And then also Monster looked there and I still can't believe the people that are around and tried to get the backing, the whole thing.
14:36
And we got close, but unfortunately it failed and he stayed there for another term.
14:42
And then I moved on as well.
14:44
That's massive.
14:45
It is.
14:45
Because I think he'd had a conversation.
14:47
I think he told me in the pod when he came on that he'd had a conversation.
14:50
with Roger if Roger ever decided Penske I'm talking now to ever venture down the the supercars path and then obviously you're staying with him as well so there must have been a bit going on in his world in the whole juggle of that yeah no it was good you went close yeah we got pretty close yeah it was good it was uh would have been a coup for the sport back then and um to get the right backing the whole thing but just couldn't quite get the money there the whole thing and he had to decide if I'm going to go one more term or not
15:17
And which he ended up doing, of course.
15:19
But when I see him, if we're Tassie or wherever we go and yeah, solo for sure.
15:25
Cool that you've got those helmets too.
15:26
They're beautiful.
15:28
Success with Ford.
15:29
We've talked about that.
15:30
You've run Holdens as well.
15:32
You've gone the Chev Camaro path for Gen 3.
15:36
Did you consider Mustang and how far down the track did you get or was it that you wanted to be loyal to?
15:42
No, I'm a pretty loyal sort of guy, Rusty.
15:45
All the manufacturers that I'm with, the Twerd, the Hino's and the Kenworth's and all them, I stay with someone and build and build the relationship.
15:52
And so I'd been with Holden since 2015 and knew everyone at GM and I thought it was just the natural progression to continue with GM.
16:03
But, you know, as you can see, there's a Camaro there.
16:05
I reckon they're a pretty good looking thing.
16:08
Yeah, beast there.
16:09
So, no, it was always a plan to go that way.
16:14
Not about Daly Driver.
16:15
We'll come to that.
16:16
How did you cope from a racing perspective with COVID?
16:19
Because for a time, I think the team was in Sydney, weren't they?
16:22
As everyone tried to juggle borders and crazy stuff like that.
16:26
Yeah, that was tough.
16:27
That was really tough.
16:27
And you forget about those days, you know.
16:31
Just on my side of things, I still had a national business that I wanted to oversee and get around and all that sort of stuff.
16:38
So I ended up driving a truck between all the states.
16:41
I did about 20 trips in the 12 months of just driving a truck between Melbourne and Sydney.
16:47
That's a stack of Ks.
16:48
It is a lot of Ks, but I wanted to see my branches.
16:50
And there was a lot going on and being, you know, the face and –
16:55
Yeah, I did a fair bit of that sort of stuff myself.
16:59
So I was away a lot.
17:00
But probably the big thing was the team.
17:02
The team was away I think just shy of four months living away.
17:06
They were in, you know, all the Ipswich races, all that stuff up there, the Sydney Motorsports Park stuff and getting hotels and living them.
17:15
I didn't have to do that.
17:17
But it was hard for them.
17:19
And, yeah, no, it was a tough period and...
17:24
um you never want to do any of that again i felt for the families that was the big thing we had lots of messages going the family we had the sides of doors with all the wires we'd have you know there was a lot of that sort of stuff to to keep the interaction between families going but uh it was a tough time and as you say all the while you you sensed a moment of opportunity as we we perhaps gradually look like we might starting you know be starting to come out of it while many people
17:49
would have gone, no way, I'm not doing that in this current climate.
17:53
You actually went the other way and hit the go on something pretty significant from the business side, didn't you?
17:58
Correct.
17:59
Yeah, look, when things are tough and when things are really, really tough, there's a lot of opportunities out there.
18:04
You've just got to take the next step and it can go wrong pretty easy too.
18:10
Fortunately, I went right in my model, the –
18:14
It worked.
18:14
It worked really well.
18:15
And as I said earlier, stock is king.
18:17
And just renting forklifts out everywhere as people started to get on their feet.
18:23
They need another forklift.
18:24
And so I seized the day.
18:27
You're a race-winning team now.
18:28
You've got a good chapter in the sport.
18:32
Give us a state of the nation.
18:34
Gen 3 is new this year.
18:35
What's good?
18:36
What needs tuning perhaps from a sporting side in your mind in the coming years?
18:42
Gen 3, look, I like Gen 3.
18:46
One, they look good.
18:47
They really look good.
18:48
They're good enough to be world-class cars.
18:52
They really look good.
18:53
They sound great.
18:53
Sound great.
18:54
They really sound idling in the garage.
18:56
It's lumpy cam and just sound fantastic.
18:58
And off they go.
18:59
You're transporting back to your teenage years, aren't you?
19:01
Off they go.
19:02
And, yeah, the flames, the whole thing.
19:04
So I think they're a great-looking car and a great-sounding car for sure.
19:09
a bit more expensive on the build.
19:12
And I'm so glad we did build them ourselves.
19:15
We did order a couple of cars off Triple Ace and then we ended up buying all the components for those cars not to –
19:24
to decide to do everything right.
19:26
But Bruin and Dennis said, why don't we build our own cars?
19:30
Why don't we do it?
19:31
And I said, no, it's going to cost more, the whole thing, people.
19:34
We need to know what these cars are going to do.
19:36
We need to make sure these are built exactly how we want them.
19:40
So they talked me into it and honestly it was one of the best things.
19:44
So we built our cars, all bits and pieces came and put them all together and obviously they're good cars.
19:50
So yeah.
19:52
Probably my concerning thing is, one, the cost, but two, if there's a big shunt, a little bit concerned about repair bills and...
20:01
a little bit fragile in these rear clips, front clips, et cetera, and all that sort of stuff.
20:05
It's going to be somewhere like Gold Coast or Adelaide 500, one of those concrete walls.
20:12
Yeah, you won't get out again.
20:14
That's my fear there.
20:15
I think the older cars are a little bit stronger as in repairs.
20:21
Not seeing the cars, you know.
20:23
It's a great race car that we've got now.
20:26
So for Team 18, yeah, we're in a good spot with those cars
20:32
that I've built or bought brand new cars for the team since 2013.
20:37
So it's been 10 years since I've had a brand new car.
20:41
Our previous cars are...
20:43
one-year-old hand-me-downs from Shane Van Gisbergen or Champion Wind Cup have always been Triple Eight cars.
20:49
So this is a big thing.
20:51
Our own brand-new cars, the serial numbers T1801 and T1802, and hopefully we'll get a spare chassis down the track for another project or something like that or a spare car.
21:03
But, yeah.
21:05
It's good.
21:05
What about more broadly in a sporting sense?
21:08
What the sport you might like to see them do in the next couple of years, next five years and so on.
21:15
With my own team or the sport?
21:17
No, the sport more broadly.
21:18
Yeah, there's a lot of chat about going overseas with these cars.
21:22
And look, if the model stacks up for the sport, our owners, I'm in.
21:28
I think it's a good thing.
21:30
One, on the global stage, it can't hurt sponsorship.
21:33
And sponsorship is so important.
21:34
And if we've got a corporate suite and we're activating in, let's say, Singapore, I think it's a good thing.
21:40
But the other thing for me is staff –
21:44
retention is so important in this world in any business, whether it's, you know, Myers or David Jones or wherever it is, retention's so important.
21:53
And if we're doing something different, our guys are getting, and girls are getting a trip overseas that's fully paid for and going somewhere and racing somewhere different.
22:02
I think it's something to look forward to and something a little bit outside the square.
22:05
And as long as the model stacks up, the television stacks up and the sponsorship stacks up, I don't think it's a bad thing at all.
22:23
Hey Siri, take me to Brad Jones Racing in Aubrey.
22:26
I mean, hey Siri, take me to Brad Jones on Rusty's Garage.
22:31
I took him for a lap around Bathurst in the Audi.
22:34
And, you know, if you look at the interviews, it's like, well, you know, Bradley's going to drive me around.
22:38
Let's hope he doesn't drive too hard, you know.
22:41
So we get in the car and we drive down a bit lane.
22:43
He's got a home-face helmet on.
22:45
And he looks across at me and he says...
22:49
Nothing to prove here, Bradley.
22:51
And I looked across at him and I said, want to bet?
22:54
I said, I find it ironic that the fastest lap you're ever going to do around Bathurst is in the passenger seat next to me.
23:02
This is gold.
23:08
Thanks Siri.
23:10
He sure is another team boss with passion.
23:12
Brad Jones was born into racing and has built up relationships over his lifetime.
23:17
And with that, he has plenty of stories to go with it.
23:20
Check him out in the Rusty's Garage Library.
23:25
You and I are a little bleary-eyed as we sit here because we've watched Shane Van Gisbergen this morning at whatever it was, 4.30am racing in NASCAR in the United States.
23:33
So his want to go and start a new chapter is a part of what looks like being a massive silly season.
23:42
Now, I don't know whether you can or can't comment, but where is Team 18 at in relation to all that stuff for the next couple of years driver-wise?
23:51
Car-18, Mark Winterbottom's there for this year and next year.
23:54
Cool.
23:54
All locked away and happy.
23:56
Yes, Skopi's up at the moment at the end of the year.
23:59
Look, nothing's decided yet.
24:05
We're going down opportunities, paths, see what's there.
24:09
Scott's doing the same thing.
24:11
We're just working out what the best path is for Team 18 on all sorts of areas.
24:17
Yeah.
24:18
getting closer but nothing's locked away yet i'm just looking at opportunities good mate of mine in a broadcast sense michael caruso is with you guys for the enduros they tell me on test days and stuff he's like the third engineer is this right he's running around with the tablet and in with in with frosty we've got to do this and we've got to do that and so on what's he like
24:39
No, he's a good guy.
24:41
He's a great guy.
24:41
I saw him, obviously, at the Sydney race.
24:44
I don't know about third engineer, but I think he was second team manager.
24:48
Oh, was he?
24:49
He was behind there running around, what's he doing now and everything.
24:52
No, he's a laugh.
24:53
He's great fun.
24:54
And he does a few pit tours for us.
24:56
Excellent.
24:57
He'd be very good at that.
24:58
He is very good.
24:59
He's got the gift of the gab, as you know, and not quite as good as me because he's not going to take my job.
25:05
But, no, he's great.
25:06
He's great to have on board.
25:08
So, yeah, he'll be with Frosty at the Sandown and Bathurst.
25:14
And then another old hand in the other car, Warren Luff, who's been around there a few times.
25:19
And he's a ripper guy as well.
25:21
And I saw Luffy for breakfast the other day.
25:23
And, yeah, he's solid.
25:25
He's good.
25:25
Wonderful.
25:26
Good that you've got him involved.
25:28
Milestone year.
25:29
We talked a little about this before for Waverley.
25:33
50 years, Charlie.
25:35
Unreal.
25:36
Yeah.
25:36
No, it's very special.
25:39
I can't believe how quick 50 years ago.
25:41
It's gone fast.
25:45
It has gone fast.
25:46
I've achieved a lot.
25:48
The whole business has achieved a lot.
25:50
And, yeah,
25:51
Yeah, we had this fantastic celebration at the Sofitel in Melbourne.
25:56
There was about 400 guests there, Fleur, Mustaf and partners in and customers and sponsors launched their two cars there for the Camaros there.
26:05
And it was a massive event.
26:08
And he was hosting Mark Beretta.
26:10
He was our host there.
26:11
And Beretta stirred everyone up.
26:13
And it was fantastic.
26:15
night of my life.
26:16
It was fantastic and really proud from when I joined, there was actually 12 forklifts to have about 5,500 forklifts in the fleet today with some most amazing customers and people around me.
26:30
And no, it's special.
26:32
So what does the Energizer Bunny want to do next?
26:34
We know you've got Bathurst and championships that you want to tick with Team 18.
26:37
What about in a business sense?
26:38
What do you...
26:39
Well, we'll go to 6,000 forklifts and then seven.
26:42
And then eight and just keep going.
26:43
No, look, we're very focused on staying in your lane, keeping what we're doing.
26:50
We've got a bit of a niche in the industry of short-term rental.
26:53
No one can do what we do.
26:56
There's not another company that can do what we do.
26:59
And we just keep building and looking after our customers and there's no other...
27:05
You know, we're in every state now.
27:06
I'm not going overseas or anything like that.
27:09
It might go over to your side of the world over in New Zealand.
27:13
But, no, it's very rock steady and it's just only going to grow with machines and grow with Toyota as well.
27:22
So that's all pretty solid.
27:23
Team 18, obviously, more wins, more podiums and just slowly keep building.
27:30
It's the culture's really good.
27:33
It's getting better and better.
27:35
The staff are happy.
27:37
No one's leaving, you know.
27:39
You know what it's like at the end of the year.
27:40
It's not easy in this business.
27:41
It's not.
27:41
It's not.
27:42
And mechanics leaving everywhere, engineers and swapping around everywhere.
27:45
It's a pretty – it's a steady ship and a credit to Bruin and Dennis of keeping this ship where it's supposed to be and building that and hopefully building with our sponsors.
27:56
They will stay on the ones that are up on contract and build with them
28:00
And, uh, so yeah, so it's, it's, uh, it's smooth sailing, I hope, but never with supercars, but, but, uh, but yeah, no, we're, we're going okay.
28:10
So hopefully give me a bit of time to play with some of these cars around here.
28:14
Motor racing is an ultra, as you know, competitive environment, lots of alphas and so on in a, in a business sense.
28:22
Are there parallels between the two?
28:23
Does one complement the other?
28:25
Does the motor racing side of things give you maybe a different outlook on something that you're doing at Waverley Forklifts or maybe some of the things that you apply in the forklift business?
28:34
Have you thought about that on the motor racing side?
28:36
Yeah, for sure.
28:37
Look, you've got to think very quick on your...
28:42
with any decision in car racing and they'll, they'll come to me for some decisions on a few things and they're far out.
28:48
But, you know, go back to the early days when I'm on the front page of the, the, the courier mail, when Dick and I are breaking up and doing the media side and all that sort of stuff.
28:57
And, and, uh, I learned a lot.
28:59
You learn so much and it translates into Waverly for sure.
29:03
Um, um, um,
29:07
it's just, it's all people related, really.
29:10
It's all people related and I've learned so much and I can deal with a lot more things on the fly now because of car racing 100%.
29:20
But communication, it's the biggest thing.
29:21
A few to finish before we sink our teeth into these cars.
29:24
The next generation of Schwerkolts are into it.
29:28
They're either in the forklift game or they are in the business, aren't they?
29:33
Yeah.
29:34
I've got a beautiful daughter, CJ, which is Charlie J.
29:39
So she's another Charlie.
29:41
And she's a great piano teacher.
29:44
She started her own little piano teaching school called VAPA and unfortunately was one of the casualties of COVID.
29:53
You know, they're...
29:54
It just wasn't working.
29:55
So she somehow talked her way into working for Dad up at Waverley Forklift.
30:00
She's in our Queensland branch.
30:02
She loves it.
30:03
I think she's been there a couple of years now and doing a great job and she just got a bit of a promotion.
30:07
So she's going to rental and –
30:10
She's, she's very, very similar to dad.
30:14
Is she?
30:14
Yeah.
30:14
She's very similar.
30:15
Very, very, she's a bit of a, uh, energizer as well.
30:19
Go, go, go.
30:20
And, and, and hasn't got the finesse yet, but, uh, but no, she's, she's good.
30:25
My son, he's, he's going to go into Waverley one day too.
30:29
He's, um, he's with our partner, our tour to forklifts and he's doing a forklift apprenticeship there.
30:35
And, uh, he's, he's going great guns.
30:38
He's been there three years now.
30:39
And, uh,
30:40
And one day he'll probably work for Waverley, but he's really entrenched in the Toyota world.
30:45
He loves it and got a lot of mates up there and he's doing an awesome job.
30:49
And so really, really proud of both children.
30:52
In your amazing, as you should be, in your amazing story, you have been fishing with former US President George Bush Senior.
31:02
What the hell was that like?
31:04
What did you talk about?
31:05
Where did you go?
31:06
And so on.
31:07
It's going back 20 years now, but we had four cliffs with Vizzy, which is Richard Pratt, and got friends with Richard Pratt through connections, et cetera.
31:17
And Richard rang me up one day and said, hey, listen, I've got a VIP coming out.
31:23
Would you be able to take him on your boat?
31:25
I want a boat to go fishing or a charter boat.
31:29
And I said, yeah, sure, I can do it.
31:30
Who is it?
31:31
I can't tell you who it is yet, but...
31:34
all right, it's George Herbert Bush, the 43rd president of USA.
31:38
And I'm thinking, far out.
31:40
This is big.
31:41
This is massive.
31:41
And I said, yep, I'll do it.
31:42
What are you going to charge?
31:44
And I said, no, don't worry about it.
31:45
It'd be an honor to do it.
31:48
So I had to sign all these documents, secret service documents, the whole thing to make sure I don't tell anyone because he said, I'll put you under our PR department.
31:59
There's going to be a cavalcade coming.
32:00
My boat was down in St Kilda Marina.
32:02
Fully checked out.
32:03
The whole thing.
32:04
So what happened, my boat was confiscated from my pen and taken to the police compound and they had divers underneath and making sure there was nothing going to happen to the boat.
32:16
It was there for a week before this happened.
32:18
Couldn't tell any of my mates.
32:20
No one was allowed to know.
32:21
Signed all this disclosure statement.
32:23
And then all my mates said, what's going on with your boat?
32:26
You've run out of money or you've been on drugs, you've been caught.
32:28
What's going on?
32:29
And it was hilarious.
32:31
But then Cavalcade came in, put him on the boat.
32:34
A typical Melbourne dreary day.
32:38
windy waves and uh we went out in port phillip bay went fishing and i think we did uh catch nine uh flathead there we cooked them on the boat and uh it was a great day and his son was the president at the time had 9 11 since then and he was a good guy and uh he drove the boat all i wanted to do was drive your boat so i got some really cool pictures of him driving my boat and
33:02
So it was a special day and I regret one thing.
33:04
He said, got to come back to Houston.
33:07
Anytime you want, come and stay at the ranch.
33:08
And I should have done it, just got a bit too busy.
33:12
But he was a cool dude and unfortunately he's passed away about a year ago.
33:16
So, yeah.
33:17
Right.
33:18
Step us through a couple of the cool cars that we are sitting in today.
33:22
It is so good to be recording a podcast in a...
33:27
man cave environment like this.
33:29
So there are front ends of race cars, there are bonnets, there are team signs that you would ordinarily see above garages at racetracks and so on.
33:39
Now, I'm drawn to a couple of them.
33:41
Firstly, there is...
33:44
a Mustang over my shoulder here, Shelby, pretty rare blue too.
33:49
Is that right?
33:49
Yeah, look, that Shelby, you can't call them Mustangs anymore.
33:53
I think they're just a Shelby because the Ford name's on it.
33:55
But it's a Carroll Shelby Mustang that I've had for about 15 years and I brought off the original owner of America.
34:02
It came out in a container.
34:04
And it was full of rust, completely rusted out and was borderline restoring it.
34:08
But no, we did restore it.
34:10
A friend of mine in Brisbane did it and got that all done.
34:13
And it's one of 47 in Acapulco blue with the stripes and everything, a beautiful car.
34:18
And we just had it up at Noosa Concours, which I normally don't have time or do these car shows.
34:24
But a friend of mine, Steve Padgett, started this Noosa Concours, sort of like the Pebble Beach and...
34:30
So I said I put a car in, so I put that one in.
34:32
It was really good fun.
34:34
So I put that in and, yeah, it's a great event.
34:37
So that's one of them.
34:38
There's a caddy, I think, which the kids have had some special maybe school-related things in, have they?
34:46
Like school functions perhaps?
34:48
Yeah, formals and all that sort of stuff.
34:49
And the old Cadillac, I've had it for 25, 30 years.
34:52
It's an old convertible.
34:53
It's got electric seats, air conditioning, all sorts of, everything's electric on it.
34:58
She's an old 64 model.
35:00
And yeah, it's a cool old car.
35:03
Charlie Schwerkort, double old Shevin.
35:07
Now, I'm not doing Sean Connery very well there.
35:10
Not too bad.
35:11
There is an Aston.
35:12
There is an Aston that is, on the outside, Bond-esque.
35:18
What lies beneath is a very, at the moment, is a very different story, isn't it?
35:22
Tell us about that.
35:23
Yeah, look, a friend of mine tipped me into a car that they said they want to maybe sell and this lady said it was an Austin, Austin Martin, and I thought I couldn't quite work it out.
35:33
But anyway, I found out, yeah, it's a genuine Aston Martin.
35:37
It's a DB6.
35:41
I'd been trying 11 years to buy this car.
35:43
It's a very, very special car.
35:45
And I've only had it about a year.
35:47
But unfortunately, it's got a bit of a – you could just about write a book on this car.
35:53
The original owner who's just passed away, the only owner of the car besides me now –
36:00
Uh, couldn't keep the car in tune, the whole thing and had trouble with the engine.
36:04
So they transplanted the engine out of it.
36:07
The beautiful triple Weber Aston Martin engine.
36:09
They put a Ford Falcon six cylinder in it with an automatic, which was sacrilege.
36:14
It was terrible.
36:15
But fortunately, they didn't get rid of the engine.
36:19
I've got the engine sitting next to me now.
36:21
And so we're going to restore this car and send it to friends down in Sydney to get restored.
36:28
And it'll be a beautiful car.
36:29
It's a very, very special car.
36:31
Rare color too.
36:32
And the engine is a rare – the original engine I'm talking now is a rare spec, isn't it?
36:36
Yeah, look, the original colour was mink, which is a bit of a silver pinkish colour and not many of them around this colour.
36:46
Lord knows why he painted it gold, but anyway, he's painted it.
36:49
And the last – this is one of the last few of the DB6s and they put a –
36:55
the high performance engine and it's still the Aston engine that it was a Vantage engine so uh hopefully that's got one of these hot rod cams in it and it'll burble away and cannot wait to get this car done it'll be a couple of year restoration and and uh
37:09
Yeah, what a car to drive.
37:10
With Webbers, it'll sound sweet.
37:12
Now, over my shoulder is a Jag.
37:14
You probably, at the time the inquiries were sort of moving around, you thought maybe this is an XJS.
37:21
I don't think you were a Jag type necessarily, but you've ended up with something pretty cool, haven't you?
37:26
Yeah, as you know, Jags are full of oil leaks.
37:28
There's plenty of them.
37:29
Sorry to all the Jag fans, but a friend of mine said someone wants to sell their Jag and I thought it's going to be one of those XJ6 saloons or something and I thought, look, I don't want to say no.
37:41
But sure enough, I was very fortunate to see a beautiful British Racing Green E-Type Roadster manual, beautiful, beautiful old car and –
37:52
And it's certainly up there with all the cars that I've got.
37:55
And yeah, I love it.
37:56
Snapshot of a couple of other things, if we can.
37:59
There's a ute.
38:00
Little GMC truck, a little pickup truck, little C10 stepside.
38:04
Got a big block to put in that one day.
38:06
And it's a tough little truck.
38:08
something special that you've saved from the end of the Holden chapter to one of the last to kind of roll off the line.
38:14
Yeah, it's a brand new Holden Calais director, one of the very, very last ones sitting over there.
38:20
I think that wouldn't even have nine or ten Ks on it, I don't think, and it's sitting over there.
38:24
So we've got the plastic on the wheel and the seats and all that sort of stuff.
38:27
I just start it up once a month and give a bit of an idle and who knows what I'll do with that one day.
38:32
It'll...
38:33
It should be a good investment, I would have thought.
38:36
And yeah, no, it's a proper.
38:37
Cool.
38:38
In true indication of your time in supercars, there is Fords as well.
38:44
So there's a Falcon over here and it's got a pretty special story or chapter, doesn't it?
38:52
Yeah, Dick obviously made some road cars.
38:54
They were called the DJR 320.
38:57
I think they were 320 kilowatt.
38:59
And he ended up making about 22 of them.
39:02
Rob Herod did all the conversion and all that sort of stuff back then.
39:05
And they were big money.
39:07
I think they were about 100 grand.
39:09
They were even more than an FPR car back then.
39:11
And I thought, well, I'll get one of these and it was build number 18 out of the 22.
39:16
And then we supercharged two of them, number 17, which was Dick's white one, and number 18, which was mine.
39:24
And, yeah, it's still over there.
39:28
For its day, I think that was 04, 05, a BF.
39:30
And, yeah, it's a nice car.
39:33
Yeah.
39:35
And in supercars terms, complete with the Jim Beam livery of the time, there is a Davison car.
39:42
And we've talked already about the Courtney car in Melbourne, haven't we?
39:45
Yeah, the Davison car.
39:46
That's a BF as well.
39:48
That last race in 08 at Oran Park, which was the Jim Beam 400 then, with Will Davison running it.
39:58
Normally, then it goes into the Super 2.
40:00
Normally, this car has done no racing since then, none at all.
40:04
It did some parade laps in its Jim Beam livery with, I'll put Matthew Brabham in it at the Adelaide 500 one year, and we did some parade laps and all that.
40:15
That's the only time it's ever run again.
40:18
But it's all ready to race, the whole thing.
40:20
And, yeah, no, it's a great car.
40:22
Awesome.
40:22
Congratulations on...
40:25
amazing, you know, there's more to come here, I know, but what you've done so far, it's been nice to talk a bit of business with you as well and for me and hopefully the fans too to understand a bit more of the Schwerkol family story, your own story and the proper passion and connection to motor racing.
40:45
As you embark on another journey, I think you
40:48
part of that book that I read for this.
40:50
What do you reckon Charlie Schwerkold of today would tell that young bloke taking over the reins from his dad in 1988?
40:57
What are the learnings?
40:59
Yeah, look, I don't think there'll be another book for 50 years anyway.
41:03
I'm not going to make that far.
41:05
Always, you know, you've got to work so hard and never give up.
41:10
You can't give up.
41:11
But, you know, my kids aren't lazy or anything like that.
41:15
Just work it and work it and work it.
41:18
um you get results you really get results and and um it's been it's it's been a wonderful journey i had and i'm i'm it's a long way to go still i've got a lot of things i want i've got goals everywhere that i want to achieve and in personal and and car racing and and so um yeah but the next chapter is pretty exciting too lots lots on the go
41:40
plenty of blood, sweat and tears poured into it.
41:44
That win for Frosty must have been one to savour.
41:47
There's been polls and podiums.
41:48
We hope, my friend, that there is, with what you've now done here, that there's a lot more success to come.
41:56
We wish you well with that.
41:58
Thank you for talking to us today.
41:59
Cheers, Rusty.
42:00
Thank you.
42:00
It's been really, really special, so thanks again.
42:05
A little footnote to finish here.
42:06
When we recorded this episode with Charlie, it was only a week or two prior to the announcement that Scott Pye was going to be leaving the team.
42:14
He has been with them since 2020 when Team 18 expanded to a two-car operation.
42:20
Coming in to replace him, 2017 Bathurst winner David Reynolds.
42:24
Quite a coup.
42:25
Now, we wanted to ensure that we wrapped up the pod nicely.
42:28
We couldn't leave this out.
42:29
So we've gone back to Charlie and asked him for his thoughts on both these bits of news.
42:35
Yeah, thanks, Frosty.
42:36
Good question.
42:37
Lots going on at the moment at Team 18.
42:41
Scott Pye is moving on at the end of the year.
42:43
He's been an integral part of the team.
42:46
He's been with the team four years, which has been a pretty solid line-up with Frosty and Scotty.
42:52
But some new opportunities have arisen with Dave.
42:56
I've known Dave quite a while now, but probably the big thing he's raced with,
43:01
with Bruin and Dennis in the team.
43:03
They've won Bathurst together, and we can see some great opportunities with Dave.
43:08
And so, yeah, we're really, really excited about that.
43:12
You know, we've been chatting, Rusty, we've been chatting about the driver line-up for, yeah, a few months now to see what's out there.
43:19
And we've got a great culture at Team 18, and I think Dave's going to fit into that culture very, very well.
43:27
He enjoys the banter, a bit of fun, etc.
43:31
But he can obviously drive.
43:32
I think he's had 40-odd podiums.
43:35
Bruin and Dennis have had a lot of experience with him at Bathurst, etc., winning races.
43:40
And I really think he's got a lot to offer to the team to make Team 18 really fantastic.
43:56
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
44:00
Series editor and producer is Thomas Dullard.
44:03
Audio production by Link Kelly.
44:06
If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me via social media.
44:10
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