Latest / Rusty's Garage / Alison Drower - Part 2

Transcript

Alison Drower - Part 2 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:18
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with Alison Droher.
• 0:22
  It's something of a where are they now, and it is awesome to catch up with my colleague.
• 0:26
  Alison was part of the RPM magazine show that Channel 10 pioneered during a golden period for the network between the late 90s to the mid-2000s.
• 0:35
  10 had the lion's share of motorsport back then, and RPM was almost...
• 0:40
  compulsory viewing on a weekend with all sorts of yarns that showcased the personalities and took you behind the scenes when we weren't all caught up in the contest.
• 0:48
  When you think about it, Alison was actually an early leading light for women in motorsport in our part of the world before it became the very important program that it is today.
• 0:59
  Now, as I always say, if you've arrived here and not heard part one, jump back to the library and enjoy some reminiscing.
• 1:05
  How it all started for her, including working with the late legend Doug Mulray at Listener's sister network, Triple M. Doug was the undisputed king of Sydney radio then and would often be involved with Mike Raymond and the Channel 7 team when they had Bathurst in the Australian Touring Car Championship.
• 1:21
  Plus, working for MTV.
• 1:24
  And how this radio newsreader,
• 1:26
  together with a band of brothers from triple m and mtv would end up at 10. lots of cool stuff to come in this second part as well including her son who is doing some great things behind the wheel now in super 2 let's get back to the convo
• 1:42
  I love how the kind of in life sometimes planets align, right?
• 1:45
  And I don't always understand how you get to that point, but sometimes they do.
• 1:49
  And for both of us, you know, to be there at 10 when, you know, Barry Sheen was there and Billy Woods, RPM, the emergence of Lee Diffie and Daryl Beattie, all these people that were coming through.
• 2:02
  And to have, as you talked about before, this pool of motorsport, I mean, you couldn't
• 2:10
  want for anything else on a Sunday afternoon.
• 2:12
  They had it all, didn't they?
• 2:13
  Champ car and...
• 2:15
  Covered it all.
• 2:16
  Super bikes.
• 2:17
  Yeah, yeah.
• 2:18
  Yeah, yeah.
• 2:19
  And, you know, it really explained a lot too.
• 2:22
  And that was the thing that was fabulous about the team.
• 2:27
  While there was a massive depth there of legends and expertise, it was never elitist, right?
• 2:37
  No, never.
• 2:38
  It connected.
• 2:40
  We wanted to share.
• 2:41
  And Bill Woods in that regard was probably a perfect anchor because he never pretended to know everything.
• 2:50
  And he was quite happy to sort of ask the question that you too was thinking about when you were sitting back home on your couch.
• 2:58
  So, yeah, the depth of talent for that period.
• 3:03
  And it was a real family.
• 3:04
  You know, we travelled a lot together.
• 3:06
  Yeah.
• 3:08
  You know, a lot.
• 3:11
  And, you know, you talk about think tanks.
• 3:13
  Most of them were drink tanks.
• 3:15
  So, you know, they were, you know, a lot of good fun there with those guys.
• 3:21
  Loved it every minute.
• 3:23
  The truth is Helen Colantonio and some of the team behind the scenes, they used to keep Kit Kats in the drawer for Baz, didn't they?
• 3:29
  He loved them.
• 3:30
  He had a little Kit Kat stash there.
• 3:32
  And Billy would...
• 3:34
  He is such a master, right?
• 3:37
  He was very good to me with different things I learned along the way.
• 3:40
  But I can vividly recall, I think, Scott coming to him, Scott Young, and saying, right, here's the final rundown, you know, whatever the show length was back then, 60, 90 minutes, whatever it was.
• 3:49
  And Billy would have to fill in all the gaps in the autocue and he could freewheel.
• 3:53
  Like he could just talk anyway, but he could use the autocue beautifully.
• 3:58
  And so he'd fill in all that stuff and he'd go off and do a story voiceover or whatever and invariably –
• 4:05
  Baz or Daz would have mucked his computer around and gone to a website that probably shouldn't have and all these kind of things.
• 4:12
  It was just laughs aplenty and I think that kind of filtered through ultimately into what we did on air because we genuinely had fun and it just changed up the way that we connected with some of these riders and drivers and bringing out that personality that you talked about before.
• 4:26
  It was such a good bit of timing in that regard.
• 4:32
  It wasn't
• 4:34
  about us, but if we could be in the story with them, but help to bring out their character, it was kind of box ticked, wasn't it?
• 4:41
  Well, that was the job, Greg.
• 4:43
  You know, like it was, you know, it was a privilege to just be, get a little glimpse into that world, you know.
• 4:52
  One of, my first time to Bathurst was when Russell Ingle and Larry Perkins won the race, you know, and we just happened.
• 5:01
  I remember Scott Young saying, pick a team to follow.
• 5:04
  And I went, oh, it's Brockie's last year.
• 5:05
  Maybe we should do him, you know, like, you know, it's his last big Bathurst.
• 5:10
  And we went, no, no, let's try.
• 5:13
  And I remember I couldn't even recognise Russell Inble.
• 5:15
  I walked past him.
• 5:16
  But, you know, coming up with those nicknames too, like the Enforcer, you know, like creating the personas that, you know, are still around today.
• 5:27
  We latched onto.
• 5:28
  We do.
• 5:28
  We latched onto those things.
• 5:29
  Yeah, yeah.
• 5:30
  Yeah, yeah.
• 5:30
  So that was important.
• 5:31
  It was very important as part of building the brand, you know, but we didn't think of brand back then, you know.
• 5:37
  It was just a show, a show we did on Sundays, you know, not a brand.
• 5:41
  Yeah.
• 5:41
  We digest stuff so differently now.
• 5:43
  I mean, everything's on your, you know, in the palm of your hand and you can get it on social media or whatever.
• 5:47
  But, I mean, we're talking tape.
• 5:50
  There was always missions to get the stuff fed back in time to certain places.
• 5:54
  You might have been in Tasmania and you've got to file it and get it back to Sydney.
• 5:57
  I mean, it was –
• 5:59
  Oh, nightmare.
• 6:01
  Proper mission, proper mission, wasn't it?
• 6:03
  Oh, yeah.
• 6:03
  And, you know, like even covering Rally Australia or any rally, you know, you'd be up at three in the morning to get into the stage with the cameraman.
• 6:13
  Then you had to wait to the stage club.
• 6:15
  Then the tape would, you'd have to meet the chopper.
• 6:17
  The chopper would take the tape back to Perth.
• 6:21
  There'd be highlights packages for news.
• 6:23
  And like I watch WRC coverage these days and I'm just in awe that you can actually sit in...
• 6:31
  You can see the in-car of Rally of Sweden, you know, and the technology involved.
• 6:38
  But RPM and Scott Young and others were very progressive.
• 6:43
  You know, the super special stage at Rally Australia, the Bunnings stage, as they called it, you know, it was three kilometres, I think about three kilometres.
• 6:52
  It was live.
• 6:52
  It was the first time they ever did live rally ever in the world.
• 6:57
  So imagine the amount of cable that you have to roll out to...
• 7:00
  to actually achieve that, you know.
• 7:03
  That was the start and all the in-car and the on-boards.
• 7:06
  And a lot of people forget that the 10 technical guys actually drove that, you know, they created that.
• 7:14
  So, yeah, it was a real –
• 7:17
  Yeah, real feather in the old helmet.
• 7:19
  Yeah, totally.
• 7:20
  There's a huge feather in the cap of 10 sport, basically, is what you're saying.
• 7:25
  Absolutely.
• 7:25
  Because, I mean, to take that into the proper natural environment of rally and to do it live was just a massive, compared to now, it was just a huge thing to have a bite at and to do it the way they did was superb.
• 7:40
  There's a couple of cool stories that came out of that.
• 7:43
  One that, pardon me, that not many people realise.
• 7:47
  There's a bit of logistics in getting people to places.
• 7:49
  And I think, if memory serves, Billy and Barry Sheen had to relocate to a particular spot at one point in the coverage.
• 7:59
  And we were coming out of an ad break and they didn't quite make it in time.
• 8:03
  So Scott radioed, I think, Lee Diffie.
• 8:06
  and said, Diff, where are you kind of thing?
• 8:09
  And Diff said I'm – you know, where he was transiting somewhere too.
• 8:13
  And he said, okay, he goes, your microphone's working.
• 8:16
  That's kind of box tick number one.
• 8:18
  He goes, I'm going to relay these pictures, what's going to air, and you've got a live voice over it.
• 8:23
  and kind of bring us back out of the commercial break until we can get Billy and Baz in place, right?
• 8:29
  So Diff is literally in the middle of nowhere.
• 8:31
  He doesn't have a monitor to see the vision and the beautiful art form that my friend has gone on to do so well internationally.
• 8:40
  And he did it blind, absolutely blind and pulled it off.
• 8:44
  Everyone at home would never have known that –
• 8:48
  That was the challenge.
• 8:50
  Exactly.
• 8:50
  Exactly.
• 8:52
  But they pulled it off.
• 8:52
  They pulled it off.
• 8:53
  And, you know, World Rally, I think, in many respects, benefits from that.
• 8:57
  Have you got a yarn from the RPM days that you remember fondly, the one that really maybe resonated with the audience, one that you feel very proud of?
• 9:05
  Because there's just literally, in the end, for both of us, there was hundreds, hundreds of stories, thousands probably even, you know?
• 9:11
  Well, yeah.
• 9:13
  I guess ultimately Target Tasmania because I got a husband out of that one.
• 9:18
  So that worked all right.
• 9:23
  And, you know, another one we did really well was the Fast Wives Club where we'd get all the wags together and have a really good lunch, you know.
• 9:33
  And I remember Craig Louds coming to pick up.
• 9:37
  his missus at the time, you know, we'd had quite, you know, escaping coming to pick, you know, like it was just a really, you know, it was a great way to get another insight into the headspace of the guys that were competing.
• 9:51
  That was always good fun.
• 9:53
  But, you know, so many, you know, I remember once all the IndyCar drivers were up at the Gold Cars staying on the map at the Marriott.
• 10:02
  And I got the brief.
• 10:04
  We want you to go to the Marriott and just get in the elevator and keep going up and down the elevator with your cameraman until you get drivers as they're coming down for breakfast.
• 10:16
  We did.
• 10:17
  We got a story out of that and they loved it.
• 10:20
  They absolutely bought into it.
• 10:22
  And that, that was the, I think RPM by that stage and 10 had such a good reputation for just being, um, that we weren't out to, you know, destroy anyone's, you know, reputations or, or exploit anyone.
• 10:36
  It was just the sake that it was just a real good idea.
• 10:39
  And we, we'd look after you.
• 10:41
  We'll, we'll look after you persona.
• 10:42
  We're not going to,
• 10:43
  smash you.
• 10:43
  So yeah, that was just crazy times.
• 10:46
  Oh, the number of Miss Indie competitions, you know, that I've covered.
• 10:52
  Oh, look, it's another blonde.
• 10:54
  Yay.
• 10:55
  Yeah.
• 10:55
  So it was just, yeah, kind of good times.
• 10:59
  Now you said you got a husband out of it.
• 11:01
  So let's go there right now.
• 11:03
  I may or may not have done a little bit of fact checking with one son of yours, Zach Bates, who tells me to ask you about...
• 11:12
  For him, he says one of the funniest yarns was you guys meeting, you co-driving for Rick, and evidently was there an excursion off the road?
• 11:22
  What happened?
• 11:24
  Yeah.
• 11:25
  I said right three, and it should have been left three.
• 11:29
  No.
• 11:30
  Yeah.
• 11:31
  That was the second year that we did Targa where we actually took it up a notch.
• 11:37
  You know, we had a Celica.
• 11:39
  We had one of the brand new Celicas Toyota had entrusted us with.
• 11:43
  And we were very competitive.
• 11:46
  I think even in the wet, Rick actually beat Jim Richards on one of the stages, right?
• 11:52
  on the third or fourth day.
• 11:54
  And we were running top 10 in a standard showroom, Salika.
• 12:00
  And one of the scariest moments was when we were across Arrowfield, which is a very long, one of the final stages of Targa.
• 12:06
  And, you know, Rick goes, oh, shit.
• 12:09
  And I went, oh,
• 12:11
  He goes, oh, he said, this has got a limiter on it, you know, like as in a speed limiter.
• 12:17
  Yeah, we're going as fast as we can.
• 12:19
  I'm going, oh, well, it's fine.
• 12:21
  It's going fast enough, you know.
• 12:23
  And then also I was reading pace notes and, you know, you start getting your groove on sometimes when you kind of a little bit of cockiness there as well.
• 12:33
  But, no, the big moment is that not long after that, yeah, I made a –
• 12:41
  wrong call going up through the Queenstown.
• 12:43
  It was a climb and then a quick dip.
• 12:45
  And again, it was wet.
• 12:47
  We passed a Porsche in a Saliga and down we go.
• 12:51
  And I just, I think my heart rate was just up and I just, yeah, lost concentration for a minute.
• 12:57
  And you just went into a culvert and we basically crabbed it all the way back to Hobart.
• 13:03
  So we could have, I think we went from 10th down to 35th or something, but that was, um,
• 13:10
  Yeah, it made me appreciate that there's so much work goes into rallying before you even get to a stage, you know.
• 13:17
  Stage, yeah.
• 13:18
  It's, but yeah, you know, Mr. Toyota never called back for a second go, but...
• 13:26
  But Rick seemed to forgive me, which is a very, you know, very honourable of him.
• 13:30
  Yeah, so that was all right.
• 13:31
  Yeah, very cool.
• 13:32
  I mean, effectively under the umbrella, there really was kind of three appearances with him because there was one in Alexis for memory, the Toyota Celica, and an MR2, wasn't there?
• 13:41
  Yeah, yeah, that was, yeah, yeah, which –
• 13:44
  It was, yeah, I can't remember.
• 13:47
  Yeah, there was the MR2.
• 13:48
  You're right.
• 13:48
  You're right, Rusty.
• 13:49
  Well done.
• 13:51
  And, yeah, we did three consecutive years and we were in tandem with another MR2 as well.
• 13:59
  But then...
• 14:01
  I can't remember.
• 14:02
  I can't even remember where we finished that year.
• 14:05
  So you'd had some experience with Coral Taylor learning pace notes and stuff.
• 14:10
  And do you feel this kind of time went on?
• 14:12
  Because it is an art form, that, isn't it?
• 14:14
  And when that moment comes together where you're on the notes and it flows perfectly for the driver, there is something magic that.
• 14:23
  And it's not easily done at all.
• 14:26
  But when it does all come together like that, it's amazing, isn't it?
• 14:29
  Oh, yeah, and you look at Coral now, who's co-driving for Harry Bates, you know, who won another Australian championship at the age of 60, you know, Coral is still in her prime and, you know, always giving back.
• 14:47
  like which you know she deserves an oam in my opinion um but she's you know an order of australian motorsport that's what she needs but she's um and again you know even little molly you know sort of watching her go go grow up and you know she was determined to be a driver even at the age of five or six when we
• 15:09
  We chatted to some of the kids of various motorsport personalities.
• 15:12
  She said, I'm going to be a driver.
• 15:14
  And I said, I think you will, Molly.
• 15:15
  So, yeah, so it's been lovely to watch, really good, generationally.
• 15:19
  Excellent.
• 15:20
  Did you ever confuse your husband with his brother, Neil Bates, because they're twins?
• 15:25
  Could you tell them apart very early on?
• 15:27
  Did you ever confuse them?
• 15:29
  No.
• 15:30
  You did?
• 15:31
  No.
• 15:31
  Look, once I think somewhere I kind of started talking to him,
• 15:37
  to Neil and then I said well we better get going he said I'm Neil okay I'll go and get the other one but like they are so similar and a lot of people ask that question or when I like first met them no I found it very difficult um yeah but Rick will always say he's the good looking one
• 16:06
  As you know, I am full of more facts than Rusty.
• 16:09
  So, how about this one?
• 16:11
  Before broadcast, Lee Diffie went on to call supercars, to the UK to commentate world superbike, to the US to call IndyCar an F1, and now he's the 100-meter athletics final caller for NBC at the Olympics.
• 16:24
  He was a teacher.
• 16:25
  That's right, a freaking teacher.
• 16:28
  Graduated university, I went and taught for a couple of years at Ipswich Grammar School.
• 16:34
  which was a journey in itself because I taught PE and 10th grade maths.
• 16:43
  And then I taught, then we started, well, they started a junior school, which was grade seven to begin with.
• 16:49
  Now they've got all the way down to, I think, grade one.
• 16:51
  But anyway, I taught the first ever junior school there and then all the way up to grade 12, which was sometimes intimidating because the kids, you know, I had to discipline.
• 17:01
  You know me, I'm a short ass.
• 17:02
  I was like looking up at the kids.
• 17:03
  I was like, hey, how'd you do that again?
• 17:05
  You know, I think any of these kids, some of these some of these first 15 rugby players could have squashed me.
• 17:10
  But, you know, I had I think I had them bluffed for a little while.
• 17:14
  That's even better than Rusty's former life as a finance man.
• 17:18
  But those kids sure are looking up to Diff now.
• 17:21
  Ah, it brings a tear to my eye.
• 17:24
  Sorry, I'm getting carried away.
• 17:26
  Back to you, Rusty.
• 17:29
  So tell me a little bit about from, you know, the pathway along through RPM and so on.
• 17:38
  Is there something out of that that you feel like if you were to tell a young racer, you know, from your time at Triple M, from your time at Network 10 and so on.
• 17:47
  And, I mean, you're kind of passing on a little bit of this stuff to your own son now in some respects.
• 17:51
  I mean, he's away and often doing his thing.
• 17:54
  But what do you reckon the key takeaways are for young racers when they're dealing with media and people like you and so on and what they need to do from a presentation standpoint and what they need to bring to the table?
• 18:05
  Watch Will Brown do it.
• 18:07
  Yeah.
• 18:08
  And essentially be yourself, but don't try and be another Will Brown.
• 18:13
  You know, be yourself, be true to yourself.
• 18:16
  And also often with media training and stuff, I've done a little bit over the years, you know, work out that there's always some little morsel of your race or your practice or your quality that stands out to you when you get out of the car.
• 18:31
  And it's a case of holding onto that.
• 18:33
  So if you do...
• 18:34
  you know, get cornered by Rihanna or Garth or someone to be asked a question.
• 18:42
  You know, take that little morsel and share it.
• 18:45
  You know, even if it's not gold, even if it wasn't that great, you know, share it, be true to yourself.
• 18:52
  And that way, you know, it's part of tell a story.
• 18:57
  And that's all it's about, media.
• 18:59
  It's just telling stories, really.
• 19:03
  And as you say, holding on to that back story that the media may not know and sharing and having that conversation around that stuff.
• 19:10
  And it's hard when they're young, you know, because they're so emotional, you know.
• 19:15
  Oh, the number of tantrums in the trailer.
• 19:19
  A Canberra Go-Kart Club, you know, 11 and 12 and the number of times, you know, get your act together or we're just hooking this up and we're going home, you know, like, and having those young kids able to manage that emotion.
• 19:34
  because they do wear their hearts on their sleeves when things don't go well.
• 19:38
  And it's how they manage that.
• 19:41
  And that's the maturity thing.
• 19:42
  And I don't think you can expect anyone that's when they're 17, 18, 19, and they're desperate to get to that main game and get noticed.
• 19:53
  I've got to get noticed.
• 19:54
  I've got to do well all the time.
• 19:56
  It's just incredibly a lot of pressure to put on anyone.
• 20:02
  So at what age – I mean he's in a – you're all in a motor racing family, right, a well-known dynasty, if you like, in Australian motorsport now.
• 20:11
  We know that Zach's cousins in Harry and Lewis are off doing rally and so on.
• 20:16
  At what age does Zach say, hey, mum and dad, I'm keen to do something too?
• 20:21
  How did that all come about and were there reservations?
• 20:24
  What did you think –
• 20:25
  No, not really.
• 20:26
  I mean, we're lucky.
• 20:27
  We live on a bit of acreage here just out of Canberra.
• 20:30
  So we were always, he had a little quad bike, you know, motorbike and peewee.
• 20:36
  you know, my Yamaha.
• 20:37
  And so he was always kind of out and about, you know, doing wheelies and all that sort of stuff.
• 20:42
  But he never really had a burning ambition to do any sort of motorsport.
• 20:46
  He was into soccer, you know, wanted to do soccer with his friends.
• 20:50
  Excuse me.
• 20:51
  And then about, you know, he probably got to about the age of 11 and then one Sunday the go-kart meeting was on down the road.
• 20:57
  We could see the go-kart track from our kitchen window, you know.
• 21:01
  And he said, oh, the go-kart's on, Mum.
• 21:03
  I said, oh, well, do you want to go and have a look?
• 21:04
  Yeah.
• 21:05
  go and have a look.
• 21:06
  And the next thing you know, Santa's bringing a shazzy for Christmas.
• 21:13
  which actually McDewan's son Jack had a spare one and we were able to kind of get that little chassis when he moved into the next category because they grow so fast, Greg.
• 21:23
  Yeah, yeah.
• 21:25
  And anyway, so that came down.
• 21:26
  We didn't have any wheels, but we just had the chassis for Christmas.
• 21:30
  And then, you know, we were able to sort of suddenly just, we went into the rookie class and the Cadet 12s and we had Cameron Hill who was sort of moving through the ranks.
• 21:39
  So Cameron and his dad would come and help us.
• 21:42
  Zach actually had his first race win at club level with Cameron running him.
• 21:47
  So that was a very cool thing.
• 21:50
  And then he just started growing, you know, and we thought, oh, my goodness, how long are we going to stay in go-karts?
• 21:58
  And we weren't one of those go-kart families that were out every single weekend, you know, seeking –
• 22:05
  trophies at faraway places.
• 22:07
  I mean, I wanted him to have a really good school life and I wanted him to understand that, you know, it's a very, it's a real privilege to be ever, to think that you could make a living out of motorsport, you know, you've got to get real sun.
• 22:23
  And so with the growth spurts, et cetera, we put him into Formula Ford and then a case of, we just did the New South Wales Championships, that's all we did in go-karting.
• 22:34
  We didn't chase the Nationals.
• 22:37
  And then, again, next step was 86s.
• 22:40
  And we thought, well, we were loving what we were seeing.
• 22:43
  Even though Neil Bates Motorsport was involved with it, it wasn't really –
• 22:50
  the driving force.
• 22:52
  We know Toyotas, so we kind of knew the cost of it.
• 22:57
  But we just decided let's get him into a car as soon as we can.
• 23:01
  So as soon as he turned 16, yeah, we ran Formula 4 and 86 together for one year.
• 23:08
  And then, yeah, the rest, he's made his own way.
• 23:12
  But you've got to, I guess, also let them step back a little bit and be their own people.
• 23:18
  people as well.
• 23:19
  You can only drive them so far, you know.
• 23:23
  We really got to see in 86 terms just kind of the talent that he's got.
• 23:28
  That brought together a number of factors.
• 23:30
  I mean, you talked about...
• 23:32
  Neil Bates Motorsport and the development they have done on the 86 cars, you know, in a broad sense.
• 23:38
  But also Neil Crompton in the background, too, the way that he and his team run that series so professionally.
• 23:43
  I mean, it is a ultra competitive and hard to succeed at or win.
• 23:50
  And then secondly, the grounding that it helps.
• 23:53
  I mean, the pathway that some of them that have come out of 86 and gone on to now, it's proven, isn't it?
• 23:58
  And I think a lot of people are quite surprised when they get into the 86 category that it is so competitive because it's a one-make series.
• 24:08
  It's about driver ability.
• 24:11
  you're right, the Neil Bates team definitely makes sure that, you know, those cars are exactly the same, you know, the specifications are very strict.
• 24:22
  So, you know, for someone to do well and consistently well, we were shocked.
• 24:29
  I've got to say, 2021 was a year that, you know, as a family, I went through another cancer battle, you know, and I've been,
• 24:41
  I, one of my proudest moments of Zach was I was here in, Rick and I stayed here while he went to Townsville with the rest of the family for the 500 round of the 86.
• 24:54
  And I remember we were watching it on the TV.
• 24:56
  I was in hospital, you know, and I just couldn't believe that, you know, he beat Lee Holdsworth, you know, like it was only his second round.
• 25:05
  And he did three from three and he was just,
• 25:10
  And for a 16-year-old kid, or 16, to be able to, you know, get his act together and keep his shit together and do what he did after the few weeks we'd had as a family was just phenomenal.
• 25:29
  And that's really, that was a breakthrough moment, I think, for us where we thought, he's got talent.
• 25:35
  We're really going to have to give this a good shake.
• 25:40
  while he completes his HSC.
• 25:44
  Get real.
• 25:44
  While we stay nice and real about that.
• 25:46
  So, yeah.
• 25:47
  Yeah.
• 25:47
  Yeah.
• 25:48
  A couple of things.
• 25:49
  A couple of things out of that.
• 25:50
  Firstly, are you well?
• 25:52
  Are you healthy?
• 25:53
  Oh, I'm great.
• 25:54
  Yeah, I'm great.
• 25:54
  Yeah, good.
• 25:55
  Good.
• 25:55
  Excellent.
• 25:56
  Excellent.
• 25:56
  Hair's fat.
• 25:57
  I mean, that must have been good tonic, Alison.
• 26:00
  I mean, to see him do well while you were going through that and to know that he's
• 26:05
  You know, I mean, at such a young age to be a mature and chasing the thing.
• 26:10
  I mean, as I say, I think that's good.
• 26:12
  Must be good tonic.
• 26:13
  Well, it was important to keep him doing what he needed to do and just get on with it, you know.
• 26:19
  And that's why my whole, I guess, philosophy these days is that, you know, having been through that, I...
• 26:29
  you've just got to get on and just have a go.
• 26:34
  And because at the end of the day, you know, you've really, if he's got the talent to make it, and there's so many factors, you know, we're going to just do what we can.
• 26:49
  And we've sort of said to him, you know, the last two years with Wolken Show and Dreddy United in their foundation in the Super 2, yeah.
• 26:58
  That's his time.
• 26:59
  We've said, this is your time.
• 27:01
  You make the most of this and we'll support you.
• 27:05
  Because a lot of people think that, you know...
• 27:08
  So many people still think that you don't pay to be, you know, you get paid to be at that level.
• 27:14
  You don't.
• 27:15
  And we've got some fantastic sponsors.
• 27:18
  That's a big mission for you guys, though, isn't it?
• 27:20
  That's the big, big mission.
• 27:22
  And also when you've gone through something that has made you reflect, I'm not going to get all Oprah on you, love, but, you know, when you do go through something like that,
• 27:36
  you get a little angry because you think, well, you know, why?
• 27:39
  I may not, you know, I've worked so hard and I've always gone for whatever I wanted, you know, and we've got, but I may not be able to enjoy that ultimately.
• 27:52
  Something might happen down the track.
• 27:54
  And I just decided that we would just go for it.
• 27:59
  And, yeah, so I don't regret.
• 28:07
  a moment of it at all, whether it's a good or bad race weekend, I don't care because he's just having a go.
• 28:14
  And if at the end of the day, you know, it's not what his chapter is going to be in his book, that's okay.
• 28:21
  But we, you know, as a family, because we always set out to do this as a family, we're the pods.
• 28:27
  Welcome to Show Andretta United, call us the pods.
• 28:29
  That's parents that drive us.
• 28:31
  So, you know, and they go, bring in the pods, bring in the pods, you know, have a seat, you know, and then I guess the sponsors are the sods, Greg.
• 28:40
  The sods and the pods, we all sit together.
• 28:42
  So, like, you know, so it's important that, you know, and you see that along pit lane, there's still a lot of families, you know, but the big thing is stepping back.
• 28:52
  And that's been very challenging for someone like Rick who himself has
• 28:57
  you know, has had several top 10 finishes at Bathurst over the years and different things.
• 29:01
  So to step back and just let, let Walcanshaw and, and that, that, for Zach to have the insights of a Chaz and a, a Fabian Crueltard and a, a Lee Holdsworth and,
• 29:18
  you know, those engineers, you know, Starry, Rob Starr, it's just priceless.
• 29:24
  You can't put a price on that sort of stuff, even though it costs you a bomb.
• 29:30
  But you're in the moment and he's doing it, which is tremendous.
• 29:33
  Yeah, it's great.
• 29:35
  We'll see.
• 29:36
  You should be immensely proud.
• 29:39
  I love the fact that, I mean, as you quite rightly brought up, both Rick and Neil have
• 29:45
  done Tarenka racing and successfully competed at the mountain and so on.
• 29:49
  Do you think one day maybe the cousins might pair up and do a little something like that?
• 29:53
  That'd be quite cool, wouldn't it?
• 29:55
  That'd be great.
• 29:56
  Hey, wouldn't it be good to have Neil and Rick?
• 29:59
  in an 86 for a round.
• 30:01
  That would be very cool for starters.
• 30:03
  But look, I think Harry and Lewis, you know, I just think they are two of the most talented drivers in the country for what they do with those Yarrises.
• 30:14
  And it's interesting because sometimes what we're doing with Zach, you know, a lot of people sort of said, oh, you know, you're mad.
• 30:23
  You're mad to fork out that kind of investment.
• 30:28
  You know, I often think if that investment, you know, if Harry and Lewis had had that investment to go to Europe, I often wonder what, you know, might have been for them, you know, because it is a very small pool rallying in Australia.
• 30:44
  So, you know, Lewis luckily is getting a chance to do a WRC 2 drive in Portugal this year, which is terrific.
• 30:54
  So I think, you know...
• 30:58
  They don't have to prove anything.
• 30:59
  They've got nothing to prove.
• 31:00
  But, yeah, I'd like to see that too.
• 31:04
  Yeah, definitely.
• 31:05
  I reckon that would be cool.
• 31:06
  They'd surprise people.
• 31:07
  It'd be very cool.
• 31:08
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 31:08
  Yeah.
• 31:09
  And we hope that that continues with Zach.
• 31:11
  He's, you know, invested so much time and energy and professionalism in that as he continues to climb the ladder.
• 31:16
  So we wish him well there.
• 31:17
  Can we finish, fittingly, with what you're up to now?
• 31:20
  Because we've squeezed in an interview today, but you have a schedule.
• 31:25
  We've had to sort of fit in.
• 31:28
  Oh, yeah, schedule, yeah, gym in the morning, a bit of Pilates and coffee and then, look, you know, I'm doing a bit of consulting work.
• 31:38
  I'm still in radio, believe it or not, doing that sort of stuff, which is terrific.
• 31:42
  I'm actually producing podcasts as well, which is great.
• 31:49
  I love storytelling, you know, and whether it's, you know, music or it's motorsport or whatever, I mean, I often...
• 31:58
  often they say, oh, how did you ever kind of get a grip on motorsports, you know, and all of it involved because it's so technical and it's this and that.
• 32:09
  Well, it's just rock and roll on wheels, mate.
• 32:11
  That's all it is.
• 32:14
  When you think about it, it's just rock and roll on wheels.
• 32:17
  So I'm basically these days, Greg, I'm personal assistant for Bates Advanced Driving and Zach Boat's Mattersport and just, you know, never had a pathway.
• 32:29
  And that's another thing I tell young people, don't get too hell bent on being...
• 32:34
  Absolutely rigid on where you want to be at what time and what age.
• 32:38
  Enjoy your journey because, you know, as you've just heard just for the last hour or so, you know, like I never had a plan.
• 32:47
  ever never had a plan so it turned out pretty good you and yet you executed superbly you've um you've done super well i got lucky i got lucky working with fabulous people like you mr ross yeah but but but to to however those things aligned where you got to be you know with doug mulray and a friendship with neil crompton and some cool stuff in in motorsport and then to see that that
• 33:10
  that next chapter continues with your husband and your son.
• 33:14
  I reckon it's super cool.
• 33:15
  Most importantly, we're, we're delighted to get you on, to walk down memory lane a little bit and to know that you're healthy and well.
• 33:22
  Thank you so much.
• 33:23
  I feel very lucky to be here quite literally.
• 33:27
  Thank you.
• 33:28
  Great.
• 33:28
  Thanks.
• 33:36
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 33:40
  Series editor and producer is Thomas Dullard.
• 33:43
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 33:46
  If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me via social media.
• 33:50
  The Garage, that's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fuelled stories.