Latest / Rusty's Garage / Eugene Arocca (Part 2)

Transcript

Eugene Arocca (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:10
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with Motorsport Australia CEO, Eugenia Rocker.
• 0:26
  Now, if you've turned to this page of the supplementary regulations and you haven't heard part one, head back to the Rusty's Garage Library and fire it up.
• 0:35
  From early life in Melbourne, the hard work ethic ingrained in him from family to taking on Dame Edna in a legal battle.
• 0:43
  That's quite a yarn.
• 0:44
  And how he did something I greatly admire, finding work in a game you love, in his case, the AFL, and how a social media DM sparked a career change into motorsport.
• 0:57
  We begin part two with the bold rebrand that in the broader community and sporting landscape made perfect sense.
• 1:05
  But it meant letting go of the name CAMS, the Confederation of Australian Motorsport that had been around for decades.
• 1:16
  I'll admit now that when I started at CAMS, I didn't like the name.
• 1:20
  It just wasn't a great name.
• 1:22
  When you've got an acronym for a name, it's really difficult to tell people what you do.
• 1:26
  You didn't think the connection people in the greater sphere would make between CAMS and motorsport?
• 1:31
  If you sat in the back of a cab and the bloke asked you where you work for CAMS, he wouldn't know who you were.
• 1:37
  And you compare that to Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia, Australian Football League.
• 1:40
  Immediate recognition.
• 1:41
  Immediate recognition.
• 1:42
  And the board, and I'm not talking out of school here, the board had no appetite to change the name.
• 1:48
  There was a great historical connection to the confederation.
• 1:51
  How did you sell that?
• 1:53
  Well, oddly enough, it was, I'd sort of struggled.
• 1:56
  I'd spoken to Pap a few times and said, I think we need to change the name.
• 1:59
  And you'll be surprised to know that we'd reserved the name.
• 2:02
  Had you?
• 2:02
  Motorsport Australia back in 97.
• 2:04
  Whoa.
• 2:05
  And I'd said to Pap, why have we reserved, this is Andrew Papner, why have we reserved the name and not used it?
• 2:09
  He says, oh, we just didn't want anyone else using it.
• 2:12
  But we want to be known as the Confederation of Australian Motorsports.
• 2:15
  So one of the new directors, Margot Foster, who's really involved in sport, not a big motorsport person, but great in sport, former Olympian.
• 2:22
  We had a strategy meeting one day and this wasn't even on the topic.
• 2:25
  Hmm.
• 2:26
  She was a rower, wasn't she?
• 2:27
  She was a rower, Olympic rower, Commonwealth Games gold medalist.
• 2:30
  Wasn't even on the topic.
• 2:31
  And at one stage, I was getting just before lunch or after lunch, she sort of cracked it and said, and by the way, gentlemen, because she was the only woman on the board, it does annoy me that we still call ourselves cams.
• 2:43
  Why isn't we change our names to Motorsport Australia?
• 2:47
  Now, there was a bit of a sort of sideways look at what is she on about?
• 2:50
  We've always been cams.
• 2:52
  And the result of that was that I was able to go away and explore the opportunity to change, how much it would cost, and what the upside would be.
• 3:00
  And I engaged a fellow called Ronnie Klein, who was a marketing fellow from a company called TKG, mad motorsport person.
• 3:08
  He had a garage of Taranas, loved it, loved it.
• 3:11
  And Ronnie understood what we were and who we are.
• 3:13
  And with Ronnie, we worked our way to presenting to the board.
• 3:17
  And I remember he and I presenting to the board and it was almost a 50-50 split.
• 3:21
  Wow.
• 3:22
  Wow.
• 3:22
  But the moment it sort of won them over was when he said, ladies and gentlemen, you've had the name reserved because you're fearful that if someone else takes it, they will be the ones who will be recognised as the motorsport body.
• 3:34
  What are you thinking?
• 3:35
  Take the name now.
• 3:37
  And the vote went ahead and we got the vote.
• 3:39
  There was one abstainer who insisted on wanting to be called CAMS.
• 3:43
  And I must say to you, Rusty, that if I reflect back on the changes, that has been probably the single...
• 3:48
  most significant change, to be brutally honest, changing a 60-odd year name to something more modern, reflective of what we do.
• 3:56
  And if you say to somebody who work at Motorsport Australia, they'll guess what it is, but they'll know it's motorsport.
• 4:00
  If you said CAMS, unless you held a license or you really knew motorsport, you had no idea.
• 4:05
  It's also improved our sponsorship, Sal.
• 4:09
  Being sponsored or being a sponsor of CAMS means very little to the bloke going in to buy some oil at a petrol shop.
• 4:15
  Being sponsored by Motorsport Australia
• 4:17
  or having sponsored Motorsport Australia, has a much bigger connection.
• 4:21
  So it's no accident that Supercheap and Bursons and Shannons have been big connectors for us because of that Motorsport Australia name in part, but also because we've got this wonderful cohort of mad and passionate officials and drivers who spend a lot of money in this business.
• 4:38
  We'll get to them in a second.
• 4:40
  New digs, new premises as well, a move in recent years.
• 4:43
  How...
• 4:45
  How significant was that in the shaping of things that we're talking about here?
• 4:49
  Yeah, look, we were in an old building, and you probably would have been in a building.
• 4:52
  I did, yeah.
• 4:53
  And it had a bit of an oldness about it, and it was a bit drab, and we'd actually outgrown it.
• 4:57
  It's funny now, because we've actually contracted in size, but at the time, we were getting bigger, and we were basically sitting on top of each other.
• 5:03
  And so I'd gone back to the board and said...
• 5:06
  They're building apartments all around us.
• 5:08
  We are like the broken tooth and a smiley grin, the one building that's only two floors high and everything else is being built around us.
• 5:15
  And this is prime real estate.
• 5:17
  So we went to the board and said, you know, we paid about 1.9 for this block.
• 5:21
  I reckon we can sell it for eight and then we can find ourselves something bigger, more impressive and more modern.
• 5:28
  And lo and behold, we managed to get, I think we sold it for 8.25 or thereabouts, which is a fantastic price, great return, tax-free because we're a not-for-profit body.
• 5:38
  And we went and bought Canterbury Road.
• 5:40
  It was a 50-year-old building, solid as a rock, needed to be refurbished.
• 5:44
  We bought it for about 6.75, spent about two and a half.
• 5:47
  And now we've got this magnificent building, which you've been to a number of times.
• 5:51
  But I think it also happened around the same time as we changed our name to Motorsport Australia.
• 5:56
  You know, we've got flags out the front.
• 5:57
  We've got a pretty good car park.
• 5:58
  It's a pretty impressive building.
• 6:00
  It stands for something.
• 6:01
  And I think that that has also been a pretty important change for us.
• 6:05
  It's a modern building.
• 6:06
  It's sustainable.
• 6:07
  You know, we're going to get some solar panels on the roof eventually.
• 6:10
  We are really committed to making sure that it's a good place for our employees to be, even post-pandemic, but also that it represents a really good statement of who we are.
• 6:21
  And lots of great reflections as you walk the corridors of some of the champions in the various different sports that we cover, which is great too.
• 6:27
  People listening, before we started recording today, we shot the breeze a little bit about some of the stats, I guess you could say, around licensing and memberships and so on.
• 6:37
  You're coming off the back of a very good month.
• 6:38
  Just share with people that may not know some of the things about the size of the body in that regard, you know?
• 6:45
  Well, per capita, pre-pandemic, we had 27,500 competitor license holders, visa drivers, 10,000 officials.
• 6:55
  Per capita, in the world, there is no other country that matches that.
• 6:59
  Wow.
• 7:00
  You might look at Japan, which has got 69,000 on a population of 120 million.
• 7:03
  Mm-hmm.
• 7:05
  Per capita, 27,500 for a population of 25 million, we digest motorsport more than any other country.
• 7:12
  So it's in our DNA.
• 7:14
  Secondly, in the pandemic, because we are an events-driven business or sport, we drop from 27.5 to 20.
• 7:24
  We lost in the space of 12 months and we had lockdowns, if you remember.
• 7:27
  Yes.
• 7:28
  And so it really took, we took a hit, a big hit.
• 7:32
  But since the pandemic has finished, we say it's not quite over, but we're getting out of lockdowns.
• 7:37
  The numbers have climbed back up to 23,000 fairly quickly.
• 7:41
  And people renew on anniversaries.
• 7:44
  So there's still a big cohort of people.
• 7:46
  that over the next six months are going to get back involved in the sport.
• 7:50
  And in January, February, March of this year, we've had our biggest quarter.
• 7:55
  We've had 2,000-odd in January, 2,500 in February, and now we've just hit 3,000.
• 8:00
  Crazy.
• 8:00
  So we're back.
• 8:03
  to say, but motorsport is not only in our DNA, but motorsport Australia is highly regarded around the world.
• 8:09
  We've trained many countries in F1 and how to put on an event.
• 8:13
  So right now we're talking to a couple of Middle Eastern countries where we might be putting on training for officials.
• 8:18
  So we've got this fantastic reputation internationally and we've got this fantastic community.
• 8:24
  appetite for motorsport in this country.
• 8:27
  And so those numbers stack up very well against every other country in the world.
• 8:31
  And I think it's only a matter of probably 12 to 18 months, but we'll be probably getting up to nearly 30,000 competitor licence holders, which would be fantastic.
• 8:38
  Just brilliant.
• 8:39
  And growth in car clubs that we've seen you and I over time joining the organisation.
• 8:43
  I love people that are...
• 8:45
  clearly have had cars or something in the garage tucked away for a little while, maybe because of the pandemic, and are keen and thirsty to get out and use them again.
• 8:53
  Can we talk about, because you sort of went there with the calibre of marshals and officials that we have in this country, probably a good chance to more or less spruik, I guess you could say, that...
• 9:05
  You do great work in that space, you guys, around training.
• 9:09
  So there's opportunities for people to come and play, even if they don't necessarily want to drive or navigate, if it's rallying or something along those lines or off-road.
• 9:18
  But there's opportunities to come and play, to learn and grow and develop skills around something that they're passionate about, isn't there?
• 9:25
  And get the best seat in the house.
• 9:26
  The house, yeah.
• 9:27
  Get the best seat in the house.
• 9:28
  Look, it is a challenge because of a changing demographic.
• 9:31
  We're sort of lucky that the baby boomers are still around and have been passionate.
• 9:35
  You know, the 60,000 people used to go to Sandown.
• 9:38
  When they get older and they can't drive, they become officials to some degree.
• 9:43
  Our challenge is to get the next generation of younger people involved in the sport.
• 9:47
  Shows like Netflix help, I must say.
• 9:49
  Yes.
• 9:49
  But as we speak, we've come out of a two-year period where we've made losses.
• 9:55
  In that, yeah.
• 9:56
  In terms of our own revenue.
• 9:57
  Okay.
• 9:58
  And when you can't have money to invest, it sort of sets you back.
• 10:01
  We're seeing an opportunity now with increased surplus in our revenue to be able to invest more in our officials and spend more money to recruit people.
• 10:09
  We're actually talking to other volunteering bodies around the country.
• 10:13
  It is a problem generally in volunteering.
• 10:15
  Even the AFL is struggling to find umpires at the moment.
• 10:18
  They've got some 6,000 less umpires than they had two or three years ago.
• 10:21
  Yeah.
• 10:22
  I think it's a change in culture in terms of people's appetite to spend time away from TV, streaming, television, iPhones.
• 10:32
  A little bit fearful maybe after COVID and things.
• 10:34
  Yeah, probably a little bit fearful.
• 10:35
  There's a bit of resistance.
• 10:36
  You can watch the AFL attendance numbers haven't been that great because people are...
• 10:40
  still a bit nervous about getting out there.
• 10:42
  So we're doing a bit of work around that.
• 10:44
  We're talking to a couple of big volunteering bodies to share information.
• 10:48
  And Mike Smith and his team will come up with some plans for the board.
• 10:51
  We've got a big strategic meeting coming up in August and officials will be a major part of that.
• 10:56
  So we're lucky we've still got a good solid base of nine to nine and a half thousand officials.
• 11:00
  That's pretty good.
• 11:01
  But we want to get it back up to 10, 12, 13,000 members or officials who are doing it.
• 11:06
  But as you said, it's the greatest seat in the house.
• 11:08
  You get to be in a part of a team.
• 11:10
  And I think the opportunity to go up the pathway from grassroots to F1 is fantastic.
• 11:17
  This weekend or next weekend, one of the F1 stewards, Matt Selle.
• 11:21
  Fantastic.
• 11:22
  And the backup is Chris McMahon.
• 11:24
  Yeah.
• 11:24
  So these are people who are on the world stage, Australian bred born, come up through our system and being recognised as the best officials.
• 11:32
  And, you know, Michael Massey until recently was at the top of a tree.
• 11:35
  It still irks me that he's not there.
• 11:37
  But again, you know, we've got a really great reputation or fantastic reputation in that official space.
• 11:42
  And we're very proud of it.
• 11:43
  We'll talk a little bit more about Michael because I know you've spoken about that a little to some outlets.
• 11:48
  We'll get your thoughts on that a bit later.
• 11:50
  Just while we're on the youth thing, not just in marshalling and officialdom here, but just generally.
• 11:55
  It's a challenge for our game.
• 11:57
  We want to inspire kids to have the passion for it.
• 12:00
  We want to find the next Daniel Ricciardo, the next Oscar Piastri and ensure that we foster that, don't we?
• 12:09
  We do, and eSports.
• 12:11
  Yep.
• 12:12
  There are opportunities that we're currently looking at, and we're doing some work in that space.
• 12:17
  Are you conscious of making real crossover, I guess, too, that they're not just going to stay home and play?
• 12:22
  The board has told me, don't just get involved in this.
• 12:25
  If all you're going to do is have kids sitting on the PlayStation doing Gran Turismo, you've got to come up with a strategy.
• 12:30
  To get them across.
• 12:31
  Around migrating them across.
• 12:33
  And I think the opportunity's there, but we just need to put some time and work into it.
• 12:37
  Esports is a big sport around the world globally, but I do see it as an opportunity.
• 12:42
  I also believe that we need to convince this younger generation that motorsport is a sustainably good sport.
• 12:48
  thing.
• 12:49
  Yeah.
• 12:49
  We don't want to be seen as the dirty sport, using up fuel and rubber and tyres.
• 12:54
  I think if we lead the way on the sustainability argument, a lot of those young people who are pretty passionate about the environment won't be shunned by the opportunity of being involved in a leading...
• 13:04
  cutting edge, technologically advanced industry.
• 13:07
  It's clean.
• 13:07
  It sets, you know, we'll be using biofuels and, you know, more and more efficient engines as we go forward.
• 13:13
  I'm sure there'll be opportunities to change rubber and tyre and what we do with those.
• 13:17
  So I think selling that story around being in an exhilarating sport can be dangerous, but an exhilarating sport that is in our DNA and the opportunity to be up close and personal with it,
• 13:29
  Whether you go to Phillip Island and you wander around the pits and you jump in a car, my boy jumped into an S5000.
• 13:33
  And, you know, he's still talking about it.
• 13:35
  He's 27 years of age.
• 13:37
  So he drove what?
• 13:37
  He doesn't know.
• 13:38
  He just sat and won.
• 13:39
  He hasn't got a license.
• 13:40
  He loves cars.
• 13:41
  He loves motorsport.
• 13:42
  Doesn't drive.
• 13:43
  You know, he's been brought up on Gran Turismo.
• 13:45
  But there's nothing quite like sitting behind a car, a steering wheel in an S5000.
• 13:50
  And, you know.
• 13:52
  We've got to get them, migrate them from that feeling into actually getting involved in the sport, whether it's as an official or whether it's as a driver.
• 13:59
  But I think if you look at the last five years, the number of young competitors that are making a mark overseas, we're in a golden era.
• 14:08
  I think Oscar Piastri coming through, there's obviously Young Doohan, Jack Doohan, there's Liam Lawson.
• 14:13
  New Zealander, but, you know, part of our family.
• 14:15
  Part of our family.
• 14:16
  I think there's a real buzz about the opportunities to go overseas and forge a career, and Oscar's doing that at the moment.
• 14:23
  And I think lots of kids see that and the opportunity.
• 14:25
  But it's not easy.
• 14:26
  I must say to you that, you know, back in the day when there weren't so many other distractions, you didn't watch NBA on your phone, you didn't watch NFL, you didn't watch soccer.
• 14:35
  It's all those other competing sports that we have to position ourselves.
• 14:38
  But Netflix and Drive to Survive have given us some oxygen in that space.
• 14:51
  There's some exciting names coming up on Rusty's Garage, stay tuned, and follow Rusty on social media to hear all the latest from the garage.
• 15:00
  Vroom, vroom, vroom.
• 15:04
  Invariably, when you join the motorsport family and you get more exposed to it, you get the opportunity to go for rides.
• 15:11
  Have you been for rides in race cars?
• 15:13
  Who with and what was it?
• 15:14
  Tell us about that.
• 15:15
  Well, I've got to be careful, but I don't be seen to be taking it.
• 15:17
  Yeah, favourites.
• 15:18
  But I've been on the mountain.
• 15:21
  My son and I both did not suit it up.
• 15:23
  I actually haven't suit it up.
• 15:25
  Really?
• 15:25
  If I do suit up, it'll be with Johnny Bowe, probably at Sandown.
• 15:28
  Fantastic.
• 15:29
  But I haven't actually suited up, and it's probably something I'll do towards the end of my career at this organisation, whenever that may be.
• 15:34
  So it's on my bucket list, but I have been taken around Bathurst in a normal course car, and that was good fun.
• 15:41
  And I remember myself- Quite eye-opening, mate, isn't it?
• 15:43
  Well, it is.
• 15:45
  And you never appreciate the skill of our drivers until you've been in a car and watch the millimetres that we're talking about.
• 15:54
  barely scrape the wall on Bathurst.
• 15:58
  And I remember James... And how easy they make it look, you know.
• 16:00
  And it's just effortless, you know.
• 16:03
  And the course controller will lean into the car and say to the driver, 60%, fellas.
• 16:09
  That doesn't happen.
• 16:10
  Trust me, it doesn't happen.
• 16:11
  But I remember James was in the car behind me with DJ Dick Johnson and he hadn't been on the mountain, hadn't been at 200 plus.
• 16:19
  And at one stage, Jono...
• 16:22
  turned around with one hand on the steering wheel down, condor on the side, hey boys, how good is this, hey?
• 16:27
  And they're like this, frozen.
• 16:29
  So it's, I would strongly urge and recommend anyone, if I get the chance to get in a course car, get in a safety car.
• 16:37
  Experience it.
• 16:37
  Get in a car, experience it.
• 16:38
  Because...
• 16:39
  It does, and I've only had a taste of it, not a real... Cam McConville took me for a spin without being suited up, but I do look forward to the day when Johnny Bauer or Mark Scaife will put me in one and I'll suit up and I'll do the full thing.
• 16:52
  I look forward to that too.
• 16:54
  I've had this sort of, not argument, but friendly jousting over time with sporting editors and things who are, you know...
• 17:02
  they feel like it's just the car.
• 17:04
  Well, the car's a very important component of that, but it's equally about the team of people around it and also especially about the driver and their talent and their skills.
• 17:13
  And when you get those sorts of people to the track and you put them in the car and you let them experience, it changes their whole outlook on it.
• 17:20
  Let's swing back if we can, because we were talking before about
• 17:24
  clean and green and maybe even electrification and that sort of thing.
• 17:27
  Just while we're on that flavour, what's the pressure like at a government level, either state or federal, for that style of thing as we go forward here?
• 17:35
  I think it's on their horizon.
• 17:36
  We talk to government a lot.
• 17:38
  We're not being – I think there will be a time where you will not get funding if you're not a sport but is being responsible in this space.
• 17:45
  So we want to get ahead of the curve.
• 17:47
  Yep.
• 17:47
  Right now, government are pleased to hear that we're looking at ways to be more environmentally friendly.
• 17:54
  They're not forcing it on us.
• 17:55
  I don't think there's an appetite for doing it today.
• 17:58
  They understand that you can't just flick a switch and suddenly go completely green.
• 18:02
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:03
  But if you look at the work that DJR is doing, carbon neutral, the work that Ryan Storey's doing, we're a bit different because we're an industry leader and so we don't control the team as such, but we will move to a point where the Shannons and most of the championships we run will be environmentally sustainable.
• 18:22
  I call it environmentally sustainable and friendly.
• 18:24
  Mm-hmm.
• 18:24
  But we're doing some work at the moment with EY and their climate change partner to come up with a strategy, similar to the FIA, where we will set some targets.
• 18:32
  We will set some agendas.
• 18:33
  We will aim for some technological improvements.
• 18:35
  Then work with industry because we can't do it on our own.
• 18:37
  We don't own the tracks.
• 18:38
  We don't control the venues.
• 18:40
  They're a big part of it.
• 18:41
  But I do think that if we want to remain supported by government, sustainable to our communities, we have to start making some noise into space.
• 18:50
  And I must say that our President Andrew Fraser is very passionate about this, and he's instilled that passion in me.
• 18:56
  I'd sort of...
• 18:57
  aware of it, but wasn't really sort of a number one thing that I would worry about when I got up in the morning.
• 19:02
  It's now very much front of mind.
• 19:03
  And Andrew is actually on the FIA Environmental Sustainability Committee.
• 19:07
  That's our passion.
• 19:08
  So we're working on coming up with something in the next six months that sort of gives government great confidence that we are doing what needs to be done to satisfy them around our responsibility to the environment.
• 19:19
  What about stuff in the great box ticking that we've talked about here, and there's been some very good things you've achieved.
• 19:25
  What about stuff that hasn't gone right?
• 19:27
  I mean, Formula 4.
• 19:29
  How do you feel about that with the benefit of time now, the chance to reflect on that?
• 19:33
  It's no excuse, but I'd just been in the role for about a year and a bit.
• 19:38
  Yeah.
• 19:39
  probably did not have an understanding, a true understanding of the overall environment of open wheelers.
• 19:45
  And so it was, in retrospect, a sort of need, if you want to call it that, to get one of the first championships up in the world.
• 19:55
  We wanted to impress the FIA to some degree.
• 19:58
  And there was a genuine belief that Formula 4 could work in this country.
• 20:01
  I'd heard that people were spending $200,000 or $300,000 on Formula 4'd
• 20:06
  And we're thinking, well, if they're spending that sort of money on that level, why wouldn't Formula 4 work?
• 20:12
  It turned out to be an unmitigated, I don't want to use the word disaster, it was hard work.
• 20:17
  And ultimately, we reflect back on that and learn from it on the basis that we probably didn't engage enough with the industry.
• 20:25
  We spoke to Formula 4 and there was natural resistance.
• 20:28
  I don't think we really understood the appetite or the capacity of this market to sustain the...
• 20:35
  that sort of industry, that sort of category.
• 20:37
  The problem, as I see it, was that overseas, there were grids of 25 or 30.
• 20:43
  German, German championship and so on.
• 20:44
  German, the Italian, well, not so much the English, but certainly the German and the Italian, they were getting 40 car grids.
• 20:51
  And I remember talking to fathers.
• 20:55
  I know that Cam McConville spoke to Chris Piastri and said, Chris, your boy should be in a Formula 4 in Australia.
• 21:00
  And Chris said, well, with all due respect, the only way he's going to make it in the world is to go over and compete with the best in the world.
• 21:06
  And big, big grids with a multitude of different nationalities in a big country like Germany, that's where we need to be.
• 21:14
  And so I think that was probably the single biggest factor.
• 21:18
  But we didn't have the numbers in the first 25 million countries
• 21:22
  a lot of money to spend on a 16-year-old kid to go racing, and that we had this viable option overseas, admittedly more expensive, but more connected to world motorsport than we were in an island in Australia, you know, 24 hours away.
• 21:37
  So I think there might have been other reasons.
• 21:38
  I know Formula Ford were very...
• 21:41
  sort of strong in their opposition, and they worked really hard to convince kids to stay in Formula 4.
• 21:46
  Like, we were literally fighting over kids.
• 21:48
  That's not a good thing in a small country, to try to encourage kids.
• 21:51
  So, in retrospect, we can at least say that we gave it a crack, and after five years, I think, in the end...
• 21:57
  the board ultimately decided we needed to get out because we just weren't making an impact.
• 22:02
  The grids were getting smaller and smaller.
• 22:03
  We were down to eight cars.
• 22:05
  So the long-winded answer to your question is we learned that you can't just assume that because you want to do the right thing, it's going to work.
• 22:13
  It just didn't.
• 22:15
  It probably also, in the learnings of things, shone a little bit of a light on the balance that you need with the mothership, which is the FIA, the International Governing Body, and then what works in our region, in the Tasman region.
• 22:27
  And look, it is a disadvantage being 24 hours away from where motorsport really operates.
• 22:33
  I mean, all the F1 teams are in England or in Europe.
• 22:38
  We are a long way away and we are competing against an area where people can move around freely within five hours, go from country to country to country.
• 22:48
  And we're sitting out here where you take five hours to go from state to state.
• 22:51
  That is a sobering reminder that there is something you need to factor in when you're trying to connect to the world.
• 22:58
  And so we were motivated by good.
• 23:00
  We felt that the best pathway would be Formula 4 to get kids overseas.
• 23:04
  We miscalculated the importance of being overseas first for kids, young kids, to start at that level rather than go to that level.
• 23:11
  And ultimately, I think 25 million person, country,
• 23:16
  just didn't have the numbers to be able to sustain that on its own, factoring in that some kids would go overseas.
• 23:22
  So ultimately, it was an expensive, painful period for me as CEO.
• 23:29
  It is something I reflect on from time to time and consider it a failure of mine, but you've got to accept for responsibility.
• 23:36
  I'm still here as CEO, so I've done a fair bit of other good stuff, I think, in general, or our team has.
• 23:41
  But I think going forward, we'll put a lot more thought into...
• 23:45
  factoring in these learnings that we've gotten from Formula 4.
• 23:51
  Do you work well with other bodies?
• 23:53
  I mean, you immediately are the principal body we think of in relation to motorsport, but I mean, there's speedway, drag racing and so on, and they all have their own challenges.
• 24:00
  Are there times where you have dialogue?
• 24:02
  Oh, regularly.
• 24:03
  I'm very close to Kelvin.
• 24:05
  He's an old war horse.
• 24:07
  We're talking carting there, Kelvin O'Reilly.
• 24:08
  He's an old war horse.
• 24:09
  He's been around back to fatigue a day.
• 24:11
  He knows more about motorsport than I could even dream about.
• 24:14
  Brett Stevens from Andrew, of course, for drags.
• 24:17
  And we're now reengaging with Speedway for a moment, for a period of time there.
• 24:21
  Because of our governance setup, we let Speedway go.
• 24:23
  But we talk, and Motorcycling Australia, we've got a really good bond with Pete Doyle from Motorcycling Australia.
• 24:30
  So we regularly meet.
• 24:31
  We've created a body called the Australian Motorsport Council.
• 24:34
  which is intended to be a lobbying body for sort of the FIA, FIM related entities as national sporting bodies.
• 24:42
  So we have a really good collegiate relationship with, in fact, they're going to be coming to our corporate marquee, some of them for the Grand Prix, but it's an ongoing working relationship, particularly with karting.
• 24:53
  That's our sort of junior Auskick.
• 24:56
  That's for breeding ground.
• 24:57
  And so that's critical, I think.
• 24:59
  And what, what,
• 25:00
  One of the hallmarks of our administration has been to reconnect and form friendships and relationships with stakeholders from venues, whether it's Sam Shahin, Tony Quinn, up to supercars, you know, Barclay Nettlefold.
• 25:12
  Yes.
• 25:13
  I happen to know who he was beforehand.
• 25:15
  He lives in Melbourne.
• 25:15
  We've already connected a number of times.
• 25:17
  You boss of supercars.
• 25:18
  Shane and Shane.
• 25:19
  Shane's a great, a ripping bloke.
• 25:21
  We go back a few years.
• 25:22
  Australian Grand Prix Corporation.
• 25:23
  I was there yesterday with Westie.
• 25:25
  When I started, we were at loggerheads.
• 25:27
  We were not friends.
• 25:29
  I can promise you we were.
• 25:30
  One of the first things a board said to me was, make friends with the AGPC.
• 25:34
  We're not friends.
• 25:35
  Sort this.
• 25:36
  And we have.
• 25:36
  And so one of the hallmarks of our administration has been to really relate to our stakeholders, engage with them, work cooperatively.
• 25:44
  I share a lot of our policies with Motorcycling Australia, karting, a lot of the work we've done
• 25:50
  We share it and distribute it.
• 25:51
  It's a really collegiate relationship because if you're not, one thing I learned from footy, if you're not swimming in the one direction, you're just going to fall over.
• 25:59
  And that's from the coach, from the president right down of a bootstutter.
• 26:02
  And I think in this field, we've really worked hard in that space.
• 26:05
  I'm glad you brought up footy again because there's been lots of great work by the ball codes in the areas of diversity, equality, women's cricket, AFLW.
• 26:14
  Now, I reckon, without sort of using that motorsport term, pumping tyres and so on, I reckon that our work in this space, the women in motorsport within the Australian community, is world class.
• 26:29
  And is it recognised as such overseas?
• 26:32
  It is.
• 26:33
  It's partly connected to the FAA.
• 26:35
  Girls on Track is a fantastic program that, you know, we've got the Minister, the Federal Minister for Sport is coming to the Grand Prix to go and have a look at Girls on Track.
• 26:43
  Terrific.
• 26:43
  And I'm going to try and take some money out of his pocket in the process, of course.
• 26:46
  You know, it's funded by government.
• 26:47
  The Victorian government gives us about $75,000 to $100,000 a year.
• 26:51
  That's just on Girls on Track, plus Ricciardo's races.
• 26:54
  We're really proud of Girls on Track because we've now got it in every state.
• 26:58
  We'd love to do it on a more regular basis in every state, and we just need money because, as you know, Rusty, it's not easy to get access to venues, get access to tracks in a race environment, in a race day.
• 27:09
  But the work that...
• 27:10
  You know, Triple Eight, Jess Dane, fantastic.
• 27:12
  Nadine Armstrong, these wonderful women have stepped up to help us out.
• 27:16
  And I think it's a world-class program because it involves not just being a driver.
• 27:20
  No, correct.
• 27:21
  Engineer, mechanic, journalism, sponsorship, the whole gamut of what could be involved in a sporting environment.
• 27:27
  And you get to do it in a place like the Grand Prix.
• 27:29
  And so we've got 40 young women who...
• 27:31
  who'll be coming to the Grand Prix.
• 27:32
  There'll be a lunch where some heavy hitters within the motorsport world who are women will be attending.
• 27:38
  And I think it just is a great story for us to tell government.
• 27:40
  And I know that by the end of this year, I'm confident we'll be getting more funding from various state governments and the federal government along the path of generating interest for more girls and women to get involved in the sport.
• 27:54
  We have some great leaders, I think is the word for it, in that space.
• 27:57
  Great role models.
• 27:58
  Tim Schenken.
• 27:59
  He called time on a brilliant career as V8 Supercars race director.
• 28:03
  He's in our podcast library because he's raced in Formula One and more very successfully.
• 28:08
  He's still working with Motorsport Australia.
• 28:10
  Is that right?
• 28:10
  Well, yeah, we've got a deal, Tim and I.
• 28:12
  And it's, I know- Is this a lunch handshake deal?
• 28:15
  Yeah, one of those.
• 28:17
  I remember when I started, he was really nervous about me.
• 28:19
  Really?
• 28:20
  Really nervous about me.
• 28:21
  Oh, yeah.
• 28:22
  He confessed later that he thought his card would be marked, but I'd be brought in to basically move him on.
• 28:27
  Because he's done the job for a long time.
• 28:29
  Time, yeah.
• 28:30
  And I assured him, I said, from day one, I said, I don't know who you are, Tim, to be brutally honest.
• 28:34
  I know of you, but I've never met you.
• 28:35
  And Greg Swann had mentioned him to me.
• 28:37
  He said, Tim's a good bloke.
• 28:38
  I said, as far as I'm concerned, as long as you're able to do the job, you can have the job.
• 28:42
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:43
  I would like to think that there'll be a point in time when you'll come to me and say, I reckon it's time for me to do something else.
• 28:49
  But I've always supported him 100%.
• 28:51
  And as long as he never compromises what we do through his role, then I would – he could keep working until he's 80 as far as I'm concerned.
• 28:58
  The whole issue about supercars was probably –
• 29:01
  time for change was necessary because we had James Taylor being developed.
• 29:04
  He'd done the role for two or three years.
• 29:06
  He'd held us down during the pandemic.
• 29:08
  If you remember, there were times when Tim couldn't travel and James was.
• 29:11
  And so Tim and I had a good chat at the start of last year about the possibility of, you know, bringing it to an end.
• 29:18
  And I'll be honest in saying to you that he wasn't happy initially.
• 29:21
  He was a bit resistant.
• 29:23
  Tim's, you know, a proud man.
• 29:25
  And he was conscious of making sure that any exit was treated, you know, in a way that was respectful.
• 29:30
  Not.
• 29:30
  Bathurst was beautifully done.
• 29:32
  That was a lovely Neil Crompton.
• 29:34
  Beyond my expectations, to be brutally honest, I think even beyond Tim's expectations.
• 29:38
  I mean, Tim doesn't stand on ceremony.
• 29:41
  Deep down, I think he's enormously proud.
• 29:44
  And I remember he said to me when we said, well, your last round is Bathurst.
• 29:48
  Let's make a big song and dance.
• 29:49
  He said, no, no, I'm not giving any speeches.
• 29:51
  In fact, he didn't.
• 29:52
  I'm not giving any speeches.
• 29:53
  I don't want to be a part of any sort of big send-off, nothing on television, but it'll be my last round.
• 29:59
  I said, okay.
• 30:00
  And I also agreed to keep him on.
• 30:03
  Two days a week, he works for us.
• 30:04
  So he still comes in.
• 30:05
  Still annoys me on a Tuesday and spends half an hour talking to me about nothing.
• 30:09
  But we talked to supercars.
• 30:12
  We spoke to Roland Dane.
• 30:13
  And I thought the way it was handled and the really touching piece was when they gave him the honor of being on the tower.
• 30:20
  Yes.
• 30:20
  And he later came back to me, because I rang him, of course, and spoke to him.
• 30:24
  And I wasn't able to be there.
• 30:26
  I had a wedding on that weekend.
• 30:27
  But I spoke to him later.
• 30:28
  And he said, you know what, Eugene?
• 30:30
  In retrospect, it's better to enjoy these things when you're still alive.
• 30:34
  Yes.
• 30:35
  And rather than have people talk about you.
• 30:37
  Do it posthumously.
• 30:38
  I said, well, Tim, you can go to Bathurst anytime now.
• 30:40
  And there's going to be a plaque on that wall that's got your name on it forever.
• 30:45
  And you've got the opportunity of seeing it rather than having moved on.
• 30:48
  And your family enjoy it.
• 30:49
  And it was particularly funny when he said that as he was leaving Bathurst for the last time, he noticed the plaque was just sitting on a chair in race control.
• 30:58
  And he wasn't going to have any of that.
• 30:59
  And he took it with him.
• 31:00
  He took it with him back to the hotel and then drove it to the council and said, make sure you put it up.
• 31:06
  Ideally in a high place where people can't get to it.
• 31:09
  But he was very, very, very proud of that.
• 31:11
  And he confessed to me later on that he was absolutely comfortable with the decision.
• 31:16
  He was okay about the driver's briefing, the send-off, the caricature and Roland Day and all that stuff.
• 31:21
  But that recognition on the tower, that is pretty special.
• 31:24
  And it's a one-off.
• 31:25
  And I think ultimately the great man has proven himself to be exactly that.
• 31:29
  He was chuffed, you could tell.
• 31:30
  Great send-off, great recognition.
• 31:32
  You mentioned COVID there, and you talked a little bit before about the impact.
• 31:36
  How tough has that been for the organisation?
• 31:38
  I wouldn't lie, and I've been in some tough jams in my career, and there's no doubt that that two-year period, in particular that first 12 months from March 2020, 13th of March 2020, if you remember.
• 31:49
  We stood at the press conference at the Grand Prix.
• 31:51
  Absolutely.
• 31:52
  That has been a really tough 12 months.
• 31:55
  We've had to let 16 people go over a period of 12 months.
• 31:58
  You know, we're 50-odd people.
• 31:59
  We're in every state.
• 32:01
  We rationalized.
• 32:02
  We did a bit of work.
• 32:03
  My good friend John Murphy has gone to the States, but he did a bit of work beforehand, came back, and we created a working group made up of some big characters in motorsport.
• 32:15
  And we came up with a plan to use the downtime to reinvigorate our organisation.
• 32:20
  So we're actually more efficient than we were when we had 52 people.
• 32:24
  We're not in every state, but we've got people in every state who can go to every state.
• 32:28
  We've improved our digital.
• 32:29
  We've now got a digital card, of course.
• 32:30
  We've got a portal that's much better.
• 32:32
  You can enter an event.
• 32:33
  It's contactless now.
• 32:34
  So we've done a lot of work in that space.
• 32:36
  And so whilst we're now only 38 people as opposed to 54, 55, I think we're in a better place to now put on people and we're advertising as we speak for some more roles and grow back up probably to mid-40s and be able to continue to deliver a fantastic service.
• 32:52
  But I can tell you that sitting down in front of 12 people in one hit
• 32:56
  Over a period of one week is very tough work.
• 32:58
  But we rang them all up after.
• 33:00
  We built on a strong ethic of care and nearly all of them have found jobs.
• 33:06
  We reached out to them.
• 33:07
  We offered them opportunities for training and extra assistance.
• 33:10
  And I think that that's a really important part of our sort of role in letting those people go.
• 33:16
  And to this day, we're still looking at some of them coming back at some stage in the future.
• 33:20
  So it was tough.
• 33:22
  financially, we made some significant losses.
• 33:24
  We were supported by JobKeeper.
• 33:26
  I remember the Monday, I don't want to digress, but on the Monday, I'd planned with the board support to stand down 80% of our staff.
• 33:35
  Whoa.
• 33:36
  No salary.
• 33:37
  Whoa.
• 33:37
  80% of our staff was going to happen on a Wednesday.
• 33:41
  Mm-hmm.
• 33:41
  On Monday afternoon, Scott Morrison announced JobKeeper, and it saved me from having to say to 80% of our staff, we are going to have to put you off with no salary for an indefinite period of time.
• 33:53
  And as it turned out, JobKeeper saved us.
• 33:55
  Mm-hmm.
• 33:55
  And we were able to keep that staff on 80% of their salary for most of a year.
• 34:00
  Most people don't know that for most of the last two years, our staff have been either on 80% or 60% in the case of the executive.
• 34:08
  So I asked my executive team to take a cut, 40% for most of 220.
• 34:13
  And in 21, we went back up to 80%.
• 34:16
  And it's only been, sorry, 40%.
• 34:18
  since the start of this year, that we're back on full salary for our staff.
• 34:21
  So it took a toll.
• 34:22
  And for some people, they lost $30,000, $40,000 over a period of a two-year period.
• 34:27
  In fact, more for some cases.
• 34:29
  But most of our average staff would have lost somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000.
• 34:32
  And the challenge for us has been to keep them because if you're not getting an increase, so there's been no increases for three years, you've lost money.
• 34:40
  Someone comes along.
• 34:41
  Cost of living's going up, other opportunities.
• 34:43
  Someone comes along and says, here's $20,000 more, and you're not going to go down.
• 34:45
  I'm not going to put you on a stand down or anything.
• 34:48
  People have been tempted by that, but we're very proud that we've kept our staff together.
• 34:52
  Very important.
• 34:53
  Good on you.
• 34:54
  Michael Massey, you...
• 34:55
  Brought that up before, just to set the scene for a few people.
• 34:58
  I mean, obviously came through, I've known him since he was about 16, enormously hardworking guy who immersed himself in working with Kelvin O'Reilly, who you talked about before, the official side of motorsport, rose through the ranks to work with other countries when they were setting up events and so on.
• 35:18
  He became, in very tough circumstances, when Charlie Whiting died in the lead-up to the Australian Grand Prix a few years ago, he became the race director of Formula One.
• 35:27
  And we had a very controversial finish to the Formula One World Championship last year.
• 35:31
  In the wake of all that, he's been let go from that role.
• 35:38
  This is a hot topic, I know, and it's a very difficult one to ask you because on the one hand, you have the FIA mothership.
• 35:45
  And on the other hand, Eugene, you have a bloke you know, a proud Australian who's done some great things and is a great role model to some of these young men and women we are hoping will come into official roles.
• 35:57
  How do you sort of compartmentalise that?
• 36:00
  How do you feel about all that now?
• 36:03
  The feeling's no different than it was when he was let go, to be brutally honest.
• 36:07
  And I've spoken to Michael recently.
• 36:11
  How is he for people that don't know?
• 36:12
  Look, he's a tough guy.
• 36:15
  He's saying he's going okay.
• 36:16
  You know, I think it's...
• 36:19
  And I've left an organisation in a circumstance which was less than ideal in North Melbourne.
• 36:23
  I've left for reasons that others will know about.
• 36:27
  And when you become emotionally connected to an organisation, it's really hard to separate.
• 36:32
  And he would be going through hell right now in the lead up to the Grand Prix.
• 36:37
  I can tell you.
• 36:39
  We got an invitation to the governor's function.
• 36:41
  There's a governor's function Thursday night.
• 36:43
  he's because he's an FIA employee, his name was on the invite list and I got the invite and I emailed him.
• 36:49
  I said, I reckon I know what the answer to this is going to be.
• 36:52
  And he said, yeah, you know, I'm not going.
• 36:55
  So it's going to, it's going to hurt him.
• 36:56
  And he's a proud man and he's got to come from a wonderful family.
• 37:00
  And, um, I think the way he was treated was, was, was not, was not great.
• 37:05
  If I was an employer,
• 37:07
  In that situation, I wouldn't consider what happened there to be my proudest moment.
• 37:12
  He had to sit around for three months waiting for an investigation, but ultimately he was never interviewed for.
• 37:18
  He was never actually interviewed in that investigation and ultimately let go or removed from that role.
• 37:25
  and then replaced by essentially three people at a video service.
• 37:28
  Which tells you that the review uncovered the fact that they needed support.
• 37:32
  They needed way more than the assets he had at his fingertips.
• 37:35
  So, Rusty, I know that I was on the public record.
• 37:38
  There must have been other forces at play because in any other circumstance, when you look at three years of hard labour travelling the world in a pandemic, doing a fantastic job,
• 37:49
  possibly tripping at the last, there's a debate about whether we tripped or not.
• 37:53
  You deserve another chance.
• 37:54
  Totally.
• 37:55
  But it subsequently revealed that you needed that support, that you weren't getting.
• 38:00
  And you weren't interviewed.
• 38:00
  And you weren't interviewed.
• 38:02
  And when you let go from that role, it's got to burn.
• 38:05
  And I equate this to people who are listening who understand football or rugby.
• 38:10
  It's like an umpire in the last minute of a premiership game or a grand final game, making a decision in the goal square or rugby would be in the last 10 meters with both coaches yelling in your ear.
• 38:21
  Mm.
• 38:22
  Yelling at you and telling you what to do.
• 38:23
  Mm.
• 38:24
  In a life and death situation, motorsport isn't football.
• 38:27
  It actually is a dangerous sport.
• 38:29
  Mm.
• 38:29
  So you add that layer to it.
• 38:30
  Mm.
• 38:31
  And it's incomprehensible.
• 38:32
  Mm.
• 38:33
  that he would then be let go as a result of what happened.
• 38:36
  And so me, as putting aside my friend, if he was my employee, I would have been a lot more engaged.
• 38:42
  I would have worked through why it happened, how it happened, and then found a solution because he is a talent.
• 38:48
  Yep.
• 38:48
  He is a talent.
• 38:49
  It's a loss, in my opinion.
• 38:50
  And it's a loss to the FIA.
• 38:51
  It's a loss to Formula One.
• 38:52
  He'll pop up somewhere because we love him in Australia.
• 38:55
  So he'll find, when he's ready, when he comes back, he'll find somewhere to park.
• 39:00
  You know, this is a bloke who spent six months in Korea for Motorsport Australia cams, getting ready for the Korean Grand Prix.
• 39:06
  Six months he lived in Korea in preparation for that.
• 39:09
  And we weren't talking a beautiful city in the middle.
• 39:11
  I mean, it was, you know.
• 39:11
  No, you know where it was.
• 39:12
  Yeah, I know exactly where it is.
• 39:13
  Where it was.
• 39:13
  So, yeah.
• 39:14
  Here's a man who knows more about motorsport than many other people in this country, has been at the upper echelons and is cast aside.
• 39:22
  And as far as I'm concerned, if he comes home to Australia, there are plenty of people lining up.
• 39:27
  I spoke to Scafie recently.
• 39:28
  There are plenty of people lining up.
• 39:29
  We put their arms around him and bring him into their organization.
• 39:32
  He has a lot to offer.
• 39:33
  everything from the sporting side to the safety side to the organisational side.
• 39:38
  If we get a gig overseas, I'd be tapping him on the shoulder and say, do you want to go and lead us in the training of the officials for another Grand Prix?
• 39:45
  But right now, it'd be Bernie.
• 39:47
  I've got no doubt that he would be cut up by the way in which he's been treated.
• 39:51
  We need to move on.
• 39:51
  I'm glad you've had your say.
• 39:52
  It makes me bloody mad, mate, because I think he should have had greater support at an international level, and I'm miffed about that, absolutely miffed about it.
• 40:03
  sport has done some great things around prostate cancer awareness, for example, and encouraging testing and things like that in recent time, Motorsport Australia.
• 40:12
  Am I right in saying that you've shared a little bit of your own journey in relation to cancer?
• 40:15
  I did, Damiel.
• 40:17
  It was interesting that Krompo mentioned that one of the reasons he discovered what he had was because he went to do his medical for his license.
• 40:23
  For his license.
• 40:23
  And that it happened to him.
• 40:24
  Yeah, I...
• 40:26
  Like every other 50-year-old bloke, I just didn't worry about going to the doctors.
• 40:31
  Actually, I went to the doctors on a regular basis, but for whatever reason, the doctor had never asked me about doing a colonoscopy.
• 40:38
  And I thought, you know, and I got the pack.
• 40:41
  Once you get to 50, you get a pack from the government every two years.
• 40:44
  And I put it aside and I ignored it.
• 40:46
  And then when I was about 53 and a half, 54, I went to the doc and he just out of the blue said, did you end up getting one of those packs from the government?
• 40:53
  I said, no, I did.
• 40:53
  Did you end up using it?
• 40:54
  I said, no.
• 40:55
  He says, Yuge, is there a family history?
• 40:57
  I said, well, not what I know of, but I know her mum had some issues with her stomach and whatnot.
• 41:02
  And he says, well, you better get a colonoscopy.
• 41:06
  And so, lo and behold, went in for a colonoscopy.
• 41:09
  It was probably, I think it was around about August, because I normally go in and see him around my birthday, July.
• 41:14
  So I did the colonoscopy.
• 41:15
  It would have been about...
• 41:17
  In fact, it was September.
• 41:19
  And the doc said, we found three polyps.
• 41:23
  That's not unusual, he said.
• 41:24
  There's five mil, five mil and a 10 mil one.
• 41:26
  Now we're talking tiny polyps.
• 41:29
  We burnt them off.
• 41:29
  You should be okay.
• 41:31
  And I remember John Tot was in town.
• 41:33
  It was 2.14 and John Tot was in town and he was at the RACV club and we were going up to a function.
• 41:39
  And I was downstairs, believe it or not, in the lift lobby and I got a phone call from the doc.
• 41:43
  And they don't muck around these docs.
• 41:44
  They said, I've got some bad news.
• 41:46
  I said, what?
• 41:47
  He says, well, one of the polyps is malignant.
• 41:49
  And I said, well, what does that mean?
• 41:51
  Didn't you get it out?
• 41:52
  He says, well, no, I think we need to send her off to a specialist and have a look at it.
• 41:56
  And the long story short is that ultimately I had about a foot of my bowel cut out.
• 42:00
  Wow.
• 42:00
  Because what they do is they go into the space where the polyp was and they remove six inches either side.
• 42:05
  To be safe.
• 42:05
  They take some lymph glands out, they test those.
• 42:08
  And so I...
• 42:10
  I was told that in September and I said, is there any, I went and saw a specialist and the specialist said, I think you should do it.
• 42:15
  If you're 85, you probably wouldn't worry.
• 42:17
  But I think you should do it at 54 years of age.
• 42:20
  So I went in, but I said to him, is there any urgency about this?
• 42:25
  He said, oh, well, you wouldn't want to let it go more than three months.
• 42:27
  So I went to Bathurst.
• 42:29
  So I said, I want to go to Bathurst.
• 42:30
  So I think it was my first trip or possibly the second time I've been to Bathurst.
• 42:34
  Went to Bathurst, enjoyed that, went for the surgery in December.
• 42:37
  They cut out the foot of bowel.
• 42:41
  And then I decided to share it publicly.
• 42:42
  And when I went public with it, and I said to men, you know, get out there, get the test done, get the colonoscopy, get all the blood tests, do what you have to do.
• 42:50
  And there's about three or four people that have come up to me since then and shaken my hand and said, you know what?
• 42:54
  I actually went and did that.
• 42:55
  And I had the same surgery you did.
• 42:59
  It could have been serious.
• 43:00
  So I consider myself extremely lucky.
• 43:02
  If I'd have gone another 12 months, it would have developed into true bowel cancer.
• 43:06
  So it would have been the start of a cancer, but they nipped it in the bud.
• 43:10
  And as it turned out, I was very lucky.
• 43:12
  And I now get colonoscopies on a regular basis.
• 43:14
  And I would urge anyone out there, anyone, it doesn't have to be necessarily old men like me, but anyone 50 or 45 and over, particularly if there's a family history, to get your colonoscopies done.
• 43:24
  Great work.
• 43:25
  Couple to finish if we can.
• 43:27
  What's next on the Motorsport Australia agenda?
• 43:30
  What sort of things in the, you know, given we've come out of a pandemic or coming out of a pandemic, sort of the five-year track down the road in the shape of what you've talked about, about environmental challenges and all sorts of things?
• 43:43
  I think venues is pretty big.
• 43:46
  I'm pretty proud.
• 43:47
  Permanent venues, you mean?
• 43:48
  Permanent venues, yeah.
• 43:49
  Street circuits are great.
• 43:50
  We need them.
• 43:51
  But permanent venues, what we know drives our sport are venues.
• 43:55
  And our members have said to us repeatedly, if you build it, we will come.
• 44:00
  And there's the old joke, and Scafie told me, if you had a choice between cancelling a wedding or cancelling a track day, cancel the wedding, because you can always rebook it three months later.
• 44:09
  You cancel a track day, you might not be able to get back on for 12 months.
• 44:11
  Correct.
• 44:12
  So it's a problem in our sport that we're losing venues.
• 44:15
  Sandown's now on the chopping block.
• 44:16
  There's no doubt within the next four to five years it'll go.
• 44:19
  So for me, it is around building the political narrative to get more investment from government because Sam Shaheen comes along once in a lifetime.
• 44:27
  Totally.
• 44:27
  Totally.
• 44:28
  You're not going to get that many – or Tony Quinn.
• 44:30
  We're lucky enough to have Tony Quinn and Sam Sheehan in this country who are investing.
• 44:34
  But we need more venues, and that's a priority.
• 44:37
  We also need, as I mentioned already, some environmental focus and to set a plan for the industry, not for Motorsport Australia.
• 44:44
  Yeah.
• 44:44
  for the industry about how we're going to achieve that.
• 44:47
  We need to tap into this younger generation and we've got a real opportunity with the advanced, look at the record numbers of the Grand Prix.
• 44:53
  That's a good sign for government to see so that when you go and talk to a minister, you say, well, look what's happening.
• 44:58
  This is a popular vote-winning sport.
• 45:01
  Ask Peter Malinowskis from South Australia when he won the election on the premise of Adelaide 500 and bringing back the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.
• 45:08
  So getting in front of government and capturing the popularity, it's in our DNA.
• 45:13
  Everyone knows about Brockie.
• 45:14
  and Moffat and Brabham and Daniel.
• 45:16
  It's a really big calling card for us.
• 45:19
  And I think officials...
• 45:20
  So if you had four or five topics, they're about it.
• 45:23
  The venues, getting more government funding, developing the girls, getting more girls into the sport, we're lagging way behind.
• 45:30
  8% of our licence holders are women.
• 45:32
  We need to get that up, 20%, 25%.
• 45:35
  Plus the environment and the venues and government funding.
• 45:38
  I'm pretty confident that with a couple of elections coming up, there are opportunities to go and pick a pocket or two, get in front of government.
• 45:45
  I personally, before I leave this job,
• 45:48
  we'd love to see that there'll be another track in Victoria, in our west, in the west of the state, and we're currently working very closely with government around that because if Sandown does fall over, we need another venue.
• 45:59
  Phillip Island and Winton are not going to be enough for this state.
• 46:02
  And remember that our two biggest states drive 50%.
• 46:06
  We need to get Queensland up, and now the QR has been taken over by Tony, we think.
• 46:10
  So there's a whole raft of things, but I think I've captured the members, the officials, the venues, the environment, and government.
• 46:17
  They're the sort of things that I think about on a regular basis.
• 46:20
  You may not have done this, and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to, but have you set a little personal timeline for yourself in terms of the involvement?
• 46:27
  Yeah, I think...
• 46:28
  There's the old saying that Mick Maltas used to say that when you announce you're going to retire, you've pretty much retired.
• 46:33
  And I've got to be careful of that.
• 46:34
  But I would think, and it's no secret, I'm 61 years of age.
• 46:37
  I'd love this job.
• 46:39
  I'd love this job passionately.
• 46:40
  It's been a really good journey for me.
• 46:42
  And I would love to think that the board will allow me to see out the next two or three years.
• 46:49
  That'll do me then.
• 46:49
  I sit on a board.
• 46:50
  I could sit on a number of other boards.
• 46:52
  But I feel there's a bit of unfinished business because of a pandemic.
• 46:55
  It's set us back.
• 46:57
  And I think we've got a real opportunity coming out of a pandemic as a sport with the IP that I've gained over many years, with political connections, the relationships we've built to really capture that.
• 47:08
  So when I do leave a job, I leave it in a much better place than it was even two years ago during the pandemic, but certainly 10 years ago.
• 47:15
  So you've got to be conscious of making sure that you're working
• 47:19
  understand that you can't have a job forever.
• 47:21
  And as long as this board is happy to support me, then I'll continue working.
• 47:24
  But I wouldn't think, I don't think I'll be in the job when I'm 65, to be brutally honest.
• 47:29
  But I can't say to you when I retire, but I want to keep working hard.
• 47:32
  Can't play favourites, but what is in the Aroca garage?
• 47:36
  Come on, what's the daily drive?
• 47:38
  The BMW 340i, X-Drive.
• 47:41
  Well done.
• 47:41
  Wonderful car.
• 47:42
  I mean, look, I'm a bit of an old man.
• 47:44
  I love the comforts.
• 47:45
  My son's trying to get me into an M2.
• 47:48
  He wants to hear the rumble of a M2 downstairs in the garage.
• 47:50
  We've got four cars in our garage and two of them are my son's.
• 47:53
  Okay.
• 47:53
  He's got an old BMW, the last of the straight sixes.
• 47:56
  Oh, beautiful.
• 47:58
  Yep.
• 47:59
  92, 93.
• 48:00
  Mm-hmm.
• 48:01
  He loves that.
• 48:01
  He's got a Pajero of all things, do you believe it?
• 48:03
  Four-wheel drive.
• 48:04
  He thinks it's an investment.
• 48:05
  I think it's just a piece of crap.
• 48:07
  But anyway, it's a diesel.
• 48:08
  And my partner drives a Merc and I've got the BMW.
• 48:11
  And I've had, I think this is my fourth BMW.
• 48:13
  I love Beamers.
• 48:14
  They're a great car, great comfortable car, all the modern technology.
• 48:17
  But I reckon there's a chance my next car could be an electric vehicle.
• 48:21
  Okay.
• 48:21
  As funny as that might sound for someone from Motorsport Australia, I think that's possible.
• 48:25
  Watch this space.
• 48:25
  Hey, we've got to let you go.
• 48:26
  You've got to go to a luncheon with some political people.
• 48:30
  Good luck with the pickpocketing that you were talking about to help the game.
• 48:33
  It's been awesome to shoot the breeze with you.
• 48:36
  And just to share a bit of your story with the people in the greater Australian automotive and motorsport community.
• 48:41
  Thank you.
• 48:41
  Well, Rusty, it's been an honour.
• 48:43
  And thank you very much for asking me to do this because I was wondering, you must have been scratching around for guests.
• 48:47
  No, I wasn't.
• 48:48
  So I'm really proud.
• 48:50
  And you are a great friend of ours.
• 48:51
  And I consider you to be a friend because in the time that I've been the CEO, you've been a part of what we do and how we do it and the professionalism and how we present our awards nights.
• 48:59
  I compare them to when I first started.
• 49:01
  And it's a next level one.
• 49:03
  So well done to you for supporting us.
• 49:05
  And it's been a real pleasure talking to you for an hour or so.
• 49:08
  It's been great, mate.
• 49:09
  And at heart, what we just want is for the game to be better.
• 49:12
  Absolutely.
• 49:13
  Nothing better than that.
• 49:14
  Thanks, Hugh.
• 49:14
  Thank you very much.
• 49:15
  Thanks for asking.
• 49:22
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 49:26
  Series editor and producer is Ed Gooden.
• 49:29
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 49:32
  If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me via social media.
• 49:36
  The Garage.
• 49:37
  It's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fuelled stories.
• 49:49
  Listener.