Latest / Rusty's Garage / Todd Hazelwood | Part 2 - DJR jumpsuits and Todd’s Garage

Transcript

Todd Hazelwood | Part 2 - DJR jumpsuits and Todd’s Garage · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:05
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of a Ripper feature ebb with Todd Hazelwood.
• 0:10
  If you have hit the start button here but somehow missed part one, jump back to the garage library and give that a crack first.
• 0:17
  From his dad's desert racing to trying his hand at dirt carts.
• 0:21
  Todd's obsession with racing and learning the business side out of necessity from a very young age.
• 0:27
  Doing fake interviews with his sister after watching countless VHS tapes of racing rather than cartoons as a kid.
• 0:35
  Plus coming up against Cam Waters and Anton Di Pasquale in carts.
• 0:39
  And the financial stress that it put on a humble family who never wavered in their support.
• 0:45
  Coming up, an emotional Bathurst win, weighing up whether to stay at Erebus or make a childhood dream at DJR come true.
• 0:53
  Plus, Trans Am, a resto project that absolutely fits his personality, and the formation of Todd's Garage.
• 1:03
  In this supercars phase that we're in here now of your career, Brodie talks about it in the pod with Will too on Lucky Dogs about being overseas, obviously, in America.
• 1:12
  He comes back.
• 1:13
  You've probably known each other about 10 years now.
• 1:15
  You cross paths.
• 1:16
  And he very almost affectionately talks about how hard you would work, how the car was covered in stickers and you were printing the stickers yourself.
• 1:24
  And it was just...
• 1:25
  full gas.
• 1:26
  Yeah, he thought I was a madman when we first moved in together.
• 1:28
  He's like, seriously Todd, what's wrong with you?
• 1:31
  You're just doing too much.
• 1:33
  But that was why I think Brody and I got along so well because he was so switched on from the car and engineering point of view and mechanical side so he'd want to understand why with everything.
• 1:44
  So that's, I think, you know,
• 1:45
  I had a little bit, probably didn't have the same mechanical knowledge as what Brodie did.
• 1:49
  You know, he went to uni, had an engineering degree, whereas I spent all my time doing the marketing and the sponsorship, just trying to create this dream that we're both living.
• 1:56
  So yeah, it was a real, like it was a pretty, honestly, I would hand on hearts the first time I've ever spent time with a driver going, like, I have respect for you.
• 2:04
  And I think that was both ways.
• 2:05
  Like we didn't see.
• 2:07
  It's clearly both ways, mate.
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:08
  Like it wasn't like I was, um, what do you call it?
• 2:13
  I wasn't in awe of him or something or other.
• 2:15
  No, it wasn't like I was threatened by him or anything.
• 2:18
  It was like genuine, like, yeah, like, did I?
• 2:21
  Like, yeah, I like what you're about and I can see that you work hard just as much as I do.
• 2:25
  I know it means something to you.
• 2:27
  So I think we both saw that from each other and that's why we got along really well.
• 2:31
  Yeah, 2017 was a really cool year.
• 2:33
  It was his first year in Super 2.
• 2:35
  I was obviously fighting for a title, which we won.
• 2:37
  So, yeah, within that first year, we celebrated a lot of good times.
• 2:41
  And, yeah, then we started living together.
• 2:43
  And, yeah, we got to know each other very well.
• 2:45
  Is this like the odd couple, mate?
• 2:46
  Are you the clean and tidy guy?
• 2:47
  And he's the one who's... Brady's definitely the dirty one.
• 2:49
  Yeah, yeah, 100%.
• 2:51
  He was pretty rough around the edges back then, not going to lie.
• 2:53
  But he's a lot better.
• 2:54
  I actually went to his apartment yesterday and I was very impressed with him.
• 2:57
  You've come a long way in 10 years, I'm not going to lie.
• 2:59
  I've done well.
• 3:00
  Excellent.
• 3:02
  In talking about the stats for the year you win the title, you can correct me if I get this wrong, right?
• 3:07
  So...
• 3:08
  I think there's six wins there.
• 3:09
  There's like a dozen podiums, a dozen front row starts.
• 3:11
  Man, that was a good year.
• 3:12
  It was the last time I called Super 2 as well, so I can vividly remember it.
• 3:15
  There was kind of a book that was made around some of it too.
• 3:20
  That was pretty impressive, mate.
• 3:21
  A lot of hard work had gone into that moment, basically.
• 3:25
  Oh, 100%.
• 3:26
  I never forget that feeling of how much...
• 3:29
  Fulfillment I felt when I crossed the line at Newcastle in 2017, just that how much time, energy, tears, everything else that went into it over that four-year period being in Super 2, just trying to make that work and to eventually get that end goal.
• 3:45
  the feeling of satisfaction and relief more than anything was unbelievable.
• 3:50
  It was really, really special.
• 3:51
  So, yeah, and just to have, you know, had the family, had a huge network of supporters.
• 3:55
  And as you mentioned, you know, there wasn't a spare centimeter left on that race car because, you know, we had so many really well-connected sponsors and helping us make it happen.
• 4:03
  So to have everyone there on part of that journey was a really special weekend.
• 4:07
  I think I even had a little note on my dash.
• 4:09
  It was only a very small note because I didn't want to take up too much sponsor space.
• 4:12
  But...
• 4:13
  There was a little thanks, Rusty, for the good times on the dash as well.
• 4:15
  So, yeah, very fond of all those memories.
• 4:19
  Obviously, we did a couple of fundraiser dinners together back in the day.
• 4:21
  I was going to go there, mate, because Sam Shahin came on the pod very recently.
• 4:27
  And we reminisced about doing one in Adelaide.
• 4:29
  And I think this sort of shows the evolution of the fundraising that you'd had from...
• 4:32
  You were still, I think, doing sausage sizzles and things like that.
• 4:37
  But you'd managed to garner a group of support as a network, if you will.
• 4:41
  And we had this fundraising night.
• 4:43
  I did a little bit of MC stuff there.
• 4:45
  But Sam spoke that night.
• 4:47
  I don't know what year it would have been now.
• 4:48
  And he basically outlined the plans for the bend.
• 4:51
  It was like he was the keynote speaker and he came with all this information.
• 4:55
  And I was like, holy, this is a serious plan here.
• 4:58
  And now here, here are you and I, all these years later, I mean, you've won a significant race at that venue now exists.
• 5:04
  And it's amazing, isn't it?
• 5:05
  It is.
• 5:05
  It's really, really special.
• 5:07
  As you said, rewind the clock 10 years ago, I think 2016.
• 5:09
  Yeah.
• 5:10
  Sam came along, shared all these plans and everyone's like, what are you going to do that at tail and bend?
• 5:14
  Like, are you nuts?
• 5:15
  Like,
• 5:15
  Yeah.
• 5:15
  And he's done it.
• 5:16
  And obviously, you know, what a phenomenal venue it is.
• 5:19
  It's absolutely world-class.
• 5:20
  And, yeah, for me to get the first 500 win, I felt like it was somewhat fitting.
• 5:23
  You know, it's only just down the road from our Hayeswood farm where, you know, Origins started, you know, just in the Mallee region.
• 5:29
  And, yeah, you know, hearing what Sam was all about from all those years ago.
• 5:33
  Yeah, it's really, really cool.
• 5:34
  What happens next here?
• 5:35
  Because there are some wildcard appearances in the midst of this 2017 period and so on, the connection with MSR...
• 5:44
  But I think as Lauren said to me, maybe it's just timing, maybe it's just whatever.
• 5:49
  It wasn't like it was a guaranteed progression straight into the main game.
• 5:54
  Or if there was progression, it wasn't as though it didn't come without, you know, the need for contribution and whatever else from here.
• 6:00
  It was still, you know, there had been other moments where the graduation, if you will, on paper might look simpler.
• 6:07
  But it wasn't like that, mate, was it?
• 6:08
  It was.
• 6:09
  No, it was a really tough time in Super 2 because we saw in 2016 Gary Jacobson won the championship and couldn't get a spot.
• 6:17
  There was no progression plan.
• 6:18
  Nothing put in place by supercars to guarantee that the Super 2 winner gets elevated, which in other categories around the world, that's...
• 6:26
  generally what happens, but sometimes all about being in the right place at the right time.
• 6:30
  So I was very aware from that.
• 6:31
  We just finished third in 2016, gunning for a title in 2017.
• 6:35
  So throughout the start of 2017, I was already wording up my sponsor group and going, well, how do we make this work?
• 6:41
  And that was actually when they, we basically went to Supercar and said, there's a serious problem here for Super 2 drivers.
• 6:47
  We can't,
• 6:49
  We can't show what we're about.
• 6:50
  So we actually were part of that.
• 6:52
  They listened to that?
• 6:53
  Yeah, they actually took it on board, and that was where the plan had come about of having the wildcard appearances.
• 6:59
  So we were pushing that really hard.
• 7:00
  There was also Jack LeBrock was another driver with their team.
• 7:04
  So that was an awesome introduction because it gave us a super two drive to go right up against the main game drivers and show what we're about.
• 7:11
  And that was where...
• 7:12
  In Super 2, the equipment was virtually the same as main game.
• 7:16
  So we literally had our Super 2 car, took the Super 2 stickers off it and put Supercar's championship stickers on it.
• 7:22
  And we went racing on soft tyres for the first time.
• 7:24
  And basically knew at the start of the year, I think by about Tasmania, that we're going to do the round at Ipswich.
• 7:31
  So local round, we could do it quite cheap.
• 7:33
  It was our test track.
• 7:34
  It was basically our best opportunity to showcase what we're about.
• 7:38
  And, yeah, we actually – and for me, that was like to show my network going – I was sort of in the back of my mind going, if I can pull this off and show that we belong, then hopefully then we can try and use that as a bit of momentum, a bit of leverage to show that, you know, we can do this as a team.
• 7:54
  And I think at the time, Matt Stone was a bit like –
• 7:58
  I don't know if I want to do supercars.
• 7:59
  I'm pretty happy just doing super two.
• 8:01
  We've got a pretty niche little bubble here that we're maximizing.
• 8:04
  And I was like, no, this is my only way of progressing because I knew at that stage that every driver in a supercar championship was contracted on.
• 8:14
  Unless someone was going to get sacked or something crazy was going to happen.
• 8:16
  No door.
• 8:17
  No opportunity.
• 8:18
  There was no opening.
• 8:19
  So I was like, well, we've got to do it ourselves.
• 8:20
  So straight away I was in the map all the time, like, how do we get a license?
• 8:24
  How do we get a rec?
• 8:24
  You know, how do we do something?
• 8:26
  You know, I'll get the sponsorship.
• 8:28
  When did you sleep, mate?
• 8:29
  Yeah, I know.
• 8:30
  It sounds stupid saying this out loud now.
• 8:31
  I think that's –
• 8:33
  Careful what you wish for, you just might get it, right?
• 8:35
  But yeah, and that was the wild card was a big part of that, basically to showcase that we mean business as a team.
• 8:41
  And I felt like we did a really strong job.
• 8:42
  We actually had some really strong times in practice.
• 8:46
  I was like, yeah, in the top five in micros and in qualifying.
• 8:50
  So there was a lot of promise there.
• 8:51
  And yeah, that basically was the...
• 8:55
  Step one, and then it was, okay, well, how do we try and get a license?
• 8:58
  So then I started pestering Jason Bright because I heard rumors that he was potentially going to sell his license, get out of the sport.
• 9:06
  Sponsorship had fallen through.
• 9:07
  A bit of weirdness going on.
• 9:08
  So then I was, you know, sort of pestering Jason going, well, we want to be first in line.
• 9:14
  So, yeah, we had a conversation.
• 9:15
  It was actually just after Bathurst.
• 9:18
  Had a meeting with Jason Bright at Gold Coast when they come up for the Gold Coast 600 program.
• 9:23
  Matt and Jason Gommersall, who was my major sponsor at the time with iSeek and Big Mate.
• 9:28
  We all sat down and sort of had a rough idea of how we thought it was going to work.
• 9:32
  And that went back and forth for probably over a month.
• 9:36
  And I was actually just after I put it on pole at Newcastle.
• 9:38
  So championship deciding weekend, I just put it on pole and qualifying for Saturday.
• 9:42
  And that's when we just got the paperwork signed that we've agreed to a term, a lease term for two years with the racing entitlements contract.
• 9:52
  Excellent.
• 9:52
  So that was basically me knowing that I was going to full series or main game.
• 9:56
  What a weekend for you.
• 9:57
  In 2018.
• 9:58
  So it was just like, oh my God, like...
• 10:00
  we've done it.
• 10:01
  So that, that was really cool.
• 10:03
  Won the championship.
• 10:04
  And then it was like, that's where the hard work really began.
• 10:07
  And, um, there was no off season.
• 10:08
  There was no, no spare days.
• 10:10
  It was head down, bum up.
• 10:11
  We had new cars come to the fold at, at MSR from, from the team Penske at the time, which turned out to be a failure, but yeah, lessons learned with that.
• 10:19
  But yeah,
• 10:20
  Yeah, we got our spot in the main game and we soldiered on from there.
• 10:24
  What got Matt over the line if he was sort of contemplating staying in the Super 2 pond?
• 10:29
  Was it the wild card?
• 10:31
  What got him over the line?
• 10:31
  And then secondly, how big then, mate, is the bite?
• 10:35
  that you're doing here because you've figured a way over a number of years to stitch together a Super 2 program, right?
• 10:41
  And that's still a big commitment.
• 10:43
  I'm not trying to reduce that, but now you're going here.
• 10:47
  Oh, it's a massive jump.
• 10:48
  There's no underlining it.
• 10:49
  And you can never be ready for it either.
• 10:51
  That's one thing I look back and appreciate now.
• 10:54
  I thought I was ready, thought we were doing everything right, thought our capability as a team was strong enough.
• 10:59
  We'd hired some people, but then comes growing pains with staff.
• 11:02
  You know, we had issues there.
• 11:04
  Then we had issues with the equipment that we'd acquired.
• 11:07
  You know, it wasn't the equipment they would have thought it was going to be.
• 11:09
  So instantly, you know, the results weren't there.
• 11:12
  So, you know, when the results aren't there, that impacts everything else you do down the food chain with sponsors and staff.
• 11:18
  All that pressure starts to build.
• 11:20
  And me as a driver, as a rookie, rookie team, rookie driver,
• 11:24
  Yeah, it was tough.
• 11:25
  And a single car outfit.
• 11:26
  You know, we're obviously going up against two to four car teams and we were just peddling like crazy by ourselves at the back of the field.
• 11:34
  It was tough.
• 11:34
  It was, you know, going from winning a championship, tasting race wins to literally our best result in 2018 was the last round of the year was 13th.
• 11:42
  Like, didn't even break a top 10.
• 11:43
  Like, it was brutal.
• 11:45
  Demoralizing for me, I lost a lot of confidence in myself and...
• 11:50
  just the work I was putting in wasn't getting rewarded.
• 11:52
  And that's when it really hurts.
• 11:53
  As an individual, I think when you just, you're completely tapped with the work you're putting in and it's just not enough.
• 11:58
  The money wasn't coming in.
• 12:00
  The results weren't coming.
• 12:02
  You know, I was trying to do everything that I could, but it just simply wasn't enough.
• 12:06
  How'd you bounce from that then?
• 12:07
  How did you get the confidence to keep going and continue?
• 12:10
  Oh, just kept staying true to myself.
• 12:12
  Like it's going to turn around.
• 12:13
  Just that obsession, I guess that drives away.
• 12:16
  You know, you have a bad day and you go, all right, come on, Hazelwood, pick yourself up.
• 12:19
  Slap out of it, we got races to win.
• 12:21
  So, you know, a big part of that was working with Jason Gomesall.
• 12:25
  He was very much a life coach for me as much as he was, you know, yes, he was a major partner in funding my junior career through Super 2, but he was, you know.
• 12:36
  His guidance, mate.
• 12:37
  His guidance, I learned so much from him.
• 12:39
  What's the one takeaway from there, do you reckon?
• 12:41
  Yeah.
• 12:42
  The biggest thing would have to be surround yourself with good people and good things will happen.
• 12:47
  Okay.
• 12:47
  Simple as that.
• 12:48
  And probably, you know, there's always a risk to be taken, but just make sure it's a calculated risk.
• 12:53
  You know, if you want to go from A to B, there's always going to be risk.
• 12:56
  That's just how big of a risk it is.
• 12:57
  You know, really make sure that it's calculated and you'll go, you'll make progress.
• 13:01
  So, they're probably two things for me.
• 13:03
  Fortunately, mate, I think in 19 that you get... Crompton talks about it being a bit of sugar, right?
• 13:09
  A little bit of a...
• 13:11
  I think there's a fifth at Pookie and maybe a tenth at Newcastle.
• 13:14
  Is that right?
• 13:15
  Yeah, correct.
• 13:15
  Yeah, and we had our first top 10 result at the start of the year at Adelaide.
• 13:19
  So straight away we turned what was a year of pain instantly, like got our first shootout appearance at the Adelaide 500.
• 13:26
  We'd outqualified the 888 cars with the technical alliance.
• 13:30
  So straight away it was like, bang, like...
• 13:32
  we mean business.
• 13:33
  Like it was like a real statement piece for us.
• 13:35
  And we had really strong starts of the year.
• 13:37
  We were at qualified, you know, Shane and Jamie as a little single car outfit.
• 13:41
  We've just, what felt like was just Wes and I dreaming up ideas and being a little bit radical of our setup.
• 13:48
  And,
• 13:49
  Some days it didn't work, but some days it really showed.
• 13:52
  That was a really cool year.
• 13:53
  Although it was tough, but at the same time, it felt like we really took a bit of a... We were taking a knife to a gunfight, but we got a few stabs in.
• 14:01
  It was good.
• 14:02
  I'm glad you bring up Wes McDougall there because he's remained a bit of a constant mate.
• 14:05
  You work with him, I think, even now.
• 14:06
  Don't you?
• 14:07
  Just tell me about that.
• 14:07
  Yeah.
• 14:07
  Yeah, yeah.
• 14:08
  So, yeah, I first dragged Wes out of, you know, working full-time in main series.
• 14:13
  Then he was my engineer in Super 2.
• 14:16
  So we first started working together in 2016.
• 14:18
  So it's our 10 years now we've been working together, on and off.
• 14:21
  So, yeah, back when I moved back up to Queensland and I just lost my main series drive.
• 14:28
  You know, this is sort of fast forwarding the clock now.
• 14:30
  But, yeah, at the start of 2024, Wes had just started up a new business called The Complete Race Driver,
• 14:35
  an online platform where people could sign on and basically download all of his knowledge and basically a driver's how-to guide all online.
• 14:43
  And I said, well, why don't we expand a business?
• 14:45
  I could be a driver coach and we'll keep it all under the one umbrella.
• 14:48
  We've now since opened up a simulator here on Gold Coast as well.
• 14:51
  Terrific.
• 14:51
  And that's, yeah, it's a year in now and it's going great guns.
• 14:55
  You enjoy that song?
• 14:56
  Yeah.
• 14:56
  I really, I wasn't sure how it was going to go, you know, helping what would feel like, you know, helping the opposition, but I'm,
• 15:02
  We're working with a lot of young drivers, drivers like Alice Buckley, Brady Owen, Ellie Cleary, but then also some other drivers that are looking for just broader knowledge, haven't been to a track day before, never learnt any, haven't been on a simulator, haven't learnt how to actually drive a race car properly.
• 15:20
  I had Robbie Farr in a sim the other day, and obviously a legend of sprint cars, but never really been taught the technique of circuit racing.
• 15:26
  So working with a really diverse group of drivers, but also seeing the instant...
• 15:32
  result from sharing that knowledge is actually really rewarding yeah very satisfying um so i've actually got a real buzz out of that that's been a lot of fun um so yeah that's i guess another hat to wear keep myself busy in between everything else that goes on in my life well done you fast tracked a little bit there obviously you know from msr to to brad jones racing
• 15:51
  you come back to MSR and there's a period of time there with BRT as well.
• 15:56
  But you fundamentally get to a point where you're now a co-driver and your worth as a co-driver, I think, is arguably greater perhaps than even in the full-time sense.
• 16:12
  But was that very difficult?
• 16:13
  Was that a conscious choice you made?
• 16:15
  Was it circumstance?
• 16:16
  And how did you deal with that?
• 16:20
  Um, I guess, yeah, the, towards the middle of 2023, my year with BRT was certainly not the year that I signed up and wanted.
• 16:27
  They had staff.
• 16:28
  I think staff.
• 16:29
  Yeah.
• 16:29
  It was, it was brutal.
• 16:30
  And like a lot of that was from the introduction of Gen 3.
• 16:33
  We were very slim operation.
• 16:34
  We had three full time, three or four staff full time in the workshop.
• 16:38
  Plus them myself.
• 16:40
  And then I basically lost three out of that five full-time employees at Townsville.
• 16:44
  So I remember like literally after track walk, when I found out the news, I was like making SOS calls to my mates.
• 16:49
  So I called up Sheldon.
• 16:50
  I'm like, Hey brother, I know you're, you're not in motorsport anymore, but I need an engineer at the next round.
• 16:54
  Like I have, I have no one.
• 16:56
  I don't have an engineer.
• 16:57
  I have two mechanics.
• 16:57
  Like I'm.
• 16:59
  So you're calling favors here.
• 17:01
  I'm pulling friends out of the woodwork to try and get us back on the track.
• 17:04
  So yeah, 2023 was tough.
• 17:06
  And you know,
• 17:07
  I love the Blanchard family.
• 17:08
  I love John and Tim.
• 17:09
  You know, they've been very good to me.
• 17:11
  But, yeah, it was just a tough year.
• 17:13
  It wasn't a year we both wanted.
• 17:14
  And I basically, I think the tipping point was at Bathurst 2023.
• 17:18
  Like, I...
• 17:20
  I felt like I wanted 2023 to be the year where I invigorated myself.
• 17:24
  You know, I had a bit of a tough spell the year before.
• 17:28
  I was actually just getting genuinely frustrated.
• 17:31
  Like, I wasn't where I wanted to be.
• 17:32
  I hadn't achieved nothing that I wanted to achieve in the sport.
• 17:35
  So, I hadn't had a race win in supercars and just...
• 17:38
  I actually felt like my worth in pit lane was diminishing as well, which is a horrible feeling because you know when you're pushing for opportunities, like, you know, I remember pestering, say, wind cup, for example, like whenever there's an opening, whenever there's change, like I want to be that, that guy.
• 17:51
  And just when you know you're not getting a response on emails or when something's just, when things aren't happening the way you, you hope it will, that's when you think, well, I need to do something different because what I'm doing now is clearly not working for me.
• 18:02
  So yeah,
• 18:04
  Yeah, 2023 Bathurst was a tough race.
• 18:07
  We had a starter motor fell out of the car with about six laps to go.
• 18:11
  got the black flag with a lap to go, didn't finish, you know, with half a lap remaining.
• 18:18
  And I remember that was the first time I got out of the car and slammed the door.
• 18:21
  Like I always used to say, like, don't ever throw your helmet, don't throw your gloves, don't slam the door.
• 18:26
  And that was the first time I'd, like, got out purely pissed off, basically.
• 18:30
  And I remember walking over the bridge at Bathurst Sunday afternoon, just finished packing the truck going, like, I can't.
• 18:37
  whatever I'm doing, I can't do this.
• 18:38
  Like, this is not me.
• 18:40
  This is not what I'm about.
• 18:41
  I'm all about wanting to win races, being hungry for success, and I just was burnt out of me, basically.
• 18:48
  But you're also positive.
• 18:48
  So the fact that you were angry, upset was not you either.
• 18:52
  No, exactly.
• 18:53
  That was not what I was about.
• 18:54
  So I knew something's not right, and I need to change it up.
• 18:56
  And I already got inkling that.
• 18:59
  I'm probably not going to be here next year, so I need to try and do something different.
• 19:02
  So I'd actually spoken to Brodie.
• 19:04
  It was actually at Sandown where we qualified on fourth, which was quite a cool moment for us.
• 19:08
  Fourth in the shootout, Sandown 500.
• 19:10
  The race was a disaster, but the fact that we still had pace and qualified fourth was like a win for us at BRT at the time.
• 19:16
  And Brodie goes, you know, old dog, you've still got some tricks up your sleeve.
• 19:21
  You impersonate him quite well.
• 19:22
  That's good.
• 19:24
  You know what he's like.
• 19:25
  And that's when he said, he said, oh, I know that you're struggling with everything at the moment behind the scenes.
• 19:32
  So he says, if you're co-driving next year, give me a call.
• 19:36
  So that was, so yeah, fast forward.
• 19:39
  Then a couple of weeks later, I've slammed the door at Bathurst, walked out.
• 19:43
  And two days later, I think I had the meeting with John and Tim said, like, we basically agreed that this is not going to work and we're not going to be here next year.
• 19:51
  But it was a mutual thing.
• 19:53
  Like, they were happy.
• 19:54
  I was happy.
• 19:55
  And I remember walking out of the meeting going sort of good.
• 19:57
  Like, I was that fed up, basically.
• 19:59
  And then...
• 20:01
  Literally talk about sliding doors moment.
• 20:03
  So I walked out of that meeting frustrated, went back to the workshop and was doing some stuff on the laptop.
• 20:08
  And then I got a text message from Barry Ryan.
• 20:11
  Hey, mate, Brody says we need to have a chat.
• 20:14
  Give me a call when you're ready.
• 20:16
  And, you know, Barry basically said to me, said, look, we want to win Bathurst next year.
• 20:19
  That's our main objective.
• 20:20
  They just finished second with Brody and D-Russ.
• 20:22
  They had a great day, but just fell short.
• 20:25
  And I said, you know, if you're going to be serious about co-driving next year, we want you to be our guy.
• 20:30
  So I said,
• 20:31
  I was thinking like, yep, no, that's what I want to do.
• 20:34
  This is me.
• 20:35
  Yep, this is perfect.
• 20:36
  Race, you know, proven race-winning organization.
• 20:39
  Brodie's obviously leading the championship.
• 20:42
  You know, this is me reinvigorating myself.
• 20:44
  Yep, and 12 months to focus on that, prepare for that kind of deal, basically.
• 20:47
  So from that, that was literally our first conversations.
• 20:49
  Like, we're going to win Bathurst next year.
• 20:51
  Like, that was, I'm not making it up, but that was...
• 20:53
  That was what was said, and Barry doesn't mince his words.
• 20:56
  He's very, you know, very adamant of what he wants to achieve.
• 20:58
  So I thought, perfect.
• 20:59
  Surround myself with, you know, like-minded mindset, people that want to win, love winning, you know, all that sort of stuff.
• 21:06
  And obviously teaming up with Brodie as a mate, it all made sense.
• 21:09
  And then, obviously, the start of the year was a bit tipsy-turvy, but...
• 21:13
  You know, fast forward the clock, then 11 months later, Brodie puts it on pole and we lead from start to finish.
• 21:19
  The race was unbelievable, mate.
• 21:21
  You know, probably more for you than me, but it's hairs on the back of your neck stuff, the way that you basically dominated the pair of you during the day.
• 21:29
  Was there ever a moment behind the scenes at all where you had a little...
• 21:33
  heart start a little moment or is it just one of those sometimes in sport they talk about having these days that that everything from preparation to whatever all comes together and it just rolls out in a in a perfect manner was it like that yeah a little bit and i think the best thing that happened was that we had a really tough sand and 500 we're in race winning contention i banged wheels with wing cup and got a puncher
• 21:58
  Went back to last, raced our way back up into Capotean Contention again.
• 22:01
  We had an alternator failure.
• 22:02
  And I was like, you know, I was sort of so hungry for just tasting supercar success for so long.
• 22:09
  And, you know, I felt like we missed out.
• 22:11
  So then it was like, all right, we need to work in our pit lane processes.
• 22:13
  We need to be better at our driver changes.
• 22:15
  You know, the list went on.
• 22:16
  So leading up to Bathurst, our prep was rock solid.
• 22:20
  Like the team was in sync.
• 22:21
  Brody and I were...
• 22:23
  on song and everyone was just in real, this real strong harmony.
• 22:27
  Like we're going to take it like wit, like we're there to prove a point.
• 22:30
  Like no one really, it's funny, even though we had such a strong and on paper, our race pace was better than anyone else at Sandown that no one sort of really put us on paper that in that league, in that bracket, probably because, you know, I hadn't had much success at that stage.
• 22:43
  That's, that's fair enough.
• 22:44
  But yeah, so,
• 22:45
  From our point of view, we just kept our head down.
• 22:47
  We stuck to our plans.
• 22:48
  We did a lot of race run work, a lot of race car preparation in practice, sacrificed that one lap pace.
• 22:54
  And Brodie does what Brodie does best.
• 22:57
  He put a green set of tyres on it.
• 22:58
  It was the practice before qualifying.
• 23:00
  Bang, straight to P1.
• 23:01
  I was like, oh, man.
• 23:02
  We knew our race car was strong, but...
• 23:05
  a little bit nervous of one lap speed.
• 23:07
  And yeah, Brodie put it fastest in practice before qualifying.
• 23:10
  I was like, right.
• 23:11
  And meanwhile, Brodie is sick as a dog.
• 23:13
  So you talk about a moment where it might go a bit downhill.
• 23:17
  Well, that was the moment where Brodie looked at me and goes, do you want to do the shootout?
• 23:20
  No, sorry, do you want to do qualifying?
• 23:22
  I'm like...
• 23:23
  Not really, no.
• 23:23
  I haven't done a green tyre run yet.
• 23:27
  So, yeah.
• 23:28
  So, Brodie was, you know, he was in the toilet, bathroom, backfiring, carrying on, and, you know, then put it on provisional pole.
• 23:34
  Sorry, I think he was third in qualifying, but obviously then did a tremendous lap in the shootout, blitzed it.
• 23:40
  and, uh, yeah, put us in the perfect position, but yeah, just that preparation leading up and you talk about, um, it's weird how you have moments in life where you know that you're on for something special, but I was so flat out ignoring.
• 23:51
  I was like, no, just because we're starting pole doesn't mean that we're going to win.
• 23:55
  Like I was like flat out, don't let the emotion creep in.
• 23:58
  Like we're here to do a job, like just be laser focused on doing a job.
• 24:01
  The result will take care of itself.
• 24:03
  You know, that was always what I was telling myself.
• 24:05
  And
• 24:06
  Yeah, it's weird how I remember hearing the Heroes song by David Bowie.
• 24:12
  It was the Ice House original when he... Yeah, sorry, keep going.
• 24:17
  Yeah, yeah, so Carly put up this video, you know, Sunday morning Bathurst and we could be heroes just for one day.
• 24:24
  And that song just kept, you know, like it really emotionally got me a little bit.
• 24:28
  And I'm thinking, man, I don't need this Sunday morning.
• 24:30
  Like, I just need to get in the car and go, like block all this out.
• 24:33
  But I still think of that moment, it sort of was like a...
• 24:36
  Bit of a trigger, like we're on for a special day.
• 24:38
  It was quite eerie.
• 24:39
  That's itch like filming your mind, mate.
• 24:41
  It is.
• 24:41
  It is.
• 24:42
  So, yeah, pretty special.
• 24:43
  And then, obviously, starting on P1 next to Brody of the car there and just that anticipation and build-up of...
• 24:51
  What could be for the day?
• 24:52
  You try to, I'll just remember, like, I knew that we're on for something special, but I just was trying to ignore it all day.
• 24:57
  I was like, no, like, don't jinx it.
• 24:59
  Don't jinx it.
• 25:00
  The vision at the end, the vision at the end, when you get it, when you as a group and you and Brodie as mates get it, the vision of you is like this release, mate, I think, like almost finally.
• 25:13
  You can't believe it because it's biggest race on the calendar and one of the biggest in the, in the world.
• 25:19
  but you've finally done it.
• 25:22
  Fast forward with a bit of time to digest all that now.
• 25:25
  This is nearly two years ago now.
• 25:27
  What does that moment feel like?
• 25:29
  The best feeling in the world, and every single emotion goes through your body.
• 25:33
  It's relief, the years of sacrifice, the anticipation of the day, the blocking out the nerves and...
• 25:40
  blocking out what could be because you don't want it to, you don't want to be heartbroken if it doesn't happen.
• 25:45
  You know, all these things go through, travel through your mind all day.
• 25:48
  But that last hour of the race where basically Brodie and Brock were trading fastest lap versus fastest lap and listening to the Radiacom, scanning the radio, you're so laser focused on what's happening.
• 25:59
  You're just like, you can't blink.
• 26:01
  Like it's the intensity in the pits was incredible.
• 26:07
  So yeah, just for, yeah.
• 26:09
  As far as feelings, emotion, that was, I don't think I could ever replicate that because it'd been such a big build-up, you know, wanting to win a supercars race for a start.
• 26:19
  I'd never tasted that feeling before, but then to, you know, throw in the fact that it's the biggest race there.
• 26:25
  It's Bathurst.
• 26:25
  We've led from start to finish.
• 26:27
  We've done a perfect job.
• 26:29
  We earned it as drivers.
• 26:30
  We felt, and as a team, you know, we executed perfectly.
• 26:33
  And to get the result the way that we did was just, yeah.
• 26:36
  Yeah.
• 26:37
  unbelievable.
• 26:39
  Lauren says that, um, she observed in the wake of that, that the sport, maybe people in the, in the, the greater supercars community kind of suddenly went, Oh yeah, he has got it.
• 26:57
  He has got it.
• 26:58
  You know?
• 26:58
  And so all that stuff that you'd gone through around the, the, you know, the challenging periods in the main game and whatever else made that must've been quite a, uh,
• 27:08
  irony because you've gone back to being a co-driver, but the contribution to that collective has been powerful for you, hasn't it?
• 27:16
  Yeah, exactly.
• 27:17
  And there's a famous saying in our sport, you're only as good as your last race.
• 27:20
  So that's why you never lose sight of what your goal might be.
• 27:23
  You don't get defeated by the tough days.
• 27:25
  The tough days might last a year.
• 27:26
  It might last five or six years like it did for me.
• 27:29
  I had five or six years of just pure frustration, not achieving what I want to achieve.
• 27:34
  So
• 27:35
  bang, you achieve that moment, you finally get that breakthrough, and all of a sudden, the world opens up again.
• 27:40
  It's crazy how, in our sport, you are literally only as good as your last race, and the next thing you know, the phone's ringing hot.
• 27:48
  I'm still recovering from a serious hangover at Bathurst, and
• 27:51
  Next thing you know, I'm having to do contract negotiations for the next year or the next two years.
• 27:56
  And all of a sudden, I was like, oh, man, what do I do now?
• 27:58
  I got all of a sudden all these opportunities that I've been begging for for the last four or five years and now coming at me all at once from one race.
• 28:06
  That's where the sport's kind of crazy in a way because everyone knows what you can do.
• 28:10
  Like you said, they're almost waiting for you to just prove it.
• 28:13
  Prove it.
• 28:14
  Show me.
• 28:15
  Give me something.
• 28:16
  So, yeah, that was definitely that little bit of sugar that you're talking about there.
• 28:30
  Todd is hoping to beat his record when he returns to World Time Attack this September in the Tanooki Racing S13.
• 28:36
  Rusty will be there working on the coverage with Warren Luff, whose diverse skill set made him a perfect pilot for this awesome event.
• 28:43
  To just come down the front straight at Sydney Motorsport Park in a full-body car and just hold it flat through Turn 1.
• 28:49
  There was no lift, no... And the thing would just stick like nothing else through there.
• 28:54
  It was just an unbelievable experience.
• 28:57
  Search for Laughy in the garage when you've finished enjoying the Todd Hazelwood episode.
• 29:02
  Gun co-driver in supercars, super coach in Carrera Cup and the time he was hospitalized a week out from Bathurst.
• 29:09
  Like Todd it's a fantastic conversation.
• 29:11
  I can't believe Rusty hasn't talked pies yet, we often see him sneaking a meat pie into the studio here.
• 29:18
  We now know you're at Dick Johnson Racing.
• 29:20
  You and your mate are together.
• 29:22
  He moved.
• 29:22
  Did you contemplate staying or was it always that you wanted to keep co-driving with him?
• 29:27
  What goes on there?
• 29:28
  Yeah, it was a tough call because Brody had already signed to go with DJR for the following year before Bathurst.
• 29:33
  So his contract was done and dusted.
• 29:35
  And I knew George Cummins was leaving as well as his engineer.
• 29:38
  And I would obviously work with George at the start of the year and everything.
• 29:41
  And...
• 29:42
  Obviously, we got along really well, even due to our size difference was obviously massive and everyone sort of thought it wouldn't work, but clearly it did.
• 29:49
  And Brodie's like, man, you've got to come with me.
• 29:52
  And it was actually, Ryan's story had actually reached out to me the week of Bathurst.
• 29:57
  And I said, no, like... Not now.
• 29:59
  Thanks, but no, like, let's talk post-Bathurst.
• 30:02
  And he jokingly said, he said, oh, your price would go up if you win Bathurst.
• 30:07
  That's quite ironic.
• 30:08
  But no, it was.
• 30:10
  Yeah.
• 30:10
  So there was already that gentle push in the background from both Brody and the team.
• 30:15
  But I was like, no, like I've got a job to do with Erebus.
• 30:18
  And, you know, I feel like I'm very loyal when I make a stance on who I want to work with.
• 30:24
  And Barry was very good to me.
• 30:26
  And obviously, they'd had their challenges that year.
• 30:27
  And I tried everything that I could do behind the scenes, you know, both with the commercial stuff and a few other things to try and, you know, keep that team ticking along.
• 30:36
  And trying to make sure that capability was there for Bathurst because, you know, naturally you want to win, which we did.
• 30:41
  So then instantly it was like, well, I've just won the – I've just had the most amazing moment of my life.
• 30:49
  And now to potentially walk away from the team that helped me achieve it, that was –
• 30:53
  like really hard for me to process in a way.
• 30:55
  Like I didn't, my moral compass didn't feel comfortable doing it.
• 30:59
  Okay.
• 31:00
  But then I also knew there was a, an incredible opportunity to, to then sign with DJR, continue this, you know, this, this potential winning streak with Brody as well.
• 31:11
  I knew that the, the capability that Brody would bring to that team would reinvigorate the team.
• 31:15
  I was very confident of that.
• 31:17
  And then I was also obviously very aware of, you know, if that capability's gone to Erebus, what does that mean for the next year?
• 31:23
  And Barry was very good.
• 31:25
  He presented me of a bit of an alternative role within the team.
• 31:29
  So I'd be helping, you know, I wouldn't be obviously driving for them full time, but driving as a co-driver, helping in behind the scenes with the team, with their younger drivers, and then team up with JLB, which Jack LeBrock's, and again, a good friend of mine, and was pretty keen to pull that off.
• 31:43
  But in the back of my mind, it's like, well,
• 31:46
  I've just won Bathurst and winning's infectious.
• 31:49
  You want to do it again.
• 31:50
  So it's like, well, I'd be crazy.
• 31:52
  not to continue that with Brody.
• 31:54
  So it was, yeah, don't be wrong.
• 31:56
  I definitely thought about the decision.
• 31:58
  It wasn't 50-50 or it was, yeah, I could have been torn either way, but it simply come down to the fact that I wanted to do it with Brody again.
• 32:07
  Brody was the reason why I got to Erebus.
• 32:10
  So it felt like there was an element of loyalty to Brody as well, continuing that on.
• 32:16
  And again, the fact that,
• 32:18
  DJI has been my dream as a kid.
• 32:20
  Seven-year-old kid with a DJI suit.
• 32:23
  Probably even four or five years old before I was racing.
• 32:26
  I was obsessed with Ford and DJ and what that all meant.
• 32:31
  So to be part of that inner four walls now is essentially I am living the childhood dream.
• 32:36
  There's no other ifs or buts about it, so I'm very glad I made that decision.
• 32:42
  Yeah, it's the longest term contract I've ever signed in my racing career with the team that I love and respect the most.
• 32:48
  That's awesome, mate.
• 32:49
  It's pretty special.
• 32:50
  Awesome.
• 32:50
  What is the vibe like in there at the moment?
• 32:51
  Obviously, you know,
• 32:53
  You know, Will Davo moved on, yet there's a new CEO there, Megan Foster, who's ex-Autobahn, for example.
• 32:59
  What's the place like, you know, from your perspective as you look through the lens?
• 33:03
  The perspective for this year is, you know, guns blazing, really.
• 33:06
  I feel like last year we sort of had a lot of people out of place and we weren't really in sync with each other.
• 33:12
  Obviously, a massive staff turnover.
• 33:15
  You know, you talk about drivers, Brody and I turning up, but there was a massive behind-the-scenes change-up with mechanics and engineering.
• 33:21
  Engineering is basically...
• 33:23
  Yeah, a clean slate.
• 33:24
  Start fresh.
• 33:25
  So last year was very much a building year and everyone's trying to find their feet, whereas it feels like this year everyone knows their place.
• 33:30
  Everyone's getting maximised in every role.
• 33:33
  Some really strong leadership from the top, which always helps.
• 33:36
  It always stems from the top, right?
• 33:37
  So I feel like last year was a little bit clunkily, a little bit out of place, whereas this year, and we're seeing that with results.
• 33:45
  Brodie's in a great headspace.
• 33:47
  The car's obviously in a really nice window and he's...
• 33:51
  And he's going to be a man to beat, I think, this year.
• 33:53
  So it's quite exciting for me, obviously, as we start getting ready for Enduro soon.
• 33:57
  It's going to creep up very quickly.
• 33:59
  So, yeah, I feel like we're in a great spot to keep winning races together.
• 34:02
  Great stuff, mate.
• 34:03
  You keep sharp by going in relatively recent years, Trans Am Racing.
• 34:09
  Tell me when this idea came about.
• 34:11
  Was this you on the phone, hustling, putting something together?
• 34:15
  How did that come about?
• 34:16
  And are you enjoying all that?
• 34:18
  Clearly you are.
• 34:19
  I am.
• 34:19
  I'm loving it.
• 34:20
  Trans Am has been a great addition to, yeah, to my CV, I guess, if you call it.
• 34:24
  But just a new challenge.
• 34:27
  It's funny how it came about.
• 34:28
  I actually was not hustling at all.
• 34:30
  I was having a weekend off, a rare weekend off, and I actually got a LinkedIn message from Josh Thomas.
• 34:37
  the son of Brett Thomas, CEO of TFH High, he said, what do you know about Trans Am?
• 34:42
  I was like, oh, nothing.
• 34:43
  Why?
• 34:44
  Because you want to drive one.
• 34:45
  So I was like, well, yeah, sure.
• 34:46
  Like I got, I was just signed as a co-driver and they were just a very small outfit.
• 34:52
  Matty Black, who I'd worked with back at Matt Stone Racing, he's an ex-Stone Brothers mechanic.
• 34:59
  He was there in a workshop floor and he sort of pushed my name forward as a driver that they should probably try and poach to help be part of the team.
• 35:06
  Bit of a clean slate, knew nothing about the series, knew nothing about the cars, knew nothing about the Thomas family, sort of agreed like, yeah, well, let's go racing, bugger it.
• 35:16
  Like, I'll just, I'll be all chips in, let's just try and see what this is about.
• 35:19
  And, you know, tried to learn the capability of the car and all of a sudden we're doing testing and just totally different language with the car from supercars.
• 35:27
  But trying to draw off my supercars knowledge into the car and then trying to,
• 35:31
  create something out of it.
• 35:32
  So the first couple of rounds were a bit rough and ready because we were sort of finding my feet and I was actually still racing full time.
• 35:38
  I got thrown back in the seat with Erebus for the first two rounds of the year.
• 35:41
  So the start of the year was a little bit clunky, but then once then Brodie stepped back in, I was like, all right, I'm going to make this Trans Am has got to be my thing.
• 35:49
  I sort of made it my pet project to really...
• 35:51
  show what show what we're about and prove a point so yeah between maddie black and myself and another guy called pc we sort of pulled apart the car and went through it with a fine tooth comb going all right how do we maximize this thing how do we hot rod the hell out of it and make it as quick as we can and then got our straight off the back of that we got our first podium then we got our first race win then we dominated here at ipswich and all of a sudden we're in championship contention it's like
• 36:14
  We've come a long way in a couple of rounds here.
• 36:16
  So, yeah, then we went on to win the championship in 2024.
• 36:20
  First year together, first year working with TFH.
• 36:22
  We'd finally knocked off GRM, who'd dominated the championship the last...
• 36:27
  know three or four years whatever it been so it was a bit of a shock to the category that we'd sort of come in guns blazing off the back of you know i guess for me it was a bit of a you know try and prove a point you know i'm not in supercars anymore so make the most of an opportunity that i've got and we did exactly that yeah nice so i mean title success there uh we're doing this in a studio today but we could have actually gone to the workshop you know you're often in the workshop aren't you i am yeah yeah very hands-on now which i love
• 36:51
  I love working on cars.
• 36:52
  I love being involved with the whole tuning and mechanical side of things.
• 36:56
  So very much on the tools more than ever.
• 36:59
  So I've sort of gone full circle from where I was working on cars back in my junior days of Formula 4, Formula 3 and Super 2.
• 37:07
  sort of didn't work on cars and supercars.
• 37:09
  And now I'm like living and breathing, living out of a toolbox every day of the week now.
• 37:14
  So I love it.
• 37:15
  I love the challenge of fine tuning something, you know, just looking under a car or a hoist for 10 minutes going, you know, how can we make this baby quicker?
• 37:23
  What can I tickle with today?
• 37:24
  You know, so it's...
• 37:26
  The mind is still...
• 37:26
  I still think the same the way I would in supercars, but I think that doing that constantly, you know, being sharp for supercars, obviously, number one, why I do it.
• 37:35
  But number two, it's just the challenge of it.
• 37:37
  It really drives me to get the most out of it.
• 37:39
  And there's a really cool thing of Trans Am where...
• 37:41
  diverse group of drivers that have sort of been there done it you know guys like moffat for example then you got a young injection of youth guys that are pedaling really hard pushing the limits guys like nathan hearn and nathan blake tracy and a few other guys like that so it's a really good mix of i guess experience and and pace and the racing's been awesome the racing and the and the rawness of the car is what i love
• 38:02
  That's a very nice summary of exactly what that is in terms of a state of play, if you like.
• 38:08
  Lauren says you were born in the wrong decade.
• 38:10
  You should have been born in the 70s.
• 38:12
  You enjoy 70s music, maybe even a bit of Elvis.
• 38:15
  You're okay, she says at karaoke, that you can hold a tune.
• 38:19
  All right.
• 38:19
  Is this true?
• 38:20
  I'm not going to sing a song, Russ.
• 38:21
  No, I'm not asking you to.
• 38:23
  I'm not asking you to.
• 38:24
  Is this true?
• 38:25
  Yeah, definitely.
• 38:26
  I'm an old man at heart.
• 38:28
  I'm not going to lie.
• 38:31
  70s music is probably being very generous.
• 38:33
  I'm probably more into anything like 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s.
• 38:37
  I'm a bit of an old man at heart.
• 38:40
  I love my record player.
• 38:41
  I put records on.
• 38:42
  I'm in the shed working on my 70s Falcon.
• 38:44
  I've got a 54 Zephyr that I'm restoring.
• 38:47
  I love Hot Rods.
• 38:48
  I love that whole scene.
• 38:50
  It's just I feel like, yeah.
• 38:53
  Definitely born in the wrong era.
• 38:55
  Tell me about the Falcon.
• 38:56
  Tell me about the Yellow Falcon.
• 38:58
  Yeah, well, I've always...
• 39:00
  brought up, I guess, as a young kid, around old cars, you know, had the 70s Falcon at home with mum and dad growing up as a kid, Pine and Lime Falcon, minis and other bits and pieces.
• 39:09
  But I was always upset, like XB Coupe, that was like my poster car as a kid.
• 39:13
  I always said I would die a happy man if I had a XB GT Tango Orange XB Coupe.
• 39:18
  That was always a dream.
• 39:20
  So when I first moved up to Queensland, you know, money's tight, and I thought, oh, maybe I'll just buy like an old shitter and that can be my little runaround car and pick up parts and an old XM Falcon or something.
• 39:30
  You know, working with Jimmy Stone, he always had old cars at the workshop.
• 39:33
  So I was always around it.
• 39:35
  Yeah, and then it was actually COVID.
• 39:37
  It was an impulsive COVID purchase.
• 39:40
  A fiend for scanning marketplace looking for a bargain.
• 39:43
  And this XC wagon popped up on Marketplace out at Gatton.
• 39:47
  A very discreet description.
• 39:49
  You know, it was just Ford Falcon, station wagon, all original SUVs.
• 39:53
  It had a, you know, the typical one photo, looked like the car just being hosed off, pulled out of the shed.
• 39:59
  I thought, oh, all original, you know, like pine and lime, like it's the same color as mum and dad's XC.
• 40:04
  It was a wagon, looked stock as a rock.
• 40:07
  I thought, oh, maybe it's unmolested, might not be touched.
• 40:10
  bugger it, I'll go have a look.
• 40:11
  So I sent the lady a message and it turned out to be the daughter of her mum who brought the car brand new.
• 40:17
  Okay.
• 40:18
  So it was an original country car from Inverell, New South Wales, and been parked up for a few years.
• 40:23
  And due to COVID, she couldn't meet me there, so it's like I can't remember the relation now.
• 40:27
  So I went out to this shed out at Gatton.
• 40:30
  You could tell they'd been parked outside for a few years because they had a bit of surface for us.
• 40:33
  The paint was all dull.
• 40:34
  Yeah.
• 40:36
  but I was sort of walking around the car going, man, this is all, like the interior was like brand new.
• 40:40
  Like the, the body work needed a bit of work, but like acrylic paint, you know, good buff and sort of could see the potential of the car going, you know, it just won't take me much to, you know, dress up and make a cool little cruiser.
• 40:50
  And then, yeah, sure enough, I took a, I took a Ford mate out with me.
• 40:54
  He's like a Ford nut in his sixties.
• 40:56
  And he goes, all right, so what are you going to do?
• 40:58
  Cause if you don't buy, I will.
• 40:59
  And I was like,
• 41:01
  That's a good endorsement.
• 41:02
  Yeah, that was sort of the little shove that I needed because people that know me, I'm very indecisive when it comes to spending money.
• 41:08
  A bit of a...
• 41:09
  I've got a bit of a tight wallet.
• 41:10
  But, yeah, so I was like, all right, bugger, I'll do it.
• 41:13
  You know, stuff it.
• 41:13
  It's COVID.
• 41:14
  Give me something to do.
• 41:15
  I'll tune this baby up, bring it back to life.
• 41:17
  And, yeah, it didn't take much at all.
• 41:19
  A couple of hours in the shed, we got rid of a couple of hornets' nests and a couple of blocked knots, cleaned out the carby.
• 41:25
  And she just perred like a kid and just sat there idling away.
• 41:28
  And, yeah, just been a little job that did all the mechanicals myself, made sure that mechanicals were squeaky clean.
• 41:34
  And, yeah, just did a little bit of body work, had a little bit of rust in the
• 41:37
  tailgate in the left door and a little bit of spots of surface rust, but managed to buff most of it out, which was cool.
• 41:44
  And, yeah, it's still mostly original car.
• 41:46
  And you use it too, mate, don't you?
• 41:47
  Yeah, yeah, get out and use it.
• 41:48
  You know, I'm a big advocate for having, you know, if you've got a cool car, drive it because, you know, you only live once to enjoy these cars.
• 41:56
  So you might as well have fun from A to B, so do it in style.
• 41:59
  Todd's Garage.
• 42:01
  Is this an opportunity for...
• 42:04
  more resto projects, this is culture.
• 42:07
  Tell us about this, how it came about, and where are you going with this thing?
• 42:10
  Yeah, Todd's Garage has definitely been a dream since COVID.
• 42:14
  Again, I love my old cars, I love resto work, I love working on cars.
• 42:18
  And at the start of the year, we just won my second championship with TfH in the Trans Am program, and now we're sort of going in a different direction, going to Porsche this year, and the Trans Am program had basically sewn up.
• 42:30
  So I was like, right, okay, I need a, what do I do?
• 42:33
  And I was like, well, I don't really want to run with another team because in my eyes, they're all opposition.
• 42:36
  So I'm not going to just hand over my trade secrets that we've developed internally over the last year.
• 42:41
  So I thought, stuff it, I'll do it myself.
• 42:44
  You know, I'll be a one-man band and I'll do the ultimate challenge where I prep the car, engineer it, race it and try and win it.
• 42:51
  So very, very ambitious is what I'll say and care for what you wish for, you just might get it.
• 42:58
  And it's been a hell of a lot of work, which I was warned about, but...
• 43:02
  Again, bite off more you can chew and chew like hell, right?
• 43:04
  So, and I guess, yeah, and part of that was like, well, off the back of launching a motorsport program, rather than going Hazard Racing or Motorsport Division or whatever, I thought I'll have some fun with it.
• 43:15
  I'll do it from home.
• 43:17
  I'll build a garage.
• 43:18
  It's a glorified shed, if we call it.
• 43:20
  But I just really wanted to resonate with everyone at home.
• 43:23
  and the way the world of sponsorship and marketing is, is focused now, there's so much influence on story, on the story and, and the backbone of cars and, you know, sponsorships getting harder and harder to, to be able to put together, you know, sponsorship deals to go racing.
• 43:37
  So you need to be a bit more creative with how you socially engage with, you know, social media, whether it be YouTube, Facebook, all, you know, all the platforms that we, you know,
• 43:46
  We love to hate, but they're the ones that are sort of making my world go around commercially, putting a race program together.
• 43:52
  So sort of come up with this concept rather than just a racing team.
• 43:57
  We'll have Todd's Garage, so we'll have a motorsport division.
• 43:59
  So that's the Trans Am program, which is taking up a lot of my time.
• 44:03
  But then have a restoration, special projects, tuning.
• 44:06
  It could be basically open to anything car, motorsport, automotive related, you name it.
• 44:11
  And really trying to...
• 44:13
  rather than just capturing the audience of motorsport, trying to really broaden my, I guess, my following, if you call it, in that process.
• 44:22
  Supporter base.
• 44:22
  Yeah, supporter base.
• 44:24
  So there's a tuning market, people that love their 90s Skylines or love taking a car to a dyno or straight line running.
• 44:32
  Or there's the resto market, which is rock and roll events and going to Cooley Rocks, which I went the other week.
• 44:37
  Yeah.
• 44:38
  things like that.
• 44:39
  Then there's like the special projects division, which is working with brands, maybe building a car for them, using, you know, a bit of B2B stuff to, you know, build those connections to help them grow the garage, the capability, working with cool brands.
• 44:52
  You know, so it was, yeah, I sort of went hard and hard and wide straight away.
• 44:56
  So, you know, being really fortunate to get some really cool brands to help grow the capability of Todd's garage from this, from day one, sort of pitch to everyone said, look, this is my crazy idea.
• 45:07
  I don't know how it's going to work, but this is sort of what I want to do.
• 45:10
  And people really going, yeah, well, that's what we want to get on board with, you know, as a brand and things like that.
• 45:15
  So all of a sudden, once I knew that I was getting enough genuine interest for people to go, yep, once you're ready, let us know and we'll sign up.
• 45:22
  So I was like, stuff it.
• 45:23
  I'll just do it.
• 45:25
  So I guess the last push that I needed was when I was like, okay, if I'm going to run my motorsport program this year, I'll just, I'll launch Todd's garage and evolve.
• 45:34
  So it's funny because, you know, Todd's garage actually technically doesn't exist yet, but it will.
• 45:41
  It's all happening.
• 45:43
  So yeah, Todd's garage is, you know, in the process of getting a shed build at home at the moment.
• 45:47
  So, um,
• 45:48
  Again, it's sort of like build the dream and then people will get on board.
• 45:50
  That was sort of the vision for the start of this year.
• 45:52
  There's never a perfect time to launch a business.
• 45:54
  You can have all your ducks in a row, but then it's too late.
• 45:57
  So for me, it's like, well, whilst I've got a bit of, I've got an opportunity, I've got a window, make it work.
• 46:02
  That's sort of me at the moment.
• 46:04
  And it's been a cool challenge.
• 46:05
  You have walked in with the hat on.
• 46:07
  The paint scheme looks cool.
• 46:09
  Hair, I mean, four and 20.
• 46:11
  This is gold, mate.
• 46:13
  Liquid gold.
• 46:14
  Liquid gold.
• 46:16
  You've ended up with some support there too, which is tremendous.
• 46:19
  Yeah, 420 has been amazing.
• 46:21
  It's obviously super iconic Australian brand.
• 46:24
  It just resonates with everything that I'm about as a proud Aussie.
• 46:28
  People that know me well, I'm a loud and proud, bit of a bogan at heart.
• 46:32
  I love cars.
• 46:32
  I love music.
• 46:33
  I love...
• 46:34
  I'm a bit of a pie eater myself.
• 46:36
  I'm not your typical athlete per se.
• 46:40
  I'm pretty casual with all that sort of stuff.
• 46:42
  So, yeah, 4 in 20, just, yeah, a really cool opportunity.
• 46:45
  Good fit, as they say.
• 46:47
  Yeah, it was really cool.
• 46:48
  And obviously pitched to them about doing name rights as a major sponsor for the car at the start of the year for actually one of their other brands called On The Menu.
• 46:56
  And then I think it sort of...
• 46:58
  The proposal drifted over towards the 4 and 20 brand manager and he goes, ah, no, we want to do this.
• 47:04
  So on the menu sort of got pushed to the side and 4 and 20 become available.
• 47:08
  And I was like, oh, man, really?
• 47:09
  Like 4 and 20?
• 47:10
  Like, wow.
• 47:11
  Now we are talking like this.
• 47:12
  We could make something really special out of it.
• 47:14
  And we didn't have much time to be able to pull it off.
• 47:17
  I sort of had sent off a proposal with a bit of half-hearted interest, wasn't really sure if they were genuine or not.
• 47:24
  And I got a response within a week, which is obviously a good telltale to say that, you know, they're genuinely interested in what I'm proposing.
• 47:30
  And I said, well, if we're serious, I said like,
• 47:32
  This is my timeline of events.
• 47:34
  If you want to be a major sponsor, we need designs, we need merchandise, we want to do a launch event, we need to do a testing, we need to get ready for round one.
• 47:41
  So that's less than a month away.
• 47:42
  And they're like, oh, right.
• 47:44
  So sense of urgency was put into them from me.
• 47:46
  And then they flew up to Queensland, took into DJR, went out for a long lunch, shook hands and was like, all right, get to business.
• 47:52
  So that month was massive because I was not only rebuilding the race car myself, you know,
• 47:58
  had a bit of a delay getting the engine back and stuff.
• 48:00
  Hadn't done a test day yet.
• 48:02
  So I was flat out learning how to rebuild my race car, plus then...
• 48:05
  Launching it.
• 48:06
  Launching the business of Todd's Garage, then putting together this big deal with 4 and 20, which I was proud of, but also didn't want to fail on day one either.
• 48:16
  So it was...
• 48:16
  Yeah, a lot of long days, a lot of long nights.
• 48:19
  But yeah, got it done and we had an amazing launch event here just in Woollongabra at Easy Times Brewing.
• 48:23
  We had over 200 people there turn up for the event.
• 48:26
  So that was really special.
• 48:27
  And then we went to Bathurst on debut for Todd's Garage and we put it on pole.
• 48:32
  So it was really cool.
• 48:34
  Super satisfying moment for me personally because knowing that was pretty much all that work, all that effort.
• 48:41
  And, yeah, it all paid off in that one moment.
• 48:44
  It was really special.
• 48:45
  Congrats, mate.
• 48:46
  It looks cool too.
• 48:48
  To finish...
• 48:49
  What do you reckon Todd Hazelwood at whatever you are now, 30, you still seem so damn young to me, but what would you tell that teenage kid at high school that had an unrelenting dream of going motor racing?
• 49:02
  What would you say to someone like that now?
• 49:05
  I think it would be, I'm glad you backed yourself.
• 49:08
  Cool.
• 49:09
  Yeah.
• 49:10
  The fact that you didn't give in even when everyone else around you gave up or people told you no.
• 49:16
  I didn't back down and I'm glad I didn't because otherwise I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today and I'm loving what I do every day of the week.
• 49:24
  I'm living my childhood dream and that purely come down from the fact that I didn't say no when everyone else did and I didn't give up when the chips were down, whether it was one month or one year or five years when the chips were down, I still didn't give up.
• 49:40
  So that's...
• 49:42
  It sounds cliche when people say the harder you work, the more successful you are, but you truly are.
• 49:47
  I can't say that enough.
• 49:48
  Look, knowing what I know now, I didn't probably believe it at the time because you're young and people give you this words of wisdom and you watch motivational videos and all the other stuff to try and get you through those tough days.
• 49:59
  Yeah.
• 50:00
  And it's true, like what I said before when I spoke about Jason Gommersall, surround yourself with successful people and you'll be successful yourself.
• 50:08
  I cannot say that loud enough and proud enough because the years where I didn't have success is probably where I didn't align myself with the best people or the same like-minded people, I should say.
• 50:20
  Not most successful people, but...
• 50:23
  people that didn't want the same result as what I did.
• 50:25
  Gotcha.
• 50:26
  This has been fabulous, mate.
• 50:27
  Thank you.
• 50:28
  We've, you know, had the chance to sort of work together in, you know, different ways over the years.
• 50:33
  I hadn't seen you for a little while, but this, I knew was a great story and worth telling.
• 50:37
  And there's been moments in this conversation today where you've opened up and shared a number of really cool things.
• 50:43
  Congratulations on what you've done.
• 50:45
  I love the unrelenting tenacity.
• 50:48
  The Bathurst win is just a one-spin,
• 50:52
  page in the book of satisfaction for all that hard work that you've done.
• 50:56
  And we hope there's some more for you, mate.
• 50:57
  Congrats.
• 50:58
  Good on you.
• 50:59
  You're a legend, Rusty.
• 50:59
  No, it's always a pleasure.
• 51:01
  And it's pretty cool diving back into some old stories that you sort of forget because you get so laser focused on what's next.
• 51:07
  So yeah, no, thanks for doing your homework and bringing up some really cool stories.
• 51:12
  That's great to chat.
• 51:13
  Lauren's in trouble.
• 51:14
  Thank you, mate.
• 51:14
  Yeah, she certainly is.
• 51:15
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 51:24
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 51:28
  Series editor and producer is Joel Harrison.
• 51:31
  Audio production by Link Kelly.
• 51:34
  If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me on social media.
• 51:39
  The Garage, it's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fueled stories.