Latest / Rusty's Garage / Michael Pickens - Part 2

Transcript

Michael Pickens - Part 2 · Rusty's Garage

0:02
A listener production.
0:20
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with Michael Pickens, a speedway star on both sides of the Tasman who's made quite a mark in the USA too.
0:32
Now, as I often say, if you've somehow arrived here and missed part one, jump back to the Rusty's Garage Library and give it a listen.
0:40
From the early days to those who helped steer him in the right direction as he gravitated to speed cars or midgets especially.
0:48
Some of the detail...
0:49
on the power to weight performance of those awesome machines and the art in winning.
0:55
The first of now 10 New Zealand speed car titles and just how special that was, plus a whole lot more.
1:03
We begin part two by talking about a bit of a danger, something that goes with the territory but makes this sport immensely addictive too.
1:16
It can be a brutal game, mate, from a crash standpoint.
1:20
Are there some in that sort of early phase of your career where it was a bit of a reminder of the brutality of the game sometimes?
1:27
Yeah, it had a shitload.
1:30
You know, I had some big ones.
1:34
Definitely teaches you to respect the car and what's around you.
1:39
But unfortunately in this game, being open wheel and the nature of how you put it.
1:44
Can happen.
1:45
Yeah, you've got to run these things hard and on the ragged edge because...
1:48
Everyone's got the same stuff now.
1:50
Everyone's got the same engine, same shocks, same chassis within reason.
1:54
Different brands, of course, but if you're not doing something pretty special, you ain't going to win.
2:02
So you've got to learn to run the car on the ragged edge but not crash.
2:05
And obviously it takes a few crashes to learn where that limit is, but it certainly gets your attention, that's for sure.
2:11
Yeah.
2:11
Do you know when it gelled for you, when it absolutely got to the point where you're like, right, I can do that, I can... You never get to the point where you're 100% comfortable and we can run on the ragged edge.
2:22
Is that what's addictive about it?
2:23
Is that what's sort of, you know... Yeah, I suppose, and it's a sport where you never stop learning and, you know, I'll still make mistakes to this day where I think I can push a little harder and you end up crashing.
2:38
Mm-hmm.
2:38
But, yeah, I think if you're not pushing the limits consistently and having the old crash, then you're probably not pushing hard enough because you're not learning.
2:49
So it's just an unfortunate side of the sport where it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
2:58
There was one recently, which people can find on YouTube, where you literally, in America, more or less flipped it
3:05
then landed on its wheels, and you somehow kept it going.
3:09
That's had quite some views, hasn't it?
3:11
Yeah, I'd love to say it was all talent, but it's probably zero involved there.
3:15
New Zealand racer, Michael Pickens is up and over.
3:18
Well, it was a barrel roll.
3:19
Landed on the tires.
3:20
Keep going, Michael.
3:21
Keep going, Michael.
3:23
Oh, yeah.
3:24
Pay him off.
3:26
Pay him off.
3:27
Oh, somebody get him the number for the Thunderbirds.
3:30
It was, you know, it was a goofy deal.
3:33
You know, we just started bouncing.
3:35
We were mucking around with bump stops and stuff, and I think that may have contributed to what we had.
3:40
But either way, it started bouncing, and when they start bouncing like that, there's nothing you can do.
3:44
You just hold on.
3:46
And we're just fortunate that it bounced a certain way it did and landed on all four wheels.
3:50
And...
3:51
Got the motor going again and then we pulled into the pit chute, backed up, boys checked the car and said, nah, she's good to go.
3:58
Go.
3:58
So we had one last flying lap and I can't remember where we ended up, 16th, 17th maybe in time.
4:06
But, yeah, and that was two nights in a row we crashed in the first lap of qualifying.
4:12
So it gives you an idea of, you know, where that's all at and there's just definitely no tootling around, that's for sure.
4:20
No, definitely not.
4:21
How aware and immersed did you become in the business side?
4:26
When did you sort of realise, okay, you know, in order to go to a CRC or somebody like that, I've got to present a certain way, I've got to stitch a deal of this kind together and how did you learn that?
4:38
Really, because I...
4:41
I had to learn.
4:43
Do you enjoy that side of it?
4:44
Yeah, I do.
4:46
And to be honest, my wife, Dallas, she's got a background in IT and marketing and that.
4:52
So she handles a lot of our social media, which is so important these days.
4:57
You know, the value for a sponsor is far greater than social media, your reach and whatnot, than what it is actually having a name on a car just circling around the track.
5:09
Yeah.
5:10
And you learn over time, you know, the value of social media and the way you present yourself at the track.
5:17
And, you know, for every dollar you ask for, you've got to justify that dollar at the end of the season.
5:23
And...
5:25
With what we do, we under-promise and over-deliver and try and build on that year by year and give them value.
5:34
There's no school you go to to learn that.
5:36
It's just something you learn over time.
5:38
You look at things and how you can do better next season.
5:42
So long as you're getting better, that's the main thing.
5:44
you've had to do that by... School of hard knocks is not the right term for it, but hands-on learning is probably the better way of saying.
5:51
And that's a great takeaway for young racers that are listening here, mate, that ultimately the stuff you talked about before, about being on the edge and winning races and winning titles, that's ultimately what counts and what drives you.
6:04
But the energy, the impetus and what you do outside the car is massively important, isn't it?
6:11
That's huge, yeah.
6:12
I mean...
6:14
But you spend a lot more time out of the car either working on it or...
6:18
Thinking of ways to, yeah.
6:19
Yeah, and obviously the sponsorship side of what Sherry's talking about, that takes up a huge amount of time.
6:27
And then there's the merchandise side of it too, you know, and that's tied into your sponsorship and all that because you're representing them on your merchandise.
6:35
And it's a lot of hours, but, yeah, we make it enjoyable.
6:42
Dallas is a good operator.
6:43
I've seen the, you know, the merch side and the professional way you guys presented the track and so on.
6:49
She's really good.
6:50
You met her, if I'm not mistaken, through Speedway too, didn't you?
6:53
Is that right?
6:54
Yeah, her brother Brock races and we met at Speedway to practice.
7:00
I think Brock had...
7:01
Just started racing midget.
7:02
It was probably his first ever time in midget, actually.
7:05
So she knew what the drill was, and it's become obviously a huge part of our lives, and I don't think it would – well, actually, it wouldn't work.
7:16
otherwise.
7:17
Because you're so immersed in it, aren't you?
7:20
We are, and she's a huge part of what I do.
7:23
And honestly, she pushes me probably more than what people realise to do certain things at certain times as far as what races to run and sometimes maybe a bit, I don't know if I should do this or not.
7:35
And she's like, nah, stuff it, just do it.
7:38
And there's been quite a few situations where she said to me, see, told you.
7:43
I thought you should have run that race.
7:45
So, yeah, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of things I wouldn't have achieved without her.
7:49
And it's got to be enjoyable and you have to get enjoyment out of it, both sides, to make it successful.
7:59
Otherwise, you just get burnt out.
8:00
You're a proud dad now, too.
8:02
Yeah, really proud.
8:03
And I don't think she'll be a speedway racer.
8:05
We've borrowed my Crucis quad bike, little 50cc quad bike.
8:11
And I'm not putting any pressure on her.
8:13
But she said, oh, can I get a quad bike for my birthday?
8:17
So we gave her this one just to run around the lawn on.
8:20
But yeah, she's definitely not scrabbing it by the scruff, that's for sure.
8:23
So it might be ponies and princesses, I think.
8:26
Are you breathing a little sigh of relief too about that or not?
8:28
Oh, I...
8:29
You know, yeah, obviously the cost thing, but I want her to enjoy whatever she does and I don't want to push her in any certain direction because you've got to be passionate about whatever you do.
8:39
Most definitely.
8:40
I know that sounds clichéd at times, but it is super true, mate.
8:43
And that's really when you look around here in the workshop and what you've done with the team, what you've created and so on, that is –
8:49
basically the underpinning of the whole thing isn't it you've driven this out of out of a pure passion yeah you've got to be passionate about it and and the people around you've got to be passionate and that's um i guess that's real key to to being successful is having the the people want to help you that are around you tell me about some more of those because i mean that they you know when i met some of them at western springs recently there it's like family good long-term group of people that you got around you haven't you
9:14
Yeah, I mean, one of my guys, Tony Cullen, he's been with me for damn near 15 years.
9:21
He was helping me on the car that's on the banner behind us here, or behind you.
9:25
Excellent.
9:27
And he just loves what we do, and we're fun doing it.
9:32
There's no pressure on anyone.
9:35
They don't make hardly any mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes, and there's no pressure on anyone to be perfect.
9:42
And with that, I think, comes less mistakes because they're relaxed and not under any pressure at all.
9:48
So it's just enjoyable.
9:50
And we don't have a hard and fast schedule.
9:56
You've got to be here by a certain time or anything like that.
9:58
But I think the guys enjoy it so much that they want to be here, which I think is really important.
10:05
Invariably, your time in Australia at major race meetings there, because they would often get Americans down over summer and so on, your time in the States when you were racing over there means that you would have met, I would imagine, some legends of the game.
10:19
Have there been those that have left a great impression on you?
10:23
Who are some that you've perhaps had a chance to meet?
10:25
Yeah, I was at Chilli Bowl.
10:28
It was a year we nearly won it.
10:29
We ran third, and I met Gary Bettenhausen.
10:32
Mega.
10:33
Yeah, and I was...
10:35
You know, he raced obviously way before my time, but the name Gary Bettenhausen would ring with true.
10:41
Lots of listeners.
10:42
Yeah, and it was pretty special meeting him.
10:47
He's a guy that's stuck in my memories as one of the legions I've ever met, for sure.
10:51
What's, you know, observations of someone like Kyle Larson, who's doing great things in NASCAR now and so on?
10:57
I mean, he's just been adept in Speedway and has carried that through to NASCAR, hasn't he?
11:03
Yeah, he was my teammate the very first time he came down.
11:06
So it was pretty cool.
11:08
And at that stage, I knew, obviously, he was going to be really special because he'd just won the four crown at Eldora, which is midget.
11:18
Iconic.
11:19
Yeah, midgets, non-wing sprint car, silver crown.
11:22
all in one night.
11:23
And the only other guy that's ever done it is just Jack Hewitt.
11:27
So you knew the guy was going to be special.
11:31
And he certainly was when he came down here.
11:33
But pretty cool to say that, you know, you've been racing shoulder to shoulder with those guys at the beginning of their career.
11:39
Hewitt's a great character.
11:40
He's still around from time to time, I think, in the States here.
11:43
The Kellys, actually, Owen Kelly and his father, Chas, have a very, very good relationship with him.
11:48
Talk about Chilli Bowl because listeners will have, ears will have pricked up about that.
11:53
Forget motor racing because that's what you and I love here.
11:55
But in sport generally, what they are putting on there, an indoor arena for some of the best in the business, an armada of cars.
12:06
What are we talking?
12:07
Tulsa, Oklahoma, aren't we?
12:09
In their winter, our summer, it is one of the ultimate things for what you love to go and compete in.
12:18
It really is.
12:18
That's the pinnacle of midget racing, really, is, yeah, it's middle of winter indoors, like you say, and it's the, I think it's the largest freestanding pillar, so it's supported from the outside.
12:33
The structure has nothing on the inside to interfere with the haulers and the race track, obviously.
12:39
So you walk in there and everything's inside, you know, every hauler, every single car, and there's approximately 380 cars in there.
12:47
Unreal.
12:47
It's insane.
12:48
It's absolutely insane.
12:50
How big is the track?
12:51
It'll be about eighth mile.
12:52
So it'll be kind of the infield of Western Springs, I suppose, if not a bit smaller.
12:56
Yeah.
12:58
I've always said it, for someone that's not even into midget racing, it's an absolute spectacle, because you do see guys like Casey Kane, my teammate this year was a new car driver, Centeno.
13:10
So you get guys like that that don't typically run midgets, show up and just want to have some fun and go race.
13:17
Cruz Pedregon, a drag racing guy.
13:20
So, yes, it's just the atmosphere is mega because it's all under one roof, and there's so much going on, so many oddball sort of different cars that you wouldn't otherwise see at outdoor events, specifically built for Chilli Bowl.
13:36
Alex Bowman's team, for an example, you know, the Cup driver, he runs two cars there.
13:42
So to race against Alex Bowman is pretty cool to say.
13:46
In the back straightaway, Pickett's pushing him.
13:48
Streamers are coming down.
13:49
Sammy with an early lead.
13:51
Oh, too close to call.
13:54
It's a multi-day, almost week-long, maybe even more event, isn't it?
13:57
It's huge.
13:58
Yeah, so last time I flew in Saturday night, we've practised on, everyone practised on Sunday, so you get two runs.
14:05
And then you run either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
14:09
One of those five nights is your prelim night.
14:11
And then everyone, every single car will run on the Saturday.
14:14
Uh-huh.
14:15
So on the prelim night, you might have between sort of 60 and 80 cars on each one of those nights.
14:20
And then on the Saturday, every single car, so every 380-yard cars will run.
14:24
So they'll start at 9am, I believe.
14:27
It's absolutely mental.
14:28
What's it like?
14:29
Flat out around your clothesline kind of thing.
14:33
The laps when you watch them on the onboards, I must go one day.
14:35
I've got to go and do that as a bucket list thing.
14:37
But it looks unreal.
14:38
Unreal.
14:39
Yeah, it's definitely busy and the racing's usually absolutely badass.
14:44
You know, slide jobs and it's got a unique sort of berm on the bottom which you tend to straddle with the car and it's either that or you're usually up on the fence.
14:53
So, yeah, the racing is absolutely insane.
14:56
It's wicked.
14:57
Yeah.
14:57
What's the most powerful memory there for you?
15:00
And the question's a little bit loaded because you've raced for American team owners and what have you, but you've also stitched together your own thing where you've taken people over and competed in the States as well, haven't you?
15:12
Yeah.
15:14
If you're asking about Chili Bowl?
15:15
Well, let's talk Julie Ball first.
15:17
Yeah, so I've two experiences.
15:20
One where we nearly won, that's where I met Gary Bettenhausen.
15:23
So we started maybe two-thirds back in the field in the A main, got up to about fourth or fifth, I think, got tangled up, had to go to the back, came up, passed for second, and then caution come out, ended up third.
15:36
It was about two laps to go, caution come out.
15:38
That was pretty cool.
15:39
Dan, you're winning the thing.
15:42
And then the other memory, of course, would be when we took the Synergy V8s up from New Zealand.
15:46
So New Zealand-built cars, New Zealand-built motors.
15:49
Me and Brad Mosen were the drivers, and we got both cars locked into the A. Oh, really?
15:56
I ran second on my prelim, Brad ran third, which back then you'd only had to run the top three in your prelim to get locked into the Saturday A main.
16:03
So to get two cars locked in was huge, huge effort for the team.
16:08
And we didn't run the best on the Saturday night.
16:12
We ran OK.
16:12
I can't remember where it ended up exactly, maybe 13th or 14th.
16:16
but just to bring an entire team from New Zealand to do that well was pretty cool.
16:22
How massive was that undertaking, mate, stitching that all together, logistics and, you know?
16:27
I mean, back then I was just a driver, mate.
16:29
I showed up with my gear bag and thought, well, this is actually really cool.
16:33
Other than some testing we did back home with the cars, we actually detuned them a little bit to take them there.
16:40
The V8s were making that much power.
16:41
Yeah, they were ridiculous, so...
16:45
we detuned them a little bit so we had some testing with them but other than that I mean Luke Fisher and Simon Longdill and ironically the CRC was a name like sponsor yeah so that was Murray Walburn who's since retired from CRC but huge effort from all those guys.
17:01
We have a mutual friend in Brett Morris in Australia, different Brett Morris, in another life before I started doing broadcasting.
17:09
Believe it or not, I worked in finance and his wife, Chris, was my boss.
17:13
So she's a good boss too, tough boss but a very good boss.
17:17
You've done some races with him and been a part of that operation.
17:23
He's been a driver himself and whatever.
17:25
You've done some good things with him over the years, haven't you?
17:27
Yeah, definitely.
17:28
I had a ball running for Brett and Chris.
17:32
I ran his car, you know, a few times on and off.
17:35
And then Brian Clawson and Spencer Basin were driving the King cars behind me, which we were racing against in New Zealand.
17:44
Okay.
17:45
And it was the year that – it was my first year driving for Brett –
17:51
Sorry, for one of Justin's cars in New Zealand.
17:55
And Brett was down here visiting over the international series.
17:58
And I just tongue in cheek, I said, do you want to win the Australian midget title coming up?
18:03
And he sort of looked at me funny.
18:06
As he does.
18:07
Of course I bloody do.
18:08
And I said to him, that's the car you need to win this title.
18:11
And to his credit, he bought the car and we went and won the Australian title.
18:16
Mega.
18:17
And it was just one of those special races too.
18:19
It was just absolutely mental race.
18:22
I mean, the lead changed God knows how many times in the last few laps.
18:26
Two laps to go and it is Manders, Payette and Pickens down into turn one and two.
18:30
It's Payette back in front.
18:32
Manders and Pickens.
18:33
It's a row of three.
18:35
Unbelievable race here in the streetcars as they come out of three and four.
18:39
Pickens is back in front.
18:40
On the inside is Manders.
18:42
And Payet comes through the middle.
18:44
Unbelievable here.
18:45
Pickens is back in front.
18:47
Manders to second.
18:48
And Payet goes back to third.
18:50
Michael Pickens reigns supreme.
18:52
What a victory.
18:54
And so that's a memory that'll stick in my head forever with Brett.
18:58
And we had a lot of fun.
18:59
He's always ribbing me about being a Kiwi or whatnot.
19:04
And just really good time with both of them.
19:07
We always, almost always stay with them in the house.
19:11
And the hospitality is always really cool and just really, really good people.
19:16
Yeah, great.
19:16
That's a nice summary at the end.
19:17
They're good people, as you say.
19:19
Parramatta, you had some unbelievable runs there in 50-lap, as you quite liked the 50-lap format, didn't you?
19:25
And it was, as you say, often epic at the end.
19:27
Yeah, I'm always sort of the driver.
19:29
I typically don't push too hard in heats, and I'm probably not the best heat race driver as such.
19:35
And same with the features.
19:37
I tend to just cruise for a little while and just work up to it.
19:43
and that's probably why the 50 lap has suited my style because I learnt from years ago that the last lap of the features is the only lap you want to lead on any night.
19:53
So all the other laps, who cares?
19:56
So with the 50 lap deal, I mean, you can sit there and just burn fuel for 20, 30 laps and then start pressing on, but one 50 lap at Parramatta that stuck in my mind, and it's one where we definitely weren't just burning fuel for 20, 30 laps because...
20:09
From the job for the green man, Kevin Swindell, he was racing for Stephen and Barrett Graham.
20:17
And I was in a number nine car for a guy whose last name's Fox.
20:24
Brendan Fox?
20:25
Brendan Fox.
20:26
He and I went to school together.
20:27
Oh, really?
20:28
True story.
20:29
True story.
20:29
Yeah, right.
20:30
Keep going.
20:30
So it's his number nine car.
20:33
And back then the track was wider and it had more banking at Parramatta.
20:37
And Kevin went four wheels above the cushion.
20:41
And it's one of those deals similar to the truck story at Darlington.
20:46
You see it and you think, well, that's where I've got to be.
20:50
There was no other option because he was pulling away at a great rate of knots too.
20:55
You just got to nut up and go.
20:56
Go.
20:56
Yeah, and go.
20:58
And the cars are on teetering on the edge of disaster, obviously, four wheels above the cushion.
21:04
And, man, we were just absolutely wide open from the get-go, and we're ducking and diving and slide jobs.
21:09
And when the cars would get down, if you slid a guy and you had to cut down underneath him, the cushion was damn...
21:17
down there probably a couple of hundred mil high, eight inches high.
21:21
So the car just sort of jumped down back onto the black slick and it was just an absolute mental race, which we ended up winning, which made it even more special.
21:29
Special, yeah.
21:31
That's definitely a 50-level, I'll never forget.
21:34
Tell me about the car, mate.
21:36
Which car in all the time, quarter of a century of doing this stuff, what's the one that you... Did they become a tool for the job or has there been one or two where you have this sort of fond attachment that it's been something special, either for the results that it's given you or...?
21:52
There's probably a couple.
21:54
There's a car I won my first New Zealand title in and I've been trying to get it for the last 10 years and finally got it about two years ago.
22:01
So a little resto project.
22:03
Yeah.
22:03
Where's that?
22:04
So it's at home.
22:05
It's not here, but it's at home.
22:07
How far into it are you?
22:09
Not at all.
22:10
I just haven't had time.
22:11
But I want to get the car before someone else had turned it into some of that jalopy or whatever.
22:16
But that's going to be something I'll cherish once it's restored.
22:21
What chassis?
22:22
What power plant?
22:23
It was actually a beast chassis with an Ed Pink Ford engine.
22:27
So it was, when I mentioned earlier about Brett from Seamount Racing biting the bullet and investing in the equipment, that was the first American car he bought.
22:40
And it was the first Ed Pink Ford that was in New Zealand.
22:44
So back then, they were a pretty high dollar piece of machinery.
22:48
In its day, it was a really, really nice car.
22:51
And it's actually that number plate on my car, NZ 103.
22:54
So it was 2002, 2003 season.
22:57
I won my first ever title.
22:58
So hence the reason I really wanted to
23:01
to get that car back and restore it one day.
23:03
And the other car would be the Seamount racing car that we took to America.
23:08
And we won damn near every race in New Zealand that season, took it to Australia, won both races over there, the 50-lapper, and took it to America and won Paro midget week and damn near won
23:22
the USAT Midget Week points too.
23:24
And, you know, that car was just one of those special cars.
23:29
The race.
23:30
You can pick two.
23:31
You can pick an international and a domestic one.
23:34
What's the race that's etched in your mind as a special one?
23:37
Can be a title winner, can be, you know, something like you described before, that 50 lapper that was...
23:41
Yeah, the race, I mean, there's a lot of race in America, though I'll never forget.
23:47
There's a lot of firsts, of course, first USAC win, first Parra win.
23:51
But one is in that car I was just talking about that we took up there from New Zealand.
23:57
And it was the second, I want to say the second night of midget week.
24:01
And it was at a place called Lincoln Park or Putnamville, it's also known as.
24:07
So we had won the night before at Gas City, which was pretty cool.
24:11
Like we were just blown away like, holy shit, this is awesome, you know.
24:13
So we showed up to Putnamville.
24:16
and pushed off for hot laps and the thing wouldn't run.
24:22
So pulled back into the pits.
24:23
We didn't have time to go, we couldn't go back out for hot laps.
24:27
And with the way they ran qualifying then, if you missed your spot by more than two in the order, you go to the back.
24:35
And we were in a really good, we were right up front for qualifying.
24:37
So we were just spewing.
24:39
So the boys, we couldn't diagnose what was wrong with it.
24:43
We just had to change everything because we didn't have time.
24:45
So they pulled the entire ignition system off the car.
24:47
So coils, plugs, plug leads, ignition box, crank angle sensor.
24:54
Going down a rabbit hole trying to find it.
24:56
Yeah, we changed the battery, just everything that we had in the pick cart basically to throw at it.
25:03
That was...
25:05
that was just to get back out on track.
25:07
And we went out there and set quick time.
25:10
And then we ended up winning that race, the feature event that night too.
25:14
So it was just one of those special nights that from the outset you think, man, this is just a nightmare and turn out to be just a really special, special race.
25:23
Because the way we won it was pretty cool too.
25:25
I mean, it was down to the wire and once again,
25:28
four wheels above the cushion on the absolute ragged edge of disaster and trashing the thing and ended up getting the one, so it was pretty cool.
25:37
That title you described before in New Zealand, is that the one that's kind of a bit special for you around that 03 period?
25:43
What's the one that...
25:44
you know, the Speedway title that you've won, could be here or overseas, that you'll cherish for a long time.
25:52
Yeah, the first one's always pretty special and people get, you know, in New Zealand at least, New Zealand titles are like the Holy Grail, really, but they're not necessarily the toughest races to win because of the competition.
26:09
You don't have internationals here as such, but they're just something about putting the number one in your car.
26:13
That's pretty cool.
26:15
And ironically, I actually never ran the number one because at that stage I didn't feel like I really earned it.
26:21
Really?
26:21
Yeah.
26:22
I didn't really want to run it and didn't really want to target on my back.
26:27
And we actually did run it once.
26:30
They put me in their Tony Elliott car.
26:31
It might have been the week after or not long after we won the title.
26:35
And at that stage, I mean, that car they built brand new for Tony Elliott, and he had since gone home, of course, and that thing was just like the best car money could buy.
26:43
I mean, it had everything on it.
26:45
It was absolutely state of the art.
26:48
And I had one of my biggest crashes I've ever had in it.
26:51
and that was also the other reason I just didn't really want to run number one, you know, so I don't need this, and you had red eye for probably five or six weeks after that, and that rung my bell pretty good, so yes, that first one would be the one I think I'd remember the most.
27:19
Pico is pretty good at holding it wide open when it's sideways and so is world famous drifter Mad Mike.
27:25
He opened up to Rusty about a massive crash in New Zealand.
27:28
You can find his episode in the garage library.
27:32
I got two laps into the film shoot, of course, you know, I'm wanting to push it 100% straight out the bat, get the banger shots like straight away, and a brand new car which I'd literally driven one lap around Highlands.
27:44
On the second lap I went flying off the track at about 200km an hour, put myself into a tyre wall, put myself in hospital, fully knocked out, crushed liver, urinating blood, and what we thought had absolutely destroyed and totaled the car.
28:00
I'm trying to find the right drifting lingo to back announce this, but my sat nav vocab is limited.
28:05
Rad or fully sick just aren't right.
28:07
Back to Rusty and Michael Pickens while I search the memory banks.
28:13
You have driven a few other things for a bit of fun.
28:16
So we cross paths at...
28:19
Battle of Jack's Ridge.
28:19
I can't remember what you drove back then.
28:22
And you might have actually uncovered that you had a back injury or something.
28:26
What happened in one of those single-seater – what were you in?
28:29
Yeah, so the cross-carts.
28:30
Cross-carts, yeah, yeah.
28:31
Awesome little thing.
28:32
So it was for Hayden Patton with the support of Stadium Finance.
28:37
She's one of my sponsors still.
28:39
Actually, we're going really well.
28:42
And I can't remember where we were at on the times, but we might have been around fifth overall or something like that because they're actually pretty quick around Jack's Ridge.
28:49
And the flat landing, I'd broken my back previous year in America.
28:54
And one of the landings, I felt it.
28:58
Yeah.
28:58
And it was just something wasn't right.
29:00
And I just said to the guy, I'm done.
29:02
Can't risk it.
29:03
We're down to the last run anyway.
29:06
But, yeah, that was the end of that.
29:09
Polar opposite to that, did you run – I'm not going to get this right – did you run like a Hillman or something in the supports this year for the WRC?
29:18
What was that thing like?
29:18
And were you – you were driving, not navigating.
29:20
You were driving it, weren't you?
29:21
What was that like?
29:23
PJ rang me up because we talk all the time.
29:25
Pete Jamison is amazing.
29:27
Yeah, he's supported me forever.
29:28
And he said, Packings, we've got to get you in something.
29:31
So he got Marty Rosenberg to fish around and see he was stupid enough to put me in a rally car.
29:37
And, yeah, the guys, it was a Helmand Hunter with a rubber V8 in it.
29:41
It was a lot of fun.
29:43
Obviously not a whole lot of power or a super special car and everything, but, man, I had an absolute blast.
29:47
Did you?
29:47
Yeah, it was really cool.
29:50
The car owner, I forget his name, but the car owner jumped in the passenger seat with me because I said, hey, jump in because I don't know what I'm doing and you might be able to give me some pointers.
29:59
And we went around just for a recce, sort of like rolling around in first gear with all the other cars on convoy and then we had our first run.
30:05
And, yeah, so I said, I'll jump in.
30:07
And I think I kind of scared the shit out of him because he –
30:11
Because I didn't really know what I was doing.
30:13
And we actually went really well.
30:16
And he said, shit, I'm impressed at the commitment level.
30:20
And I sort of looked at him and like, so that's obviously where the limit is.
30:24
But it was just really cool because it just sort of felt quite –
30:27
natural because did you run pace notes or were you just like no because it was just the one we could see whatever you're running running yeah and it actually felt pretty there was no power steering or anything that was probably the only thing that was a bit weird but you got used to it pretty quick and man I was a bore it was really cool yeah can we talk a little story of overcoming adversity you'll join the dots here for me
30:50
Something happened one night with an engine issue.
30:54
Team take the car back to basically base and work on it.
30:58
You, in the meantime, jump in another car.
31:00
Tell us that, Jan.
31:02
It's, you know, the one real special thing about speed was, I don't know if it's over.
31:07
It was one of those nights, you know, real early on in my career, and we broke a rocker arm in one of our...
31:15
I think it was, I'm sure it was an air pink Ford engine, so a two-valve pushrod engine.
31:19
Broke a rocker arm early in the night at the heat race.
31:22
So the guys hightailed it back to our shop, which wasn't maybe 20 minutes away.
31:26
Another guy, Dave Jick, who's still one of my sponsors today, funny enough, and jumped into his car just to run the second heat to qualify for the A-Main.
31:35
And guys got back, put their rocker arm on the car and had to start off the back because we had only sort of like,
31:40
just obviously we'd missed a heap because when it broke so we'd made the show um but starting off the back and we won with the off the back with about one or two laps to go so it's just one of those absolutely mega nights that yeah i mean it wasn't probably the the you know definitely wasn't the biggest race of my career but the way it unfolded was was pretty cool because it takes a lot more person than yourself to win that race
32:03
You ran an event recently, Pickens 54, at Western Springs, legendary track in Auckland.
32:10
Tell me a little bit more about that.
32:11
And is there a want to do more events, or was that just a one-off sort of special?
32:15
Yeah, the promoters approached us, must have been damn near a year ago now, and said, Abe, would you be interested in promoting an event?
32:24
So we thought, well, why not?
32:26
We'll give it a shot and try and do a few things that were different to the norm.
32:31
And it was all about entertainment.
32:33
So it was a lot of work behind the scenes, raising money to be able to afford to have the attractions we did.
32:43
We had people like yourself imported for the event, which was really, really, really cool because people get –
32:53
you know, used to the same old, same old.
32:55
So I wanted to bring some people in to really razz it up a bit.
32:58
And it was a lot of fun, a lot of work.
33:01
Definitely a one-off.
33:04
As much as we enjoyed doing it, it was a lot of work and definitely sidetracked us a little bit from, I guess, the racing side of it.
33:12
But...
33:13
The feedback we got was the event itself was really cool.
33:18
We employed two horses with riders to ride around with confetti and smoke bombs and whatnot.
33:22
Make it a show.
33:23
Yeah, and it was all about entertainment for the fans because I believe if someone's going to pay a certain amount of money to walk into a place, they've got to be entertained for the duration they're there, and that was the idea.
33:32
So I think we pulled that off.
33:34
Unfortunately, we had a bit of a dud track that night, which was out of our hands.
33:38
But, yeah, the feedback we got was they were entertained and...
33:43
It was, I guess, something that we can tick off the list and move forward.
33:48
Not in a stone-throwing way, mate, but you come at this with experience at Chili Bowl in America and sort of mecca-y events of Speedway.
33:57
And do you look at it in this part of the world and think, you know, we've got this...
34:04
little gem that we could do more with and make it, you know, I often try and draw the parallel that if you've ever been to an NBA game in the States, you are entertained for two and a half hours.
34:17
It's unreal.
34:19
And here you have a stadium sport, everything happens right in front of you.
34:23
And if you bolster it with all the other halftime entertainment and things that they would do in NBA, you could seriously improve the show, mate, couldn't you?
34:32
Yeah, definitely.
34:33
And that's the main reason why I wanted to do...
34:36
Experiment with this, yeah.
34:37
Yeah, and we proved that with a bit of promotion and spending a bit of money because that's always the...
34:44
The challenge.
34:45
Yeah, it is.
34:46
And because no-one ever has the money really to outlay something that may or may not work.
34:53
And that was part of, like, you know, getting the horses in, getting the little thunder sticks in for kids to give away and whatnot, which had the sponsors on it.
35:00
So...
35:01
There's strategic things like with the Thundersticks, we had the naming rights and associate sponsors on those.
35:08
So there was value in that for them.
35:13
And with entertaining the crowd, I mean, the money you invest in –
35:19
the money invested leading up to it for a promoter should theoretically pay back at the gate.
35:26
And we proved with the crowd numbers we had on January 1st that, you know, we got an absolute bumper crowd for a January 1st meeting.
35:35
But we put a lot of... Yeah, spent a lot of money with leading up to it with promotion.
35:42
We put out roadside signs and did a lot of...
35:47
social media stuff, which, you know, it's a lot of time and effort, but it proves that it does work.
35:54
Is the springs okay?
35:55
Do you know?
35:56
Like, I mean, we're here in your workshop in Auckland as well.
35:58
Were you guys okay with the crazy floods that have happened in this part of the world recently?
36:02
Unfortunately, it's up in the air at the moment.
36:06
It's not great.
36:08
They've had a few issues around the stadium, which they're waiting to get results on from Geotech.
36:12
Geotech.
36:13
Yeah.
36:14
So, time will tell, but it's not in the best state, that's for sure.
36:19
Your workshop was okay?
36:20
It looks like it was.
36:21
Yeah, we had a little bit of surface water in here, but most everything in here is up off the ground, so we got lucky there, but there's a lot of other people more unfortunate than what we are.
36:33
What's the future hold for you?
36:35
Because it's, you know, a game where you are still delivering race wins, beautifully presented car, great run team and so on, and doing stuff home and abroad for that matter.
36:47
How much longer can you keep doing that for?
36:49
I still love Speedway.
36:51
I mean, this is my 25th year, like in a midget as such.
36:55
So I guess in an adult class, whatever you want to call it.
36:59
So I've done it for a long, long time.
37:00
There's other things that I want to do outside of Speedway with circuit racing.
37:06
Tell me about that.
37:06
That's quite cool.
37:08
Yeah, it's something I've always wanted to do and I've dabbled with it in the past years ago, but never really been able to commit to it time-wise.
37:17
Speedway's always taken 100% of my time and energy.
37:22
TA2 cars, GT cars, what are you talking about?
37:25
Yeah, I'd love to...
37:27
drive something that you've got to, that's going to scare me a little bit, I guess.
37:31
You know, after running a mid-jury sprint car, it's got to be something that's... Maybe like some endurance racing here in North or South Island Championship or something?
37:38
Yeah, something like that in the GT3 or like you mentioned, the TA2.
37:43
In the future, something I'd love to get into because, you know, we all know speedway is not a young man's game.
37:49
Circuit racing is something we always want to have a crack at.
37:52
But when I do it, I want to do it properly.
37:54
Properly.
37:54
It's got to be done right and...
37:56
like I've learnt with speed, but I've got to surround myself with the right people to get results.
38:00
So when I do it, it'll be done right.
38:04
Cool.
38:05
Lyle Williamson's about to join the Rusty's Garage Library, mate, so that's international motorsport.
38:09
And I know Richard Kiltrap listens from time to time, so hopefully you can at least get to sample one of their cars somewhere and maybe that'll lead to something else.
38:17
Yeah, something that I've always, because I'm mechanically interested in what's going on with anything, I love the mechanical side of it.
38:27
And, you know, we were at Christchurch last weekend and we got to see some of the Scope classic down there.
38:32
Cool cars there.
38:33
Stephen Richards was there and so on.
38:34
Yeah, it was really neat, you know, and we're watching this green and white Camaro and,
38:40
I might be wrong, but I think it was ex-Dolton, Grant Dolton's car.
38:44
Okay, wow, yeah.
38:45
And we're cracking up laughing because, oh, mate, I'd pull outside a Porsche and just blow the doors off the thing.
38:50
And I happened to talk to the guy who owned it later on in the evening because he was over at the Speedway, Kane Lawson.
38:56
And he's telling me it's approximately 900 horsepower.
38:59
And the guys are laughing.
39:00
It's like, it's the most ridiculous car.
39:04
And it's something that really excited me.
39:06
I thought, you know, that's got to be a hell of a hoot, you know, doing God knows what speed they're doing in the back straight there at Rukuna.
39:13
But it's definitely something they're going to have a crack at.
39:15
Cool.
39:16
Can we finish on a –
39:18
you know, maybe like a life lesson thing, if you will, two pronged.
39:22
I don't believe in regret.
39:23
I reckon you make the best decision with the tools you have at the time in life.
39:27
Is there anything that you'd love to go back and do differently from your career so far?
39:33
And what do you reckon a really good piece of advice is for aspiring Kiwi racers, particularly those in Speedway from what you've learned along the way here?
39:44
Yeah, there's definitely no regrets.
39:46
There's, I mean, you've got to, with this sport, I mean, you've got to grab it by the scruff and you have to surround yourself, like anything for that matter.
39:55
You have to surround yourself with the right people.
39:57
And I've been fortunate that I've had the right people around my entire career down there.
40:02
And there's a real trick to retaining those people too.
40:06
You've got to make them...
40:09
feel like they've got value.
40:10
And part of the family.
40:12
Yeah, part of the family.
40:13
And they have to, everyone has to enjoy it, you know.
40:15
So you've got to make it enjoyable for them.
40:17
But retaining those good people, getting them and then retaining them is really key.
40:22
And, but as far as regrets, there's definitely no regrets.
40:26
I wouldn't change any part of my career for nothing.
40:30
And the advice to, you know, the young aspiring speedway guys, it's just all about people.
40:37
People are everything.
40:38
Are there up-and-coming Kiwi races that we can be looking out for, do you reckon?
40:45
Yeah, there's definitely a few, but with Speedway, you've really got to be either, I think, in a major or a sprint car to really be able to...
40:56
Like I say, there's nowhere to hide in a Maduro sprint car.
40:58
My question is more because, you know, if you look at Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen, you mentioned Nick Cassidy before.
41:05
I mean, there's this whole pool of guys in the circuit racing scene.
41:10
I mean, the stocks.
41:11
of Kiwi races doing things on the international scene is seriously impressive.
41:16
What about in Speedway?
41:17
Yeah, there's probably a couple of young guys in the sprint cars.
41:22
There's a young guy, Connor Rangi, in the South Island.
41:25
He's definitely shown potential from last weekend.
41:31
you know, he's not really super young, but a guy, Daniel Thomas, he won the New Zealand sprint car title and, you know, he's got a lot of promise.
41:39
But it's, you know, we saw Emerson Vincent in the quarter midgets a few years ago.
41:44
He was showing promise.
41:49
It takes time, I think, to see those drivers develop.
41:55
You know, it's no different to when I started.
41:57
You know, I won my first two heat races, and that was like, you know, hey, that's cool, that kid may have some talent, but it took a long time after that to really...
42:06
get my feet on the ground, get comfortable and consistently win races.
42:11
So at the moment, it's kind of hard to say, but you'd hope to think there's going to be some young guys come out and hopefully do what I did and go to America and put New Zealand on the award stage.
42:22
Shane did a pretty good job in the sprint car, didn't he, over time?
42:25
He did.
42:25
He did awesome.
42:26
There's no doubt he was going to win races.
42:28
He loved the challenge.
42:28
He absolutely thrived on the challenge of trying to master that thing.
42:32
Yeah, I mean, they're hard things to drive, and anyone that's driven a sprint car, I'll tell you, they're probably one of the hardest things to master because of the aero is probably the biggest thing and understanding how that works and how it affects the car.
42:44
But, yeah, I mean, Shane's obviously a hell of a talent, and it was only a matter of time.
42:50
hope that he comes back and races more of it in New Zealand.
42:53
So I.
42:53
That's really great for the sport.
42:55
How late will you be in here tonight?
42:56
What happens?
42:57
Crank up a bit of music, work on the car?
42:59
When does it go in the truck and head to the next event and so on?
43:02
I mean, tonight's an easy night because we've just got one car to wash and service.
43:05
But normally we run both cars on the same night, so it means washing both cars and servicing on the same night.
43:11
So, well, we head till sort of 10-ish, 9.30, 10, something like that.
43:16
And...
43:17
You know, I've got the absolute best guys around me that love coming here and helping, which, man, I couldn't do without.
43:24
So they all show up.
43:25
They all chip in clean, and we'll get to the car to a point where it's serviced, damn near ready to go racing.
43:34
We'll finish off tyres in bits and pieces.
43:36
But, yeah, like I said, Amanda, you can't do this without people.
43:41
They're everything.
43:42
Thank you for talking to us, mate.
43:43
I love the passion.
43:44
I love what you've created out of that.
43:49
I know that it must be taxing at times because, you know, you've got a young family and you're trying to do normal work as well as stitch together a race team and lots of long hours that are involved in that.
44:00
I really hope I get the chance to see you in a GT car, mate, because the stuff I've seen you do in a midget and stuff has been –
44:08
itched in my mind at times.
44:10
You've done some incredible things there here and abroad, which you are to be celebrated for and congratulated for.
44:17
And good luck with enjoying it still and trying to break into the next phase.
44:22
I hope it goes well.
44:23
Yeah, I appreciate it.
44:23
And hopefully we can sort of drag, you know, some of those Speedway people to a circuit track one day.
44:29
Cool.
44:30
You know, the atmosphere we get at a Speedway is pretty unique.
44:32
And hopefully we can, like I say, we can drag some of them onto a circuit track.
44:38
And it'll be interesting to see how it goes.
44:39
You know, it's going to be a new challenge for me when and if it happens.
44:44
Hopefully it's not so much an if, but when.
44:45
But it's something I'm really looking forward to.
44:48
Good stuff.
44:55
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
44:59
Series editor and producer is Thomas Dullard.
45:02
Audio production by Link Kelly.
45:05
If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me via social media.
45:09
The Garage, that's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fuelled stories.