greg murphy rude???

[Pro Racer]

is this true or not i went to a party with my dad last night and we were talking to a guy who works as a marshal for the v8s and he said that greg murphy was rude to people and told them and kids to f**k off.

is this true ???

[Razor]

When I met Murph down at this year's Indy 300, you could not get a nicer bloke. I said good luck to him and he responded with this; 'Thanks mate. I'll do my best.'

[Uncle Cranker]

Spud may have had some of the HMS influence rub off on him recently, but, and it pains me to admit this, he generally used to be one of the few " Mr a little bit Nice Guy's "
I say a little bit, because the evolution of V8SC has seen a proportional growth in the size of ego's in the paddock.

I personally believe the loss of privateers from the main game (& not just Speedy) was the start of the end, as they were always good for a look over of the car, and a signature, and a picture.

Now they are gone, the 'Heros' are just that.............

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by pwr fan

is this true or not i went to a party with my dad last night and we were talking to a guy who works as a marshal for the v8s and he said that greg murphy was rude to people and told them and kids to f**k off.

is this true ???

It would make it much easier to dislike him if it was true.

It seems like we, the public expect drivers to be at there beck and call. but on race weekend, they have alot of things on. sponsors dont just hand over their money for nothing, they want the drivers attention. VESA want their attention, the team need their attention and the paying public want their attention.

At a recent round, one of my heros was standing round talking to a person from his team. My friend and his daughter waited patiently for about 10 mins for the driver to come over and sign a hat. finally the conversation stopped and the driver started to walk off, can we get a signature the little girl asked, sorry dont have time for that now. His name is now mud, but he had to go and sort some post race penalty stuff out. (fotunatly his team mate came over and signed)

We the public dont know what the driver has to do. we expect them to drop everything for us, but they have other committments and we have to accept that.

I cant say if the murph story is true or false, but i bet you any amount thats its only part of the story

[Uncle Cranker]

Originally Posted by peckstar

It would make it much easier to dislike him if it was true.

It seems like we, the public expect drivers to be at there beck and call. but on race weekend, they have alot of things on. sponsors dont just hand over their money for nothing, they want the drivers attention. VESA want their attention, the team need their attention and the paying public want their attention.

At a recent round, one of my heros was standing round talking to a person from his team. My friend and his daughter waited patiently for about 10 mins for the driver to come over and sign a hat. finally the conversation stopped and the driver started to walk off, can we get a signature the little girl asked, sorry dont have time for that now. His name is now mud, but he had to go and sort some post race penalty stuff out. (fotunatly his team mate came over and signed)

We the public dont know what the driver has to do. we expect them to drop everything for us, but they have other committments and we have to accept that.

I cant say if the murph story is true or false, but i bet you any amount thats its only part of the story

Without pizzing in your pocket, that is the most accurate statement written in a long time.
You are 100% on the mark Peckstar.

And believe it or not I totally agree with you.


I am (un) / fortunate enough to only ever converse with the drivers out on the track, so the actions in the paddock are usually a little out of my view.

Having said that as a race official, I know how demanding pre & post event briefings are, let alone trying to score points to win a Championship, if your car is less than 100%, and some snotty nose kid of the bloke that gives the team $1,000,000 a year is waiting in the hospitality tent for a Horsey Ride..........


To the Motor racing Fan If a driver is short with you, or your child, consider that if he has already signed 500 autographs so far today, yours might be the straw that breaks the camels back. I'm not defending that action, just offering a point of view.

I still believe the best value is the Development Series.




Or for serious fan love try a Sprintcar Race on any given Summer Saturday.

Those guys seriously know how to give it back to the fans, it would be a cold day in Hell when you get an autograph knock back from a Sprintcar driver.

[Raglanparade]

Everyone has moods.

I know that if im in a good mood i would be more likely to do the people thing then if i was in a ****ed off mood.

[mjt57]

If some of what you guys are saying are part-way true, then they have slid down a long way, then.

I remember meeting Murph in the Isle-of-Wight at a Super touring round. He was taking allcomers on in the racing game "Daytona" in the bar and was having a ball. 2 years later at the ATCC round there, he was still to be found in the bar playing with the locals (not drinking, though).

[mmciau]

And ther is a huge difference when first preception of " AB rude..." and when a driver "respectfully declines..."

The latter all too often is interpreted as 'rude".

Mike

[wishbone]

A freind of mines 7 year old son had his photo taken with Mark Skaife at Eastern Creek a few years back and later that year they went up to indy with said photo to see if they can get it signed. they approach MS only to be told i will be with you in one minute, this was at about 5pm on the friday night 45 minutes later , having missed there bus, they were still paitently waiting only for MS to then walk past then and say "Sorry I don't have time for this now".. One 7 year old idolised him up until that moment. You mention MS any where around this boy now and watch out. he still hates MS to this day.

[no fences]

Wasn't it David Brabham who said that the V8 Supercars should be renamed the V8 Superego's? Pretty big ego's out there for a category that is only big in Australia.

[bathurst77]

While we are bagging the rude or just plain stressed and preoccupied on race weekend, we shoudl take time out to give cheers to the "nice guys".

Two drivers that come to mind for me are Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall.

My ten year old boy approached these guys for autographs and tehy couldnt have been nicer, taking time out even for a photo, (Lowndes even waiting while my crappy camera refused to work!) The way they made my boy feel like he was "their mate" for those few minutes had a grin I couldnt wipe off his dial all day.

Cheers to these two!

[Pro Racer]

i thought this was strange when i got told because i was at the eastern creek round.murph had been up signing autographs and it started to rain and everyone was under the cover in front of the merchandise trailer and these 2 BOOF HEADS pushed in front of a disabled kid on cruchers and knocked him overand murphseen this and got up out of his seat helped the disabled kid up andsigned his shirt there and then and told the BOOF HEADS to be carefull and go to the end of the line.the disabled kid had abig smile on his face and was so happy because murph stuck up for him.the father went and thanked murph for helping his son and murph said no worries its always good to put a smile on a kids face who is not as well off as we are

[HDTVKSS]

Never had much of a problem with Murph with autographs. always seems aprochable and reasonably friendly, even when hes had a bad day. Skaife, well I love him as a driver, but every time ive asked him for an autograph, and this includes at the motorshow when he was there to sign the bloody things, he looked like id asked for his 1st born.

Jason bright back in the team brock days was another disapointment, was a big issue for him to sign anything, heaven help you if you didnt bring your own pen. Steve Richards is one of the best and went out of his way to make sure we were sorted, stopping for photos after the race was over and generally interested in haivng a chat.

On the other side of the fence, although i think hes a ****** somtimes, Ingall would have to be v approachable and i think his status with fans reflects this, same goes for Lowndes.

just my $0.02

[GTRMagic]

I think the original post is so scant in its detail that it could be another flame inducer....

I digress to the subject at hand....

Originally Posted by bathurst77

While we are bagging the rude or just plain stressed and preoccupied on race weekend, we shoudl take time out to give cheers to the "nice guys".

Two drivers that come to mind for me are Craig Lowndes and Russell Ingall.

My ten year old boy approached these guys for autographs and tehy couldnt have been nicer, taking time out even for a photo, (Lowndes even waiting while my crappy camera refused to work!) The way they made my boy feel like he was "their mate" for those few minutes had a grin I couldnt wipe off his dial all day.

Cheers to these two!

I agree with you Bathurst77, there are plenty more with time for the "little people" including Mr Seton, Mr Bargwanna, Mr Winterbottom, Mr Wills, Mr Wilson.... Mr Dumbrell.....

Most of the main series guys are able to switch off from serious racer mode to their autograph signing alteregos... there are some notable exceptions however....

[Conrod Kieron]

Originally Posted by Uncle Cranker

Without pizzing in your pocket, that is the most accurate statement written in a long time.
You are 100% on the mark Peckstar.

And believe it or not I totally agree with you.


I am (un) / fortunate enough to only ever converse with the drivers out on the track, so the actions in the paddock are usually a little out of my view.

Having said that as a race official, I know how demanding pre & post event briefings are, let alone trying to score points to win a Championship, if your car is less than 100%, and some snotty nose kid of the bloke that gives the team $1,000,000 a year is waiting in the hospitality tent for a Horsey Ride..........


To the Motor racing Fan If a driver is short with you, or your child, consider that if he has already signed 500 autographs so far today, yours might be the straw that breaks the camels back. I'm not defending that action, just offering a point of view.

I still believe the best value is the Development Series.

Or for serious fan love try a Sprintcar Race on any given Summer Saturday.

Those guys seriously know how to give it back to the fans, it would be a cold day in Hell when you get an autograph knock back from a Sprintcar driver.

I think you've essentially stated why you could easily get a Sprintcar driver to give you an autograph in this post though Uncle. They arn't of course 'Superstar' drivers like Lowndes, Skaife, Spud etc so arn't signing those 500 odd autographs. I bet if you walked up to the likes ofTratty, you'd have no problems geting one for instance

[rdmdog]

Anyone read the most recent issue of Inside Sport.

Thats grounds for Big Nose to get a fine if it can be proven, definately bringing our sport into disrepute.

And who was it that mentioned his efforts outside a children's hospital, possably in NZ?

Who are the better ones? Lowndes (definately), Ingall, Richo, Can Mac, Whincup, Frosty, maybe Dumbrell?

Murph, I wouldnt think he would be the worst, my experiences have been pretty good, but general concensus seems to indicaste that my earlier recollections (Pre K-Mart) may be misleading. But I think he may have been humbled on a certain Saturday in October 2003!!!

[Timu]

Having met probably just about every driver in the current series, Id have to say the nicest blokes who Ive chatted be Richo, Cam McConville, Bairdo, Weely, Jason Rich, Rat, Seto, Russell Ingall, Andrew Jones, Todd Kelly, Lowndesy, Bargs etc.

Believe it or not the best conversation Ive ever had was with Mark Skaife! It was away from the racetrack, and he had no signs of the arrogance that he can come across as having in the media. The same could be said about Paul Morris, away from the track hes actually quite reserved and easy going...

The only ones Ive felt came across as big headed were Rick Kelly and Marcos Ambrose...

[observer]

I,ve had a few experiences with Murph now & he is one of the best!

[F J Nedos]

I've had a couple of chats with Mark Skaife and I'm like Timu - MS was a great chat and he had no arrogance whatsoever. We had a good laugh and he seemed to switch off from the media focus attention thing easily.

Brighty seemed as if he'd rather be in bed after a long days work after a crap flight. Rick Kelly kept on talking like he was doing a channel 10 interview. He spoke like everything he said was being judged at a miss world competition.

[peckstar]

I rate the rat highly in 2003 at PI, my little tacker was dressed in his DJR kids race suit and all the drivers were pretty busy because it was about an hour before the race.

The rat came over and had a chat and held the little bloke so we could take a photo and was asking us questions which was quite exciting.

I have marcos sig on about 4 different hats and have always found him approachable when he wasnt busy and had a greatr chat with him after sandown in 2002 (his first real round win (where he won the races)

Ive had a few good chats with brighty (but he is a local boy)

and i have been knocked back by brockie because he was too busy ( that happens)

[Mattracer]

Had a few autographs over the years.

Brock,Johnson, Skaiife Ingall,Perkins.

Have also hovered whilst the top names have entertained the throngs and can say that Ingall and Lowndes have always had time for the masses.

[Peregrine]

One of the better experiences I had was chatting with Mark Skaife at Bathurst when he first progressed from the Nissan Gazelle to the second Skyline and I caught up with him in the paddock after he had a practice shunt. More recently it is near impossible to chat with any drivers as others have mentioned, however it always seems that Jason Bright is around for a chat and an autograph. I had quite a good chat with him at Bathurst in 2004 when i was trying to find out if he was coming to Ford in '05, he also gave me a second free pass for the missus after I had already won one in his trivia comp. The worst experience I had was with Alan Moffat who declined to provide me with an autograph at age 10 with a dismissive flick of his hand.....

Seems odd in retrospect that I am still a Ford fan in light of these experiences

[Pro Racer]

when i met MS away from the track he was very nice but at the track he walked right passed me and ignored me but i just put that down to race day pressure.

[RotorFan]

I find it amazing what expectations people place on race drivers. If they have time to talk to you they will.

Whats worse is when you go to small state-level meets where some bloke who thinks he's a hot-shot won't talk to you even though he isn't busy.

Give them a break, they have many commitments on race weekends.

[billy bigtime]

Worst experience=Mark Skaife 3 times.
Best experience=A tie between Russell and Craig. And to answer the topic "YES".