Truck Racing in Australia

[racer69]

**Putting it here as it's relevant to Australian racing, and there is no Truck Racing forum on here anyway**


Was interesting to see the 'SuperTruck Nationals' opening round at Oran Park last Sunday, and it was hard not to wonder A) What went wrong with it, it was so popular in 90s and B) whether it can reach those heights again.


In 1990s, especially the Oran Park meetings, were hugely popular. Big crowds and good fields of trucks, backed up by good grids of Sports Sedans at their rounds, there was even a 'Trans-Tasman' challenge each year, in 1995 attracting the likes of Jim Richards to drive for the NZ team.


Unfortunatly the creation of the 'PowerTour' in 2001/02 killed them off, and alot of the big hitters like Inky Tulloch, Rodney Crick, Rob Russell, Glen Dobson & the Sieders (Bill & Luke) departed......


Last weekend saw pretty much the same trucks that have been racing for the last 10 years (new owners now of course, both of Crick's old Volvo's are still kicking round), but the crowds albeit smaller still seem to be fans of it.

One thing mentioned during the circuit commentary on the weekend is that with Oran Park closing the trucks will lose their NSW home, leaving only Mallala & Wanneroo licenced to run trucks in Australia now (QR, Sandown & Winton have all hosted truck races in the past, perhaps they've not renewed the track licence for them?)

Can anything be done to revive them, perhaps the SuperTrucks should become the 'headline act' of the Shannons Series??

[Raglanparade]

The problem for Truck Racing is that I feel circuits are scared to have them due to the potential damage they can cause. I thought the PowerTour was a good series - but unfortunetly the masses don't seem to want to attend anything that isn't V8SC related lately. You will still get the enthusiasts and those purely interested - but the masses are generally made of of people that are 'somewhat' interested.

If a truck hit Sandown's Armco fencing at 160kmh - the fence would flatten and the truck could end up anywhere. Does anyone remember a truck race at Mallala about 8 years ago where a truck's throttle jammed on the back straight, and slammed at 140kmh into the tyre wall - causing the tyre wall (and earth behind it) to move about 3 metres.

It wouldn't surprise me if a track's public liability insurance was significantly higher if they hold truck racing events. And it could be that the increased insurance outweighs the benefit of holding the licence and the event.

I would hate to think what would happen if a trucks throttle jammed on coming down the hill at Wanneroo.

[Uncle Cranker]

The list of destruction caused to circuits by trucks is long and varied.

Here are a couple of memorable ones, please feel free to add more.

Calder Thunderdome, The outside concrete wall had a big hole punched in it, and on another occasion a wheel came off a truck, and went over the wall, through an advertising sign !

Winton, the concrete flagbox at FP 5, totally destroyed !


I can remember working at both Sandown & Winton driving a emergency vehicle, chasing the field on a rolling start, and not being able to see past the bonnet for thick black diesel smoke.

They are a great spectacle, and it would be great to see more of them.

[racer69]

Rodney Crick & Ron Salter (i think Ron anyway) took out the fence at Sutton's corner at one meeting in the early 90s as well

Originally Posted by Raglanparade

Does anyone remember a truck race at Mallala about 8 years ago where a truck's throttle jammed on the back straight, and slammed at 140kmh into the tyre wall - causing the tyre wall (and earth behind it) to move about 3 metres.

That would have been Rob Russell in the Pennzoil GMC in 1999 i think

Originally Posted by Raglanparade

I thought the PowerTour was a good series

Problem with the PowerTour was that i took the 'prime billing' away from the trucks and did what the Shannon's Nationals does, promotes them all as equals.....(ie... when promoted they say "Come to the Shannon's Series", rather than "Come to the Trucks and their support races")



Who remembers the support series the trucks had a go at creating for their support bills, there was one-make Toyota Landcruiser utes, and 'sport utility' racing (think Nissan Navara's & Holden Rodeo's) that attracted about 5 entries at their few meetings (was a feature story on "Sports Sunday" on Ch9 one time as well thanks to Charles Stewart)

[Just Do It!]

It's not just Aussie tracks.....

Cedric Abernethy had a wee moment coming over the hill at Pukekohe a few years back. He speared across to the infield side, down through the ditch if I remember, and rolled, landing on his roof under the spectator bridge.

I quite clearly remember him being incredibly quiet, then thrashing and banging around screaming "Get me out of here, there's diesel". His daughter - well I'm pretty sure it was his daughter - was at the armco screaming and crying and I think she was carried away.

Mrs Abernethy put an end to Cedric's truck racing after that.


There was an Aussie joker at Manfeild about 10 or 11 years ago. It was pouring down with rain, and he got a bit out of shape out of the hairpin that heads onto the straight towards Higgins. He went a bit wide and out onto the grass, which probably would've been fine in the dry with more visibility. Trouble was he found a ditch, and the truck hit it and virtually helicoptered straight up into the air and straight down almost on the same impact point.

The impact ripped the front axle off the truck! That Aussie was in hospital here for a long time.

Robin Porter, father of the late Mark, had a huge one at Manfeild too. Having spoken to one of the marshal who was first on the scene, it looked like the worst. Robin pulled through and has made a full recovery. I think it was an Eagle Spares truck that was all but destroyed, certainly cab-wise, at Pukekohe.

Neil Allport put his truck over the tyre wall at Dunlop at Manfeild. It wasn't too far from where Greg Murphy fired his Formula Holden through the wall there quite some years ago (1993?). The truck just kept going around the outside of the tyre wall. I can't remember what the problem was but no brakes ring a bell, and the impact caused the throttle to jam open.


Truck racing is awesome to watch, and safest when done from your living room!

[pbsyn]

They are certainly good to watch!!!

Found a couple of good little articles...

http://clubracer.com.au/News/373.aspx

http://clubracer.com.au/News/372.aspx

They just don't have the budgets or the big following that the Euro trucks do in order to get a lot more track time and exposure... If they could do some sort of one-make series (ugh..) it might actually be a good thing to get nice big fields!

[Trevor]

I am fairly confident when I say 'a track does not need to licenced' to run trucks, track management can run what they like.

I believe that the 'truck' people themselves have been the biggest issue, not getting their sh!t together properly.

[NewsStalker]

Trev - depends under what sanctioing body they run.

If under CAMS, at the height of their popularity, Phillip Island, Bathurst and possibly QR were the only tracks NOT licenced to run them. Hidden Valley never bothered and, from memory, Sandown also then had them removed from their licence. Also have a feeling that Eastern Creek didn;t have them. Not sure about the TAS tracks. (I used to have a list of track licences and all the categories but got rid of it last year as it was from around 1998/99 and Bruce Keys doidn;t really like anyone outside CAMS receiving that type of - public - informaiton..)

[BFC]

Rodney Crick went straight ahead at the Tank (FP 7) and hit the wall when the throttle jammed. Threw pieces of wall thru the advertising sign.Coincidently right where they wanted the flaggie (me) to stand but i didnt.

[Pro Racer]

i love the truck racing, i love trucks full stop. i would love for the trucks to get back to their former glorey they are great, please don't let them die.

[RotorFan]

Originally Posted by racer69

Last weekend saw pretty much the same trucks that have been racing for the last 10 years (new owners now of course, both of Crick's old Volvo's are still kicking round), but the crowds albeit smaller still seem to be fans of it.

One thing mentioned during the circuit commentary on the weekend is that with Oran Park closing the trucks will lose their NSW home, leaving only Mallala & Wanneroo licenced to run trucks in Australia now (QR, Sandown & Winton have all hosted truck races in the past, perhaps they've not renewed the track licence for them?)

Damn, I didn't know it was on! Don't tell me I missed the last opportunity to see the trucks at Oran Park!

Originally Posted by racer69

*
Can anything be done to revive them, perhaps the SuperTrucks should become the 'headline act' of the Shannons Series??

Absolutely, thats a good idea. In previous years, the trucks were either part of the AMRS round, the CAMS nationals round, or neither. Made it hard to keep track of.

Originally Posted by racer69

Rodney Crick & Ron Salter (i think Ron anyway) took out the fence at Sutton's corner at one meeting in the early 90s as well

I remember that well. I think Crick was going up the inside and Ron turned into him.

Originally Posted by racer69

Problem with the PowerTour was that i took the 'prime billing' away from the trucks and did what the Shannon's Nationals does, promotes them all as equals.....(ie... when promoted they say "Come to the Shannon's Series", rather than "Come to the Trucks and their support races")

You're absolutely right. The PowerTour was a joke, and killed the SuperTruck championship. That was when my interest waned.

Originally Posted by racer69

Who remembers the support series the trucks had a go at creating for their support bills, there was one-make Toyota Landcruiser utes, and 'sport utility' racing (think Nissan Navara's & Holden Rodeo's) that attracted about 5 entries at their few meetings (was a feature story on "Sports Sunday" on Ch9 one time as well thanks to Charles Stewart)

I remember them, I'm amazed someone else does, I thought I had dreamt it at one stage. That one died in the arse pretty quickly, and rightly so.


I was/am a huge fan of the trucks. Without doubt, I have not seen as good a racing since the battles between Crick, Salter and Tulloch. They were enthralling. I'll never forget seeing Rodney hit a blocking Tulloch just after the dogleg, launching the front of his truck a metre in the air. Those two had a "win it or bin it" attitude, and I loved it.

And those day/night meetings were fantastic! The 20 lap Superprix's at the end of the day were unbelievable... full reverse grid, with the SBRs having a real chance of winning. I remember when Mackin (I think it was him, maybe it was Manning) won the superprix, he went ballistic. The burnouts at the end of day were something else... the whole field stopping at various points of the track and turning it on for the crowd. I remember Lusty butting the front of his truck up against the wall at the last corner, and burned his tyres till they popped. I walked on the track afterwards and found he had melted little holes in the track surface where his tyres were burning up!

The drivers were very approachable too. As a kid, I remember Rodney Crick personally organising tickets for my brother and I, and giving us a tour of the truck in the pits. We didn't know him at all, he was just that kind of bloke. Sitting in the drivers seat of the Volvo N12 was something I'll never forget.

I talked to one of the mechanics of the now Lovett team-owned N12 a couple years ago and he gave me the impression that Crick and Lovett had a falling out of some kind, and Crick got screwed. Dunno what really happened but its a shame not to see him racing anymore.

If anyone is interested, here are some photos of the trucks at the AMRS round at OP in 2005:
http://david8720.fotopic.net/c701886.html

[Pro Racer]

thanks for the pic's rotar.

[D.R.T.]

The Trucks Series is a funny thing. Like with last weekend, limited numbers but the amount of truck racing fans out there is amazing.

Personally I find the idea of racing trucks, erh umm interesting but for sheer on track entertainment there is no better in the country.

I agree they do need to be on the Shannons Tour full time. Last weekend at Oran Park saw a very credible crowd asembled, if this could be duplicated at each event this would see benefits for the Trucks but also all the other Shannons categories.

So how can this be done? Track owners are concerned about the damage done to their circuit which can be quite costly. Maybe some sought of negotiation between the Truck Racing Management and circuit owners for them to foot the repair bill if it exceeds X amount of $$$$?

[GtiMagic]

Racing Green IMO will become an increasingly important catchphrase in the near future, and as hard they may try (or may even be trying now?) I doubt to the average enthusiast Truck Racing could ever be sold as green in any way. Massive, noisy tyre squealing, diesel burning bricks which appear like they could barrel through any safety barrier at any time.

Although, they'd look dam cool going through turn 8 at Adelaide!

[NewsStalker]

One of the hidden problems with truck racing is not only the damage to the track surface by burnout (melted bitumen always caused a problem) but the damage the diesel fuel did - to the track AND the pits.

IIRC there have been numerous threads in here about the state of the OP pits caused, primarily, by the diesel spilt by the trucks leaving the surface very soft and spongy. This also happened on the start line at OP - it took about 1 to 1 1/2 seasons but then started to become noticeable on the painted chequer on the start where the track started going soft and spongy. Again, IIRC, this then permeated down and eventually caused a failure in the timing loops buried in that part of the track.

The other track problem was the trucks going off the edge of the track - and taking chunks of bitument with them when they did.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by RotorFan

Damn, I didn't know it was on! Don't tell me I missed the last opportunity to see the trucks at Oran Park!

You've not missed out yet

They are on the bill for the August Shannon's meeting at Oran Park, and depending on how far past 2008 Oran Park stays open, i would assume they would be on the Shannon's bill at any Oran Park meeting in 2009


Great to see someone else sharing their memories of the glory days of truck racing at Oran Park.

I was lucky enough to be in the Shell corporate tent (yes, the truck meetings did have them) on the main straight for the 1995 Trans-Tasman meeting, shell ofcourse being Rodney Crick's longtime sponsor. Crick's truck broke that day though and he borrowed David 'Truckie' Parsons' machine, promptly putting it into the wall at the final corner in a last lap battle with from memory Inky Tulloch.

Interesting to hear about the Crick team situation, from the outside it always appeared to be Crick's team......from memory the last time he for the team would have been the opening PowerTour round in 2002 at Oran Park when he debuted the new Volvo. At Mallala later in the season he was in Rob Russell's old GMC (nowadays owned by John Falk) still running the #7 & Shell Rimula sponsorship. It was orange a year later, and nothing since.....


Lets hope it can regain some traction and not become a great memory never to be seen again like Catalina rallycross or the Toby Lee Series.....

Originally Posted by NewsStalker

The other track problem was the trucks going off the edge of the track - and taking chunks of bitument with them when they did.

One thing we can blame the trucks for is ruining the dog leg

What year was the first truck meeting at Oran Park? It first came to Australia at Calder Park at the end of 1987 with local entries from the likes of Allan Grice & Dick Johnson, and features English competitors as well from the ETRO series in Europe.

[peckstar]

my one truck memory, is rubber and bits of truck raining on me at the thunderdome

i quite enjoy racing them on the xbox though

[NewsStalker]

Interesting to hear about the Crick team situation, from the outside it always appeared to be Crick's team......from memory the last time he for the team would have been the opening PowerTour round in 2002 at Oran Park when he debuted the new Volvo. At Mallala later in the season he was in Rob Russell's old GMC (nowadays owned by John Falk) still running the #7 & Shell Rimula sponsorship. It was orange a year later, and nothing since.....

Rodney Crick was supported by Oran Parks owner Tony Peritch (sp?).

I can't recall the exact date, but it is most likely between the two meetings you mentioned, they had a very serious falling out and Rodney became 'persona non grata' in the Volvo Team and at the Peritch race track.

I seem to recall it had something to do with an on track incident - but I can't be 100% certain - maybe GTR or someone can recall what actually happened.

[Southern Man]

The NZ Truck Race Championship and the Trans Tasman Truck Racing Championship was decided over two meeting held at Timaru Motor Raceway earlier this year. A reasonable contingent of Aussies appeared but Kayne Scott took out both titles.

Amongst the features of the first meeting is the open night for all truckies and their supporters at the DB South Island brewery held on the Thursday prior to the meeting.

When he was running in the series Rob Russel used to have a large contingent of supporters come over for this and then try and survive the meeting later during the weekend.

Magic times.

[formerf1champ]

Fwiw, I went yesterday. It was ok considering such a small field, it was something new. Unfortunately, I didn't hang around til the end of the day. I didn't want to sit through the 50 minute Production Touring cars race. Nothing against the class, but I really, really wanted to watch the Rugby League GF as well. If the Trucks had more than one meeting, I probably wouldn't have went this time.

That Alfa class, where did that come from??? I'm somewhat familiar seeing amateur classes with moderate grids. But those guys had so many cars, with a few more, a pre-qualifying and repecharge aren't out of the question. I don't know whether it's a disproportion amoiunt of Alfa enthusiats in Victoria or whatever. They've done something right.

[alfagtv]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

That Alfa class, where did that come from??? I'm somewhat familiar seeing amateur classes with moderate grids. But those guys had so many cars, with a few more, a pre-qualifying and repecharge aren't out of the question. I don't know whether it's a disproportion amoiunt of Alfa enthusiats in Victoria or whatever. They've done something right.

Thanks formerf1champ, I was competing in the Alfa class on the weekend, its put together by the Veloce Racing Association, they have been working at it for 10 years and the balance seems to be pretty good now, big fields & close racing (in qual P2 to P11 covered by a second). We had 28 qualify (which was the biggest field on the card I think), the vast majority were from NSW, with 7 from Vic and 5 or 6 from QLD. We have run this in the past at Wakefield, Lakeside & the paperclip, first time to Winton.

I had one of the best racing weekends I can remember!! And there goes the 'unreliable' myth, still had 24 cars front up for the last race.

[Rachel Richards]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

Fwiw, I went yesterday. It was ok considering such a small field, it was something new. Unfortunately, I didn't hang around til the end of the day. I didn't want to sit through the 50 minute Production Touring cars race. Nothing against the class, but I really, really wanted to watch the Rugby League GF as well. If the Trucks had more than one meeting, I probably wouldn't have went this time.

That Alfa class, where did that come from??? I'm somewhat familiar seeing amateur classes with moderate grids. But those guys had so many cars, with a few more, a pre-qualifying and repecharge aren't out of the question. I don't know whether it's a disproportion amoiunt of Alfa enthusiats in Victoria or whatever. They've done something right.

I thought the weekend wasn't too bad, considering...

I believe there will be the trucks that raced yesterday, and 6 or as many as 10 coming over fron Un Zud, for a Trans Tasman truck race at Winton as part of the final VMRC/ Winton 300 on Nov 10 & 11.

(52 entries for the Winton 300 too)

[formerf1champ]

Originally Posted by alfagtv

Thanks formerf1champ, I was competing in the Alfa class on the weekend, its put together by the Veloce Racing Association, they have been working at it for 10 years and the balance seems to be pretty good now, big fields & close racing (in qual P2 to P11 covered by a second). We had 28 qualify (which was the biggest field on the card I think), the vast majority were from NSW, with 7 from Vic and 5 or 6 from QLD. We have run this in the past at Wakefield, Lakeside & the paperclip, first time to Winton.

I had one of the best racing weekends I can remember!! And there goes the 'unreliable' myth, still had 24 cars front up for the last race.

Man, it was a heck of a surprise. I'd be standing between roll-over and penrite. As cars were entering penrite, I'd be staring into the distance, there's still a heap of cars entering the sweeper! "What is going on here?? How has this occurred?"

As I'm watching the cars go past, I'm thinking "Gee, I can see an equivalent with other makes. Ford using Escorts and Lasers, or Lasers and 323's. Toyota with the Corolla. If it hasn't happened already..." I didn't know there was so many interstaters. But still, it was really good.

Originally Posted by Rachel Richards

I thought the weekend wasn't too bad, considering...

I believe there will be the trucks that raced yesterday, and 6 or as many as 10 coming over fron Un Zud, for a Trans Tasman truck race at Winton as part of the final VMRC/ Winton 300 on Nov 10 & 11.

(52 entries for the Winton 300 too)

I defintely wouldn't have gone then, had I know that. Because I plan on going to one of the days for the HQ's, at least.