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Million-dollar race cars going door-to-door might have you thinking motorsport is all glitz and glamour, but even Australia’s best racers have to pay their way to get there.
In the heyday of touring car racing, it was commonplace to work during the week and race on the weekends.
Wages went towards paper-thin budgets to run cars that became iconic Down Under, like the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon.
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Even then, some of Australia’s most well-known names had humble beginnings before making it big.
Three-time Bathurst 1000 winner Dick Johnson spent two years in the army in the 1960s, worked at Repco, and owned a service station in the mid-1980s.
Another Bathurst 1000 winner, Allan Grice, was a pastry chef and became an icon at Mount Panorama, winning the Great Race twice.
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Rally champ turned touring car icon George Fury was a farmer, earning him the nicknames “Farmer George” and “The Talmalmo Farmer”.
Motorsport has come a long way since. Cars have advanced exponentially and costs have risen accordingly.
However, one thing has remained the same – drivers still work day jobs during the week to fund their racing dream.
The SpeedSeries is littered with drivers with different jobs. Grice’s son Ben, who races in the National Trans Am Series, is a signwriter.
TCR Australia Series front-runner Aaron Cameron works as a concreter while his Garry Rogers Motorsport teammate Jordan Cox runs his own automotive workshop.
Supercars star and TCR champion Will Brown works in his family’s car dealership while Bathurst 1000 podium finisher Tony D’Alberto runs a caravan manufacturing business.
Ian McDougall is a commercial insights analyst for the AFL while Ben Bargwanna works as a delivery driver.
TCR Australia Series leader Bailey Sweeny worked at Bunnings up until recently.
Lachlan Mineeff, Josh Buchan, and Zac Soutar all utilise their racing prowess as driving instructors.
“A lot of people think it’s just all just racing cars on the weekends, sitting back sipping lattes during the week,” Cameron told Wide World of Sports.
“We do get our hands dirty and there are so many guys who do a lot of different things during the week.
“We all come to the racetrack and have some pretty cool stories of what happened during the week, who screwed up what.”
Cameron said he’s fortunate his work is understanding of his racing commitments.
He’s often taking time off to test in rural Victoria and travels across the country to race once or twice a month.
“The guys I work for are great with the time off that I need to go racing,” he explained.
“I can’t always be working Monday to Friday, so to have that flexibility of (saying), ‘Sorry boss, I can’t make it this Friday or Thursday’ it’s been really great to have that sort of flexibility and still be able to work with the boys and do something away from motorsport.”
Cox understands that his situation isn’t too dissimilar to other athletes trying to make the big-time, except his chosen sport requires tens of thousands of dollars to make happen.
“Even guys that are very good at their craft in tennis or soccer or whatever, they’ve got day jobs until they make it to a level that they can get paid for their time and effort and live off that,” said Cox.
“Motorsport, really, is no different in that regard. When you’re paying for it out of your own pocket, it costs you a hell of a lot of money than kicking a soccer ball around the park.”
Most drivers pay their way by sourcing sponsorship. When they’re not working, they’re spending time on the phone, meeting one-on-one with prospective sponsors to help pay the lion’s share of the bill.
Getting those sponsorship dollars goes a long way towards having a safety net to focus on driving. However, there are often instances where drivers can’t get enough money and simply can’t compete.
“Obviously there’s a fair difference,” Cox said of the gap between professional, semi-professional, and amateur drivers.
“For me, I probably don’t think of that too much. I’m incredibly happy and content just doing what I’m doing – just being here is a win for me.
“I’m very much aspiring to go even further where I can and I think the mentality and the personal preparation would be much better if you were a professional race car driver that only drives race cars every weekend and spends his time focusing on your headspace and your physical fitness during the week.
“Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that being a pro race car driver. Once you get to that level, I think you got the opportunity to really maximise yourself.”
Cameron and Cox will be in action at the Bathurst International on November 10-12 at Mount Panorama as part of the combined TCR Australia Series and TCR World Tour.
That’ll be supported by the National Trans Am Series, Touring Car Masters, Australian Production Cars and Australia Production Invited, V8 Touring Cars, and Porsche Sprint Challenge.
Stan Sport will carry coverage on Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am AEDT and 10am AEDT respectively.
Nine will have coverage on 9Gem and 9Go from 2pm to 5pm AEDT.
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