NASCAR in Australia
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The American
Bringing NASCAR to Australia was the creation of four-time Australian Touring Car Championship and Bathurst 500 winner, Bob Jane, whose personal A$54m investment created the Thunderdome at the Calder Park Raceway, modelled on a scaled-down version of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Australian NASCAR racing was sanctioned by Jane's Australian Stock Car Auto Racing (AUSCAR) authority on behalf of NASCAR in America but the relationship between the two was tenuous and drifted over time. AUSCAR was also the name of the second-tier category with cars based on the Australian made Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon running 5.0L V8 engines.
In 1987 with the completion of the Calder Park Thunderdome extensions the much delayed first NASCAR race late in the 1987 racing season with the first major event, the
At the Thunderdome, the top speed for the NASCAR's was around 300 km/h (186 mph). This compared to the Australian-based AUSCAR's (which while also using smaller V8 engines, ran on road tyres rather than
Like in the United States, many of the NASCAR drivers in Australia came from the ranks of
As popular V8 powered sedans became less successful in the
While most of the cars used were those seen in America at the time such as the
In 1990 the 1/2-mile (805 metre) Speedway Super Bowl at the eastern end of the Bob Jane owned Adelaide International Raceway also saw NASCAR racing, giving the category the chance to run on both a high banked speedway and a traditional flat short track. The slower Super Bowl was a welcome addition to the series as it offered a new challenge with its short straights and much tighter turns which unlike the 24° banking at the Dome that allowed for high speed, was only 7° at AIR. When compared to the much faster Thunderdome, the Bowl earned the reputation of a bull-ring (NASCAR's lapped the Thunderdome at over 140 mph (225 km/h) while lapping Adelaide at around 78 mph (126 km/h)). NASCAR continued to run a single round of the series in Adelaide until the series folded in 2001. In 1992, plans were announced by Bob Jane and Channel 7 in Sydney (with help from speedway promoter and Seven's lead motor racing commentator Mike Raymond) to turn the 1/2 mile long trotting track at the Granville Showground that surrounded Sydney's Parramatta Speedway into a banked paved oval, thus giving a third oval track for the series to use. However, the plans never got past the planning stage.
The Australian NASCARs were supporters of the
It was at Oran Park in 1995 where
Occasional forays onto other circuit began during the 1990s, first to
By the end of the 1990s, the popularity of the series had fallen below viability with rounds cancelled in 2000, and with major sponsors favouring the heavily televised
The 2002 season was abandoned after races were held at Mallala, Oran Park and Queensland Raceway due to the collapse of The Power Tour; Andrew Miedecke was leading the championship after Queensland Raceway.
Revival efforts continued through the 2000s and 2010s, Bob Jane attempted to get things going with the Holden Monaro, the Stockcar Australia Road Series was attempted followed by Historic Stock Car Racing Series Australia and a revival finally gained some traction with the introduction of OzTrucks to Australia before Stock Cars Australia arrived on the scene under the leadership of Brian Walden before Zac O'Hara taken over leadership duties and brought Stock Car racing home to Calder Park Raceway in August 2023.
Stock Cars Australia is currently holding stock car races in Australia, they race at locations such as One Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park, Winton Raceway and Calder Park Raceway, they use a combination of Cup cars, Xfinity Series cars, AUSCARs, OzTrucks and GTA's, Scott Nind was the 2023 champion in the #16 Ford Mustang and the #34 Ford Mustang.
Champions
Season | Driver | Car | Team |
---|---|---|---|
1989–90 | Robin Best | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | N/A |
1990–91 | Robin Best | Ford Thunderbird | N/A |
1991–92 | George Elliot | Chevrolet Lumina | NASTRACK |
1992–93 | Max Dumesny | Oldsmobile Cutlass | John Sidney Racing |
1993–94 | Barry Graham | Oldsmobile Cutlass | John Sidney Racing |
1994–95 | Brad Jones | Chevrolet Lumina | Brad Jones Racing |
1995–96 | Jim Richards
|
Pontiac Grand Prix | Dick Midgley Racing |
1996–97 | Kim Jane | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Bob Jane T-Marts |
1997–98 | Kim Jane | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Bob Jane T-Marts |
1998–99 | Kim Jane | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Bob Jane T-Marts |
1999–2000 | Kim Jane | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Bob Jane T-Marts |
2000–01 | No Thunderdome races | ||
2001 | Andrew Miedecke[1]
|
Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Whiteline Racing |
2002 | Andrew Miedecke | Chevrolet Monte Carlo | Whiteline Racing |
References
- ^ "Miedecke claims stock car crown". News.drive.com.au. 2001-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-14.