A FEW years ago, a small group of Australian motorsport’s big wigs retired for a post-Bathurst practice beer at the Oxford Hotel.

We, as a sport, had a problem.

Our most popular pilot, Craig Lowndes, wasn’t going to be around forever, an issue that was going to become a major issue.

The undisputed fan favourite, he was at the time the sport’s sole superstar, and the only driver with a Q Score worth talking about.

While modern day Supercars are a spectacular piece of kit, the personalities of the drivers remain one of the sport’s critical drawcards.

David Reynolds is quirky, but genuinely funny, and not from the cookie cutter mould of a modern-day Supercars driver.

Scott McLaughlin turned the universe on its head when he gave it some jandal on the streets of Adelaide, in the process making Volvos cool.

While they are both uber personalities, at the time, neither had big time scores on the board to back up their street cred.

Fast forward to today, Reynolds has a Bathurst crown, while McLaughlin has a most popular driver title, which has now been joined on his mantelpiece by a championship trophy.

I’ve been fortunate to cross paths a few times over the years with Scott, and I hope I’m not the only one who has found him to be a genuine bloke – TV’s Scott McLaughlin is real life Scott McLaughlin.

Scott and David aren’t Craig Lowndes – nobody ever will be, but the sport is in safe hands in the post-Lowndes era.

***

I can’t hide it – I’ve confessed on these pages previously, I’m a lifelong fan of Dick Johnson, so to see the number 17 DJR Ford win a sixth title gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

To see the genuine elation post-chequered flag yesterday was awesome, but it’s easy to forget the road to success hasn’t always been paved in gold.

Thinking back to the Westpoint debacle of 2005, to the self-funded disaster of 2006, things bounced back with James Courtney’s victory in 2010, although this was in the shadows of a team that was tearing itself apart.

Then remember the dark days of 2013, where there was an incredible struggle to even put cars on the grid at Adelaide.

Dick was elated, Ryan Story was jumping out of his skin, realising a dream.

Penske, meanwhile, is solid gold-plated motor racing royalty.

The fact that they even want to play in our pond, is credit that what we are doing is pretty bloody good.

***

WHILE 2018 was undeniably a cracking season, what excites me is the future.

Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin are the two most talented drivers out there, driving for the two best teams, with all these parties pushing each other continuously to the limit.

The red versus blue battle lines bring out the passion, whether it from either side of the garage wall, or from fan land.

The best bit is, Van Gisbergen and McLaughlin now both have that monkey off their back, there’s not going to be any conservation.

When you look at lopsided battles like we have seen in recent years in F1, Supercars is in a very good place.

***

IN 2017, Triple 8 secured the driver’s team despite running parallel programs of their VF Commodore, up against the creation of the turbo V6 powerplant and ZB Commodore.

Fast forward to 2018, DJR Team Penske has been heavily involved with the development of the Mustang platform, with the spare time since the last event seeing the squad taking on a multi-state test and tune.

Next year, for both parties, it will be all eyes on the 2019 prize, without a gaze to the future.

***

IF you read some social media posts this weekend, you could be mistaken for thinking that Craig Lowndes was being put in a box and lowered into the earth post-Newcastle.

Yes, Craig has run his last solo race, but don’t despair!

He will still:

– Be at the race track
– Race for Triple 8 in the Enduros
– Test the cars
– Return to the Bathurst 12 Hour (and probably win it – Ed)
– Race at other events around the globe
– Do team/sponsor functions
– Be a part of the TV coverage

So, don’t get involved with the doom and gloom, CL is still alive and kicking, and probably more accessible than ever before.

Cheers for this chapter Craig, go hard in the next one.

WORDS: MARK WALKER
IMAGE: SUPERCARS