Asian Motor Sports

When Australian Marcos Ambrose broke into the V8 Supercar Series the then young upstart, who calls himself the Devil Racer, stunned the world by placing his Pirtek Racing Ford Falcon on the Bathurst pole in his first V8 event. He went on to finish eighth in the championship, winning the Rookie of the Year award.

While not winning Rookie-of-the-Year accolades in the U.S. Nationwide Series he has been very competitive in the series and has been awarded the chance to move up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2009 with JTG Daugherty Racing.

With that comes the opportunity for Australian motor racing fans will get a unique insight into the world of NASCAR and the life of Marcos Ambrose when 60 Minutes resumes on the Nine Network early in 2009.

A 60 Minutes crew were treated to a ‘fly on the wall’ experience with Ambrose during last weekend’s final round of the 2008 NASCAR season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

The crew began their experience at Ambrose’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina where they spent some time with his wife Sonja and two young daughters, Tabitha and Adelaide.

Ambrose then treated them to an afternoon of gold panning at the site of North America’s first gold discovery at Reed Mine just outside of Charlotte – gold prospecting is one of Ambrose’s sources of relaxation in his otherwise hectic life.

The crew also watched on as Ambrose took care of some corporate commitments with a photo shoot with team sponsor Bush’s Beans and then gave the group a tour of the impressive Michael Waltrip Racing facility at Mooresville, NC.

Ambrose will race an MWR-prepared car in next year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the JTG Daugherty Racing.

“60 Minutes is such an iconic program in Australia and I have been a fan for many years so to have Peter Overton here with his crew was a little surreal,” Ambrose said. “The weekend was not a fantastic one from a results perspective, but NASCAR worked with us to give them the best experience possible so they could really see what this great sport is all about.

“I think we have converted them and hopefully the story next year will help convert plenty more.”

Overton, who is regarded as one of Australia’s most experienced journalists, came away from his first NASCAR race impressed with the whole show.

“Marcos is a very impressive bloke, right up there with Greg Norman in regards to Australian sports people I have had the pleasure of interviewing,” he said. “In a short space of time he is not only cutting it, but performing in one of the toughest arenas in world sport..

“NASCAR? Well, only in America is all I can say. It is huge.”

Ambrose had a distinguished career in the V8’s with two consecutive series championships (2003-04). But he became the man Aussie’s love to hate for his no-holds-barred racing style. That style was in full evidence in his last start on The Mountain in 2005.

Ambrose was well on his way to a Jimmie Johnson-like third V8 championship until the Bathurst 1000 when he was involved in a controversial crash with Greg Murphy approaching The Cutting late in the race. The two drivers, infuriated with one another, shared some heated words after the crash:

“Greg’s probably going to blame me,” Ambrose said. “because he tends to blame everyone but himself for these kinds of incidents. I knew that I was already 99% past him, I gave him a car-length and a half to go two-wide up into The Cutting, and I just got clean wiped out.”

You be the judge, view the video of the 2005 Bathurst incident in the sidebar.

Related articles:

• JTG Daugherty signs ‘alliance’ with Waltrip Racing
• Marcos Ambrose to Race Toyotas in 2009