A Return to AUSCAR Country

North Carolina, a southeastern state in the U.S.A, is home to a population of ten million people and also where most of the NASCAR teams are based.  Although NASCAR drivers come from all across the United States, a large portion over the years have come from the southeast, and so too have most of their fans, and in 2024, the series will visit 27 tracks, with a cluster in and around Carolina.  There's no doubt that the southeastern quadrant of USA is NASCAR country, with North Carolina at its centre.

In 1988, NASCAR would venture across the Pacific Ocean for their first race outside of North America, to the newly built 1.19-mile Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, a track based off the Charlotte Motor Speedway, in North Carolina.  

A week before the 1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500, AUSCAR would be born and hold the first race on the Thunderdome​, a battle between Commodores and Falcons, anticlockwise on the 1.19-mile oval.  The only other paved oval in Australia would be at Adelaide International Raceway in built in 1972, known as the Super Bowl, an 805-metre oval with 7 degrees of banking first seeing AUSCAR competition in 1990.

With ​​Calder Park holding the only American NASCAR round in Australia, birthing the AUSCAR category, which also sanctioned an Australian NASCAR series, Melbourne is no doubt the spiritual home of Stock Car racing in Australia. 

​Welcome to AUSCAR Country.

There was one sentence that was repeatedly spoken at last year's racing return to Calder and as Stock Cars completed laps once more on the Thunderdome: 'We'll be back'.  The team at Stock Cars Australia had made sure that last year's event wasn't a one off, with the category competing on the National Circuit for Round 4 of their 2024 season, under the VMRC (Vic Motor Racing Championships) banner.

Of course, both spectators and drivers were most excited to see these NASCAR's and AUSCAR's perform exhibition laps around the Thunderdome, and they'd get the chance at noon on both Saturday and Sunday.  Even a handful of Hyundai Excel's had a go!

Someone who's familiar with racing full throttle on the Thunderdome in its heyday is Jamie Hollier, who took a handful of lucky fans on passenger laps around the track in the ex-Rodney Jane EF Falcon AUSCAR, which has also raced extensively on Calder Park's high banks.

[The EF Falcon has] done most of its racing on the Thunderdome.  When the Thunderdome stopped it went up to Wakefield Park and Winton as a ride car, so it's done a gazillion laps around those tracks." - James Hollier

The entire car is original apart from the engine, now a Ford Cleveland V8 sits in the engine bay rather than the original Windsor​.  It was Troy Perichon, the owner of the Jim Richards Falcon above, who worked on the Rodney Jane EF Falcon, and brought both to last year's circuit racing return.  Jamie showed interest in the EF Falcon and bought the car off Troy twelve months ago.

Jamie Hollier raced both the Sportsman class and AUSCAR's on the Thunderdome until 1996 and now, behind the wheel of the EF Falcon, he has made his return to racing this year.   As Jamie competes in his third race meeting with the car, he tells me there's still a little bit of work here and there to be done, including adding a front sway bar, upgrading the rear brakes as well as battling oil temperature issues in the engine.

The car is still faster than what I am, so I just want to work on my skills before we start playing with the car too much and make it quicker.  But we're getting faster and faster every time we go out." - Jamie Hollier

The #2 Wayne Menkin AUSCAR similarly has recently returned to the track, with the round at Calder being its second outing with Col Matton behind the wheel.  The car was last used in the early 2000’s by Wayne’s son Darren on some Thunderdome practice laps, before it was put into storage.  Col located the car in a Moorabbin warehouse and was able to strike a deal six months ago on the VP Commodore in the same condition it was in when it last completed a lap in anger.

The car was in amazing condition for its age.  We’ve really just gone and done perishables like belts and hoses, fuel lines, fuel pumps, a new set of rubber under it.  We had to draw up the geometry in the front end just because it was a Thunderdome spec car.” - Col Matton

The entire driveline including the M21 4-speed gearbox hasn't been touched, which is a credit to how well Wayne Menkin has built this car.  A Holden 308 ​spec engine still sits up front, with a Quadrajet carburetor on top, all up making just under 400hp.

Straight off the bat too, the car has been quite competitive, with Col being the best finishing of the three AUSCAR's during the Calder Park round.  The only issue that Col has faced are the brake pads, as he went through multiple sets throughout the weekend.  Regardless, of worn-out pads, it looked right at home on both the National Circuit and the Thunderdome.

My Uncle was a keen motorsport fan.  He used to bring us out here almost every race weekend, he had an old XF ute… me and my brother… we used to sit in the back of his ute with our deck chairs.  Loved it, absolutely loved it.” - Col Martin

Although it's certainly the AUSCAR family that has grown in the past year, there are still a number of American stock car brethren to join the action.  Daniel Stubbs would pilot the 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which competed in the United States in the ASA series.  Although not a NASCAR, it is labelled as a GTA car (no relation to Grand Theft Auto), which are earlier versions of the cars used in the now popular Trans Am/TA2 category.  This example was brought over from the USA and raced up the front in Stock Cars Australia, before being put up for sale circa 2019.  

One thing that separates these cars from the 'lightning in a bottle' era of NASCAR's is the engine, as ASA instead required fuel injection, hence the LS1 under the bonnet, whilst NASCAR only permitted carburetors at that time. The Stubbs family now races the car with Daniel Stubbs behind the wheel, as his father Jeff Stubbs also raced a Dodge Challenger Trans Am.  Although the Monte Carlo was already in racing condition, competing regularly in the Stock Cars Australia, they’ve refreshed the quick-change differential as well as the gearbox.

It’s unreal, I love it.  It’s quicker than anything I’ve ever been in.” - Daniel Stubbs

Scott Nind is known for dominating in his Xfinity Ford Mustang, but this year he had a new pony in his stable.  The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Ford Mustang driven by Michael McDowell for Front Row Motorsports turned heads on its Australian debut at Sydney earlier this year and garnered a crowd at Calder too.

Because Scott didn’t qualify with the car, he would start at the back for Race 3 and would come through the Stock Car and Super TT field to clinch third.  It was awesome to watch!  The most surprising part of this Gen 6 Cup car is how light the carbon fibre bonnet is, it feels like you’ll snap it by simply touching it.

Thanks to passionate people behind Stock Cars Australia, the teams and drivers across Australia keeping these cars alive, media websites like Aussie Stock Car News who continue to spread the word and unearth AUSCAR history, more cars and enthusiasts are seeking a return to AUSCAR country.