A “Supercars round” is a race weekend for Australia’s Supercars series. It’s one stop on the championship calendar, with races across the weekend. The host is basically saying Todd is going to the Darwin event.
“Trans Am Support” is a set of races that happen during the same weekend as the main Supercars event. Todd is competing in those side races, not the main Supercars races. It’s like the “extra” racing program on the schedule.
The “Super 2” title is a championship in Australia that’s meant to develop drivers for the top-level Supercars series. Winning it is a big deal because it shows you’re one of the best up-and-coming racers. The host is mentioning it to explain Todd’s success.
The Bathurst 1000 is a major long-distance race in Australia that’s famous with race fans. It’s hard to win because it takes strategy and consistency over a long event. The host is highlighting Todd’s standout result there.
“World time attack” refers to time-attack-style competition at a global level, where cars are judged by fastest lap times rather than head-to-head racing. The host says they didn’t get into it due to time constraints, implying it’s a topic they planned to cover. It’s a motorsport format label rather than a car part.
Dick Johnson was a very famous Australian race driver. The story uses him as a reference point for how the family got into motorsport and Ford-related racing.
The Ford Falcon is a classic Australian car. Here, the “XC Falcon” is the specific older model they bought, and it’s what got them into car racing and hill climbs.
Hill climbs are races where you drive or ride up a steep hill as fast as you can. It’s usually timed, and grip and control matter a lot.
Term
Rally Pack
“Rally Pack” is a factory option package that was meant to make a regular car better for rally-style driving. It usually bundles multiple upgrades together.
A track day is an event where drivers take their own cars onto a closed circuit for practice and fun, usually with coaching and safety rules. It’s a common way enthusiasts learn car control beyond normal street driving.
A go-kart is a small race car you drive on a track, often used to start racing. They’re designed to be lightweight and fun, so your driving technique matters a lot.
Dirt karting is racing go-karts on dirt instead of pavement. Since the surface grip changes a lot, you have to drive differently and the karts can feel less predictable.
It means two racers keep challenging each other—one makes a move, the other immediately responds. It’s basically a “you do this, I’ll do that” kind of race battle.
Daniel Peska is a racer the host says was already a champion at the time. The point is that he later became known in sprint cars, showing how karting can lead to bigger racing.
Brand
Rosenberg
Rosenberg is mentioned as the kind of support behind the racer. In racing, that usually means a sponsor or team backing.
Open-wheel racing means the race cars have exposed wheels. The host is saying the sponsorship helped him move from go-karts into bigger single-seat racing.
Formula Ford is a type of open-wheel race series with single-seat cars. Many drivers use it as a training ground before moving up to bigger, faster racing categories.
“Cool Driver” is a sponsored program that picks promising young drivers. The winners get chances to test and race, which can help them move up to bigger racing series.
Formula 4 is a junior open-wheel racing series. It’s meant to be an affordable first step for drivers trying to move up toward bigger racing categories.
Place
old Macau
Macau is a place where big racing events happen. The speaker is saying their team’s experience there was an early, eye-opening moment in motorsport.
In racing, testing means practicing and experimenting with the car between races. If you don’t get much testing time, it’s harder to know how the car will behave on race day.
A short track is a smaller version of the race course. Because it’s laid out differently, it can feel faster or more technical than the full track.
Place
quarter park
Quarter Park (as mentioned in the segment) appears to be a race track used for the semi-final and full-track laps. Track layouts matter because lap time depends heavily on length, corner types, and how much of the course you’ve practiced.
Term
full track
The full track means they used the entire race course. It’s usually longer and more complex than a short-track layout.
A tenth of a second is a tiny difference in a race. In motorsport, that can be the result of just a slightly better (or worse) line or cornering moment.
LIVE
A Listener Production.
For this episode, I'm in our Brisbane studio.
My guest is originally from South Australia, and proudly so, but he lives up here nowadays
and is just about to head to Darwin for the Supercars round to contest the Trans Am Support
races where he's the reigning champion.
Todd Hazelwood is one of those people who seems to have boundless enthusiasm when the
magnitude of a project or the size of an undertaking to find sponsorship for, say, a
Supercars program would seem like something that is well beyond most of us.
Todd is the type who just doesn't seem to see barriers.
He finds a way.
From a humble family that truly loved motorsport, Todd has overcome some hurdles to win the
Super 2 title and a very memorable Bathurst 1000 with his mate Brody Kastecchi in recent
years.
There are moments in this two-parter that are deep in the nature of the conversation
as he shares his diagnosis and recovery from a medical condition that changed his outlook
on life significantly.
How loyalty made him seriously contemplate staying at Erebus when a dream opportunity
came up at DJR, a team that he's loved all his life, plus a COVID resto buy that is
so him and the formation of Todd's Garage.
Having such a good convo here and I was conscious of time and studio bookings that we didn't
get into world time attack, that's my bad.
I will be at Sydney Motorsport Park in September for the broadcast.
I'll put a link in the Eppe description if you're thinking about coming along.
Todd has been running the Tanuki Racing S13 in recent time again and he told me off Mike
that this is one of the coolest challenges that he's ever undertaken.
It is a serious bit of kit, huge power, aero and tuning capability and they are hoping
to beat their record this year and possibly even take the car overseas in the future.
So keep an eye on his socials around that stuff and the world time attack platforms too.
Let's get cracking with the podcast now.
Hello mate.
Rusty, how are we?
This is overdue.
Well overdue.
Well I actually don't know why.
I have no excuses.
I have no excuses for whatever reason because we've crossed paths so many times over the
past decade plus.
So it's really nice to get you on and have a chat mate.
So can I start with, this conversation doesn't have to be a complete year by year timeline
but I'm sensing it'll follow a little bit of that.
I've had convo's with your mum and dad over time.
They're lovely people mate.
Your dad has a motor racing background that you spoke about this with Brody and Will recently
on Lucky Dogs too.
But he's his two wheel, isn't it?
He is.
He was a lot crazier than what I was and I think he broke enough bones to realise that
four wheel is as much safer and pushed me into go karts from there.
So yeah old man was just lived and breathed.
Anything automotive growing up on the farm and just tinkering in the shed and yeah just
a mad man on two wheels from what I understand.
Yeah so desert racing as a kid growing up in the Mallee farm here in South Australia,
sorry down South Australia and yeah just love motor GP.
Mum and dad used to go to the races back in the day cheering on Wayne Gardner and McDowen
and eventually that started to follow into cars as well and Mum was a massive Dick Johnson
fan so quite ironic full circle.
How it's ended up.
20 odd years later.
That's brilliant.
Yeah it's where it all begun I guess.
I gather she might have had a conversation with him at some point around the broken bones
and whatever and said okay you know young family and whatever else we need to park this
at least for now and did he have an XC?
What did he have and he started doing some hill climbs and things like that is that right?
Yeah correct yeah basically the two wheel dream pulled the pin basically when dad broke
his back and Mum was pregnant with me at the time so Mum was basically like well you either
keep the bike or you divorce me basically it was a pretty serious automation I guess
but dad sold the bike and yeah so dad actually brought an XC Falcon which was actually from
my Mum's father so my grandpa bought a brand new in 1977.
Yeah XC Rally Pack Pine and Lime brought yellow and dad brought it off Grandpa and did it up
did a bit of hill climbs down at Collingrove took it out to Malar and the track sprint
and that was really my first introduction to motorsport I sort of remember playing with
my hot wheels and the dirt there on the front straight at Malar and smelling the fumes and
the hot brakes coming in after every session and just thought that was the coolest thing
in the world and watching DVDs on replay as a kid all the motorsport documentaries and
races that dad had filmed on VHS I was just obsessed with the sport from such a young
age.
Your sister full transparency I have spoken to Lauren who works for motorsport Australia
nowadays and she's helped me a little bit with some stuff she reckons you've never really
watched cartoons or done anything like that that kids would have done she said you would
even from a very young age you would grab those VHS's and it might have been Bathurst
Turing car races whatever and she said that was your in the way other kids would go and
obsess about something that was you mate wasn't it.
It was yeah it was pretty crazy thinking about it all now but yeah as you said I didn't watch
cartoons it would be like the Pikes Peer Kill Climb VHS or it would be a Dick Johnson documentary
or Moffat documentary or I pretty much had all the Australian Turing car drivers documentaries
and VHS and races that dad had filmed and even back to you know just as a kid you know taping
the supercars racing you know obviously watching the RPM show when I was a kid all that sort
of stuff I was just obsessed with it love cars and dad was always tinkering in the shed
we had the XC Rally Pack at home so dad would be working on that in between hill climbs
and track days and we had a little Mini Cooper as well which was a lot of fun so dad used
to do a bit of backyard engineering and roaring up in the hills and me scared for life hanging
on in the back seat sliding around on the line.
See a lot of cool memories as a kid and I guess yeah just the obsession you know buying
magazines street fords and street machine and all that sort of stuff I was just everything
about my life was all cars and you know it's crazy how they say you know you buy hot wheels
and that's the cheapest car you'll ever buy because they just get more expensive as you
get older and that's pretty accurate.
The purity of your folks mate I mean they I think your mum worked in cafes and stuff
your dad was involved in the railways and stuff like that so it's not like there was
money on tap but they made it work didn't they?
Yeah 100% they just lived and breathed the I guess giving me a chance to do what I loved
you know that I think I was able to show them that if I was to go go kart racing which I
started when I was seven that they knew that that was what I wanted to do you know I tasted
a bit of football and I loved my cricket but I think that individual challenge of getting
behind the wheel you know breathing in the fumes at the race weekend and you know I was
so hungry and driven at such a young age and I think they knew that you know I wasn't just
going to buy go kart do a couple of races and then when I sell it or give up on that passion
it was pretty evident from a young age that that was what I wanted to do and I was really
fortunate where I had two parents that just put everything into me from such a young age
to give me that opportunity and we did it with a very tight budget you know shoestring
budget and you know at the time I started out in dirt karting so dirt karting was great
because quite cost effective massive in South Australia so we're racing big fields almost
every weekend at the stage where racing started to get quite serious and it was a great opening
for me and to my adventure in the motorsport and so many cool memories looking back at
it's really really really special there are state titles in that you're talking kind of
circa 2003 here I think aren't you was there ever a thought then that you might go I don't know
sprint car racing or something along those lines in that early part for me I love touring cars
that was always a dream I've always dreamed of you know driving the number 17 DJ Falcon at the
time you know that was you know winning Bathurst you know going out of late 500 as a kid that was
the one race as a family we would go to there we'd sit there turn turn seven turn eight and just
watch their our heroes go past as we as we used to feel back in the day so yeah for me I was always
obsessed with supercars that was my genuine passion yeah there was always that temptation to go
spritz speedway and I did a couple speedway races and in go karting and to be fair the go
cars probably weren't quite fast enough to get that thrill and excitement so I probably didn't
enjoy the challenge at the time as a kid I really want to go circuit racing and that's where that I
guess we drew a line in the sand we're if we're going to be serious about it let's have a crack
and we're done yeah five races oh sorry five years in dirt karting and then we for that make a
decision okay let's try and turn this into something we'd sort of won everything that we needed to win
in dirt karting it was like all right what's next so we went to bitumen karting when I just turned
12 and the cool thing going coming out of dirt karting I've been racing in juniors for four years
so I only did rookies for one year and then I was racing 14 year olds when I was eight so in dirt
karting I think I got thrown into the deep end quite young but it taught me a lot you know not
only about racing and being aggressive but also my maturity level I felt was you know it just helped
me evolve as human as well so you know looking back at those dirt karting days it was actually
quite powerful and what it you know what it taught me so yeah I want to turn up to bitumen I won my
first race meeting on p plates starting from the rear field so I still remember dad sort of you know
trying to downplay it goes look son you know it's a new challenge you know we've done a lot
won a lot in dirt karting but bitumen's different and then you know I said you know just lower your
expectations basically like don't be too hard on yourself and then yeah we went out and won the
first race meeting so dad was like oh man like what have we created so yeah it was a you know still
a steep learning curve going to bitumen karting but that was where I guess for me I was very you
know at 12 years old even I was determined to make a career out of it from from that stage onwards
Lauren tells me this is maybe the first time you started to come up against the likes of
Anton Tipa squali cam waters and so on is that right yeah I remember my first race of cam and
I think it was my third or fourth race in bitumen and we went to um horse in
Victorian country series and uh you know cam waters just won the blue plate Victorian state
title holder you know everyone was sort of talking I didn't know who cam was from Barra
so and I'd still had my old dirt kart helmet so I still had stone chips on it didn't have a nice
painted helmet or anything and yeah come to this race and I'm just passing up you know up the inside
of cam and he passed me back and I kept passing him back and it was like this real tip for tap
battle so they're probably like who is this kid too in the same breath yeah and I'm like man who
is this kid like he's got no you know in dirt it was just like get to the front and then you know
your short race so I would always just kept passing and passing whereas bitumen was a bit you know
played a long game worked together and push each other along whereas yes I think I sort of rattled
cam straight away he's like man what's this kid doing and I remember him pointing to my helmet
you know saying work together and I think what's he pointing at his helmet for so I just passed him
again so um yeah cam was probably the first guy that I had proper battles with you know looking back
at that time and then um yeah years come later with with Anton turning onto the scene
as a young junior and yeah to be fair it was probably between Anton, Joey Morrison myself
for a good couple years there it was like tip for tat both junior national and junior clubmen
we had some epic races and yeah looking back some of the best memories as a kid it was really cool
you touched on I think there a moment ago just to um help me out a little bit here in some detail
was it second in your first ever Australian title bid in in terms of of circuit racing
karting not on dirt basically yeah so yeah 2005 so it was my very first Australian title
over subscribed field I think there was 50-odd karts and you know again it was like oh you know
Australian title let's play you know expectations quite low and yeah had enough points to start
poll for the finals I got the pole award which was you know I was completely frightened you know
I was nine years old racing these 14-15 year olds and um it was actually Daniel Peska was a
reigning champion you know he's well known and sprint cars now and supported by Rosenberg and
yeah I remember starting next to him absolutely shitting myself to be honest I was
crapping my back sitting there on the grid and yeah finished second in my first Australian title
which is really cool and yeah they went on to that was sort of I guess the injection of confidence
that I needed as a young kid to sort of prove myself that I could take it to these older kids and
yeah down on in it was just a yeah a roll on fact then I got my first state title win and
another state title and it just kept rolling on from there so as I say one win can really change
your your perception on on your career and that was certainly yeah at a nine-year-old that was where
basically all kick started from there great stuff let's come back to the karting in one
moment if you don't mind there is an aspect of of your dad's story that I didn't touch on there
before so he's also rusty I'm told is that right so Russell is also rusty is rusty which I didn't
know that he had that nickname in the family I think I've always called him Russ but there was a
family Christmas maybe pre-COVID and you're all sitting around and a couple of the maybe uncles
or cousins or something were think they were the big on think went then they said hey you should come
and do this with us and he might have sheepishly looked at your mum and said oh do you reckon I
could do that like kids are kind of growing up now and yeah yeah yeah go and go and do that and he
finished think mate which was awesome awesome well we all thought like oh yeah whatever dad like it
was like you know we would all have a few drinks and you know we're all getting pretty rowdy by you
know the late afternoon on Christmas day and yeah Richard our you know cousin he was like you know
had a bit of a team and you know always sort of been pestering dad you know come on Russ get back
on the bike and yeah yeah yeah and it was sort of like that conversation just glossed straight over me
so I didn't think anything of it and yeah I think it was yeah 2018 so I'll just come down for the
Adelaide 500 for the start of the year supercars championship and you know I come down a few days
earlier spend some time with mum and dad and like I come on and go oh the motorbikes arriving today I'm
like what excuse me what what do you mean and I guess yeah no Richard's going to drop off the motorbike
and I'm I'm I'm going to do think I'm like like just completely speechless I'm like dad you haven't
ridden in like 26 years 27 years and obviously a little bit overweight and all that that's hard
going to yeah man okay like nothing throwing yourself in the deep end but um hey credit where
credits due he he got back on the bike and he was just like you know as I say get him back on the
bike and he was off he went and um yeah lost a heap of weight and you know went to think and he
finished you know that was his biggest fear was not finishing in time and he got to got there and back
which was really cool got his dog spike and that you know that's the the pride and joy at the
hazewood household at home it's really cool so for me that was probably the first time it's you
know obviously yeah seeing dad ride um but then going to think being a part of that awesome event
you know we caught up there as well it's yeah such a cool challenge and so different to what
anything I've done so yeah that was really special then he went to go back the year later got even
more fitter lost like another 15 kilos fell off in pre-riding broke all his ribs broke his collar bone
and I think it was like penny drop he's like okay we take that box there man like this is silly
so yeah now he's got an adventure bike and cruises around and yeah he's still married so he
lovely mum mum uh yeah remove that uh that jurisdiction on him I um I really enjoyed catching
up with him for a little yarn around that in the uh in the think coverage just come back to your
karting career am I right um that there are city of Melbourne maybe even um city of Adelaide titles
in the you know in the in the karting cv along the way here too yeah definitely I won't won quite a
few uh city of Adelaide titles back to back in both classes and um yeah got close to winning city
Melbourne a few times on occasion and finally broke through I think that was geez yeah we rejigging
my memory now 2011 um and the heavens opened up it was absolutely pouring a typical day at Todd
Road yeah windy and raining and whenever it rained you know that was where my karting skills really
come into effect so if I was having a bad day I'd normally pray for rain because like that would
instantly leapfrog me to the front of the field um so yeah it was rainy day and we yeah one by half
astray it was really cool day your sister says to me that uh she's the older one the wiser one maybe
she's the boss she but you were always this person who was on their best behavior so she said if she
ever did anything kind of slightly wrong it was magnified because you were such a well behaved
kid like you didn't enjoy stepping that line or anything along you know like that no and I think
you know I knew there was so much expectation on me to you know to go racing and I was so
aware of not jeopardizing my racing so I guess I just tried to be super squeaky clean as a kid
you know I didn't really have any too many issues with mum and dad or anything like that it was always
just yeah working on go karts and getting ready for the next event so yeah poor lol she used to
you know credit where credit's due because Lauren used to come away with us all the time and you
know spent a lot of hours you know traveling around the country because we drove everywhere or
sleeping on the side of the track or sleeping at the circuit in the tent um so you know Loz was
an awesome sister she just tagged along and and helped out where she could and you know become
really pivotal part in helping me progress my career you know helping me with sponsorship proposals
and she was studying journalism at the time when I was trying to break through so you know the whole
family has really been you know we've been our own little team from day dot I guess she says she says
there were like fake interviews that you conducted I don't know whether you were trying to pretend it
was an rpm yarn and maybe that was helping her on the the media side that she was interested in
and so on and she would she'd record them and stuff and that helped you I guess did it learn the whole
post race stuff yeah 100 you know what I still remember sitting down with um a good friend of mine
he said like you know you got your back up against well you don't have the money financially but if
you can just be across every element of the sport you know if you can present well talk well have
some sponsors on board you know and make sure your equipment's good you know you're half a chance
just work your backs out of basically so I just studied every aspect of the sport so you know basically
learnt the fact that you know you got to present well and talk to the media well and and try to
portray an image of you know who you want to be but also be very respectful so that was something
I guess it was endrained into me from a young age and yeah I was just always aware of it you know
just trying to be across every aspect to ensure that there was no nothing stopping me from being
out of progress throughout my career the the um the money needed to do this as you go in your career
get gets harder bigger more expensive and so on but you've always been all in mate haven't you you're not
I don't mean that in a risky manner I mean that as in
some people might go I that's I'm good biting off more than I can chew there or I can't do that
you know there've been moments when your folks are either mortgage or remortgaged or whatever
to ensure that you could go and do this basically yeah correct and that all started to become very
evident for me you know what was going to happen when you know carding had started to finish up and
we're already pretty much tapped just doing go-karting and you know the peak of 2011 2010 2011 you know
we were racing both classes and trying to do what we could obviously you know showcase who I was
about and what what I was doing but you know looking back at the time we weren't really aware of how
the through-chain system worked you know it was just us as a family trying to make a career out of
something that we had no idea what we were doing basically so we didn't have any connections in the
wider world of motorsport we couldn't just you know we had no connections in supercars pit lane
or anything like that we had no I had a little sponsorship with Fujitsu which kick basically
helped kickstart my my open-wheel career yeah formula making that bridging that gap out of go-kart so
I actually won a test day in a formula Ford it's called cool drives and was it no was it the
Fujitsu cool driver yeah cool drive program so um that was just after I actually the
our rewards program was put in place I was a factory driver for our go-karts at the time and
they basically handpicked a driver from every state you know based on your credentials and results
from the year and that gave us a free shot in a formula Ford so that was myself Deepa Squali,
Joey Morrison, Simon Hodges, a few other names I can't quite remember now but yeah good good bunch
of drives and they basically said whoever shows the prompt most promise out of the test day we'll
get a free race meeting in a state series from a Ford round so yeah the day went really well for me
and they then gave me an opportunity to get to a free race meeting in a formula Ford at state series
finished second on debut at the start of 2011 thinking all right this is this everything we
dreamt of you know making that next step and then yeah push come to shove we didn't have the money
had to you know head back to go-karting for another year so I thought okay well that was sort of the
the penny-dropper for us going right well clearly we don't have the money to make that next step what
the hell are we going to do now so that was actually at that time that was actually when the
Fujitsu call driver program got announced I've jumped ahead yeah so it was just a year in front
so actually then went back to go-karting for a year we did a really slim year we just basically
did state titles I think it was like six race meetings a year got on board with Fujitsu so
got to know Chris Jool and that was really our first step I guess trying to get introduced to
someone that sort of knew someone within the you know motorsport circles so Chris was really
I guess pivotal in helping me make that next step and I was obviously a couple years behind
where Scott McLaughlin was you know Scott he was racing go-karts when I was and he was a couple
years old of me so sort of watching what he was doing and he made that massive step straight from
karts to supercars or super 2 I should say in the development series and Chris was sort of saying
well we want to do the same with you with the Fujitsu call driver program because Scott he had
Fujitsu I was in Formula 4 with Fujitsu and was like right let's make a bit of a path out of this
and that was all going really well first year of Formula 4 was extremely tough because I think
we had a budget of like 40 grand and that was like we were you know busting our backsides to try
and pull it off and we started doing fundraising we had the oldest car in the field we brought this
old bus at old Macau and that was our introduction to I guess the world of motorsport you know be
careful of who you trust and we got a little bit burnt by that bought a car that we probably
shouldn't have had to spend more money than what we anticipated and all of a sudden we were
you know quietly crapping ourselves going man how are we going to be able to afford all this
because this is you know we've over committed already and I know 40 grand doesn't sound like
much to some in motorsport but in Formula 4 terms that's actually not enough mate is not not
no so we had no testing we were turning up to race meetings with old tyres or brakes and that
come with its challenges as well but we got through it I think we were fourth out of 40 cars
in that year deep squally won the championship so it was a really stacked field and then at that
stage we're like well we can't afford to do national series what do we do and then that was
when I had a phone call from Ian Richards from Artec in South Australia running a Formula 3 team
national Formula 3 so it wasn't the outright championship but for me it was like well it's
a step up the cars are faster open wheeler wings and slicks and you know Ian was really good to me
and sort of took me under his wing and it was my last year at school so I was currently in year 12
and I'd sort of spent do half a day at school then half a day at the workshop with Ian and you know
Ian was in his I don't know Ian was but you know he's a pretty wise old Scotsman and took me under
his wing and taught me a lot and it was really cool to help cool cars too mate weren't they? Yeah they were
seriously seriously quick cars too you know faster than a supercar essentially every track that we
went to so you know for a kid that was still in school it was a tough initiation you know again
we have a slim budget not much testing and and turning up to the supercar events racing on the
main stage that was pretty special and yeah it was a tough year but learned a lot and yeah then
it started just really gave momentum from there you left out one little aspect of that and I think
in it might have been you know despite how tough it was there's a pollen around when they're I think
is they're not in the in the F3 thing too which is pretty damn cool and the in the formula forward
example you've talked about you know older chassis and some of the learnings and budget and whatever
I don't I don't think the engine was necessarily an engine is key and formula forward in so many
ways so you're sort of battling with that but there was a I think a fourth as you detailed there before
and so on so if you if you looked at it without purely focusing on on you know who's the champion
or whatever else if you looked at some of those things that you battled away to get relatively
speaking they're pretty pretty impressive yeah it's funny I was so remember being so frustrated
at the time because come out of co-cating where we're you know we're always a contender everywhere we
went then went to formula four where I just wasn't prepared you know like didn't have didn't have the
equipment underneath me and I sound like a proper driving I'm making all these excuses I'm pulling
them out in the playbook but yeah I was just remember being so frustrated at the time and I
didn't deal with that frustration very well so then I was over driving I made a lot of mistakes
but you know that was all part of that learning process you know how to deal with the pressure
financially that was something that was all new to me as well I knew that if I crashed the car we
wouldn't race the next round so it was always you know all these demons in my mind I guess and
but also the pressure on the family that was the first time that we'd you know taken the mortgage
out so things like that so it was all happening at a very short space of time at a very young age
I guess you know still 16 17 years old at the time so but no plan B mate there was no like I'm
going to leave school and maybe become a draftsman or something or other you were no and it was funny
at the time I just started a motor mechanic apprenticeship and I knew in the back of my mind
I'm like this is just a waste of time like I don't want to do this but you know people go oh you
know you need to have a plan B I'm like there is no plan B like for me it was always plan A it was
to be winning races make a career motorsport that was that that was it and there was nothing
else that was going to get in my way so I actually stopped my motor apprenticeship in the second year
in a foot nut I'm losing too much time you know doing the TAFE work and all the other like all the
training modules and stuff a foot nut I need to put this into chasing sponsors and you know trying
to make this dream work you know whilst I was still living at home with mum and dad I thought well
how'd they take that conversation how did that go they were pretty good you know well I sort of
proved myself that I said I can make more money in sponsorship dead or trying to basically be a
telemarketer than what I was you know making you know 1300 bucks a week as an
apprentice so you know and then that's when we started doing the fundraising on weekends then
we started selling snags on weekends that might attend and all of a sudden we had our own little
ecosystem going where I was like the telemarketer by weekend selling snags on weekends and then the
odd weekend we'd go racing and that was just enough for us to keep one foot in front of the other
you know we'd never dared look back you know as you mentioned like we were ones for all you know
dad was always the reserve one going you know dad was obviously the one earning the money so that
which I look back now he's very positive in what he told you though wasn't he he would always sort of
say to you about that have a go kind of give it a roll your sleeves up kind of deal was it something
was along those lines was it not 100% yeah I always had the full support and mum was always you know
mum was always my biggest supporter she was always the one basically pushing dad hey well
you need to make this happen like we don't know how yet but we're going to make it happen and that
was you know when we talk about mindset and sport but even mindset in life I think that's so important
where you know if it's all chips in you can't have anyone looking a different direction we had
everyone full focus it was mum dad lorry my sister and myself there was you know I believed I could
do the job so there was never at any point hesitation going this isn't going to work it was just how
we're going to make it work
will davis and played reality tv coach for tod as hazel wood was endeavoring to break into super
cars if you haven't caught will's feature episode released in january this year you will love it
including the time he and will power tested with manati in formula one like you're in the car in
30 minutes and uh and I've got on camera the mechanics of the car they're going what like
davison because they were shocked because the belts are different the seats the sticker on the
nape right everything had to and I'm like what I've thought about they're like power's having
a meltdown because it was icy cold freezing I think he thought it was going to be slippery
I'll get on I don't care I love it about him I love it about him two young bulls making the
most of every opportunity you can also find will power in the russete's garage library
let's get back to tod hazel wood now can I explore two things here firstly you've said things like
understanding ecosystem and um think like did you did you become obsessed with understanding
the business of the sport how does this work how much is it going to cost what is the best way to
make this happen was that a thing that you started to study even though there's no there's no course
to go to for that yeah 100 yeah when I was 15 a member sitting down in christ jules living room
and he basically had this whiteboard of all the things that a professional race driver needs to be
and how we're going and this is how we're going to maximize every element and I remember just
visualizing that whiteboard essentially excellent and you know that was the introduction so I was
basically 14 15 years old running my own race business if you call it so then
managing sponsors managing finances getting the money coming in and out that was a big element
then the the marketing site how do I present myself doing my own sponsorship proposals and
running my own website and then I think I think laws said you learned to write press releases
newsletters you could do you could work illustrator and all sorts is that right yeah yes I was designing
my own right doing my own designs on illustrator and photoshop and yeah just was completely across
all of it because I was too damn tight to you know pay someone to do a car design or pay someone to
do my sponsorship pitch or proposals so I just did it all you know probably a bit of a sucker for
punishment I guess but that was at the time that was my only option so I just had to get creative and
you know even when I was at school I basically designed all this all the classes I was doing
at school was all how how would that benefit benefit me in racing so I did web design so I could
you know learn how to create my own website and you learn how to use illustrator and all
sort of stuff and then you know welding and automotive for the you know for the workshop
stuff but you know I did business studies to help me learn well what's how do I do a tax return and
all these other things you know when I was at a young age so yeah as you said just obsessed with
the fact of how do I create this monster that I'm now living today ironically the time uh the limited
time with the apprenticeship wasn't wasted because you are on the tools now with the trans which will
come to a little bit later come back to the the sausage sizzle who came up with that idea you
literally arguably tons there are tens of thousands of of sausage sandwiches that you have sold along
the way mate a lot of snacks yeah it's actually it started from selling the the
freddo frog chocolates at school okay so the fundraiser chocolates so my nickname at and high
school was freddo frog okay I was always that kid that had two boxes of chocolates here he comes
again yeah so literally I'd roll into class and you know I was like the dealer of chocolates you
know come in and I'd have five dollars thrown at me a couple dollars you know passing out
chocolates behind my back in class trying to raise funding about trying to raise funds for my racing so
yeah it's it's pretty crazy because at one stage you know I was selling two boxes a day
Lauren would take a box of school so she was a couple years in front of me so she'd sell it to
her classmates and my classmates and all of a sudden we were selling you know three or four
boxes a day of chocolates so 50 bucks a box so that was that was good money just selling chocolates so
that was where it sort of the fundraising started and then I remember going down to bunnings with dad
we're just getting some bits and pieces and you know man well how do we get involved with selling
snacks you know that we had heard you know people make a grand or 500 bucks a day for that's good money
why don't we do that and we did some inquiries and bunnings never really come to the party of
anything so we thought well we'll go to our local Mitre 10 at Glim Mitre 10 you know they're well
known for supporting the local community and they took us with open arms they sort of gave us a slot
once a month that and become once a week and then at one stage it was three times a week
so really yeah and we were doing long weekends or public holidays and so many snags it's not funny
we even got to the point where we're doing it two different locations on the same day because it was
the money we're raising wasn't massive money like it was two to 500 dollars a day but that
was better than me going to work essentially that was what I worked out so it was like well let's just
keep selling snags and keep promoting myself and it was good in a way because I was then promoting
myself within the local community and you meet a lot of different people people coming in for you
know business supplies and stuff so all of a sudden that you know that was helping me grow
who I was about and you know that really then helped create other opportunities from that as well
it was better than what just the Saturday afternoon bottom line might suggest because of some of those
contacts which we'll come to in a minute and you you learnt the value of of changing it up a bit too
didn't you where you're doing like two for five or or sausage and egg or something like you changed it
up didn't you yeah we had sausage and egg sandwich see that was one of my creations like 44
dollars at the time so it was an absolute bargain so we had half the hot plate full of eggs half the
hot plate full of snags and yeah I'm definitely definitely king of the barbecue that say that much
I've had my fair share of practice cool come back to the racing for me all of that stuff right you
manage your own socials even now did you become aware of your racer brand that's a stupid thing to
say but but you are the same person in here in the studio talking to me now as the guy that I would
see having just done a qualifying session for Bathurst or Super 2 back in the day or whatever it
may have been you were you've always been authentically you I think that's that's the best way to say it so
Julie might have had that stuff on the whiteboard of what you what you needed to do and about
presenting professionally and stuff but have you ever paused and thought about that holistic thing
who is Todd Hazelwood and what is he not really what is he about yeah it's funny
every year it's just full steam ahead what's next what's next I've been a sucker
sucker for punishment I guess going you know I never get too complacent I don't like being
comfortable it's like what's next you know what's the next challenge goal so yeah
stop and be past as I say yeah good and always fall forward you know if you have a set back just
make sure you fall forward don't look backwards don't fall backwards just keep falling forward
that's always been my motto so yeah I guess what do I stand for you know being you know as you said
I've always tried to be myself I don't try to fake being this tough guy in the media or be bullish
to people like I feel like I could go up to anyone in pit lane and say g'day and that's genuine it's
not me putting on a front or being fake or anything like that it's you know when when the helmet goes
on I'd like to think I'm probably a bit of a pain in the backside because you know I feel like I'm
quite aggressive and probably ruffle some feathers and I think some drivers probably know what I'm
saying but you know that's where I think don't let the racing get in a way of who I am as a person
I've always been really conscious of that and yeah and I guess too you know I've been in industry
for a while now to still you know member getting a grain to me as a kid you know people don't change
when you get older don't change when you might win a race and you're always been conscious of you
know me as a kid when I was you know between five and ten years old lining up for autographs at the
Adelaide 500 or Clips of 500 back in the day I always think back to that how much that one moment
meant for me as a fan and you know when I sit there I did a fan appearance yesterday of the team at
Shell V Power Racing and you know I still think of that moment going how important it is to spend
time with each fan that comes along and have that that real interaction because I know as a fan what
that meant to me as a kid. Powerful that is mate. You never forget it so um have you kept those autographs?
I've got plenty. Have you? Yeah mum keeps reminding me that my my room at home is just filled with
paraphernalia and I got no idea what I'm going to do with it but it's yeah it's still kept away and
I don't think I could ever get rid of it. Who would you have got back in the day? Are we talking DJ?
Yeah yeah I was self-confessed. We were a Ford family through and through so we were completely
obsessed everything was Ford in my bedroom so I had Street Ford magazines, the posters,
yeah I was obviously a massive DJR fan so used to get every poster from every year from them so
all the back from when it was Steve and the Rat all the way up to Warren Laugh and even James
Courtney in the later years and Will Davison you know Will Davison was actually a driver that I
idolized a lot you know seeing his background and his commitment going overseas and obviously
over to Europe and then coming back and getting I guess felt like he sort of got DJR back on track
to his winning ways so he was a good driver looked up to a lot and man I used to even send letters
and probably would have been Stephen and Warren Laugh at the time. We had a mom actually had a
contact with Liz McDonald who used to do the merchandise at DJR and yeah I was basically a
pen pal. Used to send in my letters saying well done on the weekend hope the next race is better
and all sort of stuff so yeah we're just massive fans so yeah it is when I think back to that going
full circle to where I am today you know this year having the privilege of racing number
car 17 with DJR it still is a real pinch myself moment because you know wanting back the clock
20 odd years now was you know literally just a self-proclaimed fan. I had the DJR race suit that
was my first race suit as a seven year old you know the shell helix colours so yeah it's pretty
special. I love that I love that. So at end of f3 are you thinking about how the heck could I stitch
something together single-seaters are you only about touring cars and supercars and what transpires
next in that period too. I know we're going to come to the Shannon's you know program and what
have you but was there a little moment there where you were thinking about going a different
direction or not. Yeah 100% you know I was falling in love with the wings and slug challenge you know
and that whole ecosystem over to Europe and I guess that's where I probably say like where
I idolise Will Davison and guys like Will Power going well if they can do it so can I. I started
getting obsessed with the fact well that's pulled us off and then I don't know how the hell we're
going to do it but we're going to do it and Ian Richards was quite well connected with you know
teams like Carl and Affortek and things like that overseas and you know started making some
inquiries and I still remember we were talking about trying to do the Macau Grand Prix as a
as an Australian going over there as an invite but the money wasn't there and all of a sudden
you know there was talk of Fujitsu maybe pulling out and all of a sudden it was like
we got nothing like we're just you know that's working for the railways and I'm
selling the dreams hard as I can but it's just not enough the money's not coming in
and it was that it was actually getting quite as a family and as a you know me is trying to
break through as a career it's going well we're sort of feel like we're stuffed you know we're
we're hitting a bit of a dead end here as much as as hard as we're working we're not going where
we need to be going and at that stage you know we're starting to see our competitors you know
in my mind because that I was racing in go-karts were then you know off doing some pretty big and
special things and I sort of felt like I was getting left behind just due to the money wasn't
there and that was actually I remember I was driving home from school one day and got this random
phone call from a Melbourne number and always just to get excited when I had a random phone call
I was like oh maybe a potential sponsor or someone that I had pestered over last week and
so I raced over pulled over and yeah it was a yeah got a phone call from the TV production
running the Shannon supercar series show with which was then going to be for performance racing so
yeah chomped at the bit of that I was invited in and that was the first my first introduction to
being involved I guess in the supercar space you know meeting my idols of Frosty and Will Davidson
and yeah obviously then went on to win the show drive a supercar for the first time and then that was
I guess a new plan was was generated out of that and all of a sudden it's like oh we've got a
we've got a way forward here it's a it's a very short way forward but it's a it's
an opportunity right you know you get an opportunity you got to take it with both hands and
they gave me a shot and that sort of led on to I was then trying to obviously work really hard
with keeping that link with FPR you know worked really closely with Tim Edwards but unfortunately
they just signed Cam Waters to run in their super 2 program so they only have one car and I missed out
we we sort of didn't really have the budget we couldn't really give them that clear confirmation
that we're all chips in we're a little bit gun shy because again a lot of money of that money that we
didn't have and then he goes well we can't put a car together but Matt Stone's actually looking for
a driver and he's asked if you'd be available or be interested to have a chat so I was like oh yeah
of course you know so um yeah so took that phone call spoke with Matt and I said well you know he
said I want you to fly up and I want you to meet the team and see what we're about so you know as a
young I think I'll just turn 17 at the time so I put my business slacks on and flew up to
flew up to Queensland I had my laptop bag that sort of looked like a I tried to present really
professional and I remember Matt pulling up like where's this kid you know yeah I'm the one you know
this little 17 year old waving at Matt he's like oh okay you know here's this kid takes into the work
takes me to the workshop and you know we've sort of got a couple other drivers but you know we wanted
to give you know the opportunity for you first it's going to be about 400 grand to put this together
you know I was like okay well I don't want to miss out so we'd already missed out on the FPR gig
so I was like shook his hand I said yep no deal's done like we'll we'll make this work blah blah
blah and I sort of had spoken to mum over lunch saying you know Matt's sort of presented a number
don't know about it didn't realize that that wasn't including GST so that was another 40 grand
I hadn't allocated for and then flew home and dad's like like tore strips off me he's like what the
hell have you done like this is just way above us and yeah and it it probably was like honestly
like I stepped out of line but I was so desperate to end the tournament to not miss out because I
knew there was only a couple other gigs available where there were competitive cars I was teaming
up Vashwalsh as a teammate he was fighting for a championship so I felt perfect you know like this is
this is what I need and then at that stage so I committed then Fujitsu just pulled out so they
pulled out of their major sponsorship so I was like well okay this is not good
so we literally yeah had to then mortgage the house to just do the first payment to get to
round one which was the Adelaide 500 so first round in a supercar we just done a test day test day
went really well and at that stage you know super two was really competitive a lot of ex-main-game
guys you know running his co-driver trying to get co-driver laps in and then yeah we got we got a top
10 on debut at Adelaide on the streets there and that was we had no signage on what we had minor
sponsors but we didn't have a major sponsor the loan for the mortgage loan had only got approved
on the Friday morning so we'd already done practice on Thursday so I remember absolutely like the whole
family was just like petrified I think like including myself like even in practice like just
don't crash this thing because we don't have the money to fix it and we're not even worried about
round two yet we're just all about just trying to get to round one even though Matt you know we'd
signed a deal with Matt going yeah no we're all we're fine we've got this covered but we're all like
you know the ducks underwater we're peddling like crazy trying to pull this off so yeah then
started to share a bit more information with Matt what was going on and he's like oh wow right okay
geez you Hayeswood's really over you know over committed here haven't you so but you know that
was our only option to get that that opportunity we got fourth in the championship in our third oh
sorry yeah fourth or fifth in our first year got rookie the Mike Cable award review of the year it
was a really special year and we literally went round by it was it was a big push
and a big struggle but we sort of made it made it work in a really unique way the Mike Cable
thing's actually pretty special in in our side of the world because as a journalist he was a a
he's gone now obviously and has been for some time but he was a huge promoter of young talent huge
believer in in showcasing that's that's a pretty special award along the way as you as you climb
I think we're talking 2014 here now the the Shannon's supercar showdown thing we didn't just in
closing that off too I think was was Will kind of your mentor in that as well he was in you
were season three and I think you got to work with him there didn't you I did yes I was on team
will so this team frosty team will a couple guys from the UK come over I think there was eight or
nine contestants from memory and yeah will was sort of took me under his wing and yeah he was he was
great to work with you know I just remember being in awe being at the workshop there at fpr and seeing
the factory Ford team you know for me as a mad Ford fanatic was just like living the dream like how
good is this you know it was all my Christmas is coming at once so yeah we were really cool and he
actually handpicked me to go through to the semi-final was like a judge's choice and then that was
you know the semi-final was my first taste of a supercar I was fastest in the semi-final and then
I'm down here I think is that right uh it's a quarter park park on the short track for the
was it short track I can't remember now for the semi-final then we went the full track so I'd never
done laps at quarter park and it was me and Timmy macro and actually basically it was whoever's
fastest won the show so one by a tenth of a second looking back and yeah I thought I was I was
that was it you know where reality tv star reality tv show yeah that's it yeah what a time it was
yeah looking back that was you know as I said just an opportunity for me to have another go you know
because at that stage it was like we had nothing going on there was that was the doors were closing
well what's um and Lauren has told me this too mate and you know maybe when you're up against it
as you're climbing here and it's getting more and more expensive and so on she she doesn't
recall ever seeing you thinking that's it or um you know maybe there was doubt
moments where you know you're seeing these others getting opportunity ahead of you or whatever it
may have been but she said you just were this constant um you had this constant sort of self
belief or whatever she was really impressed by by that you know yeah I don't think self-doubt ever
crept into my mind and I've never felt like I was not good enough I always felt like I was good
enough to the job I just needed to get the right opportunity you know make if I was
going to get an opportunity I wanted to make sure I grabbed up with everything that I had and that's
what I felt like I did you know especially in those younger years so um yeah I was just I don't
know I was just trying to do whatever I could and yeah that just that single-minded approach on a goal
or you know you almost you know it's interesting you talk to people in sport you know if you're
almost you almost got to be a little bit obsessive to be able to make something happen
sometimes and that was that was definitely me as a kid you know I just didn't go out
partying on weekends you know I always had that distraction from my footy mates and Adelaide going
come on you know let's have a weekend off Hazel you know like you work to art it's like no like I
I've got proposals to do tonight I've got a I've got meetings next week like I've got to be ready
for I've got to be sharp you know so there was none of that ever going on so it was very selfish
on my own behalf like it was just but you have to have that don't you you've got to be like that
otherwise you know you can do everything at 10% or you can be 100% in and it may or may not work
but for me I guess you know I had a bit of a health scare when I was young and that was I guess
a real light bulb moment for me it's like well you get one life one chance of living life
you might as well do the things that you want to do and that was for me it was I want to make a
career out of motorsport I want to be a professional race car driver I want to race in a supercar
championship and I want to win Bapus you know they were they were goals for me as a very young age and
what was the health scare mate are you okay to talk about that yeah yeah no actually um I was
at the time didn't know what was going on I was racing well we're actually driving to Alice Springs
for the 2007 state titles um so Northern Territory State titles and I always kept having these chronic
knee pains and aches and like the doctor kept saying it was you know just growing pains I think man
like like the change of weather like I could hardly walk sort of thing anyway the pains got worse
and worse to the point where um I just kept sleeping so every time I just had no energy
and it got to a stage where it's getting really bad and then I just broke out in a complete body rash
when we were driving to Alice Springs out of all places that you don't want to fall ill obviously
you know so it was at Alice Springs I could I could only stay awake for like half an hour at a time
so essentially my body was like shutting down was it yeah yeah switching off and doing a lot of
damage in that process so it took three months so I spent a lot of time at Women's and Children's
Hospital didn't race for a couple months and I got diagnosed with vascularitis so it's like a really
rare skin and blood disease so it's like bleeding of the blood vessels essentially so that was actually
where a lot of my eye deer um where I become blind so I didn't know at the time so that that was
actually detrimental to my eyesight to my liver and a few other things so yeah so that that was a
health scare then I was on painkill or like I was on drugs basically to try and weed off
off yeah trying to survive it basically for crazy for quite a few years so yeah having a health
scare at a very young age makes you appreciate life for sure you know you hear people when they
get later in life going you know they have a health scare of cancer and stuff and you know now it's
time to live life large well for me I've tried to live life large from a very young age because
I'm very aware of that all it takes is a you know the flick of a switch and it could all be over so
yeah I guess that might be why I'm wide the way that I am you know I'm very ambitious and hungry
but I think that's just because I want to get the most out of yeah what I'm doing here today
that is the end of part one of my feature ep with Todd Hayes award but we are not done yet within
24 hours of the release of part one you'll find part two which is chock full of good yarns the
frustrations of full-time supercars racing at that stage of his career and a clever but tough
decision to change it up by shifting to a quality co-drive with a mate instead winning Bathurst and
the elation and exhaustion of finally achieving that and how it changed perceptions in the paddock
plus Trans Am titles, pie warmers and a whole lot more that's all ahead here on Rusty's Garage
About this episode
Todd Hazelwood’s path to Supercars is traced back through dirt karting, family influence, and a lot of practical preparation. The conversation moves from his dad’s motorcycle background and the family’s Ford XC Falcon hill-climb era, to Todd’s rain-loving karting skills and the grind of sponsorship, fundraising, and limited testing. Along the way, Todd shares Supercars dreams, early open-wheel steps, and the pressure of Adelaide 500 funding—then closes with his current Tanuki Racing S13 and upcoming Darwin commitments.
