Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
51:51
Topic
Bathurst 2023
Bathurst 2023 is the big Australian race event people talk about in the Supercars world. It’s the kind of race where a good or bad result can really change how the season feels for a driver.
Topic
supercars
“Supercars” is the top touring-car racing series in Australia. When they say they haven’t had a race win in supercars, they mean they haven’t won in that main series.
Term
pit lane
Pit lane is the service area alongside the track where teams stop for scheduled work during a race. It’s where mechanics and crew do things like car servicing and where a driver’s relationship with the team can affect how smoothly stops go.
Concept
co-driver
A co-driver is another person who drives the race car with you. In long races, you swap so both drivers can keep the car fast and under control.
Concept
you're only as good as your last race
It’s a saying in racing that what you do most recently matters most. Even if you had good results before, people judge you by your latest race.
Company
DJR
DJR is a racing team in Australia. Todd is saying he joined Dick Johnson Racing long-term, and it’s a big personal milestone for him.
Person
Will Davo
Will Davo is mentioned as someone who left the team. That change is part of the reason the host asks about the current team vibe.
Person
Megan Foster
Megan Foster is the new CEO Todd is talking about. He’s saying the leadership change is part of why the team feels more organized this year.
Term
CEO
CEO means Chief Executive Officer. It’s the top leader who sets direction for the whole organization.
Car
TransAm
TransAm is a racing series. Teams tune their cars to match the rules and make them faster on track, and in this story they improved the car enough to win races and a championship.
Concept
fine tooth comb
“Fine tooth comb” is a metaphor for extremely detailed inspection and analysis. In racing terms, it describes going through the car’s systems carefully to find opportunities to improve performance and reliability under track conditions.
Term
hot rock
“Hot rock” here is basically slang for really pushing the car hard. They’re talking about tuning and driving it in a way that gets the most speed and quickest lap times.
Place
Ipswich
Ipswich is where they raced and did really well. The point is that their car improvements showed up as strong track results at that event.
Concept
championship contention
It means they were doing well enough that they could still win the season overall. In racing, that comes from scoring points consistently across multiple events.
Term
hoist
A hoist is a car lift. It raises the car so you can safely look underneath and work on things that you can’t reach while it’s on the ground.
Car
54 Zephyr
They mention a 1954 Ford Zephyr they’re restoring. It’s an older classic car project, and it’s part of the kind of vintage cars they love working on.
Place
Gatton
Gatton is a place in Queensland, Australia. The host is saying they found the car for sale there.
Car
Ford Falcon station wagon
This is a Ford Falcon wagon—an older Australian family car with a big, practical back. Rusty is saying this one is mostly untouched, so it still looks and feels like it did when it was new.
Term
unmalested
“Unmalested” means the car hasn’t been changed much from how it came from the factory. People like it because it stays more original.
Term
surface rust
Surface rust is light rust on the outside of the metal. It can sometimes be cleaned up and fixed if it hasn’t eaten through the metal.
Term
buff
“Buff” means polishing the paint to make it look shiny again. It can help a dull finish without needing a full respray.
Term
idling away
“Idling away” means the engine is running while the car is parked. If it can idle smoothly, that’s a good sign the car’s not totally dead mechanically.
Concept
resto work
“Resto work” means restoring a car. People do it to make an older car look and drive like it’s supposed to, often by fixing worn parts and improving the condition.
Concept
one man band
He’s saying he’s going to do most of the work himself instead of relying on a big crew. In racing, that’s unusual because there are usually many people helping with setup and engineering.
Term
sponsorship deals
Sponsorship deals are agreements where brands provide money, products, or services in exchange for marketing exposure tied to a team or creator. In modern motorsport and racing media, these deals often depend on audience reach across social platforms.
Topic
YouTube
YouTube is a video website where creators post content. He’s talking about using it to build an audience and help get support for racing.
Car
90s Skylines
“Skylines” are Nissan cars. The “90s Skylines” are the 1990s versions that many car fans love to modify and tune.
Concept
Resto market
The “resto market” means the part of the car hobby where people restore older vehicles. It’s about fixing them up and keeping the classic-car scene alive.
Topic
Coorley Rocks
“Coorley Rocks” sounds like a local car event people go to. It’s used here as an example of the classic-car/restoration community getting together.
Concept
paint scheme
A “paint scheme” just means the car’s paint and graphics design. It’s the overall look of the car’s exterior, often used to show sponsor branding.
Brand
420
“420” here isn’t just a number—it’s the name of a brand. They’re talking about it as part of the car’s look (the paint scheme) and as a sponsor.
Concept
name your rights
This phrase is about sponsorship. It means the sponsor gets to put their name and branding on the car or event in a prominent way.
LIVE
A Listener production.
G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of a Ripper feature ep with Todd Hazerwood.
If you have hit the start button here, but somehow missed part one, jump back to the
garage library and give that a crack first.
From his dad's desert racing to trying his hand at dirt carts, Todd's obsession with
racing and learning the business side out of necessity from a very young age.
Having fake interviews with his sister after watching countless VHS tapes of racing rather
than cartoons as a kid, plus coming up against cam waters and Anton Deeper Squalion carts
and the financial stress that it put on a humble family who never wavered in their support.
Coming up at emotional, bathest win, weighing up whether to stay at Erebus or make a childhood
dream at DJR come true, plus Trans Am, a resto project that absolutely fits his personality
and the formation of Todd's garage.
In this supercars phase that we're in here now of your career, Brody talks about it in
the pod with Will too and on Lucky Dogs about being overseas obviously in America.
He comes back, you've probably known each other about 10 years now you cross paths and
he very almost affectionately talks about how hard you would work, how the car was covered
in stickers and you were printing the stickers yourself and it was just full gas.
Yeah, he thought I was a madman when we first moved in together.
He's like seriously Todd, like what's wrong with you?
Like you're just doing too much.
But that was why I think Brody and I got along so well because he was so switched on from
the car and engineering point of view and mechanical side so he'd want to understand
why with everything.
So I think I had a little bit, probably didn't have the same mechanical knowledge as what
Brody did.
He went to uni, had an engineering degree whereas I spent all my time doing the marketing
and the sponsorship just trying to create this dream that we're both living.
So yeah, it was a pretty honest hand on heart.
So first time I've ever spent time with a driver going like I have respect for you and
I think that was both ways.
It's clearly both ways mate.
Yeah, it wasn't like I was, what do you call it?
In awe of him or something?
No, it wasn't like I was threatened by him or anything.
It was genuine like, yeah, like, yeah, I like what you're about and I can see that you work
hard just as much as I do.
I know it means something to you.
So I think we both saw that from each other and that's why we got along really well.
And yeah, 2017 was a really cool year.
It was his first year in Super 2.
I was obviously fighting for a title which we won.
So yeah, within that first year we celebrated a lot of good times and then we started living
together and yeah, we got to know each other very well.
Is this like the odd couple, mate?
Are you the clean and tidy guy?
And he's the one who's...
27.31, yeah, yeah, 100%.
He was pretty rough around the edges back then.
Not gonna lie, but he's a lot better.
I actually went to his apartment yesterday and I was very impressed.
So man, you've come a long way in 10 years and not gonna lie.
Done well.
Excellent.
In talking about the stats for the year you win the title, you can correct me if I get
this wrong, right?
So I think there's six wins there.
There's like a dozen podiums, a dozen front row starts.
Man, that was a good year.
It was the last time I called Super 2 as well.
So I can vividly remember it.
There was kind of a book that was made around some of it too.
I mean, that was pretty impressive.
My lot of hard work had gone into that moment, basically.
100%.
I never forget that feeling of how much fulfilment I felt when I crossed the line at Newcastle
in 2017.
Just that how much time, energy, tears, everything else that went into it over that four-year
period being in Super 2.
Which is trying to make that work and to eventually get that end goal.
The feeling of satisfaction and relief more than anything was unbelievable.
It was really, really special.
And just to have the family, had a huge network of supporters.
And as you mentioned, there wasn't a spare centimetre left on that race car because we
had so many really well-connected sponsors and helping us make it happen.
So to have everyone there on part of that journey was a really special weekend.
I think even had a little note on my dash.
It was only a very small note because I didn't want to take up too much sponsor space.
But there was a little thanks Rusty for the good times on the dash as well.
So yeah, very fond of all those memories.
So we did a couple fundraiser dinners together back in the day.
I was going to go there, mate, because Sam Sheehin came on the pod very recently.
And we reminisced about doing one in Adelaide.
And I think this sort of shows the evolution of the fundraising that you'd had from, you
were still, I think, doing sausage sizzles and things like that.
But you'd managed to garner a group of supporters, a network, if you will.
And we had this fundraising night.
I did a little bit of MC stuff there.
But Sam spoke that night.
I don't know what year it would have been now.
And he basically outlined the plans for the bend.
It was like he was the keynote speaker.
And he came with all this information.
And I was like, holy, this is a serious plan here.
And now here are you and I all these years later.
I mean, you've won a significant race at that event.
That venue now exists.
And it's amazing, isn't it?
It is.
It's really, really special.
As you said, Rewind the clock 10 years ago, I think 2016.
Yeah, Sam came along, shared all these plans.
And everyone's like, what, you're going to do that at Tail & Bend?
Are you nuts?
And he's done it.
And obviously, what a phenomenal venue it is.
It's absolutely world-class.
And yeah, for me to get the first 500 win, I felt like it was somewhat fitting.
It's only just down the road from our Hayeswood farm where Origins started, just
in the Malley region.
And yeah, hearing what Sam was all about from all those years ago.
Yeah, it's really, really cool.
What happens next here?
Because there are some wildcard appearances in the midst of this 2017 period and so on,
the connection with MSR.
But I think, as Lauren said to me, maybe it's just timing, whatever.
It wasn't like it was a guaranteed progression straight into the main game.
Or if there was progression, it wasn't as though it didn't come without the need for
contribution and whatever else from you.
There had been other moments where the graduation, if you will, on paper might look simpler,
but it wasn't like that, mate.
Was it?
No, it was a really tough time in Super 2 because we'd saw in 2016 Gary Jacobson won
the championship and couldn't get a spot.
There was no progression plan.
Nothing put in place by Supercars to guarantee that the Super 2 winner gets elevated, which
in other categories around the world, that's generally what happens.
But sometimes it's all about being in the right place at the right time.
I was very aware from that.
We just finished third in 2016, gunning for a title in 2017.
So throughout the start of 2017, I was already wording up my sponsor group and going, well,
how do we make this work?
And that was actually when they, we basically went to Supercars and said, there's a serious
problem here for Super 2 drivers.
We can't progress.
We can't show what we're about.
So we actually were part of that.
They listened to that?
Yeah, they actually took it on board and that was where the plan come about of having the
wildcard appearances.
So we were pushing that really hard.
There was also Jack LaBrocq was another driver with their team.
So that was an awesome introduction because it gave us as Super 2 drivers to go right
up against the main game drivers and show what we're about.
And that was where in Super 2, the equipment was virtually the same as main game.
So we literally had our Super 2 car, took the Super 2 stickers off it and put the Super
Cars championship stickers on it.
And we went racing on soft tyres for the first time and basically knew at the start of the
year, I think by about Tasmania that we're going to do the round at Ipswich.
So local round, we could do it quite cheap.
It was our test track.
It was basically our best opportunity to showcase what we're about.
And yeah, we actually, it then for me, that was like to show my network going, if we can,
I'll sort of back in my mind going, if I can pull this off and show that we belong, then
hopefully then we can try and use that as a bit of momentum, bit of leverage to show
that, you know, we can do this as a team.
And I think at the time, Matt Stain was a bit like, I don't know if I want to do Super
Cars, you know, I'm pretty happy just doing Super 2.
We've got a pretty niche little bubble here that we're maximizing.
And I was like, no, like this is my only way of progressing because I knew at that stage
that every driver in the Super Cars championship was contracted on.
There was, unless there was someone's going to get sacked or something crazy is going to
happen.
No, no, no opportunity.
There was no opening.
So I was like, well, we got to do it ourselves.
So straight away, I was in the map all the time, like, how do we get a license?
How do we get a wreck?
You know, how do we do something?
You know, I'll get the sponsorship.
Did you sleep, mate?
Yeah, I know, it sounds stupid saying this out loud now, I think.
But careful what you wish for.
You just might get it, right?
But yeah, and that was the wildcard was a big part of that, basically to showcase that
we mean business as a team.
And I felt like we did a really strong job.
We actually had some really strong times in practice.
I was like, yeah, in the top five and micros and in qualifying.
So there was a lot of promise there.
And yeah, that basically was the step one.
And then it was, okay, how do we try and get a license?
So then I started pestering Jason Bright because I heard rumors that he was potentially going
to sell his license, get out of the sport, sponsorship had fallen through, a bit of weirdness
going on.
So then I was, you know, sort of pestering Jason going, well, we want to be first in
line.
And so, yeah, we had a conversation.
It was actually just after Bathurst had a meeting with Jason Bright at Gold Coast when
they come up for the Gold Coast 600, Matt and Jason Gommasall, who was my major sponsor
at the time with ISEAK and Big Mate, we all sat down and sort of had a rough idea of how
we thought it was going to work.
And that went back and forth for probably over a month.
And I was actually just after I put it on poll at Newcastle.
So championship deciding weekend, I just put on poll and qualifying for Saturday.
And that's when we just got the paperwork signed that we've got, we've agreed to a term,
a lease term for two years with the racing entitlements contract.
Excellent.
So that was basically me knowing that I was going to full series main game.
What a weekend for you.
2018.
So it was just like, oh my God, like, we've done it.
So that was really cool.
Won the championship.
And then it was like, that's where the hard work really began.
And there was no off season.
There was no spare days.
It was head down bum up, had new cars come to the fold at MSR from the team Penske at
the time, which turned out to be a failure, but lessons learned with that.
But yeah, we got a spot in the main game and we sold you on from there.
What got Matt over the line if he was sort of contemplating staying in the Super 2 pond?
Was it the wild card?
Was it like what got him over the line?
And then secondly, how big then mate is the bite that you're doing here?
Because you've figured away over a number of years to stitch together a Super 2 program,
right?
And that's still a big commitment.
Trying to reduce that.
But now you're going here.
Oh, it's a massive jump.
There's no underlining it.
And you can never be ready for it either.
That's one thing I look back and appreciate.
Now, I thought I was ready, thought we're doing everything right, thought our capability
as a team was strong enough.
We'd hide some people, but then comes growing pains with staff.
You know, we had issues there.
Then we had issues with the equipment that we had acquired.
You know, it wasn't the equipment that we thought it was going to be.
So instantly, you know, the results went there.
So, you know, when the results aren't there, that impacts everything else you do down the
food chain with sponsors and staff.
All that pressure starts to build.
And me as a driver, as a rookie, rookie team, rookie driver.
Yeah, it was tough.
And a single car outfit, you know, we're obviously going up against two to four car teams and
we were just peddling like crazy by ourselves.
So at the back of the field, it was it was tough.
It was, you know, going from winning a championship,
tasting race wins to literally our best result in 2018 was the last round of the year was 13th.
Like didn't even break a top 10.
Like it was brutal.
The moralizing for me, I lost a lot of confidence in myself and it just the work I was
putting in wasn't getting rewarded.
And that's when it really hurts as an individual.
I think when you just you are completely tapped with the work you're putting in and
it's just not enough.
The money wasn't coming in.
The results weren't coming.
You know, I was I was trying to do everything that I could, but it just simply wasn't enough.
How'd you bounce from that then?
How did you get the confidence to keep going and continue?
I just kept staying true to myself.
Like it's going to turn around just that that obsession, I guess that drives away.
You know, you have a bad day and you go, all right, come on, Hazelwood, pick yourself up,
slap out of it.
We got we got races to win.
So, you know, a big part of that was working with Jason Gommasoul.
He was very much a life coach for me as much as he was.
You know, yes, he was a major partner in and funding my junior career through Super 2.
But he was his guidance.
His guidance. I learnt so much from him.
So that's the one takeaway from there, do you reckon?
The biggest thing would have to be
strain yourself with good people and good things will happen.
As simple as that.
And probably, you know, there's always a risk to be taken, but just make sure it's a calculated risk.
You know, if you want to go from A to B, there's always going to be risk.
That's just how big of a risk it is.
You know, really make sure that it's calculated and you'll go you'll make make progress.
So there are probably two things for me.
Fortunately, mate, I think in 19 that you get a crompton talks about it being a bit of sugar,
right? A little bit of a, you know, there's I think there's a fifth at Pookie
and maybe a tenth at Newcastle. Is that right?
Yeah, correct. Yeah.
We had our first top 10 result at the start of the year at Adelaide.
So straight away, we'd we turned, you know, what was a year of pain
instantly like got our first shootout appearance at the Adelaide 500.
We'd out qualified the triple eight cars with the technical alliance.
So straight away, I was like, bang, like we mean business.
Like it was like a real statement piece for us.
And we had a really strong starts the year we were at out qualified, you know,
Shane and Jamie as a little single car outfit with just what felt like was just
Wes and I dreaming and Goliath stuff.
Yeah, dreaming up ideas and being a little bit radical of a set up.
And some days it didn't work, but some days it really showed.
And that was really cool year, although it was tough.
But, you know, at the same time, we felt like we really took a bit of a
we were taking a knife to a gunfire, but we we got a few stabs in. It was good.
I'm glad you're bringing up Wes McDougal there
because he's remained a bit of a constant man.
You work with him, I think, even now.
Don't you just tell me about that?
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I first dragged Wes out of, you know,
being working full time in Main Series, then he was my engineer in Super 2.
So we first started working together in 2016.
So it's our 10 years now.
We've been working together on and off.
So, yeah, back when I moved back up to Queensland and I just lost my main series
drive, you know, this is sort of fast for an o'clock now.
But yeah, the start of 2024,
Wes had just started up a new business called the Complete Race Driver,
an online platform where people could sign on and basically download
all of his knowledge and basically a driver's how to guide all online.
And I said, well, why don't we expand a business?
I could be a driver coach and we'll keep it all under the one umbrella.
We've now since opened up a simulator here on Gold Coast as well.
Terrific. And that's, yeah, it's a year in now and it's going great guns.
And you enjoy that song?
Yeah, I really I wasn't sure how it's going to go, you know, helping
what would feel like helping the opposition.
But we're working with a lot of young drivers, you know, drivers like
Alice Buckley, Brady Owen, Ellie Cleary, but then also some other drivers
that are, you know, looking for just broader knowledge.
And I've never, I haven't been to a track day before, never learnt any,
haven't had been on a simulator.
I haven't learnt how to actually drive a race car properly.
You know, I had Robbie Farron a similar day and obviously a legend of
sprint car racing, never really been taught the technique of circuit racing.
So working with a really diverse group of drivers, but also seeing the
instant result from sharing that knowledge is actually really rewarding.
Yeah, very satisfying.
So I've actually got a real buzz out of that.
That's been a lot of fun.
So yeah, that's, I guess, another hat to wear, keep myself busy in between
everything else that goes on in my life.
Well done. You fast tracked a little bit there.
Obviously, you know, from MSR to Brad Jones racing, you come back to MSR
and there's a period of time there with with BRT as well.
But you you fundamentally get to a point where you're now a co-driver and
and I, you know, you're worth as a co-driver.
I think is is arguably a greater perhaps than even in the full time sense.
But was that very difficult, mate?
Was that a conscious choice you made?
Was it circumstance and how did you deal with that?
I guess, yeah, towards the middle of 2023, my year with BRT was certainly
not the year that I signed up and wanted.
I had staff, I think stuff.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was it was brutal.
And like a lot of that was from the introduction of Gen 3.
We were very slim operation.
We had three full time, three or four staff, full time in the workshop, plus
then myself and then I basically lost three out of that five full time
employees at Townsville.
So I remember like, literally after track walk, when I found out the news,
I was like making SOS calls to my mates.
So called up Sheldon, all my, hey, brother, I know you're not in motorsport
anymore, but I need an engineer at the next round.
Like I have no one.
I don't have an engineer.
Don't have two mechanics.
Like I'm.
So you're calling favours here, mate.
I'm pulling friends out of the woodwork to try and get us back on the track.
So yeah, 2023 was tough and, you know, I love the Blanchard family.
Love John and Tim.
You know, they've been very good to me.
But yeah, it was just a tough year.
It wasn't the year we both wanted.
And I basically, I think the tipping point was at Bathurst 2023.
Like I felt like I wanted 2023 to be the year I invigorated myself.
You know, I had a bit of a tough spell the year before.
And I was just getting, I was actually just getting genuinely frustrated.
Like I wasn't where I wanted to be.
I hadn't achieved nothing that I wanted to achieve in the sport.
So I hadn't had a race win in supercars and just, I actually felt like my worth
in pit lane was diminishing as well, which is a horrible feeling.
Cause you know, when you're pushing for opportunities, like, you know,
remember pestering say, win cup, for example, like whenever there's an opening,
whenever there's change, like I want to be that, that guy.
And just when you know, you're not getting a response on emails or when something's
just, when things aren't happening the way you, you hope it will, that's when you think,
well, I need to do something different.
Cause what I'm doing now is clearly not working for me.
So yeah, 2023 Bathurst was, was tough race.
We hadn't started a motor, fell out of the car with about six laps ago.
Got the, got the black flag with a lap to go.
Didn't finish, you know, with a lap, half a lap remaining.
And I remember that was the first time I got out of the car and slammed the door.
Like I always used to say, like, don't ever throw your helmet,
don't throw your gloves, don't slam a door.
And that was the first time I'd like got out purely pissed off, basically.
And I remember walking out of the, over the bridge at Bathurst Sunday afternoon,
just finished packing a truck going like, I can't, whatever I'm doing, I can't do this.
Like this is not me.
This is not what I'm about.
I'm all about wanting, wanting to win races, being hungry for success.
And I just was burnt out of me.
Basically, I was, but you're also positive.
So the fact that you were angry, upset was not you either.
No, exactly. That was not what I was about.
So I knew something's not right and I need to change it up.
And I already, I already got inkling that I probably not going to be here next year.
So I needed to try and do something different.
So it's actually spoken to Brody.
It was actually at Sandown where we qualified on fourth,
which was quite a cool moment for us for from the shootout, Sandown 500.
The race was a disaster.
But the fact that we still have pace and qualified for was like a win for us at BRT at the time.
And Brody goes, you know, you know, old dog, you still got some tricks up his sleeve.
And he goes,
You impersonate him quite well.
That's good.
You know what he's like.
And you go, and that's when he said, he said, oh, you know, I know that you're,
you're struggling with everything at the moment behind the scene.
So he says, if you need, if you got a, if you're co-driving next year, you give me a call.
So that was, so yeah, fast forward then, you know, a couple weeks later,
I've slammed the door at Bathurst, walked out.
And two days later, I think I had the meeting with John and Tim said,
like, we basically agreed that this is not going to work.
And we're not going to be here next year.
But yeah, it was a mutual thing.
They were happy.
I was happy.
And I remember walking out of the meeting going sort of good.
Like, I was that fed up basically.
And then literally talk about sliding doors moment.
So walked out of that meeting, frustrated, went back to the workshop and was doing some
stuff on the laptop.
And then I got a text message from Barry Ryan.
Hey, mate, Brody says we need to have a chat.
Give me a call when you're ready.
And Barry basically said to me, look, we want to win Bathurst next year.
That's our main objective.
They just finished second with Brody and D-Rus.
They had a great day, but just fell short.
And I said, you know, if you're going to be serious about co-driving next year,
we want you to be our guy.
So, you know, I was thinking like, yep, no, that's, that's what I want to do.
This is, this is me.
Yep.
This is perfect.
Race, you know, proven race winning organization.
Brody's obviously leading the championship.
You know, this is me reinvigorating myself.
Yep.
And 12 months to focus on that prepare for that kind of deal.
Correct.
So from that, that was literally our first conversations,
like, we're going to win Bathurst next year.
Like that was, I'm not making it up, but that was, that was what was said.
And Barry doesn't mince his words.
He's very, you know, very adamant of what he wants to achieve.
So I thought, perfect.
Surround myself, you know, like my demand set, people that want to win,
love winning, you know, all of that sort of stuff.
And obviously teaming up Brody as a mate, it all made sense.
And then obviously start of the year was a bit tipsy to heavy, but,
you know, fast forward the clock then, you know, 11, 11 months later,
Brody puts it on pole and we lead, we lead from start to finish.
The race was unbelievable, mate.
And, you know, probably more for you than me, but like,
like hairs on the back of your neck stuff,
the way that you basically dominated the peer review during the day.
Was there ever a moment behind the scenes at all where you had a little
heart start, a little moment?
Or was it just one of those, sometimes in sport,
they talk about having these days that the everything from preparation to whatever
all comes together and it just rolls out in a perfect manner.
Was it like that?
Yeah, a little bit.
And I think the best thing that happened was that we had a really tough sand-amp 500.
We were in race winning contention,
our banked wheels with wind cup and got a puncher,
went back to last, raced our way back up into capoting contention again.
We had an alternator failure.
And I was like, I was sort of so hungry for just tasting supercast success for so long.
And, you know, it felt like we missed out.
So then it was like, all right, we need to work in our pit lane processes.
We need to be better at our driver changes.
The list went on.
So leading up to Bathurst, our prep was rock solid.
Like the team was in sync, Brody and I were on song and everyone was just in real,
this real strong harmony.
Like we're going to take it, like we're there to prove a point.
Like no one really, it's funny, even though we had such a strong and on paper,
our race pace was better than anyone else at Sandown,
that no one sort of really put us on paper that we're going to be.
In that league, in that bracket.
Probably because, you know, I hadn't had much success at that stage.
That's fair enough.
But yeah, so, you know, from our point of view, we just kept our head down.
We stuck to our plans.
We did a lot of race run work, a lot of race car preparation in practice,
sacrifice at one lap pace.
And, you know, Brody does what Brody does best.
He put a green set of tires on it.
It was the practice before qualifying bang straight to P1.
I was like, oh man, like we knew our race car was strong, but a little bit nervous of one lap speed.
And yeah, Brody put it fastest in practice before qualifying.
I was like, right.
And meanwhile Brody is sick as a dog.
So that you talk about a moment where it might go a bit downhill.
Well, that was the moment where Brody looked to me and goes,
do you want to do the shootout?
Or like, no, so do you want to do qualifying?
I'm like, oh, not really.
No, I haven't done a green tire run yet.
So yeah, so Brody was, you know, he was in the toilet bathroom, backfiring, carrying on.
And, you know, then put it on provisional pole.
Oh, sorry.
I think it was third in qualifying, but obviously then did a tremendous lap in the shootout,
blitzed it and put us in the perfect position.
But yeah, just that preparation leading up and you talk about it's weird how you have moments in life
where you know that you're on for something special, but I was so flat out ignoring it.
I was like, no, just because we're starting pole doesn't mean that we're going to win.
Like I was like flat out.
Don't let that creep in, kind of thing.
Don't let the emotion creep in.
Like we're here to do a job.
Like just be laser focused on doing the job.
The result will take care of itself.
You know, that was always what I was telling myself.
And yeah, it's weird how I remember hearing the Hero's song by David Bowie.
It was the Ice House original one.
Yeah, so I keep going.
Yeah, yeah.
So Carly put up this video, you know, Sunday morning Bathurst and we could be heroes just for one day.
And that song just kept, you know, like it really emotionally got me a little bit.
I'm thinking, man, I don't need this Sunday morning.
Like I just need to get in the car and go like block all this out.
But I still think of that my own goal.
Like it sort of was like a bit of a trigger like we're on for a special day.
It was quite eerie.
That's it's like filming your mind, mate.
That might have been.
Yeah, it is.
It is.
So yeah, pretty special.
And then obviously starting at the, you know, on P1 next to Brady of the car there and just
anticipate that anticipation and build up of what could be for the day.
You try to, I'll just remember like I knew that we're on for something special,
but I just was trying to ignore it all day.
I was like, no, like, don't jinx it.
Don't jinx it.
The vision at the end, the vision at the end when you get it, when you as a group and you and Brody
as mates get it, the vision of you is like this release, mate, I think like almost finally.
You can't believe it because it's biggest race on the calendar and one of the biggest in the world.
But you've finally done it.
Fast forward with a bit of time to digest all that now.
There's a couple, you know, nearly two years ago now.
What does that moment feel like?
Oh, the best feeling in the world and every single emotion goes through your body.
It's relief, the years of sacrifice, the anticipation of the day, the blocking out the
nerves and blocking out what could be because you don't want it to, you don't want to be
heartbroken if it doesn't happen.
All these things go through, travel through your mind all day.
But that last hour of the race where basically Brody and Brock were trading
fastest lap versus fastest lap and listening to the radio comm scan in the radio.
You're so laser focused on what's happening.
You're just like, you can't blink like it's the intensity in the pits was incredible.
So yeah, just for, yeah.
As far as feelings and emotion that was, I could, I don't think I could ever replicate that
because it's been such a big build up, you know, wanting to win a supercar's race for a start.
I'd never tasted that feeling before, but then to, you know, throw in a fact that it's
the biggest race, the is Bathurst.
We've led from start to finish.
We've done a perfect job.
We earned it as drivers.
We felt and as a team, you know, we executed perfectly.
And to get that, to get the result the way that we did was just, yeah, unbelievable.
Lawrence says that she observed in the wake of that, that the sport, maybe people in the
greater supercar's community kind of suddenly went, oh, he has got it.
He has got it.
And so all that stuff that you'd gone through around the, you know, the challenging periods in
the main game and whatever else made that must have been quite a irony because you've
gone back to being a co-driver, but the contribution to that collective has been powerful for you,
hasn't it?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And it's a famous saying in our sport, you're only as good as your last race.
So that's why you never lose sight of what your goal might be.
You know, you don't get defeated by the tough days.
The tough days might last a year.
It might last five or six years like it did for me.
Like I had five or six years of just pure frustration, not achieving what I
want to achieve.
So bang, you achieve that moment.
You finally get that breakthrough.
And all of a sudden the world opens up again.
You know, it's crazy how, yeah, in our sport, you are literally only as good as your last race.
And the next thing you know, the phone's ringing hot from, I'm still recovering from a serious
hangover at Bathurst.
And next thing you know, I'm having to do contract negotiations for the next year or the
next two years.
And all of a sudden, like, oh man, like what do I do now?
Like I got all of a sudden, all these opportunities that I've been begging for for the last four,
five years and now coming at me all at once from one race.
You know, that's where the sport's kind of crazy in a way because everyone knows what
you can do.
Like you said, they just, they're almost waiting for you to just prove it.
Prove it.
Yeah.
Show me.
Give me something.
So yeah, that was definitely that little bit of sugar that you're talking about there.
Yeah.
Todd is hoping to beat his record when he returns to world time attack this September in the
Tanuki Racing S13.
Rusty will be there working on the coverage with Warren Luff, whose diverse skill set made
him a perfect pilot for this awesome event.
To just come down the front straight at City Motorsport Park, you know, in a full body car
and just hold it flat through turn one.
There was no lift, no, and the thing would just stick like nothing else through there.
It was just an unbelievable experience.
Search for Lafay in the garage when you've finished enjoying the Todd Hazelwood episode.
Gunco driver in supercars, super coach in Carrera Cup and the time he was hospitalised
a week out from Bathurst.
Like Todd, it's a fantastic conversation.
I can't believe Rusty hasn't talked pies yet.
We often see him sneaking a meat pie into the studio here.
We now know you're at Dick Johnson Racing.
You and your mate are together.
He moved.
Did you contemplate staying or was it always that you wanted to keep co-driving with him?
What goes on there?
Yeah, it was a tough call because Brody had already signed to go with DJR for the following
year before Bathurst.
So his contract was done and dusted and I knew George Cummins was leaving as well as his engineer.
And I would obviously work with George at the start of the year and everything.
Obviously we got along really well even, you know, due to our size difference was obviously
massive and everyone sort of thought it wouldn't work, but it clearly it did.
And Brody was like, man, you've got to come with me.
And it was actually, Ryan's story, it actually reached out to me the week of Bathurst.
And I said, no, like, not now.
Thanks, but no, like, let's talk post Bathurst.
And he jokingly said, he said, oh, your price would go up if you went Bathurst.
So that's quite ironic.
But no, it was, yeah.
So there was already that gentle push in the background from both Brody and
the team. But I was like, no, like, I've got a job to do with Erebus.
And, you know, I feel like I'm very loyal when I want to make a stance on who I want to work with.
And Barry was very good to me.
And obviously that had their challenges that year.
And I tried everything that I could do behind the scenes, you know, both with the commercial
stuff and a few other things to try and, you know, keep that team ticking along and trying
to make sure that capability was there for Bathurst.
Because, you know, naturally you want to win, which we did.
So then instantly it was like, well, I've just won the, I've just had the most amazing
moment of my life. And now to potentially walk away from the team that helped me achieve it,
that was like really hard for me to process in a way.
Like I didn't, my moral compass didn't feel comfortable doing it.
But then I also knew there was an incredible opportunity to then sign with DJR, continue this,
you know, this, this potential winning streak with Brody as well.
I knew that the capability that Brody would bring to that team would reinvigorate the team.
I was very confident of that. And then I was also obviously very aware of, you know,
if that capability has gone arabesque, what does that mean for the next year?
And Barry was very good. He provided, you know, presented me with a bit of an alternative
role within the team. So I'd be helping, you know, I wouldn't be obviously driving for them
full time, but driving as a co-driver, helping in behind the scenes with the team with,
with their younger drivers and then team up JLB, which Jack LaBox and again,
a good friend of mine and was pretty keen to pull that off. But in the back of my mind, it's like,
well, I've just won Bathurst and, you know, winnings infectious, you want to do it again.
So it's like, well, I'd be crazy not to continue that with Brody. So it was, yeah, don't be wrong.
I definitely thought about the decision that it was, it wasn't 50, 50, 50 or it was, yeah,
I could be, it could have been torn either way, but I simply come down to the fact that
I wanted to do it with Brody again. You know, Brody was the reason why I got to, to arabesque.
So it felt like there was an element of loyalty to Brody as well, you know, continuing that on.
And, you know, and again, the fact that DJR has been my dream as a kid,
seven year old kid with the DJR suit, probably even 45 years old before I was racing,
you know, like I was, you know, obsessed with, with Ford and DJ and what, what that all meant.
So to be part of that inner four walls now is, you know, you say, essentially I am living the
childhood dream. It's, there's no other ifs or buts about it. So I'm very, you know, very glad
I made that decision. And yeah, it's a, it's a longest term contract of I've ever signed in my
racing career with the team that I love and respect the most. So it's pretty special.
Awesome. What is the vibe like in there at the moment? Obviously, you know, Will Davo moved on
yet there's a new CEO there, Megan Foster, who's ex, Audubon, for example. What's the place like,
you know, from your perspective as you look through the lens? The perspective for this year is,
you know, guns blazing. Really, I feel like last year we're, we sort of had a lot of people
out of place and we weren't really in sync with each other. Obviously the massive staff turnover,
you know, you talk about drivers, Brody and I turning up, but there was massive behind the
scenes change up with mechanics and engineering. Engineering is basically, you know, a clean
slate, you know, start fresh. And so last year was very much a building year and everyone trying
to find their feet. Whereas it feels like this year, everyone knows their place. Everyone's
getting maximized in every role. Some really strong leadership from the top, which always helps.
It always stems from the top, right? So I feel like last year was a little bit clunkly, you know,
a little bit out of place for us this year. And we're seeing that with results. You know, Brody's
in a great headspace. You know, the car's obviously in a really nice window and he's,
you know, he's going to be a man to beat, I think, this year. So it's quite exciting for me,
obviously, to, you know, as we start getting ready for enduro soon, it's going to creep up very
quickly. So yeah, I feel like we're in a great spot to keep winning races together.
Great stuff, mate. You keep sharp by going in recent, relatively recent years, Trans Am
racing. Tell me when this idea came about, was this you on the phone hustling, putting something
together? How did that come about? And are you enjoying all that? Clearly you are.
I am. I'm loving it. The Trans Am has been a great addition to, yeah, to my CV, I guess,
if you call it, but just a new challenge. It's funny how it came about. I actually was not
hustling at all. I was having a weekend off, a rare weekend off, and I got actually got a
LinkedIn message from Josh Thomas. So the son of Brett Thomas, CEO of TfH High, he said,
what do you know about Trans Am? I was like, oh, nothing. Why? Because you want to drive one. So
I was like, yeah, sure. Like I got, I only, I was just signed as a co-driver and they were just a
very small outfit. Matty Black, who I'd worked with back at Matt Stone Racing, he's an ex-stone
brother's mechanic. He was there in a workshop floor and he sort of pushed my name forward as
a driver that they should probably try and poach to help be part of the team. So a bit of a clean
slate, knew nothing about the series, knew nothing about the cars, knew nothing about the Thomas family,
sort of agreed. Like, yeah, well, let's go racing, bugger it. Like, I'll just, I'll be all chips in,
let's just try and see what this is about and, you know, try to learn the capability of the car.
And all of a sudden we're doing testing and just totally different language of the car from super
cars, but trying to draw off my super cars knowledge into the car and then trying to
create something out of it. So the first couple of rounds were a bit rough and ready because we
were sort of finding my feet. And I was actually still racing full time. I got thrown back in
the seat with Erebus for the first two rounds of the year. So the start of the year was a little
bit clunky, but then once then Brodie stepped back in, I was like, all right, I'm going to make this
TransAm has got to be my thing. I sort of made it my pet project to really show what we're about
and prove a point. So yeah, between Matty Black and myself and another guy called PC, we sort of
pulled apart the car and went through it with a fine tooth comb going, all right, how do we
maximize this thing? How do we hot rock the hell out of it and make it as quick as we can? And then
got our straight off the back of that, we got our first podium, then we got our first race win,
then we dominated here at Ipswich and all of a sudden we're in championship contention. It's like,
all right, we've come a long way in a couple rounds here. So yeah, then we went on to win
the championship in 2024, first year together, first year working with TFH. We had finally
knocked off GRM who dominated the championship the last three or four years, whatever it being.
So it was a bit of a shock to the category that we'd sort of come in guns blazing off the back of,
I guess for me, it was a bit of a try and prove a point. I'm not in supercars anymore,
so I make the most of an opportunity that I've got and we did exactly that.
Yeah, nice. So I mean, title success there. We're doing this in a studio today, but we could have
actually gone to the workshop. You're often in the workshop, aren't you? I am. Yeah, yeah, very
hands on now, which I love. I love working on cars. I love being involved with the whole tuning and
mechanical side of things. So very much on the tool was more than ever. So I've sort of gone full
circle from where I was working on cars back in my junior days, or formal afford, formal three,
and super two sort of didn't work on cars in supercars. And now I'm like living and breathing,
living out of a toolbox every day of the week now. So I love it. I love the challenge of
fine tuning something. You know, just looking under a car under a hoist for 10 minutes going,
you know, how can we make this baby quicker? You know, like, what can I tickle with today?
You know, so it's the mind is still, I still think the same the way I would in supercars,
but I think that doing that constantly, you know, being sharp supercars, obviously number one,
why I do it. But number two, it's just the challenge of it. It really drives me to get the
most out of it. And there's a really cool thing of Trans Am where diverse group of drivers that
have sort of been there done it, you know, guys like Moffat, for example, then you got a young
injection of youth guys that are peddling really hard, pushing the limits guys like Nathan Hearn,
and Nathan Blake Tracy, and a few other guys like that. So it's a really good mix of, I guess,
experience and pace and the racing's been awesome. The racing and the rawness of the car is what I
love. That's a very nice summary of exactly what that is in terms of a state of play, if you like.
Lauren says you were born in the wrong decade. You should have been born in the 70s. You enjoy
70s music, maybe even a bit of Elvis. You're okay, she says at karaoke, that you can hold a tune.
All right, is this is this true? I'm not gonna sing a song for us. No, I'm not asking you to.
I'm not asking you to. Is this true? Yeah, definitely. I'm an old man at heart. Not gonna lie.
I probably, 70s music's probably being very generous. I'm probably more into my,
anything like 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. I'm a bit of an old man at heart. I love my record player,
put records on. I'm in the shed working on my 70s Falcon. I've got a 54 Zephyr that I'm restoring.
I love hot rods. I love that whole scene. It's just, I feel like, yeah, definitely born in the wrong
era. Tell me about the Falcon. Tell me about the yellow Falcon. Yeah, well, I've always brought up,
I guess, as a young kid around old cars, you know, had the 70s Falcon at home with mum and dad,
Graham's kid, Pine and lime Falcon, Minis and other bits and pieces. But I was always upset,
like XB Coop. That was like my post-to-car as a kid. I always said, I would die a happy man if I had a
XB GT, tango orange XB Coop. That was always a dream. So when I first moved up to Queensland,
money's tight. And I thought, maybe I'll just buy an old shitter and that can be my little
run-around car and pick up parts in an old XM Falcon or something. Working with Jimmy Stone,
he always had old cars to the workshop. So I was always around it. Yeah. And then it was actually
COVID, it was an impulsive COVID purchase. A fiend for scanning marketplace, looking for a bargain.
And this XC wagon popped up on marketplace out at Gatton. Very discreet description. It was just
Ford Falcon station wagon, all original. It had a, you know, the typical one photo, look like the
car just being hosed off, pulled out of the shed. I thought, oh, all original, you know, like,
Pine and lime, like it's the same color as mum and dad's XC as a wagon. Did look stock as a rock.
I thought, maybe it's unmalested, might not be touched. Buggard, I'll go have a look. So I sent
the lady a message and turned out to be the daughter of her mum who brought the car brand new.
So it was original country car from Inveral, New South Wales and being parked up for a few years.
And due to COVID, she couldn't meet me there. So it was like, I can't remember the relation now.
But so I went out to this, this shed out at Gatton, you could tell they're being parked outside for
a few years because it had a bit of surface rust. The paint was all dull. But I was sort of walking
around the car going, man, this is all like the interior was like brand new. The bodywork needed
a bit of work, but like acrylic paint, you know, good buff and sort of could see the potential
of the car going, you know, it won't take you much to dress up and make a cool little cruiser.
And then, yeah, sure enough, I took a Ford made out with me as like a Ford nut in his 60s. And he
goes, all right, so what are you going to do? Because if you don't buy, I will.
That's a good endorsement. Yeah, sort of the little shove that I needed because I'm people that
know me, I'm very indecisive when it comes to spending money. I got a bit of a tight wallet.
But yeah, so I was like, all right, bugger, I'll do it. You know, stuff it is COVID,
give me something to do. I'll change this baby up, bring it back to life. And yeah,
it didn't take much at all. A couple of hours in the shed, we got rid of a couple hornets nests and
a couple of blocked knot, cleaned out the car body and she just peered like a kid and just
sat there idling away. And yeah, just being a little job that did all the mechanicals myself,
made sure that mechanicals were squeaky clean and then yeah, just did a little bit of bodywork,
had a little bit of rust in the tailgate in the left door and a little bit of spots of surface
rust but managed to buff most of it out, which was cool. And yeah, it's still mostly original
car. Can you use it too, mate? Yeah, get out and use it. I'm a big advocate for having,
if you've got a cool car, drive it because you only live once to enjoy these cars. So
miles I have fun from A to B, so do it in style. Todd's Garage, is this an opportunity for
more resto projects? This is culture. Tell us about this, how it came about and where you
go with this thing. Yeah, Todd's Garage has definitely been a dream since COVID. Again,
I love my old cars, I love resto work, I love working on cars and at the start of the year,
I sort of, just won my second championship with TFH in the Trans Am program and now we're sort of
going in a different direction, going to Porsche this year and the Trans Am program had basically
sewn up. So I was like, right, okay, I need a, what do I do? And I was like, well, I don't really
want to run with another team because in my eyes they're all opposition. So I'm not going to just
hand over my trade secrets that we've developed internally over the last year. So I thought,
stuff it, I'll do it myself. I'll be a one man band and I'll do the ultimate challenge where I
prep the car, engineer it, race it and try and win it. So very, very ambitious is what I'll say
and care for what you wish for because you just might get it. And it's been a hell of a lot of
work, which I was warned about. But again, bite off more you can chew and chew like hell, right?
So, and I guess, yeah, and part of that was like, well, off the back of launching a motorsport program
rather than going Hazard Racing or motorsport division or whatever. I thought I'll make,
have some fun with it. I'll do it from home. I'll build a garage, build a, you know, it's a glorified
shed if we call it, but I just really wanted to resonate with everyone at home. And the way
the world of sponsorship and marketing is focused now. There's so much influence on
story, the story and the backbone of cars and, you know, sponsorships getting harder and harder
to be able to put together, you know, sponsorship deals to go racing. So you need to be a bit more
creative with how you socially engage with, you know, social media or whether it be YouTube,
Facebook or, you know, all the platforms that we love to hate. But they're the ones that are sort
of making my world go around commercially, you know, putting a race program together. So
sort of come up with this concept rather than just a racing team. We'll have Todd's garage,
so we'll have a motorsport division. So that's the Trans Am program, which is taking up a lot of
my time, but then have a restoration, special projects, tuning. It could be basically open to
anything, car, motorsport, automotive related, you name it. And really trying to, rather than
just capturing the audience of motorsport, trying to really broaden my, I guess, my,
I guess my following, if you call it in that process. Support a base. Yeah, support a base. So
there's, there's a tuning market, people that love their 90s Skylines or love, you know, taking
cars with Dino or straight line running, or there's the Resto market, which is, you know,
rock and roll events and going to Coorley Rocks, which I went the other week and things like that.
Then there's like the special projects division, which is working with brands, maybe building a
car forum, using, you know, a bit of B2B stuff to, you know, build those connections to help
then grow the garage, the capability, working with cool brands. You know, so it was, yeah,
I sort of went hard and hard and wide straight away. So, you know, being really fortunate to get
some really cool brands to help grow the capability of Todd's garage from this, from day one.
Excellent. Sort of pitched to everyone. So look, this is my crazy idea. I don't know if you,
I don't know if how it's going to work, but this is sort of what I want to do. And people really
go, yeah, well, that's, that's what we want to get on board with, you know, as a brand and
things like that. So all of a sudden, once I knew that I was getting enough genuine interest for
people go, yep, once you're ready, let us know and we'll sign up. So I was like, stuff it, I'll
just do it. So I guess the last push that I needed was when I was like, okay, if I'm going to run my
motorsport program this year, I'll just, I'll launch Todd's garage and evolve. So it's funny
because, you know, Todd's garage actually technically doesn't exist yet, but it will.
But if I know you, it will. It's all happening. So yeah, Todd's garage is, you know,
stuck in the process of getting a shed built at home at the moment. So again, it's sort of like,
build the dream and then people will get on board. That was sort of the vision for the start of this
year. There's never a perfect time to launch a business. You could have all your ducks in a row,
but then it's too late. So for me, it's like, well, whilst I've got a bit of, I've got an opportunity,
I've got a window, make it work. That's sort of me at the moment. And it's, it's been a cool challenge.
You have walked in with the hat on the paint scheme looks cool. How, I mean, 420, this is gold,
mate. Liquid gold. You've ended up with, with some support there too, which is tremendous.
Yeah. 420 has been amazing. It's obviously super iconic Australian brand. It just resonates with
everything that I'm about as a proud Aussie. You know, people that know me well, I'm a
loud and proud, a bit of a bogan at heart. I love cars. I love music. I love,
you know, a bit of a pie eater myself. I'm not, I'm not your typical athlete per se.
I'm pretty casual with all that sort of stuff. So yeah, 420 just, yeah, a really cool opportunity.
Initially, it's really cool and obviously pitched to them about doing name your rights as a major
sponsor for the car. At the start of the year for actually one of the, one of their other brands
called on the menu. And then I think it's sort of the proposal drifted over towards the 420
brand manager and he goes, ah, no, we want to do this. So on the menu, sort of got pushed to the
side and 420 become available. And I was like, oh man, really? Like 420? Like, wow. Now we are
taught like this, we could make something really special out of it. And we didn't have much time
to be able to pull it off. Like the, I sort of had, I sent off a proposal with a bit of, you know,
half hearted interest. Wasn't really sure if they were genuine or not. And I got a response within a
week, which is obviously a good tell tale to say that, you know, they, they're genuinely interested
in what I'm proposing. And I said, well, if we're serious, I said, like, this is my timeline of
events. If you want to be a major sponsor, we need to cut, we need designs, we need merchandise,
well, we're going to do a launch event, we need to do a testing, we need to get ready for round one.
So it's less than a month away. And I'm like, oh, right. So sense of urgency was put into them
from me. And then they flew up to Queensland, took into DJR, went out for a long lunch, shook hands
and was like, all right, get to business. So that, that month was massive because I was not only
rebuilding the race car myself, had the bit of a delay getting the engine back and stuff, hadn't
done a test day yet. So I was flat out learning how to rebuild my race car plus then launching it,
launching the business of Todd's garage, then putting together this big deal with 420, which I
was proud of, but also didn't want to fail on day one either. So it was yeah, a lot of long days,
a lot of long nights. But yeah, got it done. And we had an amazing launch event here just in Will
and Gavir at Easy Times Brewing. We had over 200 people there turn up for the events. That was
really special. And then we went to Bathurst for on debut for Todd's garage and we put it on pole.
So it was really cool, real like super satisfying moment for me personally, because knowing that,
well, that was pretty much it felt like that was all that work or that effort.
Yeah, it all paid off in that one moment. It was really special. Congrats mate. It looks,
it looks cool too. To finish, what do you reckon Todd Hazard would at whatever you are now 30?
You still seem so damn young to me. But what would you tell that teenage kid at high school that had
you know, an unrelenting dream of going motor racing? What would you say to someone like that now?
I think it would be, I'm glad you backed yourself. Cool. Yeah. The fact that you didn't give in even
when everyone else around you gave up or people told you, no, I didn't back down. And I'm glad I
didn't because otherwise I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. And I'm loving what I do every
day of the week. I'm living my childhood dream and that purely come down from the fact that I didn't
say no when everyone else did. And I didn't give up when the chips were down, whether it was one
month or one year or five years when the chips were down, I still didn't give up. So that's,
you know, it sounds cliche when people say the harder you work, the more successful you are,
but you truly are. Like, I can't say that enough. Look, knowing what I know now, I didn't probably
believe it at the time because you're young and people give you these words of wisdom and you
watch motivational videos and all the other stuff to try and get you through those tough days. But
it's true, like what I said before when I spoke about Jason Gommasoul,
surround yourself with successful people and you'll be successful yourself. I cannot say that
loud enough and proud enough because the years where I didn't have success is probably where I
didn't align myself with the best people or the same might like-minded people. I should say not
most successful people, but people that didn't want the same result as what I did.
Got you. This has been fabulous, mate. Thank you. We've, you know, I had the chance to sort of work
together in, you know, different ways over the years. I hadn't seen you for a little while, but this
on you was a great story and worth telling. And there's been moments in this conversation today
where you've opened up and shared a number of really cool things. Congratulations on what you've
done. I love the unrelenting tenacity. The Bathurst win is just a one page in the book of satisfaction
for all that hard work that you've done. And we hope there's some more for you, mate. Congrats.
Good on you. You're a legend, Rusty. Now, it's always a pleasure and, yeah, it's pretty cool
diving back into some old stories that you sort of forget because you get so, like,
a laser focused on what's next. So, yeah, now thanks for doing your homework and bringing up
some really cool stories. That's great to chat. Lauren's in trouble. Thank you, mate.
It certainly is. Thanks, Rusty.
Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust. Series editor and producer is Joel
Harrison. Audio production by Link Kelly. If you've got a guest suggestion, get in touch with me on
social media. The Garage, it's where a journey begins with a tank full of passion-fueled stories.
You can't predict the future, but you can prepare for it. Arizona State University is building
degrees for what's ahead. Programs designed around emerging fields taught by faculty whose
research is shaping our future, not just teaching about it. It's why we've been ranked number one
in innovation for more than a decade. Your future is worth preparing for, and you don't have to
prepare alone. Future-proof your career. Explore more than 350 programs at asunline.asu.edu.
That's a degree better.
About this episode
Rusty and Todd Hazelwood (Part 2) connect Todd’s racing roots and DIY garage mindset to the bigger career ladder—Super 2 success, the lack of a guaranteed promotion plan, and how wildcard opportunities and sponsor support helped them create momentum. Todd then shifts to DJR and his “one man band” Todd’s Garage vision: Trans Am learning, workshop-style tuning, and a pivot toward Porsche. The conversation also touches on Bathurst pressure, pit-lane value, and reliability setbacks—plus a classic-car garage thread with Falcon projects.
Original notes
The serious health scare as a youngster and how it made him determined to realise his dreams.
Mortgaging the family home and vital funding coming through while he was on track.
Reality TV wins and putting the suit on for a critical meet with Matt Stone.
Surrounding himself with good people to win Super 2 in a car that was stickered from top to toe.
Timing and the commitment needed to graduate to the big league of Supercars.
Plus the frustrations of having what it takes but not being able to fully show it.
And how the switch to a co-driver role changed paddock perceptions after a dominant Bathurst win with his mate Brodie Kostecki and Erebus.
Oh and the pie warmer in Todd’s Garage, the covid resto purchase and conquering Trans Am.
The convo gets deep at times making for a very memorable ep of Rusty’s Garage.
Head to Rusty's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and give us your feedback and let us know who you want to hear from on Rusty's Garage.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Rusty's Garage
LiSTNR
0:00
51:51