Australian Motorsports is filled with family dynasties like the Johnsons and the Perkins. The latest to join the list are the Ambroses. Racing fans in the United States would know this family through the achievements of the infamous Marcos Ambrose, the first Australian to win a NASCAR race. It is his daughter, Tabitha, who is now set to build on his legacy.
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The 19-year-old will compete in the 2025 Formula Ford season in the colors of PIRTEK, the official hose supplier for the Supercars Championship. It is in these colors that Marcos won the 2003 and 2004 Supercars titles. The V8 Ford Falcon livery he used is as famous as Dale Earnhardt’s 1995 Quick Silver livery in that part of the world.
He also won a total of 28 races in them. Tabitha told the press, “To have PIRTEK as the naming rights partner on our new Formula Ford and be announced as a PIRTEK ambassador is an incredible honor at this stage of my career.” She was not born when Marcos captured his Supercars titles, but fans have made sure that she knows what a big deal her father was.
The partnership between PIRTEK and Supercars has been going on for 28 years now. On account of the company’s 45th anniversary, Tabitha will sport the No. 45 on her suit and car.
There are a lot of expectations for the teen following her success in the Hyundai Excel Series. She made her debut in it back in 2023. Hopefully, she can live up to her father’s name.
Marcos Ambrose’s career in NASCAR
After winning his Supercars titles, Marcos was ready for a different challenge. He moved to the United States in 2006 to become a driver in the Craftsman Truck Series. He quickly moved up the ranks to the Xfinity Series in 2007 and the Cup Series in 2008. Throughout his time racing stock cars, he won seven races. Six of them were in Watkins Glen.
Following the 2014 Cup Series season, he decided to quit racing altogether and head back home to Tasmania. Once there, he fell in love with speed again as the coach of his daughters Tabitha and Adelaide.
He told NASCAR.com in 2021, “My racing career was coming to the point where I needed to come back to Australia for personal reasons.”
“I got out of racing, it was just time for me to stop, really. Raising a family was really important to me and being a good dad and a good husband.” He was particularly enamored by the speed and skill that Tabitha displayed at the time and acknowledged that she might race in NASCAR someday. The first big step towards that has been taken now.
