They may not have gotten behind the wheel this past weekend, but two visiting Australian veteran racers thoroughly enjoyed their experience watching NASCAR racing at Daytona International Speedway.
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Former Australian Supercars drivers Scott Pye and Elliot Barbour related much of what they experienced on this week’s edition of the Stacking Pennies podcast with Corey LaJoie and Skip Flores.
Both drivers not only enjoyed the overall experience, they also reunited with longtime friend Shane van Gisbergen, who they previously raced with in Supercars before SVG came to race in NASCAR.
A native of Adelaide, Australia, Pye has a lengthy racing resume including starting with go-karts, had aspirations of driving in Formula 1, won the British Formula 4 championship, upgraded to Formula 3 and then returned to his native land to race Supercars.
Barbour, meanwhile, has raced in Supercars and Super 2 (essentially the minor league of Supercars), as well as the TA2 Trans Am series. He’s raced against a number of notables from his native land, including SVG (who Pye has also raced against overseas) and Team Penske IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin.
And together, both Pye and Barbour host one of the more popular racing podcasts in their native land called “Apex Hunters United,” where they talk about not only Australian racing, but also Formula 1, NASCAR and IndyCar.
Daytona was an interesting experience for both
Pye had previously attended a Cup race at Las Vegas, but let’s just say it was a kind of foggy experience, as he went to the race still feeling the after-effects of a bachelor party the night before in Sin City.
Barbour, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, has previously seen two NASCAR races, one in Phoenix in 2014 and more recently at Homestead-Miami.
When they drove to Daytona last weekend, a mutual friend told them to take in the beauty of the track, especially the grandstands and how high they rose from the ground.
“We were probably a mile away from the gate and you can see it, and we’re like, ‘We don’t have this in Australia,’” Barbour quipped.
Pye added, “The size of the (grand)stand and the (track) banking impressed me.”
Another thing that impressed Barbour was, “When you drive through the tunnel (at Daytona), all the campers and all that stuff, it’s like a town in itself. Bathurst (a track in Australia) is kind of like that, where people camp, they set up their cool little setups and they got flags and all that stuff and barbecues going.
“But to me it felt like on another level like you’ve got massive RVs. People don’t tailgate in Australia (whereas) they tailgate for 4 days at Daytona.”
They got to hang out a lot with their good buddy, SVG
Naturally, both Aussies were asked about their buddy, SVG, who they hung out with at Daytona, including standing next to him on the frontstretch during the U.S. National Anthem.
“I think what’s unique for Shane, like what probably makes him extra special compared to just all the good guys, what probably separates him, it does seem to be his like spare capacity while he’s driving the race car,” Pye said.
“That ability like you know you see the thumbs up out the window. I think he’s doing that to wind people up, too. (Spare capacity means) some guys you’ll see struggle to look out the front window, let alone check their mirrors.
“It’s kind of like they’re using everything in their mind to drive the car fast and that’s what they’ve got. And you see it with guys that get caught up in wrecks a lot. Like even on the ovals, you don’t see him (SVG) wreck a lot for someone who’s learning.
“And I think that’s the awareness. It’s like things slow down for him. And I think he has the ability to do that whether it’s in a pack late in a race when you’re trying to pass someone, setting him up.
“I feel like Shane’s kind of had that like as long as I’ve known him, he’s had that ability to slow things down, make the right calls, processing speed as a leader.
“That’s where he’s been really strong in Australia like our long races like Bathurst as an example where strategy comes in. Shane would almost be dictating back to his crew on what he thought would be the best option with tires that’s while he’s going Mach 10 across the top of the mountain.”
