Continuing our “festival of Jamie” after the six-time champ clocked up his 100th race win at Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday, we realised that the six-time champ has well passed the decade mark with the team.
Yep, time flies when you are having fun, and there is never a dull moment with JDub around. In the ten and a half years he’s been in the T8 family, you’d think he’s got some pretty good stories up his sleeves.
From the epic and the extraordinary to the hilarious and the downright dodgy, our newly-crowned centurion recounts his top tales from the last decade. But because Jamie is… well… Jamie, he’s got 11.
Clipsal 2006
“My first race meeting and win for Triple Eight. When I think of this race I think of my late mechanic Bruce. I was very proud to be a part of the family and knew then it was the start of something special.”
Bathurst 2006
“Does this moment need explaining!? The most emotional race weekend for the sport… ever. Lowndesy was in tears getting in the car then crosses the line 0.05 seconds ahead of Rick Kelly, unbelievable.”
Abu Dhabi 2010
“Ford decided they didn’t want to support us anymore and Holden was more than happy to join us. Roll out two brand new VE Commodores at the world’s richest race track under lights. It was an amazing feeling crossing the line ahead of the pack that day. I’ve never seen the crew so amped, apart from RD, but that’s another story.”
Adelaide 2012
“My most emotional race weekend. The man that was there for every lap of my career wasn’t there anymore; it was just me on my own this time chasing down my good mate Davo (Will Davison). Car six coughed on the last lap which gave me, and Dad, my greatest victory.”
Bathurst 2012
“Fifty years of the great race, 15 years of friendship with my good mate Paul Dumbrell. It was an absolute honour to be a part of his first Bathurst 1000.”
Sandown 2013
“We had an issue with the race car and ended up replacing everything, but still couldn’t seem to find the issue. The only thing we didn’t replace was the chassis so what did we do? We built a new car. Ten guys and girls working around the clock to get the car ready on time to head into Sandown. We went to the race, qualified well and then got a drive-through penalty, which dropped us to almost last. We stormed through the pack and won the race, which remains with me as one of the best stories I’ve been involved in at Triple Eight.”
Driving on the beach
“Is there anything better than the Gold Coast? So why not drive a car on it at 200 plus kilometres per hour? I’m in! If it needed anymore spicing up, let’s throw in a plane too! By far the best activation I’ve ever done, thanks to Red Bull.”
F1 car
“I like going fast and love my race cars so therefore the ultimate for me is an F1 car. Four laps around Albert Park in McLaren’s 2008 rocket was the best eight minutes of my life to date, which I’m assuming is only because I’m not married. I’m sure that will be the best eight minutes of my life, hey boys??”
Camping in the desert
“RD says “let’s get a few locals to take us to downtown Abu Dhabi in the sand dunes for a night in some 4x4s.” Roll out 84 near shunts, smoke signals, deodorant cans in the fire and a controversial hand print on the boss’s daughter’s breast, I’m literally still laughing about it.”
Ducks in the harbour
“What will attract people attending our media call… hmmmm… maybe a massive blow up duck and drop it in Sydney’s busiest harbour? Vodafone decides to roll out the duck race before the Sydney 500 to stick it up Telstra. Heads up if you ever decide to ride a duck, try and stay in the middle. Both Lowndesy and I ended up in the harbour, which is basically watered down sewerage.”
Tiger Woods
“We head down to the casino for a small press conference and in rolls the big dog, Tiger Woods (he was in town, most likely slaying a few locals [at golf], but good of him to join us for a photo and share a few pickup lines.”
