Marv’s Garage: Aussie truck racing is the right kinda madness

Rodney Crick was just 47 years old when he unexpectedly passed away in 2013. He wasn't a household name for motorsport fans in Australia and New Zealand, but anyone familiar with 1990s motorsport Down Under would recognise his Shell-sponsored Volvo racing truck as it was generally sideways and pouring smoke off the tyres, while belching huge clouds of soot.

Motorsport is a broad church made up of many little niches that are like their own little village tribes. Truck racing is one such tribe, divided between big semis and small light trucks, and it was a popular sideshow to the touring cars in Aus and NZ in the 90s (also in Germany, the UK, and Scandinavia). Truck racing kicked off in 1988 at Calder Park Raceway in Victoria, a one-off race featuring road registered prime movers (some with sleeper cabs) with race seats and harnesses. As promoters cottoned on to the popularity of seeing these lumbering beasts do battle truck racing got more serious.

By the mid 90s they were organised into a proper class (called Supertrucks) and travelled all over Australia to do battle. The biggest field boasted 22 trucks, almost the same size as a touring car field, racing in front of almost 30,000 fans at Sydney's Oran Park.

Supertrucks was led in Aus by Rodney Crick, who often did battle with fast Kiwis like "Inky" Tulloch, touring car legend Jim Richards, and even F1 Champion Denny Hulme. The Trans Tasman Truck Challenge saw big rigs fight it out in NZ and Australia, with super close racing as nations' pride was on the line.

Six times Rodney Crick lifted the Aussie truck racing title, but he was also a fan favourite for his driving style and how generous he was with fans. His post-win burnouts were also absolutely epic and could have landed him a win at Summernats.

Truck racing continues today in Australia, but it is long past its heyday.  If you want a taste of the good stuff, check out the below.