#FLASHBACKFRIDAY JOHN FAULKNER RACING
We love a Friday at Trucks at Tracks. Not only is it the day when transporters traverse the land on the way to race circuits for the weekend, but also when we get to post a Supercars #FlashbackFriday image from Hayden Reed’s 1990s collection.
We have been looking forward to posting this photo ever since Hayden generously sent through a number of shots of retro Supercars transporters that have proven immensely popular on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts over recent weeks. Today, we look at the transporter of successful Supercars pilot, John Faulkner.
John Faulkner Racing was a very busy motorsport operation in the mid-to-late ‘90s on the back of not only Supercars commitments, but also regular appearances at stock car venues in the NASCAR, AUSCAR and Legends categories. John Faulkner was a well-known figure in the superspeedway and Supercars ranks and proved his aptitude across a range of disciplines.
John was kind enough to speak with Trucks at Tracks about the John Faulkner Racing transporter that stars in today’s #FlashbackFriday post.
Trucks at Tracks: You raced in a number of categories in the ‘90s. Did you use the same transporter for all of your race cars? And did you cover more miles than most other teams?
John Faulkner: “Yes, the same transporter. It was built by the Lusty Brothers for John Faulkner Racing as we were Melbourne-based and most stock car rounds were at the [Calder Park] Thunderdome. However, when we went Supercars racing, the mileage was up there as we kept the same unit until JFR ceased racing.”
TaT: Did you drive the truck to and from race meetings and if so, was that something that you enjoyed?
JF: “I never had the licences to drive it, although I did drive it home from Calder after a test day. It was scary big. My crew never let me drive it after I jackknifed it in our driveway at JFR and had to get our driver in to unjam it.”
TaT: Do you have any idea where the truck and trailer might have ended up? Or are they still in your hands?
JF: “It was used by Paul Morris Motorsport for a while and then on to Mingay/Bolgers Stuntz INC as it was a three-car rig. Then it became a merchandise truck and I lost track of it. The prime mover was an ex-Cummins engine test truck and had lots of little tricky bits on it. Great rig.”
Thanks once again to John Faulkner for finding the time to chat with Trucks at Tracks. Next week, we hone in on another popular Australian motorsport figure who did it his way in the Supercars golden era!