The Motorsport Brief | Brad Johnson - from AFL to Motorsport

Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, trading the footy boots for a race suit, a legend from

the AFL joins us for this edition as his son pursues a career behind the wheel.

Good everyone, Rusty here shortly to Brad Johnson, who's with us in the garage studios,

how his son Jack chose Motorsport and the vivid memory that Brad has of that exact moment.

How he balances guiding Jack along the path while also stepping back at times as parents

do to let them make their own mark.

The business of sport and how his experience with sponsors and the commercial side assists

in an expensive game, motorising, plus the indie car star helping with little bits of

sage advice along the way and how the family has come to truly love Motorsport.

A quick plug for last week's EP2 with Tabitha Ambrose, very similar subject matter in many

ways.

How her famous father, Marcus, has helped guide her career so far and the hands on grass

that she has of the administrative and business side of the sport.

The day that Marcus brought the NASCAR to school, that must have won, show until surely,

testing a Trans-Air or TA2 car, her formula Ford ambitions, back for another crack at the

batter six hour, and seeing her dad's battle with cancer, what his approach taught her

about life and how proud she was when Marcus opened up about it at a charity event last

October.

Let's get to today's EP.

I need to thank a colleague, Tim Hodges, here too.

You may remember that Hodgie helped us with James McFadden.

He's been on the show a few times.

You'll enjoy those.

Tim does a phenomenal job producing the very successful AFL 360 show and facilitated this

introduction.

Brad Johnson is an AFL hall of fame, bulldogs, games, record holder, superb in his media

roles these days as an expert for Fox 40 and so on.

As I discovered here, Brad is just a ripper bloke and a very proud family man too.

I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Welcome.

I would be lying if I didn't open the batting with this by saying I'm nervous because

over time I've dabbled in other sports, but not greatly and motorising has kind of

been my domain.

But there is a nice synergy in that in how we're starting this conversation because now

you're playing in a bit of a different space.

I'm nervous.

I mean, you're on space, Greg, so how are you pointing that?

I mean, how are you?

I mean, you've come from professional sport.

You climb in this pathway with your sum, which I think is just fantastic, but it is a different

domain mate.

It's completely different.

It's been a big and exciting sort of journey so far.

Look, we're still learning along the way.

It's still trying to navigate what is sometimes a complex world, too.

You know what I mean?

It started, you know, obviously starting with the go-kart world and doing that for a

number of years and then stepping up into sort of Excel racing and a Formula 4 racing.

And now where we are now, but it's, footies, it has a genuine sort of pathway.

Yes.

Yeah.

And once you sort of in the footy pathway, you get looked after by the next level and

the next level and you just keep navigating that and working through until you sort of

reach that under 18 level and if you perform well in that, then you're on the way to being

drafted into the AFL world.

But there's no draft system as such, so it took us a little while to sort of understand

that you've got to work individually in some ways and be connected with the right people

that can help guide you more than anything in what steps to take as you progress.

But it's all on Jack and the young drivers that are out there to show that they've got

a little bit of will to want to succeed.

And if they do that, then we're lucky that some good people are sort of helping us

take those next steps.

You have formed some good connections.

You've already opened up a whole raft of things I want to dive into here, mate.

Firstly, we are talking a day after the GT Round at Phillip Island, which I know you were

both at.

It's fair to say a lot of people in the paddock knew a little bit about him, obviously

from from exels, from carting, from form it forward, as you talked about.

I know there's been penalties and stuff in GT4, but have it made he did without pumping

your tyres, he did a cracking job and he's now, I think, made a lot of people start to

realise how committed he used to this and be the potential that he had.

I mean, that regardless of the result, must make you feel pretty damn proud.

He's done all the work.

And that's a good part, Rusty, you know, like at the end of the day, we are trying to

assist his development in the sport, but he's shown a full commitment to it.

And that's all we want as parents, you know what I mean, he's fully passionate about

it.

He trains really hard and he works hard on his craft.

So that, for us, is all we sort of want.

It's been a great passion because he's at the racetrack every second weekend and he's

with good people at the racetrack and he's following sort of his dream and it's about

turning that dream into a bit of a reality.

So it gets real now with the racing he's doing, oh my goodness.

So that's why it was so good that, you know, he's jumped in with Zack Suhrer and team

Suhrer Motorsport and they're based in Jolong, they're five minutes from our house, which

is even better.

So Jack spends a little bit of time with those guys in the garage.

Any workshop is good to us.

Yeah, it's a really nice workshop.

It's done a great job to run four cars now and to go well in their first race meeting

as a collective team was really exciting and to get, you know, Willie Ekston as Jack's

co-driver, he's got good experience in this car driving the McLaren's as well as

New Zealand kids.

So it all sort of, they worked hard to make that happen.

So it was good for the two of them to get a really strong result in their first race

together.

They still learn a lot.

Which they'll fix up as the year goes on, but ultimately it was just good to sort of

sit back on an eye and and now let Jack go and be part of that sort of, you know, team

environment, which is pretty exciting.

It's better than green shoots, mate.

There's some really good stuff there.

Well, point, maybe how old was he when you perhaps realized that maybe he might and pull

on the footy boots or, you know, where did he get this love for motor racing?

How did that all kind of start?

Well, it was kind of funny.

We, through footy, we got an opportunity at the F1 many, many years ago.

Jack was about five.

I think it was.

And he got to go down the main straight in a Ferrari, a little motorized Ferrari just

before the race started.

So he's crossing the start finish line in his little Ferrari just before the teams come

out.

With a massive crowd.

So as you can imagine, he's thinking, how good is this, you know, the adrenaline and

and that's where it all started very lasting impact.

Yeah.

Big time.

Yeah.

Big time.

So it started there.

He was playing footy under 9s, under 10s, under 11s and and wasn't really into footy at

all.

He was just sort of there playing with playing with some friends and and all that sort

of stuff.

And we moved a couple of times from weaves down to Turkey and then back into Jalong.

So he's moving primary schools and and all that.

But his passion was always and all he was watching was was racing.

And he asked me when he was about nine, if you could go kart, I'm like, I've got no

idea what you're talking about.

You know, and I said, come back and see me when you're 12, you know, basically just

pushed it to one side.

The day turned 12, we took, we rocked up to a training session and he didn't get out

of the car and he looked at me and he goes, I don't want to do this anymore.

Really?

Yeah.

I want to go kart and I said, okay.

And I was actually wrapped with that because he was playing and not really enjoying it.

Mm-hmm.

So it was good that he sort of had the confidence to sort of say that to us as parents and

we explored it.

We went to the Jalong Go karting track and knocked on their door and found out the lay

of the land and and off we went.

Thanks.

I'll have commentator there when I was much younger.

That's a lot that's a lot that's a long time ago.

That's a long time ago.

That's a long time.

That's a long time.

It's wonderful that you have harnessed.

When kids are like that, when they are ultra passionate about something and to, you know,

as parents we only want them to do their best to follow and that sounds cliché to follow

your dreams right.

If I can share a little personal yarn with you, my little nephew is, he'll be 17 I think

in June, he's playing for GWS Giants in the Academy for them and we don't know, we're

very realistic.

Just see where it goes and what have you.

But it's in the right system.

It's in the right system, which is what you were talking about before.

But the key thing is he lives and breathes at mate.

Every time we see him, he, you know, like I've told him today, I'm sitting down with you

and he's like, holy hell, you know, like so.

The fact that you were able to kind of do that with Jack as well, like if he's clearly

into it and I gather he isn't like you have a little bit of a connection with Scotty

McLaughlin and all sorts of mate, don't you?

Yeah, it's like and that's been pretty cool as well along the way.

So Tim Hodges, you know, he's a massive motorsport man and he's had, he's had Scotty McLaughlin

on AFL 360 a lot, which has been, which has been great and Scotty's a bulldog lover as

well, which is even better.

So I got to meet Scotty a long time ago in regards to that and, and he's been brilliant,

like when Jack was younger, he'd sort of flipping him a video here and there and just

as they keep going mate, you know, and Jack had, Jack had shared some stuff with him on

his cardings.

So he's always been there just in the background helping sort of, you know, motivate

Jack to keep following his dreams.

So Scotty's been amazing with that and look what he's achieved now going from the VAT super

cars to to Indy and that's become our, well that's certainly become my favourite of

the categories in motorsport.

I really enjoy watching that.

I love the racing.

It's pretty even in competitive and they have a fair income crack and, you know, he had

a big crash on the weekend.

Scotty as well, you know, so it was good to see that he was able to get out of that and

get going again.

So, so Scotty's been good and then yeah, we just meet sort of really good people along

the way that the foodie racing connection is really strong, really strong.

There's a lot of people that are in foodie that know a lot of people in racing and vice

versa.

So that's been, that's been pretty cool to sort of open up sort of that part of our lives

as well to meet some really cool people in the sport that are honestly willing to give

their time to help and answer any questions that you might have.

He wants to kind of do the now.

I guess.

But is there a, maybe to go and tick some American stuff one day, Scotty might be able

to say, hey, chat to this person or go to that, you know, whatever.

Well, that's, that's sort of what we're sort of trying to uncover now.

I suppose is the next steps in, in the sport and what that, what that looks like.

You've always got to sort of say 12 months in front of where you, where you need to get

to because, you know, you're constantly talking to people and, and, you know, with, with

us as a family, you know, that, that financial support is, is critical.

He's got some cool sponsors now and we certainly know that's got to increase over the next

sort of six to 12 months as well.

And that's just the reality of, of where we sit.

So we couldn't be here without the, without the support that is necessary and you see

every car's lit up with, with sponsors everywhere and it's so important.

It really is for, you know, the, the young, the future of the young drivers that are,

that are in the sport.

So the support we get is, is really strong and, but we know that it's going to have to sort

of increase.

It's expensive.

It's expensive.

It's expensive, yeah.

Of course it is.

Has that opened your eyes a bit?

Oh, big time.

I didn't realize.

It's even then you sort of jump into X000 Formula Ford, which are sort of equivalent to

go cutting it away from a, from a cost perspective, but, but jumping up into, into this world

is, is a completely different ballgame.

I started looking at this last sort of April May, just to get to the start line on, on

the weekend.

So it does take a, it does take a lot of, it's a, it's a full commitment from, from the

entire family, but we all love it.

And, you know, I don't mind sort of going out and playing my role for him at this stage

and hopefully in the future, he gets an opportunity.

So the US is certainly something he wants to do.

This is, this is where his passion for endurance racing has always been, his number one.

Got you.

So that's cool.

Like, you know, he loves V8s and he loves transams and, and watching everything around

the world, but ultimately endurance racing has always been his main goal.

So now he sort of has taken the first step into it, you know, and, and in two or three years

time, we'll see where that lands.

The many facets you can bring to the table here from your, your professional career.

Firstly, you've, you've touched on the, the commercial side, right?

So there are learnings for a young man, what do you know, around dealing with sponsors

and, and so on.

What's that process been like as you navigate that, the pair of you together?

Yeah, it's been, it's been pretty cool to be honest like, um, he's getting more and

more confident in his, in this space.

That's good.

It's, he's obviously through, I think the Formula Ford, um, team did it really well.

And I'm talking about, you know, Formula Ford Australia and, and that sort of stuff.

The exposure they provided for the young kids coming through was really cool.

Like that interview, interviewing them all the time and putting them in some hours

ago today and exposing them to it, which I thought was, was really cool.

So that's sort of a set up that side of things like Stubz.

He grabbed him on, on the weekend and he was able to answer, answer the questions

while he was on 360 during the week, pumping up the, the speed series and, and the start

of the racing for, for the year.

And, and that was, that was a good part.

We're having a chat around because I got caught when I was younger that you do some media

and play poorly on the weekend and, and the reflection wasn't sort of great from a

footy.

Respective the coaches would be all over you if you're, if you didn't do that.

So you talk about that stuff.

Yeah, we talk about that stuff all the time.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because if you're going to put yourself out there, we should have to in, in motorsport,

you have to talk and you have to support your sponsors and you have to go to events

and, and do different things.

But it can't affect, you can't get ahead of yourself and it affect what you're doing

on the weekend.

Because that's the most important aspect of, of everything we can, you know, put the

lights on over here and you can go and talk here and, and Hodgy had us on 360 and it

was awesome and it was great for everybody involved in the sport.

But ultimately you've got to perform off the back of it and that's what he's starting

to, to really understand.

Yeah.

You've got to have that calling card, mate, don't you?

Yeah.

You've got to be able to go, okay, if I'm going to go to America, I've achieved this

in Australia or whatever it might be and then start the, the discussions from there.

Do you have moments where, like any parent, I've got, uh, daughters that are 18 and 20

so I get the age thing, right?

We aren't always looked upon as the most tech, savvy people, et cetera, et cetera.

Absolutely.

Right.

So you navigate that thing of wanting to put your arm around them so that they will do

their, their very best.

But ultimately they also have to walk their own path.

So this is sort of a balancing act in all of that, mate, isn't it?

Yeah, they're, they're, they're, and I'm really conscious of it.

Don and I both are, actually, to be honest, yeah, like I'm, I'm sitting here talking

to you today about Jack and, um, and we're comfortable doing it.

But we understand what lame we need to sit in now as, as parents and, and, but part

of that too is also the fact that with the footy connections and, and with sort of my

role of trying to generate some sponsorship for Jack to go forward and I get involved

completely in that as well because I can jump in with some of these sponsors and, and

go to their events and, and be a presence there because they all are footy and, you know,

they've all got those connections as well.

So that's sort of what the role, Donna and I sort of play in, in that sort of things

and, and supporting, um, and adding some value in some ways to the sponsorship that comes

through.

But ultimately, it looks great on the car, Jack performs in the car.

That's what they want to see.

So we're conscious that we just play this little role here now, um, and it's up to Jack

to, to push it forward.

That's why the, the team environment's really cool now for him to sort of be exposed

in.

It's not the individuals of us just rolling up with our car and, and putting it on the

track.

It's serious and it's, it's full on and the engineering's crazy and, you know, it's

got Ludo LaQuire as easy engineering, which, which blows our mind, you know, but it's,

but that, that's why now that's, that's on them.

It's, it's, we don't make comment about that side of things anymore.

We just sit back, watch it on the TV, watch the timing screens and then he just does his

thing from, from this point forward, which is, which is great for us.

We just get nervous, go upstairs and our heart rate's going, is mum OK about that?

It was heart rate was 151 on the weekend as they were, they were going down the, going

down the, on rolling start down the straight and she's looking at me going, 1501, I refused

to put the watch on her, but I'm pacing, so I know I'm nervous.

And then once they get through and get going, you're, you're OK, because generally the

starts the most intense part as, as we know, and then they find their spot, they start

to battle with who they've, who they're around and everyone's usually pretty cool in

those, those scenarios.

You've been in a lead sport on, you know, the very best of days and they doubt some,

some very tough days, right?

So what, what are the things that you can perhaps, when you go through the difficult moments?

What are the things you can help him with?

Well, we're kind of live stuff in that way, but, but I'm dad, you know, I can say stuff

to Jack and he's like, but you could say the same thing to him, Rusty Kajuri's coach

and all of a sudden, and it hits him, you know, perfectly, so that's, that's really important

as well.

So we, we don't get too deep to be honest with it.

Yeah, I've, I've lived a lot of stuff where there's been a lot of disappointment, a lot

of highs and, and trying to stay pretty level with our emotions with that side of things

in sport, but you can't sometimes, you're, you're involved in it and the emotions are

high and they're low and, you know, it, you bring it home, you, and then you're, then

you're all good two days later and so we've, well, don was lived all that with me, not

so much sort of Jack, because he was only five or six when I retired.

So yeah, relaying those experiences that was like, that's in the 90s, it's in the

thousands in a row.

I've been like, he's a different, we'll find that on YouTube, do we do it in here?

So that's why, that's why I'm wrapped that he's had good coaching on the way from Ben

Barguana.

So that's been really, really cool and he's set Jack up nicely and Jason's sort of been

in the background as well, helping along the way.

So that's been good to get him to now where he's just got, you know, the leadership of

Ludo who'll tell him straight and it's good, you know, positive and what areas, you know,

the boys need to continue to improve in as the year goes on.

What's the takeaway from the weekend for him?

Like he's, he's obviously quite committed to this.

Forget the results and just what he brought to the table.

How does he feel about the season opener?

Oh, really, he had really positive, really positive.

I think the, you know, they did, they did a test the week before, which helped in a,

in a really big way because it was a wet test and then they had the dry day on the, the

second day of testing.

So that worked out quite well for, for the team.

So they're able to, you know, in qualifying, which was in the wet, they're able to do

quite well first up, but it's more just, he knows he's still got a lot of work to do

and, and building into understanding the carries only been in it a few times.

So he loves it and he loves the set up of it and he loves, you know, what will bring

to the table as well.

So I think the combination of the two of them, you know, just going to evolve as the year

goes on.

But first up, they were, they were wrapped where, where everything sat, how well the team

worked together and puts them in a good spot to have a positive year.

How good is he?

I didn't need to be nervous at the beginning, did I?

We will have more at a moment with Brad Johnson right here in the garage.

This edition of the Motorsport Brief continues to explore a bit of a recent theme on generational

athletes carrying a famous surname and the weight that tends to go with that and how the

learnings from a mum or dad who've been professional sports people might help navigate

things as they make their own way.

Today, it's Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson.

Brad recently came to appreciate just what his son Jack is capable of with the ride of

his life in the pseudomotor sport McLaren Artura that Jack races quite impressively with

young Kiwi William Exton in the Monochrome Australia GT4 Championship.

This is courtesy of the Shannon Speed Series in your may have seen it on AFL 360 on Fox

too.

He's at the first time you've done something like that with him, what was that all like?

I was really nervous for it because I taught him as a learner, I did most of the hours

and we did, I think it was and he was okay in that scenario, I was never really, when he

was learning at the start, you're really nervous and you're sort of, but within a couple

of drives, you're sort of, I was able to sit back in the seat and just sort of help guide

and all that sort of stuff, so that was fine, but nothing at this speed and he took out

a pit lane and I'm like, surely you got to warm these these tyres up and he just went

and I was like, seriously, it was more of a flying lap and you go through turn one, two,

two and then they go, they were talking to the pilot here, which is so great, it was awesome

right?

So you hit over the top, he says the water and he got through turn one okay and through

two and then three to four, which is then four the hair, the hair pins, the middle corner,

Jack middle corner.

So he hits that, he's going to over two hundred and he just puts the brakes on and the whole

car just went basically through my chest and I honestly, it rattled me a bit, I was

sort of, I started sweating and we got through the rest of the lap and I couldn't get out

of the car which was hilarious, right?

I can look at my flicks and billies, I'm on the ground, but it honestly took me about

45 minutes to post that just from my chest to calm down because I didn't expect to feel

that.

So that was cool, but I got out of that unbelievable experience because I'm never going to play

40 with Jack, so I was just jumping his environment, was really cool and to do that, but then

my appreciation for all the drivers was just went to a whole new level, like I've done

hot laps before and you get an appreciation, I jumped in with Chaz at sand down, it was

the most amazing experience of my life as well, it's top of down in on road and you didn't

even really put the brakes on, he just ducks it next and we're at the bottom of down in

on road and it's like, well, you win at that, but yeah, so things like that that I've

had the luxury of being out of it, it's been pretty cool, but this was different, different

again.

That's a great mate, and a wonderful thing to be able to sit beside your son as he does,

my cool Chaz champion of the sport and you automatically think, you know, we'll be

great at the craft, obviously.

A lot calmer in that scenario, Chaz had beaten a lot more, but he was, I mean, was there

a little moment for Dad going far out, here is my 20 year old and look at what he is

doing?

That was definitely that, I was pretty pumped afterwards, I want Donut to go into the

experience.

Maybe in the future, but yeah, so that was a great experience, and I've never been around

Phillip Island before, so you know, I'd walk the track that was about it, you know, walked

the outside of the track, but to actually get on the track in place for that experience,

that was next level.

That's good.

They tell me how he and I work here at Blisner together and he's been a great mate though,

and he's a legend.

He's the one who tipped me into this podcasting thing eight years ago, Guru, you got to do

one of these car racing runs.

Okay, mate, that's a problem.

He tells me you become quite a F1 fan along the way, too.

Is this true?

Well, how you know, I, and Erica, he's involved a little bit with how he's always telling

me that, you know, we're pretty passionate about it now, which is, which is really cool,

and our whole conversations are motorsport conversations.

That's really always, yeah, so that works because we're the barbecue, Guru, they'll

talk to the barbecue.

He's the best, he's the, he's the chillest guy that he's just a legend, right, and we

all love how he and we've become sort of pretty close over probably the last few years

and we've got us working more together and all that.

When he's in Australia, that he travels, he travels a lot with cricket and he's always

overseas, but he's, his family's passion for motorsport is quite big as well, so we've

got a great connection there and we have a lot of fun talking about it.

The F1 world's pretty cool, but we also, as I said, love to talk whether it's NASCAR

or the Indie car or I was into Formula E there for a little bit.

It's just all over the place, but I, we just, we just love it because it's, it's literally

on our TV, you know, all the time, so regardless of what's on, we're, we're usually watching

it.

You have a surname to be, to be proud of, mate, the things that you've achieved in sport

are incredible.

From Jack's perspective, is that both blessing, but also spot-like, mate, that immediately

comes with it.

And I would imagine you've been mindful of that as he walks his own road in two days.

Oh, a big time, yeah.

Absolutely, it is.

It's, it's, it's small steps and we understand there's bits that we, like in the build-up

to this, we did it and we did it and he handled it really well.

So you sort of go, okay, you're ready to sort of continue things on as it, as it goes

on.

But start of the season's always up and about, you know what I mean, and you're promoting

stuff and you're trying to help the series, which we, which we were doing and then obviously

trying to help, you know, the sponsors as well and, and give them some really cool exposure,

which is, which is important, which we've got the sort of luxury that we, we can do through

Fox Sports and it was great that Fox Sports and KO are showcasing, yeah, which is even better.

So set up worked really well, but things were probably quite down now for, for a little

bit.

He'll just put his head down, he wants to just put his head down and work and, and get

going.

The full promotion of stuff has been awesome now that, now that he's into, into racing,

it's more now just put your head down and go and that stuff will sort of just, you know,

take care of itself.

What's that sort of period like from school kid to now, you know, absolute focus and

pursuit as he, as he ventures into sort of early adult life made, and the growth that

you've perhaps seen in him in that regard, what's it been like?

Yeah, it's been, it's been pretty cool to, to watch, you know, to mean like he, his

domain is the racetrack because that's where he can talk motorsport, you know, to mean

like at, when he was at school, there wasn't too many that were really into, into it.

He's got one close mate who loves sort of the engineering side of things.

So they were always talking about, you know, different things about the car and all that.

So that's, that's really cool.

But outside of that, it's more just at the racetrack.

You know, one of his best mates is, is Jay Murray, who also works, runs a GT fork car

as well with his dad.

So, so there've been huge, huge helps as well along the way, because they've experienced

a world and they've, they've looked after Jackson Evans for, for quite some time.

And so they've been able to help us sort of navigate things as, as well.

And, and Jack and Jay are, are pretty close.

So it's cool that they're sort of racing with each other at this particular point.

Yeah.

A couple of finish here, because it's been a fabulous chat, mate.

Thank you.

You can already tell he's sort of, I wouldn't say walking tall.

It's the wrong, wrong description for it, but he is feeling comfortable in this space.

I think it, you know, he knows where he wants to be and, and what he wants to do.

You help, um, you and, and Donna with this, understanding the business, right?

Because the board is a business and, and, and trying to ensure that he navigates, you

know, any potential pitfalls in, in that regard.

But do you find yourself gradually unwinding things and letting him go?

Does that, does that make sense?

Yeah.

You described that so well.

And I think there's, we're probably not the only parents in that sort of understanding

that it, that is the business.

You see the big businesses of the massive trucks that are there and, and that's

sort of stuff.

And then there's the business of, you know, the, the drive is getting out onto the, onto

the track and, and what's required in, in that space.

So that's a, that's a really good way of describing it.

So yes, we are now in that position where we're reversing a little bit, which is really

cool.

And that's the way we want to, definitely operate and, and to be, um, so we'll support

Jack and we'll be there if he needs us.

But ultimately, he's now in a really cool space with a great team that will help him

grow this year.

Right.

Basically focus on that business side of thing.

So if sponsors want to come to the race, then we're there for him.

You know, I mean, we'll, we'll take care of all that and have a laugh with him and enjoy

a coffee and, and a couple of beers and Jack can just focus on what, what he needs to

do.

As you wander, right, when you're at the track and, you know, heart rates at 150 and the

race is about to start and stuff, what was it like in your gray matter?

Because when you ran out at the absolute peak of your powers with the game that you played,

you are brutal unforgiving athlete.

But this is also your son doing this.

So in the same breath, you want him to capture a bit of that, that, you know, made you succeed

because that's an inequality that you need and in a drive that you need.

You want a bit of that from him, but in the same breath to you're also kind of your

mindful parent to, you know, so what's that, what's that like?

Because if things don't work out right, do you get a bit miffed and think, oh, mate,

really, you either got that wrong or you needed to dig deeper or whatever.

And then how do you navigate and encourage that in the same?

I think when I look back and think about those scenarios of walking out onto the marvel

or the G or wherever it was around, around the country, you're always fall back to your

prepared, like your preparations, cool, like as nervous as you are.

But it's sort of once, once you got up there and you hit the ground, it sort of just

all disappeared in a way and you get in a zone that you don't even hear the crowd rusty

so early.

And that you played your best for you when you did not hear any of that whatsoever.

You were just so focused on your role, the team's role, you know, what's happening around

you that that all just sort of disappears from your mind completely.

So I think that's where, you know, as young drivers, whether it's Jack or anyone else,

you see them getting into that zone.

So you sort of happen about their nervous.

You can see the natural nerves happening, which are nerves are great thing.

I mean, just switched on and ready to go.

So I love, you know, young athletes that have that little bit of nervous or, you know,

edginess about them to start because you can tell that they're getting into the zone of

being switched on.

And then once they put their helmets on, you can tell that you do, you do your good

lucks before that because they're in the zone ready to, ready to rock and roll.

And you can see that a little bit in, not only Jack, but the other drivers that are

in sort of that we've met, they all get into that sort of, you know, really strong zone

and space because they have to, they're driving at 250k an hour and they've got a million

things going on around them.

They've got voices in their ear from the car artists.

It's full on what they have to have to experience.

So, so that zone, I think, is really critical.

I love that, mate.

I love that parallel that you've just drawn there.

And that, I mean, that's a little takeaway for other young potential racists here.

Preparation is key to being able to get to that point where you can look at the other

and always go basically and be confident.

Absolutely, like they had a good weekend because of the preparation that was put into

it.

So, it's not rocket science, it's just, you know, having the ability to put the work

in and whether that's physically, mentally, on a sim with the personal trainer, they

know they've ticked every box to be in the best space, you know, all we worry about

at the track is just, you know, recovery in some ways, you know what I mean.

So, it's, you drive, you come off, you sweat, you just don't go and, you got to, you

know, go and recover and, and relax and hydrate and get all these things ready to go again.

So, the next morning when you wake up, you've got to fully commit again.

So, you've got to be in the right physical space to be able to, and I think that's changed

a lot in, in motorsport that we've noticed over time.

Must have, how we've adapted and appreciated that stuff that you're talking about.

That's been a part of our life forever as a, as an AFL athlete, but ultimately it's now

crept into motor racing and a lot of teams, especially in the V8 paddock, have their own sort

of strength conditioning fitness.

Exactly.

Nutritionalists that are looking after the drivers to make sure that they're in the, in the

right space to perform, because they've got to drive for a long time.

Final one for you, the parallel isn't just the, the love that we see in 40 some times

for motor racing and, and vice versa.

I reckon I've been at, maybe a grand final with, with Skaifi and when I see his eyes when

he's watching the game and like he sees us into it, there he is, we know that, that'd be

so good.

He's such a good man.

Exactly.

motor racing, have there been parallels or have there been things along the way we've

gone, oh wow, that's, that surprises me.

That's the kind of thing we experienced in an AFL or maybe stuff that is totally different

in our, in our domain.

Oh, there's, there's so many russes in, in, in so many ways, the, the parallels I think

are really similar now and we just sort of, you know, discuss, just, to touch to that

a little bit.

I still think there's, look, there's, there's certain, there's certain pathways that

I think that could really open up in the motorsport world that would help.

Okay.

And, and I think there's some sort of, fully stuff from pathway perspectives that could

really help, you know, to be sort of, maybe start to navigate in over the next few years

in, in the, in the motorsport world, especially in the, in the, in the karting world where young

drivers are trying to sort of work out what's next for them beyond karting.

Are they going to go to open wheelers that, that they want to be a V8 super car driver?

Do they want to be part of the GT world or, or tin tops?

What, what, what are they actually, what's going to be their focus when they're, when

they're young?

So, that's something that I think it would be really, really cool for the young drivers

would help the parents as well to help shape, you know, the, the direction of, of these

young guys.

Where they want to go.

And girls, which is really cool.

How we would say, look at you, go, go, go, go, but wheelers, tin tops.

That is, that is the best way.

That is so true.

But this is like, this has been a joy for me, seriously.

Thank you.

I had no need to, to be nervous.

I knew that about you, I knew that about you.

You're sitting here in your Ferrari, Jumpei.

How good is this?

I wish I could drive.

I genuinely wish I could drive.

It is, I had the, the joy of being in Victory Lane there on Sunday when he came in.

You ready to name it?

That was cool.

I love that.

I love that.

And he's clearly away with all the riding greetings and it's just fabulous to see that

you guys are doing what any parent would do.

And that is to help their son or daughter on the pathway.

But in the, in the same moment, letting them walk their own road mode.

Congratulations on everything you've achieved in your own career.

And I love the fact that you're playing in motorsport now.

So good on your great stuff.

Awesome.

Rusty, thanks for having me on, mate.

It's been great.

Great athlete, fantastic human being.

And he is fabulous in the media as you can tell there.

Going through what so many parents go through as well, irrespective of how well known

the Johnson's are or how that might help start a conversation or open the door a little.

At the end of the day, it's up to young Jack.

And I can tell you that he really impressed at round one at Phillip Island, probably

fair to say that some were like, well, let's see how he goes or who is he.

Now, they're acutely aware of Jack Johnson and his ability and potential.

Round two of that series is at the bend in South Australia in early May.

The Speed Series website in the app description there.

I'd love to see you track side if you're from South Australia or nearby.

For lovers of two wheel racing, don't forget the recent feature app with Kevin McGee

too.

And almost photographic memory for technical detail during his riding career that took him all the way

to what we now know as MotoGP, what those awesome 500cc machines were like back then.

And how in later life, he helped a vision impaired or blind rider break a world record

unlike Gardner.

There's two parts and it's a relatively recent addition to our feed as well.

You won't have to scroll too far back.

Hope you had a great Easter everybody.

Bye for now.