Morris hangs up his helmet
Supercheap Auto Racing V8 Supercar team owner Paul Morris announced that he is to retire from full-time driving after the NRMA Grand Finale at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway.
Morris is inviting applications for the vacant seat alongside the Enforcer, Russell Ingall, with the in-form team he owns and runs, however, a few conditions…
The successful applicant, according to the driver known as “The Dude”, must possess plenty of skill and character, while jet-ski riders and latte drinkers need not apply!
“I want someone with some character and ability, and if I could pick anyone out of the whole series to partner Russell I’d pick Lee Holdsworth – he’s the guy that’s got the most grunt and is the most normal out of everyone out there,” Morris said.
“Lee’s been to work and he appreciates what he’s got and I like the way he drives. Obviously he’s locked in at Garry Rogers Motorsport and you’ve got to respect that, but I’d like to find the next Lee Holdsworth. They don’t exist at the moment, they’re all a bunch of jet-ski-riding lunatics.”
Morris bows out of an always colourful and often controversial full-time career in V8 Supercars just shy of his 41st birthday, having been part of the championship furniture since 2000.
On a typically unconventional route to the nation’s highest-profile series, he won the Queensland Gemini Championship (1988), finished 3rd in the Australian Formula Ford Championship (1990), won Class C at the Bathurst 1000 in a Toyota Corolla (with Geoff Full in 1991), joined the works BMW team to win the Nissan-Mobil 500 race in Wellington (1992), was second in the 1994 Australian Super Touring Championship and went one better the following year, then won the ASTC again in 1997 and took pole position in the Bathurst 1000.
In 1998 he drove a season in Indy Lights in the US then returned to Australia to establish his own team, again winning the ASTC in 1999, as well as winning the 500km race at Bathurst and finishing third (with Mark Skaife) in a HRT Commodore in the Bathurst 1000.
Morris won a V8 Supercar round at Calder Park in 2001, scoring two race wins and a second placing in his then Big Kev Commodore.
In his 143 starts prior to this weekend, Morris has frequently forayed inside the top10 in race and round results, and has just as often been involved in controversy. Last year he laughed off suggestions by other drivers that he was a dirty driver, typically hitting back at his detractors by having t-shirts made up declaring himself the “Dirty Dangerous Dude”.
However, Morris takes the management of his team extremely seriously and said he was delighted with his recruiting coup this year in picking up 2005 championship winner Ingall.
“We focused on making sure Russell had what he needed to do the job and it showed that when things go right, the team can excel,” he said.
“Great teams are defined by how you handle it when things go wrong, I think that’s where we need to do better, that’s how you win championships, by handling the things that go wrong better than the other guys. It’s not that we’re doing anything wrong at the moment, it’s just that when things don’t go your way, that’s when you can turn it around and swing it in your favour.
“I’m just going to try take a helicopter view of the team and help make it all happen. All the ingredients are there, it just needs someone to throw it all together with the right recipe.”
And while Morris will be better able to channel his time and energy into managing the Supercheap Auto Racing team next year, he’s not planning on giving himself a rest; Ingall has challenged his versatile teammate to attempt to drive in every race in every class at next year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 meeting, a dare that Morris is keen to accept.
“I’ll definitely have a crack at it. We’ll just wait and see how many cars come out of the woodwork. If someone wants their car to win a race at Bathurst, give me a call,” he said with a grin.
“I’m already practicing for the 12-Hour Race, I’ve got a HQ race, then a saloon car race, then the 12-Hour. Now I just have to pick up a ride in a Formula Vee and we can tick that one off as well!”
