The Stanley's Wheelie Bin press conference

Tuesday 28th April - 2020

This is soooo cool,

I must tell you the story about my friend John Stanley who is the guy dressed up as the Secret Service agent in this short video down below.

John and myself were Qantas Trolly-Dolly’s together at Qantas Airways. John is also a very esteemed motor racing fan. He has been photographing motor sports all his life, what’s more he is very, very good at it. I would put him up there amongst the BEST.

My old Qantas ex-colleague John Stanley and
his son Chris and the family pet.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase. Politically we are on different sides of the fence, however I will not hold that against him. Way back in 2016-2017 when the ‘Trumpster’ became the President of the United States, John kept harping on to me like the rest of the world that my man, Donald P Trump would soon be impeached.

WELL!!! we are still waiting John.

I received this email overnight from him & absolutely laughed my head off when I opened it. I'd like to share that short video with you.

Below: John, his wife Kris and their son Chris, sure went to a lot of creative trouble to script and shoot this video of the ‘Trumpsters’ latest behavior.

  I am going to forward this to all my TRUMP friends in America, they will absolutely love it.

I love the name ‘Melanoma’ that they called Mr Trump's wife. How good is that? And what about the Presidential seal on the wheelie bin podium - fantastic!

Keep up the good work mate, you aren’t such a BAD bloke after all.

Cheers
Warbo

2018 Indianapolis 500 Winner Will Power's brush with fame

Friday 24th April - 2020

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough". (Those are the famous words from the 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner and motor racing legend, Mario Andretti).

From the feedback I receive from my loyal Blog followers it is overwhelming how much you enjoy reading my stories about my 'brush with fame' articles.

So while we are all still bunkered down with this C19 virus pandemic, I have decided to put pen to paper once again to let you all know about Australian racing star, Will Power's Brush with fame back at the 97th running of the famous Indianapolis 500 in 2013.

Inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Museum, situated in mid-track.
Me sitting on Will Power's 2018 race winning No.12 machine

Thinking back, I have been a total Indianapolis 500 tragic fan for over 50-years. The Indianapolis 500 actually feeds my soul. I've been to Indianapolis, Indiana five times over that 50-year period to witness the running of the Indianapolis 500. Attending the event never grows old for me. The only thing that is growing old is me, unfortunately.

My first experience at the 500 was way back in 1969 when I was fortunate enough to watch Mario Andretti win his one and only Indy 500. There are legendary drivers and then there's Mario Andretti.

I can remember it just like it was yesterday when Mark Shultz sang the racetrack's traditional hometown opening song; 'Back home again in Indiana' he was a Purdue University student. (more on that to come).

Always an eye-catching addition to any Indianapolis event, the NFL's
Indiana Colts Cheerleaders made an guest appearance at the Indy 500
Parade in downtown Indianapolis on the day before the race.

I heard the most famous words in Motorsports echo over the track's PA from Tony Hulman the owner of the race track. 'Gentleman Start your Engines' - I will never forget that moment while ever there is breath in my body.

Needless to say the month of May is my favourite time of the year to visit Indianapolis when the streets turn fanatic in anticipation for that magical one day of the year event when thirty-three high-powered, high-speed race cars thunder down the main straight at over 250 mph (402 kph) only inches from each other as the chequered flag drops for start of the 500 mile race.

Let me tell you, if you are a race car fanatic there is nothing in the world that compares with that Adrenalin rush you experience in those few short seconds when these Daredevils hurtle past you at 250mph at the start of the race. The ground actually shakes.

The Indianapolis 500 attracts a crowd of around 500,000
excited race fans on race day.

I always try to purchase seats in the Grandstand at the Start/Finish line opposite the entry to Gasoline Alley and the pits where you can see the race car's pit stops and also where the drivers rejoin the race into turn 1, because that is where all the real action is, I suppose this is why there are 500,00 spectators at this event every year.

Now, back to the singing of 'Back Home Again in Indiana'.

Did you know? Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith Show) had the privilege to sing 'Back Home Again in Indiana' at nearly every year's 500 from 1972-2014. (When I went to school that was about 42 years approx.) Due to ill health, Jim Nabor's final appearance was at the 98th Indianapolis 500 in 2014. Unfortunately Jim Nabors died in Hawaii on November 30th 2017. Aged 87-years-old. 

Known to one & all as '60s TV star 'Gomer Pyle' - actor Jim Nabors
sang the race's traditional opening song 'Back home Again in Indiana'
at the Indianapolis 500 for over a 40-year period.

More useless information!

Did you know? Dinah Shore still holds the record as the only women soloist to sing 'Back Home Again in Indiana' in 1955. Unfortunately Dinah Shore passed away in Beverly Hills on 24th February 1994. Aged 77-years-old.

Now, back to the Will Power's 'Brush with Fame' if you are still interested.

I was introduced to Will Power and his wife Liz Cannon at the 2013 Indy 500 by my friend and motor mechanic mate Tim Lombardi, who back then was chief mechanic for the Penske Team. With Tim being my connection it afforded me with unbelievable advantages & opportunities within the Team Penske garages, access to Gasoline Alley and the opportunity to mix it with many other famous Indy car team drivers and of course the chance to meet the NFL's beautiful Indiana Colts Cheerleaders.

Will Powers with his very best new friend; yours truly
in the Team Penske Garage in Gasoline Alley.

As you can see by these photos, I am grinning like a Cheshire cat with a broad smile from ear to ear. My friend Tim Lombardi is the gentleman in the photograph [below] with Will Power & his wife Liz in the Team Penske garage.

Now I would like to share with you some interesting facts, figures and results from my (5) appearances spent watching this World Famous International Speed Classic.

* 1st Indianapolis "500" in 1911.
* 42 drivers have been killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway chasing their dream.

Will with his wife Liz Cannon and my good friend & motor mechanic mate
Tim Lomdardi, who back then was chief mechanic for Verizon Team Penske.

Will Power is the first Australian to win this prestigious race. Will Power was born in Toowoomba, Queensland. He now is based in North Carolina, his wife Liz Cannon is originally from Sonoma, California, they have one son (Beau) born in 2016. Will's brother Damien Power is a very successful stand up comedian.

Before Will Power departed these shores he was a very accomplished race car driver here in Aussie. As a matter of fact he was the Australian Driver's Champion in the Formula 3 open wheel racing category in 2002.

Will joined Team Penske in 2009, he is up there with the very best of them. He has 56 career Indy car poles, only behind Mario Andretti on the all time list, he was the 2014 Indy car series champion. His career could have been so much more impressive, because he has been runner up (4) times in the Indy Car series driving for Team Penske in his Verizon sponsored race car. Not too bad an effort for a chap from Down-Under.

Close up and personal with Will Powers Chevrolet powered No.12 race car.
(How 'horny' does this race car look?).

Then finally in 2018 Will won the biggest race of his career, the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500, and in doing so became the very 1st Australian to do so.

Here are Will's race results when I was there in the grandstands rooting for him.

* 2013. Started from 6th position finished in 19th place.
* 2016. Started from 6th position finished in 10th place.
* 2018. Started from 3rd position finished in 1st place. (Unfortunately on this occasion I was not in the stands to witness this historic event).
* 2019. Started from 6th position finished in 5th place.

Not too shabby for a boy from Toowoomba in Q'ld. I hope that you are not bored with my recollection of my experiences at the greatest motor racing event in the world.

Brand new Firestone racing tyre slicks, balanced & waiting for the opportunity
to be installed to Will's No.12 race car for practice and race day.

Below are the statistics from all five on my visits to the Indianapolis 500 races that I have attended over my 50-years.

1969 - *Pace Car. Chevrolet Camaro. Driver Jim Rathman. 1st place. Mario Andretti. 2nd place. Dan Gurney. 3rd place. Bobby Unser.

1981 - *Pace Car. Buick Regal V6. Driver Duke Nalon. 1st place. Bobby Unser. 2nd place. Mario Andretti. 3rd place. Vern Schuppan. (Australian, born in South Australia).

2013 - *Pace Car. Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray. Driver Jim Harbaugh. 1st place. Tony Kanaan. 2nd place. Carlos Munaz. 3rd place. Ryan Hunter- Reay.

My friend Bonnie, who lives 500 metres from turn 1 on the race track.
I have stayed at her residence on three occasions.
Bonnie looks after me like a 'Silk Worm'

2016 *Pace Car. Chevrolet Camaro SS. (50th Anniversary Edition). Driver Roger Penske (who now owns the Indianapolis 500 international raceway). 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. 1st place. Alexander Rossi. 2nd place. Carlos Munoz. 3rd place. Joseph Newgarden.

2019 - *Pace Car. Corvette Grand Sport. Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (50-year Anniversary since Mario Andretti won his one and only Indianapolis 500). 1st place. Simon Pagenaud. 2nd place. Alexander Rossi. 3rd place. Takuma Sato. 

In 2018, Australian driver Will Power became the first Australian to ever win this prestigious event. Unfortunately this was the year that I did not attend the Indy 500 to witness this historic event.

Bonnie's house on race day. She parks 40 vehicles on her property at US$50
per vehicle. (helps pay for the band and food for the after-race party).

And finally for all the pre-historic Indianapolis 500 race fans like myself, and those that can still remember, I want to finish up with my memories of some of the true legends of that era that I actually saw race in my 1st Indianapolis 500 way back in 1969.

I can remember in the early '60s setting my alarm clock at 0200 in the morning (Sydney time) on the day of the Indianapolis 500 race. I am not sure if it was TCN Channel 9 (maybe somebody could help me with that information).

For years and years I sat up in the early hours of the morning watching the telecast that was beamed directly into my Sydney lounge room. That was the start of my dream to eventually attend that race event in person one day, and here I am, 50-plus years down the track writing about it. 

Enjoying a few cold ones with my friend & Indianapolis local, Donald P Quass
at the after-race party & celebrations at Bonnie's house.

Guess what, as I mentioned earlier in this story the Indianapolis 500 still feeds my soul. So before I turn my toes up I still have one more, if not two more Indianapolis 500s in me, that's how good it is. If you are fortunate enough to be in the position to attend the Indianapolis 500. Do it. You're sure as hell will not regret the experience.

Another good tip is to arrive into Indianapolis 5-days before the actual race so that you can watch the practice sessions and experience all the events in the build up to race day on the Sunday.

Look through this list of legendary drivers below that were in the 1969 Indy 500, I thought all my Christmas' had come at once.

Outside the racetrack and campaigning for the Trumpster's re-election
 in 2020 with a HUUUUGE street rally audience,
I was in my element, trust me, loving every minute of it.

AJ Foyt - Parnelli Jones - Lloyd Ruby - Lee Roy Yarbough - Dan Gurney - Al & Bobby Unser - Gordon Johncock - Wally Dallenback - Gary Bentenhausen - Mark Donohue - Johnny Rutherford - Bill Vukavich - Sam Posey - Denny Holme (NZ).

And what about the Australian man who was responsible for changing the Indianapolis 500 forever, from front-engine race cars to rear-engine race cars. None other than our own Sir Jack Brabham. Unfortunately Sir Jack only completed 58-laps on this occasion in '69, he was running real strong until he experienced mechanical failure.

If all that above is not a good story, then I don't know what is.

That's all folks

Cheers
Warbo


Read more: Warbo's other brushes with fame;

Sir Stirling Moss' brush with fame...
Nicole Tompkin's brush with fame...

Sir Stirling Moss' brush with fame

Tuesday, 15th April - 2020

Hello self isolators,

I would like to share a story with you all about my wonderful experience way back in 2006 when I met British Formula One legend, Sir Stirling Moss.

As you all know I am a car racing 'tragic' starting from way back when I was only knee-high to a grasshopper.

You are also well aware that I was a 'Trolly-Dolly' with Qantas for 34-years, and in that time of flying around the world every week, I was fortunate enough to meet a truck load of celebrities, politicians, movie stars, sport stars, businessmen and an endless list of famous identities whilst working inside a tube of aluminum flying at 37,000ft.

Stirling Moss deplaning an aircraft in golden era of international
air travel with a '60s-style airline bag slung over his shoulder

However, now that I am suffering with advanced Cabin Fever, I decided this morning to write a story about my time with another one of my heros that departed overnight, none other than the legendary race car driver Sir Stirling Moss.

As a young man I idolised Australia's Jack Brabham (three times World F1 Driving Champion, 1959, 1960, 1966) and Stirling Moss along with the daredevil drivers of that era, & what an era that was for real car racing. These pioneer era drivers fearlessly competed without even a seat belt to protect themselves as they drove their machines at breakneck speed by the seat of their pants in the late '50s and '60s. Many of them were killed in their endeavour to become World Champion.

I was lucky enough to witness
Stirling Moss driving at Sydney's Warwick
Farm racetrack in the early '60s.
*Note program price of two shillings

I was fortunate enough that my Dad took me to the car races to witness Stirling Moss win the (1961 Warwick Farm 100 driving a Lotus Climax 18) and then a year later I saw him win the (1962 Warwick Farm 100 only this time he was driving a Cooper-Climax T55). I was a young whippersnapper back then, at 14-15-year's-old.

This morning, I have done some research on Sir Stirling Moss because I wanted to know more about his racing career Down-Under when I was too young to know about this legend.

Some of Sir Stirling Moss' statistics:

His career spanned the era from 1951-1961, he competed in sixteen F1 Grand Prix races. Some experts say that he is one of the best Grand Prix drivers of all time, however he never won the World Driver's Championship.

I can still remember my Dad telling me that he was too hard on his race cars, many times when he was in a winning position he would push his machinery way too hard only to be disappointed with mechanical failure with the finishing line with in his sight.

This is why our very own Sir Jack Brabham won three World Championships in that same era, he knew how far to push his race cars so that they would reach the finishing line in one piece.

Winning the 1957 Grand Prix of Great Britain. Aintree, England.
Stirling Moss (Vanwall), 1st position shared with Tony Brooks. It was the
first victory in a World Championship Grand Prix for a British car.

Way back in '56 (when I was only 9-years-old) the year of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australian race fans were privileged to see for the first time Stirling Moss and his team mate, the French national, Jean Behra visit Australia for the first time in their Maseratis. 

History tells us that there were between 100,000 to 200,000 spectators in Albert Park, Melbourne to watch Stirling Moss starting from pole position win the 1956 Australian Grand Prix from his fellow team mate, Jean Behra in their Maserati 250Fs.

In the same race were our own homegrown heroes, Reg Hunt & Stan Jones. It was Stan's son Alan Jones who went onto win the 1980 F1 World Championship for Williams 24-years later.

I was lucky enough on that Qantas encounter with Sir Stirling Moss
when he signed a Qantas First Class menu to my son Nathaniel
and myself. It's something that I treasure dearly.
[click to enlarge]

Why am I telling you all this?

In 2006 when Sir Stirling Moss was 76-years young, I was fortunate enough to be working on the Qantas 747 aircraft in the First Class cabin (where I should be).

This gave me the perfect opportunity to meet Sir Stirling Moss and his wife during the 8-hour flight to Singapore, he was delighted to chat to me about his career and of course I could not get enough of his spectacular stories about his life and times as a race driver, straight from the horse's mouth.

Covered in his own blood, Stirling Moss in the cockpit of his Lotus-Climax 18-21
at Goodwood in West Sussex, in 1962, the crash that ended his racing career

I asked him many questions about his life and that monumental crash at Goodwood in 1962 that more or less finished his racing career. I mentioned that my Dad had taken me to watch him race at Warwick Farm in '61 & '62. Only 45-years had passed since he first arrived in Australia, he laughed when I reminded him that he was only 31-years-old back then.

Then I asked him why he had traveled Down-Under on this trip. It was 50-years since he won the 1956 Australian Grand Prix and he was invited to Australia to celebrate that historical occasion. For those of you that are not suffering with dementia as yet.

Do you remember way back in 1976 when Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham joined together to drive a Holden Torana in the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 only to be rear ended on the starting grid. How unfortunate was that. My old boss Bob Morris and British driver John Fitzpatrick won that year's race in their LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34.

Simply wonderful memories... I hope that you all have enjoyed my recollection of my brief time spent with now the late Sir Stirling Moss, OBE.

Farewell Sir Stirling Moss - we honour & salute your brilliant career and I
thank you for those precious & treasured personal moments I spent with you sir

It sure is better than listening to or reading about this wretched Coronavirus.

Please stay safe, and we will see each other on the other side.

Cheers for now
Warbo.