Crompton gives insight into ‘frightening’ cancer battle

Supercars driver turned presenter Neil Crompton says he might have died within the next five years if doctors hadn’t stumbled upon his prostate cancer.

The ‘voice of Supercars’ was diagnosed in April, not revealing the news until after events at Symmons Plains and Tailem Bend.

Since announcing his diagnosis in May, Crompton has been absent from the commentary line-up, missing events at Darwin and Townsville as he received treatment.

The 61-year-old made a cameo appearance at the latest round of the championship at Townsville, albeit remotely, and has recently commentated the Cash Converters Supercars Eseries.

Speaking on the latest V8 Sleuth Podcast episode, Crompton opened up on his diagnosis and recent surgery, revealing the extent of the cancer.

“[The] operation went well, the aftermath’s going well,” said Crompton.

“[I’m] not 100 percent healthy right now, frankly, but very close to it. There’s still a few little things that I’m navigating around, but [I’ve got] an unbelievable team of doctors.

“There’s an ongoing monitoring to make sure that it stays that way; you’re never 100 percent out of the woods.

“There was a pretty frightening time, quite frankly.

“A little footnote in the pathology from it all: had we not accidentally tripped over what happened, I would’ve been dead somewhere between a year and five years from now.”

In the wake of his diagnosis, drivers and teams got behind with ‘Get Well Crompo’ stickers donning helmets and cars.

“The response and the support and the messages of care and love and concern were really uplifting,” Crompton said.

“It’s hard to actually find the right words that don’t sound like you’re just reading off the script, but it was … a seismic shift in my life and a hell of a wake-up call of how dramatically sideways things can go.

“But [it was also] a beautiful reckoning that whatever I’ve done good, bad or indifferent in motorsport – and I won’t be everybody’s cup of tea – but there’s certainly some people out there that have enjoyed my work and they’ve expressed that, and it’s a really lovely thing.”

A new autobiography, Neil Crompton: Best Seat in the House, is set for release later this month.