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Freedom of speech was a hot topic just over 12 months ago due to drivers being admonished by senior figures within category management for publicly airing criticism/concern of Gen3, as Shane van Gisbergen and David Reynolds alluded to in a tense press conference in Newcastle.
Pye, though, speaking in a preview clip for an Apex Hunters podcast, has declared that “Supercars don’t silence any of us.”
Instead, he attributes bland drivers to blowback from fans on social media, and says he has chosen to be more outspoken because, having left full-time driving, he is no longer inferred to be self-interested.
“This is what has changed,” began the 34-year-old.
“The reason we don’t have Brockys and Skaifes and Murphs and Ambroses fighting and speaking out is because of the fans. So, the hate we get online silences all of us.
“I got so many questions saying, ‘Why did you speak up after you stopped being full-time?’ The reason I started was because I could actually say something, and everyone would see that it wasn’t for my own personal gain because it wasn’t for me any more.
“But, while I was full-time, everyone would go, ‘Oh, you just want to increase your pay packet,’ or you’re doing this or you’re doing that, and the haters come out.
“It’s got nothing to do with Supercars. Supercars don’t silence any of us.”
A particularly heated rivalry was that between leading Ford team Stone Brothers Racing and various Holden outfits during the first half of the 2000s.
That included the Russell Ingall-Skaife incident at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2003, Ambrose brake testing Rick Kelly at the Gold Coast in 2004, and the Ambrose-Murphy crash in the 2005 Bathurst 1000.
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Such incidents fuelled expletive-laden press conferences, bold quotes in newspaper stories, and some fiery moments on Network 10’s V8 Superstars programme.
More recently, Pye took to Instagram after an incident on the Gold Coast last October to critique James Golding as “one of the dumbest race drivers I’ve ever come across,” but such comments have become relatively rare.
Pye cited the fallout, or perhaps lack thereof, from the aforementioned Ambrose-Murphy crash as an example of how the landscape has changed, before revealing he has been the subject of death threats.
“Murphy told me at Bathurst last year, ‘I wouldn’t dare speak out now,’” recounted the new Triple Eight Race Engineering co-driver.
“He said, ‘Whereas, when I had the fight with Ambrose, the worst thing I had to worry about was an Auto Action coming out on a Thursday and, by Friday, it was forgotten about,’ because it was paper and most people had thrown it out.
“Whereas now, we go home and I’ve had death threats… I got one guy banned from Supercar events because he found my address online and wanted to kill me and my partner at the time. That was through social media; he found my address through Snapchat.
“So, the reason we don’t speak out is because of the flak we get back from fans online and the hate we get; everything you say… It’s like kids at school get bullied now but they get bullied at school and they get bullied at home.”
