Steve Zammit could stand alone as the most winningest driver in the big rigs and eclipse the late Rodney Crick.
The third and final round will take place at the rural circuit as part of the Victorian Motor Racing Championships.
The trucks are still popular and draw bigger crowds than those that would generally attend a state or club meeting. However, the spectator rollup is nothing like what was seen in the halcyon days.
Winton, Calder Park, Oran Park, Lakeside and Mallala Motorsport Park were flooded with fans to see the likes of Crick who was know as Captain Kangaroo (for leading the Australian team in the Trans-Tasman Championships) and his rivalries with the New Zealanders Ian “inky” Tulloch and Ron Salter.
Crick also had great clashes with Paul Freestone, probably accentuated by the petroleum branding, with Shell against Mobile.
In the early 1990s Crick took over the 12-lt Shell Rimula Volvo N12, a truck the Oran Park owners imported for Sweden’s Curt Göransson to drive.
Crick won his first title in 1992 before his father-in-law Rob Russell won the following year. Crick struck back with wins in 1994 and 1995, was denied a hattrick by Salter before wins in 1998, 1999 and 2003.
Crick also raced in campaigned in privateer entries at the Bathurst 1000 as he often mixed car racing with the entertaining trucks. Unfortunately, he died at aged 47.
Now Zammit is poised to pick up his seventh title. He first won in 2009 and then in 2013 and 2015 before two in a row in 2017 and 2018. His next came after the Covid years in 2022.
His chance last year to set the new benchmark was snuffed out at the start when his Kenworth T400 didn’t make it through customs in time for the first round.
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