The third-generation racer is set to make an appearance in the Stock Cars Australia field at Shell V-Power Motorsport Park this weekend.
He’ll be aboard the Xfinity Series-spec Ford Mustang owned, and usually raced, by Scott Nind.
Perkins has long held ambitions to race NASCAR hardware, revealing to Speedcafe last year that he once went close to a deal to race in the third-tier Truck Series in the US.
That’s what led him to reach out to Nind, who owns multiple NASCARs, and inquire about a drive.
“I spoke to [Speedcafe] on a podcast last year and said I’d always had a big interest in these cars,” Perkins explained.
“So I thought I’d see if Scott would be keen to let me have a drive and he was.
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“I’ve seen some YouTube stuff of Scott’s, he’s got a couple of cars and he usually takes them both along and drives them both himself. I think he thought I was someone taking the piss out of him when I first rang him.
“But he’s a great guy and we’ve become really good mates in the space of a couple of months. I’m really grateful that he’s letting me have a drive of his car.
“I’ve recognised the car for years. It was actually driven in the States by a diabetic guy called Ryan Reed and the livery on the car was Lilly Diabetes, so I’ve always resonated with the car and livery.”
Perkins has already sampled the car during a test at Winton, where Aussie NASCAR race winner Marcos Ambrose was even able to lend some advice.
The biggest takeaways for Perkins were how pleasant the tyre performance was – and how similar the car is to a Supercar.
“The test was awesome; Scott preps the cars really well and they are 100 percent legit,” Perkins said.
“We even had Marcos Ambrose come over and say g’day, as he was there looking after his Formula Fords, and he gave us a few pointers which was really, really good.
“To be honest, I’ve done 19 years of driving Supercars – and the NASCAR isn’t a world away. It’s got a lot more horsepower, this one is the old Xfinity spec which is 850, 900 horsepower, it revs to 9000 rpm, and the tyre was a lot better than I thought it would be.
“Everyone comments on how they are half a big bucket of shit, but it wasn’t much different to a Supercar.”
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