Newly appointed Supercars head of broadcast David Tunnicliffe has paid tribute to the category’s outgoing TV boss Nathan Prendergast.
This weekend’s Merlin Darwin Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway marks the incumbent general manager of television and content’s last event with Supercars.
Prendergast’s spell at Supercars has neared two decades, his first gig in the category coming in 2006 as a junior audio assistant on the BigPond in-car channel.
In May it was confirmed Tunnicliffe will succeed Prendergast in the role as TV boss at Supercars.
As Prendergast’s exit looms, Tunnicliffe paid tribute to his influential predecessor.
“We’re gonna miss him a huge amount,” Tunnicliffe told Speedcafe.com.
“Nath’s everybody’s mate. He is the boss, but he’s everybody’s mate.
“We’re going to miss his humour, we’re going to miss his crazy ideas, but I think what he knows is he’s left this department and this broadcast in really good shape.
“The people he’s left it with have the same passion that he has.
“We know where we want to go. and he’s instilled in us the pride to get it there and to keep pushing forward and to keep making great TV.”
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Tunnicliffe and Prendergast have worked side-by-side for near on 10 years.
In that time, the award-winning producer said he’s learned an immense amount and has always looked up to Prendergast.
“First and foremost, when I stepped into the senior producer’s role, Nath was the race director, so I think any producer stepping into that role couldn’t have wished for anybody better in that chair,” Tunnicliffe explained.
“So early on, if there was ever a decision that was probably not the right one, Nathan was always there to give me a little nudge going, ‘You might want to go that way, buddy’. And then as I got more experienced, it allowed Nath to concentrate and just go completely free.
“Having him in that seat when I first started was incredible. I’d say he’s the best in the world at that job.
“He’s a unicorn, he’s been described as, which I laugh at, but you know what I mean, he’s got such a unique skill set within the motor racing industry. I’ve been so lucky that I’ve had him by my side as a director, as a general manager, and as a mate.”
Tunnicliffe says Prendergast can walk away from Supercars knowing that the broadcast is in good hands.
“Everybody who works on this broadcast has immense pride in it,” said Tunnicliffe.
“I think that goes a long way to telling the story as to why it is so good. A lot of experience a lot of IP, a lot of passion for what we do.
“I think the family atmosphere that we’ve created because we have such a tight-knit group of people, it’s a massive honour to work on it. To lead the team is something incredible, to be honest.
“That’s been something that we’ve spoken about a lot in terms of the atmosphere that is created down here that we do have a family, and that family is heavily invested in making sure that we continue to make the broadcast not just as good as it is right now, but that we continue to evolve and keep making it better and keep trying to innovate and take it that next step.”
Tunnicliffe officially steps into his new role at the conclusion of this weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown.
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