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Paul Dumbrell is one of the busiest individuals in V8 Supercars. The 28-year-old has taken on the CEO role at Automotive Brands, is one of the leading drivers in the V8 Championship Series and is also training for for an upcoming Iron Man event in Mexico.
While ‘PD’ has enjoyed one of his best seasons in his career in 2010, his extra commitments have recently forced him to reconsider how long he can be a full-time race driver.
That said, the Bottle-O Racing driver is starting to find balance in his life, and is likely to remain behind the wheel.
Speedcafe.com.au’s Grant Rowley causght up with Dumbrell to chat about his life as a businessman, race car driver and athlete …
SPEEDCAFE: We’ve just come off a nine-week break. You’ve been in The States for business, you got a chance to be a CEO, rather than a race car driver. How did you spend that time and has it brought you closer to a decision about your future?
PAUL DUMBRELL: The break came at an opportune time, really. I could get my head into the business and make sure I get a full understanding of how we want to move it all forward.
Now we’re back into the racing, and it hasn’t really changed my thoughts on what I’ll do in the futrue. I love racing. It’s my passion and I’ve been fortunate to have been able to do it for a long time. However, I want to do other things as well. In the next couple of weeks, from a personal and business point of view, I’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on.
The underlying factor is that I have two-years left on my deal, so unless there’s an outside factor or something that makes me change my mind, that is what we’re doing. It’s not as though I’m waiting on signing a deal, I have a deal for two more years. Ford Performance Racing, Rod Nash and Bottle-O have been sensational, leaving me to my own devices, and that’s been great.
However, they won’t be able to keep doing that long-term. They’ve got to maximise what they’ve invested in. At the moment, it is status quo, and we’ll see how it pans out.
SPEEDCAFE: You’re certainly not afraid to keep busy. Not only have you taken on the CEO role at Automotive Brands (Autobarn, Autopro plus others), you are currently training for an Iron Man event …
PD: It’s been tough. It’s all hours. An Iron Man is a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and 42.2km run. It’s all just about hours. It’s not about how far you run or how far you ride – it’s about getting the time to go on a six hour ride.
At Phillip island over the weekend, I was taking any oppoortunity to go for a ride every morning for an hour and a bit, run back to the hotel after the day at the track. Doing my racing hasn’t affected me, I feel strong, but it is a matter of allocating time to knock out 20 hours training. It’s challenging, but it’s good fun. You wouldn’t do it if you didn’t enjoy it. It’s not something I need to do, but it is a box I need to tick from my personal satisfaction.
SPEEDCAFE: This Iron Man event you’re doing is in Mexico. Tell us a little bit about it.
PD: It is in Cosomel – an island on the east coast of Mexico. It’s a pretty good course, nice and flat. Scott Marshall, the national marketing manager of Bottle-O is coming over to do it with me. Rod (Nash) is coming over too, so they’re assembling a bit of a cheer squad. I’ve got no real expectation of a time. This is my first one, so I’ll just aim to finish.
One day, I’d like to qualify for the Hawaiian Iron Man. I’ll probably need to do more than 15-20 hours of training a week to be in a position to do that.
