DAYDREAM BELIEVER

By Pete McNae

Braden Russ grew up with speedway clay in his blood. Now it's in his hair, ears, eyes, race suit and all through the ute.

The 24-year-old was brought up, as many people reading this profile might have been, perched on the terraces at Milestone Homes Top of South Speedway on 16 Saturdays every summer, supporting his heroes and daydreaming of the time when he could be on the other side of the fence. Well, hello.

Russ is three Nelson meetings into his first season as a stockcar owner and he has definitely found his happy place. “I was a grandstand kid,” he says. “We were up the back on turn three and I would hero worship the drivers. Once I saw them come out the gate, I could pretty much tell you who was going to win because I watched every lap, every meeting and was so wrapped up in it.”

If passion paid the bills, Russ would have been racing a long time ago but the exterior plasterer has instead taken his time and chances as they have come up, hoping that small steps will allow him to stay in the sport longer. He started with a couple of derbies, crewed for Jordan Gillespie in the TQ midget class, then joined the BRT (Black Racing Team) in production saloons with a Nissan Laurel. Things went up a gear when he had a chance to swap pit spaces and move into stockcars. Russ was crewing with good mate Troy Currie when one of those offers you don't refuse came his way.

“Steve (Stephen Cooper) had bought a car that he never intended to drive himself and he'd had Aaron Gray in it but that seat came up and Troy gave Steve a heads-up that he thought I'd go all right,” Russ said. “It was a great chance for me to get into a good car and into the class I wanted to head towards.”

Production saloon racing had been a lot of fun, especially in the rear-wheel-drive Nissan with the BRT. “All those Hondas were out front, understeering and winning and we were just pegging the (rev) limiter and seeing how far we could throw the arse out before we lost it. But I'd grown up with Higgy and Bootey and the Tigers as my idols so getting into stockcars was the dream.”

The Cooper connection worked well, Russ learning about the requirements of running a stockcar (when you crew for Troy Currie there can be a lot of angle grinding and welding practice involved) but, when he was forced to take time away from racing and the 44N was parked up – it still is – Russ began to plan his own campaign.

Dad, Anthony Russ, was keen to see Braden get into his own car and they started to look at what was for sale.

“I knew what I wanted but couldn't always afford that,” Russ said. “I didn't want to be that guy who buys a car he can't afford, races it twice and then sells up because the financials don't add up. I did my homework and started looking for a car that had good bones.”

After a couple of false starts, that car turned out to be in the Hawke's Bay, Russ keeping his plans as low-key as possible, surprising even some of his closest mates when he towed the former 88B Ford 6 into town.

“The first time I drove out the pit gate in my own car, I had this strong feeling that I was where I had been heading for 15 years,” Russ said. “For someone who had spent so many hours and years in speedway, it was an 'end goal' moment.”

This Saturday, Russ teams up with Morgan Dumelow in the Stockcar Summer Slam, presented by Thelin Construction. It's a new promotion on the Nelson calendar, a best pairs event with a twist. Unlike a normal best pairs format when each car scores points and consistency of finishing is rewarded, the Summer Slam sees just one car picking up points. That means there is a greater emphasis on stopping contenders with one driver perhaps trying to run as the other blocks. And, like a mini-teams race, that role can change mid-race.

“When Wog (Nelson Speedway Association president Wayne Martin) explained the Summer Slam, we all thought, 'yeah, they are onto something here', I have carried a flag in Blenheim and it was great but basically I'm here to chuck the bumpers around.”

Drivers tuned up last Saturday with more deliberate contact than there had been at the first two meetings and, with at least 10 pairs entered and a handy travelling turnout, the $5000 prize pool and $500 Brian FM stirrer's money should make for a hectic night.

Russ was initially teamed with Matt Leigh from Christchurch but, when Leigh had to opt out, Dumelow popped the pairs question. “Morgan is going bloody well, eh, we are absolutely fizzing.”

With Russ still gathering seat time in the 72N Ford 6, every race is a chance to learn. His next goal is to be part of a revival of teams racing in the club. Both the Thunder (stockcars) and Tigers (superstocks) have fallen on lean times with little desire to put on a teams body and head into battle. Russ has had a taste in a development teams race out of town and wants more.

“Teams racing isn't everyone's cup of tea, I know that,” he said. “But we have so much knowledge and history in Nelson that we shouldn't just let it die – even if we just aim small to start with and do one race. Those guys I grew up following are still around the sport and both classes need to sit down, see who could be keen and then coach us through, give us that pathway. Then chuck us in there while we are young and dumb!

“Ultimately, the goal is to be a Tiger and teams race a superstock. I can't afford it now but I work to earn money to race and I'd race every weekend right now if I could.

“It's about setting an end point and then moving towards it and you can ask anyone in the family – when I was parked up in turn 3 with the family as a kid, it was “I'm going to be a Tiger'. That really hasn't changed.”

• Braden Russ is grateful for the support of High-Rev Motorsport, JAK Construction, Anchor Restaurant and Bar, Engineering and Auto, Krammer Mechanical Ltd, SuperCharge Batteries and Waterblast Solutions. His crew consists of whoever he can rope in on the night with Niko Turipa and Troy Currie often on hand while Kevin Barker is also a key contributor to the team.

• Classes scheduled for Saturday alongside the Stockcar Summer Slam include youth ministocks, quarter midgets, three-quarter midgets, production saloons, streetstocks and superstocks with a handful of visiting drivers coming for a tune up before the PTS Superstock Stampede on December 10-11.

Photos: Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography

Article added: Thursday 18 November 2021