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Front Page » Racing
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A Chat with Marcos Ambrose as He Heads to Texas
Staff, Thursday April 12, 2007.
Page 1 of 1
Marcos Ambrose, driver of the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion, advanced one spot to sixth in the driver point standings – just three points out of the top five – following his 17th-place finish last weekend at Nashville.
Ambrose, currently the highest of the Busch-only competitors heading into this weekend?s eighth race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, spoke about his transition to racing in NASCAR just 12 months after his truck series debut at Martinsville.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING THAT YOU’VE LEARNED RACING IN NASCAR FOR THE PAST YEAR?
“There’s been so much that I’ve learned that you can’t really point to one thing. It’s just really to be confident in yourself and just don’t give up because this sport is a crazy deal and you have a lot of ups and downs.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST THING OUTSIDE OF THE SPORT THAT YOU’VE LEARNED?
“That kangaroo meat sticks. Well, Kevin Harvick called me ‘Kangaroo Meat’ on a commercial, and that seems to have stuck pretty good. About living in America, just that it’s a wonderful country.”
HAS THERE BEEN AN INSTANCE WHERE YOU’VE EXPERIENCED CULTURE SHOCK?
“I’m going to be boring, mate, and say no. Australians and Americans really think alike. We have basically the same TV shows played in Australia. I had a good understanding of what I was getting myself in to. Just this NASCAR world, it’s bigger and better than I could have ever imagined. Everything that you think is grand and large and exciting in Australia, it’s times about 20 and that’s America.”
HAVE YOU PICKED UP ANY SOUTHERN TENDENCIES SINCE MOVING TO NORTH CAROLINA?
“I’m learning to talk like Ward Burton, so I’m working on that (joking). I’ve got Chip Warren, my US PR guy; he’s unique, too, with a bit of a southern drawl. I’ve just tried to blend in. I’m trying my best to slow my speech down and talk like a southern guy.”
DO YOU FIND YOURSELF PICKING UP ANY SOUTHERN LINGO?
“I have trouble with grits and I have trouble with y’all, but that’s just part of being in another country.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH NASCAR FANS OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST 12 MONTHS.
“It’s been really amazing how the fans have taken to me. Like I said, that kangaroo meat deal, everyone is calling me kangaroo meat now, so I guess I have no option but to like that. Just passionate fans and a lot of fans, that’s the biggest thing.”
ARE THE NASCAR FANS MORE PASSIONATE ABOUT RACING THAN THE V8 SUPERCAR FANS BACK HOME?
“No, you’ve got some pretty crazy fans out there in Australia, too. I think just the fact that they’re willing to wear an Australia cap in America is pretty great.”
YOU BECAME KNOWN FOR THE BUCKET HAT YOU DONNED LAST YEAR. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU BROUGHT OVER FROM AUSTRALIA?
“That’s part of the Team Australia gear. We didn’t make it, but we just have it here to sell. They made it all for the Champ Car teams. They’re selling it, so somebody’s wearing it. I’ll wear the bucket hat and I enjoy the bucket hat, and I get a good laugh out of it and I think the fans do, too.”
WHEN YOU RETURNED TO AUSTRALIA DURING THE OFF-SEASON, DID YOU FIND THAT YOU WERE MORE RECOGNIZED BY YOUR COUNTRYMEN?
“Yeah, we’ve got more coverage in Australia now than I did when I won my two championships down there, and that’s just because I’m different. I’m one guy taking on the world from Australia, and it’s a good story. We’re getting a lot of TV down there and we’re getting a lot of press coverage. It’s been one of the biggest surprises, I think, of me coming over here is how the media has really gotten behind me on that. And the fans get behind that, too. The fans now have good ways to follow what we’re doing over here and it’s exciting.”
SO, IF YOU’RE WALKING ON THE STREET BACK HOME, YOU WILL GET RECOGNIZED?
“It depends on where you go. If you go into a five-star restaurant, probably not, but if you go into a supermarket or Home Depot store, then yeah, there’s no doubt.”
ARE YOU STARTING TO BE RECOGNIZED IN THE U.S. NOW?
“No, not really. I’m pretty good to just cruise around.”
DISCUSS YOUR LONG-TERM AND SHORT TERM GOALS WHEN YOU ENTERED THE SPORT.
“Well, my long-term goal, I didn’t have one. All I wanted to do was just get into the sport to start off with. We’ve blown that out of the water. Now we’re in the sport, we’re in there with a great team, and we’re in the Busch Series already. I’m three years ahead of where I thought I would be, so I’m way in front.
Now our goals have changed somewhat. Now, I want to make sure that I have a career here and that I’m good enough to hang around for a while. In the short term, that’s what I need to do. I need to get to a point where I feel comfortable and confident every week going into those races, and throughout the year we’ve been working on that.
The long, long-term goal is to win races and try to win a championship for the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team and hopefully our sponsors, because they’ve committed to me and that’s been the biggest thing. I feel like I’ve made it now in the sport with Kingsford, a good American company behind me, and they’re proud to have me driving their car and that, to me, is a huge step. So, my goals are shifting on a weekly basis. The first thing I wanted to do was just get in sport. The second thing I wanted to do was just hang around for a while. The third thing I need to do is win races and be competitive.”
SO, YOU’VE EXCEEDED YOUR FIRST-YEAR GOALS?
“My first goal is done, my second is well on its way to being done, and now we just have to get competitive every week and put ourselves in contention to win.”
TALK ABOUT THE FAN BASE IN AUSTRALIA COMPARED TO THE U.S.
“There is a similar fan base. It is very similar; it’s just a size difference. We have 20 million people in Australia and you have 300 million in America. Just the numbers game blows whatever we were doing in Australia out of the water.”
YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO RUN THE TWO NEXTEL CUP ROAD RACES THIS YEAR. WAS THAT EVER A PART OF YOUR SHORT-TERM PLAN?
“Like I said, way above my expectations. I expected 2006 was just to be testing and learning and hanging around the sport if I could, and then hopefully 2007 was going to be about driving some races. We’re way in front of that to even contemplate doing a Cup race after 12-and-a-half months is just a dream come true. I’m trying not to think about it because I have so much more work to do here in the Busch Series that I don’t want to think about the Cup stuff yet because, to me, it is still very daunting.”
DO YOU STILL COUNT THE ROAD-COURSE RACE AS YOUR STRONG SUIT?
“Yeah, it’s my strong suit, and that’s why we chose to do the two road course race in the Cup deal. It’s just a nice way for us to break into the Cup deal. It’s a great way for Team Australia and Aussie Vineyards to come on board. They wanted some impact and I think it?s a really good way to do it. Our first race is in wine country up there at Sonoma, so I think just the stars aligned and everything was in place to do it. The Car of Tomorrow is going to be running there as well, so the field should be relatively even compared to past years with specialized road course cars. I’m really excited.”
Interview courtesy of Ford Racing USA
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