Seven-time Supercars Champion, Jamie Whincup, will this weekend enter his 20th Bathurst race at The Mountain and will co-drive with seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes in the #88 Red Bull Ampol Commodore. What a combination and what a circuit to end Jamie Whincup’s Supercars career.
Whincup, a four-time Bathurst winner, bows-out of the Supercars Championship after making his debut back in 2002 with Garry Rogers Motorsport.
He has been coming to New Zealand since 2007 and has won ten Supercars races on our shores (four on the Hamilton street circuit, six at Pukekohe), finished second in five others and third in one other.
The other day I was asked the question, ‘What will he be remembered for?’
The irony of life at the top, which I am yet to experience but spend a lot of time observing, is that no matter what you may have achieved, more often than not, you’ll be remembered for your faults, mistakes, and maybe things that were said or shouldn’t have been said. Whether you’re a sportsperson, politician, leader, chairman, CEO, captain or skipper, unfortunately it is the minor things that people will remember.
Is Whincup a champion? Absolutely. Has he any faults? Well, yes. Is he human? Of course.
He’s no different to any other champion and a good example of that is Michael Schumacher. Do we remember him for his seven F1 World championship titles or those two incidents, one with Damon Hill in Adelaide (1994 Australian Grand Prix) and the other with Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez (1997 European Grand Prix).
Ultimately I think we do remember champions for what they have achieved while their faults remind us that they are still human. I will remember Whincup as an unbeatable Supercars champion, in his time. Unbeatable until the extraordinary talent of both Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen came along.
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