Jamie Whincup – The Unacknowledged GOAT
The greatest driver in the history of the Supercars Championship is set to retire, Jamie Whincup announcing yesterday that he will step down as a full-time driver at the end of the 2021 season to step into a management position within Triple Eight Race Engineering.
With 122 race wins, 89 pole positions, 222 podium finishes from 523 starts and an unprecedented seven championships puts Whincup in a nearly untouchable league, well clear of anyone else in almost every measurable metric
Though the numbers don’t lie and Whincup has the potential to keep racking up wins and poles, perhaps even championships, throughout 2021 as he edges towards retirement, the seven-time champion is unlikely to receive the send-off that some of his contemporaries have enjoyed.
When Craig Lowndes, team-mate to Whincup since 2006 and former race wins record holder, retired at the end of 2018, it felt like a piece of the sport had left. In a way, it had; Lowndes had completed over 20 full-time seasons across three decades and always bought himself a ticket into the championship battle, winning three titles in the late 90’s.
For the last year of Lowndes’ championship career, he was given a grand scale farewell tour; every race he went to was billed as the last stand for Lowndes and though his popularity rose even further than the lofty heights it already had, he was able to complete the fairytale with a win at the Bathurst 1000.
Despite both sitting at the top of the record books, the public perception of the two drivers couldn’t be more different. While Lowndes is known for his trademark smile, brilliantly polished off-track image and on-track brilliance, Whincup is a private man away from the circuit but ruthless on it.
Simply put, Whincup is a winning machine. He has let his driving do the talking since his first race victory at the Adelaide 500 in 2006 and continued on a path to greatness from title number one in 2008. From 2008 to 2017 he won seven championships and never finished outside the top five in the standings since 2007.
But why does it feel like he won’t get the same warm send-off as Lowndes or the established greats like Mark Skaife or Peter Brock? Why is it that the best driver to go touring car racing in Australia might not get a fitting farewell for someone who has become the gold standard in Supercars?
Australia’s “tall poppy” culture of going after the best athletes in their respective sports is well-known, just take a look at social media on any NRL post about Cam Smith or AFL’s talking about Dustin Martin; Aussies love to hate a winner.
Whincup’s very private off-track life as well as his ruthless ability to succeed are potential reasons as to why some don’t recognise him as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), plus the fact he has only won titles for Triple Eight adds to the hot topic in the world of motorsport of car vs driver balance in success (see Lewis Hamilton championships with Mercedes in Formula One).
Some could also put it down to the controversy side of things (2017 title in Newcastle, Bathurst history since 2014) or the illusion that Whincup is nothing more than a very big fish in a relatively small pond. This latter observation was proven to be nonsense given his three podium finishes from four starts in the Bathurst 12 Hour race, including a win on debut in 2017 with co-drivers Lowndes and Toni Vilander.
While those in the know will acknowledge the seven-time champion for the driver he is and the potential leader for Triple Eight that he will turn into after many years under the tuition of Roland Dane, it’s disappointing that Whincup may have to wait until after his driving time wraps up to finally have the recognition from the punters which he so truly deserves.
