No stopping our big race
“THE future for this event is never in question.”
They are the nine words spoken by outgoing Supercars chief executive James Warburton that above all should have caught the interest of motorsport fans on the Gold Coast.
While much of Warburton’s media conference was dedicated to key issues surrounding his imminent departure, he reserved time to not only praise the Surfers Paradise rock and race event but give it the strongest of endorsements for the future.
The Gold Coast 600 is in the first year of a new threeyear contract with the Queensland government, expiring at the end of 2019, and an extension from there is a no-brainer according to Warburton.
“It is a great event,” he said. “When Tourism and Events Queensland put out their $780 million worth of events and you have the No.1 and No.2 event, I think it is a pretty strong future for this event.”
Those two leading events he refers to are the Gold Coast 600 and Townsville 400, ranking first and second, respectively.
Warburton hailed the “very, very strong” relationships formed with the state government as well as Tourism and Events Queensland as a positive indication for the long-term status of the race.
“When I started, the Minister at the time – which is Jann Stuckey – made the comment, ‘James, we don’t care whether we have this event or not’,” he recalled.
“We got a renewal with that party and we have got another renewal obviously with Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Palaszczuk government, and we have got extremely strong relationships because the event has delivered.
“These events … they have to deliver the economic stimulus and we really do that.
“So I think the future for this event is never in question.”
Warburton also dismissed suggestions that a pay dispute was the reason he will leave the sport at the end of the year to become chief executive of APN Outdoor.
“It’s complete and utter rubbish to think that you would tender your resignation on a Monday and then on a Tuesday the following day be announced as the CEO of a publicly listed company,” he said.
“This has been well and truly a transition period; 2017 was always going to be my last year.”