Dave Russell will be well known to car racing fans especially those with a keen interest for V8 Super Cars or Speedway. Dave has a love of motor racing that began as a little boy and still runs deep as a 38 year old man.

Dave also has a love of his community which is why Dave and his Drive Team have started Safe Driving Courses at the local LADS venue in Monaltrie. He wants to see all new P-Plate drivers go through the course to lower the amount of teenage deaths on our roads in Lismore and surrounding suburbs.

Here is the story of Dave Russell.

I was born in Casino to Geoff and Narelle Russell in 1982 and grew up in Caniaba.

What I remember the most living in Caniaba was having a good community neighbours. We were all in a little cluster but on acreage, it was a great life style.

The neighbours can attest to what sort of boy I was going to be because I had a peewee at age 3, with training wheels of course. Then the bikes got a little biggest before I hopped into my first car.

We had a beautiful neighbour Eda Simeoni. She knew that when I got off the school bus that was her cue to shut the windows so the dust I kicked up from the paddock didn’t go into her house. I had a little Corolla then that I learnt to drive in. I knew what the rules were. I couldn’t drive it when no one was home, I had to wear a helmet and all the other stuff, I respected that.

(The Toyota Corolla paddock basher)

Mum and Dad used to own the Northern Rivers Hotel. My early memories of speedway racing was through Dad racing at the showground, we were so close to it as well.

Dad drove in Group C Touring Cars, raced at Bathurst 10 times and was a champion in V8 Dirt Modifieds or Hotrods as they were known back then. As you can tell racing fast cars and the smell of fuel was part of my childhood.

I went to school at St Carthage’s and Trinity. They were great schools to attend. Many of my friends still send their kids there today.

Although I liked school I wasn’t an A Grade student. Dad found a report card the other day and it said “could have done better”, the potential was there and I definitely could have applied myself a lot better. But I had other interests and your life’s journey takes you on whatever path and for me I wasn’t that interested in a desk job or to be in an office every day, it just wasn’t me.

Going fast and racing cars was always going to be my thing. I pursued my dreams of becoming a racing car driver over and above all other things.

This started when I was pretty young, racing go-karts when I was 10. I didn’t aspire to be in F1 because growing up in Lismore going to the border and Brisbane or Sydney was a big thing let alone Europe. So for me it was always V8 Supercars and being Peter Brock or Jim Richards.

Jim Richards was one of my heroes, in fact later in my career I got to race Jim and got to know his son Steve pretty well. That was pretty cool when you grow up to aspire to be them and then to meet and race against your hero.

I have a sister, Kim, who is a couple of years older than me. She lives in Evans Head now. She raced karts too and knock off the boys but they didn’t like that so much and she got pushed off the track more than most. Then when she hit her HSC and got a job she didn’t have time for karts anymore.

I started racing karts at 10 and raced until I was about 15. We did pretty well, the house had plenty of go-kart trophies.

Mum and Dad were both busy with their businesses locally. Dad had a car carrying business and a car yard (where North Coast Wholesale is now) so going to Sydney to go go-kart racing wasn’t an option for us. The furthest we went was Coffs Harbour or up to Caloundra but we never did any sort of title hunting or title chasing.

Dad got frustrated with tinkering around go-karts, it didn’t make sense to him coming from a circuit racing background himself so he said “let’s get you out of carts and get you into cars.”

We got a little Gemini and went to the Mt View Hill Climbs in Grafton. I didn’t even have my license yet at 15 and I can remember Dad and I knocking each others times off during the day including the last run when I beat him. His mates and those around us gave him a hard time losing to a 15 year old.

Then we started looking at cheap little race cars we could run. Karting is a pretty expensive hobby and we could buy a Datsun 1600 with the proceeds from selling our karts.

It was at this time I was doing work experience at the mechanic who was housing the race car most afternoons. They offered me an apprenticeship and from there I started my automotive trade through Marques Automotive and I became a qualified mechanic.

After the hill climbing years, I got my CAMS, the proper racing license, and would race at Lakeside, Warwick and Queensland Raceway that had just opened.

I can still remember my first race. We had troubles with my little Datsun. It had great power because it was turbo but it would blow up or have head gasket issues. I can pull the head off an L series Datsun motorcar pretty quickly. I’ve done that a few times now.

Through sheer coincidence Dad received a phone call from a contact of his in Sydney when I was 18, they were running a car in the Production Car Championship which ranged from the ultimate Porsche down to the entry level Suzuki Swift GTI.

A group of Italians had a seat in one of the GTI’s down at Philip Island. This was my first time driving on a track and it poured down rain. We ended up in the Top 10 in the field and won our class outright which was the first win for the group, they were over the moon.

The team was called RMR Motorsport (Relative Motor Racing). It was a real family team, all the direct family members including cousins helping out. It was a large group of people that have become friends for life.

We would drive to Oran Park in Sydney which was exciting because you were on a National stage, albeit in a Suzuki Swift GTI, but anytime you are doing that as a young man it is amazing, it was like the world championships.

In that 12 months we were winning trophies and winning our class regularly. I remember being on the podium with Jim Richards after he won his class and I won mine. It was all pretty exciting stuff at the time for a young Lismore lad looking to get into the big time.

(Driving a Proton at Winton Victoria in 2001)

When I was 19, Proton Cars Australia had entered the racing scene with a hot little GTI Hatchback and the same group got involved with them and they needed a driver for Bathurst. I got pole position for our class and was leading the race but got black flagged for noise, it was too loud. Can you believe it, too loud. We tried to put a baffle in the exhaust but it didn’t do any good.

Still it was a 3 hour endurance race which is where I was heading.

The guys from Proton said they were going to go racing next year in Sydney and offered me a drive as well as working in their dealership. This was my big move for me, to head to Sydney and become a full time racing car driver.

I got a company car and a proper wage. I can still remember my first weekly pay check as a mechanic, it was $157.05.

We ran second in our first year in the Production Car Championship and then we won the next two or three Australian championships.

From there, I was getting itchy feet but I didn’t have any backing to go any further. You need a lot of money to be able to get into a category that gets noticed.

I had conversations with different teams where I could step up and prove myself as a driver in the higher categories but money was a problem. Mum and Dad simply didn’t have that kind of money.

So I entered a competition to be able to drive in the V8 Super Car Second Tier Series, back then it was called the Konica Series. The competition was called ‘The Chance Of A Lifetime’ and if you won that through a series of run-offs and time trials, ultimately you would win a funded Super Car. The prize back then was a $300,000 opportunity.

It was $3000 to enter so I looked at my bank account and thought “let’s roll the dice.” So I paid my entry, won my first lot of heats and got through to the semi-finals, won that and then there was a grand final which we won. This was my chance to get onto a bigger stage.

The Konica Series ran over 30 cars and we were regularly getting into the Top 10, which didn’t go unnoticed because people saw the car as a privateer entry and ‘The Chance Of A Lifetime’ entry is running 6^th or 8^th against the Mark Winterbottoms, Andrew Jones, Luke Yewldons, Owen Kelly and Tony D'Alberto, the guys of our age and era. Ultimately Mark Winterbottom went on to win the series for Stone Brothers Racing.

I’ll never forget my first race meeting in a V8 Super Car at Wakefield Park at Goulburn. The race was going really well when I got an electrical fault in the car so we had to park it for the final race that weekend.

All year we were next to the same team in the pits. Well this guy got some funding through Fujitsu and he was going to do the Bathurst 1000 and I got a phone call out of the blue asking if I wanted to co-drive. That was 2003, I was 21 and that would be my first Bathurst 1000.

I had never driven Super Cars at Bathurst before, it was a fair eye opener. All I wanted to do was a good job and not put the thing in the fence. We had a clean race, and I know I keep mentioning mechanical dramas, but we had another one. That’s motor racing. That was the year Greg Murphy did his lap of the gods.

It was difficult to get into Bathurst in those days with the older drives like the John Bowes, Richards, Brock, the Murphys, Larry Perkins were still driving into their 50’s which meant there were not many seats.

So, the year after my career took a different path through local Lismore businessman Fred Cox at Craftsman Homes. He ran an incredible speedway team at the time where he had V8 Modifieds, Sprintcars and more. I got chatting to Fred and I ended up driving his V8 Modified's for a few years where I won the NSW Dirt Modified Championship.

I still had aspirations to continue circuit racing though and another local man, Jamie Blakey was running in the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship. I asked how to get into a car and he gave me a tip off about a team called Sherrin Motor Sport who were looking to have a young driver come in.

This was a company that had leverage because they just sold their Sherrin Hire business and had access to some big sponsorship dollars. Boom Logistics ended up sponsoring my car. I had an awesome lime green livery, it was left hand drive which took me a few sessions to dial into the car. I had never driven a Porsche before.

(front wheels air born driving a Porsche in the Carrera Cup Series)

Our first ever race I will never forget.

We were going through the chicane in Adelaide when two cars baulked each other with one sliding sideways in front of my front end. We got it fixed, started at the back but slowly made our way through the field. We scored two or three podiums which I was pretty happy with in a field that included Craig Baird, Luke Youldon and Jim Richards.

Year two was similar to the first, where had some good results then in year three we were a contender with some really good results including poll positions and wins.

The benefit of driving in the Porsche Cup Series is that the top three get flown to Germany for the motor sports awards where they put on this big show. This is what kicked off my thinking whether I could go motor racing in Europe.

(Celebrating a win at the Redbull Ring in Austria 2015. Dave was the first Australian to win in the ADAC Master Championship)

One of my team members was doing some Endurance racing at that time in a Porsche RSR so I got a drive in the Dubai 24 Hour Race, which was pretty cool. They say it doesn’t rain too much in the desert but this time it rained for about 12 hours.

The other guys in the car weren’t that keen in the wet so ultimately I ended up doing the maximum that any driver can do in a 24 hour race. We lost third gear during the race but still managed to finish third with another catching me fast, it was a very difficult end to the race.

It was 2009 and in my mid-twenties when I went from Porsche to another opportunity that arose with Sherrin Motor Sport. They went back into the second tier V8 series. I went back to Adelaide, got poll and won the round which was the perfect start to the year.

(Sandown podium during the Super Konica Series in 2009)

We had a good year with a lot of highs and lows but ultimately finished second in the championship.

We went into the last round points apart with the leader then had a fuel injector play up in qualifying so was well down the order. During the last race we were catching the leader but just ran out of laps. Jonathon Webb was the winner that year.

I got a call from Adrian Burgess who said you’ve been racing Webby all year why don’t you come and be his co-driver at Bathurst. We did the enduro’s which was Philip Island and Bathurst. That was in 2010.

I finished my partnership with Sherrin Motor Sport and started one with Matt White Racing which was in the Super 2 series in a Jayco Caravan sponsored car.

A new team, new environment and we had some mixed results in the first half of the season then the second half improved and we got poll at Bathurst. It was one of the best weekends and wins I have ever had in a series with a lap time 0f 2:07:08 plus we won both races.

At that stage I was thinking that I have done everything I can to get into the main Super Car series, I was on the radar of any team looking for drivers.

Ultimately, other drivers had more financial backing and this is what can hold you back. Other drivers that I had beaten that year went on to get the opportunity like James Moffatt who has a big name that is a lot more marketable than a kid from Lismore.

That year cemented my position as a co-driver and I went from Dick Johnson Racing to Todd Kelly after he rang and asked me to be his co-driver. That was in the Jack Daniels days. It was an exciting time.

We were in a four car team, I was with the Kelly boys who had won Bathurst before and I knew they had some driver changes coming up. Todd and I had talked about moving to Melbourne. We talked about pay and all the nitty gritty stuff when Stratco, the major sponsor, pulled out due to Dave Reynolds leaving the team. With that sponsor exit went my chances of a drive in the main Super Car Series as they now had to look for more money.

They kept me on as an Enduro and co-driver for many years.

(Dave driving in this years Bathurst 1000 in the YellowCover car)

My highest finish in the Bathurst 1000 was 8^th with Rick Kelly and Dale Wood driving for Nissan Motor Sport. There’s always days when you are running higher only for something to happen. One year we were running in the Top 5 when my team mate Chaz Mostert ran me into the fence at the elbow. There have been some disappointing days when the good result has got away but that’s motor racing.

I’m 38 now and have been co-driving for Carrera Cup, GT Championships plus Europe for a few rounds with Writer Engineering in a Lamborghini team and still getting regular Bathurst drives. There has been a lot of highs in my career for which I am very thankful for.

I will keep doing it as long as I feel I can compete at a high level. At this stage I feel I still have a fair bit in me yet, so I will do Carrera Cup next year as a partnership with a car owner, Rob Largo. He will do half the championship and I will do the other half. Then I will do the Super Car Endurance races again.

We moved back to Lismore in 2016 when Stacey was pregnant with Flynn, we already had Lela. We were in Brisbane, in a really nice place when we thought that it was good timing to go home and have some family support.

(The Russell family: Dave, Stacey, Lyla and Flynn)

We found a place with some land so we can stretch our legs and have some space. Stacey grew up on a farm out at Georgica so we both wanted to bring our kids up like we were, with some acreage. It is so good to be part of the community again and spend time with friends and family.

Lyla is 7 and Flynn is 4, both are at Summerland Christian College. 

Stacey and I met at Evans Head camping when I was 17 and she was 16. It was a bit old fashioned because I went up to her and introduced myself, whereas nowadays kids use phones and social media to meet people. Then when I got home I started to call her up and we’ve been together ever since.

She has moved with me for my career starting in Sydney then and then Brisbane where we got married.

Motor racing is in my blood. I love it, I enjoy it and to be able to keep doing it and operate a business I’m passionate about is a fantastic thing.

(Dave Russell in his race gear)

In between my circuit races, I run events where manufacturers do driving events like Mercedes Benz. When I got to my early 30’s I had seen how other people were running driving events so I thought I had enough experience and knowledge to run my own at a corporate level.

It can be from off road style like a 4 Wheel Drive event for a BT50 launch for Mazda and Suzuki Jimny which was a lot of fun. We do end to end booking the venue, the schedule, getting the staff, or for product training. It can be a new technology feature in a release where they need to get a wheel off the ground to see how the new diff lock works, this can only be done on a track.

We have track Days and Life Style days with Ferrari and Aston Martin and Porsche where anyone with the money can enjoy a day at the track through a dealer group or manufacturer.

I also do driver coaching where individuals are getting into racing, older guys looking to get their cars on the track.

The Safe Driving Courses is something that I wanted to run to give back to the community.

As you can imagine, I make a lot more money running corporate events but it hurts when you read about a young life lost at the wheel of a car. My team and I can really help young kids know the theory of driving a car and learn some practical tips at the wheel in different circumstances.

If I can help save one life then it is well worth the effort.

You can read more about Dave Russell’s Drive Team Safe Driver Courses by visiting his web page http://www.thedriveteam.com.au/road-safety-defensive-driving-course.