Mark Winterbottom: I’m not even close to retiring from Supercars

YOU can call me a veteran and I’m not as young as I used to be but I think I’m in the prime of my Supercars career and the 2017 title is in my sights.

Mark Winterbottom puts freeze on retirement talk. Picture: Matt Loxton

VETERAN? Old? A Supercars senior? Not yet.

I may have been in the Supercars series for 12 years but you can wait until Jason Bright, Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander retire until you put me in a V8 wheelchair.

OK maybe you can call me a veteran. I guess I have been around for a while now. But please don’t think for a moment I am flat, frail or finished. At 35 I am as hungry, fit and fast I have ever been. The finish line is nowhere in sight and I am firmly focused on regaining the championship trophy I lost to Shane Van Gisbergen last year.

I have plenty of years left and I haven’t even considered the end. While you are winning races and competing at the front, the thought doesn’t even cross your mind.

Mark Winterbottom puts freeze on retirement talk. Picture: Matt Loxton

I am stronger than ever too. Fitter then most and that is what becomes a weakness when you are getting on. My reflexes, motivation, skills are also as good as they have ever been.

The only thing that affects me now is the travel. The constant flights and hotel rooms knock me around a bit these days. But that really has nothing to do with my fitness or ability to race. I guess I just like my routine at home and living the family life. It is hard leaving your wife and kids every couple of weekends to race.

But no I don’t feel old. And I won’t while (Jason) Brighty is around. The old bugger makes me feel very young. And I for one hope Brighty drives forever.

Jokes aside, some things have changed. I am not the driver I was when I was 20. When you are young you just go all out on the attack. You have no fear of consequence and you simply live in the moment. You have no respect for danger and not much for others. That can be a good thing because it will win you races. It can also be a bad thing because it will cost you races. Being bullet proof can quickly cost you a championship.

I think I have become a smarter racer with every year that has passed. I am not only thinking about my mortgage, my family and my responsibilities, but I am also thinking about my team and the goals we have set.

Mark Winterbottom enters the chicane at the Clipsal 500. Picture: Sarah Reed

I would say I am in my prime. Any racer will tell you that your peak is your mid-thirties. And that is why I am hopeful of reliving 2015 and taking back the championship. I am with a strong team and there is no reason why we can’t fight back to reclaim the crown.

So when will generation next arrive? They already have.

Guys like Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert are a genuine force to be reckoned with. We are seeing a lot of drivers become very good at a young age. Even Van Gisbergen is still very young and he has a championship.

These guys have already beaten some of the established guys. It is now up to them to prove they can do it over a long period.

The thing about this sport is there will always be young guys out on the track trying to beat the experienced guys and the veterans trying to beat the upstarts.

Soon it will be these young guys that are being called the veterans and a new crop coming up to challenge them.

Just look at Van Gisbergen, he is still very young but he has been in the sport for almost 10 years.