Likable West Australian Market Gardener, Luch Monte will be honoured this weekend at the Perth Motorplex, as the 30th Annual World Series Sprintcars Grand Final arrives in his hometown.
The Wanneroo based owner of Monte Motorsport will present the winner of the Gold Shootout on Saturday night in front of his home crowd, where he will be honoured for his amazing contribution to the series that has entered a team in the series for thirteen seasons.
“I grew up going to the speedway with mum and dad, but it all started when my wife shouted me a drive in a Sprintcar as a birthday present back in 1999 with Sean Carren and the bug bit me hard. I went back six more times and Sean reckoned I was good enough to race, so I leased a car off him on the proviso I could find enough sponsors, and we had that sorted in half an hour, so my first race was at Ellenbrook in the off-season of 2000 in a 360.”
“Dad wasn’t a big fan of me going racing so I didn’t tell him, but after I won on my third race at Ellenbrook, there was a story on the back page of the paper and all hell broke loose! He said that if I kept racing that I’d be out of the business and he’d disown me!”
Despite the ramifications, Luch’s hunger to race led him to Claremont Speedway where he tried to keep a low profile, until he won his first heat.
“I’ll never forget that. I came in after the race and dad came running up to me and hugged me and told me how proud he was. I didn’t even know he was there! He told me to stop leasing the car and buy my own! It was a big shift for dad to go from cutting me out of the will, to telling me to buy a race car!” he says, now laughing, but subtly letting on that it was tough at the time.
“We got right into it and started bringing Americans out the next year to drive in a two car team, but I was terrible. I was worse than anyone starting out these days,” he laughs, “but you just keep doing laps and you get better, but what I enjoyed was having the guys I watched in the States drive my car and get the big wins, like Danny Lasoski winning our first Classic in 2000. That’s still my highlight to this day.”
Since then, the Monte Motorsports driver roster has claimed six Grand Annual Sprintcar Classics and multiple blue ribbon events around the nation, boasting a list that reads like a “who’s who” of the Sprintcar zoo. Schatz, McMahan, Wilson, Meyers, Kauffmann, Jason Johnson, Wayne Johnson, Stewart, Hirst and the late great Jesse Hockett have all affixed their American names to the Monte cockpit, along with Farr, Farrell, Maiolo, Lines, Veal and McFadden domestically.
“We had one night where we had four cars running in West Australia with me, McMahan Johnson and Wilson in the USA versus Australia Speedweek, while Schtaz was running at Parramatta for the $50k. It grew pretty quickly!”
However, Luch’s driving career that claimed both the Gold and Silver Cups in Perth would only last about twelve seasons after a mid-race tangle with Mark Wells at the Krikke Boys Shootout some six years ago left him severely in pain from a knee injury, requiring a replacement and rendering him unable to race again.
“I don’t miss it one bit. I get more of a buzz from watching my car going around the track, because I just love it. My great friend Jeff Grubisa takes care of all the management and the whole family loves it.“
Speaking of “buzz’s” it seems that Luch’s retirement from the sport has been placed in the hands of his crew chief, Kim “Buzzy” Buswell who has been given the authority to call it all to a halt when he’s had enough.
“Buzzy and I get on great and I’ve told him that when he’s done, I’m done. But I reckon he’ll be around for a while,” Luch concedes.
This Saturday, Monte Motorsport has their best opportunity yet to claim their first World Series Sprintcars Championship, with James McFadden in a commanding points lead, and Luch couldn’t be more excited, especially with a blue-chip sponsor like Milwaukee.
“We came close with Shane Stewart when James won a few years back, but I’ve told him to just drive smart and bring it home for Milwaukee who are fantastic sponsors”
McFadden leads the series on 3377 points, 235 ahead of Jamie Veal with a further 277 points back to Brooke Tatnell.
Both Friday and Saturday’s shows start at 6pm West Australian time with Clayperview coverage from 5pm with Sprintcar hot laps. Venue tickets are available at the gate or from Motorplex.com.au and clayperview.com for the live online broadcast.
Pics: Wade Aunger and Monte Motorsport
