IT was almost jarring to walk into a team garage during Supercars track action at Sydney Motorsport Park and see Neil Crompton not in television mode, but rather in race team mode.
A Toyota Australia ambassador, Crompton was stationed in the Brad Jones Racing garage during testing last night and again throughout Friday practice.
The eponymous owner of the Albury squad, which has made the switch to running Supras, is a long-time mate of Crompton’s.
Shuffled out of the commentary box for 2026, Crompton is juggling various duties between time in the GR Cup paddock, with his AirTime Media business, relationships with Pedders, Mobil 1 and Hino, and now advising BJR.
“It’s good, a restoration of something I did a couple of moons back,” he said.
“It’s good, it’s different and it’s exciting and I’ll be in and out of both garages (i.e. BJR and Walkinshaw TWG Racing).
“Let’s face it, Bradley needs a hand,” the Supercars Hall of Famer added with a laugh.
To which Jones sarcastically responded: “Every day when I get out of bed, I think ‘thank god for Neil!’”
Crompton continued: “I’ll tell you how far my world has sunk: last night at one o’clock in the morning I’m washing driver race suits and jocks. So things have gone downhill!
“No, it’s great. We’re old friends, we started racing together a long time ago on dirt bikes and we have been in parallel for a long period of time… it’s a very different world for me but I’m looking forward to it.”
There are five Supras on the grid between BJR and Walkinshaw TWG.
Pic: Mark Walker