LEADING drivers Will Brown, Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki have noted the open lines of communication the driver group enjoyed with outgoing Supercars CEO James Warburton.
Talking on the latest edition of the Lucky Dogs Podcast, the trio looked back fondly at the relationships that were quickly forged when he rejoined the sport.
“He obviously did a very good job when he was here a few years ago… what I think he was going to do was going to be pretty valuable to us in the future,” said Brown.
“You’ve got a lot of wealthy guys that are invested in the sport and own part of it, and on the board, it’s interesting that they couldn’t see eye-to-eye.
“I would love to know what it was over, what (Warburton’s) vision was or what he wanted to do, or what they weren’t happy with, but I’m not too sure.
“It felt like there had been a good vibe around the paddock, and that there had been a lot of aggression since he came in, and I’m not sure if that was exactly in place before he was there, but since he has been in there, a lot of the changes he made do seem positive.
“Some I didn’t agree with completely, like getting rid of (Neil) Crompton and people like that, but he was obviously willing to sort of do a shake-up to make the sport progress forward.
“It definitely felt stale for a lot of years, and then it felt like there was a big change.
“Not very often you can go straight to the CEO in a big business, and that was literally it… I know we had something with the podcast that we wanted to ask him about, you texted him, and he replied straight away… he was definitely an operator, that’s for sure.”
Feeney was also a fan of Warburton’s openness.
“I think a lot of us had a good representation with him, you speak to him a lot, I speak to him a lot,” said Feeney.
“I know he called all of us as soon as he got announced before he started, for me, that kicks you off on the right foot when someone calls you three weeks before they start, I’ve never really had anyone from Supercars reach out – ‘Hey, I’m stoked to be in, let’s have a chat’, and you just had a good conversation with him.
“You could go to him with anything, (for instance) if you had a problem with where you parked, you could talk to him and he would get it sorted.”
Similarly, Kostecki hopes that the benchmark set by Warburton can be carried on in the future.
“I found it was a bit sort of weird how it happened all within one day, I was talking to him the day before, and then it all came out that they were parting ways,” said Kostecki.
“It’s kind of a little bit of a bad look when a new CEO comes in and doesn’t last too long.
“There’s obviously a lot to being a CEO that we wouldn’t understand, but the communication from him was second to none.
“Any time he would get back to you straight away, and if he couldn’t answer, he would follow up… everyone that has worked with him regarded him quite highly, because he communicates really well.
“I hope moving forward that they can keep that up, because it has made a big difference in our sport.”
Interim CEO Barclay Nettlefold has noted that numerous candidates have already come forward as a search for a replacement kicks off.
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