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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Supercar champ Rick Kelly doesn’t slow down for snakes.

You’re sponsored by No Fear clothing. Do you really have no fear?
I’m scared of snakes. But apart from that, I’m alright.

Your rival drivers might start chucking rubber snakes in your car now.
That would freak me out. I’d be out of the car before you could blink. Or it could backfire and I’d drive faster.

See fellow driver Jamie on Australia’s Greatest Athlete?
Yeah, he did really well. He’s a pro and he’s obviously very fit. But I think it was good for all the drivers, since it showed people we don’t just sit around on our bums driving cars. We’re reasonably fit guys.

Do you reckon you could bench more than him?
Nah, I’m no good on the bench press. My strength would be running.

We can crunch 375mL. How fit do you have to be to race Supercars?
It’s very tough in the cabin. One of the things we struggle with is the temperature. The cockpit itself heats up to around 60 degrees and we’re often racing for over two hours at once. And we have to maintain concentration in those conditions, at a heart rate between 180 and 200 beats per minute. When you get stressed, it’s very difficult to maintain concentration, and if you’re in a car going 200km/h, concentration’s pretty important.

Do you have a heaps strong bladder?
You hear about a lot of drivers having to go inside the car during an endurance race. In a race like Bathurst, you could be in the car for over four hours. And you have two drivers, so it’s pretty bad when you’ve gotta jump into a seat that’s full of someone else’s urine. I’ve never had that problem. The last thing you do before you jump in the car for a race is go to the toilet.

Dan Steiner

• To read the rest of the Rick Kelly interview, get the July RALPH. On sale now at newsagents.

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