Supercars boss Shane Howard open to SST Australian return in 2023

The Stadium Super Trucks‘ future in Australia might not be as bleak as it seemed a month ago. Australian racing magazine Auto Action spoke with newly appointed Repco Supercars Championship CEO Shane Howard, who expressed interest in bringing back the trucks as early as 2023 should things work out, while also giving his side of the story behind SST’s demise in the country.

While an American-born league, SST has been a hit in Australia since debuting there in 2015. However, its future seemed grim when in January, the twelve trucks stationed in the country were sent back to the United States, leading to doubt surrounding the Boost Mobile Super Trucks; the BMST formed in 2020 as an Australian championship separate from its American counterpart. According to a Speedcafe report, series officials were unhappy with Supercars supposedly failing to see the trucks’ importance as a support class despite their popularity. When talks to continue having the trucks at Supercars race weekends for 2022 fell through, they returned to America.

Boost Mobile CEO Peter Adderton, who had bid for ownership of Supercars but lost to Race Australia Consolidated Enterprises (RACE), has been critical of the new leadership. He told Speedcafe, “It concerns me that the new owners of Supercars don’t see those things as valuable as fans. They were part of the entertainment of what made the weekend great.”

Howard, who took over as Supercars CEO in mid-January, argued otherwise and said to Auto Action that the series “supported Stadium Super Trucks for a long time. To be honest, we were their biggest supporter.”

Instead of tension between SST and Supercars, Howard suggested the trucks’ departure came due to import laws. Australia is a member of the ATA Carnet system, which stipulates items like vehicles could be transported abroad but only for a limited period of up to a year. For racing vehicles, the carnet law requires them to also be sold locally, which can come with a luxury car tax if it is worth over $70,000, or they would have to be sent to their original location. A Stadium Super Truck is the property of Robby Gordon Motorsports and is not for sale so its price and therefore its car tax eligibility are not publicly known, though its American roots make it subject to carnets.

Regardless of why the trucks exited Australia, Howard is more than willing to bring them back as soon as the 2023 season if interest is mutual.

“I’d never say they are gone forever. They have provided some great entertainment. We like to put in some other entertainment, like the SSTs, on our programs,” Howard told Auto Action. “Not this year, because we’re pretty much loaded with our categories. But they could come back. 2023 is a possibility. But we also need the category to be strong with the top drivers.”

The trucks’ seven years in Australia have seen highs and lows, the latter of which included various controversies that ranged from head Robby Gordon‘s clashes with Motorsport Australia to bans from races overseen by the sanctioning body. The two parties made amends in late 2019 and formed the Boost Mobile Super Trucks, though its two seasons of existence were plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul Morris, the 2017 SST champion and de facto 2021 Boost Mobile Super Trucks champion, oversaw series operations from his Norwell Motorplex in Queensland.

In the meantime, the 2022 SST season will begin with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on 9/10 April.