The Marathon Men of the Adelaide 500
V8 Sleuth
03 Oct 2024
How a Supercars Champ will equal and beat two records in one weekend
THIS year’s VAILO Adelaide 500 event in November will include a significant celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Adelaide 500.
Over time, a range of Supercars drivers have been mainstays of the event, some of them part of the field ever since the first one in 1999.
But just who has started the most Adelaide 500 events?
All up there have been 24 events from 1999 to 2020 and 2022 onwards and it’s no surprise that the two drivers with the most starts in Supercars Championship history also have the most in the Adelaide 500.
Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander were both on the grid for 1999’s inaugural event and each made their last start in 2018, giving them 20 Adelaide 500s to their name.
They will be joined for a share of the record by Mark Winterbottom this year, who will be competing in this 20th Adelaide 500 this November.
2007 event winner Rick Kelly is next on the list with 19 Adelaide 500 starts from 2002 to 2020, followed by his brother Todd (18 starts from 2000 to 2017) and Jason Bright, the inaugural pole-sitter in 1999 who made his 18th and final appearance in 2017.
Kelly and Bright will be joined in the ’18 club’ this year by Will Davison and James Courtney. The Mustang duo each debuted in the Adelaide 500 in 2006 in their first full-time season racing in Supercars and haven’t missed one since.
All up there have been 50 individual Adelaide 500 races and Lowndes sits on top of the list of most race starts with 42.
Tander may have made 20 Adelaide 500 event starts like Lowndes, but he’s made one less Adelaide 500 race start than Lowndes – 41 – given he missed the Sunday race in 2004.
He’d crashed his Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore in that morning’s warm-up session and it couldn’t be repaired in time for the race.
But Lowndes and Tander are both set to be leap-frogged this year by Winterbottom.
He’s started 41 Adelaide 500 races but if he starts both 78-lappers this November he’ll jump to the top of the list with 43 race starts.
Next best on the list of race starts are Rick Kelly (40), Todd Kelly (39), Jason Bright (38) and Jamie Whincup, James Courtney and Will Davison (all 37).
