The crossover between motorsports is strong whether it be bikes, cars, rally or even trucks, but those from the field of football are a little less frequent.
Former rugby league star Jack Elsegood is the best to make the transition having been a V8 Utes champion and tried his hand at a variety of categories.
Ben Dunn is another to compete at a high level in the V8 Utes and now the Motorcraft Mustang Cup Australia series.
On the AFL side, Jason Akermanis made a memorable Mini Challenge debut, or lack thereof. Currently, the former Brisbane Lions and Western Bulldogs star competes in Superkarts, finishing on the podium at Queensland Raceway last month.
But the highest profile footballer to make the transition is John ‘Sam’ Newman.
The controversial star led the AFL Footy Show for 23-years, but was enticed to go racing and did so through a sponsorship deal with Ford.
Providing the perfect learning category was the GT-Production category using Ford’s Falcon XR6.
GT-Production featured everything from Dodge Vipers to Suzuki Swifts featuring a speed disparity of some 16s.
Newman received coaching from leading Ford star John Bowe and came a cropper at Calder Park for his first test after hitting the concrete exiting Turn 1.
Further test days followed and in order to receive his licence signatures to compete at Bathurst, Newman competed at state level.
Contesting the popular GT-P Showroom Showdown as support to the Bathurst 1000 in a brand new Ford AU Falcon XR6, Newman paired with Ironman Guy Andrews for their maiden efforts.
The Newman/Andrews entry was placed in the competitive Class C featuring the Falcon XR8, Holden Commodore SS, Mitsubishi Magna and Toyota Camry, which won the battle.
Newman crashed the new AU XR6 before Andrews got a drive, but both were to return.
Aligning with The Footy Show’s new Holden deal, Newman switched marques and raced a Gibson Motorsport-built Holden Vectra for selected GT-P rounds and the Showroom Showdown.
Newman was third in the season-ending standings before teaming with Melinda Price, while the second Vectra had future Bathurst winning combination Greg Murphy and Steven Richards, who were taste the success in The Great Race the next day.
The Supercars stars dud take the class win in 21st outright, while Newman got through the three hour event unscathed to take third finishing 26th outright.
Interspersed by his GT-P program, Newman actually raced a V8 Supercar at The Australian Grand Prix. A Holden Commodore backed by Hot Wheels was prepared by Gibson Motorsport for Newman, but he was away off the pace to score a best result of 23rd during the event.
Exotic models were moved into Nations Cup in 2000 and Newman joined it by racing a Ferrari 360 Challenge for Prancing Horse Racing.
His 2002 season included taking pole position for the Sandown 500 reborn by PROCAR Australia for GT-P entries, but Newman completed his lap in dry conditions and others including Jim Richards set their times in the rain.
Partnered with Scott Shearman, Newman was sixth in the Ferrari and second in Group 2.
A move to more exotic machinery followed when Newman joined Paul Stokell at Team Lamborghini Australia bringing Footy Show sponsor Crazy John’s along for the ride.
Newman was out of his depth in the latest Lamborghini Diablo GTR, but competed serviceably in the older SVR version to be third in Group 2 at the end of the 2003 season.
A sabbatical followed for Newman until he was invited to return to competition at the Australian Grand Prix in Mini Challenge, but following this he never raced again.
Newman gave PROCAR plenty of media and it scratched the motorsport itch for the noted revhead.