Race Weekend Central

Marcos Ambrose Driver Diary: Reviewing 2009, Interesting Hobbies & Heading Down Under

Frontstretch would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest Driver Diary contributor, Marcos Ambrose. Marcos will be contributing a monthly diary in 2010 but he thought this would be a good chance to get a jump on things. He stopped by to fill us in on 2009 and also to tell us a little bit about himself so fans could get to know him better. Marcos is already something of a fan favorite and we hope you enjoy his contributions.

We’ve had a great season. It’s been a year of firsts for me. It’s my first year in the Cup Series. I really didn’t know how I was going to stack up against the competition. There have been some wonderful runs and there have been some bad runs too along the way. I’m really excited about how we’ve run. We’ve exceeded our expectations I believe as far as where we’re sitting in points is concerned. I would have like to have run a few more top 10s, but I’m not complaining, we’ve had a lot of them and a lot of top-15 runs.

I’ve been racing well. I haven’t made too many mistakes. I feel like I’ve had a great season. I really don’t want it to finish. We feel like we’re getting better and better as a team. Sure, some weekends are a little confusing. Some weekends we feel like we’ve excelled and we’re really ready for it. It’s a long year and there’s only a few to go but we’ve had a great season in general.

Our team will be back intact in 2010. We’re going to run exactly the same as what we have done this year. We’ve got the same sponsors and a few fresh ones, same crew chief, same engineers, same driver, same association with Michael Waltrip Racing, so we’re ready to run. We’ve got a great team going and we’re going to try to keep it all together.

I’m pretty much full racing. I’ve got my life revolved around NASCAR and racing for my life here in America for the present time. I’ve got two beautiful little girls, two and four, who spend four months in Australia and the rest of the time here in the U.S. with me and that’s just great that we’re able to move our family around. When I’m not racing full-time I’m pretty much trying to be a good Dad if I can.

If I get a half chance when I’m out on the road, I try to find some outdoor adventure to do like climb a mountain or go gold prospecting or fish or raft in a river. It’s pretty much whatever goes.

I’ve found plenty when I go gold prospecting. It’s all about the effort you put in. Generally for me I get half a day here, half a day there. I don’t have time to get down deep enough to get the big stuff. I pretty much know where I can find gold at any time if I want to go out to any stream in the Carolinas.

I’ve got about a dozen I can go to that have gold through them. I’ve got mountains I can climb that have evidence of old mining communities or old mines themselves. Yeah, it’s pretty well advanced. Just that adventure of going out and switching out from NASCAR for awhile and just getting back to basics.

My outdoor activities are a little rugged so they’re not really family activities yet. My kids are two and four so it’s a bit rough for them. When I do it, it’s pretty much extreme. I’ll go after it as fast as I can and I’ll pretty much not worry if there’s anyone else that’s able to keep up. That kind of makes it pretty much a solo thing when I do my adventures.

I’m looking forward to getting home to Australia when the season ends. I really enjoy it. My life here is fully entrenched in NASCAR. Family and hanging out with your friends is a definite problem because they’re 14,000 miles away on another continent. When I get the chance to go back and just spend time with family and friends it’s really good. Also it gives me time to get my body back in shape after a long season and get my head back in the game. I’m looking forward to it, this year in particular with the testing ban in place during the offseason it gives me a chance to spend a couple of extra weeks down there.

About the author

The Frontstretch Staff is made up of a group of talented men and women spread out all over the United States and Canada. Residing in 15 states throughout the country, plus Ontario, and widely ranging in age, the staff showcases a wide variety of diverse opinions that will keep you coming back for more week in and week out.

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