Template:2008–09 in English football

For Australian rules footballer of the same name, see Neil Crompton (footballer).

Neil Crompton (born 30 July 1960) is a well-known V8 Supercars presenter and commentator for Australia's Channel Seven, having previously worked in a similar role at Network Ten. Crompton ("Cromley" or "Crompo" to his friends and colleagues) has more than 15 years of professional racing car driving under his belt which allows him to "speak from experience" when commentating. He currently co-manages (with British Touring Car Championship series director Alan Gow) ex-British Formula Three driver and now V8 Supercar driver, James Courtney.

Racing career

Highlights

According to the official V8 Supercars website[1], Crompton has competed in 345 car racing events, finishing in the first three places on 57 occasions. 230 of those races were with the V8 Supercars series or its progenitors, including three second places and ten thirds.

He has raced at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales on more than 20 occasions, with his best results being two third placings in the Bathurst 1000 — in 1992 with Anders Olofsson in a Gibson Motor Sport Nissan GT-R and in 1995 with Wayne Gardner in a Wayne Gardner Racing Holden Commodore in addition to winning the 1994 12 Hour endurance race with Gregg Hansford in a factory supported Mazda RX-7.

Early years

Crompton started racing in 1972 at age eleven on a Honda minibike before graduating to motocross where he had some success.

In 1985 he moved to racing cars and has raced in various, mostly sedan-based categories, starting in a series production specification Mitsubishi Cordia. Racing categories that he has contested include V8 Supercars, Super Touring Cars, and Group A Touring Cars, as well as the open-wheel categories of Formula Holden and Formula 3000.

In 1989 and 1990 Crompton was a season driver for Special Vehicles Racing (now known as the Holden Racing Team). He finished third in the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1989 and fifteenth in 1990. Although he did not have a regular seat with HRT after that, he would co-drive in the endurance races (which require two drivers per vehicle).

In 1997 Crompton headed to the US to compete in the new North American Touring Car Championship in a Honda Accord run by the Tasman Motorsports team. Crompton was quickly on the pace, and won several races and was in contention for the championship, before a disqualification (which he still disputes) preclude him from winning the title. Crompton also tested one of Tasman's Champ Cars at Gingerman Raceway.

Later years

In 1998 Crompton started with Glenn Seton Racing, continuing with the team in its new identity as Ford Tickford Racing in 1999. He then moved to Gibson Motor Sport, later renamed 00 Motorsport, in 2001 where he was teamed with Craig Lowndes before leaving at the end of the 2002 season.

Despite being a full-time television commentator, Crompton continues to compete in races when he can, particularly endurance races. Most recently he finished fifth in the 2007 Bathurst 12 Hour race, completing 248 laps (1,540 km / 957 miles) driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI with Grant Denyer and Chris Alajajian. Crompton is currently competing sporadically in the Aussie Racing Cars series and also has competed in the Australian Rally Championship.

Crompton also works on the organisational side of V8 Supercar contributing to TEGA's Parity Board, which works to ensure that neither of the competing marques gains a significant advantage over the other.

Media career

Crompton started commentating at motorcross events for Network Ten, then known as the 0/10 Network. He then worked for the ABC from around 1980 until the end of 1984, commentating on motorsport events such as the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) plus various other motorsport events that the network covered. In 1985 when the ATCC rights moved to Channel Seven, Crompton also moved across to Seven, replacing Evan Green and joining the network's motorsport regulars Mike Raymond & Garry Wilkinson in the commentary box. He would stay with the network in a gradually decreasing capacity until the end of 1995, his latter years there including regular segments on the TV program "The Great Outdoors". During this time he also had segments on the Triple M radio network.

In 1996 he returned to Network Ten to be their "motorsport expert" for their coverage of the CART Series & Australian Super Touring Championship for which they had just gained the broadcasting rights, and which would also end up including Formula One. Crompton was a regular presenter of Ten's popular motoring magazine program, RPM, and after his racing career wound down at the end of 2002 until the end of 2006, he was the expert commentator on Ten's coverage of the V8 Supercars (after being lead commentator throughout 2001 when he only drobe in endurance races).

When the Seven Network bought the television broadcasting rights for the V8 Supercars for 2007 onwards, Crompton, along with a majority of the production team, moved to Seven. Crompton's detailed technical knowledge, combined with his racing and commentating experience, ensures that he is considered an extremely valuable part of the Seven Network's coverage of the series.

Crompton also hosts the popular web show "The Panelbeaters", which he co-hosts with long time friend Brad Jones. The show runs every Friday evening before a V8 Supercar meeting, and the Wednesday after. The show began as a radio programme in 2003 on Victorian station SEN 1116, before being taken on by Telstra Bigpond, and made into a video web show. The show has grown in popularity over the 5 seasons that it has run.

Personal life

Married long time partner Sarah Mathewson in March 2008.

References

• "Neil Crompton at V8 Supercars"
• "V8X article"
• "Personal bio"
• "Statistics from Conrod.com"